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diff --git a/old/orig7140-h/p7.htm b/old/orig7140-h/p7.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec9d14c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig7140-h/p7.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2813 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, Part 7, 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 7</h2> + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + + <a href="p6.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a> + +</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—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" +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br> + LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.<br></h2> +<br> +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 +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch30">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br> + COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.<br></h2> +<br> +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 +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br> + ASSASSINATION!<br></h2> +<br> +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 +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br> + TURNING BACK THE HANDS<br></h2> +<br> +"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? +<br> +<br> + <h2><a href="#ch33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a><br> + WHAT NEXT?<br></h2> +<br> +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?" +<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—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.</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—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.</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?—whether +improving or not?—the owner said he was doing finely; that he had +fattened almost up to the knees already!"</p> + +<p>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."</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—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—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—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.'"—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—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—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"—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—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—which +was on the passage of the Resolution.</p> + +<p>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!</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—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.</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—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!"</p> + +<p>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."</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—indulged in, in defiance +of all parliamentary rules—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—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.</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—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.</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!"—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!"</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—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;—all in 1865; with New Jersey, closely +following, on January 23rd; and Iowa, January 24th;—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—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—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:</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—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.</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"—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—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"—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:</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—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.</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—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.'</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—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—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!</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—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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</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—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—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:</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"—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—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—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—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.</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—his +last Sunday on Earth—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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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"—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."</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—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."]</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—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.</p> + +<p>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,</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—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.]</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—Thompson insinuated—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—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.</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!"—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—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"—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.</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—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.—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.—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.—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.—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.—The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate +legislation, the provisions of this article."</p> + +<p> + "ARTICLE XV.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"SECTION 2.—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—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.</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—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.</p> + +<p>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.</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—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.—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—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!</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—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.</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;—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.</p> + +<p>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."</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—that <i>imperium in +imperio</i> 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.</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—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."</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.,—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.</p> + +<p>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.</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,—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.</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—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—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—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!</p> + +<p>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?</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?—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.</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!"—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.</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"—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"—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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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"—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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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 +—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:</p> + +<p>"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:</p> +<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> +<p> MEAN TO KEEP THERE—IF THEY CAN.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> +<br><br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + + <a href="p6.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="7140-h.htm">Main Index</a> + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + + + +</body> +</html> + + |