YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY -0 BATES Sfj^^ THB AMEEICAN CONFLICT A. HISTORY 0» THE GREAT REBELLION IN THB TTNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1860-'65 : ITS CAUSES, INCIDENTS, AND RESULTS: INTENDED TO EXHIBIT ESPECIALLY ITS MORAL AND POLITICAL PHASBa^ WITH THB DRIFT AND PROGRESS OF AMERICAN OPINION EESPBCTINO- HUMAN SLAVERY, E^vojn X7V6 to th.e Close of the ^Var fbr th.e TJnion. By HOEAds GEEELEY. IIXVartATBD BT FOBTBAITS OH STBXL OT eBNBEALS, STATISMSH, AHD OTIIBS EMIHXHT HUH.' TIBVB OV PI.AOBa OF HISTOBIO IHTBSBBT. MAPS, DIAGRAMS OF BATTXJE-FISLDS, HATAL AOnOHB, BTO.: FEOS OFtlOIAL SOUBCXa. '^'^ VOL r ' HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY O. D. CASE & COMPACT. 1873. Entered according to Act of CongresB, in the year 1864, By 0. D. CASE & COMPANY, In the Clerli's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Connecticut Mflnufiustured by CASE, LOCKWOOD AND COMPANY, Hartford, Ct. TO JOHIS' BRIGHT, BRITISH COMMONER AND CHRISTIAN STATESMAN: THE FRIEND OF MY COUNTKY, BECAUSE THE FRIEND OF MANKIND; ^\)xs Eecorb of a JJ'atton's Btrnggle TIP FROM DARKNESS AND BONDAGE TO LIGHT AND LIBERTY, IS EBGAfeDFTTIiT, GEATBFITLLT INSCEIBED BT THE AUTHOR. PEELIMINAHY EGOTISM. No one can realize more vividly than I do, that the History through whose pages our great-grand-children wiU contemplate the momentous straggle whereof this country baa recently been and still is the arena, will not and cannot now be written ; and that its author must give to tbe patient, careful, critical study of innumerable documents and letters, an amount of time and thought which I could not have commanded, unless I had been able to de vote years, instead of months only, to the preparation ofthis volume. I know, at least, what History is, and how it must be made ; I know how very far this work must faU short of the lofty ideal. If any of my numerous fellow-laborers in this field is deluded with the notion that he has written the history of our gigantic civil war, I, certainly, am free from like hallu-, cination. /''^ "What I have aimed to do, is so to arrange the material facts, and so to embody the more essential documents, or parts of documents, illustrating those facts, that the attentive, intel ligent reader may learn from this work not only what were the leading incidents of our civil war, but its causes, incitements, and the inevitable sequence whereby ideas proved the germ of events. I believe the thoughtfiil reader of this volume can hardly fall to see that the great struggle in which we are engaged was the unavoidable result of antagonisms imbedded in the very nature of our heterogeneous institutions ; — that ours was indeed ' an irrepressible conflict,' which might have been precipitated or postponed, but could by no means have been prevented ; — that the successive ' compromises,' whereby it was so long put off, were — however intended — deplorable mistakes, detrimental to our National charac ter; — that we ought — so early, at least, as 1819 — to have definitively and conclusively estab lished the right of the constitutional majority to shape our National policy according to their settled convictions, subject only to the Constitution as legally expounded and applied. Had the majority then stood firm, they would have precluded the waste of thousands of millions of treasure and rivers of generous blood. I presume this work goes further back, and devotes more attention to the remoter, more recondite causes of our civil strife, than any rival. At all events, I have aimed to give a full and fair, though necessarily condensed, view of all that impelled to our desperate struggle. I have so often heard or read this demurrer — "Tou Abolitionists begin with Secession, or the bombardment of Sumter, slurring over all that you had done, through a series of years, to provoke the South to hostilities,'' that I have endeavored to meet that objection fairly and fnlly. If I have failed to dig down to the foundations, the defect flows from lack of capacity or deficiency of perception in the author ; for he has intently purposed and aimed to begin at the beginning. I have made frequent and copious citations from letters, speeches, messages, and other documents, many of which have not the merit of rarity ; mainly because I could only thus present the views of political antagonists in terms which they must recognize and respect as authentic. In an age of passionate controversy, few are capable even of stating an opponent's position in language that he wUl admit to be accurate and fair. And there are thousands who cannot to-day realize that they ever held opinions and accepted dogmas to which they unhesitatingly subscribed less than ten years ago. There is, then, but one safe 10 PEELIMINABY B-QOTISM. and just way to deal with the tenets and positions from time to tune held by contending parties— this, namely: to cite fnUy and fairly from the 'platforms' and other formal decla rations of sentiment put forth by each ; or (in the absence of these) from the speeches, mes sages, and other authentic utterances, of their accepted, recognized chiefs. This I have con stantly and very freely done throughout this volume. Regarding the progress of Opmion toward absolute, universal justice, as the one great end which hallows effort and recom penses sacrifice, Ihave endeavored to set forth cleariy, not only what my countrymen, at different times, have done, but what the great parties into which they are or have been divided have believed and afiirmed, with regard more especially to Human Slavery, and its rights and privileges in our Union. And, however imperfectly my task may have been performed, I believe that no preexisting work has so fully and consistently exhibited the influences of Slavery in molding the opinions of our people, as well as in diaping the des tinies of our country. To the future historian, much will be very easy that now is diflScult ; as much will in his day be lucid which is now obscure ; and he may take for granted, and dispatch in a sen tence, truths that have now to be established by pains-taking research and elaborate citation. But it is by the faithful fulfillment of the duties incumbent on us, his predecessors, that his labors will be lightened and his averments rendered concise, positive, and correct. Our work, well done, wiU render his task easy, while increasing the value of its froits. Some ancient historians favor their readers with speeches of generals and chiefs to their soldiers on the eve of battle, and on other memorable occasions ; which, however charac teristic and fitting, are often of questionable authenticity. • Modem history draws on am pler resources, and knows that its materials are seldom apocryphal. "What Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Laurens, the Pinckneys, Marshall, Jackson, Olay, Calhoun, "Webster, etc., etc., have from time to time propounded as to the nature and elements of our Federal pact, the right or wrong of Secession, the extension or restriction of Slavery under our National flag, etc., etc., is on record ; and we know, beyond the possibility of mistake, its precise terms as well as its general purport. "We stand, as it were, in the immediate presence of the patriot sages and heroes who made us a nation, and listen to their well- weighed utterances as if they moved in life among us to-day. Not to have cited them in exposure and condemnation of the novelties that have so fearfully disturbed our peace, would have been to slight and ignore some of the noblest lessons ever given by wisdom and virtue forthe instruction and guidance of mankind. It has been my aim to recognize more fully than has been usual the legitimate position and necessary influence of the Newspaper Press of our day in the discussion and decision of the great and grave questions from time to time arising among us. To-day, the history of our coimtry is found recorded in the columns of her journals more fuUy, promptly vividly, than elsewhere. More and more is this becoming the case with other countries throughout the civilized world. A history which takes no account of what was said by the Press in memorable emergencies befits an earlier age than ours. As my plan does not contemplate the invention of any facts, I must, of course, in narra ting the events of the war, draw largely from sources common to all writers on this theme but especially from ITie Rebellion Record of Mr. Frank Moore, wherein the documents eluoi- PRELIMINARY EGOTISM. 11 ^ting our great stmggle are, in good part, preserved. Perhaps the events of no former war were ever so fully and promptly embodied in a single work as are those of our great contest in The Record, which must prove the generous fountain whence all fature historians of our country may draw at will. But I am also considerably indebted to Mr. Orville J. "Victor's Mutory of the Sotithem Rebellion, wherein is embodied much valuable, important, and interesting material not contained in The Record. I shaU doubtless appear to have made more use of Mr. Edward A. PoUard's Southem History of the TVar; which I have often cited, and shall continue to cite, for peculiar reasons. Its author is so hot-headed a devotee of Slavery and the Rebellion, that nothing which seems to favor that side is too marvelous for his deglutition ; so that, if he were told that a single Confederate had con strained a Union regiment to lay down their arms and surrender, he would swallow it, without scrutiny or doubt. His work, therefore, is utterly untrustworthy as a whole ; yet, in certain aspects, it has great value. He is so headlong and unquestioning a believer in the Confederacy, that he never dreams of concealing or disavowing the fundamental ideas whereon it is based ; it is precisely because it stands and strikes for Slavery that he loves and glories in the Confederate cause. Then his statements of the numbers engaged or of the losses on either side are valuable in one aspect : You know that he never overstates the strength nor the losses of the Confederates ; while he seems, in some instances, to have had access to official reports and other documents which have not been seen this side of the Potomac. Hence the use I have made, and shall doubtless continue to make, of his work. But I trust that it has been further serviceable to me, in putting me on my guard against those monstrous exaggerations of the numbers opposed to them with which weak, incompetent, and worsted commanders habitually excuse, or seek to cover up, their failures, defeats, and losses. I have not found, and do not expect to find, room for biographic accounts of the gene rals and other commanders who figure in our great struggle, whether those who have hon ored and blessed or those who have betrayed and shamed their country. To have admit ted these would have bcMi to expand my work inevitably beyond the prescribed limits. By nature little inclined to man- worship, and valuing individuals only as the promoters of measures, the exponents of ideas, I have dealt with personal careers only when they clearly exhibited some phase of our National character, elucidated the state of contemporary opinion, or palpably and powerfully modified our National destinies. Thomas Jefferson, Eli "Whit ney, Andrew Jackson, Daniel "Webster, John C. Calhoun, Benjamin Lundy, Elijah P. Love- joy, John Brown — men differing most widely in intellectual caliber as well as in aspira tions, instincts, convictions, and purposes — may fairly be regarded as, in their several spheres, representative Americans, each of whom in some sense contributed to lay the train which we have seen fired by the Secessionists of our day with so magnificent a pyrotechnic display, so majestic a resulting conflagration ; and of these, accordingly, some notion may be acquired from the following pages ; while, of our generals and commodores, the miniature Portraits contained in these volumes, and the record of their respective achievements, are all that I can give. So many battles, sieges, marches, campaigns, etc., remain to be narrated, that — ample as this work would seem to be, and capacious as are its pages — a naked record of the remaining events of the war, especially should it be protracted 12 PRELIMINARY EGOTISM. for a full year more, will test to the utmost my power of condensation to conclude the work in another volume of the generous amplitude of this. My subject naturally divides itself into two parts : I. How we got into the War for the Union ; and II. jSow we get out of it. I have respected this division in my cast of the present work, and submit this volume as a clear elucidation of the former of these problems, hoping to be at least equally satisfactory in my treatment of the latter. It is the task of the historian to eliminate from the million facts that seemed important in their day and sphere respectively, the two or three thousand that have an abiding and general interest, presenting these in their due proportions, and with their proper relative emphasis. Any success in this task must, of course, be comparative and approximate ; and no historical work ever was or will be written whereof a well-informed and competent critic might not forcibly say, ' "Why was this fact stated and that omitted ? "Why give a page to this occurrence, and ignore that, which was of at least equal consequence ? "Why praise the achievement of A, yet pass over that of B, which was equally meritorious and important?' But, especially in dealing with events so fresh and recent as those of our great convulsion, must the historian expose himself to such strictures. Time, with its unerring perspec tive, reduces every incident to its true proportions ; so that we are no longer liable to mis conceptions and apprehensions which were once natural and all but universal. "We know, beyond question, that Braddock's defeat and death before Fort Du Quesne had not the im portance which they seemed to wear in the eyes of those who heard of them within the month after their occurrence ; that Bunker Hill, though tactically a defeat, was practically a triumph to the arms of our Revolutionary fathers ; that the return of Bonaparte from Elba exerted but little influence over the destinies of Europe, and that little of questionable be neficence ; and that 'fillibusterism,' so called, since its first brilliant achievement in wrest ing Texas from Mexico and annexing her to this country, though attempting much, has accomplished very little, toward the diffusion either of Freedom or Slavery. And so, much that now seems of momentous consequence will doubtless have shrunk, a century hence, to very moderate dimensions, or perhaps been forgotten altogether. The volume which is to conclude this work cannot, of course, appear till some time after the close of the contest ; and I hope to be able to bestow upon it at least double the time that I was at liberty to devote to this. I shall labor constantly to guard against Mr. Pol lard's chief error— that of supposing that all the heroism, devotedness, humanity, chivalry evinced in the contest, were displayed on one side ; all the cowardice, ferocity, cruelty rapacity, and general depravity, on the other. I believe it to be the truth, and as such I shall endeavor to show, that, while this war has been signalized by some deeds disgraceful to human nature, the general behavior of the combatants on either side has been calculated to do honor even to the men who, though fearfully misguided, are still our countrymen and to exalt the prestige of the American name. That the issue of this temble contest may be such as God, in His inscrutable wi dom, shall deem most directly conducive to the progress of our race in knowledge virtue liberty, and consequent happiness, is not more the fervent aspiration, than it is the conso^ ling and steadfast faith, of H n New York, April 10, 1864. "^ INDEX BY CHAPTERS. I. Our Country in 1T82 and in 1860. .,,1*1 IncresM ot FopaUtion and Wealth. NX Slavery in America, prior to 1176. ... 24 IU. Do. in the American Revolution . . -33 rV. Do. under the Confederation 37 JeffeiBon'i Propoul of Beatriction — Natlian Bane's do. V. The Convention of 1787 and the Fed eral Constitution 41 -J^ Slavery after 1787 49 Pera'utent HratiHty of CoDf^sa to Slavery ExteoRton — Parchaae of Loniuans— Ell Whitney and hia Cot- ton-GIn—Colonlzatlon. vn. Miaaouri— the struggle for Restriction. 74 Scott— Clay— i^nkney— p. P. Barbour- Webster- John W. Taylor— Thomu— the Compromise. vm. State Rights— Resolutions of '98 81 Nnllification- Hayne — ^Webster — Jackson— Calhotm — Georgia and the Indians. r- IX. Abolition — ^Its Rise and Progress 107 Early efforta for Emancipation — Slave-holders con demn Slavery— Virginia— Benjamin Londy — Wm. Lloyd Garrison. X, The Churches on Slav'y and Abolition .117 XL The Pro-Slavery Reaction — Riots 122 Kifling the Mails — Persecntion and Murder of Rev. £. F. Lovejoy— The Stmggle in Congress for the Right of Petition. Xn. Texas and her Annexation to the IT. S . 147 Sam.HonBton— M. Hunt— Webster- T. W. Gilmer— Jackflon— J. Q. Adams — Van Bnren — Clay — Benton —Folk— Tyler— Calhonu. XIIL The Mission of Samuel Hoar to S. C. . 178 XIV. "War with Mexico — "Wilmot Proviso. , . 185 Gen. Cass — Letter to Nicholson — Gen. Taylor chosen Freeident — Attempts by Gen. Bart, of S. C., and by Senator Doaglaa, to extend the Compromise Line of 36' SC to the Paclfie, XV. The Struggle for Compromise in 1850 . . 198 — Gov, Seward — James Brooks — Gen. Taylor— Hen- Sr Clay^JeffersoQ Dayis— Webster's 7th of March peech— The Texas Job. XVL The Era of Slave-Hunting— 1850-60.210 Ftqdtire Slave Law — John Van Bnren — Judge Grter — R, R. Sloane — Margaret Gamer — Anthony Bums — 'TheFlannting lie'- National Party Platforms •f 185^-Gen. Scott— Election of Fierce and King. xvn. The Nebraska-Kansas Struggle 224 1S54-61 — Pierce— Atchison — A. C. Dodge — Douglas — Archibald Dixon— Salmon P. Chase— Badger of N. C.— English of Ind.— A. H. Stephens— Gov. lleed- er— William Phillips— John W. WhitBeld— Civil War in Kansas— Wm. Dow — Sheriff Jones — Nomi nation of Fremont — President Fillmore at Albany — Election of Buchanan — Lecompton — Wyandot — ^Ad mission of Kansas as a Free State. XVni. Case of Dred Scott in Sup. Court. ..251 Views of President Buchanan — Chief Justice Taney —Judge Wayne — Jndge Nelson — Judge Grier— Judge Daniel- Judge Campbell— Judge Catron— CoL Benton — Wm, L. Yancey — Daniel Webster— Judge McLean — Judge Curtis. XIX. Our Foreign Policy — Monroe — Cuba.264 Treaty with France — Washington — Jefferson — Tbe * Monroe DoctAne' — The Panama Congress — Se cret Intrigues for the Acquisition of Cuba— Ed ward Everett on the Proposition of France and England for a triplicate guarantee of Cuba to Spain — ^The Ostend Manifesto— William Walker and the 'regeneration* of Central America — Mr. Buchanan on Cuba— Democratic National resolve ol 1860 respect ing Cuba. XX John Brown and his Raid. 279 Lineage and early life of John Brown — His Kansas Experiences — Hia Convention in Canada — Repairs to "Virginia— Seizes Harper's Ferry — Is overpowered — captured — convicted— ^ung. XXL The Presidential Canvass of 1860. .299 State Elections of 1857-8-9 — ^Lincoln vernu Douglas — Gov. Seward's 'Irrepressible Conflict' — Slavery legally established in New Mexico — 'Helper's Im pending Crisis' in Congress — defeats John Sherman lor Speaker — Pennington chosen — Jtft Davis's new Democratic Platform — The National Democratic Convention at Charleston — Splits on a Platform — The fragments adjonm to Baltmiore and Richmond — Douglas and Fitzpatrick nominated by the larger fraction— Breckinridge and Lane by the smaller-.— Fitzpatrick, declines — H. V. Johnson sulntituted— Bell and Everett nominated by the Const! tutionaS Union P*"*^ — ^Lincoln and Hamlin by the Re publicans — Ae Canvass — Gov. Seward's closing words. XXIL Secession inaugurated in S. C. . . ..328 Legislature called — Gov. Gist's Message — Senator Chesnnt's Speech — Boyce — Moses — Trenholm — McGowan — Mullins — RufBn — Judge Magrath re signs — Military Convention In Georgia — Votes to se cede — Facilities to Disunion — Houston — Letcher — Magoffin — Conway — C. F, Jackson — Alex. iL Ste phens — S. C. Convention — Ordinance of Secession Immediately and unanlmouslv passed — Georgia fol lows — so do Alabama. Florida, MisBissIppi, Louis iana, and Texas — Arkansas, North Carolina, VIr- ^nla, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware, refuse to do likewise— The Secessionists a minority m the Slave States. w IKDEX BT CHAPTERS. yXTTT. . The Press and People of the North deprecate Civil War 351 The Tribune's overture— The Albany Eveiiing Journal's- The Philadelphia Meeting— Mayor Henry— Judge Woodward— George W. Curtia suppressed. XXIV. Attempts at ^Conciliation' in Cong. 367 Buchanan and Black condemn ' coercion' — Mr. Crittenden and his Compromise— Mr. Cor- win's Committee of Thirty -one— Senator Antho ny's proffer~C. L. Vallandighom's project — The Corwin Constitutional Amendment adopted by either House. XXV. Peace Democracy at the North, and the Peace Conference at Wash ington 388 TheTweddle Hall Convention at Albany, J861 — Seymour, Thayer, etc. — Peace Conference or Congress at Washington — Modified Crittenden Compromise adopted thereby — Congress non concurs — Failure to compromise — Why. XXVX The Union versus the Confederacy. .407 Organization of the Confederacy — Jefferson Da vis chosen President, and Alex. H. Stephens Vice-Preaiden t — Davis's I n augural — S tep n en b's ' corner-stone' speech — Mr. Lincoln's journey to Wash 1 n gton — Speeches — Inaugural, XXYII. The Pause before the Shock 428 The two Cabinets — Attempts to Negotiate by Forsyth and Crawford — Repelled by Gov. Sew ard— Judge Campbell's Statement — Northern proposals to join tho Confederacy — Society for the promotion of National Unity. XXTIII. Siege and Reduction of Ft. Sumter 440 Hesitation — Futile Negotiations — Attempt to provision— Order to open fire — Bombardment commenced — Fire returned — Interior of tbe fort .in flames— Wigfall's volunteer embassy — Ander son surrenders—Garrisou leaves for New York— • Dixie jubilant. XXTX. The Nation called to arms-^-and responds 449 Virginia sends Envoys to Washington — Tho President's response to them— He calls for 75,000 Militia— Comments of the- Press— Re sponse of the Border State Govemore— Balti more In a ferment — Attack on the 6th Masaachu- aetts— Do. on Fennsy'lvanianB- The Rebels up permost — Railroads and telegraphs broken up — Mayor Brown and the Young Christians visit Washington to demand that n(7 more Northern troops enter Baltimore — Their success — General Butler lands at Annapolis and recovers Mary land — Her traitorous Legislature. XXX. Secession resumes its march 473 Shameful surrender of tho Norfolk Navy Yard — Secession of Virginia— Tenneasoo — North Caro- lino — ArkauBOB — Missouri — Blair and Lyon rally a Union force at St, Louia — Kentucky. XXXI. The Opposing Forces in conflict. ..497 Davls'a first MeBflage— Relative strength of the North and the South — European opinion — Slavery — Cotton — Military training — Army Officers — Northern sympathy with ' the South* — ^The heart of the People for the old flag and their whole country. X^^TT. "WestVirginiacUngsto the TJnion 516 Convention called — State organization effected — .McClellan advances— Fight at Rich Moun tain — Rebel rout at Carrick's Ford — Union Re pulse at Scarytown — Surprise at Cross Lanes — Carnifex Ferry — Guyandotte — Romney — Alle ghany Summit — Huutersville. XXXIIL The War in Old Yirglnia 528 Ft Monroe — Great Bethel — Alexandria occu pied—Vienna—Patterson's advance— His flank movement to Charlestown— Johnston rushes to filanaasas— -Gen. Sanford's testimony — McDow ell advances to Centerville — Blackburn's Ford — Bull Run— Union defeat and flight— Causes thereof— Gen. Scott's plan — Criticieed by Hon. C*. P. Blair— Consequences of our failure. XXXIV. Pirst session ofthe 37th Congress 555 Organization of the House — Mr Lincoln's first Message — Various propositions — Henry May's visit to RIchmondr— Conservative Republicana on Slavery and the Union — Mr. Cnttenden'a resolve — Proposals to Compromise — ConfisclL- tion of Slaves used to promote the Rebellion — The President's acta approved — Adjournment. XXXV. RebeUion and "War in Missouri. 572 state preparations to aid the Rebellion — Flight of Jackson from Jefferson City — Fight at Booneville— Camp Cole — State Convention — Jackson's FrocIamatiOs of War — Dug Springa —Battle of Wilson's Creek- Death of Lyon- Fremont in command — Letter to the President — Proclaims Martial Law — Mulligan besieged at Lexington — Surrenders — Price retreats- Fremont pursues — Zagonyi's Charge at Spring- field^Fremont superseded — Halleck iu com mand — Battle of Belmont. XXXVL War on the Seaboard and Ocean. 598 The Privateer Savannah— The Petrel— Fort Hatteras — Pensacola and Pickens — The Sum ter — Hollins's Sam exploit — Dupont and Sher man's Expedition — Capture of Port Royal — The Treat Case— Surrender of Mason aud SU- dell. XXXVIL Kentucky adheres to the Union. 608 politicians — Elections — Overwhelming Union majorities — M^offin'a neutrality — The Presi dent's respoQBe — ^Rebel Invasion — Legislature Iirotests— Gen. Grant occupies Paducah— Zol- icoffer at Wild Catr— Nelson at Piketon— Schoepfs Retreat-^Rebel Grovemment organ ized at RoBsellriUe — Geo, W, Johnson made Governor — Kentucky grevely admitted into the Southern Confederocy-^Fnll ddesration sent to the Congress at Richmond— Richard Hawea finally declared Governor. XXXVm. The Potomac— Ball's Bluff. 618 Scott a failure— Gen. McClellan called to Washington— Brings Order out of Chaos— Gr^'t increase of our Army — No advance — BoTl's Bluff— DtanesviUe—'^AJl Quiet'— Tho Hutchinsons eipeUed—Whittier's Lyric Appended Notes q^X h "^2 Synod of Kentucky and Slavery. II. New School Presbyterians condemn the insti tution. IIL 7ft« Albany Evening Journal oa Gov. Seward and Judge CampbeU. IV. Jere Clemens on Alabama seceaaion— the Rebels feared delay. V. The confidence of the ReboU Ti?"*M "»^'' o " "^P*"" *f Washington. VL The North Carolina Conventioa-Iau error corrected. vims Anaxttical Ikdex 633 ILLXJSTIlA.TIOISrS. PEESIDEN^T AKD CABINET. 1. Abraham Lingolit, President Frontispiece. 2. Hanntbai, Hamlin, Vice-President " 3. William H. Seward, Secretary of State " 4. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the IVeasury " 5. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War " 6. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy " 7. John P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior " 8. Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General " 9. Edward Bates, Attomey-Greneral " 10. Simon Cameron, ex-Secretary of War " 11. Caleb B. Smith, ex-Secretary of the Interior. " EMINENT OPPONENTS OF THE SLAVE POWER 12. John Quinct Adams j. . 13. Benjamin Lundy . . . 14. Henry W-'^bd Beecher . 15. Wendell Phillips . . . 16. William Cullen Bryant 17. John Greenleaf Whittier PAGE 112 PAGB 112 18. Cassius M. Clay .... 19. Joshua IL Giddings . . . . " 20. William Lloyd Garrison . . " 21. Gerrit Smith " 22. Owen Lovejoy " 23. Charles Sumner ". CONFEDERATE CHIEFTAINS. 24. Jefferson Davis 336 25. Alexander H. Stephens . . " 26. Judah P. Benjamin , . . . " 27. Egbert Toombs " 28. William L. Yancey " 34. Henry A. Wise 29. John B. Floyd 336 30. E. Barnwell Ehett . . . . " 31. James M. Mason " 32. John Slidell " 33. Ish AH G. Harris " 336 UNION GENERALS. 35. Lient-Gen. Winfield Scott . 448 36. Maj.-G«n. John R Wool . . 37. " " Henry W. Halleck 38. " " Geo. B. McClellan 39. " " Irwin McDowell. . 40. " " John C. Fremont 41. Maj.-Gen. Don Carlos Buell . 42. " " Joseph Hooker . . 43. " " Ambrose E. Burnside 44. " " Benjamin F. Butler 45. " " David Hunter. . . 46. Brig.-Gen. Eobert Anderson . 448 16 ILLUSTRATION S— Continued. CONFEDERATE GENERALS. FAOE 47. General Egbert E. Lee . . . 528 48. " Joseph E. Johnston . " 49. " Braxton Bragg. . . " 50. Lt.-Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard " 51. " " Thomas J. Jackson . " 62. " " James Longstreet. . " pAoa 628 53. Lt.-Gen. John C. Pemberton 54. " " Leonidas Polk . . . " 55. Maj.-Gen. Jno. C. Breckinridge " 56. " " Simon B. Buckner . " 67. " " Albert Syd. Johnston " 68. " " Sterling Price . . " UNION NAVAL OFFICERS. 59. Eear-Adm'l Andrew H. Foote 608 65. Commodore Charles Wilkes . 608 60, 11 u David G. Farragut " 66. " Charles H. Davis " 61. 11 (( L. M GoLpSBOROUGH " 67. " Henry W. Morris " 62. (( u Sam'l F. Du Pont . « 68. Captain John Ward . . . . " 63. t( (1 David D. Porter . " 69. " John L. Wobden . . " 64. U ti John A Dahlgren " 70. " Charles S. Boggs . . " ILLUSTRATIONS— CoNTnroED. Texas as she was, and as she claimed to be 160 View of Harper's Ferry 288 View in the Shenandoah Valley ¦ - -294 Fort Sumter 440 The Approaches to Charleston 445 Norfolk, Portsmouth, and the Navy Yard 474 West Virginia , 517 Ten Miles around Fortress Monroe 530 Washington City and Vicinity 532 Bull Eun Battle-Field and Centerville 540 Missouri 573 Battle-Field of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Mo , 578 Lexington (Missouri) defended by Mulligan 58g Battle-Field of Belmont, Missouri gos Hatteras Inlet — Forts Hatteras and Clark 509 Sinking of the Petrel by the St. Lawrence qqq Fort Pickens — Santa Eosa Island — Pensacola gQi Hilton Head — ^Eeduction of Fort Beauregard oni Battle-Field op Ball's Bluff — Harrison Island, etc goQ Battle-Field of Dranesville, Virginia q24 THE AMERICA]^ CONFLICT. OUR COUNTRY The United States of Am erica, whose independence, won on the battle-fields of the Revolution, was tardily and reluctantly conceded by Great Britain on the 30th of Novem ber, 1TS3, contained at that time a population of a little less than Three Millions, of whom half a million were slaves. This population was mainly settled upon and around the bays, harbors, and inlets, wliich ii-- regularly indent the western shore of the Atlantic Ocean, for a distance of about a thousand miles, from the mouth of the Penobscot to that of the Altamaha. The extent of the settle ments inland from the coast may have averaged a hundred miles, although there were many points at which the primitive forest still looked ofi" upon the broad expanse of the ocean. Nominally, and as distinguished from those of other civilized nations, the territories of the Confederation stretched westward to the Mississippi, and northward, as now, to the Great Lakes, giving a total area of a little more than eight hundred thousand square miles. At several inviting localities, the " clearings" were push- 2 ed two or three hundred miles west ward, to the bases and more fertile valleys of the eastern slope of the Alleghanies ; and there were three or four settlements quite beyond that formidable but not impassable barrier, mainly in that portion of Virginia which is now the State of Kentucky. But, in the absence of steam, of ca nals, and even of tolerable highways, and with the mouth of the Missis sippi held and sealed by a jealous and not very friendly foreign power, the fertile valleys of the lUinois, the Wabash, and even of the Ohio itself, were scarcely habitable for civilized communities. No staple that their pioneer population would be hkely, for many years, to produce, could be sold on the sea-board for the cost of its transportation, even from the site whereon Cincinnati has since been founded and built, much less from that of Indianapolis or Chicago. The delicate, costly fabrics of Europe, and even of Asia, could be trans- feiTed to the newest and most inland settlement for a small fraction of the price at which they would there be eagerly bought ; but when the few 18 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. coins which the settlers had taken with them in their journey of emi gration had been exhausted, there was nothing left wherewith to pay for these costly luxuries ; and debt, embarrassment, bankruptcy, were the inevitable results. A people clothed in skins, living on the products of the chase and the spontaneous abund ance of nature, might maintain ex istence and a rude social organization amid the forests and on the praii-ies of the Great Valley ; any other must have experienced striking alterna tions of factitious prosperity and uni versal distress ; seeing its villages and commercial depots rise, flourish, and decay, after the manner of Jonah's gourd, and its rural population con stantly hunted by debt and disaster to new and still newer locations. The Great West of to-day owes its unequaled growth and progress, its population, productiveness, and wealth, primarily, to the framers of the Federal Constitution, by which its development was rendered possi ble ; but more immediately and pal pably to the sagacity and statesman ship of Jefferson, the purchaser of Louisiana ; to the genius of Fitch and Fulton, the projector and achiever, respectively, of steam-navigation ; to De Witt Clinton, the early, unswerv ing, and successful champion of artifi cial inland navigation ; and to Henry Clay, the eminent, eloquent, and effec tive champion of the diversification of our National Industry through the Protection of Home Manufactures. The difliculties which surrounded the infancy and impeded the growth of the thirteen original or Atlantic States, were less formidable, but kin dred, and not less real. Our fathers emerged from their arduous, protract ed, desolating Revolutionary strug gle, rich, indeed, in hope, but poor in worldly goods. Their country had, for seven years, been traversed and wasted by contending armies, almost from end to end. Cities and villages had been laid in ashes. Habitations had been deserted and left to decay. Farms, stripped of their fences, and deserted by their owners, had for years produced only weeds. Camp fevers, with the hardships and pri vations of war, had destroyed many more than the sword ; and all alike had been subtracted from the most effective and valuable part of a pop ulation, always, as yet, quite inade quate. Cripples and invalids, melan choly mementoes of the yet recent struggle, abounded in every village and tovmship. Habits of industry had been unsettled and destroyed by the anxieties and uncertainties of The gold and silver of ante- war. revolutionary days had crossed the ocean in exchange for arms and munitions. The Continental paper, which for a time more than supplied (in volume) its place, had become utterly worthless. In the absence of a tariff, which the Confederate Con gress lacked power to impose, our ports, immediately after peace, were glutted with foreign luxuries — gew gaws which our people were eager enough to buy, but for which they soon found themselves utterly unable to pay. They were almost exclusively an agricultural people, and then- products, save only Tobacco and In digo, were not wanted by the Old World, and found but a very restrict ed and inconsiderable market even in the West Indies, whose trade was closely monopolized by the nations to which they respectively belono-ed OUR COUNTRY AFTER THE REVOLUTION. VJ Indian Corn and Po'tatoes, the two principal edibles for which the poor of the Old World are largely indebt ed to America, were consumed to a very limited extent, and not at all imported, by the people of the eastern hemisphere. The wheat-producing capacity of our soil, at first unsur passed, was soon exhausted by the unskillful and thriftless cultivation of the Eighteenth Century. Though one-third of the labor of the country was probably devoted to the cutting of timber, the axe-helve was but a pudding-stick; while the plow was a rude structure of wood, clumsily pointed and shielded with iron. A thousand bushels of corn (maize) are now grown on our western prairies at a cost of fewer days' labor than were required for the production of a hun dred in New York or New England eighty years ago. And, though the settlements of that day were nearly all within a hundred miles of tide water, the cost of transporting bulky staples, for even that distance, over the execrable roads that then existed, was about equal to the present charge for transportation from Illinois to New York. Industry was paralyzed by the absence or uncertainty of mar kets. Idleness tempted to dissipation, of which the tumult and excitement of civil war had long been the school. Unquestionably, the moral condition of our people had sadly deteriorated through the course of the Revolution. Intemperance had extended its rav ages; profanity and licentiousness had overspread the land ; a coarse and scofiing infidelity had become fashionable, even in high quarters; and the letters of Washington' and his compatriots bear testimony to the wide-spread prevalence of venality and corruption, even while the great issue of independence or subjugation was stiU undecided. The return of peace, though it arrested the calamities, the miseries, and the desolations of war, was far from ushering in that halcyon state of universal prosperity and happiness which had been fondly and sangmne- ly anticipated. Thousands were sud denly deprived by it of their ac customed employment and means of subsistence, and were unable at once to replace them. Those accepted though precarious avenues to fame and fortune, in which they had found at least competence, were instantly closed, and do new ones seemed to open before them. In the absence of aught that could, with justice, be termed a currency, Trade and Busi ness were even more depressed than Industry. Commerce and Navigation, unfettered by legislative restriction, ought to have been, or ought soon to have become, most flourishing, if the dicta of the world's accepted political economists had been sound ; but the facts were deplorably at variance vidth their inculcations. Trade, emanci pated from the vexatious trammels of the custom-house marker and ganger, feU tangled and prostrate in the toils of the usurer and the sheriff. The common people, writh ing under the intolerable pressure of debt, for which no means of payment existed, were continually prompting ' "That spirit of freedom, which, at the com mencement of this contest, would have gladly sacriflced every thing to the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and every self ish passion has taken its place. It is not the pubUc, but private interest, which influences the generality of mankind, nor can the Americans any longer boast of an exception." — 'Washing ton's Letter to Henry Laurens, July 10 (1782). " Shoddy," it seems, dates away back of 1861 . 20 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. their legislators to authorize and di- f ect those baseless issues of irredeem able paper money, by which a tem porary relief is achieved, at the cost of more pervading and less curable disorders. In the year 1786, the legislature of New Hampshire, then sitting at Exeter, was surrounded, evi dently by preconcert, by a gathering of angry and desperate men, intent on overawing it into an authorization of such an issue. In 1786, the famous Shays's Insurrection occurred in west- em Massachusetts, wherein flfteen hundred men, stung to madness by the snow-shower of writs to which they could not respond, and execu tions which they had no means of satisfying, undertook to relieve them selves from intolerable infestation, and save their families from being turned into the highways, by dis persing the courts and arresting the enforcement of legal process alto gether. That the sea-board cities, depending entirely on foreign com merce, neither manufacturing them selves, nor having any other than foreign fabrics to dispose of, should participate in the general suffering, and earnestly scan the political and social horizon in quest of sources and conditions of comprehensive and en during relief, was inevitable. And thus industrial paralysis, commercial embarrassment, and political disorder, combined to overbear inveterate pre judice, sectional jealousy, and the ambition of local magnates, in cre ating that more perfect Union, where of the foundations were laid and the pillars erected by Washington, Haip- ilton, Franklin, Madison, and their compeers, in the Convention wliich framed the Federal Constitution. Yet it would not be just to close this hasty and' casual glance at our country, under the old federation, without noting some features which tend to relieve the darkness of the picture. The abundance and excel lence of the timber, which stiU cover ed at least two-thirds of the area of the then States, enabled the common people to supply themselves with habitations, which, however rude and uncomely, were more substantial and comfortable than those possessed by the masses of any other country on earth. The luxuriant and omnipres ent forests were likewise the sources of cheap and ample supplies of fael, whereby the severity of our northern winters was mitigated, and -the warm, brieht fireside of even -the humblest family, in the long winter evenings of our latitude, rendered a center of cheer and enjoyment. Social inter course was more general, less formal, more hearty, more valued, than at present. Friendships were warmer and deeper. Relationship, by blood or by mari'iage, was more profoundly regarded. Men were not ashamed to ovm that they loved their cousins better than their other neighbors, and their neighbors better than the rest of mankind. To spend a month, in the dead of winter, in a visit to the dear old homestead, and in interchanges of affectionate greet ings with brothers and sisters, mar ried and settled at distances of twenty to fifty miles apart, was not deemed an absolute waste of time nor even an experiment on fraternal civility and hospitality. And, thono-h cultivation was far less effective than now, it must not be inferred that food was scanty or hunger predominant. The woods were alive with game and nearly every boy and man be- OUR COUNTRY AFTER THE REVOLUTION. 21 tween fifteen and sixty years of age was a hunter. The larger and smaller rivers, as , yet unobstructed by the dams and wheels of the cotton-spin ner and power-loom weaver, abound ed in excellent fish, and at seasons fairly swarmed with them. The potato, usually planted in the vege table mold left by recently extermi nated forests, yielded its edible tubers with a bounteous profusion unknown to the husbandry of our day. Hills the most granitic and apparently sterile, fi-om which the wood was burned one season, would, the next year, produce any grain in ample measure, and at a moderate cost of labor and care. Almost every farm er's house was a hive, wherein the ' great wheel' and the ' little wheel' — the former kept in motion by the hands and feet of all the daughters ten years' old and upward, the latter plied by their not less industrious mother — hummed and whirled from morning till night. In the back room, or some convenient appendage, the loom responded day by day to the movements of the busy shuttle, whereby the fleeces of the farmer's flock and the flax of his field were slowly but steadily converted into substantial though homely cloth, sufficient for the annual wear of the family, and often with something over to exchange at the neighboring merchant's for his groceries and_ wares. A few bushels of corn, a few sheep, a fattened steer, with, perhaps, a few saw-logs, or loads of hoop-poles, made up the annual surplus of the husbandman's products, helping to square accounts with the blacksmith, the wheelwright, the minister, and the lawyer, if the farmer were so un fortunate as to have any dealings with the latter personage. His life, during peace, was passed in a nar rower round than ours, and may well seem to us tame, limited, monot onous; but the sun which warmed him was identical with ours ; the breezes which refreshed him were like those we gladly welcome ; and, while his road to mill and to meeting was longer and rougher than those we daily traverse, he doubtless passed them unvexed by apprehensions of a snorting locomotive, at least as con tented as we, and with small suspi cion of his ill-fortune in having been bom in the Eighteenth instead ofthe Nineteenth Century.^ The illusion that the times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages. Yet a passionately earnest assertion, which many of us have heard from the lips of the old men of thirty to fifty years ago, that the days of their youth were sweeter and happier than those we have known, will doubtless justify ' " Vagabonds, without visible property or vocation, are placed in workhouses, where they are well clothed, fed, lodged, and made to labor. Nearly the same method of providing for the poor prevails through all the States ; and, from Savannah to Portsmouth, you wiU seldom meet a beggar. In the larger towns, indeed, they sometimes present themselves. These are usually foreigners who have never obtained a settlement in any parish. I never saw a native .imerican begging in the streets or highways. A subsistence is easUy gained here : and if, by misfortunes, they are thrown on the charities of the world, those provided by their own country are so comfortable and so certain, that they never think of relinquishing them to become strolling beggars. Their situation, too, when sick, in the family of a good farmer, where every member is anxious to do them kind offices, where they are visited by aU the neiglibors, who bring them little rarities which their sickly appetites may crave, and who take by rotation the nightly watch over them, when their condition requires it, is, without comparison, better than in a general hospital, where the sick, the dying, and the dead, are crammed together in the same rooms, and often in the same beds." — Jefferson's Notes on 'Virginia, p. 196. 22 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. US in believing that they were by no means intolerable. It is not too much to assume that the men by whose valor and virtue American in dependence was achieved, and who lived to enjoy, for half a century thereafter, the gratitude of their country, and the honest pride of thefr children, saw wealth as fairly dis tributed, and the labor of freemen as adequately rewarded, as those of almost any other country or of any previous generation. Eighty years had not passed since the acknowledgment of our inde pendence, when the returns of the Eighth Decennial Census afforded us the means of measuring our coun try's growth and physical progress during nearly its whole national his tory. The retrospect and the pros pect might well minister to the pride (though that were needless) of a pa triotic apostle of ' manifest destiny.' During those eighty years, or within the memory of many still living, the area of our country had been ex panded, by successive and, in good part, peaceful acquisitions, from Eight Hundred Thousand to about Three Millions of square miles. Its population, excluding the Aboriginal savages, had increased from Three to more than Thirty Millions. Of its two thousand millions of acres of dry land, about five hundred millions had been divided into farms; leaving three-fourths of its surface as yet un improved, though but in part unap propriated. Its farms were oQicially estimated as worth six thousand six hundred and fifty millions of dollars, and were doubtless actually worth not less than Ten Thousand Millions of dollars. On these fai-ms were over eleven hundred millions' worth of live stock, and nearly two hundred and fifty millions' worth of imple ments and machinery. The value oi animals annually slaughtered was re turned at over two hundred millions of doUars. The annual product of Wheat was more than one hundred and seventy millions of bushels, with an equal quantity of Oats, and more than eight hundred millions of bush els of Indian Com. Of Tobacco, our annual product was more than four hundred millions of pounds ; and of Rice, nearly two millions. Of Wool, our annual clip was over sixty mil lions of pounds, and our consumption probably double that amount. Of ginned Cotton, ready for market, our product was about one million of tuns, or more than Five Millions of bales of four hundred pounds each. Four hundred and sixty millions of pounds of Butter, and one hundred and five millions of pounds of Cheese, were likewise returned as our aggre gate product for the year 1859. We made in that year three hundred and forty millions of pounds of Sugar, and more than twenty-five millions of gallons of Molasses. And, beside consuming all this, with twenty-five millions of pounds of home-made Honey, we imported from abroad to the value of over thirty-six millions of dollars. We dragged from our forests, not including fuel. Timber valued at more than Ninety-three Millions of dollars. We made Flour to the value of Two Hundred Mil lions. We manufactured over fifty- five millions' worth of Cotton into fabrics, worth one hundred and fifteen millions of dollars, beside im porting largely from abroad. We fabricated over eighty millions of pounds of Wool, costing forty mil- OUR COUNTRY IN 1859-60. 23 lions of dollars, into sixty-eight mil lions' worth of goods, though import ing nearly all our finer woolen fabrics. We produced sixty-three millions' worth of Leather; eight hundred and seventy-five thousand tuns of Pig Iron, worth twenty mil lions of dollars ; four hundred thou sand tuns of Wrought Iron, worth twenty-one millions; and Agricul tural Implements to the value of seventeen millions. The grand total of Manufactures, returned by this Census, amounted in value to One Thousand Nine Hundred Mil lions — an increase of forty-fi'se per cent, within ten years. Our Exports, for the year ending in 1860, amounted to a little more than Four Hundred Millions of dollars, whereof all but Twenty-seven Milhons were of do mestic production. Our Imports were a little over Three Hundred and Sixty Millions. Of Gold and SUver, we exported, in that year, nearly fifty-seven milhons of dollars, and imported about eight millions and a half; indicating that ours had become one of the great gold-pro ducing countries on earth, if not the very greatest. The number of ocean voyages terminating in our ports during the year ending June 30, 1861, was Twenty-two Thousand, less forty; thefr aggregate tunnage a little more than seven millions two hundred and forty thousand — more than two-thfrds of it American. About fifty thousand churches, with forty thousand clergymen ; two hun dred and thirty-nine Colleges, having one thousand six hundred and seven ty-eight teachers and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty- one pupils ; six thousand and eighty- five Academies and Private Schools, with twelve thousand two hundred and sixty teachers and two hundred and sixty-three thousand and ninety- six pupils; eighty thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight Common Schools, with three millions three hundred and fifty-four thousand and eleven pupils; three hundred and eighty-six Daily Newspapers, circulat ing in the aggregate one million four hundred and seventy-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-five copies ; one hundred and forty-six Tri- Weekly and Semi-Weekly, and three thousand one hundred and fifty-three Weekly journals, circulating seven millions five hundred and sixty-four thousand three hundred and four teen copies ; with nineteen Quarter lies, five hundred and twenty-one Literary, and two hundred and seven ty-one Religious periodicals, mainly issued weekly, suificiently attest that our progress had not been purely physical, but intellectual and moral as well. The temptation to increase these citations from the Census is one hard to resist. Yet any multiplication of details would tend rather to confuse than to deepen their impression on the mind of the general reader. Let it suffice, then, in conclusion, that the Real and Personal Estate of our people, which in 1850 was returned as of the aggregate value of a little over Seven Thousand Millions of dollars, was, in 1860, returned as worth over Sixteen Thousand Mil lions — an increase in ten years of more than one hundred and twenty- five per cent. It is quite probable that both these aggregates are largely under the truth; but, conceding their accuracy, it is perfectly safe to assume that Fifteen of the Six- 24 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. teen Thousand Millions of property returned in 1860 had been created and added to the wealth of the world by the industry, enterprise, and thrift of our people during the eighty preceding years. II. SLAVERY BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. Vice, whether individual or gene ral, is ever conceived in darkness and cradled in obscurity. It challenges observation only in its hardy matu rity and conscious strength. Slavery is older than Civilization — older than History. Its origin is commonly re ferred to war — to the captivity of the vanquished, and to the thrift and clemency of the victor, who learns by experience that the gratification' of killing his prisoner is transient, while the profit of sparing him for servitude is enduring; and thus, in rude ages, not merely the vanquished warriors, but their wives and chil dren", their dependents and subjects, were accounted legitimate " spoils of victory," along with the lands, houses, flocks and herds, the goods and chattels of the conquered people. " Woe to the conquered !" is the pri mary rule of savage and of barbarian warfare ; and the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the destruction by Rome of Capua, of Carthage, and of other cities and peoples which had provoked her special enmity, prove that nations which regarded them selves as far advanced in civihzation, were hardly more merciful than sav ages, when maddened by fear and hate. ( War wastes and devastates. The earth, plowed however deeply ' ' with cannon-wheels, yields tmcertain harvests; yet armies and their de pendents must be fed. Rapacity, as well as destruction, seems almost in separable from war. The soldier, impelled to destroy for his chiefs or his country's sake, soon learns to save and appropriate for his own. j The natural and necessary distinction be tween ' mine ' and ' thine ' becomes in his mind confused, if not obliter ated. The right of every one to the product of his own labor is one which his vocation incites, and even com pels, him to disregard. To enslave those whom, whether combatants or otherwise, he might justifiably kill, appears to him rather an act of hu manity than of injustice and wrong. Hence, the warlike, conquering, dominating races of antiquity almost universally rejoiced, when at their acme of power and greatness, in the possession of innumerable slaves. Slavery of a mild and gentle type may very well have grown up insensibly, even in the absence of war. The patriarch has shelter and food, with employment for various capacities ; and his stronghold, if he be stationary, or his tents, if he be nomadic, become the refuge of the unfortunate and the destitute from the region around him. The aban doned wife, the unwedded mother the crippled or infirm of either sex' SLAVERY AMONG THE ANCIENTS;. 9i the tender orphan, and the out-wom, seedy prodigal, betake themselves to his lodge, and humbly solicit his per mission to earn bread and shelter by tending his flocks and herds, or by any other service to which their ca pacities are adequate. Some are ac cepted from motives of thrift ; others under the impulse of charity ; and the greater portion of either class, exulting in their escape from hunger, cold, and nakedness, gladly remain through Hfe. Marriages are formed among them and children are born, who grow up adepts in the labor the patriarch requfres of them, contented with their station, and ignorant of the world outside of his posses sions. If his circumstances require a military force, he organizes it of 'servants born in his household.' His possessions steadily increase, and he becomes in time a feudal chieftain, ruling over vassals proud of his emi nence and docile to his will. Thus it has been justly remarked that the condition of Slavery has ever preceded the laws by which it is ultimately regulated; and it is not without plausibility that its champions have contended for it as a natural form of society — a normal development of the necessary association of Capital with Labor in Man's progress from rude ignorance and want to abund ance, refinement, and luxury. But Slavery, primarily considered, has still another aspect^ — that of a natural relation of simphcity to cun ning, of ignorance to knowledge, of weakness to power. Thomas Car- lyle,' before his melancholy decUne and fall into devil-worship, truly ob served, that the capital mistake of Rob Roy was his failure to compre hend that it was cheaper to buy the beef he required in the grass-market at Glasgow than to obtain it with out price, by harrying the lowland farms. So the first man who ever imbibed or conceived the fatal delu sion that it was more advantageous to him, or to any human being, to procure whatever his necessities or his appetites required by address and scheming than by honest work — by the unrequited rather than the fairly and faithfully recompensed toil of his fellow-creatures — ^was, in essence and in heart, a slaveholder, and only awaited opportunity to become one in deed and practice. And this sin gle ti-uth, operating upon the infinite varieties of human capacity and cul ture, suffices to account for the uni versality of slaveholding in the ante- Christian ages, for its tenacity of life, and for the extreme difficulty of even its partial eradication. The an cients, while they apprehended, per haps adequately, the bitterness of bondage, which many of them had experienced, do not seem to have perceived so vividly the correspond ing evils of slaveholding. They saw that end of the chain which encircled the ankle of the bondman ; they do not seem to have so clearly perceived that the other lay heavily across the throat of even his sleeping master. Homer — if we may take Pope's word for it — observed that "Jove fixed it certain, that whatever day Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away;" but that the slaveholding relation ef fected an equal discount on the value of the master appears to have escaped him. It is none the less true, how ever, that ancient civilization, in its ' In a letter on Copyright. 26 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. various national developments, was habitually corrupted, debauched, and ultimately ruined, by Slavery, which rendered labor dishonorable, and divided society horizontally into a small caste of the wealthy, edu cated, refined, and independent, and a vast hungry, sensual, thriftless, and worthless populace ; rendered impos sible the preservation of republican liberty and of legalized equality, even among the nominally free. Dioge nes, with his lantern, might have vainly looked, through many a long day, among the followers of Marius, or Catiline, or Csesar, for a speci men of the poor but virtuous and selt-respecting Roman citizen of the days of Cincinnatus, or even of Regulus. The Slavery of antiquity survived the religions, the ideas, the polities, and even the empires, in which it had its origin. It should have been abol ished, with gladiatorial combats and other moral abominations, on the accession of Christianity to recog nized supremacy over the Roman world; but the simple and sublime doctrine of Jesus and his disciples, of Paul and the Apostles, had ere this been grievously corrupted and per verted. The subtleties of Greek spec ulation, the pomp and pride of impe rial Home, had afready commenced drawing the Church insensibly fur ther and further away from its divine source. A robed and mitered eccle siasticism, treacherous to humanity and truckling to power, had usurped the place of that austere, intrepid spfrit which openly rebuked the guilt of regal, voluptuous Herod, and made ' "In the year 990, Moorish merchants from the Barbary coast first reached the cities of Ni- gritia, and estabhshed an uninterrupted ex change of Saracen and Europeall luxuries for courtly Fehx tremble. The prelates of the lately persecuted Church were the favored companions and coun- selors-too often, alas! the courtiers also— of Emperors and Caesars; but they seldom improved or risked thefr great opportunity to demand obe dience, in aU cases, to the dictates of the Golden Rule. The Church had become an estate above the people ; and their just complaints of the op pressions and inhumanities of the powerful were not often breathed into its reluctant ears. White Sla very gradually wore out, or faded out; but it was not grappled with and crushed as it should have been. The Dark Ages, justly so called, are still quite dark enough; but sufficient light has been shed upon them to assure us that the accord of priest and noble was com plete, and that serf and peasant groaned and suffered beneath their fron sway. The invention of Printing, the dis covery of America, the Protestant Reformation, the decline and fall of Feudalism, gradually changed the condition and brightened the pros pect of the masses. Ancient Slavery was dead ; modern Serfdom was sub stantially confined to cold and bar barous Russia ; but African Slavery — the slavery of heathen negroes — had been revived, or reintroduced, on the northern coast of the Mediterra nean, by Moorish traders, about the Tenth Century, and began to make Its way among Spanish and Portu guese Christians somewhere near the mj.ddle of the Fifteenth.'' iThe great name of Columbus is the gold and slaves of Central Africa "— n croft's History of the United States vol ; 165. ' '¦ '¦' P- " The Portuguese are next m the market. An- ORIGIN OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN AMERICA. L'< indelibly soiled and stained by his undeniable and conspicuous implica tion in the enslavement of the Abori gines of this continent, so improperly termed Indians. Within two years after his great discovery, before he had set foot on the continent, he was concerned in seizing some scores of natives, carrying them to Spain, and selling them there as slaves.^ His example was extensively followed. The fierce lust for gold, which in flamed the early adventurers on his track, incited the most reckless, shameless disregard of the rights and happiness of a harmless and guileless people, whose very helplessness should have been their defense.* Forced to hunt incessantly for gold, and to minister in every way to the imperi ous appetites of their stranger tyrants, they foimd in speedy death their only relief from intolerable suffering. In a few years, but a miserable remnant remained. And now the western coast of Africa was thrown open to replace them by a race more indura^^ ted to hardship, toil, and suffering.* Religion was speciously invoked to cover this new atrocity with her broad mantle, under the plea of re lieving the Indians from a servitude, which they had already escaped through the gate of death. But, though the Papacy was earnestly im portuned to lend its sanction to this device, and though its compliance has been stoutly asserted, and was long widely beheved, the charge rests upon no evidence, is squarely denied, and has been silently abandoned. For once, at least, avarice and cruelty have been unable to gain a sacer dotal sanction, and compelled to fall back in good order upon Canaan and Ham." But, even without benefit of clergy, Negro Slavery, once introduc ed, rapidly, though thinly, overspread the whole vast area of Spanish and Portuguese America, with Dutch and French Guiana and the West India Islands ; and the African slave-trade was, for two or three centuries, the most lucrative, though most abhor rent, traffic pursued by or known to mankind.' It was the subject of tonio Gonzales, who had brought some Moorish slaves into Portugal, was commanded to release them. He did so; and the Moors gave him, as their ransom, not gold, but blacli Moors with cv/rUd hair. Thus negro slaves came into Eu rope." "In 1444, Spain also took part in the traffic. The historian of her maritime discoveries even claims for her the unenviable distinction of hav ing anticipated the Portuguese in introducing negroes into Europe." — Ibid., p. 166. ^ " Columbus himself did not escape the stain. Enslaving five hundred native Americans, he sent them to Spain, that they might be pubhcly soldat Seville." — 'ibid. * " In 1500, the generous Isabella commanded the liberation of the Indians held in bondage in her European possessions. Yet her native benevolence extended not to the Moors, whose valor had been punished by slavery, nor to the Africans ; and even her compassion forthe New World was but a transient feehng, which reheves the miserable who are in sight, not the delibera tion of a just principle." — Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. i., p. 128. ' " It was not Las Casas who first suggested the plan of transporting African slaves to His- paniola; Spanish slaveholders, as they emigra ted, were accompanied by their negroes." — Ibid. ' " Even the voluptuous Leo X. declared that ' not the Christian rehgion only, but nature her self, cries out against the state of Slavery.' And Paul IIL, in two separate briefs, imprecated a curse on the Europeans who would enslave In dians, or any other class of men." — Ibid., p. 172. ' Upon the suggestion of Las Casas in favor of negroes for American slaves, iu'contradistinction to tlie Indians, negroes began to be poured iuto the West Indies. " It had been proposed to allow four for each emigrant. Deliberate calculation fixed the number esteemed necessary at four thousand. That very year in which Charles V. sailed with a powerful expedition against Tunis, to attack the pirates of tlie Barbary States, and to emanci pate Christian slaves in Africa, he gave an open, legal sanction to the African slave-trade.' ' — Ibid., p. 170. 28 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. gainful and jealous monopoHes, and its profits were greedily shared by philosophers, statesmen, and kings.' When, in 1607, the first abid ing Enghsh colony — -Virginia — was founded on the Atlantic coast of what is now our country, Negro Slavery, based on the African slave- trade, was more than a century old throughout Sj^anish and Portuguese America, and so had afready acquired the stabihty and respectabihty of an institution. It was nearly half a century old in the British West In dies. Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and British vessels and trading com panies" vied with each other for the gains to be speedily acquired by purchasing, or kidnapping, young negroes on the coast of Guinea, and seUing them in the American colonies of their own and other nations. The early colonists of Virginia were mainly adventurers of an unusually bad type — ^bankrupt prodigals, gen teel spendthrifts, and incorrigible profligates, many of whom had left their native country for that country's good, in obedience to the urgent per suasion of sheriffs, judges, and jviries. All were intoxicated by the common illusions of emigrants with regard to the facilities for acqmring vast wealth at the cost of littie or no labor in the Eden to which they were attracted. Probably no other colony that ever succeeded or endured was so largely made up of unfit and unisromising materials. Had it not been backed by a strong and liberal London com pany, which enjoyed for two or three generations the special favor and patronage of the Crown, it must have perished in its infancy. But .the climate of tide-water Virginia is ge nial, the soil remarkably fertile and facile, the timber abundant and ex cellent, while its numerous bays and .inlets abound in the choicest shell fish; so that a colony that would fail here could succeed nowhere. To bacco, too, that bewitching but poisonous narcotic, wherewith Provi dence has seen fit to balance the in estimable gifts ot Indian Com and the Potato by the New World to the Old, grew luxuriantly on the inter vals of her rivers, and was eagerly bought at high prices by the British merchants, through whom nearly every want of the colonists was sup plied. Manual labor of all kinds was in great demand in the Enghsh colonies ; so that, for some time, the " " A Flemish favorite of Charles V having obtained of this king a patent containing an ex clusive right of importing four thousand negroes annually to the West Indies, sold it for twenty- five tliousand ducats, to some Genoese mer chants, who flrst brought iuto a regular form the commerce for slaves between Africa and Ame rica." — Holmes's Annak of America, vol. i., p. 35. " In 1563, the English began to import negroes into the West Indies. Their first slave-trade was opened the preceding year on the coast of Guinea. John Hawkins, in the prospect of a great gain, resolved to make trial of this nefari ous and inhuman traffic. Communicating the design to several gentlemen in London, who be came liberal contributors and adventurers, three good sliips were immediately provided; and, with these and one hundred men, Hawkins sailed to the coast of Guinea, where, by money, treachery, and force, he procured at least three hundred negroes, and now sold them at His- paniola." — Ibid., p. 83. "Ferdinand" (in 1513) "issued a decree de claring that the servitude ofthe Indians is war ranted bythe laws of God aud mau." — Ibid., p.32. " Every freeman of Carolina shall have abso lute power and authority over his negro slaves of what nation or religion whatsoever." Loclce's Fundamental Constitution for South Carolina. 9 According to Bancroft, upon the establish ment of the Assiento Treaty in 1713, creating a Company for the prosecution of the African Slave Trade, one-quarter of the stock was taken by Philip of Spain ; Queen Anne reserved to herself another quarter, and the remaining moiety was to be divided among her subjects. " Thus did the sovereigns of England and Spain become the largest slave-merohaata in the world." LATi'YER'S LAW FOR SLAVERY. 29 banishment thither of felons from the mother country seems to have pro voked no serious objection. That such a colony, in such an age, should have existed thfrteen years prior to the introduction of Negro Slavery, indicates rather its weakness and poverty than its virtue. The proba bility is that its planters bought the first slaves that were offered them ; at any rate, the first that they were able to pay for. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the rock of Ply mouth," Vfrginia had already re ceived and distributed her tfrst cargo of slaves." There is no tecord of any serious opposition, whether on moral or eco nomic grounds, to the introduction of slaves and establishment of Slavery in the various British, Dutch, and Swedish Colonies, planted along the coast between the Penobscot and the Savannah rivers during the succeed ing century. At the outset, it is cer tain that the importation of negro chattels into the various seaports, by merchants trading thither, was re garded only with vague curiosity and marvel, hke that which would now be excited by the experimental in troduction of elephants or hippopot ami as beasts of burden. Human rights, in the abstract, had not yet been made a theme of popular dis cussion, hardly of philosophic specu lation; for English liberty, John Hampden had not yet poured out his blood on the battle-field, nor Alger non Sidney laid his head on the block. The negroes, uncouth and repulsive, could speak no word intel- hgible to British or Colonial ears, when first imported, and probably had a scarcely clearer conception of their own rights and wrongs than had those by whom they were sur rounded. Some time ere the middle of the Seventeenth Century, a BritisL Attorney-General, having the ques tion formally submitted to him, gave his official opinion, that negroes, ie- ing pagans, might justly be held in Slavery, even in England itself. The amount of the fee paid by the wealthy and prosperous slave-traders 10 December 22, 1620. The first slaves brought to Virginia were sold from a Dutch vessel, which landed twenty at Jamestown, in 1620. 11 "Inthe first recorded case (Butts v. Penny, 2 Lev., 201; 3 Kib., 785), in 1677, m which the question of property in negroes appears to have come before the Enghsh courts, it was held, ' that, being usually bought and sold among mer chants as merchandise, and also being infidels, there might be a property in them sufficient to maintaiu trover.' " — Hildreth's Hist. JJ. S., vol ii., p. 214. "What precisely the English law might be on the subject of Slavery, stUl remained a mat ter of doubt. Lord Holt had expressed the opinion, as quoted in a previous chapter, that Slavery was a condition unknown to Enghsh law, and that every person setting foot in Eng land thereby became free. American planters, on their visits to England, seem to have been annoyed by claims of freedom set up on this ground, and that, also, of baptism. To relieve their embarrassments, the merchants concerned in the American trade" (in 1729) "had obtained a written opinion from Yorke and Talbot, the attorney and sohoitor general of that day. Ac cording to this opinion, which passed for more than forty years as good law, not only was bap tism no bar to Slavery, but negro slaves might be held m England just as well as in the Colo nies. The two lawyers by whom this opinion was given rose afterward, one of them to be chief justice of England, and both to be chancel lors. Yorke, sitting in the latter capacity, with the title of Lord Hardwicke" (in 1749), "had recently recognized the doctrine of that opinion as sound law. (Pearce v. Lisle, Ambler, 76.) He objects to Lord Holt's doctrine of freedom, secured by setting foot on Enghsh soil, that no reason could be found why slaves should not be equally free when they set foot in Jamaica, or any other Enghsh plantation. All our colonies are subject to the laws of England, although as to some purposes they have laws of their own I His argument is that, if Slavery be contrary to English law, no local enactments in the Colonies could give it any vahdity. To avoid overturn ing Slavery in the Colonies, it was absolutely necessary to uphold it in England." — Ibid., p. 426. GO THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. for this remarkable display of legal erudition and acumen, is not re corded, but it probably included a liberal consideration for wear-and- tear of conscience. Two or three de cisions from British courts were, at different times thereafter, obtained, substantially echoing this opinion. It was not till 1772 that Lord Mans field pronounced, in the ever-memo rable Somerset case, his judgment that, by the laws of England, no man could be held in Slavery. That judg ment has never since been disturbed, n^r seriously questioned. ( The austere morality and demo- cl-atic spirit of the Puritans ought to have kept thefr skirts clear from the stain of human bondage. But, be neath all their fierce antagonism, there was a certain kinship between the disciples of Calvin and those of Loyola. Each were ready to suffer and die for God's truth as they under stood it, and neither cherished any appreciable sympathy or considera tion for those they esteemed God's enemies, in which category the sav ages of America and the heathen ne groes of Africa were so unlucky as to be found. )The Puritan pioneers of New England were early involved in desperate, life-or-death struggles with their Aboriginal neighbors, in whom they failed to discover those poetic and fascinating traits which irradiate them in the novels of Coo per and the poems of Longfellow. 'Their experience of Indian ferocity and treachery, acting upon their the ologie convictions, led them early and readily to the belief that these savages, and by logical inference all savages, were the children of the devil,Jo be subjugated, if not extir pated, jas the PhQistine inhabitants of Canaan had been by the Israelites under Joshua. Indian slavery, some times forbidden by law, but usually tolerated, if not entfrely approved, by pubhc opinion, was among the early usages of New England ; and from this to negro slavery — the slavery of any variety of pagan barbarians — was an easy transition. That the slaves in the Eastern colonies were few, and mainly confined to the seaports, does not disprove this statement. The harsh climate, the rocky soil, the rug ged topography of New England, presented formidable, though not impassable, barriers to slaveholding. Her narrow patches of arable soil, hemmed in between bogs and naked blocks of granite, were poorly adapt ed to cultivation by slaves. The labor of the hands without the brain, of muscle divorced from intelligence, would procure but a scanty livelihood on those bleak hills. He who was compelled, for a subsistence, to be, by turns, farmer, mechanic, lumber man, navigator, and fisherman, might possibly support one slave, but would be utterly ruined by half a dozen. Slaveholding in the Northern States was rather coveted as a social dis tinction, a badge of aristocracy and wealth, than resorted to with any idea of profit or pecuniary advan tage. It was different southward of the Susquehanna, but especially in South Carohna, where the cultivation of Eice and Indigo on the seaboard had early furnished lucrative employment for a number of slaves far exceeding that of the white population, and whose Sea Islands afforded peculiar faciUties for limiting the intercourse of the slaves with each other, and" their means of escape to the wilder- GEORGIA A FREE COLONY. 31 ness and to the savages. South Car olina, a century ago, was as intense ly, conspicuously aristocratic and slaveholding as in our own day. But when Slavery had obtained eve rywhere a foothold, and, in most col onies, a distinct legal recognition, without encountering aught deserv ing the name of serious resistance, it were absurd to claim for any colony or section a moral superiority in this regard over any other. The single and most honorable ex ception to the general facility with which this giant wrong was adopted and acquiesced in, is presented by the history of Georgia. That colony may owe something of her preemi nence to her comparatively recent foundation ; but she is far more in debted to the character and efforts of her illustrious founder. James Ogle- THOEPE was born in 1688, or 1689, at Godalming, Surry County, Eng land ; entered the British army in 1710 ; and, having resigned on the restoration of peace, was, in 1714, commended by the great Marlborough to his fonner associate in command, the famous Prince Eugene of Savoy, by whom he was appointed one of his aids. He fought under Eugene in his brilhant and successful campaign against the Turks in 1716 and 1717, closing with the siege and capture 'of Belgrade, which ended the war. Dechning to remain in the Austrian service, he returned, in 1722, to Eng land, where, on the death of his elder brother about this time, he in herited the family estate ; was elected to Parliament for the borough of Hazelmere, which he represented for the ensuing thirty-two years, and, be coming acquainted with the frightful abuses and inhumanities which then characterized the British system of Imprisonment for Debt, he devoted himself to their reform, and carried through the House an act to this end. His interest in the fortunes of bank rupt and needy debtors led him to plan the estabhshment of a colony to which they should be invited, and in which they might hope, by in dustry and prudence, to attain inde pendence. This colony was also in tended to afford an asylum for the oppressed Protestants of Germany and other portions of the continent. He interested many eminent and in fluential personages in his project, obtained for it a grant of nearly ten thousand pounds sterling from Par liament, with subscriptions to the amount of sixteen thousand more, and organized a company for its realization, whereof the directors were nearly all noblemen and mem bers of Parliament. Its constitution forbade any director to receive any pecuniary advantage therefrom. Be ing himself the animating soul of the enterprise, he was persuaded to ac cept the arduous trust of governor of the colony, for which a royal grant had been obtained of the western coast of the Atlantic from the mouth of the Savannah to that of the Altamaha, and to which the name of Georgia was given in honor of the reigning sovereign. The trustees were incorporated in June, 1732. The pioneer colonists left England in November of that year, and landed at Charleston in January, 1733. Proceeding directly to their territory, they founded the city of Savannah in the course of the en suing month. Oglethorpe, as director and vice-president of the African Company, had previously become 32 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. acquainted with an African prince, captured and sold into slavery by some neighboring chief, and had re turned him to his native country, after imbibing from his acquaintance with the facts a profound detestation of the Slave-Trade and of Slavery. One of the fundamental laws devised by Oglethorpe for the government of his colony was a prohibition of slave- holding ; another was an interdiction of the sale or use of Rum — ^neither of them calculated to be popular with the jail-birds, idlers, and profligates, who eagerly sought escape from their debts and their miseries by becoming members of the new colony. The spectacle of men, no wiser nor bet ter than themselves, living idly and luxuriously, just across the Savannah river, on the fruits of constrained and unpaid negro labor, doubtless inflamed thefr discontent and their hostility. As if to add to the gov ernor's troubles, war between Spain and England broke out in 1739, and Georgia, as the frontier colony, con tiguous to the far older and stronger Spanish settlement of East Florida, was pecuharly exposed to its ravages. Oglethorpe, at the head of the South Carolina and Georgia militia, made an attempt on Saint Augustine, which miscarried ; and this, in 1742, was retahated by a much stronger Spanish expedition, which took Fort St. Simon, on the Altamaha, and might easily have subdued the whole colony, but it was alarmed and re pelled by a stratagem of his concep tion. Oglethorpe soon after returned to England ; the trastees finally sur rendered their charter to the Crown ; and in 1752 Georgia became a royal colony, whereby its inhabitants were enabled to gratify, without restraint, their longing for Slavery and Rum. The struggle of Oglethorpe" in Georgia was aided by the presence, counsels, and active sympathy, of the famous John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, whose pungent de scription of Slavery as " the sum of all villainies," was based on personal observation and experience during his sojourn in these colonies. But " another king arose, who knew not Joseph ;" the magisterial hostihty to bondage was relaxed, if not wholly vdthdrawn ; the temptation remained and increased, while the resistance faded and disappeared ; and soon Georgia yielded silently, passively, to the contagion of evil example, and thus became not only slaveholding, but, next to South Carolina, the most infatuated of all the thirteen colonies in its devotion to the mighty evil. "Oglethorpe lived to he nearly a hundred years old — -dying at Cranham HaU, Essex, Eng land, June 30, 1787. It is not recorded nor probable that he ever revisited America after his relinquishment of the governorship of Geor gia; but he remained a warm, active, weU- informed friend of our country after, as Well as before and during, her struggle for independence. In 1784, Hannah More thus wrote of him: " I have got a new admirer ; it is Gen. Ogle thorpe, perhaps the most remarkable man of his time. He was foster-brother to tbe Pretender, and is much above ninety years old, the finest figure you ever saw. He perfectly reaUzes all my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great, his knowledge of the world extensive, and his facul ties as bright as ever. * * He is quite a -preux chevalier; heroic, romantic, and full of the old gallantry." Pope — who praised so sparingly — had spoken of him, not quite half a century earlier, in terms evincing like admiration ; and many other contem poraries of hterary eminence bore testimony to his signal merits. — See Sparks' s American Bio graphy. III. SLAVERY IN THE REVOLUTION. The American Revolution was no sudden outbreak. It was preceded by eleven years of peaceful remon strance and animated discussion. The vital question concerned the right of the British Parliament to impose taxes, at its discretion, on British subjects in any and every part of the empire. This question pre sented many phases, and prompted various acts and propositions. But its essence was always the same ; and it was impossible that such men as James Otis, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, should discuss it without laying broad foun dations for their argument in pre mises affecting the natural and gene ral Rights of Man to self-government, with the control of his ovni products or earnings. The enthusiast who imagines that our patriots were all convinced of the danger and essential iniquity of Slavery, and the conserva tive who argues that few or none perceived and admitted the direct application of their logic to the case of men held in perpetual and limit less bondage, are alike mistaken. There were doubtless some who did not perceive, or did not admit, the inseparable connection between the rights they claimed as British free men and the rights of all men every where ; but the more discerning and logical of the patriots comprehended and confessed that their assertion of the rightful inseparability of Repre sentation from Taxation necessarily affirmed the grander and more essen tial right of each innocent, rational being to the control and use of his own cajDacities and faculties, and to the enjoyment of his own earnings.' ' Witness the Darien (Ga.) resolutions. In the Darien committee, Thursday, June 12, 1775: " When the most valuable privUeges of a peo ple are invaded, not only by open violence, but by every kind of fraud, sophistry, and cunning, it behooves every individual to be upon his guard, and every member of society, hke bea cons in a country surrounded by enemies, to give the alarm, not only when their liberties in general are invaded, but separately, .lest the precedent in one may affect the whole ; and to enable the collective wisdom of such a people to judge of its consequences, and how far their respective grievances concern all, or should be opposed to preserve their necessary union. Every laudable attempt of this kind by the good people of this Colony, in a constitutional manner, has been hitherto frustrated by the influence and authority of men in office and their numer ous dependents, and in every other natural and just way by the various arts they have put in practice. We, therefore, the representatives of the extensive district of Darien, iu the colony of Georgia, being now assembled in congress bythe authority and free choice of the inhabit ants of the said district, now free from their fetters, do Resolve — " There are six resolutions in aU. The first 3 eulogizes "the firm and manly conduct of the people of Boston and Massachusetts," acquiescing in all the resolutions of the " grand American Congress iu Philadelphia last October." The second resolution is denunciatory of England, in shutting up the land office, and in other op pressive acts. The third is opposed to ministe rial mandates under the name of constitutions. The fourth is denunciatory of the number of officers appointed over the colonies by the British crown, and their exorbitant salaries. The fifth is as follows : " 5tli. To show the world that we are not in fluenced by any contracted or interested motive, but a general philanthropy for all mankind, of whatever climate, language, or complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation and abhor rence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America (however the uncultivated state of our coimtry, and other specious arguments, may plead for it), a practice founded in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties (as well as lives), debasing part of our feilow-creatures below men, and corrupting the virtue and morals of the rest, and as laying the basis of tliat liberty we contend for (and which we pray the Almighty to continue to the latest posterity) upon a very wrong foundation. We therefore resolve at all times to use our utmost efforts for the manumis- 34 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. The principles of civil and pohtical hberty, so patiently evolved and so thoroughly commended during the long controversy which preceded the appeal to arms, were reduced to axioms, and became portions of the popular faith. When Jeffer son, in drafting our immortal Declaration of Independence, em bodied in its preamble a formal and emphatic assertion of the inalienable Rights of Man, he set forth propo sitions novel and startling to Euro pean ears, but which eloquence and patriotic fervor had already engraven deeply on the American heart. That Declaration was not merely, as Mr. Choate has termed it, "the passion ate manifesto of a revolutionary war ;" it was the embodiment of our forefathers' deepest and most rooted convictions; and when, in penning that Declaration, he charged the British government with upholding and promoting the African slave- trade against the protests of the colonists,'' and in violation of the dictates of humanity, he asserted truths which the jealous devotion of South Carolina and Georgia to slave- holding rendered it impolitic to send forth as an integral portion of our arraignment of British tyranny; but which were, nevertheless, widely and deeply felt to be an important and integral portion of our case.' Even divested of this, the Declaration stands to-day an evidence that our fathers regarded the rule of Great Britain as no more destructive to their own rights than to the rights of mankind. No other document was ever issued which so completely reflected and developed the popular convictions which underlaid and impelled it as that Declaration of Independence; The cavil that its ideas were not original with Jefferson is a striking testimonial to its worth. Origin ahty of conception was the very last merit to which he would have chosen to lay claim, his purpose being to em body the general convictions of his countrymen — their conceptions of human, as well as colonial, rights and British wrongs, in the fewest, strong est, and clearest words. The fact that some of these words had afready been employed — some of them a hundred times — to set forth the same general truths, in no manner unfitted them for his use. The claim that his draft was a pla- sion of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and equitable footing for the masters and them selves." — American Archives, 4,th Series, vol i., 1774 and 1775. '¦'The foUowing is the indictment of George III., as a patron and upholder of the African slave- trade, embodied by Mr. Jefferson in his original draft ofthe Declaration : "Determined to Iceep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted Ids negative for suppressing eray legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he lias deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded ihem : thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, vnth crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another " 2 Mr. Jefferson, in his Autobiography, gives the foUowing reason for the omission of this re markable passage from the Declaration as adopt ed, issued, and pubhshed: "The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inliabitants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and G,x)rgia who had never attempted to restrain the imnortation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also I believe, felt a little tender under those censure's- for, though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considera ble carriers of them to others." — Jefferson's Works, vol. i., p. 170. SLAVERY IN THB REVOLUTION. 35 giarism from the Mecklenburg (N. C.) Declaration of April 20th, pre ceding, he indignantly repelled ; but he always observed that he employed whatever terms best expressed his thought, and would not say how far he was indebted for them to his read ing, how far to his original refiec- tions. Even the great fundamental assertion of Human Rights, which he has so memorably set forth as follows : "We hold these truths to be self- Bvident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inaliena ble rights ; that among these, are hfe, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights govern ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that, when ever any form of government be comes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new gov ernment, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect thefr safety and happiness," was no novelty to those who hailed and responded to it. Three weeks before, the Virginia Convention had unanimously adopt ed a Declaration of Rights, reported on the 27th of May by George Ma son,* which proclaims that " All men are by nature equally free, and have inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possess ing property, and pursuing and ob- ¦* The grandfather of James M. Mason, late U. S. Senator from Virginia, since Confederate taining happiness and safety." See also the Mecklenburg Declaration. The original draft of the Declara tion of American Independence was first communicated by Mr. Jefferson separately to two of his colleagues, John Adams and Benjamin Frank Hn, on the committee chosen by Con gress to prepare it ; then to the whole committee, consisting, in addition, of Roger Sherman and Robert R. Liv ingston ; reported, after twenty days' gestation, on the 28th of June ; read in Committee of the Whole on the 1st of July ; earnestly debated and scanned throughout the three follow ing days, until finally adopted on the evening of the 4th. It may safely be said that not an affirmation, not a sentiment, was put forth therein to the world, which had not received the deliberate approbation of such cautious, conservative minds as those of Frankhn, John Adams, and Roger Sherman, and of the American Peo ple, as well as their representatives in Congress, those of South Carohna and Georgia included. The progress of the Revolution justified and deepened these convic tions. Slavery was soon proved our chief source of weakness and of peril. Of our three millions of people, half a million were the chattels of others ; and though all the colonies tolerated, and most of them expressly legalized slaveholding, the slaves, nearly con centrated in the Southern States, paralyzed the energies and enfeebled the efforts of their patriots. Incited by proclamations of royal governors and military commanders, thousands of the negroes escaped to British camps and garrisons, and were there Emissary to England. George Mason was one of Virginia's most Ulustrious sons. 36 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. manumitted and protected; while the master race, alarmed for the safety of their families, were unable or unwilhng to enlist in the Conti nental armies, or even to be called into service as mihtia.' The number of slaves in the States respectively, at the time of the Revo lution, is not known. But it may be closely approximated by the aid of the census of 1790, wherein the slave population is returned as fol lows: NORTH. New Hampshire 158 Vermunt 11 Ehode Island 952 Connecticut 2,759 Massachusetts 6 nunc New Yorl; 21..324 New .Jersey 11.423 Pennsylvania ^ 3,T37 Total. . . 40,370 SOTTTH. Delaware Maryland 103. Virginia 293, North Caviilina 100. iSouth Carolina. 107. Georsia 29. Kentucky 11, Tennessee 1,036 427,572,094 264 &30 ,417 Total 657,627 The documents and correspondence of the Revolution are fuU of com plaints by Southem slaveholders of their helplessness and peril, because of Slavery, and of the necessity there by created of their more efficient de fense and protection.' The New England States, with a population less numerous than that of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, furnished more than double the number of soldiers to battle for the common cause. The South was repeatedly overrun, and regarded as substan tially subdued, by armies that would not have ventured to invade New England, and could not have main tained themselves a month on her soil. Indeed, after Gage's expulsion * The number of troops employed by the Colo nies during the entire Eevolutionary war, as well as the number furnished by each, is shown by the foUowing, which is compiled from statis tics contained in a work published by Jacob Moore, Concord, entitled, " Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society for the year 1824," vol i., p. 236. New Hampshire . Massachusetts . . . Rhode Island . . . Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania . . . Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina .. South Carolina . . Georgia CONTIXEN-TAI,. 12,49668,007 5,878 32,03918,331 10,72625,608 2,317 13,91226,668 7,2036,4172,679 MTLmA. 2,093 15,155 4,284 7,7923,304 6,055 7,357 376 4,127 5,620 Total 232,341 56,163 ' Massachusetts adopted a new State Consti tution in 1780, to which a bill of rights was pre fixed, which her Supreme Court soon after de cided was inconsistent with the maintenance of Slavery, which had thus been abolished. ' Pennsylvania had passed an act of Gradual Emancipation in 17 80. " Henry Laurens of South Carolina, two years President of tlie Continental Congress, appointed Minister to HoUand, and captured on his way thither 'oy a British cruiser, finally Commissioner with Eranklin and Jay for negotiating peace with Great Britain, on the 14th of August, 1776, wrote from Charleston, S. C, to his son, then in England, a letter explaining and justifying his resolution to stand or fall with the cause of American Independence, in which he said : " You know, my dear son, I abhor Slavery. I was born in a country where Slavery had been established by British kings and parliaments, as by the laws of that country, ages before my ex istence. I found tho Chvistiau religion and Slavery growing under the same authority and cultivation. I nevertheless disliked it. In former days, there -n'as no combating the preju dices of men supported by interest ; the day, I hope, is approaching, when from principles of giatitude, as well as justice, every man shall strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the golden rule. Not less than twenly thousand pounds sterling would all my negroes produce, if sold at public auction to morrow. I am not the mau who enslaved them • they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor: nevertheless, I am devising means for manumit ting many of them, and for cutting off the eutaU of slavery. Great powers oppose nie, — the laws and customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrrmeu. ^Miat will my chih dren say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are difficulties, but uot insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my time, and leave the rest to a better hand. " I am not one of those who .arrogate the pe culiar care of Providence in each fortunate event • nor one of those who dare trust in Providence for defense and security of their own liberty while they enslave, and wish to continue in slavery, thousands who are as well entitled to THB STATES AND THEIR TERRITORIES. 37 from Boston, and Burgoyne's surren der at Saratoga, New England, save the islands on her coast, was pretty carefully avoided by the Royalist generals, and only assailed by raids, which were finished almost as soon as begun. These facts, vividly im pressed on the general mind by the necessities and sacrifices of the times," in connection with the discovery and elucidation, already noticed, of elemental principles, had pretty thoroughly cured the North of all attachment to, or disposition to jus tify Slavery before the close of the Revolutionary war. lY. SLAVEET UNDER THE CONFEDERATION. As the pubhc burdens were con stantly swelled, and the debts of the several States increased, by the mag nitude and duration of our Revolu tionary struggle, the sale of yet un settled lands, especially in the vast and fertile West, began to be regard ed as a principal resource for the ultimate discharge of these constantly augmenting liabilities : and it be came a matter of just complaint and uneasiness on the part of those States — Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and South Carolina — ^which had no chartered claim to such lauds much beyond the hmits of their then actual settlements, that their partners in the efforts, responsibilities, and sacrifices of the common struggle were hkely to reap a peculiar and dispropor tionate advantage from its success. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, each claimed, under their several charters, a right of almost in definite extension westward, and,,iu the event of the establishment of American independence, would natu- freedom as themselves. I perceive the work before me is great. I shall appear to many as a promoter not only of strange, but of dangerous doctrines : it wUl therefore be necessary to pro ceed with caution. Tou are apparently deeply interested in this affair ; but, as I have no doubts concerning your concurrence and approbation, I most sincerely wish for your advice and assist ance, and hope to receive both in good time." — Collection of tlie Zenger Club, pp. 20, 21 8 The famous Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D.D., an eminent Calvinist divine, pubUshed, soon after the commencement of the war, a dialogue con cerning" the slavery of the Africans, which he dedicated to "The Honorable Continental Congress," and of which the following passage exhibits the drift and purpose : " God is so ordering it in his providence, that it seems absolutely necessary something should be speedily done with respect to the slaves among us, in order to our safety, and to prevent their turning against us in our present struggle, in order to get their liberty. Our oppressors have planned to gain the blacks, and induce them to take up arms against us, by promising them liberty on this condition; and this i)lan they are prosecuting to the utmost of their power, by which means they have persuaded numbers to join them. And, should we attempt to restrain thera by force and severity, keeping a strict guard over them, and punishing them severely who shall be detected in attempting to join our opposers, this wiU only be making bad worse, and serve to render our inconsistence, oppression, and cruelty, more criminal, perspicuous, and shocking, and bring down the righteous ven geance of Heaven on our heads. The only way pointed out to prevent this threatening evil is to set the blacks at liberty ourselves, by some public acts and laws, and then give thera proper en couragement to labor, or take arms in the defense ofthe American cause, as they shall choose. This would at once be doing them some degree of justice, and defeating our enemies in the scheme that they are prosecuting." — Hopkins's Works, vol ii., p. 584. 38 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. rally each possess a vast area of unpeo pled, ungranted, and ultimately valu able lands. The landless States, with obvious reason and justice, insisted that these lands, won by the common valor and sacrifices of the whole American people, should be regarded as their common property, and to this end should be surrendered or ceded by the States claiming them respectively to the Confederation. The colonial charters, moreover, were glaringly inconsistent with each other ; vast tracts being ceded by them to two or more colonies respect ively ; and it was a puzzling question, even for lawyers, to deteBmine wheth er the earliest or the latest royal con cession, if either, should have the pre cedence. There was but one benefi cent and just solution for all dis putes and difliculties in the premises ; and this was a quit-claim by the re spective States of their several rights and pretensions to lands exterior to their own proper boundaries, in favor of the common Confederacy. This consummation was, for the most part, seasonably and cheerfully agreed to. Connecticut made a moderate reser vation of wild lands • assured to her by her charter in what is now North ern Ohio. Virginia, beside retain ing her partially settled country south of the Ohio, now forming the State of Kentucky, reserved a sutfi- ciency north of the Ohio to provide liberal bounties for her ofiicers and soldiers who fought in the war of the Revolution, conceding all other ter ritory north of the river, and all ju risdiction over this. And it was pre sumed, at the close of the war, that North Carolina and Georgia would promptly make similar concessions of the then savage regions covered by their respective charters, now known as Tennessee, Alabama, and Missis sippi. Though the war was practically concluded by the surrender of Corn wallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, and though the treaty of peace was signed at Paris, November 30, 1782, the British did not evacuate New York till November 25, 1783 ; and the Ninth Continental Congress, which convened at Philadelphia on the 3d of that month, adjourned next day to Annapolis. A bare quorum of members responded to their names, but one and another soon dropped off; so that the journal of most days records no quorum present, and no business done, until about the 1st day of March, 1784. On that day, Mr. Jefferson, on behalf of the dele gates from his State, presented the deed of cession to the Confederation, by Virginia, of all her claims to ju risdiction over teiTitory northwest of the Ohio, and to the soil also of that territory, subject to the reservation in behalf of her soldiers already noted. This deed being formally accepted, Mr. Jefferson moved the appointment of a select committee to report a plan of government for the western territory ; and Messrs. Jeffer son, Chase of Maryland, and HoweU of Rhode Island, were appointed such committee. From this committee Mr. Jefferson, in due time, reported an Ordinance for the government of "the territory, ceded already, or to he ceded, by individual States to the United States," specifying that such territory extends from the 31st to the 4:7th degree of north latitude, so as to include what now constitutes the States of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, but which was then, and THE JEFFERSONIAN ORDINANCE OP 1784. 39 remained for some years thereafter, unceded to the Union by North Car olina and Georgia. This entire ter ritory, ceded and to be ceded, was divided prospectively by the Ordi nance into embryo States, to which names were given ; each of them to receive, in due time, a temporary or territorial government, and ulti mately to be admitted into the Con federation of States upon the express assent of two-thirds of the preceding States; but both their temporary and their permanent governments were to be estabhshed on these fun damental conditions : " I. That they shall forener remain a part of the United States of Am erica. "2. That, in their persons, property, and territory, they shall be subject to the gov ernment of the United States, in Congress assembled, and to the Articles of Confedera tion, in all those cases in which the original States shall be so subject. " 3. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, contracted or to be contracted; to be apportioned on them hy Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States. "4. That their respective governments shall be in republican forms, and shall admit no person to be a citizen who holds an he reditary title. " 5. That after tlie year 1800 of the Chris tian era, there shall he neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty." The Ordinance concluded as fol lows: " That all the preceding articles shall 'be formed into a charter of compact ; shall be duly executed by the President of the United States, in Congress assembled, under his hand and the seal of the United States ; shall be promulgated, and shall stand as funda mental conditions between the thirteen orig inal States and those newly described, unal terable but by the joint consent of the United States, in Congress assembled, and of the 1 By the Articles of Confederation, two or more delegates were required to be present to particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made." On the 19th of April, Congress took up this plan for consideration and action, and Mr. Spaight of N. C. moved that the fifth proposition above quoted, prohibiting Slavery after the year 1800, be stricken out ofthe Ordinance ; and Mr. Read of S. C. seconded the motion. The ques tion was put in this form : " Shall the words moved to be stricken out stand ?" and on this question the Ays and Noes were required and taken, with the following result : N. Hamp. . .Mr. Mr. MASSAOirTj..Mr. Mr. R. Island.. Mr. Mr. CoNifECT.. . Mr. Mr. New ToEK.Mr. Mr. N. jEESET..Mr. Peunsti... .Mr. Mr. Mr. Maetland.Mt. Mr. VlEGINIA. .Mr. Mr. Mr. N. OAEOLL.Mr. Mr. S. CAEOLi...Mr. Mr. l\Ay. Foster. ... Blanchard.. ..ay, Gerry ay. Partridge. . . ay, EUery ay, ) . HoweU ay, l^^' Sherman ay, \, Wadsworth. . .ay, J •'' De Witt ay, ' Paine ay, Dick ay, Mifflin ay, Montgomery.. ay, Hand ay, Henry no, ) ,7-. Stone no, \-^ "¦ Jefferson ay, ^ Hardy no, >¦ No. Mercer no, ) Williamson... ay, / i,. ., , Spaight ^'^^\l^^^^ded. Read no, Beresford.. . .no, Ay. No note} ¦Ay. \No. The votes of members were sixteen for Mr. Jefferson's interdiction of Slavery to seven against it, and the States stood recorded six for it to three against it. But the Articles of Con federation required an affirmative vote of a majority of all the States to sustain a proposition ; and thus the restriction failed through the absence of a member from New Jersey, ren dering the vote of that State null for cast the vote of a State. failed to vote. New Jersey, therefore, 40 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. want of a quorum. Had Delaware been then represented, she might, and might not, have voted in the af firmative ; but it is not probable that Georgia, had she been present, would have cast an aifirmative vote. Hu manly speaking, we may say that the accident — a most deplorable and fatal accident — of the absence of a member from New Jersey, prevented the adoption, at that time, of a prop osition which woidd have confined Slavery in our country within the limits of the then existing States, and precluded all reasonable probability of subsequent contentions, collisions, and bloody strife touching its extension. The Jeffersonian Ordinance, thus shorn of its strength — the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted — after undergoing some fur ther amendments, was finally adopt ed, four days later : all the delegates but those from South Carolina voting in its favor. In 1787, the last Continental Con gress, sitting in New York, simulta neously M'ith the Convention at Phi ladelphia which framed our present Constitution, took further action on the. subject ofthe government of the western territory, raising a Select Committee thereon, of which Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, was Chair man. That committtee reported, July 11, " An Ordinance for the government of the Territories of the United States northwest of the Ohio," excluding, by its silence, the territories south of that river, which ¦ were expressly brought within the purview and operation of Mr. Jeffer son's Ordinance — those territories not having, as yet, been ceded by the States claiming them respectively as their peculiar possessions. Mr. Dane's ordinance embodies many provisions originally drafted and reported by Mr. Jefferson in 1784, but with some modifications. The act concludes with six unalterable Articles of Per petual Compact between the embryo States respectively and the Union: the last of them in these words : " There shall be neither Slavery nor irmol- untary servitude in the said Territory, other wise than ill punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To this was added, prior to its pas sage, the stipulation for the rendition of fugitives from labor or service, which either had just been, or was just about to be, embodied in the Federal Constitution, then being framed ; and in this shape the entire Ordinance was adopted, July 13, by the unanimous vote of the States tlien represented iu Congress, inclu ding Georgia and the Carolinas ; no eff'ort having been made to strike out the inhibition of Slavery. Mr. Robert Yates, of New York, voted alone in the negative ou the passao-e of the Ordinance, but was overborne by the vote of his two colleagues, then present." '^ As the American people of our day evi dently presume themselves much wiser than their grandfathers, especially in the science of government, the more essential portion of this celebrated Ordinance of 17.S7 is hereto appended, as affording a standard of comparison with the latest improvements in the art of Constitution- making. It reads : "And for extending the fundamental princi ples of civil and' rehgious hberty, whicli form the basis whereon these Republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected; to lix and estab lish these principles as the basis of all laws constitutions, and governments, "svliich forever hereafter shall be formed in the said Territory • to provide, also, for the establishment of States and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal councils on an equal footing with the original States at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest : V. THE CONVENTION AND THE CONSTITUTION. The experiment of a Confedera tion, as contra-distinguished from a more intimate and positive Union, was fairly tried by our fathers. Its only beneficent result was the de monstration thereby afforded of its "It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that the following articles shaU be considered as articles of compact- be tween the original States and the people and States in the said Territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit : "Article 1. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable, orderly manner, shall ever be mo lested on account of his mode of worship, or reli gious sentiments, in the Territory. "Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said Territory shaU always be entitled to the benefits ofthe right of habeas corpus, and to the trial by jury ; of a pro portionate representation of the people in the 'Legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, uidess for capital offenses, where the proof shaU be evident or the presumption great. AU fines shaU be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishment shaU be inflicted. No man shaU be deprived of his hberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land ; and, should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property, or to demand his par ticular services, fuU compensation shaU be made for the same. And in the just preser vation of rights and property, it is understood and deplared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force, in the said Territory, that shaU, in any manner whatever, interfere with, or af fect, private contracts or engagements, bond fide, and without fraud, previously formed. "Art. 3. General morality and knowledge be ing necessary to good government and the happi ness of mankind, schools and the means of educa tion shaU be forever encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always ^e observed toward the In dians ; their hinds and property shall never be taken from them, without their consent ; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars, authorized by Congress ; aud laws, founded in justice and humanity, shaU from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to thera, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. "Art. 4. The said Territory, aud the States which may be formed therein, shall forever re main a part ofthis confederacy ofthe United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confedera tion, and to such alterations therein as shaU be constitutionally made, and to aU acts and ordi nances of the United States, in Congress assem bled, conformable thereto. The mhabitants and settlers in the said Territory shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, apportioned on them by Congress, according to the sarae com mon rule and measure by which apportionments shaU be made on the other States ; and the taxes for paying their proportion shaU be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district, or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States, in Congress assembled. The Legislatures of those districts, or States, shaU never interfere with the primary disposal of the sod by the United States in Con gress assembled, nor with any regulations Con gress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bond fide purchasers. No taxes shaU be imposed on the lands and property of the United States ; and in no case shall non resident proprietors be taxed higher than resi dents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and Saint Lawrence, aud the convej-- ing-places between the same, shall be commou highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabit ants of the said Territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other State that may be admitted into the Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty, therefor. " Art. 5. There shall be formed in the said Ter ritory no less than three, nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Vii-ginia shaU alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall be fixed and estab lished as follows, to wit : The western State in the said Territory shaU be bounded by the Mis sissippi, the Ohio, and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Yinoent's due north to the territorial hne between the United States and Canada ; and by the said ter ritorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mis sissippi. The middle State shaU be bounded by the said direct Une, the Wabash, from Post Vin cent's to the Ohio; by the Ohio; by a direct line, drawn due north, frora the mouth of the G-reat Miami to the said territorial line; and by the said national line. The eastern State shaU be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line. Pro vided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Con gress shaU hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extremity of Lake Michigan. And 42 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. vital and incurable defects.' Our country attained under it neither dignity, consideration, security, nor even solvency. The central or national authority, left dependent on the concurrent action ofthe several States forthe very means of existence, was exhibited often in the attitude of a genteel beggar, rather than of a sovereign. Congress attempted to impose a very moderate tariff for the payment of interest on the general or foreign debt, contracted in sup- j)ort of the Revolutionary armies, but was baffled by the Legislature of Rhode Island — then a State of rela tively extensive foreign commerce — which interposed its paralyzing veto. Political impotence, commercial em barrassment, and general distress, finally overbore or temporarily silenc ed sectional jealousies and State pride, to such an extent that a Con vention of delegates from a quorum of the States, called together rather to amend than to supersede the Articles of Confederation, was legal ly assembled at Philadelphia in 1787, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Edmund Randolph, and Charles C. Pinckney, being among its most eminent members. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were absent as Embassadors in Europe. Samuel Adams, George Chnton, and Patrick Henry stood aloof, watcHng the movement with jealous appre- TiR&iNlA Mr. Grayson ay, ) Mr. R. H. Lee ay, [¦ Ay. Mr. Carrington.. . .ay, ) North Caeoliua. . Mr. Blount ay, ) . Mr. Hawkins ay, ) ^¦ South CAR0LiN-A...Mr. Kean ay, ) Mr. Huger ay, ) ¦^' Georgia Mr. Few ay, ) . Mr. Pierce ay, f"*^' Journal of Congress, vol. iv., 1787. ' "It may perhaps be thought superfluous to ofler arguments to prove the utUity of the Union — a point, no doubt, deeply engraven on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and one which, it may be imagined, has no adversaries. =* * * But the fact is that we already hear it whispered in the private circles of those who oppose the new Constitution, that the thirteen States are of too great extent for any general system, and that we must of necessity resort to separate confederacies of dis tinct portions of the whole. This doctrine wiU m aU probability, be gradually propagated, tiU it has votaries enough to countenance its open avowal. For nothing can be more evident to those who are able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative of an adoption of the Constitution or a dismemberment of the Union."— r/ie Federalist, N. Y. edition of 1802 vol. i., p. 5. ' " The melancholy story of the Federation showed the stern necessity of a compulsorv power mthe Genera. Government to execute the duties confided to it; and the history of the present government itself has, on more than one occasion, manifested that the power of the Union IS barely adequate to compel the execution of its laws, when resisted even by a single State " . Oliver Wolcott, vol. ii., p. 323. whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be adraitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing -with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent con stitution and State government; provided the constitution and government so to be formed shaU be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles. And so far as it can be consistent with the general inter est of the confederacy, such adraission shall be aUowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less nuraber of free inhabitants in the State than 00,000. "Art. 6. There shaU be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude iu the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; pro vided always, that any person escaping iuto the same frora whom labor or service is lawfully claimed iu any one of the original States, such fugitive may be la-ivfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or ser vice, as aforesaid." On passing the above Ordinance, the Yeas and Nays being required by Mr. Yates, they were taken, with the foUowing result; -Ay. ¦Ay. Massachusetts. . . . Mr. Holton ay, Mr. Dane ay. New York Mr. Smith ay, Mr. Haring ay, Mr. Yates uo. New Jersey Mr. Clarke ^^'X a Mr. Sherman ay, \ ^' Delaware Mr. Kearney ay, ) . Mr. MitoheU ay, J ^^Z- SLATERT IN THE CONTENTION. 43 hension. Franklin, then over eighty- one years of age, declined the chair on account of his increasing infirm ities; and, on his motion, George "Washington was unanimously elected President. The Convention sat with closed doors ; and no circumstantial nor adequate report of its deliberations was made. The only accounts of them which have reached us are those of delegates who took notes at the thne, or taxed their recollection in after years, when the matter had attained an importance not antici pated at the time of its occurrence ; and these reminiscences are not free from the suspicion of having been colored, if not recast, in accordance with the ambitions and ultimate political relations of the recorders. The general outline, however, of the deliberations and decisions of the Convention are sufficiently exhibited in the Constitution, and in wbat we know of the various propositions rejected in the course of its forma tion. The purpose of this work will require only a rapid summary of what was done, and what left un done, in relation to Human Slavery. A majority of the framers of the Constitution, like nearly all their compatriots of our Revolutionary era, were adverse to Slavery.'^ Their judgments condemned, and their con- ' In the debate of Wednesday, August 8, on the adoption of the report of the Committee, "Mr. RuPTJS King [then of Massachusetts, afterward an eminent Senator from New York] wished to know what influence the vote just passed was meant to have on the succeeding part of the report concerning the admission of slaves into the rule of representation. He could not reconcile his mind to the Article (Art. VII., Sect. 3), if it was to prevent" objections to the latter part The admission of slaves was a most grating circumstance to his mind, because he had hoped that this concession would have pro duced a readiness, which had not been manifest ed, to strengthen the General G overnment, and to make a fuU confidence in it. The report un der consideration had, by the tenor of it, put an end to all his hopes. In two great points, the hands of the Legislature were absolutely tied. The importation of slaves could not be prohib ited. Exports could not be taxed. Is this rea sonable ? What are the great objects of the gen eral system ? First, defense against foreign in vasion ; second, against internal sedition. ShaU aU the States, then, be bound to defend each, and shall each be at liberty to introduce a weak ness which wiU render defense more difficult ? ShaU one part of the United States he bound to defend another part, and that other part be at liberty, not only to increase its own danger, but to withhold a compensation for the burden ? If slaves are to be imported, shall not the exports produced by their labor supply a revenue, the better to enable the General Government to de fend their masters? * * * He never could agree to let them be imported without limitation, and then be represented in the National Legisla ture. Indeed, he could so little persuade him self of the rectitude of such a practice, that he was not sure that he could assent to it under any circumstances. "Mr. Sherman [Roger, of Connecticut] re garded the Slave-Trade as iniquitous; but, the point of representation having been settled after much difliculty and deliberation, he did not think himself bound to make opposition ; especiaUy as the present article, as amended, did not preclude any arrangement whatever ou that point in an other place reported. "Mr. Madison objected to one for every forty thousand inhabitants as a perpetual rule. The future increase of population, if the LTnion should be permanent, will render the number of repre sentatives excessive. "Mr. Sherman and Mr. Madison moved to in sert the words ' not exceeding' before the words 'one for every forty thousand inhabitants,' which was agreed to nem. con. "Mr. Gouverneur Morris moved to insert 'free' before the word 'inhabitants.' Much, he said, would depend on this point. He never could concur in upholding Domestic Slavery. It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of heaven on the States where it pre vailed. Compare the free regions of the Mid dle States, where a rich and noble cultivation marks the prosperity and happiness of the peo ple, with -the misery and poverty which over spreads the barren wastes of Virginia, Maryland, and the other States having slaves. 'Travel through the whole continent, and you behold the prospect continually varying with the appearance and disappearance of Slavery. * * * Upon what principle is it that the slaves shaU be computed inthe representation? Are they men? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? Why, then, is no other property in cluded ? The houses in this city [Philadelphia] are worth more than aU the wretched slaves that cover the rice-swamps of South Carolina. The admission of slaves into the representation, when fairly explained, comes to this: that the inhabit- 44 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. sciences reprobated it. They would evidently have preferred to pass over the subject in silence, and frame a Constitution wherein the existence of human bondage was not impliedly or constructively recognized. Hence it may be noted, that those provisions favoring or upholding Slavery, which deform our great charter, are not original and integral parts of the fabric, and, as such, contained in the original draft thereof; but are un sightly and abnormal additions, rather fastened upon than interwoven with the body of the structure. Could the majority have made such ant of Georgia or South Carolina, who goes to the coast of Africa, and, in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity, tears away his feUow- creatures from their dearest connections, and dooms them to the most cruel bondage, shall have more votes in a government instituted for the protection of the rights of mankind than the citizen of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, who views with a laudable horror so nefarious a prac tice. He would add, that Domestic Slavery is the most prominent feature in the aristocratic countenance of the proposed Constitution. * * * Let it not he said that Direct Taxation is to be proportioned to Representation. It is idle to sup pose that tlie General Government can stretch its hand directly into the pockets of the people, scat tered over so vast a country. They can only do it through the medium of exports, imports, and ex cises. For what, then, are all the sacrifices to be made? He would sooner submit hiraself to a tax, paying for aU the negroes in the United States, than saddle posterity with such a Constitution. "Mr. Datton [of New Jersey] seconded the motion. He did it, he said, that his sentiments on the subject raight appear, whatever might be the fate of the amendment. "Mr. Sherman did not regard the admission of negroes into the ratio of representation as Ua ble to such insuperable objections," etc., ete. "Mr. Pinckney [C. C, of South Carolina] con sidered the Fisheries and the Western Frontier as more burdensome to the United States than the slaves. He thought this could be demon strated, if the occasion were a proper one." Ou the question on the motion to insert "free" before "inhabitants," it was disagreed to; New Jersey alone voting in the affirmative. — iladiso-fi's laper.^, vol. iii., p. 1201. Tuesday, August 21st: " Mr. Luther JIartin [rff Maryland] proposed to vary Article VIL, Section 4, so as to allow a prohibition or tax ou the importation 'of slaves. In the flrst place, as five slaves are to be count ed as three freemen iu the apportionment of representatives, such a clause would leave au encouragement to this traflic. In the second place, slaves weakened one part of the Union, which the other parts were bound to protect. The privilege of importing was therefore unrea sonable. And in the third place, it loas incon sistent with the principles of the Revolution, and dishonorable to the American character, to have such a feature in tlie Constitution. "Mr. Rutledge [of South CaroUna] did not see how the importation of slaves could be en couraged by this section. He was not apprehen sive of insurrections, and would readily exempt the other States from the obUgation to protect the Southern against them. Religion and humanity had nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is the governing principle "with nations," etc. "Mr. Ellsworth [of Connecticut] was for leaving the clause as it stands," etc. "Mr. Pinckney. — South Carolina can never receive the plan if it prohibits the Slave-Trade. In every proposed extension of the powers of Con gress, that State expressly and watchfuUy excepted that of meddling with the importation of negroes. If the States should be aU left at liberty on this subject. South Carolina may, per haps, by degrees, do of herself what is -wished, as Virginia and Maryland have already done." "Adjourned." — Ibid., p. 1388. Again: in the debate of the foUowing day — the consideration of Article TIL, Section 4, being resumed — Colonel Mason [George, grandfather of James M., late United States Senator, and late Confederate emissary to England] gave utter ance to the following sentiments: "This infernal traffic originated in the avarice of British merchants. The British government has constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. The present question con cerned not the importing of slaves alone, but the whole Union. The evil of having slaves was expe rienced during the late war. Had slaves been treat ed as they might liaie been by the enemy, tliey woidd have proved dangero-us -instruments in their hands. But their foUy dealt by the slaves as it did by the Tories. * * * Maryland and Virginia, he said, had already prohibited the iraportation of slaves. North Carolina had done the same in substance. AU this would be vain, if South Car olina and Georgia be at Uberty to import. The Western people are already caUhig for slaves for their new lands; and wiU fill that country with slaves, if they can be got through South CaroUna and Georgia. Slavery discourages the arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the emio-ra- tiou of whites, who reaUy enrich and stren"-then a country. They produce the most pernicious efl'ect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country. As nations can nqt be punished in the next ivorld, they must be in this By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Pro-ii- idence punishes national sins by -national calamities * * * He held it essential, in every point of view" that the General Government should have power to pre vent the increase of Slavery." — Ibid., p. 1 3 g o THE SLATE-TRADE IN THE CONTENTION. 45 a Constitution as they would -have preferred. Slavery would have found no lodgment in it ; but already the whip of Disunion was brandished, and the fatal necessity of Compro mise made manifest. The Convention would have at once and forever pro hibited, so far as our country and her people were concerned, the African Slave-Trade ; but South Carolina and Georgia were present, by their dele gates, to admonish, and, if admoni tion did not answer, to menace, that this must not be.' " No Slave- Trade, no Union !" Such was the short and sharp alternative presented by the delegates from those States. North Carolina was passive ; Vir ginia and her more northern sisters more than willing to prohibit at once the further importation of Slaves ; in fact, several, if not all, of these States, including Virginia and Mary land, had already expressly forbid den it. But the ultimatum presented by the still slave-hungry States of the extreme South was imperative, and the necessity of submitting to it was quite too easily conceded. Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, was among the first to admit it. The conscience of the North was quieted* by em- ^ In the debate of the same day, " General Pinckney declared it to be his firm conviction, that, if himself and aU his coUeagues were to sign the Constitution, and use their personal influ ence, it would be of no avaU toward obtaining the consent of their constituents. South Car olina and Georgia can not do without slaves. * * He contended that the importation of slaves would be for the interest of the whole Union. The more slaves, the more products to employ the carrying trade ; the more consumption also ; and the more of this, the more revenue for the common treasury. He admitted it to be reason able, that slaves should be dutied, like other im ports, but should consider a rejection of the clause as an exclusion of South CaroUna from the Union. "Mr. Baldwin has similar conceptions in the case of Georgia. ¦ " Mr. Wilson (of Pennsylvania) observed, that, if South Carolina and Georgia were thus dis posed to get rid of the importation of slaves in a short time, as had been suggested, they would never refuse to unite, because the importation might be prohibited. As the section now stands, aU articles imported are to bo taxed. Slaves alone are exempt. This is, in fact, a bounty on that article. " Mr. Dickinson [of Dela^^are] expressed his sentiments as of a similar character. And Messrs. King and Langdon [of New Hampshire] were also in favor of giving the power to the General Government. " General Pinckney thought himself bound to declare candidly, that he did not think South Carolina would stop her importations of slaves in any short time ; but only stop thera occasionaUy, as she now does. He moved to commit the clause, that slaves might be made liable to an equal tax -with other imports ; which he thought right, and which would remove one difficulty that had been started. " Mr. Rutledge seconded the motion of Gen eral Pinckney. "Mr. Gouverneur Morris wished the whole subject to be committed, including the clause relating to taxes on exports, and the navigation act. These things may form a bargain among the Northern and Southern States. " Mr. Butler [of South CaroUna] declared that he would never agree to the power of taxing exports. " Mr. Sherman said it was better to let the Southern States import slaves than to part with them, if they made that a sine gud non." On the question for committing the remain ing part of Sections 4 and 5, of Article VIL, the vote was 7 in the affirmative; 3 in the negative; Massachusetts absent. — Ibid., p. 1392. ¦• Au instance of this quieting influence, aa exerted by The Federalist, a series of letters, urging upon the Northern people the adoption of the new Constitution, as framed and present ed to their several legislatures for ratification by the Federal Convention, may be shown in the foUowing: " It were, doubtless, to be wished that the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves had not been postponed untU the year 1808 ; or rather, that it had been suflered to have im mediate operation. But it is not difficult to account either for this restriction on the Gener al Government, or for the manner in which the whole clause is expressed. It ought to be con sidered as a great point gained in favor of huraan ity, that a period of twenty years may terminate forever, witliin these States, a traffic which has so long and so loudly upbraided the barbarism of modern poUcy ; that within that period it will receive a considerable discouragement from the Federal Government, and may be totaUy abol ished by the concurrence of the few States which continue the unnatural traffic, in the pro hibitory example which is given hy so large a majority of the Union. Happy would it be for the unfortunate Africans if an equal prospect lay before them of being redeemed from the 46 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. bodying in the Constitution a pro viso that Congress might interdict the foreign Slave-Trade after the expiration of twenty years — a term which, it was generally agreed, ought fully to satisfy the craving of Carolina and Georgia.* The modi fied ]3roposition to prohibit the Slave- Trade now encountering no opposi tion, the recognition of slaves, as a basis of political power, presented a grave and intricate problem. It was one calculated, at least, to place the antagonistic parties respectively in false positions. If slaves are human beings, why should they not be repre sented like other human beings — that is, like women and children, and other persons, ignorant, humble, and powerless, like themselves ? If, on the other hand, you consider them prop erty — mere chattels personal — why should they be represented any more than ships, or houses, or cattle? Here is a nabob, who values his favor ite high-bred horse at five thousand dollars, and five of his able.-bodied negroes at the same amount. Why should his five negroes count as three men in apportioning the repre sentatives in Congress among the several States, while the blooded horse counts just nothing at all ? We can only answer that Slavery and Reason travel different roads, and that he strives in vain who labors to make those roads even seeTin parallel. The Convention, without much de bate or demur, split the difference, by deciding that the basis alike of Representation in Congress, and of Direct Taxation, should be the entire free population of each Stqtte, with '¦'three-fifths of all other persons."" oppression of their European brethren."— fAe Federalist, vol. i, p. 276. ' Tlie Encyclopcedia Britannica (latest edition —Art., Slavery) states that the African Slave- Trade was abolished by Great Britain, after years of inefl'ectual struggle under the lead of Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Wilberforce, etc., on the 25th of March, 1807; and most in accurately and unjustly adds: " The great measure of the British legislature was imitated, in the first instance, by the United States." To say nothing of acts prohibiting the impor tation of slaves by several of our States, Vir ginia and Maryland inclusive, prior to the fram ing of our Federal Constitution, and the provi sions incorporated in that instrument looking to a complete suppression of the Slave-Trade after twenty years, our Congress, ou the 2 2d day of March, 1794, passed an act forbidding and pun ishing any participation by our citizens in the Slave-Trade to foreign countries, which had long been very zealously pursued and protected by Great Britain as a largo and lucrative branch of her foreign commerce aud navigation. In 1800, our Congress passed a further act, to the same eflfect, but more sweeping in its provisions and severe in its penalties. On the 2d of March, 1807 — twenty-three days before the passage of the British act — Congress passed one which prohibits the African Slave-Trade utterly — to our own country as weU as to foreign lands. True, this act did not take effect tiU the 1st of Janu ary ensuing, because of the constitutional inhi bition aforesaid; but we submit that this does not invalidate our claim for our country and her Revolutionary Statesmen of the honor of having pioneered thus far the advance of Justice and Humanity to the overthrow of a giant iniquity. Tlie Encyclopmdia aforesaid, in noting the fact that the African Slave-Trade was aboUshed by Great Britain under the brief Whig ministry of Fox aud Grenville, after such abolition had beeu boldly urged for twenty years under the aU but dictatorial Tory rule of Pitt, who was professed ly its friend, forcibly and truly adds : "The proud son of Chatham lored truth and justice rwt u, little, but he loved power and place greatly more; and he was resolved that Negro Emancipation should not lose him either a shred of pohtical influence or a beam of [royal] favor." The particular individual of whom this is said is now some sixty years dead ; but the breed was not extinct, in either hemisphere, at the date of our latest advices. « " We subscribe to the doctrine, might one of our Southern brethren observe, that Representa tion relates more immediately to persons and Taxation more imraediately to property; and we join in the application of this distinction to the case of our slaves. But we deny the fact that THE FUGITITE SLATE CLAUSE. 47 At length, when the Constitution was nearly completed, Slavery, through its attorney. Mi-. Butler, of South Carolina, presented its httle bill for extras. Like Ohver Twist, it wanted 'some more.' Its new de mand was that slaves escaping from one State into another, might be fol lowed and legally reclaimed. This re quirement, be it observed, was en tirely outside of any general and obvious necessity. No one could pretend that there was any thing mutual in the obligation it sought to impose — that Massachusetts or New Hampshire was either anxious to secure the privilege of reclaiming her fugitive slaves who might escape into Carolina or Georgia, or had any de sire to enter into reciprocal engage ments to this end. Nor could any one gravely insist that the provision for the mutual rendition of slaves was essential to the completeness of the Federal pact. The old Confed eration had known nothing like it ; yet no one asserted that the want of an inter-State Fugitive Slave law was among the necessities or griev ances which had impelled the as- sembhng of this Convention. But the insertion of a slave-catching. clause in the Constitution would un doubtedly be regarded with favor by the slaveholding interest, and would strongly tend to render the new fi-ame-work of government more ac ceptable to the extreme South. So, after one or two unsuccessful at tempts, Mr. Butler finally gave to his proposition a shape in which it proved acceptable to a majority ; and it was adopted, with slight apparent resistance or consideration.' In these latter days, since the radical injustice and iniquity of slave- holding have been more profoundly realized and generally appreciated, many subtle and some able attempts have been made to explain away this most unfortunate provision, for the reason that the Convention wisely and decorously excluded the terms Slave and Slamery from the Constitu tion ; " because," as Mr. Madison says, " they did not choose to admit slaves are considered merely as property, and iu no respect whatever as persons. The true state of the case is, that they partake of both these qualities, being considered by our laws in some respects as persons, and in other respects as property. In being compeUed to labor, not merely for himself, but for a master — in being vendible by one master to another master, and being subject, at all times, to being restrained in his liberty and chastised in his body by the capricious will of his owner, the slave may ap pear to be degraded from the human rank, and classed -with that of the irrational animals, which fall under the legal denomination of prop erty. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life and in his limbs, against the violence of all others, even the master of liis labor and his liberty, and in being punished himself for aU violence committed against others, the slave is no less regarded by the law as a meraber of society, not as a part of the irrational creation — as a moral person, not a mere object of prop erty. The Federal Constitution, therefore, decides, with great propriety, on the case of our slaves, when it views them in the mixed char acter of persons and property. This is, in fact, their true character. It is the character he- stowed on them by the laws under which they live ; and it wiU not be disputed that these are the proper criterion, because it is only under the pretext that the laws have transformed negroes into subjects of property, that a place is denied to them in the computation of numbers ; and it is admitted that, if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, the negroes would no longer be refused an equal share of repre sentation with the other inhabitants." — The Feder alist, vol. ii., p. 46. ' In Convention, Wednesday, August 29, 1787. " Mr. Butler moved to insert, after Article XT., ' if any person bound to service or labor in any of the United States shaU escape into another State, he or she shaU not be discharged from such service or labor in consequence of any regulations existing in the State to which they escape, but shall be delivered up to the person justly claiming their service or labor' — which, after some verbal modification, was agreed to, nem. con." — Madison's Papers, vol. in., p. 145, 6. 48 THE AMERICAN OONFlIOT. the right of property in man."' It has been argued that this provision does not contemplate the rendition of fugitives from Slavery, but rather of runaway apprentices, persons who, having entered into contracts for their own labor, have repudiated their engagements, and other such Jonahs. The records and reminis cences of the Convention, however, utterly refute and dissipate these vain and idle pretenses. It is sheer ab surdity to contend that South Caro hna in' the Convention was absorb ingly intent on engrafting upon the Federal Constitution a provision for the recapture of runaway appren tices, or any thing of the sort. What she meant was, to extort from the apprehensions of a majority, anxious for a more perfect Union, a conces sion of authority to hunt fugitive slaves in any part of our broad national area, and legally to drag them thence back into perpetual bondage. If the Convention did not mean to grant exactly that, it trifled with a very grave subject, and stoop ed to an unworthy deception. How much better to meet the issue broadly and manfully, saying frankly to the * In the debate of Tuesday, July 29, 17?8, in the North Carolina ratification convention, which was organized at liiUsborough, July 21, 1788: " Mr. IredeU begged leave to explain tho reasou of tliis clause (last clause, Section 2, Article IV.). In some of the Northern States, they have emancipated all their slaves. If any of our slaves, said he, go there and remain there a certain time, they would, by the present laws, be entitled to their freedom, so that their mas ters could not get them again. This would be extremely prejudicial to the inhabitants of the Southern States ; and to prevent it, this clause is inserted iu the Constitution. Though the word slave is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it. The Northern delegates, owing to their pecuUar scruples on the subject of Slavery, did not choose the word slave to be men tioned." — Elliot's Debates, vol. iv., p. 176. , slaveholders : " This provision is contrary to equity and good con science ; hence we can not obey it. To seize our fellow-man and thrust him into an abhorred bondage may in your eyes be innocent, in ours it would be crime. If, then, you are aggrieved in any case, by our refusal or neglect to return your fugitives, make out your bill for their fair mar ket value and call upon us for its payment. If we refuse it, you will then have a real grievance to allege — this, namely: that we have de prived you of what the Constitution recognizes as your property, and have failed to make recompense therefor. But you surely can not blame us, that, having been enlightened as to the im moral nature of acts consented to, or stipulated for, by our fathers, we are unable longer to commit them. Take our property, if you think yourselves entitled to it; but allow us to be faithful to our convictions of duty and the promptings of humanity."" General Charles C. Pinckney, in laying the Federal Constitution be fore the Convention of South Caro lina, which assembled January 15, 1788, to pass upon it, made a speech, 9 Governor Seward, in his speech of March 11, 1850, on Freedom in the Territories, forcibly set forth the true aud manly Northern ground on this subject, as follows : "The law of nations disavows such com pacts; the law of nature, written on the hearts aud consciences of freemen, repudiates them. I know that there are laws, of various sorts, which regulate the conduct of men. There are constitutions and statutes, codes mercantile and codes ci\ il ; but when we are legislating for States, especially when we are founding States, aU these laws must be brought to the standard of the law of God, must be tried by that stand ard, and must stand or fall by it. To conclude ou this point : We are uot slaveholders We cannot, m our judgment, be either true Chris tians or real freemen, if we impose on another a Cham that we defy all humau power to fasten on ourselves."— Award's Works, vol. i p 66 THE SOUTHERN TERRITORIES. 49 in which he dwelt with reasonable and justifiable complacency on the advan tages secured to Slavery by the Consti tution ;'" and these, doubtless, were among the considerations which se cured its ratification, by that body, by a vote of 149 to 73. Other Southem States may have been thus afiected. VI. SLAVERY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. It has been plausibly argued that the constitutional provision for the surrender of fugitive slaves, and the inhibition of Slavery in the Territo ries simultaneously embodied in the Ordinance of 1787, were parts of an imphed, rather than clearly expressed, compact, whereby Slavery in the old States was to be protected, upheld, and guaranteed, on condition that it should rest content within its existing boundaries. In seeming accordance with this hypothesis, the first Federal Congress, which met at New York on the first Wednesday in March, 1789, proceeded forthwith to adopt and reenact the prohibition of Slavery in the Territories, already contained in the Ordinance of '87 aforesaid, and to adapt that Ordinance in all re spects to the new state of things cre ated by the Federal Constitution. No voice was raised in dissent from this action. On the other hand, the next Congress proceeded to enact, with very little opposition, a stringent and comprehensive fugitive slave law.' North Carolina, on the 22d of De cember, 1789 — one month after rati fying the Federal Constitution — passed an act ceding, on certain con ditions, her western territory — now constituting the State of Tennessee — to the Federal Union. She exacted. and required Congress to assent to. this, among other conditions : '^^ Provided always, that no regulatioru made, or to be made, by Congress, shall tendl to emancipate slaves." Georgia, hkewise, in ceding to the Union (April 2, 1802) her outlying- territories, now forming the States. of Alabama and Mississippi, imposed upon the Union, and required Con- '" The foUowing is an extract from General Chas. C. Pinckney's speech, deUvered in the South Carolina ratification convention, January 17, 1788 : "I am of the same opinion now as I was two years ago — that, whUe there remained one acre of swamp land uncleared in South Carolina, I would raise my voice against restricting the importation of negroes. *==*** The Middle States and Virginia were for an immediate and total prohibition. We endeavored to ob-viate the objections which were urged in the best manner we could, and assigned reasons for our insisting ou the importation, which there is no occasion to repeat, as they must occur to every gentleman in the House: a committee of the States was appointed in order to accommodate this matter ; and, after a great deal of difiiculty, it was settled, on the footing of the Constitution. By this settlement, we have secured an unlimit ed importation of negroes for twenty years. Nor is it declared when that importation shaU be stopped ; it may be continued. We have a right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America they may take refuge. In short, con sidering aU circumstances, we have made tho best terms for the security of this species of property it was in our power to make. We- would have made better if we could ; but, on the- whole, I do not think them bad." — Elliot's Debates, voh iVi, p. 285. ¦ For tins act, see Brightley's Digest, p. 29-4. 50 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT, gress to accede to, the following con dition : " Fifthly. That the territory thu3 ceded shall become a State, and be admitted into the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty thousand inhaWtants, or at an earlier period, if Congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner, as is pro-vided in the ordinance of Congress of the 13th day of July, 1787, for the government of the western territory of the United States; which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory con tained in the present act of cession, the arti cle only excepted which forbids Slavery." Congress was thus precluded, by the unprecedented and peremptory conditions affixed to their respective cessions of their western territory by North Carolina and Georgia, from continuing and perfecting the Jefier- sonian policy of fundamental and imperative Slavery inhibition in the Federal Territories. Had Mr. Jef ferson's Ordinance of 1784 been passed as he reported it, this benefi cent end would have been secured. Accident, and the peculiar require ments of the Articles of Confedera tion, prevented this. Mr. Dane's Or dinance of 1787 contemplated only the territories already ceded to the Confederation, leaving those stUl to le ceded to be governed by some future act. The assumption, how ever, that there was between the North and the South an original and subsisting compact, arrangement, un derstanding, or whatever it may be called, whereby so much of the com mon territories of the Republic as lay south of the Ohio, or of any par ticular latitude, was to be surren dered to Slavery, on the condition that the residue should be quit claimed to free labor, is utterly un founded and mistaken. The author of the original restriction was him self a slaveholder; yet he contem plated and provided for (as we have seen) the consignment of every acre of those territories, north as well as south of the Ohio, and down to the southernmost hmit of our domain, to Free Labor evermore. A majority of the States which sustained that proposition were then slaveholding, and had taken no decided steps toward Emancipation. Yet they none the less regarded Slavery as an evil and a blunder,'' to be endured, ^ The Rev. Jonathan Edwards (son of the fa mous Jonathan Edwards, who was the greatest theologian, and one of the greatest men whom New England has ever produced), preached a sermon against the African Slave-Trade, Septem ber 15, 1791, at New Haven, Connecticut, then a Slave State. Text: The Golden Rule; Mat thew vn., 12. It is so commonly urged that the Abolitionists condemn a relation whereof they are grossly igno rant, that the foUowing extract from that ser mon is of interest, as the testimony of one living amid Slavery, and as proving how essentially identical are the objections urged to human chat- telhood at all times, and under whatever circum stances. Mr. Edwards said : " African Slavery is exceedingly impolitic, as it discourages industry. Nothing is more essen tial to the political prospect of auy State than industry in the citizens. But, in proportion as Slaves are multipUed, every kind of labor be comes ignominious ; and, in fact, in those of the United States in which slaves are the most nu merous, gentlemen and ladies of auy fashion disdain to employ themselves in business, which in other States is consistent with the dignity of the flrst famUies and the first offices, 'in a country filled with negro slaves, labor belongs to them only, and a white man is despised in proportion as he applies to it. Now, how de structive of industry in all of the lo-v^est and mid dle class of citizens such a situation, and the prevalence of such ideas wiU be, you can eaaUy conceive. The consequence is that some will nearly starve, others wiU betake themselves to the most dishonest practices to obtain a means of living. As Slavery produces an indolence in the white people, so it produces all those vices which are naturally connected -with it, such as intemperance, lewdness, and prodigality. These vices enfeeble both the body and the mind, and unfit men for any vigorous exertions and em ployments, either external or mental And those who are unfit for such exertions are already very degenerate ; degenerate, not only in VIEWS OF THE EEVOLUTIONARY PATRIOTS. 51 perhaps, for a season where already estabhshed, rather than to invoke greater mischiefs and perils by its too sudden and violent extirpation than were hkely to flow from its more patient and gradual extinction. But to plant Slavery on virgin soil — to consecrate vast and yet vacant terri tories to its extension and perpetua tion — to conquer and annex still further domains expressly to increase its security and enlarge its power — are guilty dreams which never trou bled the repose of the great body of our Revolutionary sages and patriots. Enlightened by their own experience as to the evils and dangers of arbi trary, despotic, irresponsible power, they were too upright and too logic al to seek to fasten for all time on a helpless and inoflfensive race chains far heavier and more galling than' those they had just shaken ofi". Most of them held slaves, but held them under protest against the anomaly presented to the world by republican bondage, and in the confident hope that the day would soon dawn that would rid themselves of the burden and their country of the curse and shame of human chattelhood." Had they been asked to unite in any of a moral, but a natural sense. They are con temptible too, and wiU soon be despised, even by their negroes themselves. "Slavery tends to lewdness, not only as it produces indolence, but as it affords abundant opportunity for that wickedness, without either the danger or difficulty of an attack on the vir tue of a woman of chastity, or the danger of a connection -with one of iU fame. A planter, with his hundred wenches about hun, is, in some re spects at least, like the Sultan in his seragUo ; and we learn too frequently the influence and effect of such a situation, not only from commou fame, but from the multitude of mulattoes iu countries where slaves are very numerous. " Slavery has a most direct tendency to haugh tiness also, and a domineering spirit and conduct in the proprietors of slaves, and in, their children, and in aU who have control of them. A man who has been brought up in domineering over negroes can scarcely avoid contracting such a habit of haughtiness and domination as wiU ex press itself in his general treatment of mankind, whether iu his private capacity, or any office, civU or military, -with which he may be vested. Despotism in economics naturally leads to des potism in politics, and domestic Slavery in a free government is a perfect solecism in human affairs. "How baneful all these tendencies and effects of Slavery must be to the public good, and espe cially to the pubhc good of such a free country as ours, I need not inform you." — Sermons, 1775- 99, p. 10. 3 The opinion of the Father of his Country respecting the "pecuhar institution" of the South may be perceived from the foUowing ex tracts. In a letter to Lafayette, bearing date April 5, 1783, he says : "The scheme, my dear Marquis, which you propose as a precedent to encourage the emanci pation of the black people in this country from that state of bondage in which they are held, ia a strUiing evidence of the benevolence of your heart. I shaU be happy to join you in so laud able a work ; but will defer going iuto a detail of the business until I have the pleasure of see ing you." — Spa/rks's Washington, vol. vin., p 414. Again, in a letter to the same, of May 10, 1786: " The benevolence of your heart, my dear Mar quis, is so conspicuous upon aU occasions, that I never wonder at any fresh proofs of it ; but your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cay enne, -with a view to emancipate the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your human ity. Would to God a like spirit might diffuse itself in the minds of the people of this country 1 But I despair of seeing it Some petitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session, for the Abolition of Slavery, but they could scarcely obtain a reading." — Ibid., vol. ix., p. 163. In a remarkable and very interesttug letter ¦written by Lafayette in the prison of Magdeburg, he said : "I know not whsit disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne ; but I hope Madam De Lafayette wiU take care that the negroes who cultivate it shaU preserve their liberty." The foUowing language is also Lafayette's, in a letter to Hamilton, from Paris, April 13, 1785 : " In one of your New Tork Gazettes, I find an association against the Slavery of the negroes, which seems to me worded in such a way as to give no offense to the moderate men in the- Southern States. As I have ever been partial to i my brethren of that color, I wish, if you are onoj in the society, you would move, in your own name, for my being admitted on the list." — Works of Alex. Hamilton, N. T., 1851, vol. i., p. 423. John Adams, in a letter to Robert J. Evans, June 8, 1819, expresses himself as foUows: " I respect the sentiments and motives which 52 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the projects of the Sam Houstons, William Walkers, Quitmans, and Shdells of our day, they would have retorted as indignantly as the aston ished Syrian to the Hebrew prophet — "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing ?" Oh that they had but known and reahzed that the wrong which to-day is barely tole rated for the moment, is to-morrow cherished, and the next day sustain ed, eulogized, and propagated ! When Ohio was made a State, in 1803, the residue of the North-West Territory became Indiana Territory, with William Henry Harrison — since President of the United States — as Governor. Its earlier settle ments were mainly on the banks of the Ohio and of its northern tributa- , ries, and were principally by emi- ' grants from Virginia, Kentucky, and other Slave States. These emigrants, realizing an urgent need of labor, and being accustomed to supply that need by the employment of slaves, almost unanimously memorialized Congress, through a Convention assembled in 1802, and presided over by their Governor, for a temporary suspension of the sixth article of the Ordinance of '87, whereby Slavery was expressly prohibited. Their memorial was re ferred by the House of Representa tives to a Select Committee of three, two of them from the Slave States, with the since famous John Randolph of Roanoke* then a young member, as its chairman. On the 2d of March, 1803, Mr. Randolph made a unani mous report from this Committee, recommending a denial of the prayer ofthe petitioners, for these reasons : " The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opinion of your Committee, that the labor of slaves ia not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region ; that this labor — demonstrably the dearest of any — can only he employed in the cultivation of products more valuable than any known to that quarter of the United States ; that the Committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a pro-vision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of the North-Western Country, and to give strength and security to that ex tensive frontier. In the salutary operation of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that the inhabitants of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find ample remuneration for a temporary privation of labor, and of emigration." " The session terminated the next day; and the subject was, the next winter, referred to a new committee, whereof Caesar Rodney, of Delaware, was chairman. This committee re ported in favor " of a qualified sus pension, for a limited time," of the inhibition aforesaid. But Congress took no action on the report. The people of Indiana Territory persisted in their seemingly unani mous supplication to be allowed, for a limited period, the use of Slave Labor ; and Mr. Garnett, of Virginia, on the 14th of February, 1806, made have prompted you to engage in your present - occupation so much, that I feel an esteem and affection for your person, as I do a veneration for your assumed signature of Benjamin Rush. The turpitude, the inhumanity, the cruelty, and the infamy of the African commerce, have been so impressively represented to the pubhc hy the highest powers of eloquence, that nothing that I could say would increase the just odiura in which it is, and ought to be, held. Every measure of prudence, therefore, ought to be assumed for the eventual total extirpation of Slavery from the United States. * * * i }iave, through my whole Ufe, held the practice of Slavery iu such abhorrence, that I have never owned a negro or any other slave, though I have hved for many years in times when the practice was not dis graceful — when the best men in my vicinity thought it not inconsistent -mth their character; and when it has cost me thousands of doUars for the labor and subsistence of free men, which I might have saved by the purchase of negroes, at times when they were very cheap." Works of John Adams, Boston, 1856, vol.x., p. 386. THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION. 53 another report from a Select Com mittee in favor of granting their re quest. But Congress never took this report into consideration. At the next session, a fresh letter from Governor Harrison, inclosing resolves of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives in favor of suspend ing temporarily the inhibition of Slavery, was received, and referred (January 21, 1807) to a Select Com mittee, whereof Mr. B. Parke, Dele gate from said Territory, was made chairman. This Committee, com posed mainly of members from Slave States, made (February 12th) a third report in favor of the petition ers ; but Congress never acted upon the subject. At the next session, the matter was brought before the Senate, on the appa rently unanimous prayer of Governor Harrison and his Legislature for per mission temporarily to employ slaves ; but there was now, for the first time, a remonstrance of citizens of the Territory against the measure. The Senate referred the subject to a Select Committee of three, whereof Mr, Jesse Franklin, of N. C, was chair man ; and Mr. Franklin, on the 13th of November, 1807, reported briefly against the petition, closing as fol lows: " Tour Committee, after duly considering the matter, respectfully submit the following tesolntion : " Resolved, That it is not expedient at this time to suspend the sixth article of compact for the government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the river Ohio." ' And here the long and fruitless struggle to fasten Slavery upon the vast Territory now forming the States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, appears to have ended. By this time, emigration from the Free States into that Territory had begun. But it is probable that, at any time prior to 1818-20, a majority of the white settlers actually resident in that Territory would have voted in favor of the introduction of slaves. For a counter-revolution had been silently proceeding for some years previous, and had almost eradicated the lessons and the principles of the Revolution from the hearts of the South, saving, of course, those por tions wherein they seem to have never been learned. The bases of this revolution are the acquisition of Louisiana and the invention of the Cotton Gin;* events for which Thomas Jeff'erson and Eli Whitney — neither of them pro-slavery — are primarily responsible. The acquisition of Lou isiana, though second in occurrence and in importance, first attracted and fixed the attention of mankind, and shall, therefore, be first considered. The river Mississippi was first dis covered in 154:1, by the Spanish adventurer De Soto, in the course of his three or four years' fantastic wanderings and fightings throughout the region which now constitutes the Gulf States of our Union, in quest of the fabled Eldorado, or Land of Gold. He left Spain in 1538, at the head of six hundred ambitious and enthusias tic followers, all eager and sanguine as himself in their quest of the foun tain of perpetual youth and life. He died of a malignant fever on the bank of the Mississippi, in the spring or early summer of 1542 ; and his body. ' This word is merely a corruption of engine. 54 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. to conceal his death from the sur rounding hostile savages, was sunk by his surviving followers in the deep current of that mighty stream. Of the entire expedition, less than half, an enfeebled and wretched remnant, finally reached the coast of Mexico, in the summer of 1548, glad to have escaped with their bare lives from the inhospitable swamps and savages they had so recklessly encountered. It does not appear that any of them, nor even De Soto himself, had formed any adequate conception of the im portance of their discovery, of the magnitude of the river, or of the ex tent and fertility of the regions drained by its tributaries ; since more than a century was allowed to tran spire before the Mississippi was re visited by civilized men. And its next discoverers were not Spaniards, but Frenchmen ; although Spain had long possessed and colonized Florida and Mexico on either side of its mouth. But the French — now firmly established in Canada, and penetrat ing by their traders and voyageurs the wild region stretching westward and south-westward from that Colony — obtained from the savages some account of this river about the year 1660 ; and in 1673, Marquette and Joliet, proceeding westward from ^ Montreal, through the Great Lakes, reached the Mississippi above its junction with the Missouri, and descended it to within three days' journey of its mouth. In 1682, La (Salle descended it to the Gulf of Mexico, and took formal possession ' of the region in the name of his king and country. A fort was erected on its banks by Iberville, about the year 1699 ; and in 1703, a settlement was made at St. Peters, on the Yazoo. New Orleans was first chosen as the site of a city in 1717, laid out in 1718, when the levees which protect it from the annual inundations of the river were immediately commenced, and steadily prosecuted to completion, ten years afterward. The colony of Louisiana (so named after Louis XIV.) remained a French possession until 1762, when it was ceded to Spain. New Orleans gradually increased in trade and population, but the colony outside of that city was of slight im portance under its Spanish rulers, who did little to develop its resour ces, and were not popular with its mainly French inhabitants. In 1 802, Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Con sul, induced the feeble and decaying Bourbons of Spain, then in close alli ance with Tevolutionary France, to retrocede to her Louisiana, almost without consideration ; and the French fiag once more waved over delighted New Orleans. In the United States, however, the transfer was regarded with regret and apprehension. Our settlers beyond the Alleghanies, who must export their surplus products through the lower Mississippi, or see them perish useless and valueless on their hands, had been for fifteen years in a state of chronic and by no means voiceless dissatisfaction with the alleged jeal ous hostihty and obstructive regula tions of the Spanish rulers of that essential outlet. Threats were fi-eely uttered that they would soon descend the river and clear its lower banks of the Dons and drones who seemed to burrow there only as an impedi ment and a nuisance. The Span iards were charged with fomenting intrigues in Kentucky and Tennessee, which had for their object the ahena- LOUISIANA CEDED TO FRANCE 55 tion of the entire valley of the Ohio fi-om the Union ; and certain discon tented or desperate spirits were pointed at and named by their neigh bors as having sold themselves for money to the Spanish governor at New Orleans, agreeing to lend all their energies to the promotion of his absurd scheme. So long as Spain held the gateway of the Mississippi, it seemed that no other sway there could be more unpopular or odious with our Western pioneers. But a ' sober second thought ' was evinced fi-om the moment that her flag had been supplanted by that of repubhcan France. It was instinc tively and universaUy felt that even the growls and threats, in which our people so flreely indulged so long as the eff"ete and despised Spaniard was their obj ect, would no longer be politic nor safe. Directly after the general pacification of Europe, in 1802, by the treaty of Amiens, a powerful French expedition had sailed for the West Indies ; and, though its ostensible and real destination was Hayti, the appre hension was here general and reason able that it would ultimately, if not immediately, be debarked on the hanks of the Mississippi. The privi leges of navigation and of deposit. which had seemed so niggardly when conceded by the weakness of Spain, were now rather contracted than en larged, and were likely to be with drawn altogether. We had freely con temned and denounced the stupidity and blindness of Kiag Log, butbecame suddenly grave and silent on the un expected advent of King Stork. Mr. Jefferson, who had recently been called to the Presidency, and who mainly did the deeper thinking of the young and vigorous party which now ruled the country, re garded the change with alarm from still another aspect. Popular sym pathy with and admiration for repub lican France, with a corresponding aversion to and hatred of aristocratic England, were among the most po tent influences which had combined to overthrow the Federalists here and bring the Repubhcans into power. But all this was now morally certain to be reversed. France, planting herself, as it were, at our back door, there erecting fortifications, and jeal ously scrutinizing, if not positively arresting, every one who should un dertake to pass in or out, became in evitably and predominantly the ob ject of American distrust and hostih ty." And now the great advantage ' Upon learning of this important transfer, Mr. Jefferson (April 18, 1802) -wrote to Mr. Livingston, our Minister at Paris, as follows : "The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France, works most sorely on the United States. On this subject, the Secretary of State has written to you fuUy, yet I cannot forbear recurring to it personally, so deep is the impression it makes ou my mind. It completely reverses aU the political relations of the United States, and will form a new epoch in our politi cal course. Of all nations of any consideration, France is the one which hitherto has ofi'ered the fewest points on which we could have any con flict of rights, and the most points of a commu nion of interests. From these causes, we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as one with which we could never have an occasion of difference. Her growth, therefore, we viewed as our own — her misfortunes ours. There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three- eighths of our territory must pass to market; and, from its fertility, it wUl ere long yield more than half of our whole produce, and contain more thau half of our inhabitants. France, placing herself in that door, assumes to us the attitude of defiance, Spain might have retain ed it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her feeble state, would induce her to increase our facilities there, so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us, and it would not, perhaps, be very long before some circum stances might arise, which might make the ceasioa 56 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. hitherto accruing to the Republican or Democratic party from our rela tions with Europe, and our sympa thies with one or the Other of the parties which divided her, would be transferred at once to the Federalists, and probably doubled or quadrupled in intensity and efficiency. The vigi lant and far-seeing Jefferson, always a patriot, and always intensely a par tisan, perceived the peril at once to his country and his party, and re solved by a bold stroke to avert it. He determined that Louisiana should be ours, and perceived, in the gather ing storm of war, destined so soon to sweep away the fragile frost-work of the recent and unreal peace, a means of bending the astute and selfish Na poleon to his will. Louisiana, so re cently and easily reacquired by France, must become a peril and a burden to her upon the outbreak of fresh hostilities with a power so su perior in maritime strength as Great Britain. Tamely to surrender it, would be damaging, if not disgrace ful ; to hold it, would cost a fieet and an army, and the transfer of this fieet and army to a point so distant as the Mexican Gulf was at best a hazardous enterprise. France badly needed money ; we needed, or at least covet ed, Louisiana : and, where the rulers on either side are men so capable and clear-sighted as Bonaparte and Jef ferson, an arrangement mutually ad vantageous is not likely to fail. After some skillful diplomatic fenc ing — Mr. Jefferson talking as if the island of Orleans and the Floridas were all that we greatly cared for, when he meant from the first to have the whole — and after some natural higgling about the price, the bargain was struck on the 30th of April, 1803. The hungry treasury of France was richer by twelve milhons of dollars ; four millions more were paid by our government to our own citizens, in satisfaction of their right eous claims against France for spoha- tions and other damages ; and* the United States became the unques tioned owner and possessor of the en tire Valley of the Mississippi; acquir ing by this bloodless purchase an area of virgin soil, subject to the Indians' rights of inheritance and occupancy, worth many times its entire cost. There is no evidence that this pur chase was made in the interest of Slavery, or vdth any reference to the perpetuation of its existence or the increase of its power. But this does not at all impinge on the fact that of it to us the price of something of more worth to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France. The impetuosity of her temper, the en ergy and restlessness of her character, placed in a point of eternal friction with us, and our character, which, though quiet and loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is high-minded, de spising wealth in competition with insult or in jury, enterprising and energetic as any nation on earth ; these circumstances render it impossible that France and the United States can continue long friends, when they meet in so irritable a position. They, as weU as we, must be blind if they do not see this ; and we must be very im provident if we do not begin to make arrange ments on that hypothesis. The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sen tence which is to restrain her forever -within her low-water mark. It sf als the union of two nar tions, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment, we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We raust turn aU our attention to a maritime force, for which our resources place us on very high ground : and, having formed and connected together a power which may render re-enforcement of her settlements here impossible to France, make the first cannon which shaU be fired in Europe the signal for tearing up any settlement she may have made, and for holding the two continents of America in sequestration for the common purpose of the united British and American nations. This is not a state of things we seek or desire. It is one which this measure, if adopted by Prance, forces on us, as necessarily as any other cause, by the laws of nature, brings on its necessary effect." — Jeffer" son's 'Works, vol. iv., p. 431. SLAVERY IN LOUISIANA — COTTON. 57 Slavery in our Union did secure by this acquisition a vast extension of its power and influence. Louisiana came to us a slaveholding territory ; had been such, whether under French or Spanish rule, for generations. Though its population was sparse, it was nevertheless widely dispersed along the Mississippi and its lower tributaries, there being quite consid erable settlements at and in the vicin ity of St. Louis. Slavery had thus already achieved a lodgment and a firm foothold in this vast, inviting domain. Possession is notoriously nine points of the law ; but in this case the tenth was not wanting. The white inhabitants were habit uated to slaveholding, liked it, and indolently beheved it to be condu cive to their importance, their wealth, and their comfort. Of the swarm of emigrants and adventurers certain to pour in upon them as a consequence of our acquisition, a large majority would naturally come fi-om the States nearest them, that is, from the pre ponderantly and inveterately Slave States; while the Northern adven turers, hying with alacrity to such a tempting field for speculation and ex periment, were pretty sure to inter pose no fanatical objection to a social condition unanimously pro nounced so pleasant and profitable by all who were permitted to speak at all on the subject. Moreover, the treaty of cession had expressly stipulated that the inhabitants of Louisiana "should be incorporated into the Union of the United States, and admitted, as soon as possible, ac cording to the principles of the Feder al Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immu nities of citizens of the United States, And, in the mean time, they should be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their Woerij, prop erty, and the religion which they professed." A just — no, even a liter al construction of this provision, giving to the word "inhabitants" its natural and full signification — might have secured liberty, with the enjoy ment of all the " rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States," to the colored as well as the white Louisianians of that day. But it is hardly supposable that this was really intended by the treacher ous murderer of Toussalnt, just sig nally baffled in his formidable at tempt to reenslave the freedmen of Hayti. It is very certain that this construction was never put in prac tice, but that those who had been slaves under Spanish and French rule in Louisiana remained so under the flag of our country, dying in bondage unless specially emanci pated, and leaving their children the sole inheritance of their sad condi tion ; and that slaveholders, whether in fact or in purpose only, eagerly hastened to our new purchase and rapidly covered its most inviting lo calities with cotton-fields and slave- huts. The day that saw Louisiana transferred to our Union is one of woeful memory to the enslaved chil dren of unhappy Afi-ica. The plant known as Cotton, whence the fiber of that name is mainly obtained, appears to be indi genous in most tropical and semi- tropical countries, having been found growing wild by Columbus in St. Domingo, and by later explorers throughout the region of the low er Mississippi and its tributaries. 58 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Cortes found it ta use by the half- civilized Mexicans ; and it has been rudely fabricated in Africa from time immemorial. India, however, is the earliest known seat of the cotton manufacture, and here it long ago attained the highest perfection possi ble prior to the application of steam, with complicated machinery, to its various processes; and hence it ap pears to have' gradually extended westward through Persia and Arabia, until it attracted the attention of the Greeks, and was noticed by Herodotus about 450 B. C, as the product of an Indian tree, and the staple of an extensive manufacture. Later Greek accounts confirm the impression that the tree or shrub variety was cultivated in India pre viously to the plant or annual now by far the more commonly grown. The Romans began to use cotton fabrics before the time of Julius Caesar, and the cotton-plant was grown in Sicily and along the northern coast of the Mediterranean so early as the tenth century. The culture, however, does not appear to have ever attained a great importance in any portion of the world regarded by the Greeks and Romans as civilized, prior to its recent establishment in Egypt, in obedience to the despotic will of Ibrahim Pacha. In the British colonies now com posing this country, the experiment of cotton-planting was tried £o early as 1621 ; and in 1666 the growth of the cotton-plant is on record. The cultivation slowly and fitfully ex panded throughout the following century, extending northward to the eastern shore of Maryland and the Bouthemmost point of New Jersey — where, however, tlie plant was grown more for ornament than use. It is stated that " seven bags of cotton wool" were among the exports of ¦ Charleston, S. C, in 1748, and that trifling shipments from that port were likewise made in 1754 and 1757. In 1784, it is recorded that eight bags, shipped to England, were seized at the custom-house as fraudu lently entered : " cotton not being a production of the United States." The export of 1790, as returned, was eighty-one bags ; and the entire cotton crop of the United States at that time was probably less than the pro duct of some single plantation in our day. For, though the plant grew lux uriantly and produced abundantly throughout tide-water Virginia and all that portion of our country lying southward and south-westward of Richmond, yet the enormous labor required to separate the seed from the tiny handful of fibres wherein it was imbedded, precluded its extensive and profitable cultivation. It was calcu- ted that the perfect separation of one pound of fibre fi-om the seed was an average day's work ; and this fact pre sented a formidable barrier to the production of the staple in any hut a region like India, where labor can be hired for a price below the cost of subsisting slaves, however wretch edly, in this country. It seemed that the limit of American cotton culti vation had been fully reached, when an event occurred which speedily rev olutionized the industry of our slave- holding States and the commerce and manufactures of the world. Eli WnrrNET, a native of West- borough, Worcester County, Massa chusetts, born December 8, 1765, wa,8 THE TOUTH OF ELI WHITNEY. 59 descended on both sides fi-om ances tors of Enghsh stock, who dated their migration from the old country nearly back to the memorable voyage of the Mayflower. They were generally farm ers, and, hke most farmers of those days, in very moderate circumstances. Eli's father, poor, industrious, and in genious, had a workshop wherein he devoted the inclement season to the making of wheels and of chairs. Here the son early developed a remarka ble ingenuity and mechanical skill; establishing, when only fifteen years of age, the manufacture by hand of wrought nails, for which there was, in those later years of our Revolution ary struggle, a demand at high prices. Though he had had no instruction in nail-making, and his few implements were of the rudest description, he pursued the business through two winters with profit to his father, de voting the summers, as before and afterward, to the labors of the farm. After the close of the war, his nails being no longer in demand, he en gaged in the manufacture of the pins then in fashion for fastening ladies' bonnets, and nearly monopolized the market through the excellence of his product. Walking-canes also were among his winter manufactures, and were esteemed pecuharly well made and handsome. Meantime, he con- tiaued the devotion of his summers to the labors of the farm, attending the common school of his district through its winter session, and being therein noted for devotion to, and eminent skiU in, arithmetic. At four teen, he was looked upon by his neighbors as a very remarkable, en ergetic, and intelligent youth. At niaeteen, he resolved to obtain a hb- eral education j but it was not until he had reached the mature age of twenty-three that he was enabled to enter college. By turns laboring with his hands and teachiug school, he obtained the means of prosecuting his studies in Tale, which he entered in May, 1789. He borrowed some money to aid him in his progress, giving his note therefor, and paying it so' soon as he could. 'On the de cease of his father some years after ward, he took an active part in settling the estate, but relinquished his portion to his co-heirs. It is scarcely probable that the amount he thus sacrificed was large, but the generous spirit he evinced is not thereby obscured. While in college, his natural supe riority in mechanism and proclivity to invention were fi-equently mani fested. On one occasion, a tutor regretted to his pupils that he could not exhibit a desired philosophical experiment, because the apparatus was out of order, and could only be repaired in Europe. Young Whitney thereupon proposed to undertake the repair, and made it to perfect satis faction. At another time, he asked permission, to use at intervals the tools of a carpenter who worked near his boarding-place ; but the care ful mechanic dechned to trust them in the hands of a student, unless the gentleman with whom Mr. W. boarded would become responsible for their safe return. The guarantee was given, and Mr. Whitney took the tools in hand; when the carpenter, surprised at his dexterity, exclaimed: " There was one good mechanic spoiled when you went to college." Mr. Whitney graduated in the fall of 1792, and directly engaged with a Mr. B,, fi-om Georgia, to proceed ta 60 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. that State and reside in his employer's family as a private teacher. On his way thither, he had as a traveling companion Mrs. Greene, widow ofthe eminent Revolutionary general, Na thaniel Greene, who was returning with her children to Savannah, after spending the summer at the North. His health being infirm on his arri val at Savannah, Mrs. Greene kindly invited him to. the hospitahties of her residence until he should become fully restored. Short of money and in a land of strangers, he was now coolly informed by his employer that his services were not required, he (B.) having employed another teacher in his stead! Mrs. Greene hereupon urged him to make her house his home so long as that should be de sirable, and pursue under her roof the study of the law, which he then contemplated. He gratefully accept ed the offer, and commenced the study accordingly. Mrs. Greene happened to be en gaged in embroidering on a peculiar frame known as a tambour. It was badly constructed, so that it injured the fabric while it impeded its pro duction. Mr. Whitney eagerly vol unteered to make her a better, and did so on a plan wholly new, to her great dehght and that of her chil dren. A large party of Georgians, from Augusta and the plantations above, soon after paid Mrs. G. a visit, sev eral of them being oflicers who had served under her husband in the Rev olutionary war. Among the topics discussed by them around her fireside was the depressed state of Agricul ture, and the impossibility of profit ably extending the culture of the green-seed Cotton, because of the trouble and expense incurred in sep arating the seed fi-om the fiber. These representations impelled Mrs. Greene to say: "Gentlemen, apply to my young fi-iend, Mr. Whitney — he can make any thing." She thereupon took them into an adjacent room, where she showed them her tambour-frame and several ingenious toys which Mr. W. had made for the gratification of her children. She then introduced them to Whitney himself, extolhng his genius and commending him to their confidence and friendship. In the conversation which ensued, he observed that he had never seen cot ton nor cotton-seed in his hfe. Mr. Whitney promised nothing and gave little encouragement, but went to work. No cotton in the seed be ing at hand, he went to Savannah and searched there among ware houses and boats until he found a small parcel. This he carried home and secluded with himself in a base ment room, where he set himself at work to devise and construct the im plement required. Tools being few and rude, he was constrained to make better — drawing his own wire, be cause none could, at that time, be bought in the city of Savannah. Mrs. Greene and her next friend, Mr. Mil ler, whom she soon after married, were the only, persons beside himself who were allowed the entree of his workshop— in fact, the only ones who clearly knew what he was about. His mysterious hammering and tinkering in that solitary cell were subjects of infinite curiosity, marvel, and ridi cule among the younger members of the family. But he did not interfere with their merriment, nor allow them to interfere with his enterprise ; and, before the close of the winter, hia INFANCY OF THE COTTON-GIN. 61 machine was so nearly perfected that its success was no longer doubtful. Mrs. Greene, too eager to realize and enjoy her fi-iend's triumph, in view of the existing stagnation of Georgian industry, invited an assem blage at her house of leading gentle men from various parts of the State, and, on the first day after their meet ing, conducted them to a temporary building, erected for the machine, in which they saw, with astonishment and delight, that one man with Whitney's invention could separate more cotton fi-om the seed in a single day than he could without it by the labor of months. Mr. Phineas Miller, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Tale, who had come to Georgia as the teacher of General Greene's children, and who, about this time, became the husband of his widow, now pro- iposed a partnership with Mr. Whit- •ney, by which he engaged to furnish funds to perfect the invention, secure the requisite patents, and manufac ture the needed machines ; the part ners to share equally all profits and emoluments thence resulting. Their contract bears date May 27, 1793; and the firm of Miller & Whitney immediately commenced what they had good reason to expect would prove a most extensive and highly lucrative business. Mr. Whitney thereupon repaired to Connecticut, there to perfect his invention, secure his patent, and manufacture machines for the Southem market. But his just and sanguine hopes were destined to signal and bitter disappointment. His invention was too valuable to be peacefully enjoyed ; or, rather, it was the seeming and urgent interest of too many to rob him of the just reward of his achieve ment. He ought not to have ex pected that those who lived idly and luxuriously by stealing the wife from her husband, and the child from its mother, would hesitate to steal, also, the fruit of his brain-work, in order to render thereby the original theft ten-fold more advantageous than it otherwise could be. Reports of the nature and value of his invention were widely and rapidly circulated, creating intense excitement. Multi tudes hastened from all quarters to see his original machine; but, no patent having yet been secured, it was deemed unsafe to gratify their curiosity; so they broke open the building by night, and carried off the wonderful prize. Before he could complete his model and secure his patent, a number of imitations had been made and set to work, deviating in some respects from the original, in the hope of thus evading all penalty. Before Whitney had been three days on his northward trip, a letter from his partner followed on his track, which said : " It will be necessary to have a considera ble number of gins made, to be in readiness to send out as soon as the patent is obtained, in order to satisfy the absolute demands, and make people's heads easy on the subject; for I am informed of two other claimants for the honor of tlie invention of the cotton gins, in addition to those we 'knew before." Messrs. Miller and Whitney's plan of operations was essentially vicious» They proposed to construct and retain the ownership of all the machines that might be needed, set ting one up in each cotton-growing neighborhood, and ginning all the staple for every third pound of the product. Even at this rate, the invention would have been one of 62 THE AMBEIOAN CONFLICT. enormous benefit to the planters — cotton being then worth from twenty. five to thirty-three cents per pound. But no single manufactory could turn out the gins so fast as wanted, and planters who might readily have con sented to the terms of the patentees, had the machines been furnished so fast as required, could hardly be ex pected to acquiesce so readily in the necessity of doing without machines altogether because the patentees could not, though others could, supply them. And then the manufacture of ma chines, to be constructed and worked by the patentees alone, involved a very large outlay of money, which must mainly be obtained by borrovdng. Mil ler's means being soon exhausted, then- first loan of two thousand dollars was made on the comparatively favorable condition of five per cent, premium, in addition to lawful interest. But they were soon borrowing at twenty per cent, per month. Then there was sickness ; Mr. Whitney having ft severe and tedious attack in 1794 ; after which the scarlet fever raged in New Haven, disabling many of his workmen ; and soon the lawsuits, into which they were driven in de fense of their patent, began to devour all the money they could make or borrow. In 1795, Whitney had another attack of sickness ; and, on his return to New Haven, from three weeks of suffering in New Tork, learned that his manufactory, with all his machines and papers, had just been consumed by fire, whereby he found himself suddenly reduced to utter bankruptcy. Next came a re port fi-om England that the British manufacturers condemned and re jected the cotton cleaned by his ma chines, on the ground that the staple was greatly im,jv/red ly the ginning process! And now no one would touch the ginned cotton ; and block heads were found to insist that the roller-gin — a preposterous rival to Whitney's, whereby the seed was crushed in the fibre, instead of being separated fi-om it — was actually a better machine than Whitney's 1 In the depths of their distress and in solvency. Miller wrote (April 27, 1796) from Georgia to Whitney, urg ing him to hasten to London, there to counteract the stupid prejudice which had been excited against ginned cotton ; adding : "Our fortune, our fate, depends on it. The process of patent ginning is now quite at a stand. I hear nothing of it except the condolence of a few real friends, w-ho ex press their regret that so promising an in vention has entirely failed." Whitney endeavored to obey this injunction, but could nowhere obtain the necessary funds ; though he had several times fixed the day of his de parture, and on one occasion had actually engaged his passage, and taken leave of some of his fi-iends. October 7, 1797, Mr. Whitney wrote to an intimate friend a letter, where- fi-om the following is an extract : " The extreme embarrassments whicli have been for a long time accumulating upon me are now become so great that it will he impossible for me to struggle against thera many days longer. It has required my utmost exertions to exist, without ma king the least progress in our business. I have labored hard against the strong current of disappointment, which has been threaten ing to carry us down the cataract; hut I have labored with a shattered oar, and struggled in vain, unless some speedy relief is obtained. I am now quite far enough advanced in life to think seriously of marry ing. I have ever looked forward with plea sure to an alliance with an amiable and vir tuous companion, as a source from whence I have expected one day to derive the great est happiness. But the accomplishment of my tour to Europe, and the acquisition of WHITNEY AND HIS COTTON-GIN. 63 something which I can call my own, appear to he absolutely necessary, before It will be admissible for me even to thinlc of family engagements. Probably a year and a half, at least, wUl be required to perform that tour, after it is entered upon. Life is but short, at best, and six or seven years out of the midst of it is, to him who makes it, an immense sacrifice. My most unremitted at tention has been devoted to our business. I have sacrificed to it other objects, from which, before this time, I might certainly have gained twenty or thirty thousand dol lars. My whole prospects have been em barked in it, with the expectation that I should, before this time, have realized some thing, from it." At length the ridiculous prejudice against cotton cleaned by Whitney's gin gradually and slowly gave way, and the value of the invention began to be perceived and acknowledged.- But Miller & Whitney's first suit against infi-ingers now came to trial, before a Georgia jury ; and, in spite of the judge's charge directly in the plaintiffs' favor, a verdict was given for the defendant — a verdict fi-om which there was no appeal. When the second suit was ready for trial at Savannah, no judge appeared, and, of course, no court was held. Mean time, the South fairly swarmed with pirates on the invention, of all kinds and degrees. In April, 1799, Miller writes to Whitney as follows : " The prospect of making anything by ginning in this State is at an end. Surrep titious gins are erected in every part of the country ; and the jurymen at Augusta have come to an understanding among themselves that they will never give a cause in our favor, let the merits of the case be as they may." It would not be surprising if the firm would now have gladly relin quished the working of their ma chines, and confined themselves to the sale of patent rights. But few would buy what they could safely steal, and those few gave notes which they generally took care not to pay. If sued, juries would often return a verdict of no consideration, or a trial would be staved off until collection was barred by the statute of limita tion, which outlawed a debt that had existed through a period of four years. On one occasion, the agent of the patentees, who was dispatched on a collecting tour through the State of Georgia, was unable to ob tain money enough to pay his ex penses, and was compelled to draw on his employers for nearly the full amount. Finally, in 1801, this agent wrote to his principals that, though the planters of South Carohna would not pay their notes, many of them sug gested a purchase of the right of the patentees for that State by its Legis lature ; and he urged Mr. Whitney to come to Columbia, and try to make an arrangement on this basis. Whitney did so, taking some letters and testimonials from the new Presi dent, Jefferson, and his Secretary of State, Madison, which were doubt less of service to him in his negotia tions. His memorial having been duly Bubmitted to the Legislature, proposing to sell the patent right for South Carolina for one hundred thousand dollars, the Legislature de bated it, and finally offered for it fifty thousand — twenty thousand down, and ten thousand per annum for three years. Whitney, in a letter written the day after the passage of the act, says : " The use of the machine here is ama zingly extensive, and the value of it beyond all calculation. It may, without exaggera tion, be said to have raised the value of seven-eighths of all the three Southern States from flfty to one hundred per cent. We get but a song for it in comparison with 64 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. the worth of the thing ; but it is securing something. It will enable Miller & Whit ney to pay all their debts, and divide some thing between them. It establishes a pre cedent which will be valuable as it respects our collections in other States, and I think there is now a fair prospect that I shall in the event realize propei'ty enough to render me comfortable, and, in some measure, inde pendent." He was mistaken. The next Legis lature of South Carolina nullified the contract, suspended payment on the thirty thousand still due, and insti tuted a suit for the recovery of the twenty thousand that had *heen already paidl The pretenses on which this remarkable course was taken are more fully set forth in the action of the Legislature of Georgia in 1803, based on a Message from the governor, urging the inexpediency of granting any thing to Miller & Whitney. The Committee to whom this matter was referred, made a report, in which they — " cordially agreed with the governor in his observations, that monopolies are at all times odious, particularly in free govern ments, and that some remedy ought to be applied to the wound which the Cotton-Gin monopoly has given, and will otherwise continue to give, to the culture and cleaning of that precious and increasing staple. They have examined the Rev. James Hutch inson, who declares that Edward Lyon, at least twelve months before Miller & Whit ney's machine was brought into view, had in possession a saw or cotton-gin, in minia ture, of the same construction ; and it fur ther appears to them, from the information of Doctor Cortes Pedro Dampiere, an old and respectable citizen of Columbia county, that a machine of a construction similar to that of Miller & Whitney, was used in Swit zerland at least forty years ago, for ihe pur pose of picking rags to make lint and paper." This astonishing Committee closed their report with the following reso lution : . " Resohed, That the Senators and Repre sentatives of this State in Congress be, and they hereby are, instructed to use their utmost endeavors to obtain a modification of the act, entitled, ' An act to extend the privileges of obtaining Patents for useful discoveries and inventions, to certain per sons therein mentioned, and to enlarge and define the penalties for violating the rights of patentees,' so as to prevent the operation of it to the injury of that most valuable sta ple, cotton, and the cramping of genius in. improvements on Miller & Whitney's patent Gin, as well as to limit the price of obtain ing a right of using it, the price at present being unbounded, and the planter and poor artificer altogether at the mercy of the pa tentees, who may raise the price to any sum they please. "And, in case the said Senators and Re presentatives of this State shall find such modification impracticable, that they do then use their best endeavors to induce Con gress, from the example of other nations, to make compensation to Miller & Whitney for their discovery, take up the patent right, and release the Southern States from so .burthensome a grievance." North Carolina, to her honor be it recorded, in December, 1802, nego tiated an arrangement with Mr. Whitney, whereby the legislature laid a tax of two shillings and six pence upon every saw employed in ginning cotton, to be continued for five years, which sum was to be col lected by the sheriffs in the same manner as the public taxes ; and, after deducting the expenses of collec tion, the avails were faithfully paid over to the patentee. The old North State was not extensively en gaged in cotton-growing, and the pecuniary avails of this action were probably not large ; but the arrange ment seems to have been a fair one, and it was never repudiated. South Carohna, it should in justice be said, through her legislature of 1804, receded from her repudiation, and fulfilled her original contract. Mr. Miller, the partner of Whit ney, died, poor and embarrassed, on the 7th of December, 1803. At the term of the United States District Court for Georgia, held at Savannah VALUE OF THE COTTON-GIN. 65 in December, 1807, Mr. Whitney obtained a verdict against the pirates on his invention; his patent being now in the last year of its existence. Judge Johnson, in entering judg ment for the plaintiff, said : " With regard to the utility of this discov ery, the court would deem it a waste of time to dwell long upon this topic. Is there a man who hears us, who has not expe rienced its utility ? The whole interior of the Southern States was languishing, and its inhabitants emigrating for want of some object to engage their attention, and employ their industry, when the invention of this machine at once opened views to them which set the whole country in active mo tion. From childhood to age, it has pre- ' sented to us a lucrative employment. Indi viduals who were depressed with poverty, and sunk in idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts have been paid off. Our capitals have increased, and our lands trebled themselves in value. We cannot express the weight ofthe obliga tion which the country owes to this inven tion. The extent of it cannot now be seen. Some faint presentiment may be formed from the refiection that Cotton is rapidly supplanting Wool, Plax, Silk, and even Furs, in manufactures, and may one day profita bly supply the use of specie in our East India trade. Our sister States also partici pate in the benefits of this invention ; for, beside affording the raw rhaterial for their manufacturers, the bnlkiness and quantity of the article afford a valuable employment for their shipping." Mr. Whitney's patent expired in 1808, leaving him a poorer man, doubtless, than though he had never listened to the suggestions of his fi-iend Mrs. Greene, and undertaken th# invention of a machine, by means of which the annual production of cotton in the Southern States has been augmented from some five or ten thousand bales in 1793 to over fime millions of hales, or one million tons, in 1859 ; this amount being at least three-fourths in weight, and Beven- eighths in value, of all the cot ton produced on the globe. To say that this invention was worth one 5 thousand millions of dollars to the Slave States of this -country, is to place a very moderate estimate on its value. Mr. Whitney petitioned Congress, in 1812, for_a renewal of his patent, setting forth the costly and embarrassing struggles he had been forced to make in defense of his right, and observing that he had been unable to obtain any decision on the merits of his claim until he had been eleven years in the law, and until thirteen of the fourteen years' hfe- time of his patent had expired. But the immense value of his invention stood directly in the way of any such acknowledgment of its merits and his righteous claims as the renewal he sought would have involved. Some hberal members from the cot ton-growing region favored his peti tion, but a majority of the Southrons fiercely opposed it, and it was lost. Mr. Whitney, in the course of a correspondence with Robert Fulton, inventor of the first successful steam boat, remarks : " The difliculties with which I have had to contend have originated, principally, in the want of a disposition in mankind to do jus tice. My invention was new and distinct from every other : it stood alone. It was not interwoven with anything before known; and it can seldom happen that an invention or improvement is so strongly marked, and can be So clearly and specifically identified ; and I have always believed that I should have had no difftculty in causing my rights to be respected, if it had been less valuable, and been used only hy a small portion of the community. But the use of this machine being immensely profitable to almost every planter in the cotton districts, all were in terested in trespassing upon the patent right, and each kept the other in countenance. Demagogues made themselves popular by misrepresentation and unfounded clamors, both against the right and the law made for its protection. Hence there arose associa tions and combinations to oppose both. At one time, but few men in Georgia dared to come into court and testify to the most sim- 66 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. pie facts within their knowledge, relative to the use of the machine. In one instance, 1 had great difficulty in proving that the ma chine had been med in Georgia, although, at the same moment, there were three separate sets of this machinery in motion within fifty yards of the building in which the court sat, and all so near that the rattling of the wheels was distinctly heard on the steps of the court house." In 1798, Mr. Whitney, despair ing of ever achieving a competence from the proceeds of his cotton- gin, engaged in the manufacture of arms, near New Haven ; and his rare capacity for this or any similar undertaking, joined with his invin cible perseverance and energy, was finally rewarded with success. He was a most indefatigable worker; one of the first in his manufactory in the moming, and the last to leave it at night; able to make any imple ment or machine he required, or to invent a new one when that might be needed ; and he ultimately achieved a competency. He made great im provements in the manufacture of fire arms — ^improvements that have since been continued and perfected, until the American rifled musket of our day, made at the National Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, is doubt less the most effective and perfect weapon known to mankind. In 1 8 1 7, Mr. Whitney, now fifty-two years old, found himself fully relieved from pe cuniary embarrassments and the har assing anxieties resulting therefrom. He was now married to Miss Henrietta F. Edwards, daughter of the Hon. Pierpont Edwards, United States Dis trict Judge for Coimecticut ; and four children, a son and three daughters, were bom to him in the next flve years. In September, 1822, he was attacked by a dangerous and painful disease, which, vrith alternations of terrible suffering and comparative ease, preyed upon him until January 8, 1826, when he died, not quite sixty years of age.' The African Slave-Trade, so far as "it had any legal or tolerated exist ence, was peremptorily closed, as we have seen, on the 1st day of January, 1808. This was the period fi-om which, according to the fond antici pations of optimists and quietists. Slavery in our country should have commenced its decadence, and thence gone steadily and surely forward to its ultimate and early extinction. And these sanguine hopes were measura bly justified by the teachings of his tory. In all former ages, in aU other countries, Slavery, so long as it ex isted and flourished, was kept alive by a constant or frequent enslave ment of captives, x)r by importations of bondmen. Whenever that enslave ment, that importation, ceased, Sla very began to decline. The grati tude of masters to faithful, devoted servants, who had nursed them in ill- ' The inventor of the cotton-gin is not deemed worthy of even tlie slightest distinct biograph ical notice iu the Encyclopcedia Britannica. The only, and not very accurate, allusion to him that I have been able to find in that immense work, is as foUows: " The Upland Cotton Is a different species from the Sea Island, and is separated with such difficulty from the seed, that the expense of cleaning the wool must have put a stop to its further cultivation, had not a machine, by which the operation of cleaning is easily and success fully accomplished, beeu invented. This ma chine was invented in 1795, by Mr. Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts. TliereTare two qualities of this cotton, the one termed Upland Georgia, grown in the States of Georgia and South Car olina, and the other of superior • quality, raised upon the banks of the Mississippi, and dis tinguished iu the market by the narae of New Orleans cotton," &o., &e. — Encyclopcedia Britam- nica. Eighth (last) Edition, vol. vii., p. M.1 . Truly, the world knows little of its greatest men. THB RENAISSANCE OF SLAVERY. 67 bess, or adhered to them in times of peril or calamity, or who had simply given the best years of their hves to the enlargement of their wealth, had been effectual in reducing, by manu mission, the aggregate number of slaves much faster than it was in creased by the preponderance of births over deaths. The chances of war, of invasion, and still more of insurrection and civil convulsion, had operated from time to time still fur ther to reduce the number of slaves. Even the licentious and immoral con nections between masters and their bondwomen, so inseparable from the existence of Slavery, tended strongly toward a like result; since it was sel dom or never reputable, save in slave- holding America — if even there — for a master to send his own children to the auction-block and consign them to eternal bondage among strangers.' Quite often, the slave-mother, as well as her child or children, owed her emancipation to the affection, the re morse, or the shame, of her master and paramour. So long as slaves were mainly foreigners and barbari ans, often pubhc enemies, of fierce, ' strange aspect and unintelligible speech, there would naturally be lit tle sympathy betwixt them and their masters ; but when children who had grown up together — sprung, indeed, from different castes, but still mem bers of the same household — familiar from infancy, and to some extent playmates, came to hold the relation, reispectively, of master and slave, it was inevitable that kindly feelings should frequently be reciprocated be tween thera, leading often to devotion on the one hand and emancipation on the other. It was not without rea son, therefore, that the founders of our Republic and the framers of oui' Constitution supposed they had pro vided for the gradual but certain dis appearance of Slavery, by limiting its area on the one hand, and providing for an early inhibition of the Slave- Trade on the other. » But the unexpected results of the purchase of Louisiana and the inven tion of the Cotton-Gin were such as to set at naught all these calcula tions. The former opened to slave- holding settlement and culture a vast domain of the richest soil on earth, in a region peculiarly adapted to the now rapidly and profitably expand ing production of Cotton ; for Whit ney's invention had rendered this sta ple far more remunerative to its pro*- ducer than any rival which the South ' "That the practice of buying and selling servants, thus early begun amongst the pa- . triarchs, descended to their posterity, is known to every attentive reader of the Bible. It was expressly authorized by the Jewish law, in which were many directions how such servants were to be treated. They were to be bought only of the heathen; for, if an Israehte grew poor and sold himself, eitlier to discharge a debt or to procure the means of subsistence, he was to be treated, not as a slave, but as a hired ser vant, and restored to freedom at the year of Jubilee. Unlimited as the power thus given to the Hebrews over their bondservants of heathen extraction appears to have been, they were strictly prohibited from acquiring such property by any other means than fair purchase. ' He that stealeth a man and seUeth him,' said their great Lawgiver, ' shall surely be put to death.' " — Encyclopcedia Britannica, vol. xx., p. 319. The above passage seems scarcely just to the Law given by Moses. The true object and purpose of that Law, so far as bondage is con cerned, was rather a mitigation of the harsher features of au existing institution than the creation of a new one. Moses, ' for the hard ness of your hearts,' says Jesus, allowed or tolerated some things which ' from the beginning were not so.' How any one can quote the Law of Moses as a warrant for Slavery, yet not admit it as a justification of free-and-easy Divorce, is not apparent. 68 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. had ever, or has ever yet, attempted to grow ; while the nearly simultane ous inventions of Hargreaves, 'Ark- wright, and others,' whereby steam was apphed to the propulsion of machinery admirably adapted to the fabrication of Cotton, secured the cultivators against all reasonable ap prehension of a permanently glut ted market. As the production was doubled, and even quadrupled, every few years, it would sometimes seem that the demand had been exceed ed ; and two or three great commer cial convulsions gave warning that even the capacity of the world's steadily expanding markets could be over-estimated and surpassed by the producers of Cotton and its various fabrics. But two years at most suf ficed to clear off the surplus and en large this steadily growing demand up to the full measure of the mo mentarily checked production. The five millions of bales, produced by the United States in 1859-60, were sold as readily and quickly as the one million bales produced in 1830-31, and at considerably higher prices per pound. But the relatively frigid climate q^d superQcially exliausted soil of Maryland, Virginia, and North Car olina — wherein the greater number of slaves were originally held — were poorly, or not at all, adapted to the production of cotton, whereof slave- labor early claimed, and succeeded in substantially maintaining, a mo nopoly. No other out-door work 8 James Hargreaves had invented the Spin ning-Jenny in 1764; this was supplanted by the invention by Sir Richard Arkwright, in 1768, of a superior machine for spinning cotton thread. James Watt patented his Steam Engine iu 1769, and his improvement, whereby a rotary motion was produced, in 1782; and its first application afforded such constant and nearly uniform employment for this descrip tion of labor. Throughout the greater part of the South-West, plowing for the cotton-crop may be commenced in January ; to be followed directly by planting ; this by weeding ; and hardly has the cultivation of the crop been completed when the picking of the more advanced bolls may be com menced ; and this, with ginning, often employs the whole force of the plan tation nearly or quite up to the com mencement ofthe Christmas holidays. These being over, the preparation of the fields for plowing is again com menced ; so that there is no season when the hands need stand idle ; and, though long spring and summer rains, impeding tillage while impelling the growth of weeds and of grass, some times induce weeks of necessary hur ry and unusual effort, there is abso lutely no day of the year wherein the experienced planter or competent overseer cannot find full employment for his hands in some detail of the cultivation of Cotton. The forest-covered and unhealthy, but facile and marvelously fertile, South-West hungered for slaves, as we have seen evinced in the case of Indiana Territory. Impoverished, but salubrious and corn-growing Ma ryland, Virginia, etc., were ready to supply them. Enterprising, adven-. turous whites, avaricious men from the North and from Europe^ but still more from the older Slave States, hied to the South-West, in hot pur- to cotton-spinning occurred in 1787, but it was many years iu winning its way into general use. John Fitch's first success in steam navigation was achieved in 1786. Pulton's patents were granted in 1809-11, and claimed the simple means of adapting paddle-wheels to the axle of the crank of Watt's engine. THE NEGRO-TRADERS AS POLITICIANS. 69 suit of wealth by means of cotton- planting and subsidiary calhngs; and each became a purchaser of slaves to the full extent of his means. To clear more land and grow more cotton, wherewith' to buy more negroes, was the general and absorbing aspiration — ^the more negroes do be employed in clearing still more land and grow ing still more cotton. Under this dispensation, the price of slaves ne cessarily and rapidly advanced, until it was roughly computed that each average field-hand was worth so many hundred dollars as cotton commanded cents per pound : That is, when cot ton was worth ten cents per pound, field-hands were worth a thousand dollars each; with cotton at twelve cents, they were worth twelve hun dred; and when it rose, as it some times did even in later days, to fifteen cents per pound for a fair article of middling Orleans, a stout negro, from seventeen to thirty years old, with no particular skill but that necessarily acquired in the rude experience of farm labor anywhere, would often bring fifteen hundred dollars on a New Orleans auction-block. Hence the business of negro-trading, or the systematic buying of slaves to sell again, though never quite reputable, and, down to the last thirty or forty years, very generally regarded with abhorrence — became a highly impor tant and influential, as well as gain ful, occupation. The negro-trader, often picking up bargains at execu tors' or assignees' sales in the older States, or when a sudden shift must be made to save a merchant from bankruptcy or a farm from the sher iff, controlled large sums of money, ofl;en in good part his own. He was the Providence to whom indolent, dis sipated, easy-going Virginians looked for extrication, at the last gasp, from their constantly recurring pecuniary embarrassments ; while, on the other hand, a majority of the South-West ern planters were eager to buy of him at large prices, provided he would sell on one or two yeai-s' credit. He patronized hotels and railroads; he often chartered vessels for the trans portation of his human merchandise ; he was necessarily shrewd, keen, and intelligent, and frequently acquired, or at least wielded, so much* wealth and infiuence as to become almost respectable. Quite usually, ' he was an active politician, almost uniformly of the most ultra Pro-Slavery type, and naturally attached to the Demo cratic party. Traveling extensively and almost . constantly, his informa tion and volubility rendered him mail and telegraph, newspaper and stump orator, to those comparatively ignorant and secluded planters whom he visited twice or more per year, as buyer or seller, or collector of his dues for slaves already sold; while his power as profitable customer on the one hand, or lenient creditor on the other, was by no means inconsid erable. It was this povv'cr, in con nection with that of the strongly sympathizing and closely affiliated class of gamblers and blacklegs, by which Van Buren's renomination fq;r the Presidency was defeated in the Baltimore Convention of 1844, and the Democratic party committed, through the jiomination of Polk and its accessories, to the pohcy of an nexing Texas, thus securing a fresh and boundless expansion to Slavery. When that Annexation was suddenly, and to most unexpectedly, achieved, at the close of John Tyler's adminis- 70 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT tration, relays of horses, prearranged in the absence of telegraphs, con veyed from the deeply interested ne gro-traders, who were watching the doings of Congress at the national metropolis, to their confederates and agents in the slave-selling districts of the neighboring States, the joy ful tidings which insured an ad vance of twelve to fifteen per cent. in the market value of human flesh, and enabled the exclusive possessors of the intelligence to make it the basis of extensive and lucrative spec ulations. Slave-breeding for gain, deliber ately purposed and systematically pursued, appears to be among the latest devices and illustrations of human depravity. Neither Cowper, nor Wesley, nor Jonathan Edwards, nor Granville Sharp, nor Clarkson, nor any of the philanthropists or divines who, in the last century, bore fearless and emphatic testimony to the flagrant iniquity of slave-making, slave-holding, and slave-selling, seem to have had any clear conception of it. For the infant slave of past ages was rather an incumbrance and a burden than a valued addition to his master's stock. To raise him, how ever roughly, must cost all he would ultimately be worth. That it was cheaper to buy slaves 'than to rear them, was quite generally regarded as self-evident. But the suppression of « Mr. Edward Yates, a zealous and active friend of the Union cause, in " A letter to the Women of England, ou Slavery in the gouthem States of America," founded on personal observation in 1855, gives revolting instances of the brutal handling of delicate and beautiful women, appa rently white, by slave-dealers and their cus tomers, iu Southern sale-rooms. He adds : " At Richmond and New Orleans, I was pres ent at slave-auctions, and did not see ons instance the Afi-ican Slave-Trade, coinciding with the rapid settlement of the Louisiana purchase and the triumph of the Cotton-Gin, wrought here an entire transformation. When field- hands brought fi-om ten - to fifteen hundred dollars, and young negroes were held at about ten doUars per pound, the newly bom infant, if well- formed, healthy, and likely to hve, was deemed an addition to his mas ter's wealth of not less than one hun dred doUars, even in Virginia or Maryland. It had now become the interest of the master to increase the number of births in his slave-cabins ; and few evinced scruples as to the means whereby this result was at tained. The chastity of female slaves was never esteemed of much account, even where they were white; and, now that it had become an impedi ment to the increase of their masters' wealth, it was wholly disregarded. No slave-girl, however young, was valued lower for having become a mother, without waiting to be first made a wife ; nor were many masters likely to rebuke this as a fault, or brand it as a shame. Women were publicly advertised by seUers as ex traordinary breeders, and commanded a higher price on that account.' Wives, sold into separation from their husbands, were imperatively required to accept new partners, in order that the fruitfuluess of the of a married pair being sold together, but, without exception, so far as I was able to learn from the negroes sold by the auctioneers, every grovm-im rnanlefta wife and every grown-up woman a hus-» band * * * I saw Mr. PuUiam (of Rich mond) sell, to different buyers, two daughters away from then- mother, who was also to be sold. Ihis unfortunate woman was a quadroon; and 1 ShaU not soon forget the large tears that started to her eyes as she saw her two children sold away iVom her." Testimony like this is abundant. SLAVE-BREEDING— COLONIZATION. 71 plantation might not suffer. We need not dweU on this new phase of Slavery, its revolting features, and still more revolting consequences. The simple and notorious fact that clergymen, marrying slaves, were accustomed to require of them fidel ity in their marital relation, untU separated by death, or by inexorable necessity, suffices of itself to stamp the social condition thus photo graphed with the indignant reproba tion of mankind. And when we add that slave-girls were not only daily sold on the auction-blocks of New Orleans, and constantly advertised in her journals, as very nearly white, weU-educated, and possessed of the rarest personal attractions, and that they commanded double and treble prices on this account, we leave noth ing to be added to complete the out lines of a system of legalized and priest-sanctioned iniquity, more gi gantic and infernal than heathenism and barbarism ever devised. For the Circassian beauty, whose charms seek and find a market at Constanti nople, is sent thither by her parents, and is herself a wilhng party to the speculation. She hopefiilly bids a last adieu to the home of her infancy, to find another in the harem of some wealthy and powerful Turk, where she wiU achieve the hfe of luxury and idleness she covets. But the American-bom woman, consigned by the laws of her country and the fiat of her owner to the absolute posses sion of whomsoever bids most for her, neither consents to the transfer, nor is at all consulted as to the per son to whom she is helplessly con signed. The Circassian knows that her children wiU he fi-ee and honored. ,The American is keenl;^ aware that hers must share her own bitter and - hopeless degradation. It was long ago observed that American Slavery, with its habitual and hfe-long separations of husband fi-om wife, of parent fi-om child, its exile of perhaps the larger portion of its victims from the hum ble but cherished homes of their childhood to the strange and repul sive swamps and forests of the far South-West, is harsher and vUer than any other system of bondage on which the sun ever shone. And when we add that it has been care fully computed that the State of yir- ginia, since the date of the purchase of Louisiana, had received more money for her own flesh and blood, regularly sold and exported, than her soil and all that was upon it would have sold for on the day when she seceded from the Union, we need adduce no more of the miUion facts which unite to prove every wrong a blunder as well as a crime — that God has implanted in every evil the seeds of its overthrow and ultimate de struction. The conflicting currents of Ameri can thought and action with regard to Slavery — rthat which was cherished by the Revolutionary patriots, and gradually died with them, and that by which the former was impercepti bly supplanted — are strikingly exhib ited in the history and progress of the movement for Afirican Coloniza tion. Its originator was the Rev, Samuel Hopkins, D. D., who was settled as a clergyman at Newport, R. I., in 1770, and found that thriv ing sea-port a focus of Slavery and the Slave-Trade, upon both of which he soon commenced an active and determined war. The idea of coun- 72 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. teracting, and ultimately suppressing, the Slave-Trdde, through a sj'^stem- atic colonization of the western coast of Africa with emancipated blacks from America, was matured and sug gested by him to others, even before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war ; and its reahzation, interrupted by that struggle, was resumed by him directly after it had been closed. This was anterior to the British set tlement of Sierra Leone, and preceded the appearance of Clarkson's prize essay, commanding public attention to Jhe horrors of the Slave-Trade. Among Dr. Hopkins's European cor respondents were Granville Sharp and Zachary Macaulay, who were among the earliest and least com promising of British abolitionists. Through his influence and efforts, three colored youth were educated in New England, toward the close of the last century, with express refer ence to missionary labor in Africa in connection with the Colonization movement. Two of these ultimately, though at a mature age, migrated to Liberia, where they died soon after. Thirty-eight American blacks emi grated to Sierra Leone in 1815, under the auspices and in the vessel of one of their own number. The initial organization of the American Colonization Society took place at Princeton, N. J., in the autumn of 1816 ; and that Society was formaUy constituted at Washington, by the choice of. officers, on the 1st of Janu ary, 1817. Its first attempt at prac tical colonization was made in 1820 on Sherbro Island, which proved an unfortunate location ; its present po sition on the main land, at Cape Mesurado, was purchased December 15, 1821, and some colonists landed on it early in the following year. About one thousand emigrants were dispatched thither in the course of the following seven years, including a smaU church of colored persons which migrated fi-om Boston in 1826. The additional number dispatched during the succeeding thirty years was not far fi-om eight thousand. The city founded by the original emigrants received the name of Mon rovia, and in 1847 the colony declared itself an independent repubhc under the name of Liberia. That repubhc stUl exists, enjoying a moderate and equable prosperity, in spite of its un- healthiness for whites, and for all but duly acchmated blacks, on account of its tropical and humid location. But the Colonization movement, though bountifully lauded and glori fied by the eminent in Church and State, and though the Society num bered among its Presidents Bushrod Washington, Charles CarroU, James Madison, and Henry Clay, has not achieved a decided success, and for the last twenty years has steadily 'and stubbornly declined in import ance and consideration. It has ceased to command or deserve the sympathy of abolitionists, without achieving the hearty confidence, though it has been blessed or cursed with the abundant verbal commend ations, of their antagonists. It was soon discovered that, whUe it was presented to the former class as a safe and unobjectionable device for miti gating the evils, while graduaUy un- derminmg the existence, of human bondage in' our country, it was, at the same time, commended to the favor and patronage of slaveholders as a means of relieving the South of its dangerous fi-ee-negro element, and EMANCIPATION DISCARDED. 73 thus augmenting the security and insuring the perpetuity of theh- be loved institution. Moreover,- as the enhanced and constantly increasing market value of slaves obstructed and dimiidshed manumissions with a view to colonization, the class of subjects for deportation to Africa steadily feU off in numbers, and in the quality of those composing it. -When, at last, the South, under the lead of Mr. Calhoun, quite generally adopted the novel and extraordinary doctrine of the essential righteousness and signal beneficence of Slavery — when the re lation of hfe-long servitude and utter subjugation to the wiU of a master was declared the true, natural, and most enviable condition of the la boring class anywhere — ^the condition most conducive to their happiness,'" moral culture, and social well-being — the idea of hberating individuals or families from this subjugation, and sending them from peaceful, plenti ful, and prosperous America to be nighted, barbarous, and inhospitable Africa, became, in this view, a trans parent absurdity. No disciple of Calhoun could be a logical, con sistent colonizationist, any mOre than a foUower of Garrison and Wendell PhiUips. The constantly and widely diverging currents of American opin ion soon left the Colonization move ment hopelessly stranded. The teachings of the new Southern school tended palpably toward the extirpa tion from the South of the free-negro anomaly, through reenslavement rather than exile. Legislative efforts to decree a general sale of free negroes into absolute slavery were made in several States, barely defeat ed in two or three, and fully success ful in one. Arkansas, in 1858-9, enacted the enslavement of aU fi-oe colored persons -within her limits, who should not remove beyond them before the ensuing 4th of July, and this atrocious edict was actually en forced by her authorities. The ne groes generally escaped ; but, if any remained, they did so in view of the fact that the first sherifi" who could lay hands on them would hurry them to the auction-block, and sell them to the highest bidder. And this was but a foretaste of the fate to which the new Southern dogma was morally certain, in a few years, to consign the whole fi-ee colored population of the 10 Union." He says :,."But when I consider that the limits of the United States are pre cisely fixed by the treaty of 1783, and that the Constitution expressly de clares itself to be made for the Uni ted States, I cannot help behoving the intention was not to permit Congress to admit into the Union new States, which should be formed outside of the territory for which, and under whose authority alone, they were then acting I do not believe it was meant that they might receive England, Ire land, Holland, etc., into it, which would be the case on your construe-- tion." After disposing in like man ner of " the opinion of those who con sider the grant of the treaty-making power as boundless," and completing his demonstration that there was no power whatever in the Constitution, as he construed it, to make this pur chase, he, with more good sense than consistency, concludes: "I confess, then, I think it important, in the pres ent case, to set an example against broad construction, by appealing for new power to the people. If, how ever, our friends shall think differ ently, certainly I shall acquiesce with satisfaction ; confiding, that the good sense of our country will correct the evil of construction when it shaU produce iU effects." When, in 1811, the Territory of Orleans was moulded into the State of Louisiana, Mr. Josiah Quincy, a young and very ardent Federalist who then represented the city of Boston in the House, indulged in what re sembled very closely a menace of contingent secession ; and similar ful- minations were uttered- by sundry New England Federalists under the pressure of Mr. Jefferson's Embargo and of the War of 1812. The famous but unsavory Hartford Convention," held near the close of that war, and ' Letter to Senator Breckinridge, August 12, 1803. >» September 7, 1803. " For proceedings of this Convention, Bee Mles's Register, January 14, 1815. THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. by which the min of the Federal party was completed, evinced its dis content with matters in general, but especially with Democracy and the War, by a resort to rhetoric which was denounced as tending to dis union, but which does not seem to ¦warrant the imputation. And when ever the right of secession or of nuUi- fication has been asserted, whether directly or by clear implication, in any part of the country, or. by any party out of power, such assertion has called forth expressions of em phatic rebuke and dissent from other sections'" and antagonistic parties. Mr. Webster,'* in replying to Mr.. Hayne of South Carolina on this subject, forcibly said : " I understood the gentleman to maintain, that, without revolution, without civil com motion, without rebellion, a remedy for sup posed abuse and transgression of the powers of the General Government lies in a direct appeal to the interference of the State Gov ernments." Mr. Hayne here rose and said : " He did not contend for the mere right of revolution, but for the right of constitutional resistance. What he maintained was that, in case of a plain, palpable violation of the Constitution by tbe General Government, a State may in terpose ; and that this interposition is con stitutional." Mr. Webster resumed : — "So, Sir, I under stood the gentleman, and am happy to find that 1 did not misunderstand him. What he contends for is, that it is constitutional to in terrupt the administration of the Constitu tion itself, in the hands of those who are chosen and sworn to administer it, by the direct interference, in form of law, of the. States, in virtue of their sovereign capacity. The inherent right of the people to reform their government, I do not deny ; and they have another right, and that is, to resist un constitutional laws, -without overturning the government. It is no doctrine of mine that unconstitutional laws bind the people. The great question is, 'Whose prerogative is it to decide on the constitutionality or uncon stitutionality of the laws?' On that, the main debate hinges. The proposition that, in case of a supposed violation ofthe Constj- tution by Congress, the States have a consti tutional right to interfere and annul the law of Congress, is the proposition of the gentle man. I do not admit it. If the gentleman had intended no more than to assert the right of revolution for justifiable cause, he would have said only what all agree to. But I cannot conceive that there can be a mid dle course between submission to the laws, when regularly pronounced constitutional,^ on the one hand, and open resistance, which is revolution or rebellion, on the other I say, the right of a State to annul a law of Congress cannot be maintained, bnt on the ground of the inalienable right of man to resist oppression ; that is to say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is an ultimate violent remedy, above the Con stitution and in defiance of the Constitu tion, which may be resorted to when a re-v olution is to be justified. But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in confor mity with it, there is any mode in which a State Government, as a member of the Union, can interfere .and' stop the prsgress of the general movement, by force of her own laws, under any circumstances what ever. * * * Sir, the human mind is so con stituted that the merits of both sides of a controversy appear very clear, and very pal pable, to those who respectively espouse tiiem; and both sides usually grow clearer as the controversy advances. South Caro lina sees unconstitutionality in the tariff; she se6s oppression there also ; and she sees danger. Pennsylvania, with a vision not less sharp, looks at the same tariff, and sees no such thing in it ; she sees it all constitutional, all useful, all safe. The faith of South Car olina is strengthened by opposition, and she now not only sees, but resolves, that the tariff is palpably unconstitutional, oppressive, and dangerous ; but Pennsylvania, not to be be hind her neighbors, and equally willing to strengthen her own faitlT by a confident as severation, resolves also, and gives to every '^ The foUowing extract is a fair specimen of the prevailing sentunent, at the time of the as sembling of the " Hartford Convention," of the South — including South CaroUna — on the sub ject of Secession : " No man, no association of men, no State or set of States, has a right to -withdraw itself from tills Union, of its own account. The same power that knit us together can unknit. The same formaUty which formed the links of the 'Union is necessary to dissolve it. The majority of the States which formed the Union must consent to the withdrawal of any branch of it. Until thai consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve tlie Union, or distract the efficacy of its laws, is teea- 80N — treason to all intents and purposes." — Rich mond Enquirer, November 1, IBM. '* Debate on Foot's resolutions, January 26, 1830. MR. WEBSTER ON NULLIFICATION. 87 warm affirmative of South Carolina a plain, downright, Pennsylvania negative. Soutli Carolina, to show the strength and unity of her opinion, brings her assembly to a una nimity, within seven voices ; Pennsylvania, not to be outdone in this respect any more than in others, reduces her dissentient frac tion to a single vote. Now, Sir, again I ask the gentleman. What is to be done? Are these States both right? If not, which is in the wrong ? or, rather, which has the best right to decide? And if he, and if I, are not to kncMv what the Constitution means, and what it is, till those two State Legislatures, and the twenty-two others, shall agree in its construction, what have we sworn to when we have sworn to maintain it? I was forci bly struck, Sir, with one reflection, as the gentleman went on in his speech. He quoted Mr. Madison's resolutions''' to prove that a State may interfere, in a case of deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of a power not granted. The honorable member supposes the tariff law to be such an exercise of power ; and that, consequent ly, a case has arisen in which tlie State may, if it see fit, interfere by its own law. Now it so happens, nevertheless, that Mr. Madi son deems this same tariff law quite consti tutional! Instead of a clear and palpable violation, it is, in his judgment, no violation at all. So that, while they use his authority for a hypothetical case, they reject it in the very case before them. All this, Sir, shows the inherent futility — I had almost used a stronger word — of conceding this power of interference to the States, and then attempt ing to secure it from abuse by imposing qualifications of which the States themselves are to judge. One of two things is tme: either the laws of the Union are beyond the discretion and beyond the control of the States; or else we have no constitution of General Government, and are thrust back again to the days of the Confederation." In his brief speech, which closed that debate, and finished the doctrine of NuUification, Mr. Webster said : " Sir, if I were to concede to the gentle man his principal .proposition, namely, that the Constitution is a compact between States, the question would still be, What pro-vision is made in this compact to settle points of disputed constraction, or contested power, that shall come into controversy? AnS this question would still be answered, and conclusively answered, by the Constitu tion itself. While the gentleman is contend ing against construction, he himself is set ting up the most dangerous and loose con struction. The Constitution declares that, the laws of Congress passed iii pursuance of the Gonstitution shall be the supreme law of the land. No construction is necessary here. It declares also, with equal plainness and precision, that t/ie judicial power ofthe United States shall extend to every case aris ing under the laws of Congress. This needs no construction. Here is a law, then, which is declared to be supreme ; and here is a power established, which is to interpret that law. Now, Sir, how has the gentleman met this? Suppose the Constitution to be a compact, yet here are its terms; and how does the gentleman get rid of them? He cannot argue the ieal off the bond, nor the words ont of the instrument. Here they are ; what answer does he give to them ? None in the world, Sir, except, that the effect of this would be to place the States in a condition of inferiority ; and that it results from the very nature of things, there being no superior, that the parties must be their "own judges! Thus closely and cogently does the tontorable gentleman reason on the words of the Constitution I The gentleman says, if there be such a power of final deci sion in the General Government, he asks for the grant of that power. Well, Sir, I show him the grant. I turn him to the very words. I show him that the laws of Congress are made supreme ; and that the judicial power extends, by express words, to the interpretation of these laws. Instead of answering this, he retreats into the general reflection, that it must r&sati, from the na ture of things, that the States, being parties, must judge for themselves. " I have adraitted, that, if the Constitution were to be considered as the creature of the -State governments, it might be modified, in terpreted, or construed according to their pleasure. But, even in that case, it would be necessary tliat they should agree. One alone could not interpret it conclusively ; one alone could not construe it ; one alone could not modify it. Tet the gentleman's doctrine is, that Carolina alone may con strue and interpret that compact, which equally binds all, and gives equal rights to all. " So, then, Sir, even supposing Ihe Con stitution to be a compact between the States, the gentleman's doctrine, nevertheless, is not maintainable ; because first, the General Government is not a. party to the compact, but a govemment estabhshed by it, and vested by it with the powers of trying and deciding doubtful questions ; and, secondly, because, if the Constitution be regarded as a compact, not one State only, but all the States, are parties to that compact, and one " The Virginia Resolves of 1799. 86 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. can have no right to fix upon it her own peculiar construction." Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun — two of the most remarka ble men ever produced in this or any other country — were destined to lead the rival forces by which the NuUifi cation issue was finally brought to a practical conclusion. Though they became and died fierce antagonists, and even bitter personal enemies, their respective characters and careers exhibited many points of resemblance. Each was of that "Scotch-Irish" Presbyterian stock -with which Crom well repeopled the north of Ireland fi-om Scotland, after having all but exterminated its original Celtic and Catholic inhabitants, who resisted and defied his authority. That Scotch-Irish blood to this day evinces something of the CromweUian ener gy, courage, and sturdiness. Each was of Eevolutionary Whig antece dents — Jackson, though but thirteen years of age, having been in arms for the patriotic cause in 1780 ; his bro ther Hugh ha-ving died in the service the preceding year. Andrew (then but fourteen), with his brother Eo bert, was taken prisoner by the Brit ish in 1781, and wounded in the head and arm while a captive, for refiising to clean his captor's boots. His bro ther was, for a like offense, knocked down and disabled. John C. Cal houn was only born in the last year of the Eevolutionary War; but his father, Patrick Calhoun, was an ardent and active Whig throughout the struggle. Each was early left fatherless — Andrew Jackson's father ha-ving died before his iUustrious son 15 " FeUow-oitizens of my native State I" — appealing to South Carolinians in his Proclama- was bom ; while the father of John C. Calhoun died when his son was still in his eariy teens. Each was by birth a South Carolinian ; for, though General Jackson's birth-place is claimed by his biographers for North Carolina, he expressly asserted South, Carolina" to be his native State, in the most important and memorable document to which his name is ap pended, and which flowed not merely from his pen, but fi-om his heart. Each was of the original Anti-Feder al, strict-construction school in our politics — Calhoun's father ha-ving ve hemently opposed the adoption of the Federal Constitution ; while Jack son, entering Congress as the sole re presentative of the newly admitted State of Tennessee (December 5, 1796), voted in a minority of twelve against the address tendering to Gen eral Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, a respectful ex pression of the profound admiration and gratitude wherewith his whole pubhc career was regarded by Con gress and the country. General Jackson was not merely an extreme Eepublican of the Jeffersonian State- Eights School ; he was understood to side wdth Colonel Hayne at the time of his great debate on Nulhfication with Mr. Webster. Each entered Congress before attaining his thirti eth year, having already taken a con spicuous part in pubhc affairs. Each was first chosen to the House, but served later and longer in the Senate. Each was a slaveholder through most of his career, always found on the side of Slavery in any controvefsy affecting its claims or interests during his pubhc Hfe ; and neither emanci- tion against the NuUifiers, Dec. 11, 1832. Ho can hardly have been mistaken on this head. PROTECTION — MR. JEFFERSON'S VIEW. 89 pated his slaves hy his^wiU. Each became, forthe first time, a candidate for the Presidency in 1824, when each counted with confidence on the powerful support of Pennsylvania. When that State, through her leading pohticians, decided to support Jack son, Calhoun fell out of the race, but was made Vice-President without serious opposition ; General Jackson receiving a plurality of the electoral votes for President, but failing of success in the House. In 1828, their names were placed on the same ticket, and they were, triumphantly elected President and Yice-Presi- dent respectively, receiving more than two-thirds of the electoral votes, including those of every State south of the Potomac. This is the only instance wherein the President and Yice-President were both chosen fi-om those distinctively knovm as Slave States ; though New York was nom inally and legally a Slave State when her Aaron Burr, George Clinton, and Daniel D. Tompkins were each chosen Yice-President with the last three Yirginian Presidents respectively. Alike taU in stature, spare in frame, erect in carriage, austere in morals, imperious in temper, of dauntless courage, and inflexible will, Jackson and Calhoun were each fitted by na ture to direct, to govern, and to mould feebler men to his ends ; but they were not fltted to coalesce and work harmoniously together. They had hardly become the accepted chiefs of the same great, predominant party, before they quarreled; and their feud, never healed, exerted a signal and baneful influence on the future of their country. The Protective Policy, though its earhest conspicuous champion in our national councUs was Alexander Hamilton, General Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, came, at a later day, to be mainly championed by Eepubhcans. The great mer chants were leading Federalists ; the great sea-ports were mainly Federal strongholds ; the seaboard was in good part Federal: it yearned for extensive and ever-expanding com merce, and mistakenly, but naturally, regarded the fostering of Home Manufactures as hostile to the con summation it desired. Mr. Jeffer son's Embargo had borne with great severity upon the mercantile class, inciting a dislike to all manner of commercial restrictions. The inte rior, on the other hand, was prepon derantly Eepublican, and early com prehended the advantage of a more symmetrical development, a "wider diversification, of our National Indus try, "through the legislative encou ragement of Home Manufactures, The Messages of all the Eepublican Presidents, down to and including General Jackson, recognize and affirm the wisdom, beneficence, and constitutionality of Protective legis lation. The preamble to the first tariff act passed by Congress under the Federal Constitution explicitly affirms the propriety of levying im posts, among other ends, "for the protection of Domestic Manufac tures." Mr. Jefferson, in his Annual Message of December 11, 1806, after announcing that there is a prospect of an early surplus of Federal reve nue over expenditure, proceeds : " The question, therefore, now comes for- ¦vfard — to what other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus of impost, after the entire discharge 90 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. of the public debt, and during those inter vals when the purposes of war shall not call for them ? Shall we suppress the impost and give tliat advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures? On a few articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression, in due season, will doubtless be right ; but the great mass of the articles on which im post is paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them. Their patriot ism wovdd certainly prefer its continuance and application to the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the con stitutional enumeration of federal powers. By these operations, new channels of com munication will be opened bet)veen the States; the lines of separation will dissap- pear ; their interests will be identified, and their Union cemented by new and indissolu ble ties." "Education is here placed among the arti cles of public care, not that it would be pro posed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which man ages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal ; but a public institution can alone supply those sciences which, though rarely Cidled for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the coun try, and some of them to its preservation. The subject is now proposed for the consid eration of Congress, because, if approved, by the time the State Legislatures shall have deliberated on this extension of the federal trusts, and the laws shall be passed, and other arrangements made for their execu tion, the necessary funds will be on hand and ¦ without employment. I suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the States, necessary, because the objects now recommended are not among those enu merated in the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied." Mr. Jefferson, it will be seen, sug gests an amendment to the Constitu tion, to give Congress power to raise and appropriate money to the "great purposes of education, roads, rivers, canals," etc. ; but he betrays no sus picion that the incidental Protec tion then confessedly enjoyed by our Home Manufactures was given in defiance of "the Constitution as it is." On the contrary, an enlarge ment of federal power was suggested by him with reference to new objects, not to those already provided for. Had these required such enlargement, the duties should have been repealed or reduced at once, to be reim- posed whenever Congress should be clothed with the requisite constitu tional power. Henbt Clay entered Congress under Jefferson, in 1806, and was an earnest, thorough, enlightened Protectionist fi-om the start. Mr. Calhoun first took his seat in 1811, when the question of war with Great Britain dwarfed aU others; and hia zealous efforts, together -with, those of Clay, Felix Grundy, and other ardent young Eepubhcans, finally overbore the reluctance of Madison and his more sedate councilors, and secured a Declaration of War on the 18th of June, 1812. At the close of that war, a re-vision of the existing Tariff was imperatively required ; and no man did more than John C. Calhoun — ^then, for his last term, a leading member of the House — to secure the efficient Protection of Home Manufactures, but especially of the Cotton Manufacture, by the Tariff of 1816 ; which Massachusetts, and most of New England, opposed, precisely because it was Protective, and therefore, in the short-sighted view, hostile to the interests of Com merce and Navigation. Internal Im provements, and all other features of what was termed the National in contradistinction to the Eadical or strict-construction theory of the na ture and fiinctions of our Federal Government, found in Mr. Calhoun and his personal adherents theit most thorough-going champions : and South Carolina was, about 1820, tha THE TARIFF OF 1828. 91 arena of a stirring conflict between her " National" school of pohticians, headed by Calhoun and McDuffie, and the " Eadicals," whose chief was William H. Crawford, of Georgia. Eepeated duels between Mr. McDuffie and ColonelWUliamCuniing,of Geor gia, in one of which McDuffie was se verely wounded, were among the in cidents of this controversy. Tet but few years elapsed before Mr. Calhoun and his trusty henchman, McDuf fie, appeared in the novel character of champions of " State Eights," and relentless antagonists of Protection, and aU the " National" projects they had li^therto supported ! Mr. Calhoun attempted, some years afterward, to reconcile this flagrant inconsistency ; but it was hke " arguing the seal off the bond" — a feat to which the sub tlest powers of casuistry are utterly inadequate. He did prove, howev er, that his change did not foUow, but preceded, his quarrel with Gen eral Jackson — his original, though then unacknowledged, demonstration againstProtection as unconstitutional, and in favor of Nullification as a re served right of each State, having been embodied in an elaborate docu ment known as " The South Carolina Exposition," adopted and put forth by the Legislature of his State near the close of 1828. The doctrines therein affirmed were those propound ed by Hayne and refuted by Webster. in the great debate ah-eady noticed. The Tariff of 1828— the highest and most protective ever adopted in this country — was passed by a Jack son Congress, of which Yan Bnren, Silas Wright, and the Jacksonian leaders in Pennsylvania and Ohio, were master-spirits. It was opposed by most of the members fi-om the Cot ton States, and by a majority of those from New England^some provisions ha-ving been engrafted upon it with the alleged purpose and the certain effect of making it obnoxious to Massachu setts and the States which, on either side, adjoined her. On the other hand, the members from the Middle and Western Free States, without distinction of party, supported it al most unanimously. This Tariff im posed high duties on Iron, Lead, Hemp, Wool, and other bulky sta ples, and was very generally popular. Under it, the industry of the Free States, regarded as a whole, was more productive, more prosperous, bettfir rewarded, than ever before, and the country exhibited a rapid growth in wealth, inteUigence, and general comfort. The South — that is, the cotton- gro-vdng region — for Louisiana, through her sugar-planting interest, sustained the Protective pohcy, and shared in the prosperity thence result ing — now vehemently opposed the Tariff, declaring herself thereby plundered and impoverished. There is no evidence that her condition was less favorable, her people less com fortable, than they had been ; but the contrast between the thrift, pro gress, and activity ofthe Free States, and the stagnation, the inertia, the poverty, of the cotton region, was very striking. And, as the South was gradually unlearning her Eevo lutionary principles, and adopting instead the dogma that Slavery is essentiaUy right and beneficent, she could not now be induced to appre hend, nor even to consider, the real cause of her comparative -wretched ness; though she was more than once 92 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. kindly and dehcately reminded of it. Mr. George M. Dallas,'' of Pennsyl vania — a life-long Democrat and anti-Abolitionist, cautious, conserva tive, conciliatory — replying to one of Mr. Hayne's eloquent and high- wrought portrayals of the miserable state to which the South and her in dustry had been reduced by the Pro tective pohcy, forcibly and truthfully said: " What, Sir, is the cause of Southern dis tress? Has any gentleman yet ventured to designate it? I am neither willing- nor competent to flatter. To praise the honora ble Senator from South Carolina would be ' To add perfume to the violet — Wasteful and ridiculous excess.' But, if he has failed to discover the source of the evils he deplores, who can unfold it ? Amid the warm and indiscriminating denun ciations with which he has assailed the policy of protecting domestic manufactures and native produce, he frankly avows that he would not 'deny that there are other causes, besides the Tariff, which have con tributed to produce the evils which he has depicted.' What are those ' other causes V In what proportion have they acted ? How much of this dark shadowing is asoribable to each singly, and to all in combination? Would the Tariff be at all felt or denounced, if those other causes were not in operation ? Would not, in fact, its influence, its discrimi nations, its inequalities, its' oppressions, but for those 'other causes,' be shaken, by the elasticity, energy, and exhaustless spirit of the South, as 'dew-drops from the lion's mane?' These inquiries must be satisfac torily answered before we can be justly required to legislate away an entire system. If it be the root of all evil, let it be exposed and demolished. If its poisonous exhalations be but partial, let us preserve such portions as are innoxious. If, as the luminary of day, it be pure and salutary in itself, let us not wish it extinguished, because of the shadows, clouds, and darkness, which ob scure its brightness, or impede its vivifying power. " That ' other causes' still, Mr. President, for Southern distress, do exist, cannot be doubted. They combine with the one I have indicated, and are equally unconnected with the manufacturing policy. One of these it is peculiarly painful to advert to ; and when I mention it, I beg honorable Senators not to suppose that I do it in the spirit of taunt, of reproach, or of idle de clamation. Eegarding it as a misfortune merely, not as a-fault — as a disease inherited, not incurred — perhaps to be alleviated, but not eradicated — I should feel self-condemned were I to treat it other than as an existing fact, whose merit or demerit, apart from the question under debate, is shielded from commentary by the highest and most just considerations. I refer. Sir, to the character of Southern labor, in itself, and in its in fluence on others. Incapable of adaptation to the ever-varying changes of human socie ty and existence, it retains the communities in which it is established, in a condition of apparent and comparative inertness. The lights of Science and the improvements of Art, which vi-vify and accelerate elsewhere, cannot penetrate, or if they do, penetrate with dilatory inefficiency, among its opera tives. They are not merely instinctive and passive. While the inteUectual industry of other parts of this country springs elasticaUy forward at every fresh impulse, and manual labor is propelled and redoubled by count less inventions, machines, and contrivances, instantly understood and at once exercised, the South remains stationary, inaccessible to such encouraging and invigorating aids. Nor is it possible to be wholly blind to the moral effect of this species of labor upon those freemen among whom it exists. A disrelish for humble and hardy occupation ; a pride adverse to drudgery and toil ; a dread that to partake in the employments allotted to color may be accompanied also by its degradation, are natural and inevita ble. The high and lofty qualities which, in other scenes and for other purposes, charac terize and adorn our Southern brethren, are fatal to the enduring patience, the corporal exertion, and the painstaking simplicity, by which only a successful yeomanry can be formed. When, in fact. Sir, the Senator- from South Carolina asserts that ' Slaves are too improvident, too incapable of that mi nute, constant, delicate attention, and that persevering industry which are essential to manufacturing establishments,' he himself admits the defect in Southern labor, by which 'the progress of his favorite section must be retarded. He admits an inability to keep pace, with the rest of the world. He admits an inherent weakness ; a weakness neither engendered nor aggravated by the Tariff — which, as societies are now consti tuted and dii-ected, must drag in the rear, and be distanced in the common ra's.e." South Carohna did not heed these " Speech hi the Senate, February 2*1, 1832. NULLIFICATION MADE PRACTICAL. 93 gentle admonitions. The con-victions of her leading men were, doubtless, Pro-Slavery and Anti-Tariff; but their aspirations and exasperations like-wise tended to confirm them in the course on which theyhad resolved and entered. General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun had become estranged and hostile not long after their joint election as President and Yice-Presi dent, in 1828. Mr. Calhoun's san guine hopes of succeeding to the Presidency had been blasted. Mr. Yan Buren supplanted him as Yice- President in 1832, sharing in Jack son's second and most decided triumph. And, though the Tariff of 1828 had been essentiaUy modified during the preceding session of Con gress, South Carohna proceeded, di rectly afber thro-wing away her vote in the election of 1832, to caU a Con vention of her people, which met at her Capitol on the 19th of Novem ber. That Convention was composed of her leading politicians of the Cal houn school, with the heads of her great famihes, forming a respectable , and dignified assemblage. The net result of its labors was an Ordinance of Nullification, drafted by a grand Committee of twenty-one, and adopt ed with entire unanimity. By its terms, the existing Tariff was form ally pronounced " null, void, and no law, nor binding on this State, its officers, or citizens," and the duties on imports imposed by that law were forbidden to be paid -within the State of South Carolina after the 1st day of February ensuing. The Ordinance contemplated an act of the Legisla ture nullifying the Tariff as afore said ; and prescribed that no appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States against the vahdity of said act should be permitted ; no copy of the proceedings should be taken for the purpose of making such appeal ; and any attempt to appeal to the Ju diciary of the United States from any decision of a State court affirming and upholding this Ordinance, should be " dealt with as for a contempt of the court" thus upholding and affirming. Every office-holder of the State, and " every juror" was required expressly to swear to obey this Ordinance, and all legislative acts based thereon. Should the Federal Govemment un dertake to enforce the law thus nuUi- fied, or in any manner to harass or obstruct tlie foreign commerce of the State, South Carolina should there upon consider herself no longer a member of the Federal Union : " The people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their poli tical connection with the people of the other States, and will forthwitb proceed to organ ize a separate government, and do all othei acts and things which sovereign and inde pendent States may of right do." Thus was Nullification" -embodied in an Ordinance preparatory to ita reduction to practice. The Legisla ture, in which the NuUifiers were an overwhelming majority, elected Mr. Webster's luckless antagonist, Eobert Y. Hayne, Governor of the State; and the Governor, in his Message, thoroughly indorsed the action of the nullifying Convention, whereof he had been a member. "I recognize," said he, "no allegiance as paramount to that which the citizens of South Carolina owe to the State of their birth or their adoption. I here publicly declare, and wish it to be distinctly under stood, that I shall hold myself bound, by the highest of all obligations, to carry into effect, not only the Ordinance ' of the Con- " November 24, 183i 94 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. vention, but every act of the Legislature, and every judgment of our own courts, the enforcement of which may devolve upon the executive. I claim no right to revise their acts. It will be my dnty to execute them , and that duty I mean, to the utmost of my power, faithfully to perform." He proceeded : " If the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in her defense, I trust in Alraighty.God that no son of hers, native or adopted, who has been nourished at her bosom, or been cherished by her bounty, will be found rais ing a parricidal arm against our common mother. And even should she stand alone in this great struggle for constitutional liberty, encompassed by her enemies, that there will not be found, in the wide limits of the State, one recreant son who will not fly to th# rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her defense. South Carolina can not be drawn down from the proud emi nence on which- she has now placed herself, except by the hands of her own children. Give her but a fair field, and she asks no more. Should she succeed, hers will be glory enough to have led the way in the noble work of bbfokm. And if, after mak ing these efforts due to her own honor, and the greatness of the cause, she is destined utterly to fail, the bitter fruits of that failure, not to herself alone, but to the entire South, nay, to the whole Union, wOl attest her -vir tue." The Legislature proceeded to pass the acts requisite to give practical effect to the Ordinance, and the Gov ernor to accept the ser-vices of volun teers, who were not mustered into ser-vice, but directed to hold them selves in readiness for action at a moment's notica Mr. Calhoun re signed the Yice-Presidency when he had three months still to serve, and was chosen to the Senate to fill the seat vacated by Mr. Hayne's accept ance of the governorship. Leaving his State foaming and surging with preparations for war, Mr. Calhoun, in December, calmly proceeded to Washington, where he took . his seat in the Sehate, and swore afresh to maintain the Constitution, as if un conscious of the tempest he had ex cited, and which was now preparing to burst upon his head. General Jackson had already" made- provision for the threatened emergency. Ordering General Scott to proceed to Charleston for the pur pose of " superintending the safety of the ports of the United States in that vicinity," and making the requi site disposition of the slender military and naval forces at his command, the President sent confidential orders to the Collector for the port of Charles ton, whereof the foUo-wing extract sufficiently indicates the character and purpose : "Upon the supposition that themeasnresof the Convention, or the acts of the Legislature may consist, in part, at least, in declaring the laws of the United States imposing duties unconstitutional, and null and void, and in forbidding their execution, and the collection of the duties within the State of South Carolina, you will, immediately after it shall be formally announced, resort to all the means provided by the laws, and partic ularly by the act of the 2d of March, 1799, to counteract the measures which may be adopted to give effect to that declaration. "For this purpose, you will consider yourself authorized to employ the revenue cutters which may be within your district, and pro-vide as many boats and employ as many inspectors as may be necessary for the execution- of the law, and for the purposes of the act already referred to. Yon will, moreover, cause a sufficient number of offi cers of cutters and inspectors to be placed on board, and in charge of every vessel arriving from a foreign port or place, with goods, wares, or merchandise, as soon as practicable after her first coming within your district, and direct them to anchor her in some safe place within the harbor, where she may be secure from any act of -violence, and from any unauthorized attempt to dis charge her cargo, before a compliance with the laws ; and they will remain on board of her at such place until the reports and en tries required by law shall be made, both of vessel and cargo, and the duties p.aid, or secured to be paid, to your satisfaction, and until .the regular permit shall be granted for " November 6th. JACKSON AGAINST NULLIFICATION. 95 landing the cargo ; and it -will be your duty, against any forcible attempt, to retain and defend the custody of the said vessel, by the aid of the officers of the customs, inspectors, and officers of the cutters, until the requisi tions of the law shall be fully complied with ; and, in case of any attempt to remove her or her cargo from the custody of the officers of the customs, by the form of legal process from State tribunals, you will not yield the custody to such atterapt, but will consult the law officer of the district, and employ such means as, under the particular circum stances, you may legally do, to resist such process, and prevent the removal of the vessel and cargo. "Should the entry of such vessel and cargo not be completed, and the duties paid, or secured to be paid, by bond or bonds, with sureties to your satisfaction, within the time limited by law, you will, at the expira tion of that time, take possession of the car go, and land and store the same at Castle Pinckney, or some other safe place, and, in due time, if the duties are not paid, sell the same, according to the direction of the 56th section of the act of the 2d of March, 1799 ; and you are authorized to provide such stores as may be necessary for that purpose." The contrast between the spirit evinced in these instructions, and that exhibited by General Jackson's successor, onthe occurrence of a simi lar outbreak at Charleston twenty- eight years later, is very striking. Congress reconvened on the 3d of December ; but the President's Mes sage, delivered on the following day, made no allusion to the impending peril of civil convulsion and war. One week later, however, the country was electrified by the appearance of the famous Proclamation, wherein the President's stern resolve to crush NuUification as Treason was fully manifested. And, though this docu ment received its final fashion and polish from the pen of the able and eminent Edward Livingston, who then worthily filled the post of Secre tary of State, it is abundantly estab hshed" that the original draft was the President's own, and that he insisted throughout on expressing and enforc ing his own sentiments and convic tions. The language may in part be Li-vingston's ; the positions and the principles are wholly Jackson's ; and their condemnation of the Calhoun or South Carolina theory of the nature, genius, and limitations of our Federal pact, are as decided and sweeping as any ever propounded by Hamilton, by Marshall, or by Web ster himself. After reciting the purport and effect of the South Carolina' Ordi nance, General Jackson proceeds: "The Ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive to be endured ; but on the strange position that any one State may not only declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execu tion ; that they may do this consistently with the Constitution; that the true con struction of that instrument permits a State to retain its place in the Union, and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may choose to consider as constitutional! It is true, they add that, to justify this abro gation of a law, it must be palpably con trary to the Constitution ; but it is evident that, to give the right of resisting laws of that description, coupled with the uneoo- trolled right to decide what laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resist ing all laws. For, as, by this theory, there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that .public opinion is a sufficient check against the abuse of this power, it may be asked why it is not deemed a suffi cient guard against the passage of an uncon stitutional act by Congress. There is, how ever, a restraint in this last case, which makes the assumed power of a State more indefensible, and which does not exist in the other. There are two appeals from an un constitutional act passed by Congress — one to the Judiciary, the other to the people and the States. There is no appeal from the State decision in theory, and the practical illustration shows that the courts are closed against an application to review it, both judges and jurors being sworn to decide in its favor. But reasoning on this subject is " See Parton's Life of Jackson, pp. 455-6. 96 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT, superfluous when our social compact in ex press terms declares that the laws of the United States, its Constitution, and the trea ties made under it,^ are the supreme law of the land ; and, for greater caution, adds, ' that . the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not withstanding.' And it may "be asserted, without fear of refutation, that no federative government could exist without a similar provision. Look, for a moment, to the con sequences. If South Carolina considers the revenue laws unconstitutional, and has a right to prevent their execution in the port of Charleston, there would be a clear con stitutional objection to their collection in every other port, and no revenue could be collected anywhere; for all imposts must be equal. It is no answer to repeat, that an unconstitutional law is no law, so long as the question of legality is to be decided by the State itself; for every law, operating injuriously upon any local interest, will be perhaps thought, and certainly represented as, unconstitutional ; and, as has been shown, there is no appeal. "If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would have been dissolved in its infancy. The Excise law in Pennsylvania, the Embargo and Non-Inter course law in the Eastern States, the car riage-tax in Virginia, were all deemed un constitutional, and were more unequal in their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but, fortunately, none of those States discovered that they had the right now claimed by South Carolina. The war into which we were forced, to support the dignity of the nation and the rights of our citizens, might have ended in defeat and disgrace, instead of victory and honor, if the States who supposed it a ruinous and uncon stitutional measure had thought they pos sessed the right of nullifying the act by which it was declared, and denying supplies for its prosecution. Hardly and unequally as those measures bore upon several mem bers of the Union, to the Legislatures of none did this efficient and peaceable remedy, as it is called, suggest itself The discovery of this important feature in ciur Constitution was reserved for the present day. To the statesmen of South Carolina belongs the in vention, and upon the citizens of that State will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice." General Jackson summed up his objections to NuUification in these unambiguous terms : "I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed' by one State, ineompaUble with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly hy the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spir it, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed." A little farther on, he proclaimed his concurrence in the "Nation al," as contradistinguished fi-om the " State Eights," theory of our Fed eration, in these words : "The Constitution of the United States, then, forms a Government, not a league; and, whether it be formed by compact be tween the States, or in any other manner, its character is the same. It is a- govem ment in which all the people are represent ed, which acts directly on the people indi- -vidually, not upon the States — they retained all the power they did not grant. But each State, having expressly parted with so many powers, as to constitute, jointly with the other States, a single nation, cannot, from that period, possess any right to secede ; be cause such secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of a nation, and any injury to that unity is not only a breach which would result from the contravention of a compact, bnt it is an offense against the whole Union. To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the United States are not a nation, be cause it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connec tion with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any offense. Seces sion, like any other revolutionary act, may be morally justified by the extremity of op pression ; but to call it a constitutional right, is confounding the meaning of terms, and can only be done through gross error, or to deceive those who are willing to assert a right, bnt would pause before they make a revolution, or incur the penalties conse quent on a failure." The dogma of State Sovereignty, as contravening or limiting the proper Nationality of the Eepubhc, is thus squarely confronted : "The States severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. It has been shown that, in becoming parts of a nation, not mem bers of a league, they surrendered many of their •essential parts of sovereignty. The right to make treaties, declare war, levy taxes, exercise exclusive judicial and legisla- lative powers, were all of them functions APPEAL TO SOUTH CAROLINA. 97 of sovereign power. The States, then, for aD these important purposes, were no longer sovereign. The allegiance of their citi zens was transferred, in the first instance, to the Government of the United States; they became American citizens, and owed obedience to the Constitution of the United States, and to laws made in conformity with the powers it vested in Congress. This last position has not been, and cannot be, denied. How, then, can that State be said to be sovereign and independent, whose cit izens owe obedience to laws not made by it, and whose magistrates are sworn to disre gard those laws, when they come in conflict -with those passed by another? "What shows, conclusively, that the States cannot be said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty, is, that they expressly ceded the right to punish treason — ^not treason against their separate power, but treason against the Uni ted States. Treason is an offense against sovereignty, and sovereignty must reside with the power to punish it." Mr. Jefferson Da-vis, in one of" his earlier manifestoes fi-om Eichmond, saw fit to speak of the severance of our Union as "the dissolution of a league." General Jackson anticipa ted and refuted this assumption as foUows : " How is it that the most perfect of those several modes of Union should now he con sidered as a mere league, that may be dis solved at pleasure ?, It is from an abuse of terms. Compact is used as synonymous with league, although the true term is not employed, because it would at once show the fallacy of the reasoning. It would not do to say that our Constitution was only a league, but it is labored to prove it a com pact (which, in one sense, it is), and then to argae that, as a league is a compact, every compact between nations must, of course, be a league, and that, from such an engage ment, every sovereign power has a right to recede. But it has been shown that, in this sense, the States are not sovereign, aud that, even if they were, and the national constitu- tution had been formed by compact, there would be no right in any one State to ex onerate itself fi-om its obligations. " So obvious 'are the reasons which forbid this secession, that it is necessary only to allnde to them. The Union was formed for the benefit of all. It was produced by mu tual sacrifices of interests and opinions. Can those sacrifices be recalled ? Can the States who magnanimously surrendered their title to the territories of the "West, recall the 1 grant? "Will the inhabitants of the inland States agree to pay the duties that may be imposed without their assent by those on the Atlantic or the Gulf, for their own ben efit ? Shall there be a free port in one State and onerous duties in another? No one be lieves that any right exists in a single State to involve all the others in these and count less other e-yils, contrary to engagements sol emnly made. Every one must see that the other States, in self-defense, must oppose it at all hazards." Having thus frankly and -vigor ously set forth the fundamental prin ciples of our political system, though at much greater length, and with a variety and fullness of illustration. General Jackson proceeds to pro claim " That the duty imposed on me by the Constitution ' to take care that the laws be faithfully executed' shall be performed to the extent of the powers already vested in me by law, or of such others as the wisdom of Congress shall devise and intrust to me for that purpose; and to warn the citizens of South Carolina, who have been deluded into an opposition to the laws, of the danger they will incur by obedience to the illegal and disorganizing Ordinance of the Conven tion." And he closes a most pathetic and eloquent appeal to the people of South Carolina in these memorable and stirring words : " Contemplate the condition of that coun try of which you still form an important part! — consider its Government, uniting in one bond of comraon interest and general protection so many different States — ^giving to all their inhabitants the proud title of American citizens — protecting their com merce — securing their literature and their arts — facilitating their intercommunication — defending their fi:ontiers — and making their names respected in the remotest parts of the earth I Consider the extent of its territory, its increasing and happy popula tion, its advance in the aijts, which render life agreeable,- and the sciences which elevate the mindl See education spreading the lights of religion, humanity, and general in formation, into every cottage in this wide extent of our territories and States ! Behold it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and support! Look on this picture of happiness and honor, THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. and say, "We, too, aee citizens of Ameeioa. Carolina is one of these proud States ; her arms have defended, her best blood has cemented, this happy Union ! And then add, if you can, without horror and re morse, ' This happy Union we will dissolve ¦ — this picture of peace and prosperity we will deface — this free intercourse we will interrupt — these fertile fields we will deluge with blood — the protection of that glorious flag we renounce — the very name of Ameri cans we discard.' And for what, mistaken men! for what do you throw away these inestimable blessings — for what would you exchange your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a separate independence — a dream interrupted by bloody tonfliots with your neighbors, and a vile dependence on foreign power ! If your leaders could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your situation? Are you united at home? Are you free from the apprehension of ci-vil discord," with all its fearful consequences? Do our neigh boring republics, every day suffering some new revolution or contending with some new insurrection, do they excite your envy? " But the dictates of a high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that yon cannot suc ceed. The laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary power ou the subject — my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you — they could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their object is disunion : be not deceived by names. Disunion, by armed force, is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt ? If you are, on the heads of the insti gators of the act be the dreadful conse quences — on their heads be the dishonor; but on yours raay fall the punishment — on your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the e-vils of the conflict you force upon the Government of your country. It cannot accede to the mad project of disunion, of which you would be the first victims — its first magistrate cannot, if he would, avoid the performance of his duty — the conse quence must be fearful for you, distressing to your fellow-citizens here, and the friends of good government throughout the world. Its enemies have beheld 'our prosperity with a vexation they could not conceal — it was a standing refutation of their slavish doctrines, and they would point to our dis cords with the triumph of malignant joy. It is yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet time to show that the descend ants of the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Eutledges, and ofthe thousand other names which adorn the pages of your Eevolution ary history, will not abandon that Union, to support which so many of them fought, and bled, and died. I adjure you, as you honor their memory, as you love the cause of free-. dom to which they dedicated their lives — as you prize th6 peace of your country, the lives of its best citizens, and yonr own fair fame, to retrace your steps. Snatch ft-om the archives of your State the disorganizing edict of its Convention — bid its members to reassemble and promulgate the decided ex pression of your wiU to remain in the path which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity and honor — tell them that, com pared to disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an accumulation of all — declare that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled banner of your country shall float over you — that you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonor ed and scorned while you live, as the- authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country ! Its destroyers you cannot be. Tou may disturb its peace — you may inter rupt the course of its prosperity — you may cloud its reputation for stability — but its tranquillity will be restored, its prosperity will return, and the stain upon its national character will be transferred, and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the disorder." Turning from the deluded minor ity to the loyal and Union-loving majority of the American people, the President concludes his Proclamation, as follows : "Fellow-citizens of the United States! The threat of unhallowed disunion, the names of those (once respected) by whom it was uttered, the array of military force to support it, denote the approach of a crisis in our affairs, on which the continuance of our unexampled prosperity, our political exist ence, and perhaps that of all free govern ments, may depend. The conjuncture de manded a full, a free, and explicit annuncia tion, not only of my intentions, but of my prmciples of action ; and, as the claim was as serted of a right by a State to annul the laws of the Union, and even to seeede from it, at pleasure, a frank exposition of my opinions m relation to the origin and form of our Gov ernment, and the construction I give to the mstrument by .which it was created, seemed to be proper. Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal and constitutional opinion of my duties, which has been ex- GENERAL JACKSON ON THB RIGHT OF SECESSION. 99 pressed, I rely -with equal confidence on your undivided support in my determination to execute the laws — to preserve the Union by all constitutional means — to arrest, if possible, by moderate, but firm measures, jthe necessity of a recourse to force. And if it be the will of Heaven that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man for the shed ding of a brother's blood should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive act ofthe United States. " Fellow-citizens ! the momentous case is before you. On yonr undivided .support of your Government depends the decision of the great question it involves, whether your sacred Union will be preserved, and the blessing it secures to us as one people shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt that the unanimity with which that decision will be expressed will 'be such as to inspire new confidence in republican institutions, and that the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage which it will bring to their defense, ¦will transmit them unimpaired and in-sdgor- ated to our children. " May the great Euler of nations grant, that the signal blessings with which He has fa vored ours may not, by the madness of party, or personal ambition, be disregarded and lost: and may His wise providence bring those who have produced this crisis to see the folly, before they feel the misery, of ci-vil strife ; and inspire a returning venera tion for that Union, which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as the only means of attaining the high des tinies to which we may reasonably aspire." General Jackson's Special Message against NuUification'" is equally de cided and thorough in its hostility to the Calhoun heresy, under all its as pects, and dissects the Ordinance of Nulhfication, and the legislative acts based thereon, -with signal ability and cogency. A single extract, bearing directly upon the alleged right of Secession, wiU here be given : " The right of the people of a single State to absolve themselves at wiU, and without the consent of the other States, from their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of the millions com posing this Union, cannot be acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be utterly re pugnant both to the principles upon which the General Government is constituted, and to the objects which it was expressly formed to attain. " Against all acts which may be alleged to transcend the constitutional power of Government, or which may be inconvenient or oppressive in their operation, the Consti tution itself has prescribed the modes of redress. It is the attribute of free institu tions that, under them, the empire of reason and law is substituted for the power of the sword. To no other source can appeals for supposed wrongs be made, consistently with the obligations of South Carolina ; to no other can such appeals be made with safety at any time; and to their decisions, when constitutionally pronounced, it becomes the duty, no less of the public authorities than of the people, in every case to yield a patri otic submission. " That a State, or any other great portion of the people, suffering under long and in tolerable oppressions, and having tried all consritutional remedies without the hope of redress, may have a natural right, when their happiness can be no otherwise secured, and when they can do so without greater injury to others, to absolve themselves from their obligations to the Government, and appeal to the last resort, need not, on the present occasion, be denied. " The existence of this right, however, must depend on the causes which justify its exercise. It is the ultima ratio, which pre'supposes that the proper appeals to all other means of redress have been made in good faith, and which can never be rightfully resorted to unless it be Unavoidable. It is not the right of the State, but of the individ ual, and of all the individuals in the State. It is the right of mankind generally to se cure, by all means in their power, the bless ings of liberty and happiness ; but when for these purposes any body of men have volun tarily associated themselves under any parti cular form of government, no portion of them can dissolve the association without acknowledging the correlative right in the remainder to decide whether that dissolu tion can be permitted consistently with the general happiness. In this view, it is a right dependent upon the power to enforce it. Such a right, though it may be admitted to preexist, and cannot be wholly surren dered, is necessarily subjected to limitations in all free governments, and in compacts of all kinds, freely and voluntarily entered into, and in which the interest and welfare of the indi-vidual become identified with those of the community of which he is a member. In compacts between indi-viduals, however deeply they may affect their relations, these principles are acknowledged to create a » January 16, 1833. 100 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. sacred obligation ; and in compacts of civil government, involving the liberty and hap piness of millions of mankind, the obligation cannot be less." The unanimity and enthusiasm, with which the people of the Free States responded to these downright manifestations of a purpose to pre serve at all hazards the integrity of the Union, are still freshly remem bered. Those States had just been convulsed by a Presidential contest, wherein their people were about equally divided into zealous advo cates and equaUy zealous opponents of General Jackson's re-election. Though his triumph had been over whelming, so far as the choice of Electors was concerned, the popular majorities, whereby those electors were chosen, were very meager in several of the States, including New York, Ohio, and New Jersey ; while the majorities against him in Massa chusetts, Connecticut, Eliode Island, Yermont, and Kentucky, were heavy. But the States which had opposed his re-election, the citizens who had deprecated it as confirming and re newing a lease of virtually absolute power in hands too prone to stretch Authority and Prerogative to the utmost, now vied with their late an tagonists in pledging devotion and support to the elected chief of the Eepublic in his efforts to preserve its unity and vitality. Great public meetings were held in the principal cities to give formal and influential expression to the sentiment ; the Press, all but unanimously, echoed and stimulated the popular plaudits ; and General Jackson was never be fore nor afterward so strong through out the Free States, as during the few months which foUowed a most vigorous and determined stmggle to defeat his re-election. At the South, the case was some what different, though in every State — South Carolina, of course, except ed — the President's course was ap proved by a decided majority. The great mass of the voting population of nearly all these States had just given General Jackson their suffrages for the second or third time — ^they had long enough been told that he was a despot, an usurper,, a tyrant, etc., without belie-ving it; and they were little inclined to repudiate in a moment the convictions and the asso ciations of a Jifetime. In Yirginia alone was there any official exhibition of sympathy with South Carolina in her self-invoked peril ; and she sent a commissioner^' to that State rather to indicate her fi-atemal regard than to proffer any substantial assistance. There -wus some -windy talk of op posing by force the passage of a Fed eral army southward through the Old Dominion on an errand of " subjuga tion ;" and her Govemor,'" in his an nual Message, said something imply ing such a pui-pose. Ex-Governor Troup, of Georgia, and a few other doctrinaires of the extreme State Eights school, muttered some words of sympathy with the NuUifiers, about to be crushed under the iron heel of Federal power — some vague protest against Consohdation ; but that was all. Had it become necessary to call for volunteers to assert and maintain the National authority on the soil of the perverse State, they would doubtless have offered themselves by thousands fi-om nearly or quite '' Benjamin Watkins Leigh. ^ John Floyd, father of the late John B. Floyd, Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of War. MR. CLAY'S TARIFF COMPROMISE. 101 every Southem as weU as Northern State. But it did not become necessary. Congress iu due thne took up the Tariff, -with a -view to its re-vision and reduction. The Jacksonian ascend ency was decided in every depart ment of the Govemment. Andrew Stevenson (anti-Tariff), of Yirginia, was Speaker of the House, Gulian C. Yerplanck (anti-Tariff) was Chair man of its Committee of Ways and Means, whence a bUl contaiuing sweeping reductions and equaliza tions of duties was, at an early period of the session, reported ; and, though no conclusive action was had on this measure, the mere fact of its introduction was seized upon by the NuUifiers as an excuse for recoil ing from the perilous position they had so recklessly assumed. A few days before the 1st of Febmary, the Nullifying chiefs met at Charleston, and gravely resolved that, inasmuch as measures were then pending in Congress which contemplated such reductions of duties on imports as. South Carohna demanded, the exe cution of the Nullifying Ordinance, and of course of aU legislative acts subsidiary thereto, should he post poned tUl after the adjournment of that body ! But Mr. Yerplanck's bilf^ made such slow progress that its passage, even at the last moment, seemed ex ceedingly doubtful. Mr. Webster for cibly urged that no concession should be made to South Carolina untU she should have abandoned her treasona ble attitude. The manufacturers beset the Capitol in crowds, remonstrating against legislation under duress, in defiance of the pubUc interest and the convictions of a majority of the members, which would whelm them in one common ruin. FinaUy," Mr. Clay was induced to submit tds Com promise Tariff, whereby one-tenth of the excess over twenty per cent, of each and every existing impost was to be taken off at the close of that year ; another tenth two years there after; so proceeding until the 31st of June, 1842, when aU duties should be reduced to a maximum of twenty per cent. This Compromise Tariff, being accepted and supported by Mr. Calhoun and the NuUifiers, was offered in the House, as a substitute for Mr. Yerplanck's bUl, by Mr. Letcher, of Kentucky (Mr. Clay's im mediate representative and devoted friend), on the 25th of Febmary; adopted and passed at once by a vote of 119 to 85 ; agreed to by the Senate; and became a law in the last hours of the session: General Jackson, though he openly condemned it as an unwise and untimely conces sion to rampant treason, not choos ing to take the responsibility of veto ing, nor even of pocketing it, as he clearly might have done. South Car olina thereupon abandoned her Ordi nance and attitude of NuUification ; and the storm that lowered so black and imminent suddenly gave place to a sunny and smiling cahn. But General Jackson was deeply dissatisfied, and with reason. He saw in this easy accommodation the seeds of future perils and calamities. He insisted that Calhoun was a trai tor ; and to the end of his days regretted that he had not promptly arrested and tried him as such. He denied that dissatisfaction with the Protective policy was the real incite- T " Reported Deceraber 28th, ^ February 12, 1833. 102 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ment to the anibitious and restless Carolinian's attempt at practical Nul hfication. " The Tariff," he wrote in 1834, to an intimate friend in Geor gia, "was but a pretext. The next will le the Slavery or Negro ques tion.''^ But, while Nullification was thus sternly crushed out in South Caroli na, it was simultaneously allowed a complete triumph in the adjoining State of Georgia. The circumstan ces Avere briefly as follows : The once powerful and warlike Aboriginal tribes kno-wn to us as " Cherokees" and. "Creeks," origin aUy possessed respectively large ter ritories, which are now included ¦within the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. With those tribes, treaties were from time to time made by our Govem ment, whereof each had for its main object . the transfer, for a specified consideration, of lands by the Indi ans to the United States. One of the conditions on which we sought and obtained those lands was thus suc cinctly expressed in the treaty -with the Cherokees negotiated on the bank of the Holston, in 1Y91, under the Presidency of Washington : " Aetiolb T. The United States solemnly GUAEANTT to the CTierokee Nation all their lands not hereby ceded." The stipulations of this treaty were recognized, and their vahdity con firmed by the treaty of 1794, nego- '' The following is that portion of the Treaty of Ghent relating to the Indians : ''¦AHicle the Ninth. The United States of America engage to put an end, immediately after the ratilioation of the present treaty, to hostiMties with all the tribes or nations of In dians -with whom they may be ^t war at the time of such ratitieation; and forthwith to re store to such tribes or nations, respectively, all tiated by Henry Knox, Secretary of War, "being authorized thereto by the President of the United States." A further treaty, negotiated in 1Y98, under John Adams, recognized and ratified afresh all the obhgations in curred, the guaranties given, by for mer treaties. Such stipulations con tinued to be made, at least do-wn to 1817, when one was negotiated on our part by Andrew Jackson and others, again renewing and confirm ing to the Cherokees aU former stip ulations and guaranties. StiU more: when, in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was negotiated, whereby the war of 1812 with Great Britain was terminated, the Brit ish commissioners long and fairly in sisted on including her Aboriginal alhes in that war in the pro-vis ions and stipulations of the treaty, especially that which exacted a mu tual restoration of aU territories or places taken by one party fi-om the other during the preceding contest. Our commissioners naturally demur red to this, preferring to insert an article which set forth the humane and benevolent principles whereby (as it aUeged) our Govemment regu lates its conduct toward the Indian tribes -within our borders." And Mr. Clay, one of the negotiators of that treaty, declared, in his speech on the Cherokee Grievances in 1835, that the British commissioners would nev er have been satisfied with this, if they had understood that those tribes the possessions, riglits, and privileges, which they may have enjoyed or beeu entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven, previ ous to such hostihties. Provided ahvays. That such tribes or nations shaU agree to desist from all hostilities against tlie United States of America, their citizens aud subjects, upon the ratihoirtion of the present treaty being notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist accordingly." GEORGIA AND THE INDIANS. 103 held their rights and possessions guar anteed to them by Federal treaties subject to the good-will and pleasure of the several States, or any of them. In 1802, Georgia ceded, on certain conditions, her western territory, now composing the States of Alaljama and Mississippi, to the Union. Among these conditions, our Government undertook to extinguish the Indian title to aU lands within the bound aries of the State as thereby consti tuted, so soon as this could be effect ed "peaceably and on reasonable terms.'"' And this object was ur gently, perseveringly, and not always honorably, pursued. In February, 1825, just as Mr. Monroe's Adminis tration was passing away, certain commissioners, selected by Mr. Cal houn, then Secretary of War, at tempted to obtain from the Creeks, at a councU held at Indian Springs, a cession of their lands; but were baffled by the stern resolve of chiefs and people — ^the tribe having pre- -viously prescribed the penalty of death for any one who should make such sale. Thus defeated, the commissioners , resorted to a too common practice: they bribed an inconsiderable minority of the Creeks, including one or two alleged chiefs, to give their formal assent to such an instrument as they desired. This sham treaty was hurried to Washington, and forced through the expiring Senate on the last day of the session, before its true character could be generally kno-wn. Tlie Creeks, upon learning that such a pretended treaty had been made, held a general council, wherein it was formally disavowed and denounced, and a party was at once dispatched to the home of Mcintosh, a chief who had signed the fraud, to execute the sentence of the law upon him. Mc intosh and another principal signer were shot dead on sight, and due notice given that the pretended treaty was utterly repudiated. Governor Troup, of Georgia, of course assumed the vahdity of the instrument, and prepared to take forcible possession of the Creek lands. The Creeks appealed to the Govern ment, demanding the enforcement of the treaties whereby they were guar anteed protection in the peaceable enjoyment of their clearly defined territorial possessions. Mr. Adams, who had now succeeded to the Presi dency, looked fuUy into the matter, saw that their claim was just, and assured them that they should be de fended. Governor Troup threatened to employ force; Mr. Adams did employ it. He ordered General Gaines, with a body of regulars, to the scene of apprehended conflict, and gave Georgia fair notice that she must behave herself. The Governor talked loudly, but did not see fit to proceed from words to blows. The Indian Springs fraud proved abor tive ; but Georgia and her backers scored up a heavy account against ''The following is the entire article: •^Fourthly, That the United States shall, at their owu expense, extinguish, for the use of Georgia, as early as the same can be peaceably obtained, on reasonable terms, the Indian .title to the country of Talassee, to the lands left out by the line drawn -with the Creeks, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, which iiad been previously granted by the State of Georgia, both which tracts had formaUy been yielded by the Indians ; and to the lands within the forks of the Oconee and Ooraulgee rivers ; for which several objects, the President of the United States has 'directed that a treaty should be immediately held with the Creeks; and that the United States shall, in the same manner, also extinguish the Indian title to all other lands within the State of Georgia." — American State vol, xvi., p. 114. 104 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Mr. Adams, to be held good against him not only, but all future ' Yankee' and ' Puritan' aspirants to the Presi dency. General Jackson was chosen Presi dent in 1828, recei-ving more than two-thirds of the Electoral votes, in cluding those of all the Slave States but Delaware and a part of Mary land. In Georgia, there were two Jackson Electoral tickets run, but none for Adams. And the first An nual Message of the new President gave the Indians due notice that Georgia had not so voted from bhnd impulse — that their dearest rights, their most cherished possessions, were among her "spoils of victory." In this Message, the solemn obligations which our Government had volun teered to assume, in treaty after treaty with the Creeks and Chero kees, were utterly ignored, and the rights and possessions of the Indians dealt with precisely as if no such treaties had ever existed 1 Georgia had herself, through her citizens, participated in negotiating, and, through her Senators, united in rati fying those treaties ; yet not only was she held at liberty to disobey and trample on them, but the United States was regarded as equally ab solved, by the convenient fiction of State Sovereignty, from all habihty to maintain and enforce them ! No one could deny that we had solemnly engaged, by repeated treaties, to pro tect the Indians in the undisturbed use and enjoyment forever of the lands which we had admitted to be, and marked out as, theirs. No one could deny that we had obtained large cessions of valuable lands by these treaties. No one doubted that Geor gia had urged us to make these trea ties, and had eagerly appropriated the lands thus obtained by the Union, and passed directly over to her : but then, Georgia was a sovereign State, and entitled to do as she liked with all the lands -within her borders, and all the people living thereon, no mat-^ ter if in flagrant violation of the laws and treaties of the United States! And the new President did not scru ple to assert and reiterate the un truth that the Creeks and Cherokees respectively were attempting to '¦'¦erect an independent govemment within the hmits of Georgia and Alabama," ringing aU possible changes on the falsehood, and gravely quoting from the Constitution that " No new State shall be formed ar erected within the limits of any other State," as precluding the mainte nance by the Creeks and Cherokees of their governments in territories which they had possessed and gov erned long before Georgia had been colonized, or the name Alabama in vented. This dehberate and flagrant perver sion of the question to be decided was persisted in through several pages of the Message. Says the President ; "Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt to establish an independent g^OKerrawieni would not be countenanced by the Executive of the United States, and advised them to emigrate beyond the Mississippi, or submit to the laws of those States." What the Indians demanded was simply that the portion of their im memorial possessions which theyhad reserved for their own use and enjoy- ^ ment in making liberal cessions to our Government, should stiU be lefl; to them— that they should be protect* GEORGIA EXPELLING THB CHEROKEES. 105 ed in such enjoyment, by the United States, as we had solemnly stipulated by treaty that they should be, tak ing our pay for it in advance. But General Jackson, in urging them to migrate beyond the Mississippi, did not hesitate to speak of their rights and their immunities as follows : " This emigration should be voluntary ; for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the Aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land. But they should be distinctly informed that, if they remain within the limits ofthe States, they must be subject to their laws. In return for their obedience, as individuals, they wUl, without a doubt, be protected in the enjoyment of those possessions which they have improved by their industry. But it seems to me visionary to suppose that, in this state of things, claims can be allowed on tracts of country on which they home neither dwelt nor made improvements, merely because they have seen them from the mountain, or passed them in the chase. Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other citizens, protection in their persons and property, they will ere long become merged in the mass of our population." How " voluntary" their emigration was to be, and what sort of " protec tion in their persons and "property" they were hkely to receive in case they refused to " abandon the graves of their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land," let the laws which Georgia proceeded to enact bear wit ness. Grown weary of awaiting the operation of the methods whereby she had already secured, at no cost to herself, the gradual acquisition of the greater part of the Indian lands ¦within her borders when she acceded to the Union, that State passed acts aboUshing the government of the Cherokees, and reducing them at a word to the condition of unprotected vassals. Their lands were thereupon di-vided into . counties, surveyed, and ordered to be distributed by lottery among the white citizens of the State, of whom each was to have a ticket. A reservation of one hundred and sixty acres to each head of a Chero kee famUy was made ; but this reser vation conferred or recognized only a right of possession during the good pleasure of the State Legislature. The Indians, whose government was thus abolished, were allowed no voice in that to which they were arbi trarily subjected ; they could not even give testimony in a Georgia court, though denied a resort to any other. The fortunate drawer of Cherokee lands in the Georgia State lottery was entitled to call upon the Governor to put hun in summary possession, ex pelling any adverse [Indian] claim ant. If there were two or more antagonist v}hite claimants, their re spective claims were to be deliberately adjudicated by the courts, according to the dictates of ordinary jurispru dence. If any one sought to legally hold or recover lands against a claim ant under this rule, he must make express afiidavit that he " was not liable to be dispossessed of said land by or under any one of the provisions of the said act of the General Assembly of Georgia, passed December 20, 1833 : * * * in which issue the person to whom possession of said land was delivered shall join: and which issue sliall constitute the en tire pleadings between the parties ; nor shall the court allow any matter other than is con tained in said issu^ to be placed upon the regular files of said court ; * * * nor shall said court, at the instance of either party, pass any order, or grant any injunction, to stay said cause, nor permit to be ingrafted on said cause any other proceedings what ever." It can hardly be necessary to say that the sole, unconcealed object of this legislation was to deprive the Cherokees of the protection of the courts of the United States, or any adjudication therein touching their rights, by precluding any appeal to 106 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. said courts for the sake of testing the validity of these acts of the Legisla ture of Georgia. That State had already decisively indicated that, if unable to make or control such adjudication, she was abundantly ready to defy it. A Cherokee named Tassells was ar rested on a Georgia warrant for kUl ing another Indian within the Cher okee territory. His counsel obtained a writ of error from a United States court, requiring Georgia to show cause why he should not be discharged and his case remitted to the Cherokee au thorities, according to existing treaties. Georgia defied the writ and hung the Indian. And this finished the case. Some time thereafter, two mission aries of the American Board among the Cherokees were arrested on a Geor gia process, tried for, and con-victed of, inciting the Indians to resist the policy of the State of Georgia de signed to effect the expulsion of the Indiians from her soil. They were of course sentenced to the State Prison. They appealed by writ of error to the courts of the United States, and the final adjudication thereon was had before the Supreme Court at Washington, the decision being pro nounced by Chief Justice MarshaU. It was entirely in favor of the mis sionaries and against the pretensions i" I am indebted for this fact to the late Gov ernor George N. Briggs, of Massachusetts, who was iu Washington as .a member of Congress when the decision was rendered. 28 President Jaokson, iu his flrst Annual Mes sage, already referred to, had said ; "A portion of the Southern tribes, ha-ving mingled much with the whites, and made some progress in the arts of- civilized hfe, have lately attempted to erect an independent government within the limits of tbe States of Georgia and Alabama." And Colonel Benton, in his "Thirty Tears- View," says (vol. i., p. 164), General Jaokson of Georgia, holding that the treaties between the United States and the Cherokees were vahd and binding on all the States, and paramount to aU State laws, according to that pro-vis ion of the Federal Constitution which prescribes : " Article VL, § 3. Tbis Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme lam ofthe land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." The attorneys for the missionaries sought to have this judgment en forced, but could not. General Jack son was President, and would do nothing of the sort. " Well : John Marshall has made his decision: now let him enforce •^<.'"" was his commentary on the matter. So the missionaries languished years in pris on, and the Cherokees were finally (1838) driven into exile, in defiance of the mandate of our highest judi cial tribunal. "^ Georgia was permit ted to -violate the faith of solemn treaties and defy the adjudicatioufi of our highest court. South Carohna was put down in a simUar attempt : for the will of Andrew Jackson, not the Constitution, was in those years " the supreme law of the land." ^ "refused to sustain those Southern tribes in their attempt to set up an indepen'dent govern ment within the States of Alabama and Georgia." Both these gentlemen weU knew— Colonel Benton could not but know— that the Cherokees only claimed or sought the rights which they had possessed and enjoyed from tune immemo rial, which were solemnly guaranteed to them by treaty after treaty, whereof the subsisting vahdity and pertinence -svere clearly affirmed by the tribunal of ultimate resort. =9 The late Jeremiali Evarts, long-the efficient and honored Secretary of the American Board ABOLITION IN THE REVOLUTIONARY, AGE. lor IX. THE EISE AND PBOGEESS OF ABOLITION. The General Congress which oon^ vened at PhUadelphia in 1774, framed articles of Association between the colonies, one of which was a solemn agreement " that we -will neither im port nor purchase any slave imported after the 1st of December next ;" be ing moved thereto by State action of like character, wherein Virginia and North Carolina were honorably con spicuous. Most ofthe States,- accord ingly, prohibited the Slave-Trade during or soon after the Eevolution. Throughout the war for indepen dence, the Eights of Man were pro claimed as the great objects of our struggle. General Gates, the hero of Saratoga, emancipated his slaves in 1780. The first recorded Aboh- tion Society — that of Pennsylvania — was formed in 1774; The New York Manumission Society was found ed in 1785 : John Jay was its first President; Alexander Hamilton its second. Ehode Island followed in 1786 ; Maryland in 1789 ; Connecti cut m 1790 ; Yirginia in 1791 ; New -Jersey in 1792. The discovery that such societies were at war -with the Federal Constitution, or -with the reciprocal duties of citizens of the several States, was not made till nearly forty years afterward. These Abolition Societies were largely com posed of the most eminent as well as the worthiest citizens. Among them were, in Maryland, Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration, and Luther Martin, one of the framers of the Constitution; in Delaware, James A. Bayard,' afterward in Congress, and Caesar A. Eodney, who became Attorney-General. The Pennsylvania Society had Benja min Franklin for its Presidtent, and Benjamin Eush for Secretary — ^both signers of the Declaration. This,' among other such societies, memorialized the first Federal Con gress, then sitting at Philadelphia, against Slavery, asking "that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration to liberty of those unhappy men who, alone in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amid the general joy of surrounding free men, are ~ groaning in servile subjection ; that you will de-vise means for removing this inconsistency of character from the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice toward this distressed race; and that you wUl step to the very verge of the power vested in you for dis couraging every species of traffic in the per sons of our feUow-men." Congress courteously received this and simUar memorials, calmly con sidered them, and decided that it had no power to abolish Slavery in the of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, who de voted the best of his life to the cause of the Cherokees, has summed up, in a letter to a sym pathizing friend, his convictions as to the ulti mate cause of the perfidy and oppression of which they were the victims: "Without that disregard 'of human rights which is to be found among slaveholders only, nothing oould-have been done against the Indi ans: and without the base surrender of all per. sonal dignity and independence to the capricious mandate of party discipline, the slaveholders would not have received aid enough to carry their point." — Life of Jeremiah Evarts, Boston, 1845, p. 367. ' Father of one of her present U. S. Senators. 5 Franklin, then 84 years of age, signed this memorial on the 3d of February, 1790, aud died on thd nth of April following. IDs THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. States which saw fit to authorize and cherish it. There was no excitement, no menace, no fury. South Carolina and Georgia, of course, opposed the prayer, but in parliamentary lan guage. It is noteworthy, that among those who leaned furthest toward the petitioners were Messrs. Parker and Page, of Yirginia — the latter in due time her Governor. They urged, not that the prayer should be granted, but that the memorial be referred, and respectfully considered. yermont framed a State Constitu tion in 1777, and embodied in it a BiU of Eights, whereof the first arti cle precluded Slavery. Massachusetts fi-amed a constitu tion in 1780, wherein was embodied a Declaration of Eights, afiirming that "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and inaliena ble rights, among which are the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liber ties, and that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property." The Supreme Court of that State, upon the first case arising which in volved the question, decided that this pro-vision had abolished Slavery. New Hampshire was, in like man ner, held to have abohshed Slavery by her Constitution, framed in 1783. Pennsylvania passed a Gradual Emancipation Act, March 1, 1780. All persons bom in that State after that day, were to be free at the age of twenty-eight. Ehode Island provided by law that all persons born in that State after March, 1784, should be free. Connecticut, in 1784, passed an act pro-viding for gradual Abolition. She had still two thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine slaves in 1790. New York provided for Gradual Emancipation in 1799. In 1817, a • further act was passed, decreeing that there should be no Slavery in the State after the 4th of July, 1827. Ten thousand slaves were set free at once by this act. New Jersey passed an act, in 1804, designed to put an end to Slavery. It was so very gradual in its opera tion, that the census of 1840 reported six hundred and seventy-four slaves as still held in that State. The fi-equently reiterated Southem assertion that the Northern States " sold their slaves to the South, and then aboUshed Slavery," is abundant ly refuted. Pennsylvania, New York, and doubtless most other States, by their acts of emancipation, imposed severe penalties on the exportation of slaves. Delaware, though a Slave State, long since did, and stUl does, the same. The North emerged fi-om the Mis souri struggle chafed and mortified. It felt that, -with Eight and Power both on its side, it had been badly beaten, through the treachery of cer tain of its o-wn representatives, whom it proceeded to deal -with accordingly. Few, indeed — ^hardly one — of those Northern members who had sided with the South in that struggle were reelected. That lesson given, -what more could be done? Missouri was in the Union, and could not be turned out. Arkansas was organized as a Slave Territory, and would in due time become a Slave State. What use in protracting an agitation which had no longer a definite object ? Mr. Monroe had just been reelected Presi dent, and the harmony of the party would be disturbed by permitting THE SOUTH REBUKES EDWARD EVERETT. 109 the feud to become chronic. Those who perpetuated it would be most unhkely to share bounteously in the distribution of Federal offices and honors. Then a new Presidential contest began to loom up in the dis tance, and aU manner of speculations were cuiTent, and hopes were buoy ant, with regard to it. Yet more : the Cotton culture was rapidly ex panding, and: with it Southem trade, bringing the Northern seaports more and more under their sway. There had been an effort, in 1817, to secure the passage through Con gress of a more effective Fugitive Slave Law, which was defeated, after a most spirited discussion. In 1826 (March 9th), the subject of Slavery was brought before the House by Mr. Edward ' Everett — ^then a new and very young member from Massachu setts — ^who incidentally expressed his hostihty to all projects of -violent Abo lition, his readiness to-shoulder a mus ket to put do-wn a slave insurrection, and his conviction, with regard to Slavery, that, ^'wMle it subsists, where it subsists, its duties are pre supposed and sanctioned by rehgion," etc., etc. But this strange outburst, instead of being gratefully hailed and welcomed, was repelled and reprobat ed by the South. Mr. Mitchell, of Tennessee, though himself a slave holder, pointedly dissented fi-om it. Mr. 0. C. Cambreleng, of New York, (a North Carolinian by birth and traiailig), said: " The gentleman from Massachusetts has gone too far. He has expressed opinions which ought not to escape. animadversion. I heard them with great surprise and regret. I was astonished to hear him declare that Slavery — domestic Slavery — say what you will, is a condition of life, as well as any other, to be justified by morality, religion, and international law," etc., etc. And John Eandolph, of Virginia — ^himself a life-long slaveholder aud opponent of the North — saw fit to "Sir, I envy neither the head nor the heart of that man from the North, who rises here to defend Slavery upon principle." So that, so late as 1826, the doc trine ofthe essential righteousness and beneficence of Slavery had not yet been accepted in any quarter." Yirginia, in 1829, assembled' a Convention of her people to revise their Constitution. Ex-President James Monroe' was chosen to preside, and was conducted to the chair by ex-President James Madison and Chief Justice MarshaU. The first ° Roger Brooke Taney — late Chief Justice of the United States — ^in defending as a lawyer, in 1818, before a Maryland court. Rev. Jacob Gru- ber, charged with anti-Slavery inculcations and acts, thus happily set forth the old Revolution ary idea of Slavery, and the obligations it im poses : " A hard necessity, indeed, compels us to en dure the evils of Slavery for a time. It was imposed upon us by another nation, while yet we were in a state of colonial vassalage. It can not be easily or suddenly removed. Tet, while it continues, it is a blot on our national charac ter, and every real lover of freedom confidently hopes that it wUl be effectually, though it must be gradually, -wiped away, and earnestly looks for the means by which this necessary object may be attained. And, until it shall be accom plished, until the time come when we can point without a blush to the language held in the Declaration of Independence, every friend of humanity -will seek to lighten the galling chain of Slavery, and better, to the utmost of his power^the -wretched condition of the slave." *At Richmond, October 5th. 'Mr. Monroe, in a speech (November 2d), on the Basis of Representation, said, incidentally of Slavery: "No imputation can be cast on Virginia in this matter. She did all that it was in her power to do to prevent fhe extension of Slavery, and to mitigate its evils so far as she could." 110 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. earnest collision was on the White Basis, so called — ^that is, on the pro position that representation and po htical power should be apportioned to the several counties on the basis of their White population alone! The Committee on the Legislative depart ment decided in favor of the White Basis by 13 to 11 — James Madison's vote giving that side the majority ; but he voted also against the White Basis for the Senate, making a tie on that point. A strong excitement having arisen on this question, Gen eral Eobert B. Taylor, of Norfolk, an advocate ofthe White Basis, resigned, and his seat was filled by Hugh B. Grigsby, of opposite views. At length," the" Convention came to a vote, on the proposition of a Mr. Green, of Culpepper, that the White Basis be stricken out, and the Feder al Basis (the white inhabitants with "three-fifths of aU other persons") be substituted. This was defeated — Yeas 47 (including Grigsby afore said) ; Nays 49 — every delegate vot ing. Among the Yeas were ex- President Madison, Chief Justice Marshall, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Philip P. Barbour, John Eandolph of Eoanoke, WiUiam B. Giles, John Tyler, etc. Among the Nays {for the White Basis) were ex-President Monroe, Philip Doddridge, Charles F. Mercer, Chapman Johnson, Le-wis Summers, etc. As a rule. Western (comparatively Free) Yirginia joted "November 16th. ' Hezekiah Niles, in his Weekly Register of Oc tober 31, 1829, thus forcibly depicted the mo mentous issues for Virginia and the country, then hinging on the struggle in Richmond: "Virginia Convention. — The committees having chiefly reported, 'the tug of war' between the 'old lights' and the new has commenced ; and the question is to be settled whether trees and stones, and arbitrary divisions of land, -with for the White Basis, with some help from the East ; and it was computed that the majority represented 402,631 of Free Population, and the minority but 280,000. But the minority was strong in intellect, in numbers, and in resolution, and it fought desperate ly through weeks of earnest debate and skillful maneuvering. President Monroe, in December, resigned the chair, and his seat, and his constit uents offered the latter to General E. B. Taylor aforesaid, who declined, when it was given to a Mr. Osborne. Finally, a proposition by Mr. Upshur (afterward Secretary of State) was so amended, on motion of Mr. Gordon, as to prescribe, arbitrarily, that thir teen Senators should be apportioned to counties west of the Blue Eidge, and nineteen to those east of it, with a coiTesponding allotment of Dele gates in four parcels to the various natural divisions of the State, and was carried by 55 Yeas to 41 Nays — a motion that the Senate apportion ment be based" on Federal numbers, and that for the House on the White population, having first been voted down — 48 to 48. So the effort of the West, and of the relatively non- slaveholding sections of Yirginia, to wrest political power from the sla-ve- holding oligarchy of the tide-water counties, was defeated, despite the sanguine promise at the outset ; and the Old Dominion sunk again into the arms of the negro-breeders.' almost as senseless herds of black slaves, or the frSe, tax-paymg inhabitants of the State, shall have pohtical power. Very important events will grow out of this convention, and their effect will not be confined to Virginia. We hope arid beheve, that the free white population of the State wiU be adopted as the basis of representa tion m the popular branch of the Legislature— indeed, it cannot be popular without it ; but per haps the Senate may be apportioned according to federal numbers,' m which three-fifths of the THE YOUTH OF BENJAMIN LUNDY. Ill Some years later (in 1831-2), on the occurrence ofthe slave insurrection in Southampton county, known as Nat. Turner's, her people were aroused to a fresh and vivid conception of the perils and e-vils of Slavery, and her Legislature, for a time, seemed on the point of inaugurating a system of Gradual Emancipation ; but the im pulse was finally, though with diffi culty, overborne. Several who have since cast in their lot with the Slave holders' Eebellion — among them Jas. C. Faulkner, late Minister to Eng land — at that time spoke earnestly and forcibly for Emancipation, as an imperative necessity. And this is noteworthy as the last serious effort by the pohticians of any Slave State* to rid her of the giant curse, prior to the outbreak of the Slaveholders' Ee- belhon. Beitjamtk Lundt deserves the high honor of ranking as the pioneer of direct and distinctive Anti-Slavery in America. Many who hved before and cotemporary -with him were Ab olitionists : but he was the first of our countrymen who devoted his life and all his powers exclusively to the cause of the slave. Born in Sussex county. New Jersey, January 4, 1789, of Quaker parents, whose ancestors for several generations had lived and died in this country, he injured himself, while still a mere boy, by excessive labor on his father's farm, incurring thereby a partial loss of hearing, from which he never recovered. Slight in frame and below the common hight, unassuming in manner and gentle in spirit, he gave to the cause of Emanci pation neither wealth, nor eloquence, nor lofty abilities, for he had them not; but his courage, perseverance, and devotion were unsurpassed ; and these combined to render him a for midable, though disregarded if not despised, antagonist to our national crime. Lea-ving his father's farm at nineteen years of age, he wandered slaves are counted. If the latter may stand as a peace-ofiering to the departing power of the old lights, we would let them have it — iu a few years, under a liberal Constitution, the free pop ulation of middle and western Virginia -will be so increased, that the power in the Senate, de rived from slaves, will not be injuriously felt. And then will the tacticians, who have kept Vir ginia back half a century, compared -with New York and Pennsylvania, disappear, and give place to practical men — then will roads and ca nals be made, domestic manufactures encour aged, and a free and virtuous and laborious peo ple give weailth and power and security to the commonwealth — ^the 'old famihes,' as they are called — persons much partaking of the character of the old nobility of France, imbecile and incor rigible — pass away, and a healthful and happy, bold and inteUigent middle class rise up to sweeten and in-vigorate society, by rendering labor honorable; and Richmond will not any longer be all Virg-inia, as a distinguished geu tleman used to proclaim, in matters of pohtios or policy. The moral eSects of these things over the slave population of Virginia, and in the ad jacent States, are hardly to be calculated. The presence of numerous slaves is incompatible with that of a numerous free population ; and it is shown that the labor of the latter, iu aE the important operations of agriculture or the arts, except the cultivation of cotton, sugar, tobacco, and rice (as at present carried on), is the cheap est and the best. And in truth, it would not perhaps be straining the facts too far, to express an opinion, that the greatest question before the Virginia convention is, the perpetual duration of negro slavery, or the increase of a generous and free white population." °In 1849, when Kentucky revised her State Constitution, Henry Clay formaUy renewed the appeal iu favor of Gradual Emancipation, which he had made, when a very young man, on the occasion of her organization as a State ; but the response from the people was feeble and ineffect ive. Delaware has repeatedly endeavored to rid herself of Slavery by legislation ; but parti san Democracy has uniformly opposed and de feated every movement looking to this end. She, though slaveholding, has for sixty years or more "been truly, emphaticaUy, a Border State. Sla^ very has only been kept so long alive witliiu her limits for the benefit, and by the strenuous efforts, of the Democratic party. It is now evi dently near its end. 112 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. westward to Wheeling, Yirginia, where, during the next four years, he learned the trade of a saddler, and gained an insight into the cruel ties and villainies of slaveholding — Wheehng being at that time a great thoroughfare for negro-traders and their prey on their route fi-om Mary land and Yirginia to the lower Mis sissippi. Before he made Wheeling his home, he had spent some time at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, whither he returned after learning his trade, and remained there two years, dur ing which he married a young wo man of like spirit to his o-wn. He then, after a long -visit to his father in New Jersey, settled at St. Clairs- ville, Ohio, near Wheeling, and opened a shop, by which in four years he made about three thousand dollars above his expenses, and, with a lo-ving wife and two children, was as happy and contented with his lot as any man need be. But the impression made on his mind by his experiences of Slavery in Wheeling could not be shaken off nor resisted. In the year 1816, when twenty-six years of age, he organized an anti-Slavery association known as the " Union Humane Society," whereof the fijst meeting was held at his own house, and consisted of but five or six persons. Within a few months, its numbers were swelled to four or five hundred, and included the best and most prominent citizens of Belmont and the adjacent coun ties. Lundy wrote an appeal to phi lanthropists on the subject of Slavery, which was first printed, on the 4th of January, 1816, being his twenty-sev-. enth birthday. Short and simple as it was, it contained the germ of the entire anti-Slavery movement. A weekly journal entitled The Philan thropist was soon after started at Mount Pleasant by Charles Osbome; and Lundy, at the editor's invitation, contributed to its columns, mainly by selections. In a few months, he was urged by Osbome to join him in the newspaper enterprise, and finally con sented to do so, removing to Mount Pleasant. Meantime, he made a voy age to St. Louis in a flat-boat to dis pose of his stock of saddlery. Arriv ing at that city in the fall of 1819, when the whole region was convulsed by the Missouri Question, he was impelled to -write on the side there unpopular in the journals of the day. His speculation proved unfortunate — the whole West, and, indeed, the whole country, being then involved in a commercial convulsion, with trade stagnant and almost every one bankrupt. He returned to. his home on foot during the ensuing winter, having be6n absent nearly two years, and lost all he was worth. Meantime, Osbome; tired of his thankless and profitless vocation, had sold out his establishment, and it had been removed to Jonesborough, Ten nessee, where his newspaper took the title of The Emancipator. Lundy removed, as he had purposed, to Mount Pleasant, and there started, in January, 1821, a monthly entitled The Genius of Universal Ema/nci- pat'lmi. He commenced it -with six subscribers ; himself ignorant of print ing and without materials; having his work done at Steuben-vUle, twenty miles distant; travehng thither fre quently on foot, and returning -with his edition on his back. Four months later, he had a very considerable sub scription hst. About this time, ElUm Embree, who had started The Eman- 1/ h, ^p[^m'^n^.^m /' V ABOLITION SOCIETIES IN THE SOUTH. 113 cipator in Tennessee, died, and Ltmdy was urged to go thither, unite the two journals, and print them himself fi-om the materials of The Emancipa tor. He consented, and made the journey of eight hundred miles, one- half on foot and the rest by water. At Jonesborough, he learned the art of printing, and was soon issuing a weekly newspaper beside The Genius, and a monthly .agricultural work. He removed his family a few months later, and East Tennessee was thencefor ward his home for nearly three years, during which The Genius of Univer sal Emancipation was the only distinc tively and exclusively anti-Slavery pe riodical issued in the United States, constantly increasing in circulation and influence. And, though often threatened -with personal assault, and once shut up in a private room with two ruffians, who undertook to bully him into some concession by a flour ish of deadly weapons, he was at no time subjected to mob -violence or legal prosecution. In the winter of 1823^, the first American Convention for the Aboli tion of Slavery was held in Philadel phia ; and Lundy made the journey of six hundred miles and back on purpose to attend it. During his tour, he decided on transferring his establishment to Baltimore ; and, in the summer of 1824, knapsack, on shoulder, he set out on foot for that city. On the way, he delivered, at Deep Creek, North Carolina, his first public address against Slavery. He spoke in a beautiful grove, near the Friends' meeting-house at that place, directly after divine worship ; and the audience were so well satisfied that they in-vited him to speak again, in their place of worship. Before this 8 second meeting adjourned, an anti- Slavery society was formed ; and he proceeded to hold fifteen or twenty similar meetings at other places with in that State. In one instance, he spoke at a house-raising ; in another, at a militia muster. Here an anti- Slavery society of fourteen members was thereupon formed, with the cap tain of the militia company for its President. One of his meetings was held at Ealeigh, the capital. Before he had left the State, he had organ ized twelve or fourteen Abolition So cieties. He continued his journey through Yirginia, holding several meetings, and organizing societies — of course, not very numerous, nor composed of the most influential per sons. It is probable that his Quaker brethren supplied him with introduc tions firom place to place, and that his meetings were held at the points where violent opposition was least likely to be offered. He reached Baltimore about the 1st of October, and issued on the 10th No. 1 of Yolume lY. of the " Ge nius," which continued to be well sup ported, though receiving little encou ragement from Baltimore itself. A year afterward, it began to be issued weekly. Lundy visited Hayti in the latter part of 1825, in order to make ar rangements there for the reception of a number of slaves, whose masters were wiUing to emancipate them on condition of their removal from the country — in fact, were not allowed, by the laws of their respective States, to free them otherwise. Being de tained longer than he had expected, he was met, on his return to Balti more, Vidth tidings of the death of his wife, after giving birth to twins, and 114 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. hastened to his dwelhng to find it en tirely deserted,' his five children hav ing been distributed among his friends. In that hour of intense af fliction, he renewed his solemn vow to devote his entire energies to the cause of the slave, and to efforts de signed to awaken his countrymen to a sense of their responsibility and their danger. In 1828, he traveled east ward, lecturing and soliciting sub scribers to his " Genius," and calling, in New York, on Arthur Tappan, William Goodell, and other anti- Slavery men. At Boston, he could hear of no Abohtionists, but made the acquaintance, at his boarding- house, of William Lloyd GAEEisoif, a fellow-boarder, whose attention had not pre-viously been dra-wn to the Slavery question, but who readUy embraced his views. He visited suc cessively most of the clergymen of Boston, and induced eight of them, belonging to various sects, to meet him. AU of them, on explanation, approved his labors, and subscribed for his periodical ; and, in the course of a few days, they aided him to hold an anti-Slavery meeting, which was largely attended. At the close of his remarks, several clergymen expressed a general concurrence in his -views. He extended his journey to New Hampshire and Maine, lecturing where he could, and obtaining some encouragement. H^e spoke also in the principal towns of Massachusetts, Ehode Island, and Connecticut ; and, on his homeward route, traversed the State of New York, speaking at "Lundy's brief journal of this tour has been preserved; and, next to an entry running — '¦ On the 25th I arrived at Northampton, Mass., after 9 o'clock in the evening, and called at tliree taverns before I co'jld get lodgings or polite treatment" — we find the foUowing: Poughkeepsie, Albany,' Lockport, Utica, and Buffalo, reaching Balti more late in October. Lundy made at least one other ¦visit to Hayti, to colonize emancipat ed slaves ; was beaten nearly to death in Baltimore by a slave-trader, on whose conduct he had commented in terms which seemed disrespectful to the profession ; was flattered by the judge's assurance, when the trader came to be tried for the assault, that " he [L.J had got nothing more than he deserved ;" and he made two long. journeys through Texas, to the Mexi can departments across the Eio Grande, in quest of a suitable lo cation on which to plant a colony of fi-eed blacks from the United States, but without success. He traveled in good part on foot, ob- ser-ving the strictest economy, and supporting himself by working at saddlery and harness-mending, fi-om place to place, as circumstances re quired. Meantime, he had been compeUed to remove his paper fi-om Baltimore to Washington ; and final ly (in 1836), to Philadelphia, where it was entitled The National . In quirer, and at last merged into The Pennsylvania Freeman. His colo nizing enterprise took him to Mon- clova, Comargo, Monterey, Matamo- ras, and Yictoria, in Mexico, and con sumed the better part of several years, closing in 1835. He also made a visit to the settlements in Canada, of fugitives from American Slavery, to inquire into the welfare of their inhabitants. On the 17th of May, "September 6tt— At Albany, I made some ac quaintances. Philanthropists are the slowest creor tures breathing. Tliey think forty times before they act." There is reason to fear that the little Quaker was a ' fanatic' WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 115 1838, at the burning by a mob of Pennsylvania Hall — built by Aboh tionists, because they could be heard in no other — his little property, con sisting mainly of papers, books, clothes, etc., which had been coUected in one of the rooms of that HaU, with a -view to his migration west ward, was totally destroyed. In July, he started for Hlinois, where his chil dren then resided, and reached them in the September following. He planted himself at Lowell, La Salle county, gathered his offspring about him, purchased a printing-office, and renewed the issues of his " Genius." But in August, 1839, he was attacked by a prevailing fever, of which he died on the 22d of that month, in the 51st year of his age. Thus closed the record of one of the most heroic, devoted, unselfish, courageous lives, that has ever been hved on this con tinent.'" William Lloyd Gaeeison, bom in obscurity and indigence, at Newbury port, Massachusetts, in 1805, and educated a printer, after having tried his boyish hand at shoe-making, wood- sawing, and cabinet-making, started Tlie Free Press, in his native place, directly upon attaining his majority ; but Newburyport was even then a slow old town, and his enterprise soon proved unsuccessful. He migrated to Boston, worked a few months as a journeyman* printer, and then be came editor of The National Philan thropist, an organ of the Temperance movement. He left this early in 1828, to become editor, at Bennington, Yer mont, of The Journal ofthe Times, a " National Eepublican" gazette, and about the ablest and most interesting newspaper ever issued in that State. Though earnestly devoted to the re election of John Quincy Adams, as President, it gave a hearty support to the Temperance, Anti-Slavery, and other Eeform projects, and promoted the extensive circulation and signa ture of memorials to Congress, urging the banishment of Slavery from the District of Columbia. But its pa tronage was unequal to its merits ; and, Mr. Adams having been defeat ed, its publication was soon afterward discontinued. Mr. Garrison was, about this time, visited by Lundy, and induced to join him in the editorship of The Genius at Baltimore, whither he ac cordingly proceeded in the Autumn ' of 1829. Lundy had been a zealous supporter of Adams ; and, under his auspices, a single Emancipation can didate for the Legislature had been repeatedly presented in Baltimore, receiving, at one election, more than nine hundred votes. Garrison, in his first issue, insisted on immediate and unconditional Emancipation as the right of the slave and the duty of the master, and disclaimed aU tem porizing, all make-shifts, all com promises, condemning Colonization, and everything else that involved or implied affiliation or sympathy. -with slaveholders. Ha-ving, at length, denounced the coastwise slave-trade between Baltimore and New Orleans as " domestic piracy," and stigmatized by name certain Baltimoreans concerned therein, he was indicted for "a gross and mah cious libel" on those worthies, con victed, sentenced to pay fifty doUars' fine and costs, and, in default there of, committed to jail. A judgment i» Condensed from the " Life of Benjamin Lundy," by Thomas Earle. 116 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. in behalf of one of these aggrieved persons of $1,000 and costs was hke wise obtained against him on a civil suit, but never enforced. He remain ed forty-nine days in prison, during which his case excited much sympa thy, a protest against his incarcera tion having been issued by the Manu mission Society of North Carolina. At length, the fine and costs were paid by Arthur Tappan, then a wealthy and generous New York merchant, who anticipated, by a few days, a similar act meditated by Hen ry Clay. Separating himself fi-om Lundy and The Genius, Mr. Garri son now proposed the pubhcation of an anti-Slavery.organ in Washington City ; but, after traveling and lec turing through the great cities, and being prevented by violence fi-om speaking in Baltimore, he concluded to issue his journal from Boston in stead of Washington; and the first number of The Liberator appeared accordingly on the 1st of January, 1S30. It was, from the outset, as thorough-going as its editor ; and its .motto — " Our Country is the World ' — Our Countrymen are all Mankind" — truly denoted its character and spirit. "No Union with slaveholders" was adopted as a principle some years later ; as was the doctrine that " The [Federal] Constitution is a covenant with death, and an agree ment with heU." To wage against Slavery an uncompromising, unre lenting war, asking no quarter and gi-vdng none — ^to regard and proclaim the equal and inalienaJble rights of every innocent human being as infe rior or subordinate to those of no other, and to repudiate aU creeds, aU alleged revelations, rituals, constitu tions, governments, parties, politics, that reject, defy, or ignore this fun damental truth — such is and has been the distinctive idea of the numerical ly small, but able and thoroughly earnest class, known as " Garrisoni- ans." " They for many years gener ally dechned, and some of them stiU dechne, to vote, deeming the Gov emment and all parties so profoundly corrupted by Slavery, that no one could do so without dereliction fi-om principle and moral defilement. And, though the formal and definitive sep aration did not take place till 1839, the alienation between the Garrisoni- ans and the larger number of Anti- Slavery men had long been decided and irremediable. A very few years. " " The broadest and raost far-sighted intellect is utterly unable to see the ultimate consequen ces of any great social change. Ask yourself, on aU such occasions, if there be any element of. right or wrong in the question, any principle of clear, natural justice, that turns the scale. If - so, take your part with the perfect and abstract right, and trust God to see that it shall prove the expedient."— WcTitfeZi Phillips's Speeclies and Lectures, p. 18. " The time has been when it was the duty of tbe reformer to show cause why he ofi'ered to disturb the quiet of the world. But, during the discussion of the many reforms which iiave been advocated, and which have more or less succeed ed, one after another — freedom of the lower .classes, freedom of food, freedom of the press, freedom of tliought, reform in penal legislation, and a thousand other matters — it seems to me to , have beeu proved conclusively, that govern ment commenced in usurpation and oppression; that liberty and civilization, at present, are noth ing else than the fragments of rights which the scafibld and the stake have wrung from the strong hands of the usurpers. Every step' of progress the world has made has been from scaffold to scaffold, and from stake to stake. It would hardly be exaggerati(;p to say, that aU the great truths relating to society and government have been flrst heard in the solemn protests of martyred patriotism, or the loud cries of crushed and starving labor. The law has been always wrong." — Ibid., p. 14. " An intelligent democracy says of Slavery as of a church, ' This is justice and that iniquity.' The track of God's thunderbolt is a straight line from one to the other, and the Church or State that cannot stand it, must get out of the way "— Ibid., p. 261. '' THE CHURCHES AND SLAVERY. 117 dating firom 1832-3, when the New England and the American Anti- Slavery Societies were formed re spectively, sufficed to segregate the American opponents of Slavery into four general di-visions, as foUows : 1. The " GarrisOnians" aforesaid. 2. The members of the "Liberty party," '^ who, regarding the Federal Constitution as essentiaUy anti-Slave ry, swore -with good conscience to uphold it, and supported only, can didates who were distinctively, deter minedly, pre-eminently, champions of "Liberty for aU."_ 3. Yarious small sects and parties, which occupied a middle ground be tween the above positions ; some of the sects agreeing with the latter in interpreting and revering the Bible as consistently anti-Slavery, while re fusing, -svith the former, to vote. 4. A large and steadily increas ing class who, though decidedly anti- Slavery, refused either to withhold their votes, or to throw them away op. candidates whose election was im possible, but persisted in voting, at nearly every election, so as to effect good and prevent evU to the extent of their power. An artfiil and persistent ignoring of aU distinction between these class es, and thus covering Abohtionists in discriminately with odium, as hostile to Christianity and to the Constitu tion, was long the most effective weapon in the armory of their com mon foes. Thousands, whose con sciences and hearts would naturally have dra"wn them to the side of hu manity and justice, were repeUed by vociferous representations that to do so would identify them with the " dis union" of WendeU Philhps, the " radicahsm" of Henry C. Wright, and the "infidehty" of Pillsbury, Theodore Parker, and Garrison. X. THE CHUECHES AND SLAYEEY. We have seen that the Eevolution ary era and the Eevolutionary spirit of our country were profoundly hos tile to Slavery, and that they were not content "with mere protests against an evil which positive efforts, determined acts, were required to remove. Before the Eevolution, in deed, a religious opposition to Slave ry, whereof the society of Christian Friends or Quakers were the pio neers, had been developed both in the mother country and in her colo nies. George Fox, the first Quaker, bore earnest testimony, so early as 16Y1, on the occasion of his -visit to 1' Sundry differences respecting "Woman's Rights" — ^whereof the Garrisomans were stanch asserters^— and other incidental questions, were the immediate causes of the rupture between the Garrisonians and the political Abolitionists, whereby the American Anti-Slavery Society was convulsed by the secession of the latter in 1840 j but the ultimate causes of the rupture were deeper than these. As a body, the Garrisonians were regarded as radical in politics and heterodox in theology ; and the more Orthodox, conserva tive, and especially the clerical Abolitionists, in creasingly disliked the odium incited by the sweeping utterances of the Garrisoniau leaders. 118 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Barbadoes, against the prevalent cru elty and inhumanity with which ne gro slaves were then treated in that island, and urged their gradual eman cipation. His letter imphes that some of his disciples were slaveholders. Yet it was not till 1727 that the yearly meeting of the whole society in Lon don declared " the importing of ne groes from their native country and relations, by Friends, not a commend able or aUowable practice." Nearly thirty years before, the yearly meet ing in Philadelphia (1696) took a step in advance of this, admonishing their members to be careful not to encourage the Iringing in of any more negroes, and that those who have negroes be careftd of them, bring them to meeting, etc., etc. It thus appears that Quakers, like other Christians, were then not only slave holders, but engaged in the Slave- Trade. In 1754, the American Qua kers had advanced to the point of publicly recommending their socie ties to " advise and deal -with such as engage in" the Slave-Trade. Again : slaveholding Quakers were urged — not" to emancipate their slaves — but to care for their morals, and treat them humanely. The British Qua kers came up to this mark in 1758 — four years later ; and more decidedly in 1761 and 1763. In 1774, the Phil adelphia meeting directed that all persons engaged in any form of slave- trading be "diso-wned ;" and in 1776 took the decisive and final step by di recting "that the owners of slaves, who refused to execute the proper instru ments for giving them their freedom, be diso-wned likewise." This blow. hit the nail on the head. In 1781, but "one case" requiring discipline under this head was reported; and in 1783, it duly appeared that there were no slaves o"wned by its mem bers.' The coincidence of these later dates -with the origin, progress, and close of our Eevolutionary stmggle, is noteworthy. The New York and Ehode Island yearly meetings passed almost simultaneously through the same stages to like results; that of Yirginia pursued a like course ; but, meeting greater obstacles, was longer in overcoming them. It discouraged the^^ The Richmond Whig, in the course of a ful- mination against the Abohtionists, said ; " The people of the North must go to hanging these fanatics if they would not lose the benefit of the Southern trade, and they will do it. * *,* De pend upou it, the Northem people will never sac rifice their present lucrative trade with ihe South, so long as the hanging of a few thousands will pre vent it." Not a bad calculation, provided " the Northern people" and the enjoyers of " the lucrative trade" aforesaid had been identical ; but they were not. 124 TSE AMERICAN CONFLICT. foster an amicable intercourse and corre spondence between all the members of the confederacy, from being used as an instru ment of an opposite character. The Gen eral Government, to which the great trust is confided of preserving in-violate the relations created among the States by the Constitu tion, is especially bound to avoid, in its own action, any thing that may disturb them. I would therefore call the special attention of Congress to the subject, and respectfully suggest the propriety of passing such a law as will prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern States, through the mail, of incendiary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection." Had the President been asked to justify his charges against his fellow- citizens of having " attempted to circulate, through the mails, inflam matory appeals, addressed to the pas sions of slaves, in prints," etc., etc., he must have answered that he had heard or read charges to' this effect, and had beheved them. But it was in vain that the Abolitionists remon strated, and protested, and caUed for proofs. The slaveholding interest detested and feared them ; the mob was in full cry at their heels ; and it was the seeming interest of the great majority of speakers and writers to join in the hunt.' Governor Marcy followed in the footsteps of his party chief. In his Annual Message of January 6, 1836 — five weeks later than the foregoing —he said : " Eelying on the influence of a sound and enlightened public opinion to restrain and control the misconduct of the citizens of a free government, especially when directed, as it has been in this case, with unexampled energy and unanimity, to the particular evils under consideration, and perceiving that its operations have been thus far salutary, I en tertain the best hopes that this remedy, of itself, will entirely remove these evils, or render them comparatively harmless. But, if these reasonable expectations should, un- ^ " Now we tell them [the Abolitionists] that when they openly and publicly promulgate doc trines which outrage public feeling, they have no right to demand protection of the people they insult. Ouglit not, we ask, our city authorities happily, be disappointed ; if, in tbe face of numerous and striking exhibitions of pubUo reprobation, elicited from our constituents by a just fear of the fatal issues in which the uncurbed efforts of the Abolitionists may ultimately end, any considerable portion of these misguided men shall persist in push ing them forward to disastrous consequen ces, then a question, new to our confeder acy, will necessarUy arise, and must be met. It must then be determined how far the several States can provide, within the proper exercise of their constitutional powers, and how far, in fulfillment of the obligations re sulting fi-om their federal relations, they ought to provide, by their own laws, for the trial and punishment by their own judica tories, of residents within their limits, guilty of acts therein, which are calculated and intended to excite insurrection and rebellion in a sister' State. * * * j cannot doubt that the Legislature possesses the power to pass snch penal laws as will have the effect of preventing the citizens of this State and residents within it from availing themselves, with impunity, of the protection of its sover eignty and laws, while they are actually em ployed in exciting insurrection and sedition in a sister State, or engaged in treasonable enterprises, intended to be executed therein." A legislative Eeport responsive to these recommendations was made in May following, just at the close of the session, which assumed to pledge the faith of the State to pass such laws as were suggested by the Gov ernor, whenever they shall le requi site ! This report was duly forwarded to the Southern Governors, but not circulated at large; nor was any such action as it proposed ever taken — or meant to be. Governor Edward Everett (Whig), of Massachusetts, sent' a Message to the Legislature of his State, communicating the de mands of certain Southem States that anti-Slavery inculcations in the Free States should be legaUy sup pressed, and saying: " Whatever by direct and necessary ope- to make them understand this — to teUthem that they prosecute their teeasonable and beastly plans at their own peril ?"—^eM) Tork Cowrter and Enquirer, 11th July, 1834 « January 6, 1836. ATTEMPTS TO STIFLE DISCUSSION. 125 ration is calculated to excite an instu-rection among the slaves, has been held, by highly respectable legal authority, an offense against the peace of this commonwealth, which may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor at common law." The Legislature referred the sub ject to a joint Committee, whereof a conspicuous champion of Slavery was Chairman. The Abolitionists perceived and eagerly embraced their opportunity. They demanded a hear ing before this Committee---they be ing accused of grave misdemeanors in the documents whereon it was to act— and their request was tardily acceded to. On the 3d of March, 1836, they were apprised that they would be heard next day. They were duly present accordingly — ^the Com mittee sitting in the spacious Eepre- sentatives' Hall, neither House being in session. Brief addresses in their ¦ belialf were heard froin Eev. Samuel J. May and Ellis Gray Loring, who were followed by Professor Charles FoUen, who, in the course of Ids re marks, alluded to the mob outrages to which the Abohtionists had re cently been subjected, remarking that any legislative enactment to their prejudice would tend to encour age their adversaries to repeat those outrages. The Chairman treated this remark as disrespectful to the Com mittee, and abruptly terminated the hearing. The Abolitionists thereupon completed promptly their defense, and issued it in a pamphlet, which natu raUy attracted pubhc attention, and a popular conviction that fair play had not been accorded them was manifested. The Legislature shared it, and directed its Committee to aUow them a full hearing. Monday, the Sth, was accordingly appointed for the purpose. By this time, the public interest had become diffused and in tensified, and the HaU was crowded with earnest auditors. The Eev. Wilham E. Channing, then the most eminent clergyman in New England, appeared among the champions of Free Speech. Professor FoUen con cluded, and was followed by Samuel E. SewaU, Wilham Lloyd Garrison, and Wilham Goodell — the last-named stigmatizing the demand of the South and its backers as an assault on the liberties of the North. Mr. Bond, a Boston merchant, and Dr. Bradley, from Plymouth, were prompted by the impulse of the hour to add their unpremeditated remonstrances against the contemplated invasion of time-honored rights. Darkness had set in when the Committee rose, and a low murmur of approving multi tudes gave token that the cause of hberty had triumphed. The Com mittee reported adversely to the " agi tators" and " fanatics" at the heel of the session, but in e-vident despair of any accordant action ; and none was ever had. Massachusetts refused to manacle her own people in order to rivet more securely the shackles of others. Ehode Island was the theatre of a similar attempt, ending in a similar failure. ' And if, in any other State, like efforts were made, they were likewise defeated. No noniinally Free State, however hostile to Abolition, consented to make it a crime on the part of her people to " preach dehv erance to the captive." But the systematic suppression of anti-Slavery teaching by riot and mob--violence was, for a time, well- nigh universal. In New York, a meeting at Clinton Hall, to organize a City Anti-Slavery Society, ha-ving 126 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. been called for the evening of Octo ber 2, 1833, there appeared a counter- caU from "Many Southrons" for a meeting at the same time and place. In apprehension of a riot, Chnton HaU was not opened ; but such of the Abolitionists as could be notified on the instant repaired to the Chatham- street Chapel. Their opponents met in Tammany Hall, and, after making their speeches and passing their re solves unquestioned, were about to adjourn, when they were apprised of the meeting in the Chapel. " Let us rout them !" was the general cry ; and they rushed noisily to the Chapel only to find that the Abolitionists had departed. " Ten thousand dollars for Arthur Tappan !" was shouted ; but no one was molested, and the crowd dissolved in the comforting assurance that the Union was safe. But on the 4th of July, 1834, an at tempt to hold an anti-Slavery celebra tion in Chatham-street Chapel was the signal for a furious and alarming riot. The prayer, the singing, and the reading of the Declaration, were endured with tolerable patience ; but a Declaration of the Sentiments of the Anti-Slavery Society by Lewis Tappan was interrupted by hisses ; and when David Paul Brown, of Philadelphia, commenced his oration, it was soon manifest that a large por tion of the audience had come ex pressly not to hear him, nor let any one else. Eev. Samuel H. Cox in terposed in behalf of Free Speech; but both were clamored do-wn -with cries of " Treason ! Treason ! Hur rah for the Union !" and the meeting quietly dispersed, without awaiting or provoking fiirther violence. The leading commercial journals ha-ving commended this experiment in Union-sa-ving, the actors were nat urally impelled to extend it. At midnight on the 9th, the dweUing of Lewis Tappan was broken open by a mob, his furniture carried into the street, and consigned to the flames. The Tbuming of the house was then proposed ; but the Mayor remonstra ted, and it was forborne. The riots were continued through the next day ; the doors and windows of Dr. ' Cox's (Presbyterian) church being broken, with those of Dr. Ludlow's church ; while a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Protestant Episcopal church, belonging to colored congregations, were badly shattered, and one of them nearly destroyed, as was a school-house for colored children, and many dweUings inhabited by negroes, while others were seriously injured. Many rioters were arrested dunng these days by the police, but none of them was ever punished. Newark, New Jersey, imitated this riot on the 11th,' but with indifferent success. A church was somewhat in jured. Philadelphia followed on the 13th of August. Her riots lasted three nights, and the harmless and power less blacks were mainly their vic tims. Forty-four houses (mostly small) were destroyed or seriously injured. Among them was a colored Presby terian church. Several of the blacks were chased and assaulted, one of them being beaten to death, and an other losing his life in attempting to swim the 'Schuylkill to escape his pursuers. At Worcester, Massachusetts, Au gust 10, 1835, the Eev. Orange Scott, who was lecturing against Slavery, was assaulted, his notes torn up, and personal violence attempted. ANTI-ABOLITION RIOTS. 127 At Concord, New Hampshire, on the same day, a mob demolished an academy, because colored boys were admitted as pupils. At Canterbury, Connecticut, Miss Prudence Crandall ha-ving, attempt ed, in 1833,^ to open a school for colored children, an act was passed by the Legislature forbidding any teaching within that State of colored youth from other States. She per sisted, and was imprisoned for it as a malefactor. Having been liberated, she resumed her school ; when it was broken up by mob-violence. The riots whereof the foregoing are specimens were too numerous and wide-spread to be even glanced at sev erally. They were, doubtless, multi pUed and intensified by the presence in our country of Geobge Thompson, an eminent and ardent English Aboh- tionist, who — ^now that the triumph of Emancipation in the British West Indies was secured — came over to aid the kindred struggle in this country. That a Briton should presume to plead for Liberty in this free and enlightened country was not to be endured; and Mr. Thompson's elo quence, fervor, and thoroughness, in creased the hostility excited by his presence, which, of itself, was held an ample excuse for mobs. He was finally induced to- desist and return to England, from a conviction that the prejudice aroused by his interfe rence in what was esteemed a domes tic difference overbalanced the good effect of his lectures. The close of this year (1835) was signalized by the conversion of GEEErr Smteh — ^hitherto a leading and zealous Colonizationist — ^to the principles ofthe Abolitionists. In Northfield, New Hampshire, December 14, 1835, Eev. George Storrs attempted to dehver an anti- Slavery lecture, but was dragged fi-om his knees while at prayer, pre liminary to his address, by a deputy sheriff, on the strength of a warrant issued by a justice, on a complaint charging him with being " a common rioter and brawler," "an idle and dis orderly person, going about the to-vni and county disturbing the pubhc peace." On trial, he was acquitted ; but, on the 31st of March foUo-wing, after having lectured at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, he was again ar rested while at prayer, on a -writ issued by one who afterward became a Member of Congress, tried the same day, con-victed, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment in the House of Correction, He appealed; and that was probably the end of the matter. At Boston, October 21, 1835, a large and most respectable mob, com posed in good part of merchants, as sailed a meeting of the Female Anti- Slavery Society, while its President was at prayer, and dispersed it. WUliam Lloyd Garrison, having es caped, was found concealed in a cabi net-maker's shop, seized and dragged through the streets with a rope aroimd his body, threatened with tar and feathers, but finaUy conducted to the Mayor, who lodged him in jail tiU the next day, to protect him fi-om further -violence. At the 'earnest re quest of the authorities, he left town for a time. At Utica, New York, the same day, a meeting, convened to form a State Anti-Slavery Society, was bro ken up by a most respectable Com mittee, appointed by a large meeting of citizens. The office of a Demo cratic journal that had spoken kjndly 128 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. of the Abolitionists was assailed and its press thrown down. The disci- phne proved effective. No Demo cratic journal issued in that city has since ventured to speak a word for Freedom or Humanity. The Aboli tionists, at Gerrit Smith's in-vitation,' adjourned to his home at Peterbo rough, Madison County, and there completed their organization. At the South, there was but one mode of dealing with Abohtionists — that described by Henry A. Wise as made up of " Dupont's best [gun powder], and cold steel." "Let your emissaries cross the Potomac," -writes the Eev. T. S. Witherspoon firom Alabama to The Emancipator, " and I can promise you that your fate \vill be no less than Haman's." ' Says the Eev. William Plummer, D. D., of Eichmond, Yirginia, in response (July, 1835) to a call for a meeting of the clergy to take action on the exciting topic, " Let the Abohtionists understand that they will be caught if they come among us, and they wUl take good care to stay away." * The calculation was a tolerably sound one; yet it did not save quite a number of persons — ^mainly of North ern birth — who were seized at vari ous points throughout the South on suspicion of being anti-Slavery, and very summarily put to death — some with, and some without, a mob trial. Had there been any proof against them, they would doubtless have been left to the operation of the laws for such cases made and provided; for these were certainly harsh enough to satisfy even Wise himself. At Charleston, S. C, July 29, 1835, it was noised about that the mails" just arrived from the North contained a quantity of Abolition periodicals and documents. A pub lic meeting was thereupon caUed, which the Eeverend Clergy of the ' At a public meeting convened in the chiirch in the town of CUnton, Mississippi, September 5, 1835, it was " Resolved, That it is our decided opinion, that any individual who dares to circulate, with a view to effectuate the designs of the Abohtion ists, any of the incendiary tracts or newspapers now in the course of transmission to this coflntry, is justly worthy, in the sight of God and man, of immediate death : and we doubt not that such would be"the punishment of any such offender, in any part of the State of Mississippi where he may be found." 8 "The cry of the whole South should be death —instant death — to the abolitionist, wherever he is caught." — Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle. " We can assure tlie Bostonians, one and all, who have embarked in the nefarious scheme of abolisliing Slavery at tlie South, that lashes wiU hereafter be spared the backs of their emissaries. Let them send out their men to Louisiana ; they wiU never return to tell their sufferings, but they shall expiate the crime of interfering with our domestic institutions, by being burned at the STAKE." — New Orleans True American. "Abolition editors in Slave States wiU not dare to avow their opinions. It would be in stant DEATH to them." — Missouri Argus. And Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, who once delivered a speech at Columbia in reference to a proposed raUroad, in which he despondingly drew a forcible contrast between the energy, en terprise, knowledge, and happiness of the North, and the inertia, indigence, and decay of the South, in the U. S. Senate afterward declared: "Let an aboUtionlst come within the borders of South Carolina, if we can catch we wiU try him, and, notwithstanding aU the interference of aU the governments of the earth, including the Federal Govemment, we wiU hang him." — See "N. Y. Journal of Commerce," June 6, 1838. ' Iu 1835, a suspicion was aroused in Madison County, Mississippi, that a conspiracy for a slave insurrection existed. Five negroes were first hung; then five white men. The pamphlet put forth by their mob-murderers shows that there was no real e-videnee against any of them — that their Uves were sacrificed to a cowardly panic, which would not be appeased without blood shed. The whites were hung at an hour's no tice, protesting their innocence to the last. And this is but one case out of many such. In a panic of this kind, every non-slaveholder who ever said a kind word or did a humane act for a negro is a doomed man. RIFLING THE MAILS 129 city attended in a body, "lending," says The Courier of next moming, "their sanction to the proceedings, and adding, by their presence, to the impressive character of the scene." This meeting unanimously resolved that all the mail matter in question should be burnt, and it was burnt accordingly — ^the mails being search ed and rifled for the purpose ; " al though," (says The Courier), " ar rangements had previously been made at the Post-office to arrest the. circulation of incendiary matter, untU instructions could be received from the Department at Washington;" and " it might have been better, per haps, to have awaited the answer be fore proceeding to extremities." But Mr. Amos Kendall, then Postmaster- General, was not the man to " hint a fault, or hesitate dishke," with regard to such mail robbery, though obliged to confess that it was not strictly ac cording to act of Congress. " I am satisfied," he replied to the Post master's application, "that the Postmaster- General has no legal authority to exclude newspapers from the mail, nor to prohibit their carriage or delivery on account of their character or tendency, real or supposed." " But I am not prepared to direct you to forward or deliver the papers of which you speak." " By no act or direction of mine, oflScial or private, could I be induced to aid, knowingly, in giving circulation to papers of this description, directly or indirectly. We owe an obligation to the laws, but a higher one to the communities in which we live ; and, if the former be permitted to de stroy the latter, it is patriotism to disregard them. Entertaining these views, I cannot sanction, and will not condemn, the step you have taken. Your justification must be looked for in the character of the papers detained, and the circumstances by which you are surrounded." • Governor Seward has been widely charged and credited with the author ship of the " higher law " doctrine ; tut here we find it clearly set forth 9 in a grave Democratic State paper, fifteen years before he uttered it And it is yet far older than this. General Jackson's recommendation of repression by law of the circula tion of "incendiary" matter through the mails, was referred by the Senate to a Select Committee, whereof John C. Calhoun was Chairman. The perilous scope of any such legislation was at once clear to the keen intel lect of that statesman, who had by this time learned to dread " Consoli dation" as intensely as he detested "Abolition." He reported (Febm ary 4, 1836), that the measure pro posed by the President would -violate the Constitution, and imperil pubhc liberty. " Nothing is more clear," says the Eeport, "than that the admission of the right of Congress to determine what papers are in cendiary, and, as such, to prohibit their cir culation through the mail, necessarily in volves the EIGHT to determine what are not incendiary, and enfoeoe their circulation. * * * If Congress may this year decide what incendiary publications aee, they may, next year, decide what they are not, and thus laden their mails with real or covert abolitionism. * * * jj belongs to the States, and not to Congress, to determine what is or is not calculated to disturb their security." He proposed, therefore, that each State should determine for itself what kind of reading it would deem "in cendiary," and that Congress should thereupon prohibit the transmission by mail of such matter to that State. He concluded with a bill, which con tained this provision : " Be it enacted, etc.. That it shall not be lawful for any deputy postmaster, in any State, Territory, or District, of the United States, knowingly, to deliver to any person whatsoever, any pamphlet, newspaper, hand bill, or other printed paper or pictorial rep resentation, touching the subject of Sla very, where, by the laws of the said State, Territory, or District, their circulation is 130 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. prohibited ; and any deputy postmaster who shall be guilty thereof, shall be forthwith removed from office." This biU was ordered to a third reading by 18 Yeas to 18 Nays — ^Mr. Yan Buren, then Yice-President, giv ing the casting vote in the affirma tive. It failed, however, to pass ; and that ended the matter. Elijah P. Lovejoy, son of Eev. Daniel Lovejoy, and the eldest of seven children, was born at Albion, Maine, November 9, 1802. His an cestors, partly English and partly Scotch, all of the industrious middle class, had been citizens of New Hamp shire and of Maine for several genera tions. He was distinguished, from early youth, alike for diligence in labor and for zeal and success in the acquisition of knowledge. He grad uated with high honors at Water- vUle College, Maine, in September, 1826. In May foUowing, he turned his face westward, and in the autumn of that year found employment as a teacher in St. Louis. In 1828, he became editor of a political journal, of the " National Eepublican" faith, and was thence actively engaged in politics of the Clay and Webster school, until January, 1832, when he was brought under deep religious impressions, and the next month united with the Presbyterian Church. Eelinquishing his political pursuits and prospects, he engaged in a course of study preparatory for the ministry, entering the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, on the 24th of March. He received, next Spring, a license to preach from. -the second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and spent the Summer as an evange list in Newport, E. I., and in New York. He left the last-named city in the autumn of that year, and re turned to St. Louis, at the urgent in vitation of a circle of feUow-Chris- tians, who desired him to establish and edit a religious newspaper in that city — furnishing a capital of twelve' hundred doUars for the purpose, and guaranteeing him, in -writing, the en tire control of the concern. The St. Louis Observer, weekly, was accord ingly first issued on the 22d of No vember. It was of the "Evangeli cal" or Orthodox Protestant school ; but had no controversy, save -with wickedness, and no purpose, but to quicken the zeal and enlarge the use fulness .of professing Christians, while adding, if possible, to their number. There is no e-vidence that it was com menced -with any intent to war on Slavery, or -with any expectation of exciting the special hostihty of any interest but that of Satan. Its first exhibition of a combative or belliger ent tendency had for its object the Eoman Cathohcs and their dogmas ; but this, though it naturally provok ed some resentment in a city so largely Catholic as St. Louis, excited no tumult or -violence. Its first arti cles concerning Slavery were exceed ingly moderate in their tone, and fa vorable rather to Colonization than to immediate Abohtion. Even wHim the editor first took decided ground against Slavery," he stiU affirmed his hostility to immediate, unconditional emancipation. This article was, in part, based on an editorial in The St. Louis Pepullican, of the preceding week, which — discussing a proposed Convention to re-vise the Constitution of that State — said : - "April 16, 1835. ATTEMPT TO GAG A RELIGIOUS JOURNAL. 131 " We look to the Convention as a happy means of relieving the State, at some future day, of an evil which is destroying all our wholesome energies, and leaving us, in morals, in enterprise, and in wealth, behind the neighboring States. We mean, of course, the curse of Slavery. We are not about to make any attack upon the rights of those who at present hold this description of property. They ought to be respected to the letter. We only propose that measures shall now be taken for the Abolition of Slavery, at such distant period of time as may be thought expedient, and eventually for ridding the country altogether of a color ed population." Mr. Lovejoy, commenting on the foregoing, wished that some Soijth- em-born man, of high character, de cided abihty, and fervent piety, would take up the subject of Slavery in a proper spirit, and, being fami har, experimentally, with all its e-vUs and its difficulties, would show the people, practicaUy, what they ought to do with regard to it. He con tinued : " To such a man, a golden opportunity of doing good is offered. We believe the minds of the good people of this State are fully prepared to listen to him — to give a dispas sionate consideration to the'facts and rea sonings he might present connected with the subject of Slavery. Public sentiment. amongst us, is already moving in this great matter— it now wants to be directed in some defined channel, to some definite end. " Taken all in all, there is not a State in this Union possessing superior natural ad vantages to our own. At present. Slavery, like an incubus, is paralyzing our energies, and, like a cloud of evil portent, darkening all our prospects. Let this be removed, and Missouri would at once start forward in the race of improvement, with an energy and rapidity of movement that would soon place her in the front rank, along with the most favored of her sister States." He continued to speak of Slavery at intervals, through that summer, lea-ving his post in October to attend a regular meeting of the Presbyterian Synod. Directly after his departure, an ex citement commenced with regard to his strictures on Slavery; and the proprietors of The Olserver, alarmed by threats of mob--violence, issued a card, promising that nothing should be said on the exciting subject until the editor's return ; and, this not proving satisfactory, they issued a fur ther card on the 21st, declaring them selves, " one and all," opposed to the mad schemes of the Abolitionists. Before this, a letter" had been -written " St. Louis, October 5, 1835. To the Rev. E. P. Lov^oy, Editor of The Observer : Sir: — The undersigned, friends and support ers of the "Observer," beg leave to suggest, that the present temper of the times requires a change in the manner of conducting that prmt in relation to the subject of domestic Slavery. The pubUc mind is greatly excited, and, owing to the unjustifiable interference of our Northern brethren with our social relations, the commu nity are, perhaps, not in a situation to endure sound doctrine in relation to this subject. In deed, we have reason to believe, that violence is even now meditated against the "Observer Office ;" and we do beUeve that true policy and the interests of religion require that the discus sion of this exciting question should be at least ' postponed in this State. Although we do not claim the right to pre scribe your course as an Editor, we hope that the concurring opinions of so many persons, having the interest of your paper and of reli gion both at heart, may induce you to distrust your own judgment, and so far change the char acter of the "Observer," as to pass over in sUence everything connected with the subject of Slavery. We would Uke that you announce m your p'aper, your intention so to do. "V^e shall be glad to be informed of your de termination in relation to this matter. Respectfully, your obedient servants, Archibald Gamble, G. W. Call, Nathan Ranney, H. R. Gamble, WiLLLiM S.» Potts, -Hezekiah Kins, Jno. Keee. I concur in the object intended by this com munication. B#VERLT Allen. I concur in the foregoing. J. B. Bryant. This document is indorsed as foUows : " I did not yield to the wishes here expressed, and-in consequence have been persecuted ever since. But I have kept a good conscience in the matter, and that more than repays me for all I have suffered, or can suffer. I have sworn eternal opposition to Slavery, and, by the bless ing of God I wiU never go back. Amen. "E. P.L. " October 24, 183t." 132 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. to the editor by nine eminent citizens of St. Louis (including H. E. Gam ble, her present provisional Gover nor), urging him " to pass over in silence everything connected with the subject of Slavery;" which, in due time, he respectfuUy declined. The immediate cause of the excite ment here alleged was the iUegal and -violent seizure, in Illinois, of two white men suspected of having de coyed slaves away from Saint Louis. The suspected persons, having been forcibly brought to St. Louis, and there tried and convicted by a mob, which voted, 40 to 20, to whip, rather than hang them, were accord ingly taken two miles back of the city, and there whipped between one and two hundred lashes — the sixty wealthy and respectable citizens tak ing turns in applying the lash. A public meeting was thereupon held, wherein it was gravely " 2. Resolved, That the right of free dis cussion and freedom of speech exists under the Constitution ; but that, being a conven tional reservation made by the people in their sovereign capacity, does not imply a moral right, on the part of the Abolitionists, to freely discuss the subject of Slavery, either orally or through the medium of the press. It is the agitation of a question too nearly allied to the -vital interests of the slaveholding States to admit of public dispu tation ; and so far from the fact, that the movements of the Abolitionists are constitu tional, they are in the greatest degree sedi tious, an'd calculated to excite insurrection and anarchy, and, ultimately, a dissever- ment of our prosperous Union. "3. Resolved fl\ia.t we consider the course pursued by the Abolitionists, as one calcu lated to paralyze every social tie by which we are now united to our fellow-man, and that, if persisted in, it must eventually be the cause of the disseverment of these United States ; and that the doctrine of amalgama tion is peculiarly baneful to the interests and happiness of society. The union of black and white, in a moral point of view, we consider as the most preposterous and impudent doctrine advanced by the infatua ted Abolitionists — as repugnant to judgment and science, as it is degrading to the feelings of all sensitive minds — as destructive to the intellect of after generations, as the advance of science and literature has contributed to the improvement of our own. In short, its practice would reduce the high intellectual standard of the American mind to a level with the Hottentot ; and the United States, now second to no nation on earth, would, in a few years, be what Europe was in the dark est ages. "4. Resolved, That the Sacred Writings - furnish abundant evidence of the existence of Slavery from the earliest periods. The patriarchs and prophets possessed slaves — our Saviour recognized the relation between master and slave, and deprecated it not: hence, we know that He did not condemn that relation ; on the contrary. His disci ples, in all countries, designated their re spective duties to each other. " Therefore, Resolved, That we comsider Slavery, as it now exists in the United States, as sanctioned by the sacred Scriptures." Mr. Lovejoy, on his. return to the city, put forth an addriess to "My Fellow-Citizens," wherein he said : " Of the first resolution passed at the meeting of the 24th October, I have nothing to say, except that I perfectly agree with the sentiment, that the citizens of the non- slaveholding States have no right to inter fere with the domestic relations between master and slave. " The second resolution, strictly speaking, neither aflBrms nor denies anything in refer ence to the matter in hand. No man has a moral right to do anything improper. Whe ther, therefore, he has the moral right to discuss the question of Slavery, is a point with which human legislation or resolutions have nothing to do. The true issue to be decided is, whether he has the civil, the political right, to discuss it, or not. And this is a mere question of fact. In Eussia, in Turkey, in Austria, nay, even in France, this right most certainly does not exist. But does it exist in Missouri? We decide this question by turning to the Constitution of the State. The sixteenth section, article thirteenth, of the Constitution of Missouri, reads as follows : " ' That the free communication of thougbtB ' and opinions is one of the invaluable rights ' of man, and that every person may freely 'speak, write, and print on ant subject, ' being responsible for the abuse of that liber- 'ty.' " Here, then, I find my warrant for using, as Paul did, all freedom of speech. If I abuse that right, I freely acknowledge my- MR. LOVEJOY IN ST. LOUIS. 133 self amenable to the laws. But it is said that the right to hold slaves is a constitu tional one, and therefore not to be called in question. I admit the premise, but deny tiie conclusion." Mr. Lovejoy proceeded to set forth that Eobert Dale Owen and Frances Wright had recently landed on our shores from Great Britain, and had traversed our country, publicly prop agating doctrines respecting Divorce which were generally regarded as utterly destructive to the institution of Marriage, yet they were nowhere mobbed nor assaulted for so doing. " And yet, most surely, the institutions " of Slavery are not more interwoven "with the structure of our society " than those of Marriage." He con tinued : " See the danger, and the natural and in evitable result, to which the first step here will lead. To-day, a public meeting declares that you shall not discuss the subject of Slavery in any of its bearings, civil or re ligions. Eight or wrong, the press must be silent. To-morrow, another meeting de cides that it is against the peace of society that the principles of Popery shall be dis cussed, and the edict goes forth to muzzle the press. The next day it is, in a similar manner, declared that not a word must be said against distilleries, dram-shops, or drunkenness : and so on to the end of the chapter. The truth is, my fellow-citizens, if you give ground a single inch, there is no stopping-place. I deem it, therefore, my duty to take my stand upon the Constitu tion. Here is firm ground — I feel it to be such. And I do, most respectfully, yet de cidedly, declare to you my fixed determina tion to maintain this ground. We have slaves, it is true; but /am not one. I am a citizen of these United States, a citizen of Missoiu-i, free-born ; and, having never for feited the inestimable privileges attached to such a condition, I cannot consent to sur render them. But, while I maintain them, I hope to do it with aU that meekness and humility that become a Christian, and espe cially a Christian minister. I am ready, not to fight, but to suffer, and, if need be, to die for^them. Kindred blood to that which flows in my veins flowed freely to water the tree of Christian liberty, planted by the Puritans on the rugged soil of New Eng land. It flowed as freely on the plains of Lexington, the hights of Bunker Hill, and the fields of Saratoga. And freely, too, shall mine flow — yea, as fi-eely as if it were so much water — ere I surrender my right to plead the cause of truth and righteousness, before my fellow-citizens, and in the face of all their opposers." He continued in this strain to re- ¦view and refute all the positions and doctrines of these resolutions, and, toward the close of his appeal, said : " If in anything I have offended against the laws of my country, or its Constitution, I stand ready to answer. If I have not, then I call upon those laws and that Consti tution, and those who revere them, to pro tect me. " I do, therefore, as an American citizen, and Christian patriot, and in the name of Liberty, and Law, and Eeligion, solemnly PROTEST against all these attempts, howso ever or by whomsoever made, to frown down the liberty of the press, and forbid the free expression of opinion. Under a deep sense of my obligations to my country, the Church, and my God, I declare it to be my fixed purpose to submit to no such dic tation. And I am prepared to abide the con sequences. I have appealed to the Constitu tion and laws of my country ; if they fail to protect me, I appeal to God, and with Him I cheerfally rest my cause." The Olserver failed for one week to appear, but was issued regularly thereafter. On the request of its proprietors, Mr. Lovejoy gave up the establishment to them, intending to leave St. Louis ; but they handed it over ih payment of a debt of five hundred dollars, and the new owner immediately presented it to Mr. Lovejoy, telling him to go on with the paper as before. He had gone to Alton, Illinois, expecting to re move it to that city; but, while there, a letter reached him from St. Louis, urging him to return and re main, which he did. On the 28th of April, 1836, a quarrel occurred between two sailors, or boatmen, at the steamboat landing 134 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. in St. Louis. When the civU offi cers attempted to arrest them for a breach of the peace, a mulatto named Francis J. Mcintosh interfer ed, and enabled the boatmen to es cape, for which he was very properly arrested, carried before a justice of the peace, and committed to jail. On his way thither, being informed that his punishment would be not less than five years in the State Prison, he immediately broke loose from the officers, drew a knife, and stabbed one of them fataUy, severely wounding the other. He was in stantly secured and lodged in jail. A mob thereupon coUected, broke open the jaU, tore him from his cell, carried him out of to-wn, and chained him to a tree, around which they piled rails, plank, shavings, etc., to the hight of his knees, and then ap plied fire. He was burning in fear ful agony about twenty minutes be fore life became extinct. When the fire had .nearly died out, a rabble of boys amused themselves by thro-wing stones at the black and disfigured corpse, each endeavoring to be first in breaking the skull. This horrible affair came in due course before the grand jury'of St. Louis for investigation, and a Judge, who bore the apposite name of Law less, was required to charge said jury with regard to it. Here is a speci men of his charge : " If, on the other hand, the destruction of the murderer of Hammond was the act, as I have said, of the many — of .the multi tude, in the ordinary sense of these words — not the act of numerable and ascertainable malefactors, but of congregated thousands, seized upon and impelled by that mysterious, metaphysical, and alraost electric frenzy,- which, in all ages and nations, has hurried on the infuriated multitude to deeds of death and destruction — then, I say, act not at all in the matter ; the case then transcends " your jurisdiction — it is beyond the reach of human law" !1 ! On this charge, Mr. Lovejoy com mented with entire unreserve; whereupon a mob surrounded and tore do-wn his office — although, in the issue which contained his stric tures, he had announced his decision - to remove the paper to Alton, be- heving that it would be there more useful and better supported than at St. Louis. His first issue at Alton is dated September Sth. Meantime, his press was taken from St. Louis, by steamboat, to Alton, and landed on the bank about daylight on Sunday morning. It lay there in safety through the Sab bath ; but, before the next morning, it had been destroyed by some five or six individuals. On Monday, a meeting of citizens was held, and a pledge voluntarUy given to make good to Mr. Lovejoy his loss. The meeting passed some resolutions con demnatory of Abolitionism, and Mr. Lovejoy assured them that he had not come to Alton to estabhsh an abohtion, but a rehgious, journal; that he was not an Abolitionist, as they understood the term, but was an uncompromising enemy of Slave ry, and so expected to hve and die. He started for Cincinnati to pro cure new printing materials, was taken sick on the way, and, upon reaching LouisviUe, on his return, was impelled by increasing iUness to stop. He remained there sick, in the house of a friend, for a week, and was still quite iU after his return. The Observer was issued regularly 1! " Higher law" again — fourteen years ahead of Gov. Seward. LOVEJOY REFUSES TO BE MUZZLED. 135 at Alton untU the 17th of August, 1837 — discussing Slavery among other topics, but occasionally, and in a spirit of decided moderation. But no moderation could satisfy those who had determined that the subject should not be discussed at all. On the 11th of July, an anonymous hand bill appeared, calUng a meeting at the market-place for the next Thurs day, at which time a large concourse assembled. Dr. J. A. Halderman" presided, and Mr. J. P. Jordon was Secretary. This meeting passed the foUowing resolves : "1. Resohed, That the Eev. E. P. Love joy has again taken up and advocated the principles of Abolitionism through his paper, the ' Observer,' contrary to the dis position and will of a majority of the citizens of Alton, and in direct violation of a sacred .pledge and assurance that this paper, when established in Alton, should not be devoted to Abolitionism. " 2. Resolved, That we disapprove of the course of the ' Observer,' in publishing any articles favorable to Abolitionism, and that we censure Mr. Lovejoy for permitting such publications to appear in his paper, when a pledge or assurance has been given to this community, by him, that such doctrines should not be advocated. " 3. Resolved, That a committee of flve citizens be appointed by this meeting to ' wait upon and confer with Mr. Lovejoy, and ascertain from him whether he intends, in fature, to disseminate, through the columns of' the 'Observer,' the doctrines of Aboli tionism, and report the result of their con ference to the public." The only point requiring comment in these resolves is the aUegation that Mr. Lovejoy had pledged himself not to discuss the subject of Slavery or its Abohtion. This point was an swered by ten respectable citizens of Alton, who united in the foUowing statement : "Whereas it has been frequently repre sented that the Eev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, late Editor of the 'Alton Observer,' solemnly pledged himself at a public meeting, called for the purpose of taking measures to bring to justice the persons engaged in the de struction of the first press brought to Alton by said Lovejoy, not to discuss the subject of Slavery ; we, the undersigned, declare the following to he his language, in sub stance : ' My principal object in coming to this place is to establish a religious paper. When I was in St. Louis, I felt myself called upon to treat at large upon the subject of slavery, as I was in a State where the evil existed, and as a citizen of that State I felt it my duty to devote a part of my columns to that subject; but, gentlemen, I am not, and never was, in fall fellowship with the Abolitionists; but, on the contrary, have had some spirited discussions with some of the leading Abolitionists of the East, and am not now considered by thera as one of them. And now, having come into a Free State, where the evil does not exist, I feel myself less called upon to dis cuss the subject than when I was in St. Louis.' The above, as we have stated, was his language in substance.- The following, we are willing to testify, to be his words in conclusion : " 'But, gentlemen, so long as I am an American citizen, so long as American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold my self at liberty to speak, to write, and to publish, whatever I please on any subject, being amenable to the laws of my country for the same.' " On the 24th, a Committee from the meeting aforesaid presented its resolves to Mr. Lovejoy, asking a response thereto. That response was given on the 26th, and its ma terial portion is as follows : "You will, therefore, permit me to say that, with the most. respectful feelings to ward you individually, I cannot consent, in this answer, to recognize you as the official organ of a public meeting, convened to dis cuss the question, whether certain senti ments should, or should not, be discussed in the public newspaper, of which I am the Editor. By doing so, I should virtually ad mit that the liberty of the press, and the free dom of speech, were rightfully subject to other supervision and control than those of the law. But this I cannot admit. On the contrary, in the language of one of the speakers at the meeting, I believe that ' the valor of our forefathers has won for ns the liberty of speech,' and that it is ' our duty 13 This name reappears in the "Border Ruffian" trials of Kansas, 1856-8. 136 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. and our high privilege to act and speak on all questions touching this great common wealth.' I am happy, gentlemen, in being able to concur in the above sentiments, which, I perceive, were uttered by one of your own members, and in which, I cannot doubt, you all agree. I would only add, that I consider this' ' liberty' was ascertain ed, but never originated, by our forefathers. It comes to us, as I conceive, from our Maker, and is, in its nature, inalienable, be longing to man as man. "Believing, therefore, that everything having a tendency to bring this right into jeopardy is eminently dangerous as a prece dent, I cannot admit that it can be called into question by any man, or body of men, or that they can, with any propriety, ques tion me as to my exercise of it." These proceedings attracted atten tion from abroad, especiaUy in St. Louis, to whose pro-Slavery pohti cians the publication of The Observer, though not in their city or State, was still an eyesore. On: the 17th of August, The Missouri Republican, in an article entitled "Abohtion," said: " We perceive that an Anti-Slavery Soci ety has been formed at Upper Alton, and many others, doubtless, will shortly spring up in different parts of the State. We had hoped that our neighbors would have ejected from amongst them that minister of mischief, the 'Observer,' or at least correct ed its course. Something must be done in this matter, and that speedily! The good people of Illinois must either put a stop to the efforts of these fanatics, or expel them from their community. If this is not done, the travel of emigrants through their State, and the trade of the slaveliolding States, and particularly Missouri, must stop. Every one who desires the harmony of the country, and the peace and prosperity of all, should unite to put them down. They can do no positive good, and may do much irreparable harm. We would not desire to see this done at the expense of public order or legal restraint; but there is a moral indignation, which the -virtuous portion of a community may exert, which is sufiicient to crush this faction and forever disgrace its fanatic instigators. It is to this we appeal, and hope that the appeal will not be unheeded." These recommendations and incite ments were not unfruitful. Four days thereafter — ^two unsuccessful attempts ha-ving already been made — ^the office of The Observer was entered between the hours of ten and eleven, p. m., by a band of fifteen or twenty per sons, and the press, type, etc., utterly destroyed. The mob commenced, as usual, by throwing stones at the build ing, whereby one man was hit on the head and severely wounded ; where upon the office was deserted, and the destroyers finished their work with out opposition, while a large con course were " looking on and consent ing." The authorities did nothing most rigorously. Mr. Lovejoy was absent at the time, but was met iu the street by the mob, who stopped him, threatened him, and assailed him with vile language, but did him no serious harm. In The Observer of the preceding day, he had made an exphcit and effective response to the question — "What are the doc trines of Anti-Slavery men ?" where in he had succeeded in being at once moderate and forcible — affinUr ing most exphcitly the flagrant -wrong of slaveholding, with the right and policy of immediate emancipation, but explaining that such an emanci pation was to be effected "by the masters themselves, and no others," who were to be persuaded to it, ex actly as a distiller is to be dissuaded from making intoxicating liquors, or a tippler from drinking them. But, though his doctrines were peaceful and his language mild and depreca tory, he doubtless irritated and an noyed his adversaries by pointing to the fact — in refuting their slang about amalgamation— that the then "Vice- ' Col. Richard M. Johnson. MR. LOVEJOT MOBBED AT ST. CHARLES. 137 President of the United States " has been, if he is not now, the father of slaves. And thousands have voted to elevate him to his present condi tion, who would crucify an Aboli tionist on the bare suspicion of favoring, though only in theory, such an amalgamation. How shall we account for such inconsistency?" On the 24th of August, he issued an appeal to the friends of law and order for aid in reestabhshing The Obseiv- er ; and this appeal was promptly and generously responded to. Hav ing obtained a sufficient amount in Alton and Quincy alone, he sent to Cincinnati to purchase new printing materials. Meantime, he issued an address, submitting " To the Friends of the Eedeemer in Alton" his resig nation of the editorship of the paper, offering to hand over to them the subscription-hst, now exceeding two thousand names, on condition that they pay the debts of the concern, receive aU dues and assets, and fur nish him sufficient means to remove himself and family to another field of labor. A meeting was accordingly held, which resolved that The Ob server ought to be continued, while the question of retaining Mr. Lovejoy as its editor was discussed through two or three evenings, but left unde cided. Meantime, while he was ab sent, attending a meeting of the Presbytery, his new press — the third which he had brought to Alton -within a little more than a year — arrived on the 21st of September, was landed about sunset, and immediately con veyed by his friends to the warehouse of Geary & "WeUer. As it passed along the streets — "There goes the Abolition press ! stop it ! stop it I" was cried, but no -violence was at tempted. The Mayor, apprised of its arrival and also of its peril, gave assurance that it should be protected, and asked its friends to leave the matter entirely in his hands, which they did. A constable was posted by the Mayor at the door of the ware house, with orders to remain until a certain hour. He left at that hour; and immediately ten or twenty ruf fians, with handkerchiefs tied over their faces, broke open the store, roUed the press across the street to the river-bank, broke it into pieces, and threw it in. Before they had finished the job, the Mayor was on hand, and ordered them to disperse. They replied, that they would, so soon as they got through, and were as good as their word. . The Mayor declared that he had never witnessed a more quiet and gentlemanly mob ! Mr. Lovejoy preached at St, Charles, Missouri, the home of his ¦wife's relatives, a few days after — October 1st — and was mobbed at the house of his mother-in-law, directly after his return from evening church. The mob attempted, with oaths and bldws, to drag him from -the house, bnt were defeated, mainly through the courageous efforts of his -wife and one or two friends. Three times the house was broken into and a rush made up stairs ; and, finally, Mr. L. was induced, through the entreaties of liis wife, to leave it clandestinely and take refuge with a friend, a mile distant, whence he and his wife made their way back to Alton next day. Neariy the first person they met there was one of those who had first broken into the house at St. Charles; and the hunted clergyman had the cold comfort of hearing, from many of his religious brethren, that he had no 138 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. one to thank but himself for his per secutions, and that, if The Observer were reestablished, they would do nothing to protect it. During the following month, Mr. Lovejoy at tended the meeting of the IPresby- terian Synod of Ilhnois, at Spring field, as also meetings of an anti- Slavery Convention in Upper Alton, and one or two meetings held at the Court House in Alton, to discuss and detei-mine the propriety of aUowing him to continue the pubhcation of The Observer. At the last of these meetings (ISTovember 3d), ha-ving ob tained the floor, he said : "Mr. Chairman: It is not true, as has been charged upon me, that I hold in con tempt the feelings and sentiments of this community, in reference to the question which is now agitating it. I respect and appreciate the feelings of my fellow-tsitizens ; and it is one of the most painful and un pleasant duties of my life, that I am called upon to act in opposition to them. If you suppose. Sir, that I have published senti ments contrary to those generally held in this community, because I delighted in dif fering from them, you have entirely misap prehended me. I3ut, Sir, while I value the good opinion of my fellow-citizens as highly as any one, I may be permitted to say that I am governed by higher considerations than either the favor or the fear of man. I am impelled to the course I have taken, because I fear God. As I shall answer it to my God in the great day, I dare not abandon my sen timents, nor cease in all proper ways to prop agate them. " I, Mr. Chairman, have not desired nor asked any compromise. I have asked for nothing but to be protected in my rights as a citizen— rights which God has given me, and which are guaranteed to me by the Con stitution of my country. Have I, Sir, been guilty of any infraction of the laws ? Whose good name have I injured ? When and where have I published anything injurious fo the reputation of Alton? Have I not, on the other hand, labored, in common with the rest of my fellow-citizens, to promote the reputa tion and interests of this city ? What, Sir, I ask, has been my offense ? Put your finger up on it — define it— and I stand ready to answer for it. If I have committed any crime, you can easily convict me. You have public sen timent in your favor., You have your juries, and you have your attorney (looking at the Attorney-General), and I have no doubt you can convict me. But if I have been guilty of no violation of law, why am I hunted up and down continually like a partridge upon the mountains ? Why am I threatened with the tar-barrel? Why am I waylaid every day, and from night to night? and why is my life in jeopardy every hour? " You have, Sir, made up, as the lawyers say, a false issue ; there are not two parties between whom there can be a compromise. I plant myself. Sir, down on my unquestion able rights ; and the question to be decided is, whether I shall be protected in the exer cise and enjoyment of those rights — that is the question. Sir ; — whether my property shall be protected — whether I shall be suf fered to go home to rny family at night with out being assailed, and threatened with tar and feathers, and assassination ; whether my afflicted wife, whose life has been in jeopai-dy from continued alarm and excitement, shall night after night be driven from a sick-bed into the garret to save her life from the'brick- bats and -violence of the mob; that. Sir, is the question." Here, much affected and overcome by his feelings, he burst into tears. Many, not excepting even his enemies, wept — several sobbed aloud, and the sympathies of the whole meeting were deeply excited. He continued : " Forgive me. Sir, that I have thus betrayed my weakness. It was the allu sion to my family that overcame my feelings. Not, Sir, I assure you, from any fears on my part. I have no personal fears. Not that I feel able to contest the matter with the whole community; I know perfectly well that I am not. I kno-w. Sir, that you can tar and feather me, hang me up, or put me into the Mississippi, without the least difiiculty. But what then ? Where shall I go ? I have been made to feel that, if I am not safe at Al ton, I shall not be safe anywhere. I recently visited St. Charles to bring home my family, and was torn from their frantic embrace by a mob. I have been beset night and day at Al ton. And now, if I leave here and go else where, violence may overtake rae in my re treat, and I have no more claim upon the pro tection of another community than I have up on this ; and I have concluded, after consulta tion with my friends, and earnestly seeking counsel of God, to remain at Alton, and here to insist on protection in the exercise of my rights. If the civil authorities refuse to protect me, I must look to God ; and, if I die, I have determined to make my grave in Alton." It was known in Alton that a new press was now on the way to Mr. Lovejoy, and might arrive at any time. Great excitement pervaded ATTACK ON LOVEJOY'S LAST PRESS. 139 the community. Friends were on the alert to protect it on its arrival, and enemies to insure its destruction. It finally reached St. Louis on the night of the Sth, and an arrangement was made to have it landed at Alton at tliree o'clock on the moming of the 7th. Meantime, Mr. Lovejoy and a friend went to the Mayor and notified him of its expectfed arrival, and of the threats that it should be destroyed, requesting the appoint ment of special constables to protect it. A meeting of the City Council was held, and some discussion had ; but the subject was laid on the table and nothing done. On that evening (November 6), between forty and fifty citizens met in the warehouse of Godfrey, Gilman & Co., where the press. was to be stored, to organize a volunteer com pany to aid in the defense of law and order. At ten o'clock, several left; but about thirty remained in the building, -with one city constable to command them. They were armed. Mr. Lovejoy was not among them. His dwelhng had been attacked but a few nights before, when he and a sister narrowly escaped a brick-bat, thrown with sufficient force to have done mortal injury. Expecting, an assault, his -wife in very dehcate health, and in a state of nervous alarm from her recent experience at St. Charles, Mr. Lovejc^ had ar ranged -with a brother that they should watch alternate nights at home and at the store. At three in the morning, a steamboat brought the expected press. A sentinel of the mob was watching for it, and immediately gave the alarm, when horns were blo-wn throughout the city. The Mayor had already been caUed, and was in the building. He requested those who guarded there, to remain and keep quiet till he called for them, saying that he would attend to the storing of the press, which he did. A few stones were thrown, but no serious damage effected, and the press was safely de posited in the garret of a strong stone warehouse, where it was thought to be safe. Throughout the foUowing day, general quiet prevailed, though it was well known that " the Abolition press" had been received, and was stored in Godfrey & Gilman's ware house. The Mayor made inquiries at several points, and was satisfied. that no further -violence was intend ed. At evening, the volunteer de fenders of Mr. Lovejoy's rights drop ped in at the warehouse, and remain ed untU nine o'clock; when, there being no signs of trouble, all but twelve went away. Mr. Lovejoy re mained, with one or two others who were called Abolitionists. The resi due were simply citizens, opposed to burglary and robbery, and wilhng to risk their lives in defense of the rights of property and the freedom of the press. About ten o'clock, some thirty per sons, as if by preconcert, suddenly emerged from a neighboring grog shop — a few of them with arms, but the majority -with only stones in their hands — formed a hne at the south end of the store, next the river, knocked and haUed. Mr. Gilman, from the garret door, asked what they wanted. Their leader rephed : "The press." Mr. Gilman assured them that it would not be given up ; adding, " "We have no iU feelings to ward any of you, and should much 140 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. regret to do you any injury ; but we are authorized by the Mayor to de fend our property, and shaU do so with our lives." The leader rephed that they were resolved to have the press at any sacrifice, and presented a pistol, whereupon Mr. G. retired into the building. The mob then passed around to the opposite end of the warehouse, and commenced throwing stones, which soon demol ished several of the -windows. No resistance was offered ; the inmates having agreed not to fire unless their hves were in danger. The ware house being of stone, and solidly built, no further impression was made on it by this assault. Finding their missiles ineffectual, the mob fired two or three guns into the building, by which no one was hit. The fire was then returned, and sev eral of the rioters wounded, one of them mortaUy. Hereupon, the mob recoUed, carrying off their wounded. But they soon returned with ladders, and other preparations for firing the roof of the warehouse, cursing and shouting, " Bum them out ! burn them out !" They kept carefully on the side of the building where there were no windows, so that they could not be injured or repeUed by its de fenders. The Mayor and a justice were now deputed by the mob to bear a message to the inmates of the buUding, proposing that, on condition the press were given up, no one should be further molested, and no more property destroj-ed. The pro position was quietly declined. Mr. Gihnan, in turn, requested the Mayor to call on certain citizens to save his store from the threatened destruction by fire. The Mayor rephed that the mob was so strong and so determined that he could do nothing — that he had already tried to command and persuade them to desist, but without success. He was asked if those in the building should defend theh- pro perty with ai-ms; to which he re phed, as he had repeatedly done be fore, that they had a perfect right to do so, and that the law justified them in that course. He then left the building, and reported the result of his mission, which was received -with yeUs of " Fh-e the buUding !" " Fu-e the building!" "Bum 'em out!" "Bum 'em out!" "Shoot every d d Abohtionist as he leaves!" It was now near midnight, and the beUs had been rung, coUecting a large concourse, who stood passive spectators of what foUowed. The mob now raised their ladders against the building, mounted to the roof, and kindled a fire there, which burned rather slowly. Five of the defenders hereupon volunteered to sally out and drive them away. They left by the south door, passed around the corner to the east side of the building, and fired upon the man who guarded the foot of the ladder, drove him off, and dispersed his im mediate comrades, retuming to the store to reload. Mr. Lovejoy and two others stepped again to the door, and stood looking around just with out the building — Mr. L. in advance of the others. Several of the rioters were concealed fi-om their view be hind a pile of lumber a few rods in their front. One of these had a two- baiTeled gun, which he fired. Mr. Lovejoy received five balls, three of them in his breast, probably each mortal. He turned quickly, ran into the store, and up a flight of stairs into the counting-room, where LOVEJOY'S MURDERERS ACQUITTED. 141 he feU, exclaiming, " Oh God, I am shot ! I am shot !" and almost in stantly expired. One of his friends received at the same time a ball in his leg, of which he recovered. Those remaining alive in the building now held a consultation, and concluded to surrender. One of their number went up to the scuttle and apprised the mob that Mr. Lovejoy was dead, and that the press would now be given up. A yeU of exultation was sent up by the rioters, and the pro posed surrender dechned. Another of the inmates now resolved to go out and make some terms, if possi ble ; but he had hardly opened the door when he was fired upon and severely wounded. A citizen now came to the door at the opposite end, and begged those within to leave the buUding, as it was on fire, and their remaining would be utterly useless. All but two or three hereupon laid do-wn their arms, left the building, and fled, being fired upon by the mob as they escaped. The rioters then rushed into the building, threw the press out of the window, broke it up, and pitched the pieces into the river. They destroyed no other pro perty, save a few guns. One of them — a doctor — offered to extract the ball from the wounded man's leg ; but he dechned their assistance. At two o'clock, they had dispersed, and aU was again quiet. Mr. Lovejoy's remains were home away next moming to his dweUing, amid the jeers and scoffs of his mur derers. He was buried the day foh lo-wing — Thursday, November 9 — the day which, had he been living, would have completed his thirty- fifth year. His wife, who, on ac count of the critical state of her health, had been sent away from Alton, was unable to attend his fu neral. Of their two children, one was bom after his death. The defenders of the warehouse, as well as the recognized leaders of their assailants, were respectively in dicted for riot, and tried, or rather, Mr. Gilman alone of the defenders was tried; and upon his acquittal the City Attorney entered a nolle prosequi as to the other defendants. The leading rioters were next placed on trial, and were likewise acquitted. The testimony of the Mayor, John M. Krum, was much relied on by the -defenders of the press, who ex pected to prove by it that they acted throughout under his authority, as ministers of the law and official guardians of the rights of property. His evidence, however, did not sus tain this assumption. The Mayor fully admitted that he had repeated ly and freely consulted with them as to their course in the premises, and had advised them that they would be entirely justified in defending their rights by arms, if necessary. But, he said, he had given this advice as a lawyer, a neighbor, and citizen ; not as Mayor. The details of this tragedy are im portant, as they serve to silence two ca-vUs, which have been most famil iar in the mouths of the champions of Slavery. " If you want to oppose Slavery, why do n't you go where it is ? " has been triumphantly asked many thousands of times. Mr. Love joy did exactly this — as Lundy, and Garrison, and many others had done before him — and only left a Slave for a Free State when such removal was 142 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. imperatively demanded. ""Why do n't you keep clear of the fanatical Abolitionists, and discuss the ques tion in moderation and good tem per ?" Mr. Lovejoy did exactly this, also. He was not the advocate of Garrisonism ; on the contrary, he con demned it. He was not the cham pion of any pohtical party, nor of any pecuhar hne of anti-Slavery action. He did not pubhsh an Abohtion journal. His was simply and purely a rehgious newspaper, in which Slavery was from time to time dis cussed, and its evUs exposed, like those of intemperance, or any other immorality. But this he was not permitted to do, whether in a Slave or in a Free State. He was pro scribed, hunted, persecuted, assaulted, plundered, and finally kiUed— not because he persisted in opposing Slavery in the -wrong place, or in a peculiarly objectionable manner, but because he would not desist from op posing it at aU." The District of Columbia was orig inally composed of a hundred square mUes of territory, lying on both sides of the river Potomac, at the head of na-Tigation on that stream. The forty square miles south of that river, form ing the county and including the city of Alexandria, were ceded to the Un ion in 1789 by Virginia, and retroced- ed to that State in 1846 — ^the move ment for retrocession having, doubt less, some covert reference to the proijabUity or prospect of disunion. The sixty square miles lying north of the Potomac — forming the county of "Washington, and including the cities of "Washington and Georgetown — were ceded by Maryland in, 1788, and now compose the entire District ; so that "Washington is commanded, -within easy shelling distance, by hights which, in case the separation of Yirginia from the Union were con ceded, would be part and parcel of a foreign country. The Federal Constitution (Art. I., Section 8) provides that, " The Con gress shaU have power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases what soever, over such District (not ex ceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Govemment of the United States." The cession by Maryland was without qualification. But Con gress proceeded, soon after, to pass an act, apparently without much con sideration or forecast, whereby the then existing laws of Maryland and Yirginia were to continue in full force and effect over thpse portions of the Federal District ceded by them respectively, untU Congress should otherwise enact ; and, as those States were undoubtedly Slave States, then- slave laws continued operative here in, with httle or no modification or Improvement, down to the passage of the Compromise measures of 1850. Yery naturally, the creation out of nothing of such a city as "Wash ington, vnth its adoption as the capi tal of the Eepublic, combined with Its favorable location, served to ren der it an extensive mart for the pros ecution of the domestic Slave- Trade. "Wendell Phillips, then a young Whig lawyer, first conspicuously identified himself with the anti-Slavery movement, at a meeting held iu Boston (December 8, 1831), at the old Court House — FaneuU Hall having been asked for, aud refused, to a petition headed by Rev. William E. Channing — ^to consider the circum stances attending the death of Mr. Lovejoy. SLAVERY IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT. 143 Some of the largest purchasers in Maryland and Yirginia for the cotton and sugar region located themselves at this point, fitted up their slave- pens, and advertised in the leading journals of the Capital their readi ness to buy and sell young and hkely negroes. Yessels were regularly dis patched from Alexandria to New Or leans, laden -with their human mer chandise. So that. In the absence of manufactures, and of any but a petty retail trade, slaves were long a chief staple of the commerce, and certainly the leading export, of the American metropohs. Under the slave laws, so hastily bolted by Congress, every negro or mulatto was presumptively a slave ; and, if unable to indicate his master, or to establish specially his right to freedom, was liable to be arrested and imprisoned, advertised, and sold, in default of a claimant, to pay the costs of this worse than Algerine proce dure; and, as "Washington steadily increased in population and import ance, the number of colored persons drifting thither from all quarters in creased with it, until the business of arresting, detaining, advertising, and selhng unowned negroes became a most lucrative perquisite of the Fed eral Marshal for the District,' yield-' ing him a net profit of many thou sands of dollars per annum. The ad vertisements in The National Intel ligencer, United States Telegraph, Globe, Union, etc., of negroes whom he had caught and caged, and, in de fault of an o-wner, was about to sell, were widely copied in both hemi spheres, provoking comments by no means flattering to our country nor its institutions. The plumage of the American eagle was often ruffled by criticisms and comparisons between these legal proceedings, under the shadow of our Capitol, and the harsher dealings of savages and heathen with strangers so luckless as to fall into their hands ; and the point of these in-vidious comparisons was barbed by their undeniable justice. Petitions for the Abolition of Sla very in the Federal District, or, at least, of the Slave-Trade so flourish ing therein, had been from time im memorial presented to Congress, and treated with no more disrespect or disregard than petitions to legislative bodies usually encounter. One of these, presented In 1828, was signed by United States District Judge Cranch, and about one thousand more of the most respectable citizens of the District; but, while it was treated decorously, no decisive step was taken toward compliance with its prayer. As the distinctive Abo lition movement gained strength in the North, and the excitement caused thereby rose higher in the South — especially after the Message of Gen. Jackson, already quoted, urging that anti-Slavery agitation be made a pe nal offense — a more decisive hostility was resolved on by the champions of Slavery, under the lead of Mr. Calhoun. On the presentation, by Mr. Fair field, of Maine (December 16, 1835), of the petition of one hundred and seventy-two women, praying the Ab olition of the Slave-Trade In the District, it was decisively laid on the table of the House ; Yeas 180, Nays 31 — the Nays all from the North, and mainly "Whigs. On the 18th, Mr Jackson, of Mas sachusetts, offered a similar petition from the citizens of the town of 144 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. "Wrentham; and Mr. Hammond of South Carolina, moved that it be not received; which "was met by a mo tion to lay on the table. This was rejected — Yeas 95, Nays 121. But, finally, a proposition that the peti tion and all motions regarding it be laid on the table was carried---Teas 140; Nays 76. Mr. Buchanan" presented a memo rial of the Cain (Pennsylvania) quar terly meeting of Friends, asking for the same in substance as the above. Though opposed to granting the prayer of the petition, he preferred its reference to a Select Committee or that on the District. But, finding that there were Insurmountable, ob stacles to such a reference, he would move that the memorial be read, and that the prayer of the memorialists be rejected. The question being de manded on Mr. Buchanan's motion, it was carried by the decisive vote of 34 to 6. Mr. Morris, of Ohio, soon after presented similar memorials from his State ; whereupon Mr. Calhoun raised the question of reception, declaring "that the petitions just read con tained a gross, false, and malicious slander on eleven States represented on this floor." " That Congress had no jurisdiction over the subject, no more in this District • than in the State of South Carolina." After a long and spirited debate, mainly by Southern senators, Mr. Calhoun's mo tion to reject was defeated by a vote to receive the petition — Yeas 35, Nays 10, as follows : " Teas : Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchan an, Olay, Clayton, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Grundy, Hendricks, HiU, Hubbard, Kent, " January 11, 1836. King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Knight, Linn, McKean, Morris, Naudain, NUes, Pren tiss, Robbins, Eobinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tipton, Tomlin son, Wall, Webster, Wright. Nays : Messrs. Black, Calhoun, Cuthbert, Leigh, Moore, Nicholas, Porter, Preston, Walker, White." In the House," Mr. Henry L. Pinckney, of South Carolina, sub mitted the foUo-wing resolve : " Resolved, That all the memorials which have been offered, or may hereafter be pre sented to this House, praying for the aboli tion of Slavery in the District of Columbia, and also the resolutions offered by an honor able member from Maine (Mr. Jarvis), with the amendment thereto, proposed by an hon orable member from Virginia (Mr. Wise), and every other paper or proposition that may be submitted in relation to that subject, be referred to a Select Committee, with in structions to report that Congress has no constitutional authority to interfere in any way with the institution of Slavery in any of the States of this confederacy ; and that, in the opinion of this House, Congress ought not to interfere in any way with Slavery in the District of Columbia, because it would be a violation of the public faith, unwise, im politic, and dangerous to the Union ; as signing such reasons for these conclusions as, in the judgment of the Committee, may be best calculated to enlighten the public mind, to repress agitation, to allay excite ment, to sustain and preserve the just rights of the slave-holding States, and of the peo ple of this District, and to reestablish har mony and tranquillity amongst the various sections of the Union." After some demur hy Mr. Ham mond, of South Carohna, and Mr. "Wise, of Yirginia, the Previous Question was ordered on this resolve . —Yeas 118, Nays 47. Mr. Ymton, of Ohio, now demanded a division of the resolve into three parts, which demand was sustained by the Chair ; and the first proposition, requiring a reference of all memorials on this subject to a Select Committee, was carried— Yeas 174, Nays 48: the Nays aU from the South. The second proposition, regarding Slavery " February 5, 1836. CONGRESS REPRESSING AGITATION. 145 in the States, was affirmed — ^Yeas 201, Nays 7. The third proposi tion, affirming that "Congress ought not to interfere in any way ¦with Slavery in the District of . Columbia," prevaUed — Yeas 163, Nays 47 — the Nays, of course, from the North. And the third clause, being now divided, the question was taken on the remaining part — "be cause it would be a violation of the pubhc faith, unwise, impohtic, aud dangerous to the Union" — and that was also affirmed — Yeas 129 ; Nays 74: the Nays being all from the North, and nearly all "Whigs. The remainder of the proposition was then affirmed — Yeas 169 ; Nays 6. The Committee appointed under the above resolution consisted of Messrs. Pinckney of South Carohna ; Hamer of Ohio ; Pierce of New Hampshire; Hardin of Kentucky; Jarvis of Maine ; Owens of Georgia ; Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania ; Drom- goole of Yirginia; and TurrlU of New York — all Democrats, but Har din, a Southern "Whig. This Com mittee, in due season, reported. First, That Congress possesses no constitu tional authority to Interfere, in any way, -with the institution of Slavery in any State of this confederacy. Secondly, That Congress ought not to interfere in any way with Slavery in the District of Columbia. And, " for the purpose of arresting agita tion, and restoring tranquUhty to the public mind," they recommended the adoption of this resolve : "That all petitions, memorials, resolu tions, propositions, or papers relating in any way to the subject of Slavery, or the aboli tion of Slavery, shall, without either being printed or referred, be laid upon the table." This resolve was adopted — ^Yeas 117, Nays 68 ; the Nays being sub stantially, but not entirely, composed of the Whig members from the Free States. Amazing as it may seem, this heroic treatment was not successful In " arresting agitation, and restcring tranquUhty to the public mind ;" so that, when this Congress met for the second session, it was found necessary to do the work all over again. Ac cordingly, Mr. Albert G. Hawes, (Democrat) of Kentucky," offered a resolution, providing : " That all memorials, etc., on the subject of the abolition of Slavery, should be laid on the table, without being referred or printed, and that no further action should be had thereon." "Which was adopted — Yeas 129 ; Nays 69 — the Nays mainly Northern Whigs, as 'before. All debate was precluded by the Pre-vious Ques tion. And still the agitation refused to be controlled or aUayed ; so that, on the meeting of the next Congress, Mr. Patton, of Yirginia," offered the following "as a timely sacrifice to the peace and harmony of the coun- try:" " Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, and papers touching the abolition of Slavery, or the buying, selling, or transferring of slaves in any State, District, or Territory of the United States, be laid upon the table without being debated, printed, read, or referred ; and no further action whatever shall be had thereon." The Previous Question having again been ordered, this resolve was adopted — Yeas 122; Nays 74 — the Nays, as before, mainly, if not en tirely, the Whig members from the Free States. 10 " January 18, 1837. >» December 21, 1837. 146 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. At the next session, '''' Mr. Charles G. Atherton, of New Hampshire, moved the foUo-wing resolutions : " Resolved, That this government is a gov emment of limited powers; and that, by the Constitution of the United States, Con gress has no jurisdiction whatever over the institution of Slavery in the several States ofthe confederacy. " Resolved, That the petitions for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Co lumbia and the Territories of the United States, and against the removal of slaves from one State to another, are a part of the plan of operations set on foot to affect the institution of Slavery in the several States, and thus indirectly to destroy that institu tion within their limits. '¦'Resohed, That Congress has no right to do that indirectly which it cannot do direct ly; and that the agitation of the subject of Slavery in the District of Columbia, or the Territories, as a means or with a view of disturbing or overthrowing that institution in the several States, is against the true spirit and meaning of the Constitution, an infringement of the rights of the States affected, and a breach of the public faith on which they entered into the confederacy. " Resolved, That the Constitution rests on the broad principle of equality among the members of this confederacy ; and that Con gress, in the exercise of its acknowledged powers, has no right to discriminate be tween the institutions of one portion of the States and another, with a view of abolish ing the one and promoting the other. " Resolved, therefore. That all attempts on the part of Congress to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia or the Territories, or to prohibit the removal of slaves from State to State, or to discriminate between the institutions of one portion of the coun try and another with the views aforesaid, are in violation of the Constitution, destruc tive of the fundamental principles on which the Union of these States rests, and beyond the jurisdiction of Congress ; and that every petition, memorial, resolution, proposition, or paper, touching or relating in any way, or to any extent whatever, to Slavery as aforesaid, or the abolition thereof, shall, on the presentation thereof, without any further action thereon, be laid on the table, without being debated, printed, or referred." Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, ob jecting, on motion of Mr. Atherton, the rules were suspended ; and Mr. ™ December 11, 1838. ^i January 18, 1840. '' The members from the Free States, twenty- eight in all (aU Democrats but Proffit, a Tylerized A.'s resolves duly passed, as follows : No. 1— Yeas 198 ; Nays 6. No. 2 —Yeas 134; Nays 67— mainly, if not whoUy, Northern "Whigs. The third resolution having been divided, the House first resolved " That Con gress has no right to do that indi rectly which it cannot do directly," etc.— Yeas 170, Nays 30. The resi due of the third resolve passed — Yeas 164, Nays 39. The fourth resolve was in like manner divided, and passed in two parts, by 182 and 175 Yeas to 26 "Nays. The last of Mr. Atherton's resolves was in like man ner di-vided, and the former part adopted by Yeas 147 to Nays 51; and the latter or gag portion by Yeas 127, Nays 78— Henry A. Wise refiising to vote. This would seem quite stringent enough ; but, two years later,'' the House, on motion of WiUiam Cost Johnson ("Whig), of Maryland, further " Resolved, That upon the presentation of auy memorial or petition, praying for the abolition of Slavery or the Slave-Trade in any District, Territory, or State of the Union, and upon the presentation of any resolution or other paper touching that sub ject, the reception of such memorial, peti tion, resolution, or paper, shall be consider ed as objected to, and the question of its reception laid on the table, without debate or further action thereon. "Resohed, That no petition, memorial, re solution, or other paper, praying for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Co lurabia, or any State or Territory, or the Slave-Trade between the States or Territo ries of the United States, in which it now exists, shall be received by this House, or entertained in any way whatever." On this proposition, the votes were — Yeas 114; Nays 108 — several Northem Democrats and some Southern "Whigs voting with aU the Northern Whigs in the minority." In a httle more than ten years Whig), who voted for this resolve, were as fol lows: ifaw.— -Virgil D. Parris, Alberts Smith.— TEXAS UNDER SPAIN. 147 after this. Congress prohibited the Slave-Trade in the District ; and, -within twenty-two years, Slavery itself, in that District, was hkewise abohshed by a decided vote. Thus Congres's at last discovered and ap phed the true, enduring remedy for 'agitation,' in hearing and heeding the demands of Justice, Humanity, and Freedom. XII. TEXAS AND HEE ANNEXATION. The name Texas origmaUy desig nated an iU-defined and mainly unin habited region lying between the French possessions on the Mississippi, and the Spanish on the Eio Grande, but including no portion of the val ley of either of those great rivers. Though the first European settle ment on its soU appears to have been made by La Salle, a Frenchman, who landed In Matagorda Bay, and erected fort St. Louis on the Lavacca, prior to 1687, he Is known to have intend ed to settle on the Mississippi, and to have drifted so far westward by mistake. The region since kno-wn as Texas was, even then, claimed by Spain as a part of Mexico; and a Spanish expedition imder De Leon was dispatched to the Lavacca in 1689 to expel La Salle ; but, on en tering that river, learned that he had been assassinated by one of his follow ers, and his entire company dispersed. De Leon returned next year, and founded the mission of San Francis co on the site of the dismantled fort St. Louis. From that time, the Spanish claim to the country was never seriously disputed, though another French attempt to colonize it was made In 1714, and proved as futile as La SaUe's. The cession of Louisiana by France to Spain In 1763, of course foreclosed all possi- bihty of coUision ; and when Loui siana, having been retroceded by Spain to France, was sold to the United States, we took our grand purchase without specification of boundaries or guaranty of title. For a time, there was apparent danger of collision respecting our western boundary, between our young, self- confident, and grasping repubhc, and the feeble, decaying monarchy of Spain ; but the wise moderation of Mr. Jefferson was manifested through the action of his subordinates, so that Gen. Wilkinson, our mihtary com mander in Louisiana, and Gen. Her- rera, who directed the small Spanish force on our frontier, after some threatening demonstrations, came to an understanding in October, 1806, whereby the Sabine was practically recognized as our western boundary, and aU peril of coUision ob-viated by New Hampshire. — Charles G. Atherton, Edmund Burke, Ira A. Eastman, Tristram Shaw. — New York. — Nehemiah H. Earle, John Fine, Na thaniel Jones, G-ouvemeur Kemble, James de la Montanya, John H. Prentiss, Theron R. Strong. Pennsylvania. — John Davis, Joseph Fornanoe, James Gerry, George M'Cullough, David Petri- ken, William S. Ramsay. Ohio. — D. P. Leadbet- ter, WiUiam Medill, Isaac Parrish, George Sweeney, Jonathan Taylor, John B. WeUer. Indiana.— John Davis, George H. Proifit. — Illinois. — John Reynolds. I'iS THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. a withdrawal of the Spanish troops behind the Arroyo Honda, some miles further west. The weakness of Spain, the absorption of her ener gies and means in the desolating wars for her Independence into which she was soon after forced by the ra pacity of Napoleon, and the conse quent revolutions in her continental American colonies, whereby they were each and all lost to her forever, afforded tempting opportunities to adventurer after adventurer, from Burr to Lafitte and Long, to attempt the conquest of Texas, with a "view to planting an independent power on her In-viting prairies, or of annexing her to the United States. Two or three of these expeditions seemed for a time on the verge of success ; but each in turn closed In defeat and dis aster ; so that, when Spanish power was expelled from Mexico, Texas be came an undisputed Mexican posses sion without costing the new nation a drop of blood. About this time (1819), our long-standing differences ¦with Spain were settled by treaty, whereby Florida was ceded by her to this country, and the Sabine was mutually acknowledged and estab lished as our western boundary. In other words, it was agreed that the region known as Texas appertained not to Louisiana, but to Mexico. Mr. Clay — ^then in quasi opposition to Mr. Monroe's Administration — de murred to this, and there were a few others who indicated dissatisfaction -with it ; but this stipulation of the treaty was so clearly right, and the course of the Administration in ne gotiating it so wise and proper, that all dissent was speedily dro-wned in avowals of general and hearty satis faction. Mexico having practicaUy -vindi cated her independence, and aU at tempts to grasp Texas by force hav ing proved abortive, Mr. Moses Aus tin — a native of Connecticut settled In Missouri — ^tried a new tack. Ee- presenting himself as a leader and mouth-piece of a band of Eoman Cathohcs suffering from Protestant intolerance and persecution in this country, he petitioned the Mexican govemment for a grant of land, and permission to settle in the then al most unpeopled wilderness, vaguely kno-wn as Texas. His prayer was granted, though he did not live to profit by it. Eeturning, In the early months of 1821, from western Texas to Louisiana, he was robbed and left exposed to every hardship In that uninhabited region, thus contracting a severe cold, whereof he died the following June. His son, Stephen F. Austin, received the grant for which his father had sued, and under it made a settlement on a site which now Includes the city of Austin. ' Swarms of like adventurers, In-vit ed by the chmate, soU, and varied natural resources of Texas, from this time poured into it ; some of them on the strength of real or pretended concessions of territory — others -with out leave or hcense. They found very few Mexicans to dispute or share with them the advantages it presented ; of government there was very httle, and that not good ; Texas being a portion, or rather appendage, of Coahuila, a Mexican State situated on the lower Eio Grande, with the bulk of its population west of that river. Eevolutions succeeded each other at short intervals in Mexico, as in most Spanish American countries ; and it was fairly a question whether SAM HOUSTON GOES TO TEXAS. 149 the allegiance sworn to the govem ment of last year, was binding In favor of that whereby it had since been- arbitrarily supplanted. In the year 1827 — Mr. John Q. Adams being President — Mr. Clay, his Secretary of State, Instructed Joel E. Poinsett, our Minister to Mexico, to offer one million of dol lars for the cession to us by the re public of Mexico of her territory this side of the Eio Grande. Mr. Poin sett did not make the offer, perceiv ing that it would only irritate and alienate the Mexicans to no good purpose. In 1829, Mr. Yan Buren, as Gen. Jackson's Secretary of State, in structed our Minister at Mexico to make a similar offer of four or five milhons for Texas, including no part of the valley of the Eio Grande, nor of that of the Nueces, this side of It, and, of course, no part of New Mexi co. StiU, Mexico would not sell. Sam Houston, born in Eockbrldge County, Yirginia, In 1793, had early migrated to Tennessee, settling very near the reserved lands of the Chero kee Indians, to whom he speedUy absconded, living three years among them. More than twenty years later — ^ha"ving, meantime, been a gal lant soldier in the War of 1812, an Indian agent, a lawyer, district at torney, major-general of militia, member of Congress, and Governor of Tennessee — he abruptly separated from his newly-married wife, and re paired again to the Cherokees, now settled west of the Mississippi, by whom he was welcomed and made a chief. After h-ving with them three years longer as a savage, he suddenly. left them again, returned to ci-viliza- tlon — of the Arkansas pattern — set out from Little Eock, with a few companions of like spirit, for the new country to which adventurers and lawless characters throughout the Southwest were silently tending. A Little Eock journal, noticing his de parture for Texas, significantly said : " We shaU doubtless hear of his rais ing his flag there shortly." The guess was a perfectly safe one. For the Slave Power had already perceived its opportunity, and resolv ed to profit by it. Houston and other restless spirits of his sort were pushed Into Texas expressly to seize upon the first opportunity to foment a revolution,' expel the Mexican au- 1 In the Winter of 1830, the first year of Jack son rule at Washington, Houston came to that city from the wilds of the far West, in company with a band of Indians, who professed to have, business there. He remained some weeks or months, ostensibly attending to this business, and made or renewed the acquaintance of one Dr. Robert Mayo, with whom he became inti mate, and to whom he imparted his Texas pro ject ; and by him it was betrayed to President Jackson, who, very probably, had already heard it from Houston himself. "I learned from him," -wrote Mayo, "that he was organizing an expedition against Texas ; to afford a cloak to wliich, he had assumed the Indian costume, habits, and associatious, by set tling among them iu the neighborhood of Texas. That nothing was more easy to accomphsh than the conquest and possession of that extensive and fertile country, by the cooperation of the Indians in the Arkansas Territory, and recruits among the citizens of the United States. That, in his view, it would hardly be necessary to strike a blow to wrest Texas from Mexico. That it was ample for the establishment and maintenance of a separate and independent gov emment from the United States. That the ex pedition would be got ready with all possible dispatch. That the demonstration would and must be made in about twelve months from that time. That the event of success opened the most unbounded prospects of wealth to those who would embark in it," etc., etc. Dr. Mayo further learned from one Hunter, a confederate of Houston, that there were then secret agencies in all the principal cities of the Union, enlisting men for the Texas enterprise. 150 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. thorities, and prepare the region for speedy Annexation to this country, as a new make-weight in Mr. Cal houn's scheme of a perpetual balance of power betwen the Free and the Slave States. Houston had scarcely reached Nacogdoches, near the east- em boundary of Texas, when he was elected therefrom a delegate to a Convention called to frame a Consti tution for that country as a distinct State, which met April 1, 1833, and did its predestined work. Texas proclaimed her entire independence of Mexico, March 2, 1836. War, of course, ensued — In fact, was already beginning — and Houston soon suc ceeded Austin in the command of the insurgent forces. On the 10th, Houston repaired to the camp at GonzJtles, where 374 poorly-armed, ill-supplied men, were mustered to dispute the force, 5,000 strong, with which Santa Anna had already crossed the Eio Grande and advanc ed to the frontier fort, known as the Alamo, held by Col. Tra-vds, with 185 men, who were captured and aU put to death. Houston, of course, re treated, hoping to be joined by Col. Fannin, who held Goliad with 500 men, and several pieces of artillery, whereas Houston had not one. But Fannin, while on his way to join Houston, was intercepted and sur rounded by a strong Mexican de tachment under Urrea, by whom, after two days' fighting, he was cap tured (March 20), and all his survi vors, 357 men, treacherously shot in cold blood. Houston, of course, con tinued his retreat, pursued by Santa Anna, but having too little to carry to be easily overtaken. He received some shght reenforcements on his march, and at the San Jaciato, April 10, met two guns (six-pounders), sent him from Cincinnati — his first. Santa Anna, stiU eagerly pressing on, had burned Harrisburg, the Texan capi tal, and crossed the San Jacinto with the advance of his army, the main body being detained on the other side by a freshet. Houston perceiv ed his opportunity, and embraced It. Facing suddenly about, he attacked the Mexican vanguard "with great furyj firing several rounds of grape and canister at short range, then rushing to- the attack -with clubbed muskets (having no bayonets), and yells of " Eemember the Alamo !" "Eemember Goliad!" The Mexi cans were utterly routed and dis persed — the return of 630 hilled to 208 wounded, pro-ving that very ht tle mercy was sho-wn by the Texans, who nevertheless took 730 prisoners (about their o-wn number), who were probably picked up after the battle, as their General was, in the trees and bushes among which they had sought safety In concealment. Santa Anna's hfe was barely saved by Houston, who was among the twen ty-five wounded, who, "with eight killed, formed the sum total of Texan loss In the fight. Houston made a treaty with his prisoner, in obedience to which the main body of the Mexi cans retreated and abandoned the country, as they doubtless would, at any rate, have done. This treaty further stipulated for the independ ence of Texas; but no one could have seriously supposed that such a stipulation, -wrested from a prisoner of war in imminent and well-ground ed fear of massacre, would bind his country, even had he, when free, had power to make such a treaty. The "victory, not the treaty, was the true ANNEXATION DECLINED BT MR. VAN BUREN. 151 basis and assurance of Texan inde pendence. Gen. Houston — who had mean time returned to the United States to obtain proper treatment for his wounded ankle, and to confer with Gen. Jackson and other friends of Texas — was immediately chosen President of the new republic, and inaugurated, October 22, 1836. In March following, the United States took the lead In acknowledging the independence of Texas, and other nations in due time followed. Expe ditions, fitted out in western Texas, were sent to Santa Fe on the north, and to Mier on the Eio Grande, and each badly handled by the Mexicans, who captured the Santa Fe party entire, and sent them prisoners to their capital ; but, within her original boundaries, no serious demonstration was made against the new republic by Mexico, subsequently to Santa Anna's disastrous failure in 1836. Meantime, her population steadily increased by migration from the United States, and, to some extent, from Europe; so that, though her finances were In woeful disorder, and her northern frontier constantly ha rassed by savage raids, there was very httle probabUity that Texas would ever have been reconquered by Mexico. In August, 1837, Gen. Memucan Hunt, envoy of Texas at Washing ton, proposed to our Govemment the Annexation of his country to the United States. Mr. Yan Buren was then President, -with John C. For syth, of Georgia — an extreme South ron — for his Secretary of State. The subject was fully considered, and a decided negative returned. Mr. Forsyth, in his oflacial reply to Gen. Hunt's proffer, said : "So long as Texas shall remain at war, while the Unit'cd States are at peace with her adversary, the proposition of the Texan Minister Plenipotentiary necessarily in volves the question of war with that adver sary. The United States are bound to Mexi co by a treaty of amity and commerce, which will be scrupulously observed on their part so long as it can be reasonably hoped that Mexico will perform her duties and respect our rights under it. The Unit ed States might justly be suspected of a dis regard of the friendly purposes of the com pact, if the overture of Gen. Hunt were to be even reserved for future consideration ; as this would imply a disposition on our part to espouse the quarrel of Texas with Alexico — a disposition wholly at variance with the spirit of the treaty, and with the uniform policy and the obvious welfare of the United States. " The inducements mentioned by Gen. Hunt for the United States to annex Texas to their territory are duly appreciated ; but, powerful and weighty as certainly they are, they are light when opposed in the scale of reason to treaty obligations, and respect for that integrity of character by which tho United States have sought to distinguish themselves since the establishment of their right to claim a place in the great family of Nations." Gen. Hunt's letter ha"ving inti mated that Texas might be Impelled, by a discouraging response to her advances, to grant special commercial favors to other nations to the preju dice of this, Mr. Forsyth — writing in the name and under the Immediate inspiration of the President — re sponded as follows : "It is presumed, however, that the mo tives by which Texas has been governed in making this overture, will have equal force in impelling her to preserve, as an inde pendent power, the most liberal commercial relations with the United States. Such a disposition will be cheerfully met, in a corre sponding spirit, by this Government. If the answer which the undersigned has been di» rected to give to the proposition of Gen. Hunt should, unfortunately, evoke such a change in the sentiments of that Government as to induce an attempt to extend commer cial relations elsewhere, upon terms preju dicial to the United States, this Government 152 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. will be consoled by the rectitude of its inten tions, and a certainty that, although the haz ard of transient losses may be incurred by a rigid adherence to just principles, no lasting prosperity can be secured when they are disregarded." This ended the negotiations, and foreclosed all discussion of the subject by our Government during Mr. Yan Buren's term. Yet, so early as 1837, it had become evident to careful ob servers among us, that intrigues were then on foot for the Annexation of Texas to the United States, and that the chief Impulse to this was the prospect of thereby increasing the influence and power of Slavery In our Government. It had, indeed, been notorious from the first, that this purpose was cherished by a large portion of those who had actively contributed to colonize Texas from this country and to fight the battles of her Independence. Benjamin Lundy saw and reported this during his repeated journeys through the whole extent of Texas, In quest of a region whereon to found a colony of free blacks. On this ground, he was a determined foe to the whole scheme of Texan colonization and Independ ence, regarding it but as a new de"vice of American Slavery for ex tending and perpetuating its power. Earnest Abolitionists generally con templated the events transpiring in Texas with growing apprehension ; while, on the other hand, the slave- holding region was unanimous and enthusiastic in favor of the new re public. Men were openly recruited throughout the valley of the lower Mississippi for her slender armies; while arms and munitions were supplied from our South-western cities with little disguise or pretense of payment. The Slave Power had made sacrifices to "wrest Texas from Mexico — with what intent? Mr. Webster, in his speech at NIblo's Garden, March 15, 1837, thus cau tiously, but with majestic and impres sive oratory, gave utterance to the more considerate Northern "view of the subject : " Gentlemen, proposing to express opin ions on the principal subjects of interest at the present moment, it is impossible to over look the delicate question which has arisen from events which have happened in the late Mexican pro-vince of Texas. The independ ence of that pro-vince has now been recog nized by the government ofthe United States. Congress gave the President the means, to be used when he saw fit, of opening a diplo matic intercourse with its government, and the late President immediately made use of those means. "I saw no objection, under the circum stances, to voting an appropriation to be used when the President should think the proper time had come ; and he deemed — very promptly, it is true, — that the time had already arrived. Certainly, gentlemen, the history of Texas is not a little wonderful. A very few people, in a very short time, have established a government for themselves, against the authority of the parent state ; and this government, it is generally sup posed, there is little probability, at the pres ent moment, of the parent state being able to overturn. " This government is, in form, a copy of our own. It is an American constitution, substantially after the great American model. We all, therefore, must wish it success ; and there is no one who will more heartily re joice than I shall, to see an independent community, intelligent, industrious, and friendly toward us, springing up and rising into happiness, distinction, and power, upon our own principles of liberty and govern ment. " But it cannot be disguised, gentlemen, that a desire, or an intention, is already manifested to annex Texas to the United States. On a subject of such mighty mag nitude as this, and at a moment when the public attention is drawn to it, I should feel myself wanting iu candor, if I did not express my opinion ; since all must suppose that, on such a question, it is impossible that I should be without some opinion. "I say, then, gentlemen, in all frankness, that I see objections — I think insurmount able objections — to the annexation of Texas to the United States. When the Consti- MR. WEBSTER AGAINST ANNEXATION. 153 ¦fcution was formed, it is not probable that either its framers or the people ever looked to the admission of any States into the Union, except such as then already existed, and such as should be formed out of territo ries then already belonging to the United States. Fifteen years after the adoption of the Constitution, however, the case of Lou isiana arose. Louisiana was obtained by treaty with France, who had already ob tained it from Spain ; but the object of this acquisition, certainly, was not mere extension of territory. Other great political interests were connected with it. Spain, while she possessed Louisiana, had held the mouths of the great rivers which rise in the AYestern States, and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. She had disputed our use of these rivers already ; and, with a powerful nation in pos session of these outlets to the sea, it is ob-vi- ous that the commerce of all the West was in danger of perpetual vexation. The command of these rivers to the sea was, therefore, the great object aimed at in the acquisition of Louisiana. But that acqui sition necessarily brought territory along with it ; and three States now exist, formed out of -that ancient province. ' " A similar policy, and a similar negessity, though perhaps not entirely so urgent, led to the acquisition of Florida. " Now, no such necessity, no snch policy, requires the annexation of Texas. The accessio-n of Texas to our territory is not necessary to the full and complete enjoy ment of all which we already possess. Her case, therefore, stands upon a footing en tirely different from that of Louisiana and Florida. There being no necessity for extending the limits of the Union in that direction, we ought, I think, for numerous and powerful reasons, to be content with our present boundaries. " Gentlemen, we all see that, by whomso ever possessed, Texas is likely to be a slave- holding country; and I frankly avow my unwillingness to do anything that shall extend the slavery of the African race on this continent, or add other slave-holding States to the Union. When I say that I re gard Slavery in itself as a great moral, so cial, and political evil, I only use language which has been adopted by distinguished men, themselves citizens of slaveholding States. I shall do nothing, therefore, to fa vor or encourage its further extension. We have Slavei-y already amongst us, The Con stitution found it in the Union; it recog nized it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To the full extent of those guaranties, we aU are bound, in honor, in justice, and by the Con stitution. All the stipulations contained in the Constitution in favor ofthe slaveholding States which are already in the Union, ought to be fulfilled, in the fullness of their spirit and to the exactness of their letter. Slavery, as it exists in the States, is beyond the reads. of Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves ; they have never submitted ii to Congress, and Congress has no rightful power over it. I shall concur, therefore, in no act, no measure, no menace, no indication of purpose, which shall interfere, or threaten to interfere, with the exclusive authority of the several States over the subject of Slavery as it exists within their respective limits. All this appears to me to be a matter of plain, imperative duty. "But, when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties are then both difi'erent. " The free States, and all the States, are then at liberty to accept or to reject. When it is proposed to bring new members into this political partnership, the old members have a right to say on what terms such new partners are to come in, and what they are to bring along with them. In my opinion, the people of the United States will not con sent to bring into the Union a new, vastly extensive, and slaveholding country, large enough for half a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, they ought not to consent to it. Indeed, I am altogether at a loss how to conceive what possible benefit any part of this country can expect to derive from such annexation. Any benefit to any part is at least doubtful and uncertain ; the objections are obvious, plain, and strong. On the gen eral question of Slavery, a great portion of the community is already strongly excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question of politics, but it has struck a far deeper-toned chord. It has arrested the religious feeling of the country ; it has taken strong hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash man, indeed, and little conversant with human nature, and especially has he a very erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, who supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or despised. It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned with ; it may be made willing — I believe it is entirely willing — to fulfill all existing en gagements and all existing duties — to uphold and defend the Constitution as it is estab lished, with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does actually contain. But to coerce it into silence, to endeavor to restrain its free expression, to seek to com press and conflne it, warm as it is, and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render it,— should this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the Constitution or in the Union itself, which -ivould not be endangered by the explosion which might follow. 154 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. "I see, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of Texas to the Union, no advantages to be derived from it, and objec tions to it of a strong, and, in my judgment, decisive character. "I believe it to be for the interest and hap piness of the whole Union to remain as it is, without diminution, and without addition." WiUiam Henry Harrison was, in 1840, elected ninth President of the United States, after a most animated and vigorous canvass, recei-ving 234 electoral votes to 60 cast for his. pre decessor and rival, Martin Yan Buren. Gen. Harrison was the son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was, like his father, a native of Yirginia ; but he migrated, while stiU young, to a point just below the site of Cincinnati, and thereafter re sided in some Free Territory or State, mainly In Ohio. While Gov ernor of Indiana Territory, he had favored the temporary allowance of Slavery therein ; and in 1819, being then an applicant for office at the hands of President Monroe, he had opposed the Missouri Eestrlction. Gen. Harrison was, therefore, on the whole, quite as acceptable, per sonally, to the Slave Power as Mr. Yan Buren ; and he received the votes of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis sissippi, and Louisiana. He failed, however, to win the favor of Mr. Calhoun, and so had no considerable support in South Carolina ; which State gave Its vote, without opposi tion, to Mr. Yan Buren, though it had opposed his election as Yice- President in '32, and as President in '36. Yirginia, Alabama, and Mis souri also supported Mr. Yan Buren. Gen. Harrison was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1841, and died barely one month thereafter. John Tyler — son of a revolutionary patriot of like name, who rose to the Governorship of his State — was elect ed Yice-President with General Har rison. He was originally a Eepubli can of the Yirginia school, and as such had supported Madison, Mon roe, and, in 1824, Wilham H. Craw ford. Elected to the Legislature of his State in 1811, when but twenty- one years of age, he had served re peatedly in that body, and in Con gress, before he was, in 1825, elected to the Governorship of Yirginia by her Legislature. In March, 1827, he was chosen to the United States Senate by the combined votes of the "National Eepublican," or Adams and Clay members, with those of a portion of the Jacksonians, who were dissatisfied with the erratic conduct and bitter personalities of John Ean dolph of Eoanoke, Mr. Tyler's com petitor and predecessor. Mr. Tyler had (in 1825) written to Mr. Clay, commending his preference of Mr Adams to Gen. Jackson, but had afterward gone with the current In Yirginia for Jackson— basing this preference on his adhesion to the ' State Eights,' or Strict Construction theory of our Govemipent, which was deemed by him at variance with some of the recommendations In Mr. Adams's first Message. In the Se nate, Mr. Tyler was anti-Tariff, anti- Improvement, anti-Bank, and anti- Coercion ; having voted alone (in February, 1833) in opposition to the passage of Gen. Jackson's "Force Bill," against South Carohna's Nulh fication. He supported Mr Clay's Compromise Tariff. Being reelected for a second fuU term, commencing December, 1833, he opposed the re moval of the pubhc deposits from JOHN TYLER AND ANNEXATION. 155 the United States Bank by Gen. Jackson, and supported Mr. Clay's resolution censuring that removal. He was fully sustained in so doing, at the time, by the pubhc opinion and the Legislature of Yirginia ; but, two or three years thereafter, the thorough-going supporters of Gen. Jackson, having elected a decided majority to the Legislature, proceed ed to " instruct" him to vote for ex punging from the journal of the Senate that resolution; whereupon, refusing to comply, he resigned his seat, and returned to private hfe. In the desultory and tumultuous Presi dential canvass that soon followed, he was supported by the Whigs, or anti- Jackson men, of the Slave States for Yice-President, and received the electoral votes of Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In 1838, he was elected as a Whig to the Legislature of Yirginia, and as such made a delegate to the Whig National Convention, which met at Harrisburg, Pa., in December, 1839. He there, along with his Yirginia colleagues, zealously supported Mr. Clay for President, and was affected to tears when the choice of a major ity of the Convention finally desig nated Gen. Harrison as the Whig candidate. The next day, he was, with httle opposition, nominated for Yice-President — ^the friends of Gen. Harrison urging this nomination as a peace-offering to the friends of Mr. Clay. Every elector who voted for Gen. Harrison voted for him also. If Mr. Tyler's past pohtical course might, by a severe critic, have been judged unstable, and indicative rath er of pervading personal aspirations than of profound political convic tions, there was one grave topic — that of Slavery — on which not even the harshest judgment could pro nounce him a waverer, or infirm of purpose. Born, reared, and living, in one of the most aristocratic coun ties of tidewater Yirginia — that of Charles City, remo-ving subsequently to that of WlUiamsburg — by no act, no vote, no speech, had he forfeited the confidence or Incurred the dis trust of the Slave Power ; and his fidehty to its behests and presumed interests, was about to be conspicu ously manifested. He soon contrived to quarrel Im- medicably "with Mr. Clay, and wiiih the great majority of those whose votes had elected him, by vetoing, first, a National Bank bill, passed by both Houses, while all the leading provisions were suggested by his Secretary of the Treasury ; and then. Congress ha-ving passed another Bank biU, based entirely on his own suggestions, and conforming In all points to his requirements, he vetoed that also. Hereupon, all the mem bers of his Cabinet — which was that originaUy selected by Gen. Harrison — peremptorily resigned their places, Mr. Webster alone excepted, who re tained the position of Secretary of State until May, 1843, when he also resigned, and was succeeded by Abel P. Upshur, of Yirginia, a gentleman of considerable abihty and spotless private character, but a doctrinaire of the extreme State Eights, Pro- Slavery school, under whom the pro ject of annexing Texas to this coun try was more openly and actively pushed than it had hitherto been. Mr. Upshur was killed by the burst ing of a gun, -on the 28th of Febru ary, 1844, and was succeeded by John C. Calhoun, who prosecuted 156 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ¦ihe scheme stUl more openly and vigorously, and under whose auspices a Treaty of Annexation was conclud ed April 12, 1844, but which was resolutely opposed in the Senate, and rejected, receiving but fifteen votes. It is not probable that the master spirits of the Annexation intrigue were either disappointed or displeas ed by this signal defeat of their first public movement. It Is very certain that they were not disconcerted. For the Presidential Election of 1844 was now in immediate prospect ; and they had two darling objects to achieve b}^ the Annexation project : first, the defeat of Mr. Yan Buren In the De mocratic National Convention ; next, the defeat of Mr. Clay before the people. The defeat of Mr. Yan Buren's nomination was first In order, and a matter of very considerable difiiculty. He had been the candidate of the party at the preceding election, and beaten, as his supporters contended, " without a why or wherefore," by a popular frenzy incited by disgusting, though artful, appeals to ignorance, sensual ity, and every vulgar prejudice and misconception. The disorganization of the Whigs, following Gen. Harri son's death and Tyler's defection, had brought their antagonists Into power in at least two-thirds of the States, and they were quite as confi dent as the Whigs of their ability to triumph in the approaching Presi dential election. " The sober second thought" of the people had been specially appealed to by Mr. Yan Buren for the vindica tion of his conduct of public affairs, and that appeal had been favorably responded to by his party. There was no room for reasonable doubt that a great majority of his fellow- Democrats earnestly desired and ex pected his nomination and election. To prevent the former was the more immediate object ofthe preternatural activity suddenly given to the Texas intrigue, which, never abandoned, had for several years apparently re mained In a state of suspended ani mation. Mr. Thomas W. GUmer, of Ya., formerly a State Eights Whig member of Congress, now an ardent disciple of Calhoun and a partisan of John Tyler, by whom he was made Secretary of the Na-vy a few days before he was killed (February 28, 1844, on board the U. S. war stear^er Princeton, by the bursting of the big gun already noticed), was the man selected to bring the subject freshly before the pubhc. In a letter dated Washington, January 10, 1843, and pubhshed soon after In The Madiso- nian, Mr. Tyler's organ, he says ; " Deae Sm : — Tou ask if I have expressed the opinion that Texas would be annexed to the United States. I answer, yes : and this opinion has not been adopted without reflec tion, nor without a careful observation of causes, which I believe .are rapidly bringing about this result. I do not know how far these causes have made the same impression on others ; but I am persuaded that the time is not distant when they will be felt in all their force. The excitement, which you ap prehend, may arise ; but it will be temporary, and, in the end, salutary. * * * I am, as you know, a strict constructionist of the powers of our Federal Government ; and I do not admit the force of mere precedent to establish authority under written constitu tions. The power conferred by the Consti tution over onr foreign relations, and the repeated acquisitions of territory under it, seem to me to leave this question open as one of expediency. " But you anticipate objections with re gard to the subject of Slavery. This is, indeed, a subject of extreme delicacy, but it is one on which the annexation of Texas will have the most salutary influence. Some have thought that the proposition woald THE SLAVE POWER COVETS TEXAS. 157 eucranger our Union. I am of a different opinion. I believe it will bring about a bet ter understanding of om- relative rights and obligations. * * * Having acquired Loui siana and Florida, we have an interest and a frontier on the Gulf of Mexico, and along our interior to the Pacific, which will not permit us to close our eyes or fold our arms with indifference to the events which a few years may disclose in that quarter. We have already had one question of boundary with Texas ; other questions must soon arise, under our revenue laws, and on other points of necessary intercourse, which it wUlbe dif ficult to adjust. The institutions of Texas, and her relations with other governments, are yet in that condition which inclines her peo ple {who are our countrymen) to unite their destiny with ours. This must be done soon, or not at all. There are numerous tribes of Indians along both frontiers, which can easi ly become the cause or the instrument of border wars. Our own population is press ing onward to the Pacific. No power can restrain it. The pioneer from our Atlantic seaboard will soon kindle his fires, and erect his cabin, beyond the Eocky Mountains, and on the Gulf of California. If Mahomed comes not to the mountain, the mountain -will go to Mahomed. Every year adds new diflBculties to our progress, as natural and as ine-vitable as the current of the Mississippi. These difficulties will soon, like mountains interposed — ' Make enemies of nations. Which now, like kindred drops, Might mingle into one.' " FoUowing immediately on the pub lication of this letter, the Legislatures of Alabama, of Mississippi, and prob ably of other Southwestern States, were induced to take ground in favor of Annexation ; with what -views, and for what purpose, the foUo-wing ex tract from the report adopted by that of Mississippi wUl sufficiently indi cate : " But we hasten to suggest the importance of the Annexation of Texas to this Eepublic upon grounds somewhat local in their com plexion, but of ail import infinitely grave and interesting to the people who inhabit the Southern portion of this confederacy, where it is known that a species of Domestic Slav ery is tolerated and protected by law, whose existence is prohibited by the legal regula tions of other States of this confederacy; which system of Slavery is held by all, who are familiarly acquainted with its practical effects, to be of highly beneficial infiuence to the country within whose limits it is permitted to exist. "The Committee feel authorized to say that this system is cherished by our consti tuents as the very palladium of their pros perity and happiness ; and, whatever igno rant fanatics may elsewhere conjecture, the Committee are fully assured, upon the most diligent observation and reflection on the subject, that the South does not possess within her limits a blessing with which the affec tions of her people are so closely entwined and so completely enfibered, and whose value is more highly appreciated, than that which we are now considering. * * * "It may not he improper here to remark that, during the last session of Congress, when a Senator from Mississippi proposed the acknowledgment of Texan independence, it was found, with a few exceptions, the members of that body were ready to take ground npon it as upon the subject of Slavery itself. " With all these facts before us, we do not hesitate in belie-ving that these feelings influenced the New England Senators; but one voting in favor of the measure ; and, in deed, Mr. Webster has been bold enough, in a public speech recently delivered in New York to many thousands of citizens, to de clare that the reasons which influenced his opposition was his abhorrence of Slavery in the South, and that it might, in the event of its recognition, become a slaveholding State. He also spoke of the effort making in favor of Abolition ; and that, being predicated npon and aided by the powerful influence of religious feeling, it would become irresist ible and overwhelming. " This language, coming from so distin guished an indi-vidual as Mr. Webster, so familiar with the feelings of the North, and entertaining so high a respect for public sentiment in New England, speaks so plain ly the voice of the North as not to be mis understood. " We sincerely hope there is enough good sense and genuine love of country among our fellow-countrymen of the Northern States to secure us flnal justice on this sub ject ; yet we cannot consider it safe or ex pedient for the people of the South to en tirely disregard the efforts of the fanatics, and the efforts of such men as Webster, and others who countenance such dangerous doctrines. " The Northern States have no interests of their own which require any special safe guards for their defense, save only their do mestic manufactures ; and God knows they have already received protection from Gov ernment ou a most liberal scale ; under 158 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. -which encouragement they have improved and flourished beyond example. The South has very peculiar interests to preserve, inter ests already -violently assailed and boldly threatened. " Your Committee are fully persuaded that this protection to Jier best interests will be afforded by the Annexation of Texas ; an equipoise of influence in the halls of Con gress will be secured, which will furnish us a permanent guarantee of protection." Mr. Henry A. Wise, of Yirginia, of the same political school with Gil mer, in a speech in the House, Jan uary 26, 1842, said: "True, if Iowa be added on the one side, Florida will be added on the other. But there the equation must stop. Let one more Northern State be admitted, and the equilibrium is gone — gone forever. The balance of interests is gone — the safeguard of American property — of the American Constitution — of the American Union, van ished into thin air. This must be the inevit able result, unless, by a treaty with Mexico, the South can add more weight to her end of the lever. Let the South stop at the Sabine, while the North may spread unchecked be yond the Eocky Mountains, and the Southern scale must kick the beam." The letter of Mr. Gilmer, when printed, was, by Mr. Aaron Y. Brown, a Democratic member of Congress from Tennessee, Inclosed in a letter to Gen. Jackson, asking the General's opinion thereon. That re quest promptly ehcited the following response : "Hbemitaoe, February 13, 1843. " Mt Deae Sie : — Tours of the 23d ulti mo has been received, and with it The Madi- sonian, containing Gov. Gilmer's letter on the subject of the annexation of Texas to the United States. " You are not mistaken in supposing that I have formed an opinion on this interesting subject. It occupied much of my time dur ing my Presidency, and, I am sure, has lost none of its importance by what has since transpired. "Soon after my election in 1829, it was made known to me by Mr. Erwin, formerly our minister to the Court of Madrid, that, whilst at that Court, he had laid the founda tion of a treaty with Spain for tho cession of the Floridas and the settlement of the boundary of Louisiana, fixing the western limit of the latter at the Eio Grande, agree ably to the understanding of France ; that he had written home to our Government for powers to complete and sign this negotia tion ; but that, instead of recei-ving such au thority, the negotiation was taken out of his hands and transferred to Washington, and a new treaty was there concluded by which the Sabine, and not the Eio Grande, was recognized and established as the boundary of Louisiana. " Finding that these statements were true, and that our Government did really give up that important territory, when it was at its option to retain it, I was filled with aston ishment. The right of the territory was obtained from France ; Spain stood ready to acknowledge it to the Eio Grande ; and yet the authority asked by our Minister to insert the true boundary was not only withheld, but, in lieu of it, a limit was adopted which stripped us of the whole of the vast country lying between the two rivers. " On such a subject, I thought, with the ancient Eomans, that it was right never to cede any land or boundary of the republic, but always to add to it by honorable treaty, thus extending the area of freedom ; and it was in accordance with this feeling that I gave our Minister to Mexico instructions to enter upon a negotiation for the retrocession of Texas to the United States. "This negotiation failed; and I shall ever regret it as a misfortune both to Mexico and the United States. Mr. Gilmer's letter pre sents many of the considerations which, in my judgment, rendered the step necessary to the peace and harmony ofthe two countries ; but the point in it, at that time, which most strongly impelled me to the course I pursued, was the injustice done to us by the surrender of the territory, when it was obvious that it could have been retained, without increasing the consideration afterward given for the Floridas. I could not but feel that the sur render of so vast and important a territory was attributable to an erroneous estimate of the tendency of our institutions, in which there was mingled somewhat of jealousy as to the rising greatness of the South and West. " But I forbear to dwell on this part of the history of this question. It is past, and can not now be undone. We can now only look at it as one of annexation, if Texas presents it to us ; and, if she does, I do not hesitate to say that the welfare and happiness of our Union require that it should be accepted. "If, in a military point of -view alone, the question be examined, it will be found to be most important to the United States to be in possession of the territory. PROTEST FROM CONGRESS AGAINST ANNEXATION. 159 " Great Britain has already made treaties with Texas ; and \ye know that far-seeing nation never omits a circumstance, in her extensive intercourse with the world, which can be turned to account in increasing her military resources. May she not enter into an alliance with Texas? and, reserving, as she doubtless will, the North-Western Boun dary question as the cause of war -with us whenever she chooses to declare it, let us suppose that, as an ally with Texas, we are to fight her ! Preparatory to such a move ment, she sends her 2Q,000 or 80,000 men to Texas ; organizes them on the Sabine, where supplies and arms can be concentrated be fore we have even notice of her intentions ; makes a lodgment on the Mississippi ; excites the negroes to insurrection ; the lower coun try falls, and with it New Orleans ; and a servile war rages through the whole South and West'. " In the mean time, she is also moving an army along the western frontier from Cana da, which, in cooperation with the army from Texas, spreads ruin and havoc from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. " Who can estimate the national loss we may sustain, before such a movement could be repelled with such forces as we cotdd organize on short notice ? " Eemember that Texas borders upon us, on our west to 42° of north latitude, and is our southern boundary to the Pacific. Ee member also, that, if annexed to the United States, our Western boundary would be the Eio Grande, which is of itself a fortification, on account of its extensive, barren, and unin habitable plains. With such a barrier on our .w.est, we are invincible. The whole European world could not, in combination against us, make an impression on our Union. Our population on the Pacifio would rapidly increase, and soon be strong enough for the protection of our eastern whalers, and,, in the worst event, could always be sustained by timely aids from the intermediate coun try. " From the Eio Grande, overland, a large army could not march, or be supplied, unless from the Gulf by water, which, by vigilance, could always be intercepted ; and to march an army near the Gulf, they could be harass ed by militia, and detained until an organ ized force could be raised to meet them. " But I am in danger of running into un necessary details, which my debility will not enable me to close. The question is full of interest also as it affects our domestic rela tions, and as it may bear upon those of Mex ico to us. I will not undertake to follow it out to its consequences in those respects; though I must say that, in all aspects, the annexation of Texas to the United States promises to enlarge the circle of free insti tutions, and is essential to the United States, particularly as lessening the probabilities of future collision with foreign powers, and gi'ving them greater efficiency in spreading the blessings of peace. "I return you my thanks for your kind letter on this subject, and subscribe myself, with great sincerity, your friend and obedi ent servant, Andebw Jaokson. "Hon. A. V. Beown." This letter was secretly circulated, but earefuUy -withheld from the press for a fuU year, and finally appeared in The Richmond Enquirer, "with its date altered from 1843 to 1844, as If it had been written In immediate support of the Tyler-Calhoun nego tiation. Col. Benton, in his " Thirty Years' Yiew," directly charges that the let ter was drawn from Gen. Jackson expressly to be used to defeat Mr. Yan Buren's nomination, and secure, if possible, that of Mr. Calhoun in stead ; and It doubtless exerted a strong influence adverse to the for mer, although Gen. Jackson wag among his most unflinching support ers to the last. Mr. John Quincy Adams had unit ed with Mr. William Slade, Joshua P. GIddings, and ten other anti-Slavery Whig members of the XXYIIth Congress (March 3, 1843), in a stir ring address to the people of the Free States, warning them against. the An nexation Intrigue, as by no means abandoned, but still energetically, though secretly, prosecuted. In that address, they recited such of the fore going facts as were then known to them, saying : " We, the undersigned, in closing our du ties to our constituents and our country as members of the Twenty-Seventh Congress, feel bound to call your attention, very briefiy, to the project, long entertained by a portion of the people of these United States, still perti naciously adhered to, and intended soon to be 160 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. consummated : The Annexation of Tixas to this Union. In the press of business inci dent to the last days of a session of Con gress, we have not time, did we deem it necessary, to enter upon a detailed state ment of the reasons which force upon our minds the conviction that this project is by no means abandoned; that a large portion of the country, interested in the continuance of Domestic Slavery and the Slave-Trade in these United States, have solemnly and unal terably determined that it shall bo speed ily carried into execution ; and that, by this admission of new Slave territory and' Slave States, the undue ascendency of the Slave- holding Power in the Government shall be secured and riveted beyond all redemption. " That it was with these -views and inten tions that settlements were effected in the pro-vince, by citizens of the United States, difficulties fomented with the Mexican Gov ernment, a revolt brought about, .and an independent government declared, cannot now admit of a doubt; and that, hitherto, all attempts of Mexico to reduce her re volted province to obedience have proved unsuccessful, is to be attributed to the un lawful aid and assistance of designing and interested indi-viduals in the United States ; and the direct and indirect cooperation of our own Government, with similar views, is not the less certain and demonstrable. "The open and' repeated enlistment of troops in several States of this Union, in aid of the Texan Revolution ; the intrusion of an American army, by order of the President, far into the territory of the Mexican Govern ment, at a moment critical for the fate of the insurgents, under pretense of preventing Mexican soldiers from fomenting Indian disturbances, but in reality in aid of, and acting in singular concert and coincidence with, the army of the Eevolutionists ; the entire neglect of our Government to adopt any efficient measures to prevent the most unwarrantable aggressions of bodies of our own citizens, enlisted, organized, and officer ed within our own borders, and marched in arms and battle array upon the territory and against the inhabitants of a friendly govern ment, in aid of freebooters and insurgents ; and the premature recognition of the Inde pendence of Texas, by a snap vote, at the heel of a session of Congress, and that, too, at the very session when President Jaokson had, by special Message, insisted that 'the measure would be contrary to the policy in variably observed by the United States in all similar cases,' would be marked with great injustice to Mexico, and peculiarly liable to the darkest suspicions, inasmuch as the Texans were almost all emigrants from the United States, and sought the recognition of their independence with the avowed purpose of obtaining their annexation to the United States. * * * " The open avowal of the Texans them selves — the frequent and anxious negotia tions of our own Government — the resolu tions of various States of the Union — the nunlerous declarations of members of Con gress—the tone of the Southern press — as well as the direct application of the Texan Government — make it impossible for any man to doubt that Annexation, and the formation of several new Slaveholding States, were originally the policy and de sign of the Slaveholding States and the Executive of the Nation. " The same references will show very con clusively that the particular objects of this uew acquisition of Slave territory were the perpetuation of Slavery and the continued ascendency of the Slave Power. * * * " We hold that there is not only ' no po litical necessity' for it, 'no advantages to b» derived from it,' but that there is no consti tutional power delegated to any department of the National Government to authorize it ; that no act of Congress, or treaty for annex ation, can impose the least obligation upon the several States of this Union to submit to such an unwarrantable act, or to receive into their family and fraternity such misbegotten and illegitimate progeny. "We hesitate not to say that Annexa tion, effected by any act or proceeding of the Federal Government, or any of its depart ments, would be identical with dissolution. It would be a -violation of our National compact, its objects, designs, and the great elementary principles which entered -into its formation, of a character so deep and fundamental, and would be an attempt to eternize an institution and a power of a na ture so unjust in themselves, so injurious to the interests and abhorrent to the feelings of the people of the Free States, as, in our opinion, not only inevitably to result in a dissolution ofthe Union, 'but fully to justify it; and we not only assert that the people of the Free States ' ought not to submit to it,' but, we say with confidence, they would not submit to it. We know their present temper and spirit on this subject too well to beheve for a moment that they would be come particeps criminis in any subtle con trivance for the irremediable perpetuation of an institution, which the wisest and best men who formed our Federal Constitution, as well from the Slave as the Free States, regarded as an evil and a curse, soon to be come extinct under the operation of laws to be passed prohibiting the Slave-Trade, and the progressive influence of the principles of the Eevolution. "To prevent the success of this nefarious project— to preserve from such gross violar OF MEXICO TEXAS, AS SHE OEIGrlNALLT WAS; AS SHE CLAIMED TO BE; AND AS SHE ACTUALLY WAS AT THE DATE OP HEB ANNEXATION. (Tbe darkest shading defines original (Spanish) Texas, the next lighter, Texne as she actually stood when annexed; the lightest, the boundaries siie then claimed.) MR. TAN BUREN AGAINST ANNEXATION. 161 tion the Constitution of our country, adopt ed expressly ' to secure the blessings of libr erty,' and not the perpetuation of Slavery — and to prevent the speedy and violent disso lution of the Union — we in-vite you to unite, -without distinction of party, in an immedi ate exposition of your -views on this subject, in such manlier as you may deem best calcu lated to answer the end proposed." On the 27th of March, 1844, Mr. Wm. H. Hammet, Representative in Congress fi-om Mississippi, and an unpledged delegate elect to the ap proaching Democratic National Con vention, addressed, from his seat In the House, a letter of inquiry to Mr. Van Buren, asking an expression of his " opinions as to the constitution ality and expediency of Immediately annexing Texas to the United States, so soon as the consent of Texas may be had to such Annexation." The -writer commended himself to Mr. Yan Buren as " one of your warmest supporters in 1836 and 1840, and an unpledged delegate to the Baltimore Convention ;" and, though courteous ' in its terms, the letter gave him very clearly to understand that his answer would govern the course of the que rist in the Convention aforesaid, and be very hkely to influence the result of Its deliberations. Mr. Van Buren rephed In a very long and elaborate letter, dated Lin- denwald, April 20th, whereof the drift and purport were very clearly hostile to the contemplated Annexation. He fully admitted that Annexation was per se desirable ; encouraging hopes that he might consent to it, as a mea sure of imperative self-defense, rather than permit Texas to become a Brit ish dependency, or the colony of any European power ; and intimating that Mexico might too long persist " in re fusing to acknowledge the independ ence of Texas, and in destructive but 11 fruitless efforts to reconquer that State," so as to produce a general conviction of the necessity of An nexation to the permanent welfare, if not absolute safety, of all concern ed. He, nevertheless, decidedly neg atived any presumption that he could, under existing circumstances, or un der any in Immediate prospect, give his support to' the scheme, even though assured that his re-election to the Pres idency depended thereon. His view of the main question directly present ed, is fairly and forcibly set forth in the foUowing passage of his letter : "The question, then, recurs, if, as sensi ble men, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the immediate Annexation of Texas would, in all human probability, draw after it a war with Mexico, can it be expedient to attempt it ? Of the consequences of such a war, the character it might be made to assume, the entanglements with other na tions which the position of a belligerent almost unavoidably draws after it, and the undoubted injuries which might be inflicted on each, notwjthstanding the great disparity of their respective forces, I will not say a word. God forbid that an American citizen should ever count the cost of any appeal to what is appropriately denominated the last resort of nations, whenever that resort be comes necessary, either for tlie safety, or to vindicate the honor, of his country. There is, I trust, not one so base as not to regard hiiiiself, and all he has, to be forever, and at all times, subject to such a requisition. But would a war with Mexico, brought on under such circumstances, be a contest of that character? Could we hope to stand per fectly justified in the eyes of mankind for entering into it ; more especially if its com mencement is to be preceded by the appro priation to our own uses of the territory, the sovereignty of which is in dispute be tween two nations, one of which we are to join in the struggle? This, Sir, is a matter of the very gravest import— one in respect to which no American statesman or citizen can possibly be indifferent. We have a character among the nations of the earth to maintain. All our public functionaries, as well those who advocate this measure as those who oppose it, however much they may differ as to its effects, will, I am sure, be equally solicitous for the performance of this first of duties. " It has hitherto been our pride and our 162 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. boast that, whilst the lust of power, with fraud and violence in its train, has led other and differently constituted Governments to aggression and conquest, our movements in these respects have always been regulated by 'reason and justice. A disposition to detract from our pretensions in this respect will, in the nature of things, be always prev alent elsewhere, and has, at this very mo ment, and from special causes, assumed, in some quarters, the most rabid character. Should not every one, then, who sincerely loves his country — who venerates its time- honored and glorious institutions — who dwells with pride and delight on associa tions connected with our rise, progress, and present condition — on the steady step with which -we have advanced to our present eminence, in despite of the hostility,- and in contempt of the bitter revilings, of the ene mies of freedom in all parts of the globe — consider, and that deeply, whether we would not, by the immediate Annexation of Texas, place a weapon in the hands of those who now look upon us and our institutions with distrustful and en-vious eyes, that would do us more real, Jasting injury as a nation, than the acquisition of such a territory, val uable as it undoubtedly is, could possibly repair ? " It is said, and truly said, that this war be tween Texas and Mexico has already been of too long duration. We are, and must continue to be, annoyed by its prosecution, and have undoubtedly, as has been remark ed, an interest in seeing it terminated. But can we appeal to any principle in the law of Nations, .to which we practice a scrupu lous adherence, that would, under present circumstances, justify us in interfering for its suppression in a manner that would una voidably make us a party to its further prose cution ? Can this position be made sufficient ly clear to justify us in committing the peace and honor of the country to its support ? " In regard to the performance by us of that duty, so difficult for any Government to perform — the observance of an honest neutrality between nations at war — we can now look through our whole career, since our first admission into the family of na tions, not only without a blush, but with feelings of honest pride and satisfaction. Tho way was opened by President Washing ton himself, under circumstances of the most difficult character, and at no less a hazard than that of exposing ourselves to plausible, yet unjust, imputations of infidel ity to treaty stipulations. The path he trod with such unfaltering steps, and which led to such beneficial results, has hitherto been pursued with unvarying fidelity by every one of his successors, of whom it becomes me to speak." The "Whigs were unainlmous and enthusiastic in their determination that no other than Mr. Clay should be their candidate, and that no other than he should be elected. He had spent the "Winter of 1843-4, main ly in New Orleans — then a hot-bed of the Texas intrigue — ^but had left it unshaken In his opposition to the plot — not to Annexation Itself, at a suitable time, and under satisfactory conditions ; but to Its accomplish ment while the boundaries of Texas remained undetermined and disput ed, her independence unacknowledg ed by Mexico, and her war vrith that country xmconcluded. Mr. Clay set forth his view of the matter in a letter to The National Intelligencer, dated " Kaleigh, N. Cv, April 17, 1844" — three days earlier than the date of Mr. Van Buren's letter. Premising that he had be lieved and maintained that Texas was included in the Louisiana pur chase, and had, therefore, opposed* the treaty of 1819, with Spain, by which Florida was acquired, and the Sabine recognized as our western boundary, he says : " My opinions of the inexpediency of the treaty of 1819 did not prevail. The coun try and Congress wefe satisfied with it; ap propriations were made to carry it into effect ; the line of the Sabine was recognized by us as our boundary, in negotiations both with Spain and Mexico, after Mexico became independent; and measures have been in actual progress to mark the line, from the Sabine to the Bed river, and thence to the Pacific ocean. We have thus fairly alienat ed our title to Texas, by solemn National compacts, to the fulfillment of which we stand bound by good faith and National honor. It is, therefore, perfectly idle and ridiculous, if not dishonorable, to talk of re suming our title to Texas, as if we had never parted with it. We can no more do that than Spain can resume Florida, France Louisiana, or Great Britain the thirteen colonies now comprising a part of the Uni ted States." MR. CLAY AGAINST ANNEXATION. 163 After glancing at the recent his tory of Texas, Mr. Clay continues : "Mexico has not abandoned, but perse veres in, the assertion of her rights by ac tual force of arms, which, if suspended, are intended to be renewed. Under these cir cumstances, if the Government of the Uni ted States were to acquire Texas, it would acquire along -with_ it all the encumbrances which Texas is uiider, and, among them, the actual or suspended war between Mexi co and Texas. Of that consequence, there cannot be a doubt. Annexation and war with Mexico are identical. Now, for one, I certainly am not willing to involve this country in a foreign war for the object of acquiring Texas. I know there are those who regard such a war with indifference, and as a trifling affair, on account of the weakness of Mexico, and her inability to inflict serious injui-y on this country. But I do not look upon it thus lightly. I regard all wars as great calamities, to be avoided, if possible, and honorable peace as the wisest and truest policy of this country. What the United States most need are union, peace, and patience. Nor do I think that the weakness of a power should form a motive, in any case, for inducing us to en gage in, o'r to depreciate, the evils of war. Honor, and good faith, and justice, are equally due from this country toward the weak as toward the strong. And, if an act of injustice were to be perpetrated toward any power, it would be more compatible with the dignity of the nation, and, in my judgment, less dishonorable, to inflict it upon a powerful, instead of a weak, foreign nation." Mr. Van Buren, in his very long letter, had studiously avoided all allusion to what, in the cant of a later day, would have been termed the "sectional" aspect of the ques tion ; that is, the earnest and invin cible repugnance of a large portion of our people to the annexation pro posed, because of its necessaiy tend ency to extend and strengthen Slavery. Mr. Clay confi-onted this •view of the case cautiously, yet manfiilly, saying : "I have hitherto considered the question upon the supposition that the annexation is attempted without the assent of Mexico. If she yields her consent, that would mate rially affect the foreign aspect of the ques tion, if it did not remove all foreign difficul ties. On the assumption of that assent, the question would be confined to the domestic considerations which belong to it, embrac ing the terms and conditions upon which annexation is proposed. I do not think Texas ought to be received into the Union, as an integral part of it, in decided opposi tion to the wishes of a considerable and re spectable portion of the confederacy. I think it far more wise and important to compose and harmonize the present confederacy, as it now exists, than to introduce a new ele ment of discord .and distraction into it. Iu my humble opinion, it should be the con stant and earnest endeavor of American statesmen to eradicate prejudices, to culti vate and foster concord, and to produce general" contentment among all parts of our confederacy. And true wisdom, it seems to me, points to the duty of rendering its present members happy, prosperous, and satisfied with each other, rather than to at tempt to introduce alien members, against the common consent, and with the certainty ©f deep dissatisfaction. Mr. Jefferson ex pressed the opinion, and others believed, that it never was in the contemplation of the framers of the Constitutidn to add for eign territory to the confederacy, out of which new States were to be formed. The acquisitions of Louisiana and Florida may be defended upon the peculiar ground of the relation in which they stood to the States of the Union. After they were ad mitted, we might well pause a while, people onr vast wastes, develop our resources, pre pare the means of defending what we pos sess, and augment our strength, power, and greatness. If, hereafter, further territory should be wanted for an increased popula tion, we need entertain no apprehension but that it will be acquired, by means, it is to be hoped, fair, honorable, and -constitu tional. It is useless to disguise that there are those who espouse, and those who op pose, the annexation of Texas upon the ground of the influence which it would exert on the balance of political power be tween two great sections of the Union. I conceive that no motive for the acquisition of foreign territory could be more unfortu nate, or pregnant with more fatal conse quences, than that of obtaining it for the purpose of strengthening one part against another part of the common confederacy. Such a principle, put into practical opera tion, would menace the existence, if it did not cei-tainly sow tlie seeds of a dissolution of the Union." He closed his letter — ^which is not quite a third so long as Mr. Van 164 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Buren's— -5vith the following sum ming up of his con-victlons : "I consider the Annexation of Texas, at this time, without the consent of Mexico, as a measure compromising the National char acter, involving us certainly in war with Mexico, probably with other foreign Pow ers, dangerous to the integrity of the Union, inexpedient in the present financial condi tion of the country, and not called for by any general expression of public opinion." The Whig National Convention met at Baltimore, May 1— every dis trict in the United States fully rep resented. Henet Clat was at once nominated for President by acclama tion, and Theodore Frelinghuysen for Vice-President on the third bal lot. The number in attendance was estimated by tens of thousands, and the enthusiasm was immense. The multitude separated in undoubting confidence that Mr. Clay would be our next President. The Democratic National Conven tion met in the same city on the 27th of that month. A majority of its delegates had been elected expressly to nominate Mr. Van Buren, and were under exphcit Instructions to support him. But it was already settled among the master-spirits of the party that his nomination should be defeated. To this end, before the Convention had been fully organiz ed. Gen. P. M. Saunders, of North Carolina, moved the adoption of the rules and regulations ofthe Democra tic National Conventions of May, 1832, and May, 1835, for the govern ment of this body ; his object being the enactment of that rule which re quired a vote of two-thirds of the delegates to nominate a candidate. After a heated discussion, the two- thirds rule was adopted, on the second day, by 148 Yeas to 118 Nays, and the fate of Van Buren sealed. On the first ballot, he received 146 votes to 116 for all others ; but he fell, on the second, to 127, and settled gradual ly to 104 on the eighth, when he was -withdrawn — Gen. Cass, who began with 83, ha-ving ruii up to 114. On the next ballot, James K. Polk, of Tennessee, who had received no vote at all tiU the eighth ballot, and then but 44, was nominated, recei-ving 233 out of 266 votes. This was on the third day of the Convention, when Silas Wright, of New Tork, was im mediately nominated for Vtce-Presi- dent. He peremptorily declined, and George M. Dallas, of Pennsyl vania, was selected in his stead. Mr. Polk had been an early, and was a zealous, champion of Annexation, as always of every proposition or pro ject calculated to aggrandize the Slave Power. The Convention, in its platform, ^ "Resolved, That our title to the whole' ter ritory of Oregon is clear and unquestiona ble ; that no portion of the same ought to be ceded to England or any other power ; and that the reoccupation of Oregon, and the reannexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which the Convention recom mends to the cordial support of the Demo cracy of the Union." Col. Thomas H. Benton, ia a speech In the Senate, May 6, had set forth the objections to Messrs. Tyler and Calhoun's Treaty of Annexa tion, on the ground of its assuming, on the one hand, to cede, and on the other, to accept and maintain, the entire territory claimed by Texas, m- eluding all that portion of New Mexico lying east of the Eio Grande, in these forcible terms : " These former pro-vinoes of the Mexioal 'That is, up to 51° 40'; including what is now British Columbia. COL. BENTON ON THE BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 165 Vice-royalty, now departments of the Mexi can Republic, lying on both sides of the Eio Grande from its head to its mouth, we now propose to incorporate, so far as they lie on the left bank of the river, into our Union, by virtue of a treaty of reannexation with Texas. Let us pause and look at our new and important proposed acquisitions in this quarter. First: There is the department, formerly the province, of New Mexico, lying on both sides of the river from its head-spring to near the Pass del Norte — that is to say, half way down the river. This department is studded with towns and villages — is populated, well cultivated, and covered with flocks and herds. On its left bank (for I only speak of the part which we propose to reannex) is, first, the frontier -village Taos, 3,000 souls, and where the custom-house is kept at which the Missouri caravans enter their goods. Then comes Santa F6, the capital, 4,000 souls; then Albuquerque, 6,000 souls ; then some scores of other towns and villages — all more or less populated and surrounded by flocks and fields. Then come the departments of Chi huahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, without settlements on the left bank of the river, but occupying the right bank, and com manding the left. All this — being parts of four Mexican departments, now under Mexi can Governors and Governments — is perma nently reannexed to this Union, if this treaty is ratifled, and is actually reannexed from the moment of the signature of the treaty, according to the President's last Message, to remain so until the acquisition is rejected by rejecting the treaty ! The one-half of the department of New Mexico, -with its capital, becomes a territory of the United States; an angle of Chihuahua, at the Pass del Norte, famous for its wine, also becomes ours; a part of the depart ment of Coahuila, not populated on the left bank, which we take, but commanded fr6m the right bank by Mexican authorities ; the same of Tamaulipas, the ancient Nuevo San- tander (New St. Andrew), and which covers both sides of the river from its mouth for some hundred miles up, and all the left bank of which is in the power and possession of Mexico. These, in addition to old Texas ; these parts of four States — ^these towns and -villages — ^these people and territory-^these flocks and herds — this slice of the Republic of Mexico, two thousand miles long and some hundred broad — all this our President has ciit off fd-ora its mother empire, and pre- . sents to us, and declares it ours till the Senate rejects it 1 He calls it Texas I and the cutting off he calls reannexation I Hum boldt calls it New Mexico, Chihuahua, Coa huila, and Nuevo Santander — now Tamau lipas ; and the civilized world may qualify this reannexation bythe application of some odious and terrible epithet. Demosthenes advised the people of Athens not to take, but to retake, a certain city ; and in that re lay the virtue which saved the act from the character of spoliation aud robbery. WUl it be equally potent with us? and wUl the re prefixed to the annexiition legitimate the seizure of tw6 thousand miles of a neigh bor's dominion, with whom we have trea ties of peace, and friendship, and com merce? Will it legitimate this seizure, made by virtue of a treaty with Texas, when no Texan force — witn.ess the disastrous ex- p*editions to Mier and to Santa F6 — have. been seen near it without being killed or taken, to the last m,an ? " I wash my hands of all attempts to dis member the Mexican Eepublic by seizing her dominions in New Mexico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. The treaty, in all that relates to the boundary of the Eio Grande, is an act of unparalleled outrage on Mexico. It is the seizure of two thou sand miles of her territory, without a word of explanation with her, and by virtue of a treaty with Texas, to which she is no party. Our Secretary of State, in his letter to the United States Charge in Mexico several days after the treaty was signed, and after the Mexican Minister had withdrawn from our seat of Government, shows full well that he -was conscious of the enormity of this outrage ; knew it was war ; and prof fered volunteer apologies to avert the conse quences which he knew he had provoked. "I therefore propose, as an additional resolution, applicable to the Eio dd Norte boundary alone — the one which I will read and send to the Secretary's table, and on which, at the proper time, 1 shall ask the vote of the Senate. This is the resolution : " Resolved, That the incorporation of the left bank of the Eio Del Norte into tho American Union, by -virtue of a treaty with Texas, comprehending, as the said incorpo ration would do, a part of the Mexican de partments of New Mexico, Chihuahua, Coa huila, and Tamaulipas, would be an act of direct aggression on Mexico ; for all the con sequences of which the United States would stand responsible." The opposition of the Northem Democrats to the Annexation pro ject, though crippled by the action of their National Convention, was not entirely suppressed. Especially in New York, where attachment to the person and the fortunes of Mr. Van Buren had been peculiarly strong. 166 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Democratic repugnance to this mea sure was still manifested. Messrs. George P. Barker, William C. Bry ant, John W. Edmonds, David Dud ley Field, Theodore Sedgwick, and others, united in a letter — stigmatiz ed by annexationists as a " secret cir cular" — ^urging their fellow-Demo crats, while supporting Polk and Dallas, to repudiate the Texas reso lution, and to unite in supporting,* for Congress, Democratic candidates hostile to Annexation. Silas Wright, who had prominently opposed the Tyler treaty in the United States Senate, and had, refused to run for Vice-President with Polk, was made the Democratic candidate for Govern or of New Tork, which State ¦ could not other-wise have been carried for Polk. In a canvassing speech at Skaneateles, Mr. Wright referred to his opposition as unabated, and de clared that he could never consent to Annexation on any terms which would give Slavery an advantage over Freedom. This sentiment was reiterated, and emphasized in a great Democratic convention held at Her kimer in the autumn of that year. The canvass of 1844 was opened ¦with signal animation, earnestness, and confidence on the part of the Whigs, who felt that they should not, and beheved that they could not, be beaten on the Issue made up for them by their adversaries. So late as the 4th of July, their prospect of carry ing New Tork and Pennsylvania, and thus overwhelmingly electing theh- candidates, was very flattering. On the 16th of August, however. The North Alalamian pubhshed a letter from Mr. Clay to two Alabama friends, who had urged him to make a further statement of his views on the Annexation question. The ma terial portion of that letter concluded as follows : " I do not think it right to announce in advance what wiU be the course of a future Administration in respect to a question with a foreign power. I have, however, no hesi tation in saying thut, far from having any personal objection to the Annexation of Texas, / s'hould be glad to see it — without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms. "I do not think that the subject of Slave ry ought to affect the question, one way or the other. Whether Texas be independent, or incorporated in the United States, I do not believe it will prolong or shorten the duration of that institution. It is destined to become extinct, at some distant day, in my opinion, by the operation of the inevita ble laws of population. , It would be un wise to refuse a permanent acquisition, which will ¦ exist as long as the globe re mains, on account of a temporary institu tion. " In the contingency of my election, to which you have adverted, if the affair of acquiring Texas should become a subject of consideration, I should be governed by the state of facts, and the state of public opinion existing at the time I might be called upon to act. Above all, I should be governed by the paramiiuntduty of preserving the Union entire, and in harmony, regarding it, as I do, as the great guaranty of every political and public blessing, under Providence, which, as a free people, we are permitted to enjoy."This letter was at once seized upon by Mr. Clay's adversaries, whether Democrats or Abohtionists, as evinc ing a complete change of base on his part. It placed the Northern advocates of his election on the de fensive for the remainder of the can vass, and weakened their pre-vious hold on the moral con-victions of the more considerate and conscientious voters of the Free States. These were generally hostile to Annexation precisely or mainly because of its bearings upon Slavery; and the. declaration of their candidate that such considerations "ought not ta DEFEAT OF MR. CLAY. 167 affect the question, one way or the other," was most embarrassing. The *' Liberty party," so called, pushed this view of the matter beyond all justice and reason, insisting that Mr. Clay's antagonism to Annexa tion, not being founded in anti- Slavery conviction, was of no ac count whatever, and that his election should, on that ground, be opposed. Mr. James G. Birney, their candidate for President, went still further, and, in a letter published on the eve of the election, proclaimed that Mr. Clay's election would be more hkely to promote Annexation than Mr. Polk's, because of Mr. C.'s superior abUity and influence ! It was in vain that Mr. Clay attempted to retrieve his error — ^if error it was — ^by a final letter to The National Intelligencer, reasserting his unchanged and In- "vincible objections to any such An nexation as was then proposed or practicable.' The State, of New Tork was carried against him by the lean plurahty of 5,106 in nearly 500,000 votes — ^the totals being. Clay, 232,482, Polk, 237,588, Bir ney, 15,812 ; — one-third of the in tensely anti-Slavery votes thrown away on Birney would have given the State to Mr. Clay, and elected him. The vote of Michigan was, in like manner, given to Polk by the diversion of anti-Slavery suffrages to Birney ; but New Tork alone would have secured Mr. Clay's election, giving him 141 electoral votes to 134 for his opponent. As It was, Mr. Clay received the electoral votes of Massachusetts, Phode Isl and, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carohna, Ohio, Kentucky, and Ten nessee — 105 in all, being those of eleven States; while Mr. Polk was supported by Maine, New Hamp shire, New Tork, Pennsylvania, Vir ginia, South Carohna, Georgia, Ala bama, Mississippi, .Louisiana, Indi ana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Arkansas — fifteen States, casting 170' electoral votes. The popular votes throughout the country, as returned, were, for Clay, 1,288,533 ; for Polk, 1,327,325; for Birney, 62,263. So the triumph of Annexation had been secured by the indirect aid of the more intense partisans of Abohtion. 'This letter bears date "Ashland, September 23, 1844," and says : " In annovmcing my determination to permit no other letters to be dra-wn from me on public aff'airs, I think it right to avail myself of the present occasion to correct the erroneous inter pretation of one or two of those which I had previously written. In April last, I addressed •to you from Raleigh a letter in respect to the proposed treaty annexing Texas to the United States, and I have smce addressed two letters to Alabama upon the same subject. Most un warranted allegations have been made that those letters are inconsistent with each other, and, to make it out, particular phrases or ex pressions have been torn from their context, and a meaning attributed to me which I never entertained. " I wish now distinctly to say, that there is not a feeling, a sentunent, or an opinion, ex pressed in my Raleigh letter to which I do not adhere. I am decidedly opposed to the imme diate Annexation of Texas to the United States. I think it would be dishonorable, might involve us in war, would be dangerous to the integrity and harmony of the Union ; and, if aU these ob jections were removed, could not be effected upou just and admissible conditions. " It was not my intention, in either of the two letters which I addressed to Alabama, to express any contrary opinion. Representations had been made to me that I was considered as inflexibly opposed to the Annexation of Texas under any circumstances ; and that my position was so extreme that I would not waive it, even if there was a general consent to the measure by all the States of the Union. I repUed, in my first letter to Alabama, that, personally, I had no objection to Annexation. I thought that my meaning was sufficiently obvious, that I had no personal, individual, or private motives for op posing," as I have none for espousing, the mea sure — my judgment being altogether influenced by general and political considerations, whiei have ever been the guide of toy publie conduct," 168 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. The Presidential canvass of 1844 had been not only the most arduous but the most equal of any that the country had ever known, with the possible exception of that of 1800. The election of Madison In 1812, of Jackson In 1828, and of Harrison in 1840, had /probably been contested with equal spirit and energy ; but the disparity of forces in either case was, to the intelligent, impartial ob server, quite ob-vious. In the con test of 1844, on the contrary, the battle raged with uniform fury from extreme North to farthest South — Maine and New Hampshire voting strongly for Polk, while Tennessee (his own State) went against him by a small majority, and Louisiana was carried against Clay only by fraud, and by a majority of less than seven hundred in nearly twenty-seven thousand votes. Up to the appear ance of Mr. Clay's luckless Alabama letter, he seemed quite likely to car ry every great Free State, including New Tork, Pennsylvania, and In diana. Not till the election (October 8) of Shunk, the Democratic candi date for Governor of Pennsylvania, by 160,759 votes to 156,562 for his Clay competitor, Markle, did the chances for Polk seem decidedly promising ; had Markle received the full vote (161,203) poUed, some three weeks later, for Clay himself, the electoral votes of Pennsylvania, New Tork, Indiana, and Louisiana, would probably have been cast for the lat ter, giving him 185, and leaving his antagonist but 90. As it was, with Pennsylvania carried for Polk at the State election, the vote of no less than fourteen of the twenty- eight States, choosing 166 ofthe 275 Electors, was doubtful up to the evening after the election. So close a Presidential race was and remains without paraUel. Mr. Clay had the ardent support of a decided majority of the native-born voters, as well as of those who could read the ballots they cast — of all who had either prop erty or social consideration, and probably of all who had a legal right to vote. But the baleful " Nati-vism" which had just broken out ia the great cities, and had been made the occasion of riot, devastation, and bloodshed in Philadelphia, had alarmed the forelgn-bom population, and thrown them almost unanimous ly into the ranks of his adversaries ; so that, estimating the vote cast by Adopted or to-be Adopted Citizens at Half a Milhon, It is nearly certain that four hundred and seventy-five thousand of it was cast for Polk — not with special intent to annex Texas, but in order to defeat and prostrate Nativism. Under other auspices, Mr. Clay's portion of this vote could hardly have been less than a fifth. The election of Polk secured the immediate Annexation of Texas. That event would probably have taken place at some future day, had Mr. Van Buren or Mr. Clay been chosen, as their avowals fally indica ted. But Mr. Polk was the outspok en, imequlvocal champion of Annex ation forth-with — ^Annexation in defi ance of Mexico — ^Annexation regard less of her protest and the existing War — Annexation with our unjustifi able claim to the boundary of the Eio Grande ready to convert the danger of war with Mexico Into a certamty — Annexation in defiance of the sus ceptibilities and con-victions of the more conscientious and considerate POLK TO KANE — CALHOUN TO KING. 169 half of the population of the Free States as to the e-vil and peril, the guilt and shame of extending and for tifying Slavery by the power and un der the flag of our Union. No matter what the People meanfhj electing him President — ^they had voted with their eyes open ; and he, while equivocat ing* and dissembling on the Tariff question, had been frank and open on this. Nor had the ruling purpose with which the acquisition of Texas was pursued been disguised by its champions. " It -will give a Gibraltar to the South^'' said Gen. James Ham ilton, jr., of S. C, an eminent disci ple of Calhoun, who had migrated from South Carolina to Texas, and taken a leading part in her affairs. In furtherance of the project. Such was the drift of Southern Inculca tion on this subject; and the coloni zing, the revolutionizing, and the an nexing of the coveted region, were but three acts in the same drama, and all the work of ' the South.' When a Tennessee slaveholder and unflinch- ing devotee of the Slave Power, well known as an earnest and self-pro claimed Annexationist, had been chosen President, and thus invest ed with the Executive power and patronage of the Eepubhc for the four years ensuing, the speedy and complete triumph of the measure was rendered ine-vitable. Mr. Tyler was still President, with John C. Calhoun as Secretary of State, and would so remain until the 4th of March. On the first Monday in December, the Twenty-Eighth Con gress reassembled, and the President laid before it, among others, a dis patch from Mr. Calhoun, dated Au gust 12, 1844, to Hon. Wilham E. King, our Minister at Paris, instruct ing hina to represent to the French Government the advantages and the necessity of Annexation on many grounds, but especially on that of Its tendency to uphold Slavery, primari ly in Texas Itself, but " ultimately in the United States, and throughout the whole ofthis continent." Mr. Calhoun assumed that Great Britain was intent on Abolition generally ; that she had destroyed her own West India Colo nies in a fatile attempt " to combine philanthropy -with profit and power, as is not unusual with fanaticism ;" and that she was now employing aU her diplomacy and influence to drag down, flrst Texas, then the residue of this continent, to her o-wa degra ded level. Says Mr. Calhoun : "In order to regain her superiority, she not only seeks to revive and increase her * Witness the following letter : "Columbia, Tenn., June 19, 1844. " Deae Sie: — ^I have recently received several letters in reference to my opinions on the subject of the Tariff", and among others yours of the 10th ultimo. My opinions ou this subject have been often given to the public. They are to be found in my public acts, and in the public discussions in which I have participated. " I am in favor of a Tariff for revenue, such a one as will yield a sufficient amount to the Treasury to defray the expenses of Govemment economically administered. In adjusting the de tails of a revenue Tariff; I have heretofore sanc tioned such moderate discriminating duties, as would produce the amount of revenue needed, and at the same time afford reasonable incidental protection to our home industry. I am opposed to a Tariff- for protection merely, and not for rev- onno ijt ^ !j6 !(; !}! ^ " In my judgment, it is the duty of the Gov emment to 'extend, as far as it maybe practi cable to do so, by its revenue laws and aU other means within its power, fair and just protection to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation. I heartily approve the resolutions upon this sub ject as passed by the Democratic National Co"!- vention, lately assembled at Baltimore. " I am with great respect, "Dear Sir, your ob't serv't, "James K. Polk. " John K. Kane, Esq., Philadelphia." 170 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. o-wn capacity to produce tropical produc tions, but to diminish and destroy the capa city of those who have so far outstripped her in consequence of her error. In pursuit of the former, she has cast her eyes to her East India possessions — to central and eastern Africa — with the -view of establish ing colonies there, and even to restore, sub stantially, the Slave-Trade itself, under the specious name of transporting free labor ers from Africa to her West India posses sions, in order, if possible, to compete suc cessfully with those who have refused to follow her suicidal policy. But these all afford but uncertain and distant hopes of recovering her lost superiority. Her main reliance is on the other alternative — to crip ple or destroy the productions of her suc cessful rivals. There is but one way by which it can be done, and that is, by abol ishing African Slavery throughout this con tinent : and that she openly avows to be the constant object of her policy and exertions. It matters not how, or from what motive, it may be done — whether it be done by diplomacy, influence, or force ; by secret or open means ; and whether the motive be humane or selfish, without regard to jnan- ner, means, or motive. The thing itself, should it be accomplished, would put down all rivalry, and give her the undisputed su premacy in supplying her own wants and those of the rest of the world; and thereby more than fully retrieve what she lost by her errors. It would give her the monopoly of tropical productions, which I shall next pro ceed to show. " What would be the consequence, if this object of her unceasing solioitudo and exer tions should be effected by the abolition of Negro Slavery throughout this continent? Some idea may be forraed from the immense diminution of productions, as has been shown, which has followed abolition in her West India possessions. But, as great as that has been, it is nothing compared with what woald be the effect, if she should suc ceed in abolishing Slavery in the United States, Cuba, Brazil, and throughout this continent. The experiment in her own colonies was made under the most favor able ciroiinistanoes. It was brought about gradually and peaceably by the steady and firm operation of the parent country, armed with complete power to prevent or crush at once all insurrectionary movements on the part of the negroes, and able and disposed to maintain, to the full, the political and social ascendency of the former masters over their former slaves. It is not at all wonderful that the change of the relations of master and slave took place, under such circumstances, without violence and blood shed, and that order and peace should have been since preserved. Very different would be the result of Abolition should it be effect ed by her influence and exertions in the pos sessions of other countries on this continent — and specially in the United States, Cuba, and Brazil, the great cultivators of the prin cipal tropical products of America. To form a correct conception of what would be the result with them, we must look, not to Ja maica, but to St. Domingo, for example. The change would be followed by unforgiv ing hate between the two races, and end in a bloody and deadly struggle between them for the superiority. One or the other would have to be subjugated, extirpated, or expell ed; and desolation would overspread their territories, as in St. Domingo, from which it would take centuries to recover. The end would be, that the superiority in cultivating the great tropical staples would be trans ferred from them to the British tropical possessions. " These are of vast extent, and those be yond the Cape of Good Hope, possessed of an unlimited amount of labor, standing ready, by the aid of British capital, to sup ply the deficit which would be occasioned by destroying the tropical productions of the United States, Cuba, Brazil, and other countries cultivated by Slave labor on this continent, as soon as the increased prices, in consequence, would yield a profit. It is the successful competition of th.at labor which keeps the prices of the great tropical staples so low as to prevent their cultivation -with profit in the possessions of G-reat Britain, by what she is pleased to call free labor. " If she can destroy its nompetition, she would have a monopoly of these produc tions. She has all the means of furnishing an unlimited supply — vast and fertile posses sions in both Indies, boundless command of capital and labor, and ample power to suppress disturbances aud preserve order throughout her wide domain. "It is unquestionable that she regards abolition in Texas as a most important step toward this great object of policy, so much the aim of her solicitude and exertions ; and the defeat of the Annexation of Texas to our Union as indispensabla to the abolition of Slavery there. She is too sagacious not to see -what a fatal blow it wOuld give to Slav ery in the United States, and how certainly its abolition with us will abolish it over tlie whole continent, and thereby give her a monopoly in the production of the great tropical staples, and the command of the commerce, navigation, and manufactures of the world, with an established naval ascen dency and political preponderance. To this continent, the blow would be calamitous be yond description. It would destroy, in a great measure, the cultivation and produc- ANNEXATION IN CONGRESS. 171 tion of the great tropical staples, amounting annually in value to nearly $300,000,000, the fund which stimulates and upholds almost every other bijinoh of its industry, com merce, navigation, and manufactures. The whole, by their joint influence, are rapidly spreading population, wealth, improvement, and civilization, over the whole continent, and -vi-vifying, by their overflow, the indus try of Europe, thereby increasing its popu lation, wealth, and advanoement in the arts, in power, and in civilization. "Such must be the result, should Great Britain succeed in accomplishing the con stant object of her desire and exertions — the Abolition of Negro Slavery over this con tinent — and toward the effecting of which she regards the defeat of the Annexation of Texas to our Union as so important." Such were the grounds on which France was asked to give her sympa thy and moral support to the Annex ation of Texas to this country. On the 19th of December, Mr. John B. Weller, of Ohio, by leave, introduced to the House a joint re solve, providing for the Annexation of Texas to the United States ; which was sent to the Committee of the whole. Mr. John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, then also a Democrat, proposed (January 10, 1845), an amendment, as follows : "Provided, That, immediately after the question of boundary between the United States of America and Mexico shall have been definitively settled by the two govern ments, and before any State formed out of the tei-ritory of Texas shall be admitted into the Union, the said territory of Texas shall be divided as follows, to wit : beginning at a point on the Gulf of Mexico midway be tween the Northern and Southern bounda ries thereof on the coast ; and thence by a line running in a northwesterly direction to the extreme boundary thereof, so as to divide the same as nearly as possible into two equal parts, and in that portion of the said terri tory lying south and west of the line to be run as aforesaid, there shall be neither Sla very nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. "And provided further. That this pro- -yision shall be considered as a compact be tween the people of the United States and the people of the said ten-itory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by the consent of three-fourths of the States of the Union." Mr. Hale's motion that the rules be suspended, to enable him to offer this proposition, was defeated — Yeas 92 (not two-thirds) to Nays 81. Mr. Charles J. Ingersoll, of Pa., reported (Jan. 12), from the Committee on Foreign Affairs a joint resolve In fa vor of Aimexation, which was sent to the Committee of the Whole. January 25th, the debate was brought to a close, and the following joint resolution adopted — that por tion relating to Slavery having been added in Committee, on motion of Mr. MUton Brown (Whig), of Ten nessee : -' Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled. That Congress doth consent that the territory properly included in, and rightfully belong ing to, the Republic of Texas, may be erect ed into a new State, to be called the State of Texas, with a republican forra of govem ment, to be adopted by the people of said Republic, by deputies in Convention assem bled, with the consent of the existing gov ernment, in order that the same may be ad mitted as one of the States of this Union. " 2. And be it further resohed. That the foregoing consent of Congress is given on the following conditions, and with the fol lowing guarantees, to wit : ' " First. Said State to be formed, subject to the adjustment by this Government of all questions of boundary that may arise with other governments; and the Constitution thereof, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of said Eepublic of Texas, shall be transmitted to the President of the United States, to be laid before Con gress for its final action, on or before the 1st day of January, 1846. " Second. Said State, when admitted into the Union, after ceding to the United States all public edifices, fortifications, barracks, ports and harbors, navy and navy yards, docks, magazines, ai-ms, armaments, and all other property and means pertaining to the public defense, belonging to the said Repub lic of Texas, shall retain all the public funds, debts, taxes, and dues of every kind, which may belong to, or be due or owing said Re public ; and shall also retain all the vacant and unappropriated lands, lying within its 172 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. limits, to be applied to the payment of the debts and liabilities of said Republic of Texas ; and the residue of said lands, after discharging said debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as said State may direct ; but in no event are said debts and liabilities to be come a charge upon the United States. " Third. New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory tbereof, which shall be entitled to admission, under the provisions of the Federal Consti tution. And such States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes of North latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire ; and in such State or States as may be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri Compromise line, Slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited." The amendment of Mr. Bro-wn was adopted by Yeas 118 to Nays 101 — the Yeas consisting of 114 Democrats and 4 Southern Whigs (as yet) — Milton Brown, of Tennessee ; James Dellet, of Alabama ; Duncan L. Clinch and Alexander Stephens, of Georgia. The Nays were 78 Whigs and 23 Democrats (from Free States); among them, Hannibal Hamhn, John P. Hale, Preston King, George Eathbun, and Jacob Brinckerhoff — since known as Eepubhcans. The joint resolve, as thus amended, passed the House by Yeas 120 to Nays 98 — the division being substantially as before. In the Senate, this resolve was taken up for action, February 24th ; and, on the 27th, Mr. Foster (Whig), of Tennessee, proposed the following ; "And provided further. That, in fixing the terms and conditions of such admission, it shall be expressly stipulated and declared, that the State of Texas, and such other States as may be formed out of that portion of the present territory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without Slavery, as the peo ple of each State, so hereafter asking admis sion, may desire: And proijided further more. That it shall be also stipulated and declared that the public debt of Texas shall in no event become a charge upon the Gov ernment of the United States." This was voted down, as were one or two kindred propositions. Mr. Miller (Whig), of New Jersey, moved to strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert as follows : " That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized and advised to open negotiations with Mexico and Texas, for the adjustment of their boundaries, and the annexation of the latter to the United States, on the following basis, to wit : " I. The boundary of the annexed terri tory to be in the desert prairie west of the Nueces, and along the highlands and moun tain hights which divide the waters of the Mississippi from the waters of the Rio del Norte, and to latitude forty-two degrees north. " II. The people of Texas, by a legislative act, or by any authentic act which shows the will of the majority, to express their assent to said annexation. "III. A State, to be called 'the State of Texas,' with boundaries fixed by herself, and extent not exceeding the largest Stafe of the Union, to be admitted into the Union, by virtue of this act, on an equal footing with the original States. " IV. The remainder of the annexed terri tory, to be held and disposed of by the United States, as one of their Territories, to be called 'the South-west Territory.'' " V. The existence of Slavery to be for ever prohibited in the northern and north western part of said Territory, west of the 100th degree of longitude west from Green wich, so as to di-sdde, as equally as may be, the whole of the annexed country between slaveholding and non-slaveholding States. " VI. The assent of Mexico to be obtained by treaty to such annexation and boundary, or to be dispensed with when the Congress of the United States may deem such as sent to be unnecessary. " VII. Other details of the annexation to be adjusted by treaty, so far as the same may come within the scope of the treaty- making power." This was rejected by 11 Yeas — ah Whigs from Free States— to 33 Nays. Mr. Walker, of Wisconsin, moved to add to the House proposition an CONGRESS ASSENTS TO ANNEXATION. 173 alternative contemplating negotia tion as a means of effecting the end proposed: and this was carried by 27 Yeas, to 25 Nays — the Nays all Whigs. The measure, as thus amend ed, passed the Senate by Yeas 27 — all the Democrats present and three Whigs, of whom two thereupon turned Democrats — to 25 Nays — all Whigs ; ° and the proposition being returned to the House, the amendment of the Senate was con curred in by 134 Yeas to 77 Nays — a party vote : so the Annexation of Texas was decreed, in the foUo-wing terms : "Resolved, 'by the Senate and Mouse of Representatives of the United States in Con gress assembled. That Congress doth consent that the territory properly included within, and rightfully belonging to, the Republic of Texas, may be erected into a new State, to be called the State of Texas, with a repub lican form of government, to be adopted by the people of said republic, by deputies in Convention assembled, with the consent of ttie existing government, in order that the same may be admitted as one of the States of the Union. " Sec. 2. And be it further resolved. That the . foregoing consent of Congress is given npon the foUowing conditions, and with the following guarantees, to wit : "¦First: Said State to be formed, subject to theadjustment by this Government of all questions of boundary that may arise with other governments ; and the Constitution thereof, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of said Republic of Texas, shall be transmitted to the Presi dent of the United States, to be laid before Congress for its flnal action, on or before the fii-st day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty six. " Second : Said State, when admitted into the Union, after ceding to the United States all public edifices, fortifications, barracks. forts and harbors, navy and navy-yards, docks, magazines, arms, armaments, and all other property and means pertaining to the public defense, belonging to the said Republic of Texas, shall retain all public funds, debts, taxes, and dues of every kind, which may belong to, or be due or owing said Repub lic ; and shall also retain all the vacant or unappropriated lands lying within its limits, to be applied to the payment of the debts and liabilities of said Republic of Texas ; and the residue of said lands, after discharg ing said debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as said State may direct ; but in no event are said debts and liabilities to become a charge^pon the United States. " Third. New States of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to the said State of Texas, and having sufiicient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to adraission ijunder the provisions of the Federal Consti tution ; and such States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admit ted into the Union with or without Slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire. And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri Compromise line. Slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited. [walker's amendment ADDED.] " And be it further resolved, That if the .President of the United States shall, in his ¦judgment and discretion, deem it most ad visable, instead of proceeding to submit the foregoing resolutions to the Republic of Texas, as an overture on the part of the United States for admission, to negotiate with that Republic ; then, " Be it resolved. That a State to be form ed out of the present Republic of Texas, with suitable extent and boundaries, and with two representatives in Congress, until the next apportionment of representation, shall be admitted into the Union by virtue of this act, on an equal footing with the existing States, as soon as the terms and conditions of such admission, and the ' On the flnal vote in the Senate, the Yeas —for the Proposition as amended — were as fol lows — ^the names in italics being those of Whigs : Messrs. Allen, Ashley,- Atchison, Atherton, Bagby, Benton, Breese, Buchanan, Colquitt, Dickinson, Dix, Fairfield, Hannegan, Haywood, Henderson, Huger, Johnson, Lewis, McDuffie, Merrick, Niles, Semple, Sevier, Sturgeon, Tappan, Walker, Woodbury— 27. The Nays — agaiTist the proposed Annexation — were : Messrs. Archer, Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Ber rien, Choate, Clayton, Crittenden, Dayton, Evans, Foster, Francis, Huntington, Jarnagin, Mangum, Miller, Morehead, Pearce, Phelps, Porter, Rives, Simmons, Upham, White, Woodbridge — 25. Teas : Frora Free States, 13 ; Slave States, 14. Nats: " " " 12; •' " 13. 174 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. cession of the remaining Texan territory to the United States, shall be agreed upon by the Governments of Texas and the United States. " And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to defray the expenses of missions and negotiations, to agree upon the terms of said admission and cession, either by treaty to be submitted to the Senate, or by articles to be submitted to the two Houses of Congress, as the President may direct. " Approved, March 2, 1845." President Tyler immediately, on the last day of his term, rendered the Walker amendment nugatory by dispatching a messenger to Texas to secure her assent to Annexation, pure and simple ; and thus the triumph of the measure was secured. The pretext or show of compromise ¦with respect to Slavery, by a partition of territory, was one of the worst fea tures of this most objectionable mea sure. So much of Texas as lay north of the parallel of 36'' 30' north lati tude was thereby allotted to Free labor, when Texas had never con trolled, and did not at that moment possess, a single acre north of that parallel, nor for two hundred miles south of It. All the territory claim ed by her uorth of that hne was New Mexico, which had never been for a week under the flag of Texas. While seeming to curtail and circumscribe Slavery north of the above parallel, this measure really extended it north ward to that parallel, which it had not yet approached, under the flag of Texas, within hundreds of miles. But the chief end of this sham com promise was the invol-dng of Con gress and the country in an indirect indorsement of the claim of Texas to the entire left bank ofthe Eio Grande, from Its mouth to its source ; and this was effected. This complete triumph of Annexa tion, even before the inauguration of Mr. Polk, was hailed with exultation throughout the South, and received -with profound sensation and concern at the North. It excited, moreover, some surprise ; as, three days before it occurred, its defeat for that session appeared almost certain. Mr. Bag- by, a Democratic Senator from- Ala bama, positively declared from his seat that he would not support It ; while the opposition of Messrs. Niles, of Connecticut, Dix, of New York, and Benton, of Missouri, was deemed invincible ; but the Alabamlan was tamed by private, but unquestiona ble, intimations, that it would not be safe for him to return to his o-wn State, nor even to remain In Wash ington, If his vote should defeat the darling project ; and the repugnance of Messrs. Niles, Dix, and Benton, was somehow overcome — ^the Walker amendment serving as a pretext for submission to the party behest, when no plausible excuse could be given. Mr. Polk was already in Washing ton, engaged in making up his jew els ; and he had very freely intuna- ted that no man who opposed Annex ation should receive office or con sideration at his hands. The three Tylerized Whigs from the South, who voted in the affirmative, had not been counted on as opponents of the scheme. The Democrats of the North, hav ing elected Mr. Polk after a desper ate struggle, and beiag intent on the imminent distribution of the spoils, might regret this early fruit of then- triumph, but could hardly be expect ed openly to denounce it. Mr. John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, who had e-vinced (as we have seen) insubor- THE UNION A CHAMPION OP SLATERT. 175 dinatlon in the House, and who was then the regular Democratic nominee for the next House in the election just at hand, was thro-wn off the ticket unceremoniously, and another nominated In his stead — who, how ever, failed of success ; the election resulting in no choice, so far as this seat was concerned. Three regular Denaocrats were elected to the others. In no other State was there any open and formidable opposition manifested by Democrats to this sudden consum mation of the Texan intrigue. The Whigs and Abohtionists of the Free States, of course, murmur ed ; but to what end ? What could they do ? The new Democratic Ad ministration must hold the reins for the ensuing four years, and its decided ascendency in both Houses of the next Congress was already amply secured. There were the usual editorial thunderings ; perhaps a few sermons, and less than half-a- dozen rather thinly-attended public meetings, mainly In Massachusetts, whereat ominous whispers may have been heard, that, if things were to go on In this way nauch longer, the IJnion would, or should, be dissolved. This covert menace was emphatically rebuked by Mr. Eobert C. Winthrop, of Boston, speaking the sentiment of the great majority of leading Whigs. "Our country, however bounded," was declared by him entitled to his allegiance, and the object of his affec tions. The great ma,jorIty, even of the murmurers, went on -with their industry and their trade, their pur suits and their aspirations, as though nothing of special moment had hap pened. Yet it did not escape the regard of keen observers that our country had placed herself, by annexing Texas under the circumstances, not merely in the light of a powerful ag gressor on the rights of neighboring helplessness, but of a champion and propagandist of Slavery, as the fit, beneficent condition of the producers of tropical and semi-tropical staples throughout the world. . The dispatch of Mr. Calhoun to France, with one or two others of lllie purport, aimed more directly at England, justified and commended our designs on Texas expressly and emphatically on this ground. England, he argued, was plotting the extinction of Slave ry throughout the. Western Hemis phere. The United States must clutch Texas, or she would soon fall a prey to British intrigue and British influence — ^being induced thereby to emancipate her slaves ; thus dealing a damaging, if not mortal, blow to Slavery throughout the New World. To avert this blow, and to shield the social and industrial system which it menaced, were the chief ends of An nexation. Now, it was not literally ti-ue that our country was thus presented, for the first time, in the questionable ai>- tltude of a champion of Slavery. In our last treaty of peace with Great Britain, our commissioners at Ghent, acting under special instructions from the State Department,' had adroitly bound Great Britain to return to 6 " The negroes taken from thfe Southem States should be returned to their owners, or pMd for at their full value. If these slaves were considered as non-combatants, they ought to be restored ; if" as property, they ought to be paid for." This stipulation is, moreover, expressly included "iu the conditions on which you are to vrirsist in the proposed negotiations." — Letter of InstrveMons from Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, 2Sth January, 1814. 176 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. US snch slaves as had escaped from our coast to her cruisers, during the progress of the war.' And, under this treaty, after a tedious controver sy. Great Britain — refusing, of course, to surrender persons who had fled from her enemies to her protection — was compelled, In 1818, on the award of Alexander I. of Eussia to pay over to us no less than twelve hundred thousand dollars, to be di-vided among our bereft slaveholders. Before this sum was received (1826-7), our Gov ernment had made application to the .British for a mutual stipulation, by treaty, to return fugitives from labor. But, though Great Britain, through her colonies, was then a slave-holding nation, she peremptorily declined the proposed reciprocity. The first ap phcation for such a nice arrange ment -was made by Mr. Gallatin, our Minister at London, under Instruc tions from Mr. Clay, as Secretary of State, dated June 19, 1826. On the 5th of July, 1827, Mr. Gallatin com municated to his Government the final answer of the British Minister, that "It was utterly impossible for them to agree to the stipulation for the surrender of fugitive slaves ;" and, when the apphcation was renewed through our next Minister, Mr. James Barbour, the British Minister conclusively replied that " the law of Parliament gives freedom to every slave who effects his landing on Brit ish ground." Yet a Democratic House of Eepresentatives, In 1828, (May 10), requested the President " To open a negotiation with the British Government, in the view to obtain an ar- ' " Aet. I. AU territory, places, and posses sions whatever, taken from either party by tiie other, during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of thisjtreaty, shall be restored ¦without delay; and -without causing any de rangement, whereby ftigitive slaves, who have taken refuge in the Canadian provinces of that Government, may be surrendered bythe functionaries thereof to their mas ters, upon making satisfactory proof of their ownership of said slaves." A Presidential Election was then imminent, and neither party -willing to provoke the jealousy of the Slave Power': so this disgraceful resolve passed the House without a di-vision. In 1826, Joel E. Poinsett, our Min ister to Mexico, acting under instruc-. tions from Mr. Clay, negotiated -with the Mexican Government a treaty for the mutual restoration of runaway slaves, but the Mexican Senate refti- sed to ratify it. In 1831 (January 3), the brig Comet, a regular slaver from the District of Columbia, on her voyage to New Orleans, with a cargo of 164 slaves, was lost off the island of Abaco. The slaves were saved, and carried into New Pro-vi dence, a British port, whose authori ties immediately set them at liberty. And in 1833 (February 4), the brig Encomium, from Charleston to New Orleans with 45 slaves, was also "wrecked near Abaco, and the slaves, In like manner, carried into New Providence, and there declared free. In February, 1835, the Enterprise, another slaver from the Federal Dis trict, proceeding to Charleston with 78 slaves, was driven in distress into Bermuda, where the slaves were im mediately set at hberty. After long and earnest efforts on the part of our Govemment, the British Cabinet re luctantly consented to pay for the car goes of the Comet and Encomium, expressly on the groimds that Slavery struction or the carrying away of the artiUery, or other public property originally captured in said forts or places, and which shaU remain up on the exchange of the ratifications of this trea ty, or any slaves, or other private property." DESTRUCTION OF A PORT IN FLORIDA. 177 Btni existed in the British West In dies at the time then- slaves were lib erated ; but refused to pay for those of the Enterprise, or any other slaver, who might be brought on British soil subsequently to the passage of her Emancipation act. Importunity and menace were alike exhausted by our diplomatists down to a recent period, but to no purpose. Great Britain stubbornly refused either to unite Avith us In a reciprocal surrender of fugitive slaves to their masters, or in paying for such as, by their own ef forts, or through the interposition of Pro-vidence, might emerge from Amer ican bondage into British liberty. Our repeated invasions of Florida, while a Spanish colony, our purchase of that colony from Spain, and our unjust, costly, and discreditable wars upon her Aboriginal tribes, were aU prompted by a concern for the inter ests and security of the slaveholders of southern Georgia and Alabama, whose chattels would persist in fol io-wing each other out of Christian bondage into savage freedom. Gen. Jackson, in 1816, -wrote to Gen. Gaines with respect to a fort in Florida, then a Spanish possession : " If the fort harbors the negioes of our citizens, or of friendly Indians living within our territory, or holds out inducements to the slaves of our citizens to desert from their owners' service, it must be destroyed. Notify the Governor of Pensacola of your advance into his territory, and for the express purpose of destroying these lawless banditti." Gen. Gaines, for some reason, did not execute this order; but a gun- , boat, sent up the Apalacliicola river by our Commodore Patterson, on the 27th of July, attacked and destroyed the fort by firing red-hot shot, explo ding its magazine. The result is thus gummed up in the official report : 12 " Three hundred negroes, men, women, and children, and about twenty Indians, were in the fort; of these two hundred and seventy were killed, and the greater part of the rest mortally wounded." Commodore Patterson, in his offi cial letter to the Secretary of the Navy, expressly justifies the destruc tion of this fort on the ground of its affording a harbor " for runaway slaves and disaffected Indians :" add ing, " they have no longer a place to fly to, and "wiU not be so hable to abscond." The resistance Interposed by Gen. Cass, our Minister at Paris in 1840- 41, to the treaty negotiated between the Great Powers, conceding a mutu al right to search on the slave-coast of Africa, with a view to the more effectual suppression of the Slave- Trade, though cloaked by a jealousy of British maritime preponderance, was really a bid for the favor of the Slave Power. The concession, by our Govemment, of the right to search, since that Government has passed out of the hands of the devo tees of Slavery, is suggestive. It was American Slavery, not Ameri can commerce, that dreaded the vis itation of our vessels on the western coast of central Africa by National cruisers, intent on the pimlshment of a crime which had already been pro nounced piracy by the awakened conscience of Christendom. In fact, so long as more than one hundred members of Congress were chosen to represent, to advance, and to guard, before all else, the Interests of Slavery, and one hundred electo'- ral votes were controlled, primarily, by that Interest, it was morally impos sible that our Govemment should not be warped into subserviency to our National cancer. A ' pecuhar insti- 178 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. tution,' creating and upholding the title to a species of property valued at Four Thousand Millions of dollars, could hardly fail to make itself re spected and influential In every de partment of the public service, and through every act of the Federal authorities calculated to affect Its stability. Its prosperity, or its power. But, up to this time, Slavery had sought and obtained the protection and championship of the Federal Government expressly as a domestic institution — as an important interest of a certain portion of the American people. Inthe Annexation of Texas, and in the reasons officially adduced therefor, it challenged the regard of mankind and defied the consciences of our o-wn citizens as a great Na tional Interest, to the protection of which, at all hazards and under aU circumstances, our Government was inflexibly committed, and -with whose fortunes those of our country were inextricably blended. For the first time, our Union stood before the nations, not merely as an upholder, but as a zealous, unscrupulous propa gandist of Human Slavery. XIII. THE MISSION OF SAMUEL HOAE. The Federal Constitution (Art. iv. § 2) provides that " The citizens " of each State shall be entitled to all " the privileges and immunities of " citizens in the several States." This is plainly condensed from the corresponding pro-vision of the Arti cles of Confederation, adopted in 1778, and thenceforth our bond of Union, until superseded in 1787-8 by the Federal Constitution afore said. That provision is as follows : " Art. 4. The better to secure and per petuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the difi'erent States in the IJnioh, the free inhabitants of each State — paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted — shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States ; and the peo ple of each State shall have free ingress and egress to and fk-om any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions, as the inhab itants thereof respectively." When this Article was under con sideration, the delegates from South Carolina moved to amend by insert ing the word " white^^ between " free " and " Inhabitants ;" which was emphatically negatived — only two States voting for it : so it was determlnad that States had, or might have, citizens who were not " white," and that these shoidd be entitled to all the prl-vileges of citizens in every other State. We have seen' that Congress, In 1821, resisted the attempt of Mis souri to prohibit the immigration of free colored persons, deeming it a palpable -violation of that require ment of the FMeral Constitution. above quoted; and would not ad mit that State into the Union until, by a second compromise, she was re quired to pledge herself that her Page 80. SOUTH CAROLINA IMPRISONING SEAMEN. 179 Legislature should pass no act " by " which any of the citizens of either "of the States should be excluded " from the enjoyment of the privi- " leges and immunities to which they " are entitled under the Constitution " of the United States." There was no question pending, no proscription or exclusion meditated, but that af fecting colored persons only ; and Congress, by the above action, clear ly affirmed their right, when citizens of any State, to the privileges and immunities of citizens In all other States. The assumption that negroes are not, and cannot be, citizens. Is abund antly refuted by the action of several of the Slave States themselves. Till -within a recent period, free negroes were not merely citizens, but electors, of those States — ^which all citizens are not, or need not be. John Bell, when first elected to Congress, in 1827, running out Fehx Grundy, re ceived the votes of several colored electors, and used, long after, to con fess his obligation to them. North Carolina allowed her free negroes, who possessed the requisite qualifications in other respects, to vote, regardless of their color, down to about 1830. Their habit of vot ing for the Federal or Whig candi dates, and against the Democratic, was a subject of frequent and jocular remark — the Whigs insisting that the Instincts of the negro impelled him uniformly to associate, so far as practicable, with the more gentle manly portion of the white race. In the year 1835,' the Legislature of South Carolina saw fit to pass an act, whereby any and every colored person found on board of any vessel entering one of her ports was to be forthwith seized by her municipal officers, and lodged in jail; there to remain until the vessel should be cleared for departure, when said colored person or persons should be restored to said vessel, on payment of the cost and charges of arrest, de tention, and subsistence.* This act necessarily bore with great hardship on the colored sea- 2 December 19th. ' The foUowing is a portion of the aet in ques tion: " II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That it shall not be lawful for any free negro, or person of color, to come into this State, on board any vessel, as a cook, steward, or mariner, or in any other employment on board such vessel ; and, in case any vessel shaU arrive in any port or harbor of this State, from any other State or foreign port, having on board auy free negro or person of color, employed on board such vessel as a cook, steward, or mari ner, or in any other employment, it shaU be the duty of the sheriff of the district in which such port or harbor is situated, immediately on the arrival of such vessel, to apprehend such free negro or person of color, so arriving contrary to this Act, and to confine him or her closely in jail, until such vessel shaU be hauled off from the wharf, and ready to proceed to sea. And that, when said vessel is ready to sail, the cap tain of the said vessel shall be bound to carry away such free negro or person of color, and to pay the expenses of his or her detention. And m every such case it shall be the duty of the sheriff aforesaid, immediately on the apprehen sion of any free negro or person of color, to cause said captain to enter into a recognizance, ¦with good and sufficient security, in the sum of one thousand dollars, for such free negro or slave so brought into this State, that he wUl comply with the requisitions of this act; and that, on his neglect, or refusal, or disability to do the same, he shall be compeUed by the she riff aforesaid to haul said vessel into tlie stream, one hundred yards distant from the shore, and remain until said vessel shall proceed to sea. & nd if said vessel shaU not be hauled off from the shore as aforesaid on the order of the sheriff aforesaid, the captain or commanding officer of said vessel shall be indicted therefor, and, on conviction, forfeit and pay one thousand doUars, and suffer imprisonment not exceeding six months. "III. A'nd be itfwrflier enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whenever any free negro or per son of color shaU be apprehended or committed to jail, as having arrived in any vessel in the capacity of cook, steward, mariner, or otherwise, contrary to this Act, it shaU be the duty of the 180 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. men, cooks, etc., of Northem vessels trading to Charleston. Massachu setts, therefore, at length resolved, through the action of her Legisla ture,^ to test its constltutionahty by instituting legal proceedings, which should bring it ultimately to an ad- ^'udlcatlon by the Supreme Court of the United States. To this end. Gov. Briggs appointed Hon. Sam uel Hoar — one of her most emi nent and venerable citizens, who had served her with honor in many im portant trusts, including a seat in Congress— to proceed to Charleston, and there institute the necessary pro ceedings, in order to bring the mat ter to judgment. Mr. Hoar accepted this new duty, and left home accord ingly in November, 1844, for Charles ton ; reaching that city on the 28th of that month. So utterly unsuspect ing was he of giving offense, or pro voking -violence, that his young daughter accompanied him. On the day of his arrival, Mr. Hoar addressed a letter to the Gov ernor of South Carohna,' announcing the fact, and stating the purpose of his mission to be, "the collecting and transmission of accurate informa tion respecting the number and the name^ of citizens of Massachusetts, who have heretofore been, or may be, during the period of the engage ment of the agent, imprisoned -with out the allegation of any crime.". He further stated that he was au thorized to bring and prosecute one or more suits In behalf of any citizen so imprisoned, for the purpose of having the legality of such imprison ment tried and determined In the Supreme Court of the United St.ates. The next morning, Mr. Hoar call ed on Mr. Eggleston, who had been appointed to the same agency before him, and requested of him an intro duction to the Mayor of Charleston, his object being to procure access to the records of orders or sentences, under which citizens of Massachu setts, it was understood, had been imprisoned. Mr. Eggleston acceded to his request, but said it would be best that he should first see the sheriff, during the confinement in jail of such free negro or person of color, to call upon some justice of the peace or quorum, to warn such free negro or person of color never to enter the said State after be shaU have departed there from ; and such justice of the peace, or quorum, shall, at the time of warning such free negro, or person of color, insert his or her name iu a book, to be provided for that purpose by the sheriff, and shall therein specify his or her age, occupation, hight, and distinguishing marks; which book shaU be good and sufficient evidence to such warning ; and said book shall bea pub lie record, and be subject and open to the exam ination of all persons who may make application to the clerk of the court of general sessions, iu whose office it shaU be deposited. And such justice shaU receive the sum of two dollars, pay able by the captain of the vessel iu wliieli said free negro or person of color shall be introduc ed into this State, for the services rendered in making said entry. And every free negro, or person of color, who shall not depart the State, in case of the captain refusing or neglecting to cairy him or her away, or, having departed, shaU again enter into the limits of this State, by land or by water, after having been warned as aforesaid, shall be dealt -with as the first section of this Act directs in regard to persons of color, who shall migrate, or be brought, into this State." It may be as well to add that the penalty of the first section referred to, is corporal punish ment for the first offense : " and if, 'after said sentence or puni.shment, such free negro or per- , son of color shaU stUl remain in the State longer than the time aUowed, or, having left the State, shall thereafter return to the same, upon proof and conviction thereof, before a court to be con stituted as hereinbefore directed, he or she shall be sold at public sale as a slave ; and tlie proceeds of such sale shall be appropriated and applied, one half thereof to the use of the State, and the other half to the use ofthe in/brmcr."— [Statues of S. C, Tol. Til, page 410.] * Resolves of March 24, 1843, and M'oh 16, '44 ^ Hon. James H. Hammond, since distinguish ed as a U. S. Senator. SOUTH CAROLINA EXPELS MR. HOAR. 181 Mayor, and explain the matter in advance ofthe proposed Introduction. Mr. Hoar assented, and Eggleston left Mr. H. waiting in his office, while he proceeded to confer with the Mayor. After a considerable absence, he re turned, and stated that the Mayor was at Columbia, attending the ses sion of the Legislature, and that the gentlem-an who temporarily discharg ed the duties of the officer judged It best that all further proceedings should await his return. This was assented to, and Mr. Hoar waited through the next three days accord ingly. Meantime, Gov. Hammond had received Mr. Hoar's letter, and com municated It to the Legislature, by which it was received In high dudg eon. That Legislature proceeded to pass, by a substantially unanimous vote, the following resolutions : " Resolved, lst;" That the right to exclude from their territories seditious persons, or others whose presence may be dangerous to their peace, is essential to every independ ent State. "Resohed, 2d, That free and other per sons of color are not citizens of the United States, within the meaning of the Constitu tion, which confers upon the citizens of one State the privileges and immunities of citi zens of the several States. " Resohed, 3d, That the emissary sent by the State of Massachusetts to the State of South Carolina, with the avowed purpose of interfering with her institutions, aud dis turbing her peace, is to be regarded in the character he has assumed, and to be treated accordingly. " Resolved, 4th, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to expel from our territory the said agent, after due notice to depart; and that the Legislature will sus tain the Executive authority in any meas ure it may adopt for the purpose aforesaid." The Legislature proceeded di- rectly« December 13, 1852. 15 « February 2, 1853. ' February 10th. 226 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. The bill now went to the Senate, ¦with ample notice that a pro-Slavery cabal had been secretly formed to re sist the organization of a new Territo ry on soil consecrated to Free Labor, as this had solemnly been, until a counterpoise could be found or devis ed, through the partition of Texas or otherwise. It reached the Senate on the 11th, and was sent to the Com mittee on Territories, from which Mr. Stephen A. Douglas reported it on the 17th -without amendment. On the 2d of March (being the last day but one of the session), he moved that it be taken up ; which was re sisted and beaten: Yeas 20; Nays 25 — the Nays nearly all from the South. He tried again next day, when Mr. Solon Borland, of Ark ansas, moved that it do lie on the table, which prevailed : Yeas 23 ; Nays 17 — as before. So the South defeated any organization at this time of a territory west of Missouri. No Senators from Slave States but those from Missouri sustained the bUl; and Mr. Atchison, of that State, in supporting a motion to take up the bill, to which Mr. Eusk, of Texas, had objected, said : " I must ask the indulgence of the Senate to say one word in relation to this matter. Perhaps there is not a State in the Union more deeply interested in this question than the State of Missouri. If not the largest, I will say the best portion of that Territory — perhaps the only portion of it that in half a century will become a State — lies immedi ately west of the State of Missouri. It is only a question of time, whether we will or ganize the Territory at this session of Con gress, or whether we will do it at the next session ; and, for my own part, I acknow ledge now that, as the Senator from Illinois well knows, when I came to this city, at the beginning of tho last session, I was perhaps as much opposed to the proposition as the Sen ator from Texas now is. The Senator from Iowa [Mr. A. C. Dodge] knows it ; and it was for reasons I will not not now mention or suggest. But, Sir, I have, from reflection and investigation in my own mind, and from the opinions of others — my constituents, whose opinions I am bound to respect — come to the conclusion that now is the time for the organization of this Territory. It is the most propitious time. The treaties with the various Indian tribes, the titles to whose possessions must be extinguished, can better be made now than at any ftiture time ; for, as the question is agitated, and as it is under stood, white men, speculators, will interpose and interfere, and the longer it is postponed the more we will have to fear from them, and the more difficult it will be to extingtrish the Indian title in that country, and the hard er the terms to be imposed. Therefore, Mr. President, for this reason, without going into detail, I am willing now that the question should be taken, whether we will proceed to the consideration of this bill or not." Here was a distinct Intimation,* from a leading propagandist of Sla very, that he was aware of a South ern conspiracy to prevent the organ ization, westward of the Missouri, of a new Territory which must necessa rily be Free ; but he had no faith in its success, and was anxious, for urgent local reasons, to have the organization proceed. But he was overborne, and the bill defeated. The XXXIIId Congress met De cember 5, 1853. There was an over whelming Democratic majority In either branch. Linn Boyd, of Ken tucky, was chosen Speaker of the House. President Pierce, as he In his Inaugural had been most em phatic in his commendation of the Compromise of 1850, and in insisting that " the rights of the South" should be upheld, and " that the laws to en force them be respected and obeyed, not with reluctance encouraged by abstract opinions as to their propri ety in a different state of society, but cheerfully, and according to the de- 4 December 15, 1852. MR. DOUGLAS ON NEBRASKA. 227 cisions of the tribunal to which their exposition belongs," so now, in his first Annual Message, he reiterated these recommendations, and added : "Notwithstanding differences of opinion and sentiment which then existed in relation to details and specific provisions, the acqui escence of distinguished citizens, whose de votion to the Union can never be doubted, has given renewed vigor to our institutions, and restored a sense of repose and security to the public mind throughout the confeder acy. That this repose is to suffer no shocJc during my official term, if I have power to avert it, those who placed me here may be as sured." Mr. Augustus C. Dodge, of Iowa, submitted ° to the Senate a bill " to organize the Territory of Nebraska," embracing (as before) the region lying westward of MIssom-i and Iowa, which was referred to the Committee on Territories; from which Mr. Doug las, of Illinois, reported* it with amendments. StUl, no word in this blU proposed to repeal or meddle "with the interdict on Slavery in this region laid by the Missouri Compro mise of 1820. On the contrary, Mr. Douglas's Eeport accompanying the biU, whUe it raised the question of the original vahdity of the Mis souri Eestriction aforesaid, contained no hint that said Eestriction had been removed by the legislation of 1850. The material portion" of that Eeport is as foUows : " A question has arisen in regard to the right to hold slaves in the Territory of Ne braska, when the Indian laws shall be with drawn, and the country thrown open to emi gration and settlement. By the Sth section of ' an act to authorize the people of Mis souri Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal foot ing with the original States, and to prohibit Slavery in certain territories,' approved March 6, 1820, it was provided; 'That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north lati tude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act. Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in pun ishment of crimes whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and are hereby, prohibited : Provided always. That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the persons claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.' " Under this section, as in the case of the Mexican law in New Mexico and Utah, it is a disputed point whether Slavery is prohib ited in the Nebraska country by valid enact ment. The decision of this question involves the constitutional power of Congress to pass laws prescribing and regulating the domestic institutions of the various Territories of the Union. In the opinion of those eminent statesmen who hold that Congress is invest ed with no rightful authority to legislate upon the subject of Slavery in the territo ries, the Sth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri is null and void; while the prevailing sentiment in large portions of the Union sustains the doc trine that the Constitution of the United States secures to every citizen an inalienable right to move into any of the Territories with his property, of whatever kind and de scription, and to hold and enjoy the same under the sanction of law. Your Commit tee do not feel themselves called upon to en ter upon the discussion of these controverted questions. They involve the same grave is sues which produced the agitation, the sec tional strife, and the fearful struggle, of 1850. As Congress deemed it wise and pru dent to refrain from deciding the matters in controversy then, either by affirming or re pealing the Mexican laws, or by an act de claratory of the true intent of the Constitu tion, and the extent of the protection affijrded by it to Slave property in the Territories, so your Committee are not prepared to recom mend a departure from the course pursued on that memorable occasion, either by affirm ing or repealing the 8th section of the Mis souri act, or by any act declaratory of the meaning of the Constitution in respect to the legal points in dispute." This would seem conclusive; yet it Is but fair to add the follo"wing, from near the close of the Eeport : " From these provisions, it is apparent that the Compromise measures of 1850 affirm, and rest upon, the following propositions : ' Dec. 14, 1853. « January 4, 1854. 228 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. " First, — That all questions pertaining to Slavery in the Ten-itories, and the new States to be formed therefrom, are to he left to the decision of the people residing there in, hy their appropriate representatives, to be chosen by them for that purpose." The bill thus reported was soon after, on Mr. Douglas's motion, recommit ted, and on the 23d reported again by him from his Committee on Territo ries, with material alterations. For, meantime, Mr. Archibald Dixon,' of Kentucky, had given due notice that, whenever this biU should come up, he would offer the following amendment : " Seo. 22. And be it further enacted. That so much of the Sth section of an act approv ed March 6, 1820, entitled ' An Act to au- ' thorize the people of the Missouri Territory 'to form a constitution and State govern- ' ment, and for the admission of such State ' into the Union on an equal footing with the ' original States, and to prohibit Slavery in 'certain territories,' as declares ' That, in all ' that territory ceded by France to the Uni- 'ted States, under the narae of Louisiana, ' which lies north of 36 degrees 30 minutes ' north latitude. Slavery and involuntary ser- 'vitude, otherwise than in the punishment 'of crimes whereof the party shall have ' been duly convicted, shall be forever pro- ' hibited,' shall not be so construed as to ap ply to the Territory contemplated by this act, or to any other Territory of ihe United States ; but that the citizens of the several States or Territories shall be at liberty to take and hold their slaves within any of the' Territories or States to be formed there from, as if the said act, entitled as aforesaid, and approved as aforesaid, had never been This blunt proposition that the Missouri Compromise, in so far as its stipulations favored the consecration of the Territories to Free Labor, be utterly repudiated, now that so much of It as strengthened Slavery had taken full and "vigorous effect, was received with more surprise than sat isfaction by the engineers of the origi nal measure. The Union, then the Democratic organ at Washington, promptly denounced it as a Whig « January 16th, 1854. device to divide and 'disorganize the Democratic party. It received no hearty welcome from any quarter — certaliily none from Mr. Douglas, or any supporter of his Presidential as pirations. It had e"vidently been ex pected by them that his proposal to organize these territories, so exp-essly contemplated and covered by the in hibition of bondage contained in the Missouri act, In blank silence on the subject of Slavery, would be deemed a concession to Southem prejudices, if not to Southern interests. Yet, in the presence of this bolder, stronger, larger, and more practical concession, that of Mr. Douglas dwindled by con trast Into insignificance. Mr. Douglas, thus outbid, resolved to start afresh. On the 23d aforesaid, he reported from his Committee a biU so different from its predecessor as hardly to resemble it, save that it contemplated the same region. In stead of one Territory, to be called Nebraska, and stretching from the paraUel of 36° 30' north latitude on the south to that of 43° 30' on the north, and from the western boun dary of Missouri and Iowa on the east to the crests of the Eocky Moun tains on the west, he now proposed to create tiao Territories, one to be com posed of so much of said region as was directly west of the State of Missouri, to be kno"wn as Kansas ; the other to comprise the residue, and he kno"wn as Nebeaska. (The south line of Kansas was moved northward from latitude 36° 30 ' to latitude 37°, in order to make it conform to the boun dary between the lands of the Chero kees and those of the Osages.) And, "with reference to Slavery, the new bUl contained these pro-sdsions : ' Elected as a "Whig — afterward a Democrat. MR. DOUGLAS MODIFIES HIS NEBRASKA BILL. 229 "Sko. 31. And he it further enacted. That, in order to avoid aU misconstruction, it is hereby declared to be the true in tent and meaning of this act, so far as the question of Slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following prop ositions and principles, established by the Compromise measures of one thousand eight hundred and fifty, to wit : "First. That all questions pertaining to Sla very in the Territories, and in the new States to he formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of the people residing therein, through their appropriate representatives. " Second. That ' all cases involving title 'to slaves,' and 'questions of personal free- ' dom,' are referred to the adjudication of the local tribunals, with the right of appeal tp the Supreme Court of the United States. " Third. That the provisions of the Con stitution and laws of the United States, in respect to fugitives feom service, are to be carried into faithful execution in all the 'organized Territories,' the same as in the States." Proceeding to that section which pro"vide8 for the election of a delegate to Congress from Kansas, instead of the original stipulation — "That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally in applicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Ten-itory as elsewhere in the United States" — The foUowing important reserva tion was now added : 'Except the "section of the act prepara tory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the Legisla tion of 1850, commonly called the Compro mise measures, and is declared inoperative." The section which authorized Ne braska to send a delegate was amend ed in precisely the same manner. Mr. Douglas called up his new bill for consideration next moming ; when not only Messrs. Chase and Sumner, but Mr. Norris, of New Hamp shire, Gen. Cass, and other Demo crats, desired that time be given to consider the grave changes which ,8 January 24, 1854. had just been made in the "vital character of the measure. On the other hand, Messrs. Dawson, of Georgia, and Dixon, of Kentucky, were ready to sustain Mr. Douglas throughout. Mr. Dixon, expressing entire satisfaction "with the new shape given to the bill, said : " "I think it due to the Senate that they. should have an opportunity of understanding precisely the bearings and the effect of the amendment which has been recently incor porated into the hill, as originaUy reported by the Committee — I mean that portion of the amendment which alludes to Slavery withm. the Territories to be organized — Ne braska and Kansas. So far as I am individ ually concerned, T am perfectly satisfied with the amendment reported by the Sen ator from Illinois, and which has been in corporated into the bUl. If I imderstand it, it reaches a point which I am most anxious to attain — that is to say, it "virtually repeals the act of 1820, commonly called the Mis souri Compromise act, declaring that Slavery should not exist north of the line of 36'^ 30' north latitude. " I here take occasion to remark, merely with a view of placing myself right before the Senate, that I think my position in re lation to this matter has been somewhat misunderstood. " I have been charged, through one of the leading journals ' of this city, with hav ing proposed the amendment which I noti fied the Senate I intended to offer, with a view to embarrass the Democratic party. It was said that I was a Whig from Ken tucky, and that the amendment proposed by me should be looked upon with suspicion by the opposite party. Sir, I merely wish to remark that, upon the question of Slavery, I know no "Whiggery, and I know no De mocracy. I am a pro-Slavery man. I am from a slaveholding State; I represent a slaveholding constituency; and I am here to maintain the rights of that people whenever they are presented before the Senate. " The amendment which I notified the Senate that I should offer at the proper time, has been incorporated by the Senator from Illinois into the bill which he has re ported to the Senate. The bUl, as now amended, meets my views, and I have no objection to it. I shaU, at the proper time, as far as I am able to do so, aid and assist the Senator from lUinois, and others who ' The Union. 230 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. are ansiotis to carry through this proposi tion, with the feeble abilities I may be able to bring to bear upon it. I think it due to myself to make this explanation, because I do not wish it to be understood that, upon a question like this, I have, or could have, any motive except that which should influ ence a man anxious to secure what he be lieves to be a great principle — that is. Con gressional non-interference in all the Ter ritories, so far as this great question of Slavery is concerned. " I never did believe in the propriety of passing the Missouri Compromise. I thought it was the result of necessity. I never thought that the great Senator from Ken tucky (Mr. Clay), when he advocated that measure, did so because his judgment ap proved it, but because it was the result of a combination of circumstances which drove him to the position he assumed ; and I have never thought that that measure re ceived the sanction either of his heart or of his head. " The amendment, then, which I gave notice that I would propose — and which I intended to have proposed, if it had not been rendered wholly unnecessary by the amendment reported by the Senator from Illinois, from the Committee on Territories, of which he is the honored Chairman — I intended to offer, under the firm conviction that I was carrying out the principles set tled in the Compromise acts of 1850 ; and which leave the whole question of Slavery with the people, and without any Congres sional interference. For, over the suliject of Slavery, either in the States or Territories of the United States, I have always believed, and have always contended, that Congress had no power whatever, and that, conse quently, the act of 1820, comraonly known as the Missouri Compromise act, is uncon stitutional ; and, at the proper time, I shall endeavor to satisfy the Senate and the country of the truth of these propositions." To wliich Mr. Douglas responded as follows : "As this discussion has begun, I feel it to be my duty to say a word in explanation. I am glad to hear the Senator from Ken tucky say that the bill, as it now stands, accomplishes all that he desired to accom plish by his amendment, because his amend ment seemed to myself, and to some with whom I have consulted, to mean more than what he now explains it to mean, and what I am glad he did not intend it should mean. " We supposed that it not only wiped out the legislation which Congress has hereto fore adopted, excluding Slavery, but that it affirmatively legislated Slavery into the Territories. The object of the Committee was neither to legislate Slavery in or out of the Territories; neither to introduce nor exclude it; but to remove whatever ob stacle Congress had put there, and apply the doctrine of Congressional non-interven tion, in accordance with the principles of the Compromise measures of 1850, and al low the people to do as they pleased upon this, as well as aU otber matters affectiog their interests. "The explanation of the honorable Sen ator from Kentucky shows that his mean ing was not what many supposed it to he, who judged simply frora the phraseojogy of the amendment. I deem this explanation due to the Senator and to myself." Messrs. Webster, Clay, and Cal houn had aU passed from the earth since the inception of Mr. Clay's Compromise in 1850. Not one of them hved to hear that that Compro- inise had hfted the interdict of Sla very from the whole region solemn ly guaranteed to Free Labor forever by the Compromise of 1820. Mr. Webster, certainly, never dreamed of such a thing, when he vehemently denounced, as insane, malignant fol ly, the attempt to fasten a hke pro hibition on the biU organizing New Mexico — as an effort to debar slave- holding on snowy crags and arid deserts where no slave gould be sub sisted — as a superservlceable attempt to " reenact the laws of God," as if their Author were unequal to the task He had undertaken. In the accord of Messrs. Douglas and Dixon, an undertone of discord may be detected. Mr. Dixon repu diates the restrictive provision of the Compromise of 1820 as void ab in itio, for want of constitutional power to enact it. Congress could not law- fuUy exclude Slavery from the Fed eral domain — ^therefore, did not, to any purpose. Mr. Clay consented to that Eestriction because he must, not because he would — (as if this DOUGLAS AND D^XON ON THB COMPROMISES. 231 were not always the case in com promises — each party conceding something he would gladly retain, in order to secure something else that is otherwise beyond his reach.) But that Mr. Clay deliberately Bar gained to secure what he greatly desired (the admission of Missouri), knowing that the stipulated consid eration was utterly beyond the power of Congress, therefore a blank nul- hty — that, Mr. Dixon did not assert, nor would any true friend of the great Kentucklan's memory insinu ate it. Whatever Mr. Dixon's be lief on the subject, it Is certain that Mr. Clay deemed the Missouri Com promise a valid contract, and that he never dreamed that it was either unauthorized by the Constitution or superseded by the Compromise of 1850. No champion, no adversary, of this latter arrangement ever sug gested, whether as an argument for, or an objection to, this scheme, that one of its effects or incidents would be the repeal of the Missouri Ee striction, and a consequent opening to Slavery of the region stretching westward and north-westward from Missouri. Mr. Douglas, it "wiU be seen, in dorses none of Mr. Dixon's assump tions. He had misunderstood Mr. Dixon's original proposition, suppo sing that it intended to "legislate Slavery into the Territory." He could mean by this nothing more nor other than that he misunderstood Mr. Dix on's as a proposition to legislate Slave la/uo — ^that is, law under which slaves could be legally held to service — into said Territory ; the act of planting Sla very in fact there, being one which legislation might facihtate and in"vite, but which indi-ddual action must initi ate and achieve. And he did not now contend that the legislation of 1850 had even removed the obstacle to such estabhshment, but only that the action he proposed was " in accord ance vvith the principles of the Com promise measures of 1850" — ^that Is to say. It applied to Kansas and Ne braska — Territories secured, upon due consideration, to Free Labor, by sa cred agreement In 1820 — a principle which Congress had, under very dif ferent circumstances, applied to New Mexico — a most unhke and pecuhar region — ^in 1850. Mr. Dixon, it will be remarked, had not yet attained to the ultimate orthodoxy of the South with respect to the rights of slaveholders in the Territories. He only held that Con gress had no right to exclude them with their human chattels.' That it was bound to recognize and protect their property in slaves, and that the people of the Territories could have no right, prior to their organization as a State, to exclude or inhibit Sla very, were dogmas as yet confined to the more ardent devotees of Calhoun- ism, and so far from being accepted, that they were scarcely comprehend ed by the great body of the support ers of the Compromise. The amended bill, thus reported by Mr. Douglas, was debated at ' " Is it not hard," asked Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, during the debate on the Kansas-Ne braska biU, "if I should choose to emigrate to Kansas, that I should be forbidden to take my old mammy [slave-nurse] along with me?" — "The Senator entirely mistakes our position," responded Mr. Wade, of Ohio. "We have not the least objection, and would oppose no obstar cle, to the Senator's migrating to Kansas, and talring his 'old mammy' along with him. We only insist that he shall not be empowered to seU her after taking her there." 232 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. length, and ably, by Messrs. Douglas and several others in favor, and by Messrs. Chase, Seward, Sumner, Wade, and others, in opposition. But the disparity in numbers between its sup porters and its opponents was too great — nearly three for to one against it — to allow much Interest to attach to the successive discussions and di-visions, save as they serve to cast hght on the real character of the measure, espe cially "with respect to Slavery. A few of these "wiU here be noted. Mr. Chase, having attempted'" to strike out so much of the clause last quoted as declares the Eestriction of 1820 "superseded" by the Compro mise of 1850, and been beaten by 30 Nays to 13 Yeas, Mr. Douglas" him self moved that said clause be stricken out, and replaced by the following : " Which being inconsistent with the prin ciple of Non-intervention by Congress with Slavery in the States and Territories, as rec ognized by the legislation of 1850 (commonly called the Compromise measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void ; it being the trae intent and meaning of this act not to legislate Slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." This, of course, prevailed: Yeas 35 ; Nays 10 : whereupon Mr. Chase moved" to add thereto as follows : " Under which, the people of the Territory, through their appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of Slavery therein." This touchstone of the true nature and intent of the measure was most decisively voted down ; the Yeas and Nays being as foUows : Teas — Fessenden and Hamlin, of Maine ; Sumner, of Massachusetts; Foot, of Ver- i» February 6th. " February 15th. "March 2d. "Gen. Cass, the inventor of "Popular Sove- mont; Smith, of Connecticut; Fish and Seward, of New Tork ; Chase and Wade, of Ohio ; Dodge (Henry), of Wisconsin — 10. Nats — Norris and WUliams, of New Hampshire ; Toucey, of Connecticut ; Brod head, of Pennsylvania; Clayton, of Dela ware; Stuart,'^ of Michigan; Pettit, of Indi ana ;¦ Douglas and Shields, of Illinois ; Dodge (A. 0.) and Jones, of Iowa ; Walker, of Wis consin; Hunter and Mason, of Virginia; Pratt, of Maryland ; Badger, of North Caro lina ; Butler and Evans, of South Carolina ; Dawson, of Georgia ; Fitzpatrick and 0. C. Clay, of Alabama; Adams and Brown, of Mississippi; Benjamin and Slidell, of Louis iana ; Morton, of Florida ; Houston and Rnsk, of Texas; Dixon, of Kentucky; BeU and Jones, of Tennessee ; Atchison, of Missouri ; Sebastian and Johnson, of Arkansas ; Gwin and Weller, of CaUfomia — 36. So the Senate decisively voted that the people of the new Ten-itories, formed by this act from the region shielded from Slavery by the Com promise of 1820, should n^t have the right, under this organization, to pro hibit Slavery, should they see fit. On motion of Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, it was further (Yeas 35, Nays 6) " Provided, That nothing herein shall he construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of 6th of March, 1820, either protect ing, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing Slavery." On motion of Mr. Clayton, of Del aware, it was further pro"vided that im migrants from foreign countries who had merely declared theh- intention to become naturahzed citizens should not be voters in these Territories. On this proposition, the Yeas were 23 (aU from Slave States) ; the Nays 21 (aU from Free States). Mr. Chase now moved an amend ment fixing a day of election, ap pointing commissioners to lay off Counties, etc., etc., and enabling the reignty," who was m his seat and voted just be fore, did not respond to the caU of his name on this occasion. THB NEBRASKA BILL IN THB HOUSE. 233 people of these Territories to choose their o"wn Governor as well as Legis- lature,^which was rejected; Yeas 10 ;" Nays 30. So far, the bill had been acted on as in Committee of the Whole. On coming out of Committee, Mr. Clay ton's amendment, above mentioned, was disagreed to — 22 to 20 — and the blU engrossed for Its third reading by 29 to 12 — and, at a late hour of the night " — or rather, moming — ^passed : Yeas 37; Nays'* 14: whereupon the Senate, exhausted by struggle and excitement, adjourned over from Fri day to the foUowing Tuesday. In the House, 'this bill was not taken up for more than two months after it had passed the Senate. There were scruples to vanquish, objections to remove or to«often, and machinery to adjust. In order to give the meas ure a chance of success. Meantime, the hum of public dissatisfaction rose louder and louder, and members who were soon to face Northem constituen cies were reasonably reluctant to vote for it, unless the Democratic majori ties In their districts were well-nigh impregnable. A House blU (nearly a copy of that of Mr. Douglas) having been reported" by Mr. Elchardson, of Il linois, from the Committee on Ter ritories, Mr. English, of Indiana — a most unihnching Democrat — from the minority of said Committee, pro posed to strike out the clause which we have seen reported by Mr. Doug las to the Senate, and adopted by that body, repealing the 8th section of the Missouri act, and insert instead the following : " Provided, That nothing in this act shall he so construed as to prevent the people of satd Territory, through the properly consti~ tuted legislative authority, from passing such laws, in relation to the institution of Slavery, as they may deem best adapted to their locality, and most conducive to their happiness and welfare ; and so much of any existing act of Congress as may conflict with the above right of the people to regu late their domestic institutions .in their own way, be, and the same is hereby, repealed." It is highly probable that this proposition could not have been de feated on a call of the Yeas and Nays in the House — which was doubtless the reason why it was never acted on. The House bill was never taken up, save at a late day,'* so as to enable the Senate bill to be moved as an amendment. There was a "violent struggle in the House for and against closing the debate on this measure, and it was finally agreed that said debate should terminate on Saturday the 20th. And now, Mr. Alex. H. Ste phens, of Georgia, originated, and was enabled to execute, a parlla- • mentary maneuver which, if recog nized as legitimate, must prove an important aid to party despotism and a screen to vicious legislation- through all future time. The right of a majority to prescribe a reason able limit to discussion — to afford '¦' Messrs. Chase, Fessenden, Foot, Hamlin, Norris, Seward, Shields, Smith, Sumner, WadB —10. ¦5 March 3d. IS Messrs. BeU, of Tennessee, Houston, of Tex as, and Walker, of Wisconsin, who had voted against Mr. Chase's amendment above cited, and Mr. James, of Rhode Island, who had not voted on it at all, now voted Nay. Messrs. Bayard, of Delaware, Cass, of Michigan, Thompson, of Kentucky, Geyer, of Missouri, Thomson, of New Jersey, who did not vote for or against Gov. Chase's amendment, whereon we have given tb« Teas aud Nays, were now present and voted /^ the biU. " January 3 Ist '* May Sth. 234 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. fair opportunity for debate, but in sist that It shall close at a definite and not too distant day and hour — has become a part of our parliament ary law. But the right of a minority to seek to improve what it deems a "vicious and mistaken measure — to soften. If It may, objectionable fea tures which It Is unable wholly to remove — is still sacred; and it has accordingly been established, after much experience of the evils of the opposite rule, that even a vote of the House, enforcing the Previous Ques tion on a reluctant, struggling mi nority, does not cut off amendments which may have already been pro posed, but only arrests debate and brings the House to vote successively on all the propositions legitimately before it, including, it may be, the engrossment of the bill. But Mr. Stephens, when the hour for closing the debate in Committee had arrived, moved that the enacting clause of the bill le stricken out, which was carried by a preconcerted and uncounter- acted rally of the unfilnching friends of the measure. Of course, all pend ing amendments were thus disposed of — the bill being reported as dead. Having thus got the bill out of Committee and before the House, Messrs. Stephens & Co. voted not to agree to the report of the Committee of the Whole,^^ thus bringing the House to an immediate vote on the engrossment of the bill. Mr. Elch ardson now moved an amendment in the nature of a substitute (being, in effect, the Senate's bill), and " Teas (for agreeing) 97 ; Nays lit. '» TiRGiNiA. — John S. MiUsou — 1. Noeth Cabolina. — Richard 0. Puryear, Sion H. Rog ers — 2. Tennessee. — Robert M. Bugg, William Cullom, Emerson Etheridge, Nathaniel G. Tay lor — 4. Louisiana. — Theodore G. Hunt — 1. thereupon caUed the Pre"vious Ques tion, which was seconded : Yeas 116 ; Nays 90 ; when his amend ment was adopted — Yeas 115 ; Nays 95 ; the bill ordered to be engrossed — Yeas 112 ; Nays 99 ; the Pre"vious Question again ordered and sus tained ; and the bill finally passed : Yeas 113; Nays 100. Thus the opponents of the measure in the House were precluded from pro posing any amendments or modifi cations whatever, when It is moraUy certain that, had they been permit ted to do so, some such amendment as Gov. Chase's or Mr. Enghsh's would have been carried. The Free States contributed 44 votes — aU cast by Democrats — ^to the support of this measure. From the Slave States, 12 Whigs and 57 Dem ocrats sustained it. Against It were 91 members from Free States, of whom 44 were chosen as Whigs, three as " Free Soil" proper, and 44 as Democrats. So that precisely as many Democrats, from Free States voted for as against the final passage of the Nebraska bUl. Only nine'" members from Slave States opposed it, of whom but two"' had been re garded as Democrats; and of these Col. Benton was not so regarded thereafter. Of the Whigs who so voted, but two " were returned to the next House. The blU had thus passed the House In form as an original measure of that body, although it was in essence the amended Senate biU. Being sent°' to the Senate as such, an at- MissouEi —Thomas H. Benton— 1. Othbb Southern States. — None. Total-r-9. «' Messrs. MiUaon, of "Virginia, and Benton, of Missouri ^ Messrs. Puryear, of North Carolina, and Etheridge, of Tennessee. s» May 24th. MISSOURI ATTEMPTS TO MONOPOLIZE KANSAS. 236 tempt to amend it was voted do"wn, and the biU .ordered to be engrossed, by 35 Yeas to 13 Nays. It was im mediately passed, and, being ap proved by President Pierce, became a law ofthe land. The struggle which ensued for the practical possession of Kansas was one which Congress had thus clearly provoked and invited. When the biU organizing Kansas and Nebraska was first submitted to Congress in 1853, aU that portion of Kansas which adjoins the State of Missouri, and, in fact, nearly aU the accessible portion of both Territories, was covered by Indian reservations, on which settlement by whites was strictly forbidden. The only excep tion was that In favor of Govemment agents and religious missionaries ; and these, especially the former, were nearly aU Democrats and violent partisans of Slavery. Among the missionaries located directly on the border was the Eev. Thomas John son, of the Methodist Church South, who was among the few who had already introduced and then held slaves in the territory which Is now Kansas, in defiance of the Missouri Eestriction. He was a "violent poh- ticlan of the Missouri border pattern, and in due time became President of the CouncU In the first Territorial Legislature of Kansas — elected al most wholly by non-resident and fraudulent votes. Within the three months immediately preceding the passage of the Kansas biU aforesaid, treaties were quietly made at Wash ington with the Delawares, Otoes, Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, Shawnees, Sacs, Foxes, and other tribes, where by the greater part of the soil of Kansas lying within one or two hun dred miles of the Missouri border was suddenly opened to White ap propriation and settlement. These simultaneous purchases of Indian lands by the Government, though httle was known of them elsewhere, were thoroughly understood and ap preciated by the Missourians of the Western border, who had for some time been organizing " Blue Lodges," " Social Bands," " Sons ofthe South," and other societies, with intent to take possession of Kansas in behalf of Slavery. They were well assured, and they fully beheved, that the ob ject contemplated and desired, in lifting, by the terms of the Kansas- Nebraska bill, the Interdict of Sla very from Kansas, was to authorize and facilitate the legal extension of Slavery into that region. Within a very few days after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, hundreds of leading Missourians crossed into the adjacent Territory, selected each his quarter-section or larger area of land, put some sort of mark on it, and then united with his fellow- ad venturers in a meeting or meetings Intended to establish a sort of Mis souri preemption upon all this re- ¦gion. Among the resolves passed at one of these meetings, were the follo"wing : "That we wiU afford protection to no abolitionist as a settler of this Territory. " That we recognize the institution of Slavery as already existing in this Territory, and advise slaveholders to introduce their property as early as possible." Information being received, soon after this, that associations were be ing formed In the Eastern States, designed to facihtate and promote the migration of citizens of those 236 THE AMBBICAN CONFLICT. States to Kansas, "with intent to make her a Free State, a "violent and general indignation of the bor derers was thereby excited. Among others, a meeting was held at West- port, Mo., early in July, 1854, which adopted the following : " Resolved, That this association wUl, whenever called upon by any of the citi-- zens of Kansas Territory, hold itself in readiness together to assist and remove any and aU emigrants who go there under the auspices of the Northern Emigrant Aid Societies. " Resolved, That we recommend to the citizens of other Counties, particularly those bordering on Kansas Territory, to adopt regulations similar to those of this asso ciation, and to indicate their readiness to cooperate in the objects of this first reso lution." Before the passage of these re solves, at least one person, who had strayed into the Territory with intent to settle there, and who was unable to con-vince the " Border Euffians," already in possession, that he was one with them in faith and spirit, was seized by them, placed in a canoe "without oars, and sent fioat ing do"wn the Missouri. The first company, about thirty in number, of Eastern emigrants, under the auspices of the New Eng land Emigrant Aid Society, reached Kansas before the end of July, and located on the site now kno"wn as La'wrence.'" Two weeks later, they were joined by a second and larger company, numbering sixty or sev enty. While these were stiU h"ving In tents, but busily employed in erecting temporary houses, they were "visited by a party of Missourians, one hundred strong, who were re inforced next day by one hundred and fifty more, who pitched their camp just across a ra"vine from the young canvas city, and sent over formal notification that. " the Abo htionists must leave the Territory, never more to return to it.!' The settlers must have aU their effects gathered together preparatory to leave by ten o'clock. The time was afterward extended to one o'clock, with • abundant professions of a de sire to prevent the effusion of blood. The Yankees, meantime, had organ ized and armed as a mihtia company, and were quietly driUing amid their tents, sending cl"vil but decided an swers to the repeated messages sent to them. FinaUy, ha-ving satisfied themselves that they could only pre vent bloodshed by letting the Yan kees alone, and going about then- own business, the ruffians broke up their camp by piecemeal and stole away, at evening and during the night, back to their dens in Mis souri. President Pierce appointed An drew H. Eeeder, of Pennsylvania, Governor, and Daniel Woodson, of Arkansas, Secretary of Kansas, "with judicial officers of whom a majority were from Slave States — one of them taking a number of slaves -with him into the Territory. These officers reached Kansas, and estabhshed a Territorial Government there, in the autumn of 1854. AU of them were, of course. Democrats; but Gov. Eeeder's soundness on the vital ques tion was early suspected at the South. The Union (Washington), President Pierce's immediate organ, promptly rebuked these suspicions, as foUows : _ " A gentleman in Virginia calls our atten tion to the fact that the enemies of President " So named after Amos A. Lawrence, Treasurer of the Society. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY RAMPANT IN KANSAS. Pierce in the South lay particular stress upon his appointment of Gov. Eeeder as proof of his wUlingness to favor Free-Soilers, and asks us whether, at the time of his appoint ment. Gov. Eeeder was regarded as a sound national Democrat. It is in our power to answer this question with entire confidence, and to say that, down to the time that Gov. Reeder went to Kansas to assume the duties of Governor of the Territory, there had not been, so far as we have ever heard, or so far as the President ever heard, a breath of sus picion as to his entertaining Free-Soil senti ments. He was appointed under the strong est assurances that he was strictly and hon estly a national man. We are able to state, further, on very reliable authority, that, whilst Gov. Reeder was in Washington, at the time of his appointment, he conversed with Southem gentlemen on the subject of Slavery, and assured them that he had no more scruples in buying a slave than a liorse, and he regretted that he had not money to purchase a number to carry with him to Kansas. We have understood that he re peated the same sentiments on his way to Kansas. We wiU repeat what we have had occasion to say more than once before —that no man has ever been appointed by Presi dent Pierce to oflBce who was not at the time understood by him to be a faithful ad herent to the Baltimore platform of 1852, on the subject of Slavery. If any appoint ment was made contrary to this rule, it was done under a misapprehension as to the ap pointment. We may add that the evidences of Gov. Eeeder's soundness were so strong that President Pierce was slower than many others to believe him a Free-Soiler after he had gone to Kansas. It is, therefore, the grossest injustice to refer to Gov. Reeder's appointment as proof of the President's willingness to favor Free-Soilers." An election for Delegate from Kansas was held near the close of November. There were probably less than two thousand adult white males then resident In the Territory; yet 2,8Y1 votes were cast, whereof 1,114 were _after ward ascertained to have been legal, while 1,729 were cast by residents of Missouri. At one poU, known as " 110," 604 votes were cast, of which 20 were legal and 584 were illegal. John W. 237 Whitfield, « an Indian agent, the Missouri candidate, had 597 of them. He received 2,268 in aU, to 570 for aU others. David E. Atchison, then a U. S. Senator from Missouri, in a speech In Platte County, Mo., a few weeks before the election, said : " When you reside within one day's jour ney of the Territory, and when your peace, your quiet, and your property, depend upon your action, you can, without any exertion, send flve hundred of your young men who will vote in favor of your institutions. Should each county in the State of Missouri only do its duty, the question wiU be decided quietly and peaceably at the ballot-box. If we are defeatedrthen Missouri and the other South ern States will have shown themselves recre ant to their interests, and wiU deserve their fate." The city of Atchison, named after this distinguished Senator, was found ed "' about this time by gentlemen of his faith, who established The^ Squat ter Sovereign as their organ. One of its early issues contained the foUow ing significant paragraph : " We can tell the impertinent scoundrels of The Tribune that they may exhaust an ocean of ink, then- Emigrant Aid Societies spend their millions and biUions, their repre sentatives in Congress spout their heretical theories till doomsday, and his Excellency appoint abolitionist after free-soiler as our Governor, yet we will continue to lynch and hang, tar and feather and drown, every white-livered abohtionist who dares to pol lute our soU." Gov. Eeeder, In the early months of 1855, had a census of the Territo ry taken, which showed a total pop ulation of 8,501, whereof 2,905 were voters and-242 slaves. He thereupon ordered an election for a first Terri torial Legislature and for certain county officers, to be held on the 30th of March, which took place ac cordingly. AU of border Missouri was on hand ; and the Invaders had " A Tennesseean ; last heard from in the Confederate army. '° On the Kansas bank of the Missouri ; some thirty miles above Leavenworth. 238 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. been so nicely apportioned and di rected to the several districts and polls that they elected all the mem bers, with a single exception, in either House — the two Free-Soilers being chosen from a remote inland district which the Missourians had overlook ed or did not care to reach. Al though but 831 legal electors voted, there were no less than 6,320 votes poUed. Even at Lawrence, where there were but 369 voters in all, and not half a dozen of them pro-Slavery, the vote returned was — ^pro-Slavery, 781 ; Free State, 253. At MarysvIUe, where there were 24 legal voters, 328 votes were returned, all pro-Slavery. There was no disguise, no pretense of legahty, no regard for decency. On the evening before and the morn ing of the day of election, nearly a thousand Missourians arrived at Law rence, in wagons and on horseback, well armed vrith rifles, pistols, and bo"wie-knives, and two pieces of can non loaded with musket baUs. They had tents, music, and flags, and en camped in a ravine near the to"wn. They held a meeting the night before the election at the tent of Claiborne F. Jackson." Finding that they had more men than were needed to carry the Lawrence district, they dispatch ed companies of one to two hundred each to two other districts. Meeting one of the judges of election before the poU opened, they questioned him as to his Intended course, and, learn ing that he should Insist on the oath of residence, they first attempted to bribe and then threatened to hang him. In consequence of this threat, he faUed to appear at the poU, and a MIssourian was appointed in his stead. One of the remaining judges, refusing to receive Missouri votes, resigned under duress, and was re placed by another who made no ob jection. One MIssourian voted for himself and then for his son, ten or eleven years old. Three of those they thus elected to the Legislature were residents of Missouri at the time. These details might be con tinued indefinitely, but it is needless. The Missourians voted at other poUs with less circumspection, easily driv ing off all who objected to their pro ceedings, and then doing as they chose. The Weston Reporter (Mis souri), of the day before, had said : " Our minds are .already made np as to the result of the election in Kansas to-mor row. The pro-Slavery party will be trium phant, we presume, in nearly every precinct. Should the pro- Slavery party faU in this contest, it wiU not he because Missouri has failed to do her duty to assist her friends. It is a safe calculation that two thousand squatters have passed over into the promised land from this part of the State within four days." The Platte Argus (Missouri), in its next issue, said : " It is to be admitted that they — the Mis sourians — have conquered Kansas. Our advice is, let. them hold it, or die in the attempt." A week or two thereafter, rumors were in circulation that the Gover nor did not indorse. In all respects, the legality of this election ; where upon The Rrunswicker (Missouri) said : " We learn, just as we go to press, that Reeder has refased to give certificates to four of the Councilmen and thirteen mem bers of the House ! He has ordered an elec tion to fill their places on the 22d of May. " This infernal scoundrel wUl have to be hemped yet." The Parkville Luminary, issued in Platte County, Missouri, was the only journal on that side of the bor. '-"' Democratic Governor of Missouri, elected in 1860; died a Rebel refugee in Arkansas, 1862. BORDER RUFFIAN LAW IN KANSAS. 239 der that dared and chose to speak a word for the Free-State settlers of Kansas, maintaining their rights un der the organic law. Though guard ed and careful in its language, it could not escape the discipline meted out In that region to all who favored " Abo lition." On the 14th of April, 1855, its office and materials were destroy ed by a mob, and its editor constrain ed to flee for his hfe. WUham Philhps, a Free-State law yer of Leavenworth, saw fit to sign the protest against the wholesale frauds whereby the election at that place was carried. A few days there after, he was seized by a crowd of Missouri ruffians, taken by force to Weston, Mo., eight miles distant, and there tarred and feathered, rid den on a rail, and finally sold at auc tion to a negro, who was compeUed to purchase him. Gov. Eeeder did set aside the elec tion in the only six districts from which protests were seasonably for warded to him, "with distinct proof of frauds; whereupon, new elections were held In those districts, and all of them but Leavenworth were car ried Free-SoU. Leavenworth, being directly on the Missouri border, was carried pro-Slavery by fraud and "vio lence, as usual. The Free-State men elected at this second election were refased seats by the pro -Slavery majority, and the pro -Slavery men chosen on the. regular day of election duly Installed in their places. The Legislature was called to meet at Pawnee City on the Kansas river, nearly a hundred miles west from the border. It was Immediately ad journed, over the Governor's veto, to Sha"wnee Mission, directly on the line of Missouri. It proceeded to pass one act whereby the laws of Missou ri generally were adopted and de clared laws of Kansas, and other acts specially upholding and fortify ing Slavery, whereof the following are but specimens : " Seo. 1. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of Kansas, That every person, bond or free, who shaU be convicted of raising a rebellion or insurrec tion of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, in this Territorj* shall suffer death. " Seo. 2. Every free person, who shaU aid or assist in any rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, or shall fur nish arms, or do any other act in further ance of such rebellion or insurrection, shall suflfer death. " Sec. 3. If any free person shall, hy speaking, writing, or printing, advise, per suade, or induce, any slaves to rebel, conspire against, or murder, any citizen of the Terri tory, or^shall bring into, print, write, pub lish, or circulate, or cause to be brought into, written, printed, published, or circulated, or shaU, knowingly, aid or asisist in the bring ing into, printing, writing, publishing, or circulating, in the Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or circular, for the purpose of inciting insurrection, rebellion, revolt, or conspiracy, on the part of the slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, against the citizens of the Territory, or any part of them, such person shall suffer death. " Seo. 4. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away, out of this Territory, any slave belonging to another, with the in tent to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guUty of grand larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. " Sec. 5. If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, or persuading, or car rying away, or sending out of this Territory, any slave belonging to another, with the in tent to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, or deprive the owners thereof of the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guUty of grand larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. " Seo. 12. If any free person, by speaking or writing, shall assert or maintain that per sons have not the right to hold slaves. in this Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into the Ter ritory, or written, printed, published, and circulated in this Territory, any book, pa per, magazine, pamphlet, or circular, con- 240 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. taining any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall he deemed guUty of felony, and pun ished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of not less than two years. "Sec. 13. No person who is conscienti ously opposed to holding slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any prosecution for any violation of any of the sections of this act." Another act of this remarkable Legislature, entitled " An act to punish persons decoying slaves from their masters," has this unique pro- -vlslon : " Seo. 3. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away, out of any State or other Territory of the United States, any slave belonging to another, with intent to pro cure or effect the freedom of such slave, or to deprive the owner thereof of the services " of such slave, and shall bring such slave into this Territory, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, in the same man ner as if such slave had been enticed, de coyed, or carried away, out of this Terri tory ; and in such case the larceny may be charged to have been committed in any county of this Territory, into or through which such slave shall have been brought by such person, and, on conviction thereof, the person offending shall suffer death." This Legislature, whose acts were systematically vetoed by Gov. Eeed er, but passed over his head, memori alized the President for his removal, which was, in due time, effected. WUson Shannon,'" of Ohio, was ap pointed In his stead. On his way to Kansas, he stopped at Westport, Mo., the headquarters of border ruffian ism, and made a speech to those who crowded about him. In that speech, he declared that he consid ered the Legislature which had re cently adjourned to Shawnee Mis sion a legal assembly, and regarded its laws as binding on the authorities and on every citizen of the Terri tory. He added : " To one subject, however, he would al lude — Slavery. His official liife and charac ter were not unknown to a portion, at least, of the citizens of Kansas. He had no in tention of changing his political faith. He thought, with reference to Slavery, that, as Missouri and Kansas were adjoining States, — as much of that immense trade up the Missouri, which was already rivaling the commerce between the United States and some foreign countries, must necessarily lead to a great trade and perpetual intercourse between them, — it would be weU if their institutions should harmonize ; otherwise, there would be continual quarrels and bor der feuds. Se was for Slanery in Kansas (loud cheers)." The actual settlers of Kansas were little disposed to submit to the impu dent and hostUe usurpation which had seized their ballot-boxes and im posed on them a fraudulent Legisla ture. They held a mass convention at Big Springs on the 5th of Septem ber, wherein they repudiated the laws and officers imposed on Kansas by the Border-Euffian election and Leglsla^ ture, and refused to submit to them. They further resolved not to vote at the election for a Delegate to Con gress, which the bogus Legislature had appointed to be held on the 1st of October. They called a Delegate Convention to be held at Topeka on the 19th of that month, whereat an Executive Committee for Kansas Ter ritory was appointed, and an election for Delegate to Congress appointed for the second Tuesday in October. Gov. Eeeder was nominated for Delegate. So, two rival elections for Delegate were held on different days, at one of which Whitfield (pro-Slavery), and at the other Eeeder (Free-Soil), was chosen Delegate to Congress. And, on the 23d of October, a Constitu tional Convention, chosen by the set tlers under the Free- State organiza tion aforesaid, assembled at Topeka, 28 Elected Democratic Governor of Ohio over Thomas Corwin, in 1842. KANSAS INYESTIGATION BY CONGRESS 241 and formed a Free-State Constitu tion, under which they asked admis sion into the IJnion as a State. The XXXrVth Congress assem bled at Washington, December 3d, 1855, no party having a majority in th^ House. Several weeks were consumed in fruitless baUotlngs for Speaker, until, finally, a majority -voted — Yeas 113, Nays 104 — ^that a plurahty should suffice to elect after three more baUots.- Under this rule, I^athaniel P. Banks, Jr., of Massa chusetts, received 103 votes to 100 for WiUiam Aiken, of South Caroli na, and 11 scattering. It was there upon resolved — Teas 155, Nays 40 — that Mr. Banks had been duly elected Speaker. The House, on the 19th of March, resolved — ^Yeas 101, Nays 93— to send a Special Committee to Kansas, to inquire Into the anarchy by this time prevailing there. That Committee was composed of Messrs. WiUiam A. Howard, of Michigan, John Sherman, of Ohio, and Morde- cai Ohver, of Missouri, who Immedi ately proceeded to Kansas, and there spent several weeks In taking testi mony ; which the majority, on their return to Washington, summed up In an able and searching Eeport. Their conclusions were as foUows : " Fi/rst : That each election in the Terri tory, held under the organic or alleged Ter ritorial law, has been carried by organized invasions from the State of Missouri, by which the people of the Territory have been prevented fi-om exercising the rights secured to them by the organic law. "Second: That- the alleged Territorial Legislature was an iUegally constituted body, and had no power to pass valid laws ; and their enactments are, therefore, null and void. " Third : That these alleged laws have not, as a general thing, been used to pro tect persons and property and to punish wrong, but for unlawful purposes. ^'¦Fowrth: That the election under which 16 the sitting delegate, John W. Whitfield, holds his seat, was not held in pursuance of any vaUd law, and that it should he regarded only as the expression of the choice of those ¦resident citizens who voted for him. "Fifth: That the election under which the contesting delegate, Andrew H. Eeeder, claims «his seat, was not held in pursuance of law, and that it should be regarded only as the expression of the choice of the resident citizens who voted for him. " Sixth : That Andrew H. Reeder received a greater number of votes of resident citizens than John W. "Whitfield, for Delegate. " Seventh : That, in the present condition of the Territory, a fair election cannot be held without a new census, a stringent and weU-guarded election law, the selection of impartial judges, and the presence of United States troops at every place of election. " Eighth : That the various elections held by the people of the Territory preliminary to the formation of the State Govemment, have been as regular as the disturbed condition of the Territory would aUow ; and that the Con stitution framed by the Convention, held in pursuance of said elections, embodies the wUl of a majority of the people." Whitfield held his seat, notwith standing, to the end of the Congress, despite strenuous efforts by the Eepubhcan members to oust him ; and a bill admitting Kansas as a State under her Free Constitution was first defeated in the House by 106 Yeas to 107 Nays, but afterward reconsidered and passed by 99 Yeas to 97 Nays. In the Senate, which was strongly pro-Slavery, it was promptly defeated. Meantime, the settled antagonism In Kansas between the Federal au thorities and the Territorial function aries and enactments recognized and upheld by them on the one side, and the great mass of her people on the other, had resulted In great practical disorders. On the 21st of Novem ber, 1855, William Dow, a Free- State settler on the Santa Fe road, near Hickory Point, was shot dead in open day by one Coleman, a pro- Slavery neighbor, in plain sight of 242 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. several persons. Dow was unarmed, and was set upon by three armed pro-Slavery men, who had no cause of quarrel with hhn but their differ ence in pohtlcs, although they made a pretense of claiming the land on which he had settled. The murderer fled to Missouri, but Immediately re turned to Shawnee Mission, and sur rendered himself to Gov. Shannon, who allowed him to go at large. The body of the murdered man lay in the road from noon -till evening, when Jacob Branson, the Free-State settler with whom he boarded, hear ing of his death, went after and re covered it. Five days thereafter, a me'eting of Free-State men was held at Hickory Point, at which the mur der and Its authors were forcibly denounced, and a Committee ap pointed to bring the murderers to justice. This meeting was made the pretext for bringing on a colhsion between the people and the authori ties. Branson was soon after arrest ed on an affida"vit of one of the three armed men who had compassed the death of Dow, who swore that he was in fear of his life. The arrest was made by a party headed by' Samuel J. Jones, postmaster at Westport, Mo., and one of the foremost in the conspiracy by which Kansas had been so far subjugated to " Border- Euffian" rule through the wholesale corruption of her ballot-boxes. For his zeal and efficiency in this work, the fraudulent Legislature at Shaw nee Mission had made him sheriff of Douglas County, wherein are Law rence and Hickory Point. Of course, the " Free-State" settlers, constitut ing a large majority of the people of that important county, scouted his assumption of official authority, re garding him as a deadly and danger ous foe. His posse was made up of pro-Slavery men, including two of those who had witnessed and abetted the murder of Dow, though Coleman — however active in. raising, fitting out, and arming the party — ^had been persuaded not to accompany it. Branson was found by th'em asleep In his bed, and taken out^by Jones, who professed his intent to take him to La"wrence for examination. Whe ther he did or did not entertain that purpose, he lingered and drank by the way, so that a party of the neigh boring Free-State settlers, fifteen in number, was hastily coUected, by which Jones and his party were in tercepted near Blanton's Bridge over the Wakarusa, and Branson rescued from Jones's custody. There was no acrtual collision — ^not even a gun snapped — but the Free-State men formed across the road in a bright moonhght evening, and caUed Bran son to come over to them, which he did, not"withstanding free threats of shooting on the part of Jones and his followers, answered by a cocking of Sharpe's rifies and revolvers on the other side. Jones, who had been speaking daggers up to this time, wisely concluded to use none, though his party was weU armed, and decid edly the more numerous. Branson and his rescuers moved off toward La-wrence, the citadel of Free-State principles, which the discomfited sher iff protested he would soon "visit at the head of five thousand men, and "-wipe out." He accordingly called on Gov. Shannon to order out three thousand mihtia, to enable him to "execute the laws," and sent to President Pierce an affida-vit that he had been resisted by " forty abohtion- THE CAPTURE AND SACK OF LAWRENCE. 243 ists." The caU was promptly made by proclamation from the governor, and the whole Missouri border came over to execute vengeance on Law rence and the Free-State men. This army encamped at Frankhn, a pro- Slavery settlement, a few miles from La"WTence, and there remained seve ral days, during which Thomas W. Barber, a Free-State man, retuming from La"wrence to his home, seven miles off, was shot dead by some of them, but no other serious damage done. FinaUy, articles of negotiation and adjustment were agreed up on between Gov. Shannon and the Free-State leaders, in La"wrence, which suspended the feud for the present. The Missourians dispersed, and the troubled land once more had peace. In the Spring of 1856, the pro- Slavery party on the Kansas border were reenforced by Col. Buford, from Alabama, at the head of a regiment of "wUd young men, mainly recruited in South Carolina and Georgia. They came in mihtary array, armed, and "with the avowed purpose of making Kansas a Slave State at all hazards. On one of their raids into Kansas, a party of Buford's men, who were South Carohnians, took a Mr. Miller prisoner, and, finding that he was a Free-State man, and a native of South Carolina, they grave ly tried him for treason to his native State ! He was found guilty, and escaped with his hfe only, losing his horse and money. Kansas now swarmed "with the minions of the Slave Power, intent on her subjugation ; their pretext being the enforcement of the laws passed by the fraudulent Legislature. On the moming of the 21st of May, 1856, La"WTence was surroimded and surprised by various parties of enemies, part of them under Gen. Atchison, who, with the " Platte County Eifles," and two pieces of artiUery, approached from Lecomp ton on the west, while another force, , composed in good part of the volun teers from the Atlantic Southern States, under Col. Buford, beleaguer ed it on the east. They bristled with weapons from the United States Ar mory, then in charge of the Federal officers In Kansas. Nearly all the pro-Slavery leaders then in Kansas, or hovering along the Missouri bor der, were on hand ; among them, Ool. Titus, from Florida, Col. Wilkes, from South Carolina, Gen. String- fellow, a Yirginian, Col. Boone, haUing from Westport, and many others of local and temporary fame. The entire force was about 800 strong, ha"ving possession of Mount Oread, a hill which commanded the to"wn. The pretext for this raid was a desire to serve legal processes in Kansas, although deputy marshal Fain, who held a part of those pro cesses, had been in La"wrence the evening before, and served two writs without a sign of resistance, as on several pre"vious occasions. He now rode into the to"wn "with ten men, and arrested two leading Free-State citizens, no pne making objection. Meantime, the posse, so called, were busy in the suburbs, breaking open houses and robbing their inmates. Fain remained In town until after noon, eating dinner with his party at the principal hotel, but neglecting to pay for It ; then returned to the camp on the hill, and was succeeded by " Sheriff Jones"- of that county, whose authority, being derived from 244 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the sham Legislature, the people did not recognize. Jones rode Into to"wn at the head of twenty men, at three P. M., and demanded that all the arms should be given up to him, on pain of a bombardment. The people, unprepared to resist, consent ed to surrender their artillery, con sisting of a twelve-pound howitzer, and four smooth-bore pieces, carrying each a pound ball. All these had been buried some days before, but were now dug up and made over to Jones. A few muskets were like- "wise surrendered by their o"wners. The pro-Slavery army now marched dovni the hiU, and entered the south end of the town, where Atchison made a speech to them, declaring that the Free-State Hotel and the two Free-State printing-offices must be destroyed. "Sheriff Jones" de clared that he had an order to that effect from Judge Lecompte, of the Federal Court. The whole force ac cordingly marched Into the heart of the to-wn, destroyed the printing-offi ces, and fired some fifty rounds from their cannon at the Free-State Hotel, which, being sohdly built of stone, was not much damaged thereby. Four kegs of gun-powder were then placed in it and fired, but only two of them exploded, making little Im pression. Fire was now applied to the building, and it was burnt to the bare and blackened walls. The dwelling of Gov. Eobinson^ was next set on fire, and, though the flames were twice extinguished, it was flnally consumed. The total loss to the citizens of Lawrence by that day's robbery and arson was estlmat-- ed at $150,000. None of them were killed or wounded ; but one of the ruffians shot himself badly, and another was kUled by a brick or stone, knocked by one of their can non from the upper story of the Free-State Hotel. Such were the beginnings of the so-called " Kansas War," a desultory, wastefiil, but not very bloody con flict, which continued, with alterna tions of acti-vity and quiet, through out the next year. One of its most noted incidents is kno"wn as the " battle of Black Jack," wherein 28 Free-State men, led by old John Brown, of Osawatomle, fought and defeated, on the open prairie, 56 " border mffians," headed by Capt. H. Clay Pate, from Virginia, who professed to be an officer under Mar shal Donaldson. It terminated in the surrender of Pate and aU that remained of his band, twenty-one men, beside the wounded, "with twenty-three horses and mules, wag ons, pro"visIons, camp-equipage, and a considerable quantity of plunder, obtained just before by sacking a little Free- State settlement, known as Palmyra. The Legislature chosen under the Free-State Constitution was sum moned to meet at Topeka on the 4th of July, 1856, and its members as sembled accordingly, but were not allowed to organize. Col. Sumner,^ with a force of regulars, dispersing them by order of President Pierce. The village of Osawatomie, in the southern part of the Territory, was sacked and burned on the 6th of June by a pro-Slavery force, headed ^ Elected Governor under the embryo organi zation, by the great body of her settlers, of Kansas as a Free State. '" Since known as Maj.-Gen. Edvrin V. Sum ner: fought bravely in several battles of the War: died at Syracuse, N. T., eariy iu 1863. THE SACK OF LEAVENWORTH. 245 by Gen. Whitfield. But few of the male citizens were at home, and there was no resistance. Leavenworth, being directly on tKe border, and easUy accessible from a populous portion of Missouri, was especiaUy exposed to outrages. It was long under the -control of the pro-Slavery party, being a military post, and a point whence overland trains and mails were dispatched, and at which a vast Federal patron age was concentrated. The office of The Territorial Register (Free-State) was destroyed by a Missouri band, December 20, 1855. Many collisions and murders occurred here, and In the "vicinity; ajid at length, on the recurrence of the municipal election (September 1, 1856), a large force, mainly of Missourians, took posses sion of the to"wn ; and, under the pretense of searching for arms, plun dered and ravaged as they chose. WUham PhUhps, a lawyer, refused to submit to their search, and stood on his defense. He kiUed two of his assailants, but was finally killed himself; whUe his brother, who aid ed him in his defense, had his arm shattered by a bullet. Phllhps's house was burned, "with several others, and every kno"wn Free- State man put on board a steamboat and sent down the river. It was boasted by th.e Missouri journals that not a single "abohtion vote" was cast at that election ! Meantime, the emigrants fiocking to Kansas from the Free States were arrested on their passage through Missouri and turned back: cannon be ing planted aloAg the Missouri river to stop the ascending steamboats for this purpose. Not mapyof these emigrants were actuaUy plundered, save of their passage-money, which was in no case returned. A large party was finally made up of those whose progress to their intended homes had been thus obstructed, who proceeded thither slowly and toil somely, by a circuitous route through Iowa and Nebraska ; but who, on en tering Kansas, were met by a Fede ral mihtary force, and all their arms taken from them. Yet the Immigration continued; so that, while the office-holders, the military, and all the recognized power and authority, were on the side of Slavery, the Free-State pre ponderance among the settlers con stantly increased. The pro-Slavery forces made strong Incursions or raids iuto the Territory from time to time, but subsided into Missouri after a few days ; and, while a good share of the fighting, with most of the burning and plundering, was done by them, nearly all the building, the clearing, the plowing, and the plant ing, were the work of Free-State men. Meantime, dissipation, exposure, and aU manner of irregularities, were constantly thinning the ranks of the pro-Slavery volunteers from the South, while many of the better class among them, disgusted and remorse- fal, abandoned their evil work, and shrank away to some region wherein they were less generally detested. Under all Its persecutions and deso lations, Kansas was steadily maturing and hardening into the bone and sinew of a Free State not only, but of one fitted by education and expe rience to be an apostle of the gospel of Universal Freedom. The Democratic National Conven tion for 1856 met at Cincinnati on 246 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the 2d of June. John E. Ward, of Georgia, presided over its dehbera- tions. On the first baUot, its votes for Presidential candidate were cast, for James BucHAiTAPr, 135 ; Pierce, 132; Douglas, 33; Cass, 5. Bu chanan gained pretty steadily, and Pierce lost ; so that, on the ninth ballot, the vote stood : Buchanan, 147; Pierce, 87; Douglas, 56; Cass, 7. On the sixteenth, Mr. Buchanan had 168 ; Mr. Douglas, 121. And, on the seventeenth, Mr. Buchanan received the whole number, 296 votes, and was nominated. On the first ballot for Vice-President, John A. Quitman, of Mississippi, received the highest vote — 59 ; but, on the second, his name was "withdra"wn, and Jomf C. BitECKiNiiiDGE, of Ken tucky, was unanimously nominated. The Convention, In Its platform, after adopting nearly all the material resolves of its two immediate prede cessors, unanimously " 1. Resolved, That, claiming feUowship with and desiring the cooperation of all who regard the preservation of the Union under the Constitution as the paramount issue, and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms concerning domestic Slavery, which seek to embroU the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in the Territories, and whose avowed purpose, if consummated, must end in civil war and disunion, the American . Democracy recog nize and adopt the principles contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas aud Nebraska, as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the Slavery question, upon which the great National idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservation of the Union, and non-interference of Con gress with Slavery in the Territories or in the District of Columbia. " 2. That this was the basjs of the Compro mises of 1850, confirmed by both the Demo cratic and "Whig parties in National Conven tions ; ratifled by the people in the election of 1 852, and rightly applied to the organi zation ofthe Territories in 1854. " 3. That, by the uniform application of the Democratic principle to the organization of Territories, and the admission of new States with or without domestic Slavery, as they niay elect, the equal rights of aU the States wUl be preserved intact, the original com pacts of the Constitution maintained in-vioj late, and .the perpetuity and expansion of the Union insured to its utmost capacity of embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American State that may he consti tuted or annexed with a repubhcan form of government." The dissolution of the Whig party, commenced by the Imposition of the Southem platform on its National Convention of 1852,was consummated by the eager participation of most of its Southern members of Congress in* the repudiation of the Missouri Com promise by the passage ofthe Kansas- Nebraska biU. Those, of whatever party in the past, who emphaticaUy condemned that repudiation, and who united on that basis to ignore past political denominations, with a "dew to united action in the future; were first kno"wn simply as " anti-Nebras ka," but graduaUy, and almost spon taneously, assumed the designation of "Eepubhcans." As such, they carried most of the Free State elec tions of 1854, but were less decidedly successftU In those of 1855. Then- first National Convention was held at Pittsburgh, Pa., on the 22d of February, 1856 ; but no nominations were there made. Their nominating Convention met at PhUadelphia on the 17th of June, Col. Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, presiding. John" C. Fremont, of California, was nom inated for President on the first bal lot, recei-ving 359 votes to 196 for John McLean, of Ohio. William L. Datton", of New Jersey, received 259 votes on the Informal ballot, to 110 for Abraham Lincoln and 180 scattering, for Vice-President. Mr. Dayton was thereupon unanimously NOMINATION OF FILLMORE AND DONELSON. 247 nominated. The more material re solves of this Convention are as fol lows : "Resohed, That, with our republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal Government were, to secure these rights to all persons "within its exclusive jurisdiction ; that, as om- republican fathers, when they had aboUshed Slavery in all our National territory, ordained that jio person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the Con stitution against aU attempts to violate it, for the purpose of establishing Slavery in any territory of the United States, by posi tive legislation, prohibiting its existence and extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legis lature, of any indi-ridual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to Sla very in any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained. , "Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for their government; and that, in the exercise of fills power, it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin reUcs of barbarism — ^Polygamy and Slavery." An "American" National Con vention was held at Philadelphia on the 22d of February; aU the States represented but Maine, Vermont, Georgia, and South Carolina. An "American" National CoimcU (secret) had met three days before in the same place, and adopted a platform. The foUo-wing plank is the most essential : " The recognition of the right of native- born and naturalized citizens of the United States, permanentiy residing in any Terri tory thereof, to frame their Constitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social afi'airs in their own mode, subject only to the pro-visions of the Federal Con stitution, with the privilege of admission into the Union whenever they have the requisite population for one Representative in Congress: Provided, (flways, that none hut those who are citizens of the United States, under the Constitution and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Territory, ought to participate in the formation of the Constitution, or in the enactment of laws, for said Territory or State." This Council proceeded to con demn the National Administration, among other things, for "reopening sectional agitation by the repeal of the Missouri compromise." This was not satisfactory to the " anti-Nebras ka" members of the nominating Con vention; on whose behalf, Mr. Kil- linger, of Pennsylvania, proposed the foUo"svIng : " Resolved, That the National Council has no authority to prescribe a Platform of prin ciples for this Nominating Convention ; and that we will nominate for President and Vice-President no men who are not in favor of interdicting the introduction of Slavery into territory north of 36° 30' by Congres sional action." This resolve was laid on the table, by 141 votes to 59. The " anti-Ne braska" delegates, to the number of about fifty, thereupon withdrew from the Convention. On the first ballot for President, Millaud Fillmoee, of New York, received 71 votes ; George Law, of N. Y., 27 ; and there were 45 scattering. On the next ballot, Mr. FiUmore received 179 to 64 for all others, and was nominated. On the first ballot for Vice-President, An drew Jackson Donelson, of Tennes see, received 181 votes to 24 scatter ing, and was unanimously nomina ted. The nomination of Mr. FUhnore was ratified by a Whig Convention, which met at Baltimore on the 17th of September — ^Edward Bates, of Mis souri, presiding. Mr. FUhnore was absent in Europe when the American nomination was made ; but, returning early in July, 248 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT.. took ground emphatically against the Eepubhcan organization and effort. In his speech at Albany, he said : " We see a pohtical party presenting can didates for the Presidency and Vice-Presi dency, selected, for the first time, from the Free States alone, with the avowed purpose of electing these candidates by the suffrages of one part of the Union only, to rule over the whole United States. Can it be possible that those who are engaged in such a meas ure can have seriously reflected upon the consequences which must inevitably follow,, iu case of success ? Can they have the mad ness or the folly to believe that our South ern brethren would submit to be governed by such a Chief Magistrate ? "Would he be required to foUow the same rule prescribed by those who elected him in making his ap pointments? If a man li"ring south of Ma son and Dixon's line be not worthy to' be President or Vice-President, would it be proper to select one from the same quarter as one of his Cabinet Council, or to repre sent the nation in a foreign country? Or, indeed, to collect the revenue, or administer the laws of the United States ? If not, what new rule is the President to adopt in select ing men for ofiice that the people them selves discard in selecting him f These are serious but practical questions ; and, in or der to appreciate them faUy, it is only neces sary to turn the tables upon ourselves. Sup pose that the South, ha'ving the majority of the electoral votes, should declare that they would only have slaveholders for President and Vice-President, and should elect such by their exclusive suffrages to rule over us at the North. Do you think we would sub mit to it ? No, not for a moment. And do you believe that your Southern brethren are less sensitive on this subject than you are, or less jealous of their rights? If you do, let me tell you that you are mistaken. And, therefore, you must see that, if this sectional party succeeds, it leads inevitably to the de struction of this beautiful fabric, reared by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a priceless inheritance." This speech is memorable not merely for its gross misapprehen sion of the grounds and motives of the Eepubhcan movement — repre senting its purposes as violent, ag gressive, and sectional, when they date back to 1784, and trace their paternity to Jefferson, a Southron and a slaveholder — but because this was the first declaration by a North em statesman of mark that the suc cess of the Eepubhcans would not only incite, but justify, a Southem re beUion. The facts that the "Na tional Eepubhcans," in 1828, sup ported John Q. Adams and Eichard Eush — ^both from Free States — while their antagonists supported Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun, both slaveholderSj and thus secured nearly every elector from the Slave States, are conveniently ign'ored by Mr. Fillmore. The Presidential contest of 1856 was ardent and animated up to the October elections, wherein the States of Pennsylvania and Indiana were carried by the Democrats, rendering the election of Buchanan and Breck inridge a moral certainty. In de spite, however, of that certainty, the Eepubhcans carried New York by a plurahty of 80,000, "with the six New England States, and Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa — gi"ving Gen. Fremont 114 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan carried Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Cahfornia, Vidth all the Slave States but Mary land, which voted alone for Mr. FUl- more. New Jersey, Ilhnois, and Cal ifornia, gave each a plurahty only, not a majority, of her popular vote for the successful candidate. In the aggregate, Mr. Buchanan received 1,838,169 votes; CoL Fremont 1,341,264 ; and Mr. FiUmore 874,534 : so that Mr. Buchanan, though he had a very decided plurahty, lacked 377,629 votes of a majority over both his competitors. Of the electors, however, he had 174 — a clear ma jority of 60. Major Breckinridge was, of course, chosen Vice-President by the same vote. The disturbed and distracted con- TOTING ON THB LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION. 249 dition of Kansas, resultmg from the efforts of her Missouri neighbors to force Slavery upon her against her "will, necessarily attracted the %arly attention of Mr. Buchanan's Admin istration. John W. Geary — ^the third or fourth of her Territorial Govern ors — ^had recently resigned and left in disgust, aud the selection of a suc cessor was an ob"vious and urgent duty. The President's choice fell on Hon. Eobert J. Walker, formerly Senator from Mississippi, and Secretary of the Treasury imder President Polk, who accepted the post with consider able reluctance. Frederick P. Stan ton, for ten years a representative in Congress from Tennessee, was associ ated "with him as Secretary. Meantime, the double-headed ac tion In Kansas proceeding, an im mense majority of the settlers, though prevented by Federal force from effecting snch an organization as they desired, utterly refused to recognize the Legislature chosen by the Missouri invaders, or the officers thereby appointed : consequently, each party held its own conven tions and elections Independent of the other. The pro-Slavery Legisla ture called a Constitutional Conven tion in 1857, which met at Lecomp ton on the first Monday of Septem ber. That Convention proceeded, of course, to form a pro-Slavery Consti tution, which they pretended to sub mit to the people at an election held on the 21st of December follo"wing. But at this remarkable election, held expressly to ratify or reject a State Constitution, no one was allowed to vote against that Constitution. The vote was to be taken " For the Con- Btitution with Slavery" or " For the Constitution without Slavery" — no others to be allowed or counted. It was accordingly so taken, and the fol lowing was the return : For the Constitution wiiA Slavery 6,366. For the Gonstitution wiihout Slavery 567. So the Constitution with Slavery- was adopted. But, meantime, an election had been held, on the first Monday in October, for a Territorial Legislature under the bogus laws ; and at this election most of the Free- State men, trusting to the assurances of Gov. Walker, had voted. Over 11,000 votes were polled, of which 1,600 were taken at a little precinct kno"WTi as Oxford, on the Missouri border, where there were but 43 vot ers; and 1,200 were returned from McGee County, where no poll was opened. But, notwithstanding these enormous frauds, the Free-State pre ponderance was so decided that It carried the Legislature and elected a delegate to Congress. This Legisla ture, whose legahty was now unques tioned, passed an act submitting the Lecompton Constitution to a vote of the people for or against it, on the 4th of January, 1858. This Consti tution pro-vided that " the rights of property in slaves now in the Terri tory shall in no manner be interfered "with," and precluded any amendment prior to the year 1864 ; after which, amendments could be made with the concurrence of both houses of the legis lature, and a majority of all the citizens of the State. Thus, while the people had not been allowed to vote aga/inst the Constitution, their seeming privi lege of voting for it without Slavery was a delusion. In any case, Slavery was to have been protected and perpetuated. But, at the election authorized by the new Legislature, which the Missourians did not choose 250 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. to recognize as valid, and therefore did not come over to vote at, the ftdl poU was returned as follows : For tho Lecompton Constitution vyith Slavery, 138 1 u ¦" " " without " 24; Against the Lecompton Constitution, 10,226 ; giving a majority of over 10,000 against the said Constitution in any shape. The XXXVth Congress organized at Washington, December 7, 1857. There being a large Democratic ma jority. Col. James L. Orr, of S. C, was elected Speaker. Mr. Buchanan, in his Annual, as also in a Special Mes sage,^' urged Congress to accept and ratify the Lecompton Constitution. Senator Douglas took strong ground against it. The Senate''' passed — Yeas 32, Nays 25-^a bUl accepting this Constitution. But the House ^ adopted a substitute, prepared by Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, and proposed in the House by Mr. Mont gomery, a Douglas Democrat from Pennsylvania. This substitute re quired a re-submission of that Con stitution to the people of Kansas, under such pro-visions and precau tions as should insure a fair vote thereon. It was adopted by the House as a substitute for the Sen ate biU — Yeas, 92 Eepubhcans, 22 Douglas Democrats, 6 Americans — total 120; Nays, 104 Democrats, 8 Americans — total 112. This amend ment was rejected by the Senate, who asked a Committee of Conference ; which, on motion of Mr. Enghsh, of Indiana, who had thus far acted with the Douglas men, was granted by 109 Yeas to 108 Nays. The bill reported from the Conference Committee pro posed a submission to the people of Kansas of a proposition on the part of Congress to limit and curtail the grants of pubhc lands and oth er a(^antages stipulated In behalf of said State in the Lecompton Con stitution ; and, in case of their vot ing to reject said proposition, then a new Convention was to be held and a new Constitution framed. This biU passed both Houses ; ^ and under it the people of Kansas, on the 3d of August, voted, by an over whelming majority, to reject the pro position: wliichwas,in effect, to reject the Lecompton Constitution. The Territorial Legislature had now passed completely into the hands" of the Free-State party, and, under Its guidance, a new Constitution al Convention assembled at Wyandot on the first Tuesday In March, 1859 ; the people having voted, by a major ity of 3,881, to hold such Convention. The attempt to make Kansas a Slave State was now formaUy abandoned in favor of an effort to organize it as a Democratic Free State. This, how ever, failed — the Convention con sisting of thirty-five Eepubhcans to seventeen Democrats. A Free- State Constitution was duly framed, where by the western boundary of the State was fixed at the twenty-third paral lel of longitude west from Washing ton. This Constitution was adopted at an election held on the first Tues day in October, whereat the majority for ratification was about 4,000. The first undisputed State election was held under it on the 6th of December following, when Eepubhcan officers and member of Congress were elect ed on a light vote, by majorities rang- mg from 2,000 to 2,500. The Constitution framed by the " February 2, 1858. "= March 23, 1858. ' April 1, 1858. " AprU 30, 1858. KANSAS ADMITTED — DRED SCOTT. 251 Con-^ention at Wyandot was laid be fore the House, February 10th, 1860. On the 15th, Mr. Grow, of Pennsyl vania, Introduced a bill for the admis sion of Kansas into the Union ; which was read a first and a second thne, and referred to the Committee on Territories. This bill was report ed to the House from that Commit tee, and, on the 11th of April, it passed, under the Previous Question : Yeas 134 ; Nays 73. But the Senate, wliich was very strongly Democrati-c, stubbornly refused (32 to 27) to take it up, and adjourned, leaving Kansas BtlU a Territory: .so that, though every way qualified for and entitled to admission, she was remanded into territorial vassalage by the very men who had been so eager to admit her, two years before, when her popula tion and every other element of strength and stabihty were consider ably less. She was thus denied a voice in the election for President in 1860. .At the next session of Con gress, however, her apphcation was renewed ; and on the same day '* that Messrs. Jefferson Davis, Clement C. Clay, Fitzpatrick, Mallory, and others, abandoned their seats and the Capitol to take part in the Southem Eebel lion, a biU admitting her as a Free State under the Wyandot Constitu tion was called up by Gov. Seward, and passed the Senate : Yeas 36 ; Nays 16. One week later, on mo tion of Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, it was taken up in the House, out of regular order, by 119 to 42, and passed. And thus, on the very threshold of our great stmggle — ^no serious effort having been made by the slaveholders to colonize or conquer Nebraska — the arduous contest opened by Mr. Dixon's proposition to repeal the Missouri Eestriction, was closed by the admis sion of Free Kansas as the thirty- fourth State of our Federal Union. XVIII. THE DEED SCOTT CASE. Deed Scott, a negro, was, previ ously to 1834, held as a slave in Mis souri by Dr. Emerson, a surgeon in the U. ^. Army. In that year, the doctor was transferred to the mihtary post at Eock Island, in the State of Illinois, and took his slave with hhn. Here, Major Tahaferro (also of the army) had, in 1835, in his service a black known as Harriet, whom he hke-wise held as his slave. The ma jor was transferred that year tp Fort SneUIng, on the other side of the Mis- slppl, in what is now known as Min nesota, but was then an unorganized territory of the United States, ex pressly covered by the Slavery Pro hibition embodied in the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Dr. Emerson was hke"wise transferred to Fort Snel- llng in 1836, and here bought Har riet of Major Taliaferro, and held her and Dred as his slaves; they being married to each other with his con- 36 January 21, 1861. 252 THE AMERICAN CO.NPHCI.. sent soon after his arrival at the Fort. Two chUdren were bom to them; Ehza, in 1838, on board the steamboat Gipsy, on their way down the Mississippi, but stUl north of the Missouri line; Lizzie, seven years later, at Jefferson Barracks, in the State of Missouri. The doctor, with Dred, Harriet, and Eliza, returned thence to St. Louis, and he there con tinued to hold them as his slaves, untU he sold them, several years later, to John F. A. Sanford, of the State and City of New York. Finally, Dred brought suit for his freedom, on the above state of facts, in the State Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, and obtained a verdict and judgment in his favor. But this was reversed by a judgment on a -writ of error, to the Supreme Court of that State, from which an appeal was taken to the courts of the United States, and the case came to trial in May, 1854. Ha-ving been fuUy heard by the Supreme Court at Washington, that court was about to decide it at its term of 1855-6 ; but the controUing majority of Its Judges concluded, in "view of the pending Presidential election, and the strong excitement which the Nebraska blU and the Kansas outrages had aroused throughout the Free States, to defer rendering judgment until its next session. It is quite probable that its action in the premises, if made public at the time originaUy intend ed, would have reversed the issue of that Presidential election. The em inent Chief Justice John Marshall, who had so long presided over that tribunal, and whose opinions had won for it a weight and influence rarely accorded to any court, died In 1835 at the ripe age. of eighty. None of the Judges appointed by any.prede^ cessor of Gen. Jackson survived. Of the nine who now composed that au gust tribunal, eight had been selected from the ranks of the Democratic party, and most of them for other considerations than those of eminent legal abUIty or acquirements. John McLean, of Ohio, was placed on the bench. In 1829, by Gen. Jackson, in order to make room for a Postmaster- General who would remove from office the postmasters who had supported Mr. Adams and appoint Jacksonians to their places ; which McLean — Shav ing been continued in office by Mr. /Adams, though himself for Jackson — could not decently do. Eoger B. Taney, of Maryland, was likewise appointed by Jackson in 1836, as a reward for his services in accepting the post of Secretary of the Treasury and removing the Federal deposits from the United States Bank, upon the dismissal of WiUiam J. Duane, of Pennsylvania, for refasing to make such removal. Mr. Taney, bom in 1777, was an ultra Federalist pre viously to his becoming a Jackso nian, but always a devotee of prerog ative and power. Of his associates, beside Judge McLean, only Samuel Nelson, of New York, and Benjamin E. Curtis, of Massachusetts, were ever presumed quahfied, either by nature or attainments, for judicial emi nence. The decision and opinions of this Court, in the case of Dred Scott, had not been made pubhc when Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated;' but that gentleman had undoubtedly been favored with a private intima tion of their scope and bearing: 1 March 4th, 1851, BUCHANAiN AND TANET ON DRED SCOTT. 253 hence the foUowing prelusive sugges tions of his Inaugural Address : "We have recently passed through a Presidential contest, in which the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest degree by questions of deep and vital importance ; but, when the people pro claimed their will, the tempest at once subsided, and all was calm. " The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed hy the Constitution, was heard ; and instant submission follow ed. Our own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government. " What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule — that the will of the majority shall govern — to the settlement of the question of domestic Slavery in the territories! Congress is neither ' to legislate Slavery into any terri tory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, hut to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic in stitutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.' As a natural consequence. Congress has already prescribed that, when the Territory of Kan sas shall be admitted as a State, it ' shall he received into the Union with or without Slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.' "A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a territory shall decide this question for themselves. " This is, happily, a matter of hut little practical importance. Besides, it is a judi cial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common with aU good citizens, I shaU cheerfully submit." Not many days thereafter, the de cision and opinions thus heralded, and commended as a new and admi rable exemplification of "Popular Sovereignty," and the " happy con ception" embodied in the Kansas- Nebraska bill, were revealed, "with due trumpeting and laudation, to an expectant world. Chief Justice Taney, in pronouncing the decision of the Court, which nuUified the Missouri Eestriction, or = "5. Resohed, That, if experience should at any time prove that the Judicial and Ex ecutive authority do not possess means to insure adequate protection to constitu tional rights in a Territory, and if the terri torial govemment should fail or refuse to provide the necessary remedies for that pur pose, it will be the duty of Congress to sup ply such deficiency." Mr. Clingman proposed to amend this, as follows : " Provided, That it is not hereby intend ed to assert the duty of Congress to provide a system of laws for the maintenance of Slavery." This was rejected — ^Yeas 12 ; Nays 31 — only Messrs. Clark, Chngman, Dixon, Foot, Foster, Hale, Hamhn, Latham, Pugh, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, and Wilson, voting in the affirma tive. The original resolution was then adopted ; as follows : Yeas 35 ; Nays 2 — Messrs. Hamlin and Trumbull: the Yeas being as upon the adoption of the first resolve, "with the subtrac tion of Messrs. Brown and Thomson, and the addition of Mr. Ten Eyck. "6. Resohed, That the inhabitants of a Territory of the United States, when they rightfully form a Constitution to be admit ted as a State into the Union, may then, for the first time, like the people of a State when forming a new Constitution, decide for themselves whether Slavery, as a domestic institution, shall be maintained or prohib ited within their jurisdiction; and 'they shaU be admitted into the Union, with or without Slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.' " This was also adopted, as foUows : Yeas 33 — same as on the first re solve, less Bro"wn, MaUory, and Pugh ; Nays 12 — Bingham, Chandler, Dix on, Foot, Foster, Hale, Pugh, Sim mons, Ten Eyck, TrumbuU, Wade, and Wilson. "7. Resolved, That the provision of the Constitution for the rendition of fugitives from service or labor, without the adoption of which the Union could not have been formed, and the laws of 1793 and 1850, which were enacted to secure its execution, and the main features of which, being simi lar, bear the impress of nearly seventy years of sanction by the highest judicial authority, should be honestly and faithfully observed and maintained by all who enjoy the bene- " Teas — Messrs. Bigler, Bingham, Bragg, Chandler, Clark, CUngman, CoUamer, Crittenden, Dixon, Doolittle, Foot, Grimes, Hale, Hamlin, Harlan, Johnson, of Tennessee, Kennedy, La tham, Polk, Pugh, Simmons, Ten Eyck, Toombs, TrumbuU; Wade, and Wilson— 26. Nats — Messrs. Benjamin, Bright, Brown, Chesnut, Clay, Davis, Fitzpatrick, Green, Ham mond, Hunter, Iverson, Lane, Mallory, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, PoweU, Rice, Saulsbury, Se bastian, Slidell, Wigfall, and Tulee — 23. [All frora Slave States but Bright, Lane, and Rice.] THE DBMOORACT AT CHARLESTON. 309 fits of our compact of union, and that all acts of individuals or of State Legislatures to defeat the purpose or nullify the require ments of that provision, and the laws made in pursuance of it, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolu tionary in their effect." This, the last of the series, was likewise adopted, as foUows: Yeas 36 ; Nays 6 : Yeas as in the first in stance, except that Messrs. Pearce and Thompson did not vote, their places being filled by Messrs. Ten Eyck and Thomson ; while the Nays were Messrs. Chandler, Clark, Foot, Hale, Wade, and Wilson. The Senate then proceeded, on motion of Mr. WUson, of Massachu setts, to reconsider Mr. Chngman's resolution hitherto given — ^Mr. Wil son stating that, for himself and his friends, they "wished to have nothing to do "with any part of the series, and therefore moved the reconsideration ; which prevaUed : Yeas 26 ; Nays 8. And the resolution of Mr. Chngman, being reconsidered, was rejected. And so, Mr. Jefferson Davis's en tire series, "without the change of a comma, affirming and emphasizing the worst points of the Dred Scott decision, and asserting as "vital truths propositions which even the Southern Democracy voted do"wn when first presented to a Democratic National Convention by Mr. Yancey in 1848, were now adopted by the United States Senate as necessary deductions from the fundamental law ofthe land. The Democratic National Conven tion of 1856 had decided that its successor should meet at Charleston,- S. C, which it accordingly did, on the 23dof April, 1860. Abundant premonitions of a storm had afready been afforded. One del egation from the State of New York had been chosen by the Convention which nominated State officers at Syracuse the preceding Autumn ; whUe another had been elected by dis tricts, under the auspices of Mr. Fer nando Wood, then Mayor ofthe Com mercial Emporium. The former was understood to favor the nomination of Senator Douglas for President ; the latter to oppose it, and incline to en tire acquiescence in whatever the South might propose or desire. T-wo delegations had, in hke manner, been chosen from Ilhnois, under similar auspices. The National Committee had issued tickets to what it esteemed the regular, or anti-Wood, delegation from New York, admitting them to seats in the Convention, and ex cluding their competitors. Francis B. Flournoy, of Arkansas, was chosen temporary Chairman ; Gen. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, was, on the second day, made permanent President, and a Committee on Plat form, consisting of one member from each State, appointed. On the third day, the contests were decided in favor of the anti-Wood delegation from New York and the Douglas men from Illinois. On the fourth, no progress was made. On the fifth, Mr. Avery, of North Carohna, from a majority of the Committee on Plat form (17 to 14), but representing a minority of the People and of the Electors of President, reported a series, whereof the material proposi tion was as follows : ¦ " Resolved, That the platform adopted at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following resolutions: "That the National Democracy of the United States hold these cardinal principles on the subject of Slavery in the Territories : First, That Congress has no power to abol ish Slavery in the Territories ; second, that aio THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the Territorial Legislature has no power to abolish Slavery in the Territories, nor to pro hibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power to destroy or impair the right of property in slaves by any legislation what ever." Mr. Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, on behalf of the membei-s of said Com mittee from all the Free States but Cahfornia, Oregon, and Massachu setts — States entitled to choose 172 Electors, while those represented in the majority report were entitled to but 127 Electors — ^reported a plat form, which, as finally modified, was presented by Mr. Samuels, of Iowa, In the following shape : "1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a plat form of principles by the Democratic Con vention at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, be lieving that Democratic principles are un changeable in their nature, when applied to the same subject-matters; and we recom mend, as the only further resolutions, the fol lowing : "Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature aud extent of the powers of a Territorial Legis lature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of Slavery within tbe Territories : " 2. Resohed, That the Democratic Party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions of Constitutional law. " 3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign. "4. Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, commercial, and postal point of view, is speedy communica tion between the Atlantic and Pacific States ; and the Democratic Party pledge such con stitutional government aid as will insure the construction of a railroad to the Pacific coast, at the earliest practicable period. " 5. Resohed, That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the Island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain. " 6. Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, aud revolutionary in their effect." Mr. Avery's report from the ma jority was ultimately modified by him so as to read as foUows : "Resolved, That the platform adopted by the Democratic party at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following explanatory res olutions : " First. That the government of a Territory organized by an act of Congress, is provi sional and temporary ; and, during its exist ence, all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory without their rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by congressional or territorial legis lation. " Second. That it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its departments, to pro tect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherevur else its constitutional authority extends. " Third. That when the settlers in a Terri tory having an adequate population form a State Constitution, the right of sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by ad mission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States ; and the State thus organized ought to be ad mitted into the Federal Union, whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the in stitution of Slavery. " Fourth. That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the Island of Cuba, on such terras as shall be honorable to our selves and just to Spain, at the earliest prac ticable moment. " Fifth. That the enactments of State legis latures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolu tionary in their effect. " Sixth. That the Democracy of the United States recognize it as the imperative duty of this Government to protect the naturalized citizen in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same extent as its native-born citizens. " 'Whereas, one ofthe greatest necessities of the age, in a political, commercial, postal and mihtary point of view, is a speedy com munication between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts : Therefore, be it " Resolved, That the Democratic party do hereby pledge themselves to use every means in their power to secure the passage of some bill, to the extent of the constitutional au thority of Congress, for the construction of a Pacific Railroad, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, at the earliest practica ble period." [The report concludes with resolves 5 and 6 of the Douglas platform, for which see preceding column.] AVERT ON DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS. 311 Gen. Benj. F. Butler, of Massachu setts, disagreeing with both these re ports, proposed simply to reaffirm the Cincinnati platform, and there stop. The majority report, it wiU be no ted, was concurred In by the repre sentatives. In Committee, of each of the fifteen Slave States, with those of California and Oregon. Mr. Avery, in Introducing it, very frankly and fairly set forth its object, and the grounds of difference with the minor ity, as foUows : "I have stated that we demand at the hands of our Northem brethren upon this floor that the great principle which we cher ish should be recognized, and in that "view I speak the common sentiments of our consti tuents at home ; and I intend no reflection upon those who entertain adifferent opinion, when I say that the results and ultimate consequences to the Southern States of this confederacy, if the Popular Sovereignty doc trine be adopted as the doctrine of the Demo cratic party, would be as dangerous and subversive of their rights as the adoption of the principle of Congressional intervention or prohibition. We say that, in a contest for the occupation of the Territories of the United States, the Southern men encumbered with slaves cannot compete with the Emi grant Aid Society at the North. We say that the Emigrant Aid Society can send a voter to one of the Territories of the United States, to determine a question relating to Slavery, for the sum of $200 ; while it would cost the Southern man the sum of $1500. We say, then, that, wherever there is compe tition between the South and the North, that the North can and will, at less expense and difficulty, secure power, control, and do minion over the Territories of the Federal Government ; and if, then, you establish the doctrine that a Territorial Legislature which may be established by Congress in any Ter ritory has the right, directly or indirectly, to affect the institution of Slavery, then you can see that the Legislature by its action, either directly or indirectly, may flnally exclude every man from the slaveholding States as effectually as if you had adopted the Wilmot Pro"vdso out and out. * * * " But we are told that, in advocating the doctrine we now do, we are "violating the principles of the Cincinnati platform. They say that the Cincinnati platform is a Popular Sovereignty platform ; that it was intended to present and practically enforce that great •principle. Now, we who made this report deny that this is the true construction of the Cincinnati platform. We of the South say that, when we voted for the Cincinnati plat form, we understood, from the fact that the Territories stand in the same position as the District of Columbia, that non-interference and non-intervention in the Territories was that same sort of non-interference and non intervention practiced in the District of Co lumbia. Now, we maintain that Congress has no right to prohibit or |ibolish Slavery in the District of Columbia. Why? Be cause it is an existing institution. It be comes the duty of Congress under the Con stitution to protect and cherish the right of property in slaves in that District, because the Constitution does not give them the power to prohibit or establish Slavery. Every session of Congress, Northern men. Southern men, men of all parties, are legis lating to protect, cherish and uphold, the in stitution of Slavery in the District of Colum bia. * * * " It is said that the Cincinnati platform is ambiguous, and that we must explain it. At the South, we have maintained that it had no ambiguity ; that it did not mean Popular Sovereignty ; but our Northern friends say that it does mean Popular Sovereignty. Now, if we are going to explain it and to declare its principles, I say, let us either de clare them openly, boldly, squarely, or let us leave it as it is in the Cincinnati Platform. I want, and we ofthe South want, no more doubtful platforms upon this or any other question. We desire that this Convention should take a bold, square stand. What do the minority of the committee propose? Their solution is to leave the question to the decision of the Supreme Court, and agree to abide by any decision that may be made by that tribunal between the citizens of a Ter ritory upon the subject. Why, gentlemen of the minority, you cannot help yourselves ! That is no concession to us. There is no necessity for putting that in the platform, because I take it for granted that you are all law-abiding citizens. Every gentleman here from a non-slaveholding State is a law- abiding citizen ; and, if he be so, why we know that, when there is a decision of the Supreme Court, even adverse to his "views, he will submit to it. * * * " You say that this is a judicial question. We say that it is not. But, if it be a judicial question, it is immaterial to you how the platform is made, because all you will have to say is, 'This is a judicial question; the majority of the Convention were of one opinion ; I raay entertain my own opinion upon the question; let the Supreme Court settle it.' * * * " Let us make a platform about which there can be no doubt, so that every man. North 312 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. and South, may stand side by side on all issues connected with Slavery, and advocate the same principles. That is all we ask. All we demand at your hands is, that there shall be no equivocation and no doubt in the popular mind as to what our principles are." Mr. Payne, on the other side, quo ted at length from the Cincinnati platform, from Mr. Buchanan's let ter pf acceptance, and from speeches of Howell Cobb, John C. Breckin ridge, James L. Orr, A. H. Ste phens, Judah P. Benjamin, James A. Bayard, James M. Mason, Robert Toombs, etc., to show that 'Non- Intervention' "with 'Popular Sover eignty' was the original and estab lished Democratic doctrine vrith re gard to Slavery in the Territories. The debate was continued, amid great excitement and some disorder, untU Monday, AprU 30th, when the question was first taken on Gen. Butler's proposition ; which was de feated — ^Yeas 105; Nays 198 — as follows : Yeas — Maine, 3 ; Massachusetts, 8 ; Con necticut, 2-J- ; New Jersey, 5 ; Pennsylvania, 16^"? Delaware, 3; Maryland, 5^-; Virginia, 12 J; North Carolina, 10 ; Georgia, 10; Mis souri, 4^; Tennessee, 11; Kentucky, 9 Minnesota, li; Oregon, 3 — 105. Nays — Maine, 5 ; New Hampshire, 5 Vermont, 5 ; Massachusetts, 5 ; Rhode Is land, 4 ; Connecticut, 3^ ; New York, 35 New Jersey, 2 ; Pennsylvania, IOJ ; Mary land, 2i ; "Virginia, 21 ; South Carolina, 8 Florida, 3 ; Alabama, 9 ; Louisiana, 6 ; Mis sissippi, 1 ; Texas, 4 ; Arkansas, 4 ; Missouri, 4i ; Tennessee, 1 ; Kentucky, 3 ; Ohio, 23 ; Indiana, 13 ; Illinois, 11 ; Michigan, 6 ; Wis consin, 5 ; Iowa, 4 ; Minnesota, 2-^ ; Califor nia, 4—198. The question was next taken on the regular minority report, as pre sented in a modified form by Mr. Samuels ; which was adopted, by the foUo"wing vote : Yeas — ^Maine, 8 ; New Hampshire, 5 ; Ver mont, 5 ; Massachusetts, 7 ; Ehode Island, 4 ; Connecticut, 6 ; New York, 35 ; New Jersey, 5 ; Pennsylvania, 12 ; Maryland, 3 J-; Virginia, 1 ; Missouri, 4 ; Tennessee, 1 ; Kentucky, 2i ; Ohio, 23 ; Indiana, 13 ; Hli nois, 11 ; Michigan, 6; Wisconsin,^5 ; Iowa, 4; Minnesota, 4 — 165. Nats— Massachusetts, 6 ; New Jersey, 2 ; Pennsylvania, 15; Delaware, 3; Maryland, U ; Virginia, 14; North Carolina, 10 ; South Carolina, 8; Georgia, 10; Florida, 3 ;_ Ala bama, 9; Louisiana, 6; Mississippi, V; Texas, 4 ; Arkansas, 4 ; Missouri, 6 ; Ten nessee, 11; Kentucky, 91; California, 4; Oregon, 3—138. Hereupon, Mr. L. P. Walker, of Alabama, presented the -written pro test of the delegates from that State, 28 in number, showing that they were expressly Instructed by the State Convention which elected them not to acquiesce in or submit to any ' Squatter Sovereignty' platform, but to withdraw from the Convention in case such a one should be adopted. Among the resolves so adopted and made binding on their delegates by the Alabama State Convention, were the foUo"wing : " 1. Resolved, by the Bemocracy ofthe State of Alabama in Convention assembled, That, holding all issues and principles upon which they have heretofore affiliated and acted with the National Democratic Party to be inferior in dignity and importance to the great question of Slavery, they content themselves with a general reaffirmance of the Cincinnati platform as to such issues, and also indorse said platform as to Slavery, together with the following resolutions : " 2. Resohed further, That we reaffirm so much of the first resolution of the platform adopted in the Convention by the Demo cracy of this State, on the Sth of January, 1856, as relates to the subject of Slavery, to ¦n-it : ' The unqualified right of the people of the Slaveholding States to tho protection of their property in the States, in the Terri tories, and in the wilderness in which Ter ritorial Governments are as yet unorgan ized.' " 8. Resohedfurther, That, in order to meet and clear away all obstacles to a full enjoy ment ofthis right in the Territories, we re affirm the principle of the 9th resolution of the Platform adopted in Convention by the Democracy of this State, on the 14th of February, 1848, to wit : ' That it is the duty of the General Government, hy all proper legislation, to secure an entry into those ALABAMA ON DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS. 813 Territories to all the citizens of the United States, together'with their property of every description ; and that the same should be protected by the United States whUe the Territories are under its authority.' "4. Resohedfurther, That the Constitution of the United States is a compact between sovereign and cogqual States, united upon the basis of perfect equality of rights and pri-rileges. " 5. Resohedfurther, That the Territories of the United States are common property, in which the States have equal rights, and to which the citizens of every State may rightfully emigrate, with their slaves or other property recognized as such in any of the States of the Union, or by the Constitu tion of the United States. " 6. Resohedfurther, That the Congress of the United States has no power to abolish Slavery in the Territories, or to prohibit its introduction into any of them. "7. Resohedfurther, That the Territorial Legislatures, created by the legislation of Congress, have no power to abolish Slavery, or to prohibit the introduction of the same, or to impair by unfriendly legislation the security and full enjoyment of the same within the Territories; and such constitu tional power certainly does not belong to the people of the Territories in any capacity, before, in the exercise of a lawful authority, they form a Constitution preparatory to ad mission as a State into the Union; and their action, in the exercise of such lawful au thority, certainly cannot operate or take effect before their actual admission as a State into the Union. "8. Resohedfurther, That the principles enunciated by Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, deny to the Territorial.Legislature the power to destroy or impair, by any legislation whatever, the right of property in slaves, and maintain it to be the duty of the Federal Government, in all of its departments, to protect the rights of the owner of such property in the Territories ; and the principles so declared are hereby asserted to be the rights of the South, and the South should maintain them. " 9. Resolved further, That we hold all of the foregoing propositions to contain cardi nal principles — ^true in themselves — and just and proper and necessary for the safety of all that is dear to us ; and we do hereby in struct our delegates to the Charleston Con vention to present them for the calm con sideration and approval of that body — from whose justice and patriotism we anticipate their adoption. " 10. Resohedfurther, That our delegates to the Charleston Convention are hereby expressly instructed to insist that said Con vention shall adopt a platform of principles, recognizing distinctly the rights ofthe South, as asserted in the foregoing resolutions ; and if the said National Convention shall refuse to adopt, in substance, the propositions em braced in the preceding resolutions, prior to nominating candidates, our delegates to said Convention are hereby positively instructed to withdraw therefrom. "11. Resohed furtlier. That our delegates to the Charleston Convention shall cast the vote of Alabama as a unit, and a majority of our delegates shall determine how the vote of this State shall be given. " 12. Resohedfurther, That an Executive Committee, to consist of one from each Con gressional District, be appointed, whose duty it shall be, in the event that our delegates withdraw from the Charleston Convention, in obedience to the lOtli resolution, to call a Conveution ofthe Democracy of Alabama, to meet at au early day to consider what is best to be done." The Alabama delegation concluded -with the following statement : " The points of difference between the Northern and the Southern Democracy are : " 1. As regards the status of Slavery as a political institution in the Territories whilst they remain Territories, and the power of the people of a Territory to exclude it by unfriendly legislation ; and " 2. As regards the duty of the Federal Government to protect the owner of slaves in the enjoyment of his property in the Ter ritories so long as they remain such. " This Convention has refused, by the Plat form adopted, to settle either of these prop ositions in favor of the South. "VVe deny to the people of a Territory any power to legislate against the institution of Slavery ; and we assert that it is the duty of the Fede ral Government, in all its departments, to protect the owner of slaves in the enjoyment of his property in the Territories. These principles, as we state them, are embodied in the Alabama Platform. "Here, then, is a plain, explicit and direct issue between this Convention and the con stituency which we have the honor to repre sent in this body. " Instructed, as we are, not to waive this issue, the contingency, therefore, has arisen, when, in our opinion, it becomes our duty to withdraw from this Convention. We beg. Sir, to communicate this fact through you, and to assure the Convention that we do so in no spirit of anger, but under a sense of imperative obligation, properly appreciating its responsibilities and cheerfully submitting to its consequences." The Alabama delegation, which 314 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. included ex-Gov. John A. Winston, Wm. L. Yancey, Beuben Chapman, ex-M. C, and other prominent citi zens, thereupon withdrew from the Convention. Mr. Barry, of Mississippi, next an nounced the "withdrawal of the entire Mississippi delegation. Mr. Glenn, of Mississippi, stated the grounds of such withdrawal, as follows : " Sir, at Cincinnati we adopted a Platform on which we all agreed. Now answer me, ye men of the North, of the East, of the South, and of the West, what was the con struction placed upon that Platform in dif ferent sections of the Union? You at the West said it meant one thing ; we of the South said it meant another. Either we were right or you were right; we were wrong or you were wrong. We came here to ask you which was right and which was wrong. You have maintained your position. You say that you cannot give us an acknowl edgment of that right, which I tell you here now, in coming time will be your only safety in your contests with the Black Republicans of Ohio and of the North. (Cheers.) " Why, sir, turn back to the history of your own leading men. There sits a distinguished gentleman, Hon. Charles E. Stuart, of Michi gan, once a representative of one of the sovereign States of the Union in the Senate, who then voted that Congress had the con stitutional power to pass the Wilmot Pro'viso, and to exclude Slavery from the Territories ; and now, when the Supreme Court has said that it has not that power, he comes forward and tells Mississippians that that same Con gress is impotent to protect that same spe cies of property! There sits my distin guished friend, the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Pugh), who, but a few nights since, told us from that stand that, if a Territorial Govern ment totally misused their powers or abused them, Congress could wipe out tbat Territo rial Government altogether. And yet, when we come here and ask him to give us pro tection in case that Territorial Government robs us of our property and strikes the star which answers to the name of Mississippi from the flag of the Union, so far as tlie Constitution gives her protection, he tells ns, with his hand upon his heart — as Gov. Payne, of Ohio, had before done — that they will part with their lives before they will acknowledge the principle which we con tend for. " Gentlemen, in such a situation of things in the Convention of our great party, it is right that we should part. Go your way, and we will go ours. The South leaves you not like Hagar, driven into the wilderness, friendless and alone — but I tell Southern men here, and, for them, I tell the North, that, in less than sixty days, you will find a united South standing side by side with us. (Prolonged and enthusiastic cheering.)" Mr. Monton, of Louisiana, briefly announced that all the delegates from his State but two would withdraw from the Convention, and protested against the right ofthe two to act or cast any vote In behalf of the State. Hon. James Simons, of South Car ohna, announced the "withdrawal of the delegation from that State, in a communication signed by all the thirteen members thereof, in the words foUowing : " We, the undersigned delegates appointed by the Democratic State Convention of South Carolina, beg leave respectfully to state that, according to the principles enun ciated in their Platform at Columbia, the power, either of the Federal Government or of its agent, the Territorial Government, to abolish or legislate against property in slaves, by either direct or indirect legislation, is es pecially denied ; and, as the Platform adopted by the Convention palpably and intention ally prevents any expression affirming the incapacity of the Territorial Government so to legislate, that they would not be acting in good faith to their principles, or iu ac cordance with the wishes of their consti tuents, to longer remain in this Convention, and they hereby respectfully announce their withdrawal therefrom." Mr. John Milton, of Florida, next announced the unanimous "withdrawal of the delegation from that State, in a protest signed by five delegates, which was read by Mr. Eppes, whereof the essential portion is as follows : "Florida, with her Southern sisters, is entitled to a clear and unambiguous recog nition of her rights in the Territories ; and this being refused, by the rejection of the majority report, we protest against recei vin a- the Cincinnati Platform with the interpret ation that it favors the doctrine of Scmatter Sovereignty in the Territories— which doc trine, in the name of the people represented by us, we repudiate;" SOUTHERN PROTESTS AND WITHDRAWALS. 315 Mr. Guy M. Bryan, of Texas, next announced the withdrawal of the en tfre delegation from that State. In their protest against the platform adopted by the Convention, they de clared " That it is the right of every citizen to take his property, of any kind, including slaves, into the common territory belonging equally to all the States of the Confederacy, and to have it protected there under the Federal Constitution. Neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, nor any huraan _ power, has any authority, either directly or indirectly, to impair these sacred rights ; and, they having been affirmed by the deci sion of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, we declare that it is the duty of the Federal Government, the common agent of all the States, to establish such government, and enact such laws for the Territories, and so change the same, from time to time, as may be necessary to insure the protection and preservation of these rights, and pre vent every infringement of the same. The affirmation of this principle of the duty of Congress to simply protect the rights of property, is nowise in conflict with the heretofore established and well-recognized principle of the Democratic party, tbat Congress does not possess the power to legislate Slavery into the Territories, or to exclude it therefrom. " It is sufficient to say that, if the princi ples of the Northern Democracy are pro perly represented by the opinion and action of the majority of the delegates frora that section on this floor, we do not hesitate to declare that their principles are not only not ours, but, if adhered to and enforced by them, will destroy this Union." Mr. B. Burrow, of Arkansas, an nounced the "withdrawal of tliree del egates from that State, for these rea sons: " 1st. Because the numerical majority have usurped the prerogatives of the States ' in setting aside the Platform made by the States, and have thus unsettled the basis of this Convention, and thereby permanently disorganized its constitution. Its decrees, therefore, become null and void. " 2d. Because we were positively instruct ed by the Democracy of Arkansas to insist on the recognition of the equal rights of the South in the comraon Territories, and pro tection to those rights by the Federal Gov ernment, prior to any nomination of a can didate ; and, as this Convention has refused to recognize the principles required by the State of Arkansas, in her popular Conven tion first, and twice subsequently reiisserted by Arkansas, together with all her Southern sisters, in the report of a Platform in this Convention; and, as we cannot serve two masters, we are determined first to serve the Lord our God. We cannot ballot for any candidate whatsoever." Mr. J. P. Johnson, on behalf of that portion of the Arkansas delega tion who had concluded not to leave the Convention until after time had been afforded for considtatlon, said he hesitated, "because he conceived that the stabUity of the Union itself was involved In the action taken here by the Southem representatives." The Georgia delegation here asked leave to retire for consultation, which was granted. Messrs. Bayard and Whiteley^ — Senator and Representa tive in Congress from Delaware — now retired from the Convention and joined the seceders. Mr. Saulsbury, the other Senator, gave his reasons for not retiring at this time, and the Convention adjourned for the night. Next morning. May 1st, Mr. Hen ry L. Benning presented a notifica tion from twenty-six of the thirty- four delegates from Georgia, that they had decided to withdraw from the Convention — four of them in obe dience to a vote of the majority, which they had opposed. Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, now announced the withdrawal, after due consideration and consultation, of the remainder of the delegation from his State; but Mr. F. B. Flournoy gave notice that he did not concur in this action. The formal protest and withdrawal of ten delegates from Louisiana was now presented. It states that these delegates act in obedience to a reso^ 316 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. lution passed by the Democracy of Louisiana in State Convention at Baton Eouge, March 5, 1860, in the following words : '' Resolved, That the Territories of the United States belong to the several States as their common property, and not to indivi dual citizens thereof; that the Federal Con stitution recognizes property in slaves ; and, as such, the owner thereof is entitled to carry his slaves into any Territory in the United States ; to hold them there as pro perty ; and, in case the people of the Territo ries, by inaction, unfriendly legislation or otherwise, should endanger the tenure of such property, or discriminate against it by withholding that protection given to other species of property in the Territories, it is the duty of the General Government to in terpose, by the active exertion of its consti tutional power, to secure the rights of the slaveholder." The two remaining delegates from Louisiana gave notice that, though they did not personaUy desire to "withdraw from the Convention, they should be governed by the action of the majority of their delegation. Mr. W. B. Gaulden, of Georgia, made a speech against the course taken by his colleagues, on the foUow- hig grounds : " I am not in favor of breaking up this Government upon an impracticable issue, — upon a mere theory. I believe that this doctrine of protection to Slavery in the Ter ritories is a mere theory, a mere abstraction. (Applause.) Practically, it can be of no consequence to the South, for the reason that the infant has been strangled before it was born. (Laughter.) You have cut off the supply of slaves ; you have crippled the institution of Slavery in the States by your unjust laws ; and it is mere folly and mad ness now to ask for protection for a nonen tity — for a thing which is not there. We have no slaves to carry to these Territories. We can never make another Slave State with our present supply of slaves. But, if we could, it would not be wise ; for the reason that, if you make another Slave State from your new Territories with the present supply of slaves, you will be obliged to give up another State — either Maryland, Delaware, or Virginia — to Free Soil upon the North. Now, I would deal with this question, fellow- Democrats, ns a practical one. When I can see no possible practical good to result to the country from demanding legislation upon this theory, I am not prepared to disintegrate and dismember the great Democratic party of this Union. * * * * " I would ask my friends of the South to come up in a proper spirit, ask our Northern friends to give us all our rights, and take ofl the ruthless restrictions which cut off the supply of slaves from foreign lands. As a matter of right and justice to the South, I would ask the Democracy of the North to grant us this thing ; and I Tjelieve they have the patriotism and honesty to do it, because it is right in itself I tell you, fellow-Demo crats, that the African Slave-trader is the true Union man. (Cheers and laughter.) I tell you that the slave-trading of Virginia is more immoral, more unchristian in every possible point of view, than that African Slave-trade which goes to Africa and brings a heathen and worthless man here, makes him a useful man. Christianizes him, and sends him and his posterity down the stream of time to enjoy the blessings of civilization. (Cheers and laughter.) Now, fellow-Demo crats, so far as any public expression of the State of Virginia — the great Slave-trading State of Virginia — has been given, they are all opposed to the African Slave-trade. " Dr. Eeed, of Indiana — I am from Indiana, and I am in favor of it. " Mr. Gaulden — Now, gentlemen, we are told, upon high authority, that there is a certain class of men who strain at a gnat aud swallow a camel. Now, Virginia, which authorizes the buying of Christian men, separating them from their wives and children, from all the relations and associa tions amid whom they have lived for years, rolls u"p her eyes in holy horror when I would go to AJfrica, buy a savage, and in troduce him to the blessings of civilization and Christianity. (Cheers and laughter.) " Capt. Rynders, of N. Y. — You can get one or two recruits from New York to join with you. " The President. — The time of the gentle man has expired. (Cries of "Goon! Go on!") " The President stated that, if it was the unanimous wish of the Convention, the gen tleman could proceed. tbrifr ^f'^''l«°--Jfow, fellow-Democrats, the slave-trade m Virginia forms a mighty and powerfu reason for its opposition to I do not intend any disrespect to my friends from Virginia. Virginia, the Mother of btates and of statesmen, the Mother of Presi dents, I apprehend may err as well as other mortals. I am afraid that her error in thk regard lies in the promptings of the almi^htv doUar. It has been my fortune to go into FAILURE TO NOMINATE AT CHARLESTON. 317 that noble old State to buy a few darkies ; and I have had to pay from $1,000 to |2,000 a head, when I could go to Africa and buy l)etter negroes for $50 apiece. (Great laughter.) Now, unquestionably, it is to the interest of Virginia to break down the African slave-trade, when she can sell her negroes at $2,000. She knows that the African slave-trade would break up her mo nopoly, and hence her objection to it. If any of you Northern Democrats — for I have more faith in you than I have in the carpet- knight Democracy of the South — will go home with me to my plantation in Georgia, but a little way from here, I will show you some darkies that I bought in Maryland, some that I bought in Virginia, some in Delaware, some in Florida, some in North Carolina ; and I will also show you the pure African, the noblest Eoman of them all. (Great laughter.) Now, fellow-Democrats, my feeble health and failing voice admonish me to bring the few remarks I have to make to a close. (Cries of " Go on, go on.") I am only sorry that I am not in a better con dition than I am to vindicate before you to day the words of truth, of honesty, and of right, and to show'you the gross inconsis tencies of the South in this regard. I come from the First Congressional District of the State of Georgia. I represent the African slave-trade interest of that section. (Ap plause.) I am proud of the position I oc cupy in that respect. I believe that the African slave-trader is a true missionary, and a true Christian (applause) ; and I have pleaded with my delegation from Georgia to put this issue squarely to the Northern Democracy, and say to them. Are you pre pared to go back to first principles, and take off your unconstitutional restrictions, and leave this question to be settled by each State? Now, do this, fellow-citizens, and you will have peace in the country. But, so long as your Federal Legislature takes juris diction of this question, so long will there be war, so long will there be ill-blood, so long "wiU there be strife, until this glorious Union of ours shall be disrupted and go out in blood and night forever. I advocate the repeal of the laws prohibiting the African Slave-trade, because I believe it to be the true Union movement. I do not believe that sections whose interests are so different as the South em and Northern States can ever stand the shocks of fanaticism, unless they be equally balanced. I believe that, by reopening this trade, and giving us negroes to populate the Territories, the equilibrium of the two sec tions will be maintained." The Convention now proceeded to baUot for President, ha"ving first adopted, by a vote of 141 to 112, the rule requiring two-thirds of a full Convention to nominate. Candidates were put In nomination, and, on the first ballot, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, received 145|- votes ; Kob- ert M. T. Hunter, of Yirginia,. 42 votes ; James Guthrie, of Kentucky, 35 votes ; Andrew Johnson, of Ten nessee, 12 ; Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, Y ; Joseph Lane, of Ore gon, 6 ; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, 2-^; Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, 1^ ; Frankhn Pierce, of New Hamp- shfre, 1. On the next ballot, Mr. Douglas had 147 ; and he continued to gain slowly to the thirty-second, when he received 152|- votes. He fell off on the thirty-sixth to 151|-, which vote he continued to receive up to the fifty-seventh, ballot, on which Guthrie received &5^, Hun ter 16, Lane 14, Dickinson 4, and Jefferson Davis 1. The Convention (May 3d), on motion of Mr. EusseU, of Yirginia, by a vote of 195 to 55, adjourned, to reassemble at Balti more on Monday, the 18th of June ; recommending to the Democratic party of the several States whose delegations had withdrawn, to fill their places prior to that day. The seceding delegates assembled at St. Andrew's Hall — Senator Bay ard, of Delaware, in the chair — and adopted the platform reported to the Convention by Mr. Avery, as aforesaid ; and, after four days' de liberations, adjourned to meet at Eichmond, Ya., on the second Mon day in June. The Wood delegates from New York attended this meet ing, but were not admitted as mem bers. The regular Convention reassem bled at the Front-street Theater in 318 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Baltimore, pursuant to adjournment. Some days were spent in considering the credentials of contesting dele gates from certain Southem States. The decisions of the Convention were such as to increase the strength of Senator Douglas. When it was concluded, Mr. EusseU, of Yirginia, Mr. Lander, of North Carolina, Mr. E"wlng, of Tennessee, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, Mr. Smith, of Califor nia, Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, Mr. Caldwell, of Kentucky, and Mr. Clark of Missouri, announced the "with drawal of the whole, or of a part, of the delegations from their respective States. Gen. Cushing resigned the chair of the Convention, which was immediately taken by Gov. Da"vld Tod, of Ohio (a Yice-President at Charleston), amid enthusiastic cheers. Gen. B. F. Butler, of Massachusetts, announced the determination of a majority of the delegates from his State not to participate further in its ¦ deliberations. He said : " We have not discussed the question, Mr. President, whether the action of the Con vention, in excluding certain delegates, could be any reason for withdrawal. We now put our withdrawal before you, upon the simple ground, among others, tliat there has been a withdrawal in part of a majority of the States, and further (and that, perhaps, more personal to myself), upon the ground that I will not sit in a Convention where the Afri can slave-trade — which is piracy by the laws of my country — is approvingly advocated. (Great sensation.)'' The Convention now proceeded to vote for President ; and, on the first baUot, Mr. Douglas had 173-| ; Guth rie 10, Breckinridge 5, and there were 3 scattering. On the next ballot, Mr. Douglas had 181|^, Breckinridge Y^, Guthrie 5^; whereupon, on motion of Mr. Sanford E, Church, of New York, the follovring resolution was adopted : " Resohed unanimously, That Stephen A. Douglas, ofthe State of Illinois, having now received two-thirds of all the votes given in this Convention, is hereby declared, in ac cordance with the rules governing this body, and in accordance with the uniform customs and rules of former Democratic National Conventions, the regular nominee of the Democratic party of the United States, for the office of President of the United States." Hon. Benjamin FrrzPATEiCK, of Alabama, was now nominated for Yice-President, recel"ving 198|^ votes to 1 scattering. [He dechned, two days thereafter, and the National Committee substituted Hon. Hek- soHEL Y. Johnson, of Georgia.] Gov. Wickliffe, of Louisiana, now offered the following resolve, as an addition to the platform adopted at Charleston : "Resolved, That it is in accordance with the true interpretation of the Cincinnati Platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial Governments, the measure of re striction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislatures over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, flnally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General Government." Mr. Payne, of Ohio, moved the pre"vions question, and this was also adopted, with but two dissenting votes. The Seceders' Convention, which met, first at Eichmond on the 11th of June, adjourned thence to Balti more, and finaUy met at the Mary land Institute on the 28th of June. Twenty-one States were fuUy or par tially represented. Hon. Caleb Cush ing was chosen Its President. Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, submitted his Charleston platform, which was unanimously adopted. It was re solved that the next Democratic Na tional Convention should be held at Philadelphia. 'UNION' AND 'REPUBLICAN' PLATFORMS. 319 The Convention now proceeded to ballot for a candidate for President, when John C. BBECKCsrEiDGE, of Ken tucky, received the unanimous vote — 105 — ofthe delegates present ; and Gen. Joseph Lane, of Oregon, was nominated for Yice-President by a similar vote. And then, after a speech from Mr. Yancey, the Con vention finaUy adjourned. The " ConstitutionalUnlon" (late "American") party held a Conven tion at Baltimore on the 19th of May ;¦ and, on the second ballot, nom inated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President ; he receiving 138 votes to 114 for aU others. Sam Houston, of Texas, had 5Y votes on the first, and 69 on the second ballot. Ed- wajkdEveeett, of Massachusetts, was then unanimously nominated for Yice-President. The Convention, "without a dissenting Toice, united on the foUo"wing PLATFORM : " Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that Platforms adopted by the partisan Con ventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, and at the same time to widen the political divisions of the country, by the creation and encour agement of geographical and sectional par ties; therefore, "Resohed, That it is both the part of pa triotism and of duty to recognize, no politi cal principle other than the OoirsTiTUTio::^ OF THE COTJNTET, THB UnION OF THE SxATES, AND THB EXFOBOEMBNT OF THE LaWS, and that, as representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the country in National Con- "vention assembled, we hereby pledge our selves to maintain, protect, and defend, sep arately and unitedly, these great principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies, at home and abroad ; believing that thereby peace may once raore be re stored to the country, the rights of the Peo ple and of the States reestablished, and the Government again placed in that condition of justice, fraternity, and equality, which, under the example and Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the United States to maintain a more per fect 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." The " Eepubhcan" National Con vention met at Chicago, 111., on Wed nesday, May 16th. All the Free 'states were strongly represented, with Delaware, Maryland, Yirginia, Kentucky, Missouri, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. There was a delegation present claiming to repre sent Texas, but it was afterward found to be fraudulent. David WU mot, of Pennsylvania, was chosen temporary Chairman, and George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, Presi dent. A Platform Committee of one from each State and Territory was appointed on the first day, from which Committee a report was submitted on the evening ofthe second, when it waa immediately and unanimously adopt ed. That report or Platform is as follows : "Resolved, That we, the delegated repre sentatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in Convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations : " 1. That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the Eepublican party ; and that the causes which called it into ex istence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph. " 2. That the maintenance of the principle promulgated in the Declaration of Independ ence and embodied in the Federal Consti tution, 'That all men -are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,' is essential to the preservatiun c, our Be- 320 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. publican institutions ; and that the Federal Ooustitution, the Eights of the States, and the Union of the States, must and shall be preserved. " 3. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for Disunion, come from whatever source they may : And we congratulate tl^e country that no Eepublican member of Con gress has uttered or countenanced the threats of Disunion so often made by Dem ocratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associates ; and we denounce those threats of Disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascend ency, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contem plated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant People sternly to re buke and forever silence. "4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that bal ance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Terri tory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. " 5. That the present Democratic Adminis tration has far exceeded our worst apprehen sions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas ; in constru ing the personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified prop erty in persons ; in its attempted enforce ment, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the Fed eral Courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest ; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power inti-usted to it by a confiding people. " 6. That the people justly -view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Govern ment ; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans ; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metropolis, show that an entire change of administration is imperatively de manded. " 7. That the new dogma that the Consti tution, of its own force, carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous ex position, and with legislative and judicial precedent ; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country. " 8. That the normal condition of aU the territory of the United States.is that of Free dom : That, as our Eepublican fathers, when they had abolished Slavery in all our nation al territory, ordained that ' no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with out due process of law,' it becomes our du ty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to. violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States. " 9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave-trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our country and age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic. " 10. That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the acts of the Legis latures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in those Territories, we find a prac tical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty embodied in the Kansas-Ne braska bill, and a demonstration of the de ception and fraud involved therein. " 11. That Kansas should, of right, he im mediately admitted as a State, under ' the Constitution recently formed and adopted by the House of Eepresentatives. " 12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by du ties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industri^ interests of the whole country : and we com mend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence. " 13 That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the Public Lands held by actnal settlers, and against any view of the Homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for pub lic bounty ; and we demand the passage bv Congress of the complete and satisfactory NOMINATION OF LINCOLN AND HAMLIN. 321 Homestead measure which has already pass ed the House. " 14. That the Eepublican Party is opposed to any change in our Naturalization Laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immi grants frora foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired ; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or natu ralized, both at home and abroad. "15. That appropriations by Congress for Elver and Harbor improvements of a Na tional character, required for the accommo dation and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution, and jus tified "by the obligations of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. " 16. That a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country ; that the Federal Gov ernment ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction ; and tbat, as preliminary thereto, a daily Overland Mail should be promptly established. " 17. Finally, having thus set forth our dis tinctive principles and views, we invite the cooperation of all citizens, however differing on other questions, who substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support." The Convention, ha-ving afready decided, by a vote of 331 to 130, that a majority vote only of the delegates should be requfred to nominate, pro ceeded, on the morning of the third day of its session, to ballot for a can didate for President of the United States, "with the follo"wing residt : lst BaUot. M. Sd. William H. Seward, of New Tork 178i. . . .184^ 180 Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 102 181 281J Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania. 50^ Withdrawn Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio 49 42^ 24i Edward Bates, of Missonri 48 85 23 William L. Dayton, of New Jersey 14 10 Withdr-n John McLean, of Ohio 12 8 5 Jacob CoUamer, of Vermont 10 Withdrawn Scattering 6 4 2 Abeabam LuTOOLiir ha"ving, on the thfrd baUot, "within two and a half votes of the number necessary to nominate hhn, Mr. Da"vid K. Cartter, of Ohio, before the result was an nounced, rose to change four votes from Chase to Lincoln, gi'ving the latter a clear majority. Mr. Mc- CrUhs, of Maine, followed, changing ten votes from Seward to Lincoln ; 21 Mr. Andrew, of Massachusetts, also changed a part of the vote of that State from- Seward to Lincoln ; and Mr. B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, changed the eighteen votes of that State from Bates to Lincoln. Others foUowed, until Mr. Lincoln had 354 out of 466 votes, and was declared duly nominated. On motion of Mr. Wm. M. Evarts, of New York, seconded by Mr. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, the nomination was made unanimous. In the evening, the Convention proceeded to baUot for Yice-Presi dent, when Hannibal Hamxht, of Maine, received, on the first ballot, 194 votes ; Cassius M. Clay, of Ken tucky, 101^ ; and there were 165J cast for other candidates. On the second ballot, Mr. Hamhn received 367 votes to 99 for all others, and was declared duly nominated. On motion of Mr. George D. Blakey, of Kentucky, the nomination was made unanimous. On motion of Mr. Joshua ~R. GId dings, of Ohio, it was "Resohed, That we deeply sympathize with those men who have been driven, some from their native States and others from the States of their adoption, and are now exiled from their homes on account of their opin ions ; and we hold the Democratic party re sponsible for the gross "violations of that clause of the Constitution which declares that citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citi zens of the several States." And then, after a brief speech by the President, the Convention ad journed, with nine hearty cheers for the ticket. • The canvass for the Presidency, thus opened, was distinguished from all that had preceded It, not more by the nuinber of formidable contest- 322 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ants, than by the sharpness with which the issues were defined by three of the contending parties. It was, In eflfect, proclaimed by three of the leading Southern delegates In the Charleston Convention : " The last Presidential election was won by am biguity, double-dealing, deception — by devising a platform that meant one thing at the North, and another at the South. But, we are resolved to have no more of this. We shaU now succeed on a clear exhibition of our principles, or not at all." And the champions of Popular Sovereign ty, who controlled most of the dele gations from Free States, were nearly as frank, and quite as firm. Said a leading supporter of Senator Doug las—Mr. George E. Pugh, of Ohio'" — ^in the Charleston Convention : " Thank God that a bold and honest man [Mr. Yancey] has at last spoken, and told the whole truth with regard to the de mands of the South. It is now plainly be fore the Convention and the country that the South does demand au advanced step from the Democratic party." [Mr. Pugh here read the resolves of the Alabama De mocratic State Convention of 1856, to prove that the South was tJien satisfied with what it now rejects. He proceeded to show that the Northern Democrats had sacrificed themselves in battling for the rights of the South, and instanced one and another of the delegates there present, who had been de feated and thrown out of public life thereby. He concluded :] " And now, the very weak ness thus produced is urged as a reason why the North should have no weight in forming the platform ! The Democracy of the North are willing to stand by the old landmarks — to reaffirm the old faith. They will deeply regret to part with their Southern brethren. But, if the gentlemen from the South can only abide with us on the terms they now propound, they mmt go. The North-West must and will be heard and felt. The Northern Democrats are not children, to be told to stand here — to stand there — to be moved at the beck and bidding of the South. Because we are in a minority on account of our fidelity to our constitutional obligations, we are told, iu effect, that we must put our hands on our mouths, and our mouths in the dust. Gentlemen, " said Mr. Pugh " you mistake us — we will not do it." The Southern leaders gave repeated and earnest warnings to this effect : " Gentlemen from the North ! look well to your doings! If you insist on your ' Squatter Sovereignty' plat form, In fuh "view of Its condemna tion by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, you break up the Democratic party — nay, more : you break up the Union ! The unity of the Democratic party is the last bond that holds the Union together: that snapped, there Is no other that can be trusted for a year." Discarding that of the "Constitutional Union" party as meaning anything in gen eral and nothing in particular, the Lincoln, Douglas, and Breckinridge parties had deliberately planted them selves, respectively, on the foUo"wing positions : 1. Lincoln. — Slavery can only exist by ¦¦virtue of municipal law ; and there is no law for it in the Territories, and no power to en act one. Congress can estabhsh or legalize Slavery nowhere, but is bound to prohibit it in or exclude it from any and every Federal Territory, whenever and wherever there shall be necessity for such exclusion or prohibition. 2. Douglas.— Sla,Yerj or No Slavery in any Territory is enth-ely the affl'ah- of the white inhabitants of such Territory. If they choose to have it, it is their right ; if they choose not to have it, they have a right to exclude or prohibit it. Neither Congress nor the people of the Union, or of any part of it, outside of said Territory, have any right to meddle with or trouble themselves about the matter. 3. Breckinridge.— The citizen of any State has a right to migrate to any Territory, tak ing with him anrthing which is property by the law of his own State, and hold, enjoy "Recently, II. S. Senator from that State; elected over Gov. Chase in 1853-4; succeeded by him iu turn in 1859-60; since, a candidate for Lieut. Governor, under Vallandigham, iu 1863. THB DOUGLAS PLATFORM AND CANYASS. 323 and be protected in, the use of such property in said Territory. And Congress is bound to render such protection wherever neces sary, whether with or without the coopera tion of the Territorial Legislature. We have seen how thoroughly this last doctrine Is refuted by Col. Ben ton In his strictures on the Dred Scott decision. If it were sound, any blackleg might, with Impunity, defy the laws of any Territory for bidding the sale of lottery tickets or other implements of gambhng. Or the Indian trader might say to the United States Agent : " Sir, I know you have a law authorizing and di recting you to destroy every drop of hquor you find offered or kept for sale on an Indian reservation; but my hquor is property, according to the laws of my State, and you cannot touch it. I have a Constitutional right to take my property into any Territory, and there do "with It as I please— so, Hands off!" He who does not know that this is not law, nor compatible with the most -rital fonctions of govemment, can hardly have considered the matter patiently or thoughtfully. The Douglas platform was practi cally eviscerated by the ready accept ance at Baltimore of Gov. WIckhffe's resolve making the dicta of the Su preme Court absolute and unques tionable "with regard to Slavery in the Territories. The Dred Scott de cision was aimed dfrectly at ' Squat ter Sovereignty :' the case, after be ing once disposed of on an entfrely different point, was restored to hfe expressly to cover this ground. Am biguous as was the Cincinnati plat form, the upholder of ' Popular Sove reignty' In the Territories, who, at the same time, regards the Dred Scott decision as binding law, and Its authors as entitled to make further and kindred decrees controUing his vote and action with regard to the extension of Slavery, maintains posi tions so Inconsistent and contradic tory as to divest him of all moral power in the premises — aU freedom of effective action. The canvass was opened with great spfrit and vigor by Mr. Douglas in person ; he speaking in nearly every Free, and in many if not most of the Slave States, in the course of the Summer and Autumn. A ready and able debater, he necessarily attracted large crowds to his meetings, and in fused something of his own fiery im petuosity and tireless energy into the breasts of his supporters. But the odds were soon seen to be too great ; since the partisans of Breckinridge, not content with thefr manifest preponderance in all the Slave States, Insisted on organizing In and di"riding the Democratic strength of the Free States as weU. Nay, more : in several of those States — ^Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Con necticut, Cahfornia, and Oregon — the leaders ofthe Democracy in pre"vi- ous contests were mainly found ranged on the side of Breckinridge ; whUe, in nearly or quite every Free State, enough adherents of the Southern platform were found to organize a party and nominate a Breckinridge ticket, rendering the choice of the Douglas Electors in most Free States hardly possible. The Democrats, as we have seen, had di"vided on a question of princi ple — one deemed, on either side, of overwhelming consequence. Pathetic entreaties and fer"rid appeals had been 324 THE AMERICAN CONELICT. la"vished at Charleston on futile at tempts to bring them to an agree ment, that the party first and the Union next might be saved from Im minent dissolution. Personal aspi rations, doubtless, had their weight ; but the South could have taken any candidate — perhaps even Douglas himself — ^if he were standing square ly, openly, on the Avery or Breckin ridge platform ; and so, probably, could the Northern delegates have consented to support Breckinridge or Howell Cobb on the Payne-Samuels or Douglas platform. Never was an issue more broadly made or clearly defined as one of conflicting, incom patible assumptions. And nowhere in the Slave States did the Breckin ridge men consent to any compro mise, partnership, coalition, or ar rangement, "with the partisans of Douglas, though aware that their antagonism would probably give sev eral important States to the Bell- Everett ticket. But the Douglasites of the Free States, on their part, e-rinced a general readiness to waive their prestige of regularity, and sup port Electoral tickets made up from the ranks of each anti-Eepubhean party. Thus, in New York, the "Fusion" anti-Lincoln ticket was made up of ten supporters of Bell and Everett, seven of Breckinridge and Lane, and the residue friends of Douglas. No doubt, there was an understanding among the managers that, if all these could elect Mr. Douglas, their votes should be cast sohd for him; but the contingency thus contemplated was at best a re mote one, while the fact that those who had the prestige of Democratic regularity consented to bargain and combine "with bolters and "Know- Nothings," tended to confuse and be wilder those who "always vote the regular ticket," and were accustomed to regard a Democratic bolter "with more repugnance than a life-long adversary. The portents, fi-om the outset, were decidedly unfavorable to Mr. Douglas's election. And, from the shape thus given to the canvass, his chances could not fail to suffer. The basis of each anti- Lincoln coalition could, of course, be nothing else than hostility to the Re publican idea of excluding Slavery from the territories. Now, the posi tion directly and thoroughly antago nistic to this was that of the Breckin ridge party, which denied the right to exclude, and proclaimed the right of each slaveholder to carry Slavery into any territoi-y. The position of Mr. Douglas was a mean between these extremes; and, in an earnest, arduous struggle, the prevaUing ten dency steadily is away from the mean, and toward a positive and decided position on one side or the other. The great mercantile in fluence In the seaboard cities had one controlhng aim in its pohtical efforts — to conciliate and satisfy the South, so as to keep her loyal to the Union. But Douglasism, or " Squatter Sover eignty," did not satisfy the South — in fact, since the faUure to establish Slavery in Kansas, was regarded "n-ith special loathing by many South rons, as an Indfrect and meaner sort of WUmot Proviso. Wherever a coalition was effected, the canvass was thenceforth prosecuted on a basis which was a mumbling compromise between the BeU and the Breckin ridge platforms, but which was usual ly reticent vrith regard to " Popula Sovereignty." lar THE BELL-EYERBTT PARTY IN 1860. 325 But the salient feature of the can vass was the hearty accord of the coalesced parties North of the Poto mac, in attributing to the Republican platform and to Mr. Lincoln appre hended consequences that were, by the South, attributed to Douglas and " Squatter Sovereignty." The De mocratic National Convention and party had been broken up, not be cause of any suspicion of Repubhcan ism affecting either faction, but be cause the South would not abide the doctrine of Mr. Douglas, with regard to Slavery in the Territories. Yet here were his supporters appeahng to the people from every stump to vote the coahtion ticket, in order to concU iate the South, afid save the country from the pangs of dissolution ! It was not easy to reahze that the Pughs, Paynes, Richardsons, Churches, etc., who had so determinedly bearded the South at Charleston and at Balti more, defying threats of disruption and disunion, were the very men who now exhorted the People to vote the coahtion Electoral tickets, in order to dispel the very dangers which they had persistently invoked, by support ing the Payne-Samuels platform, and nominating Douglas for President. It is more difficult to treat calmly the conduct of the "American," "Conservative," "Union," or Bell- Everett party of the South ; or, more accurately, to reconcile its chosen attitude and professions in the canvass -with the course taken by thousands of its members immediately on the announcement of the result, with the ultimate concurrence of many more, including even the eminent and hitherto moderate and loyal Tennes- sean whom it had deliberately pre sented as an embodiment of Its prin ciples by nominating him for the Presidency. That party was mainly composed of admiring disciples of Clay and Webster, who had sternly resisted Nulhtication on grounds of principle, and had united in the enthusiastic acclaim which had haUed Webster as the triumph ant champion of our Nationality, the "great expounder of the Constitu tion," In his forensic struggle with Hayne. It had proudly pointed to such men as Wilham Gaston, of North Carohna, Sergeant S. Pren tiss, of Mississippi, Edward Bates, of Missouri, George W. Summers, of Yirginia, John J. Crittenden, of Ken tucky, and James L. Petlgru, of South Carolina, as the exponents of its prin ciples, the jewels of its crown. It had nominated and supported BeU and Everett on a platform which meaningly proclaimed fldehty to " The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws," as Its distinctive ground. To say that It meant by this to stand by the Union until some other party should, In Its judgment, violate the Constitution, is to set the human understanding at deflance. It either meant to cling to the Constitution and Union at all hazards and under all circumstances, and to insist that the laws should be enforced throughout the country, or it was guilty of seeking votes under false pretenses. Unlike the Douglas Democracy, It was a distinct, well- estabhshed party, which had a defini tive existence, and at least a sem blance of organization in every Slave State but South Carolina. It had polled a majority of the Southern vote for Harrison In 1840, for Taylor m 1848, had just poUed nearly forty per cent, of that vote for Bell, and 326 THE AMERICAN CONELICT. might boast its fuU share of the property, and more than its share of the intelhgence and respectabihty, of the South. This party had but to be courageously faithful to its cardinal principle and to its abiding con"ric- tions to avert the storm of civU war. Had Its leaders, its orators, its presses, spoken out promptly, decidedly, un conditionally, for the Union at all hazards, and for settling our differ ences in Congress, in the Courts, and at the ballot-box, it would have pre vented the effusion of rivers of pre cious blood. It was perfectly aware that the Repubhcans and their Presi dent elect were powerless, even if disposed, to do the South any "wrong ; that the result of the elections already held had secured" an anti-Republi can majority in either branch of the ensuing Congress ; that the Supreme Court was decidedly and, for a con siderable period, unchangeably on the same side. In the worst con ceivable event of the elections yet to come, no bill could pass respect ing the Territories, or anything else, which the "Conservatives" should see fit unitedly to oppose. And vet. South Carohna had scarcely indica ted unmistakably her purpose, when many BeU-Unionists of Georgia, Ala bama, and other Southern States, be gan to clamor and shout for Secession. They seemed so absorbingly intent on getting, for once, on the stronger side, that they forgot the controlhng fact that the side on which God is has always at last the majority. The early State Elections of 1860 had not been favorable to the Repub licans. Theyhad begun by carrying New Hampshfre by 4,443— a satisfac tory majority ; but were next beaten in Rhode Island— an independent ticket, headed by WUham Sprague for Governor, carrying the State over thefrs, by 1,460 majority. In Connec ticut, Gov. Buckingham had been re elected by barely 641 maj ority, in near ly 80,000 votes— the heaviest poll ever had there at a State Election. It was e-vident that harmony at Charles ton would have rendered the election of a Democratic President moraUy certain. But, after the disruption there, things were bravely altered. Maine, early in September, elected a Repubhcan Governor by 18,091 ma jority; Yermont directly followed, with a Repubhcan majority of 22,370; but when Pennsylvania and Indiana, early in October, declared unmistakably for Lincoln — the for mer choosing Andrew G. Curtin her Governor by 32,164 majority over Henry D. Foster, who had the hearty support of all three opposing parties ; whUe Indiana chose Gen. Henry S. Lane by 9,757 over T. A. Hendricks, his only competitor, "with seven out of eleven Representatives in Con gress, and a Repubhcan Legislature — it was manifest that only a miracle could prevent the success of Lincoln and Hamhn the next month. Yet the mercantile fears of con vulsion and civil war, as results of Mr. Lincoln's election, were so vi-rid and earnest that the contest at the North was StUl prosecuted by his combined adversaries "with the energy of des peration. New York, especiaUy, was the arena of a struggle as intense, as " New York had chosen 10 ; Pennsylvania 1 New Jersey 3 ; Ohio 8 ; Indiana 4 ; Illinois 5 and Missouri 6 anti-Repuolioans to the House rendering it morally certain that, but for Seces sion, Mr. Lincohi would have had to face an Op position Congress from the start. GOY. SEWARD CLOSING THE CANYASS OE 1860. 327 vehement, and energetic, as had ever been kno"wn. Her drawn battle of the year before, and the perfect ac cord in this contest of the antl-Re- pubhcan parties, gave grounds for hope, if not confidence, that she might now be carried against Lin coln, especiaUy as the City was ex pected to give a far larger majority for " Fusion" than she had ever yet given for any man or party. Abundance of money for every pur pose doubtless contributed to the ani mation of the struggle on this side, whUe painful apprehensions of South ern revolt, In case Lincoln should be elected, rendered the "merchant princes," whose wealth was largely, if not whoUy, locked up in the shape of Southern indebtedness, ready to bleed freely for even a hope of pre venting a result they so dreaded as fatal to thefr business, their prosperi ty, and thefr af&uence. * Gov. Seward — who had made a po htical tour through the North-West during the Autumn, wherein his speeches in behalf of the Repubhcan cause and candidates were of a re markably high order, ahke in origin- ahty, dignity, and perspicuity — closed the canvass, the night before Elec tion, in an address to his to"wnsmen at Auburn, which concluded "with these truthful and memorable words : "Now here is the trinity in unity and unity in trinity of the political church, just now come to us by the light of a new reve lation, and christened 'Fusion.' And this 'Fusion' party, what is the motive to which it appeals ? You may go with me into the streets to-night, and follow the ' Little Giants,' who go with their torchlights, and their flaunting banners of ' Popular Sover eignty ;' or you may go with the smaller and more select and modest band, who go for Breckinridge and Slavery ; or you may fol low the music of the clanging bells ; and, strange to say,- they will all bring you into one common chamber. "When you get there, you will hear only this emotion of the hu man heart appealed to, Fear, — fear that, if you elect a President of the United States according to the Constitution and the laws to-morrow, you will wake up next day, and find that you have no country for him to preside over ! Is not that a strange motive for an American patriot to appeal to ? And, in that same hall, amid the jargon of three discordant members of the 'Fusion' party, you will hear one argument; and that argu ment is, that, so sure as you are so perverse as to cast your vote singly, lawfully, honest ly, as you ought to do, for one candidate for the Presidency, instead of scattering it among three candidates, so that no Presi dent may be elected, this Union shall come down over your heads, invol'ving you and us in a common ruin ! " Fellow-citizens, it is time, high time, that we know whether this is a Oonstitu- tion.ll government under which we live. It is high time that we know, since the Union is threatened, who are its friends, and who are its enemies. The Eepublican party, who propose, in the old, appointed, constitutional way, to choose a President, are every man of them loyal to the Union. The disloyal ists, wherever they may be, are those who are opposed to the Eepublican party, and attempt to prevent the election of a Presi dent. I know that our good and esteemed neighbors — (Heaven knows I have cause to respect, and esteem, and honor, and love them, as I do ; for such neighbors as even my Democratic neighbors, no other man ever had)^I know that they do not avow, nor do they mean to support, or think they are supporting, disunionists. But I tell them, that he who proposes to lay hold of the pil lars of the IJnion, and bring it down into- ruin, is a disunionist ; and that every man who quotes him, and uses his threats and his menaces as an argument against our ex ercise of our duty, is an abettor, unconscious though he may be, of disunion ; and that, when to-morrow's sun shall have set, and the next morning's sun shall have risen on the American people, rejoicing in the elec tion of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, those men who to-day sympathize with, up hold, support, and excuse the disunionists, will have to make a sudden choice, and choose whether, in the language of the Senator from Georgia, they will go for trea son, and so make it respectable, or whether they will go with us for Freedom, for the Constitution, and for eternal Union." .:28 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. XXII. SECESSION. The choice of Presidential Elec tors, which formerly took place at the discretion of the several States "within a limited range, is now re quired, by act of Congress, to be made on the same day throughout — namely, on the Tuesday next suc ceeding the first Monday in Novem ber. This feU, in 1860, on the 6th of the month ; and it was kno-wn, be fore that day had fully expfred, that Abeaham Lincolit had been clearly designated by the People for thefr next President, through the choice by his supporters of a majority of the whole number of Electors. Every Free State but New Jersey had cho sen the entire Lincoln Electoral tick et; and In New Jersey the refusal of part of the Douglas men to sup port the " Fusion" ticket (composed of three Douglas, two Bell, and two Breckinridge men), had allowed four of the Lincoln Electors to shp in over the two Bell and the two Breck inridge Electors on the regular Dem ocratic ticket. The three Lincoln Electors who had to confront the full vote of the coalesced anti-Republican parties were defeated by about 4,500 majority. And, although' this was not ascertained .that night, nor yet the fact that California and Oregon o had gone with the other free States, yet there were 169 Lincoln Electors chosen (out of 303) outside of these three States ; with these, Mr. Lincoln had 180, to 123 for aU others. Of these, Breckinridge had 72 ; Bell 39 (from Yirginia, Kentucky, and Ten nessee); and Douglas barely 12 — those of Missouri (9) and 3, as afore said, from New Jersey. But, though nowhere In the Electoral, Mr. Doug las was second In the PojJular, vote, as will be seen by the foUo"wing table, wherein the "Fusion" vote is divided between the parties which contributed to it, according to the best estimate that can now be made of thefr strength respectively: States. Mallle New Hampshire. . Massachusetts . . . Ehode Island. . . . Connecticut Vermont New Tork New Jersey Pennsylvania. . . . Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa California Oregon FEEE STATES. LiscoLX. Douglas. 62,81187,519 106,.358 ]2,'i44 43,972.53.805 S.W.SiM .54.324, 2i;s.0.30 231,610 1311,033 172.161 88,48086,11022,06970,409 89,173 5,270 26,693 25,881.34,372 *4,000 16,522 6.S49 *203.829 *30,OUO *78,S71 187,232 116,509160,215 65,05766,021 11,920 55,11138,516 3.951 Breckinridffe. Jiell. 6,868 2,046 2,112 5,939 *1.00014,641 218 441 22,831 2,707 3,2911,969 *50,000 *50,000 *30,000 *2.S01 *100.000 11.405 12.295 2,404 806888748 1,048 6.006 12,776 12 194 5,.306 4,913 405161 62 1.748 6,817 183 Total Free States.. 1,881,180 1,128,049 279,211 130,151 * " Fusion" vote apportioned according to the estima ted strength of the several contributing parties. SLA"VE STATES, Lincoln. Duugltus. Breckinridge. BeU. States. Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina. South Carolina. Georgia (io ticliet) Alabama (no ticket) Mississippi (no ticket) Kentucky 1^364 Tennessee (no ticket) Missouri 17,028 Arkansas (no ticket) Louisiana (po ticket) Florida (no ticket) 8,815 2,294 1,929 (no ticket) 1,023 7,887 3,864 6,966 42.4S2 41,760 16,290 74.823 74,681 2,701 48,539 44,990 [Chosen by the Legislature.] -'"' ¦¦ 11,690 51,689 42,886 13,661 48.881 27,875 8,283 40,797 25,040 25,651 58,148 66,058 11,350 64,209 69,274 58,801 31,817 58,872 5,227 28,782 20,094 T,625 23,681 20,204 367 8,543 5,4ST tl5,433 '^'o^'^s (no ticket) (no ticket) 47,'648 Total Slave States.. 26,480 163,525 670,871 ~515,978 Grand Total 1,867,610 1,291,574 850,082 (kt6,124 FW^^iti''S"w'',*l'"1*8'^ ¦'o'" ¦'™s Ciistfor a "Fusion" Bdlme,!. ^^ '"" '''™"^' ™"'"'=ly ^y "Id '¦^ii'ss' <"• do^?v';rRvJJ-"'?';s'''','^''*''''''<'; Do. over Bell, 1,211,486; do. over Breckinridge, 1 007 5*^8 ^ ' ? . 980;i7a'° ^"' '""" ''""¦ ""''"'=' oPP^ents combined, by Breciiinridge had in the Slave St.ates over Bell 64 898 ¦ coinr8^5,9^r^'^^*°'''*^= ^°"-- ^o^sStLf'Z: 136 057'"'"'''^'' '^"''^ °^ " majority in the Slave States THB SOUTH ON LINCOLN'S ELECTION. 330 From an early stage of the can vass, the Republicans could not help seeing that they had the potent aid, in their efforts, of the good wishes for thefr success of at least a large proportion of the advocates of Breck inridge and Lane. The toasts drunk with most enthusiasm at the Fourth- of- July celebrations throughout South Carolina pointed to the probable election of Mr. Lincoln as the neces sary prelude to movements whereon the hearts of all Carohnians were In tent. Southern " Fire-Eaters" can vassed the Northern States in behalf of Breckinridge and Lane, but very much to the satisfaction of the friends of Lincoln and Hamlia. The " Fu sion" arrangements, whereby It was hoped, at all events, to defeat Lin coln, were not generally favored by the " Ffre-Eaters" who visited the North, whether intent on politics, business, or pleasure ; and, in some Instances, those who sought to com mend themselves to the favor of their Southem patrons or customers, by an exhibition of zeal in the "Fusion" cause, were quietly told : " What you are doing looks not to the end im de sire : we want Lincoln elected." In no Slave State did the supporters of Breckinridge unite in any " Fusion" movement whatever ; and it was a very open secret that the friends of Breckinridge generally — at all events, throughout the Slave State,3 — next to the all but impossible suc cess of their own candidate — prefer red that of the Republicans.' In the Senate throughout the preceding Session, at Charleston, at Baltimore, and ever since, they had acted pre cisely as they would have done, had they preeminently desired Mr. Lin coln's success, and determined to do their best to secure it. And now, a large majority of Lin coln Electors had been carried, ren dering morally certain his choice by the Electoral Colleges next month, and his inauguration on the 4th of March ensuing. So the result con templated and labored for by at least two of the four contending par ties in the canvass had been secured. What next % In October, 1856, a Convention of Southern Governors was held at Ra leigh, N. C, at the invitation of Gov. Wise, of Yirginia. This gathering was kept secret at the time ; but it was afterward proclaimed by Gov. Wise that, had Fremont been elected, he would have marched at the head of twenty thousand men to Washing ton, and taken possession of the Capi tol, preventing by force Fremont's inauguration at that place. In the same spirit, a meeting of the prominent politicians of South > The Washington Star, then a Breckinridge organ, noticing, in September, 1860, tlie conver sion of Senator Clingman, of North Carolina, from the support of Douglas to that of Breckin ridge, said: " While we congratulate him on the fact that his eyes are at length open to the (to the South) dangerous tendency of the labors of Douglas, we hail his conversion as an evidence of the truth of our oft-repeated declaration, that, ere the first Monday in November, every honest fnd unselfish Democrat throughout the South will be found arrayed against Douglas-Freesoil- ism, as being far more dangerous to the South than the election of Lincoln ; because it seeks to create a Free-Soil party there; while, if Lin coln triumphs, the result cannot fail to be a South united in her own defense — the only key to a full and — we sincerely believe — a peaceful and happy solution of the political problem of the Slavery question." Columns like the above might be quoted from the Breckinridge journals of the South, show ing that they regarded the success of Douglas as the great peril, to be defeated at all haz ards. 330 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Carolina was held at the residence of Senator Hammond, near Augusta, on the 25th of October, 1860. Gov. Gist, ex-Gov. Adamfi,^. _ex-Speaker Orr, and the' entire delegation to Congress, except Mr. Miles, who was kept away by sickness, were present, with many other men of mark. By this cabal, it was unanimously re solved that South Carohna should secede from the Union in the event of Lincoln's then almost certain elec tion. Similar meetings of kindred spirits were held simultaneously, or soon afterward, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and probably other Slave States. By these meet ings, and by the incessant interchange of messages, letters, and "risits, the en tire slaveholding region had been prepared, so far as possible, for dis union in the event of a Repubhcan, if not also of a Douglas, triumph. The Legislature of South Carohna does not regularly meet until the fourth Monday in November; but, the recent act of Congress requfring a choice of Presidential Electors prior to that time, Gov. Gist had good reason for caUing the Legislature of 1860 to meet in advance of the regu lar day. It met, according to his summons, at Columbia, on Monday, Nov. 5 (the day before the choice of Presidential Electors throughout the TJnion), when Mr. W. D. Porter, of Charleston, was chosen President of the Senate. On taking the Chair, he said : " I do not seek now to lift the veil that hides the future from our sight ; but we have all an instinctive feeling that we are ou the eve of great events. His Excellency, the G-overnor, iu the terms of his call, has summoned us to take action, if advisable, for the safety and protection of the State. Heretofore, we have consulted for its conve nience and Avell-being ; now, its destiny, its very existence, depends upon our action. It was the old injunction, in times of great peril, to the Eoman consuls, to take care that the Eepublic sustained no detriment; this charge and injunction is now addressed to us. All that is dear and precious to this people — life, fortune, name, and history— all is committed to our keeping for weal or for woe, for honor or for shame. Let us do our part, so that those who oome after us shall acknowledge that we were not unworthy of the great trusts devolved upon us, and not unequal to the great exigencies by which we were tried. Above all things, let us be of one mind. We are all agreed as to our wrongs. Let us sacrifice all differences of opinion, as to the time and mode of remedy, upon the altar of patriotism, and for the sake of tbe great cause. In our unanimity will be our strength, physical and moral. No human power can withstand or break down a united people, standing upon their own soil and defending their homes and firesides. May we be so united, and may the great Governor ofmen and of nations inspire our hearts with courage, and inform our under standings with wisdom, and lead us in the way of honor and of safety." Gov. Gist (whose term expfred with the current year) communicated to both Houses his Annual Message, immediately on thefr organization. It is as foUows : "ExEOl'i'lVE DEP.1ETMENT, ) "CoLrMBiA, S. C, Nov. 6, 1860. j" '¦ Geiitlemen of tlie Senate an^. Roifse of Representatives : " The act of Congress, passed in the year 1846, enacts that the electors of President and Vice-President shall be appointed on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of the month of November, of the year in which they are to be appointed. The annual meeting of the Legislature of South Carolina, by a constitutional provision, will not take place until the fourth Monday in November instant. I have considered it my duty, under the authority conferred upon me to convene the Legislature on extraordinary occasions, to convene you, that you may, oil to-uioiTow, appoint the number of Electors of President and Vice-President to which this .State is entitled. " Under ordinary circumstances, your duty could be soon discharged by the elec tion of Electors representing the choice of the people of the State ; but, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, and the strong probability of the election to the Presidency of a sectional candidate, by a partr commit ted to the support of measures," which, if earned oat, will inevitably destroy our GIST AND CHESNUT URGE SECESSION. ^33 equality in the Union, and ultimately reduce the Southern States to mere provinces of a consolidated despotism, to be governed by a fixed majority in Congress hostile to our in stitutions, and fatally bent upon our ruin, I would respectfully suggest that the Legisla ture remain in session, and take such action as wiU prepare the State for any emergency that may arise. "That an exposition of the will of the people may be obtained on a question in volving such momentous consequences, I would earnestly recommend that, in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a Convention of the people of this State be immediately called, to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress. My own opinions of what the Convention should do are of lit tle moment; but, believing that the time has arrived when every one, however hum ble he may be, should express his opinions in unmistakable language, I am constrained to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The indications from many of the Southern States justify the conclusion that the secession of South Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by them, and ultimately by the entire South. The long- desired cooperation of the other States hav ing similar institutions, for which so many of our citizens have been waiting, seems to be near at band; and, if we are true to our selves, will soon be realized. The State has, with great unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to secede, and no power on earth can rightfully prevent it. " If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and forgetful of the lessons of history, tbe Government of the United States should at tempt coercion, it will become our solemn' duty to meet force by force ; and, whatever may be tbe decision of the Convention, rep resenting the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly tribunal, it shall, during the remainder of my administration, be carried out to the letter, regardless of any hazard that may surround its execution. ' I would also respectfully recommend a thorough reorganization, of the Militia, so as to place the whole military force of the State in a position to be used at the shortest notice, and with the greatest efficiency. Every man in the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, should be well armed with the most efficient weapons of modern warfare, and all the available means of the State used for that purpose. " In addition to this general preparation, I would recommend that the services of ten thousand volunteers be immediately accept ed ; that they bo organized and drilled by ofiicers chosen by themselves, and hold themselves in readiness to be called on upon the shortest notice. "With this preparation for defense, and with all the hallowed memo ries of past achievements, with our love of liberty, and hatred of tyranny, and with the knowledge that we are contending for tbe safety of our homes and firesides, we can confidently appeal to the Disposer of all human events, and safely trust our cause in His keeping. Wm. H. Gist." Mr. James Chesnut, Jr., one of the United States Senators from South Carolina, was among the large num ber of leading politicians in attend ance at the opening of the legislative session. He was kno"wn as a zealous advocate of Secession, and as such was serenaded on the evening of No vember Sth, aforesaid. Being called out to speak, Mr. Chesnut (as report ed by telegraph to The Charleston Courier) said : " Before the setting of to-morrow's sun, in all human probability, the destiny of this confederated Republic would be decided. He solemnly thought, in all human proba bility, that the Republican party would triumph in the election of Lin-ooln as Presi dent. In that event, the lines of our ene mies seem to be closing around us ; but they must be broken. They might see in the hurried paths of these starched men of livery the funeral cortege of the Constitution of the country. Peace, hope, independence, liberty, power, and the prosperity of Sove reign States, may be draped as chief mourn ers ; still, in the rear of this procession, there is the light of the glorious past, from which they might rekindle the dying blaze of their own altars. We see it all — know it all — feel it all ; and, with heaven's help, we will meet it all. " It was evident that we had arrived at the initial point of a new departure. We have two ways before us, in one of which, whe ther we will or not, we must tread ; for, in the event of this issue, there would be no repose. In both lie dangers, difliculties, and troubles, which no human foresight can foreshadow or perceive ; but tliey are not equal in magnitude. One is beset with hu miliation, dishonor, emeiites, rebellions — with submission, in the beginning, to all, and at all times, and confiscation and slavery in the end. The other, it is true, has its difficulties and trials, but no disgrace. Hope, duty, and honor, shine along the path, llopa 23-2, THE AilERICAN CONELICT. beacons you at the end. Before deciding, I consider well the ancient and sacred maxim — ' Stand upon the ancient way — see which is the right, good way, and walk in it.' "But the question now was, Would the South submit to a Black Eepublican Presi dent and a Black Eepublican Congress, which will claim the right to construe the Constitution of the country and administer the Government iu their own hands, not by the law of the instrument itself, nor by that of the fathers of the country, nor by the practices of those who administered seventy years ago, but by rules drawn from their own blind consciences and crazy brains. They call us inferiors, semi-civilized bar barians, and claim the right to possess our lands, aud give them to the destitute of the Old World and the profligates of this. They claim the dogmas of the Declaration of In dependence as part of the Constitution, and that it is their right and duty to so adminis ter the Government as to give full effect to them. The people now must choose whether they would be governed by enemies, or govern themselves. " For himself, he would unfurl the Pal metto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit of a brave man, determine to live and die as became our glorious ancestors,^ and ring the clarion notes of deflance.,ia.±h6 ears o"r"an~^(|gKiif 'foe. He then spoke of theTIffilouFted rigKt to withdraw their dele gated powers, and it was their duty, in the event contemplated, to withdraw them. It was their only safety. " Mr. 0. favored separate State action ; saying the rest would flock to our standard." Hon. Win. W. Boyce — then, and for some years previously, a leading- Representative in Congress from South Carolina — was, in like manner, serenaded and called out by the enthu siastic crowd of Secessionists, at Co lumbia, on the folio wins; evenino;. He concluded a speech denunciatory ofthe Republicans, as follows:^ " The question then is. What are we to do ? In my opinion, the South ought not to submit. If you intend to resist, the way to resist in earnest is to act ; the way to enact revolution is to stare it in the face. I thmk the only policy for us ia to arm as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of Lincoln. It is for South Carolina in the quickest manner, and by the most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit, whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies. "They cannot take sides with our ene mies ; they must take sides with us. When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his motto was to dare ! to dare!" " Mr. Boyce was followed by G-en. M. E. Martin, Cols. Cunningham, Simpson, Rich ardson, and others, who contended that to submit to the election of Lincoln is to con sent to a lingering death." There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever " Fire-Eaters" most did congregate, on the morning of No vember 7th. Men rushed to shake hands and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of Lincoln's election. Now, it was felt, and exultingly pro claimed, the last obstacle to " South ern independence" has been removed, and the great experiment need no longer be postponed to await the pleasure of the weak, the faithless, the cowardly. It was clear that the election had resulted precisely as the master-spirits had "wished and hoped. Note, the apathy, at least of the other Cotton States, must be overcome ; now, South Carolina — that is, her slaveholding oligarchy — will be able to achieve her long-cherished pur pose of breaking up the Union, and founding a new confederacy on her own ideas, and on the ' pecuhar insti tution' of the South. Men thronged the streets, talking, laughing, cheer ing, ° like mariners long becalmed ' This, and nearly all the proceedings at Co lumbia at this crisis, are here copied directly from the columns of Tlie Oliarleaton Courier. " Dispatch to The New Yorlc Herald, dated Washington, Nov. 8, 1860: " A dispatch, received here to-day from a leadmg and wealthy gentleman in Charleston, states that the news of Lincoln's election was received there with cheers aud many manifesta tions of approbation." Tlie Charleston Mercury of the 7th or 8tli ex ultingly announced the same fact 'COOPERATION' URGED BEFORE SECESSION. 333 0.1 a hateful, treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had swU'tly wafted within sight of their longed-for haven, or like a seedy prodigal, just raised to affluence by the death of some far- off, unknown relative, and whose sense of decency is not strong enough to repress his exultation. Thus stimulated, the Legislature did not hesitate nor falter In the course marked out for it by the mag nates of the State oligarchy. Joint resolves, pro"viding for the call of a Convention at some early day, with a view to unconditional secession from the Union, were piled upon each other "with great energy, as if nearly every member were anxious to distinguish himself by zeal in the work. Among others, Mr. Robert ^BarnweU Rhett, on the second day of the session, offered such resolves, calhng for the choice of a Conven tion on the 22d of November; the delegates to meet at Columbia on the 17th of December. Mr. Moses and others offered simi lar resolves in the Senate ; where Mr. Lesesne, of Charleston, attempted to stem, or, rather, to moderate, the roaring tide, by inserting the thin nest end of the wedge of " Coopera tion." His resolves are, in terms, as follows : "1st. Resolved, That the ascendency of the hostile, sectional, anti-Slavery party, styling themselves the Eepublican party, would be sufficient and proper cause for the dissolution of the Union and formation of a Southern Confederacy. " 2d. Resohed, That, in case of the elec tion of the candidates of that party to the ofSoe of President and Vice-President of the United States, instead of providing uncon ditionally for a Convention, the better course will be to empower the Governor to take measures for assembling a Convention so soon as any one of the other Southern States shall, in his judgment, give satisfactory as surance or evidence of her determination to withdroM from the Union." In support of this proposition, Mr. Lesesne spoke ably and earnestly, but without effect. "Cooperation" had been tried in 1850-1, and had sig nally failed to achieve the darling purpose of a dissolution of the Union ; so the rulers of Carolin a opinion would have none of it in 1860. Still another effort was made in the House (November 7th), by Mr. Trenholm, of Charleston — long con spicuous In the councils of the State — who labored hard to make " Coop eration" look so much like Secession that one could with dlfScultybe distin guished from the other. His propo sition was couched in the following terms : " Resolved, That the Committee on the Military of the Senate and House of Rep resentatives, be instructed to meet during the recess, and to prepare a plan for arm ing the State, and for organizing a per manent Military Bureau ; and that the said Committee be instructed to report by bill to their respective Houses on the first day of the reiissembling of the General Assembly. "Resohed, Tliat the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives be instructed to sit during the recess, and prepare a bill for raising supplies necessary to carry into effect the measure recom mended by the Military Committee, and to report by bill on the first day of the reas sembling of the General Assembly. "Resolved, That the Governor be re quested immediately to apply the one hun dred thousand dollars, appropriated by the last General Assembly, to the purchase of arms. "Resohed, That immediately after the election of the Commissioner to tho State of Georgia, this General Assembly do take a recess until the third Monday, being the nineteenth day, of November, in.stant, at 7 o'clock. "Resohed, As the sense of this General Assembly, that the election of a Black Re publican to the Presidency of the United States, wiU be the triumph and practical application of principles incompatible with the peace and safety of the Southern States. "Resolved, That a Commissioner be elect ed, by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives, whose duty it shall be, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election, to proceed immediately to Milledgeville, tho 334 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. seat of government of the State of Georgia, whose legislature will then be in session, to announce to the government of that State that South Carolina, in view of the impend ing danger, will immediately put herself in a state of eflicient military defense, and will cordially cooperate with the State of Geor gia in measures for the protection of South ern interests ; and to express the readiness of this State to cooperate with the State of Georgia, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's elec tion, in withdrawing at once from the con federacy ; and to recommend the calling of a Convention simultaneously in both States, to carry this measure into effect ; and to in- "vite the cooperation of all the Southern States in withdrawing from the present Union, and forming a separate Southern Confederacy." These resolves coming up for con sideration on the 9th, Mr. McGowan, of Abbe"rille, made a zealous effort to stem the furious current; pleading earnestly and plausibly for Coopera tion — ^that Is, for consultation "with other Slave States, and for action In obedience to their mutual determi nation. He said : " Cooperation with our Southern sisters has been the settled policy of South Caro lina for at least ten years past. We have long been satisfied with the causes for a dis solution of this Union. We thought we saw long ago what was coming, and only await ed the action of our Southern sisters. This being the case, it would seem strange, now that the issue is upon us — when our need is the sorest — that we should ignore our past policy, and, in the very crisis of the con flict, cease to ask for Cooperation. " Lincoln's election is taken as an occasion for action, but with us it is not the only caiise for action. We have delayed for the last ten years for nothing but Cooperation. He thought it the best and wisest policy to remain in the Union, with our Southern sisters, in order to arrange the time when, and the manner how, of going out, and nothing else. " It is perfectly manifest that the record ed policy of this State for the last ten years has been the policy of Secession in coopera tion with other Southern States. " But is that not fortifled by both history and philosophy ? — by the nature of the thing itself, and the fate of other nations ? The Southern States of this Union have more motives, more inducements, and more necessities, for concert and Union, than any people that has lived in the tide of time. They are one in sod and climate ; one in productions, having a monopoly of the Cot ton region ; one in institutions ; and, more than all, one in their wrongs under the Con stitution. Add to all this that they alone, of all the earth, have a peculiar institution —African Slavery— which is absolutely ne cessary for them; without which they would cease to exist, and against which, under the influence of a fanatical sentiment, the world is banded. Upon the subject of this institution, we are isolated from the whole world, who are not only indifferent, but inimical to it ; and it would seem that the very weight of this outside pressure would compel us to unite. " Besides, the history of the world is pregnant with admonition as to the necessi ty of union. The history of classic Greece, and especially that awful chapter upon the Peloponnesian war, appeals to us. The his tory of poor, dismembered Poland cries to us. The history of the Dutch Eepublic claims to be heard. Modern Italy and the States of Central America are now, at this moment, crying to us to miite. AU history teaches us that ' United we stand, divided we fall.' All the Southern States would not be too many for our confederacy, whose flag would float, honored upon every sea, and under whose folds every citizen would be sure of protection and security. My God ! what is the reason we cannot unite ? It seems to me that we might with proprie ty address to the whole South the pregnant words of Milton : ' Awake ! arise ! or be forever fallen I" " South Carolina has sometimes been ac cused of a paramount desire to lead or to disturb the councils of the South. Let us make one last effort for Cooperation, and, in doing so, repel the false and unfounded imputation. " Mr. Speaker, I think all of us desire to consolidate the sentiment of the South. All of us prefer Cooperation. It is, therefore, immensely important that we should take no false step, and omit nothing that might tend to that end. I am utterly opposed, now and forever, to taking any step back ward in this matter, and therefore it is that I am anxious that we should take no false step. It is better to consider in advance of action than after action. When we act, we must stand upon that action against the world in arms. It wdl strengthen our arms and nerve our hearts in doing that, if we shall be able to say that this course was not taken hastily or from impulse, but after ma ture deliberation, and a last effort for that which we all desire so much — Cooperation. SOUTH CAROLINA WILL NOT AWAIT COOPERATION. 335 Then, if we fail, and a Convention is called under these circumstances, I and all of us will stand by the action of that Convention. Whatever may be our individual opinions, we will obey the mandate of the State thus pronounced. " Whenever she, after exhausting all pro per and becoming efforts for union, resolves upon her course, we will have no option, as we will have no desire, to do otherwise than rally under her banner. If the State, in her sovereign capacity, determines that her se cession will produce the cooperation which we have so earnestly sought, then it shall have my hearty approbation. And if, in the alternative, she determines to let us forego the honor of being first, for the sake of promoting the common cause, let us de clare to Georgia, the Empire State of the South — the Keystone of the Southern Arch, which is our nearest neighbor westward, and lying for a great distance alongside of our own territory — that we are willing to foUow in her lead, and together take our place among the nations of the earth. " If South Carolina, in Convention as sembled, deliberately secedes — separate and alone, and, without any hope of cooperation, decides to cut loose from her moorings, sur rounded as she is by Southern sisters in like circumstances — I will be one of her orew, and, in common with every true son of hers, wUl endeavor, with all the power that God has given me, to ' Spread all her canvas to the breeze. Set every threadbare sail. And give her to the Ood of storms. The lightning and the gale.- " Mr. Mulhns, of Marion, foUowed ; and his reply to McGowan's speech is worthy of record here, since it clearly betrays the consciousness of the disunionists that they were a lean minority of the Southern people, who might be precipitated, bulhed, or dragged Into treason, but whom there was no rational hope of reasoning or even seducing Into it. He said : " South CaroUna had tried Cooperation, but had exhausted that policy. The State of Virginia had discredited the cause which our Commissioner went there to advocate, although she treated him, personally, with respect ; but she had as much as said there were no indignities which could drive her to take the leadership for Southern rights. If we wait for Cooperation, Slavery and State Rights would be abandoned. State Sovereignty and tho cause of the South lost forever, and we would be subjected to a dominion tho parallel to which was that of the poor Indian under the British East India Company. When they had pledged themselves to take the State out of the "Union, and placed it on record, then he was willing to send a Com missioner to Georgia, or any other Southern State, to announce our determination, and to sulDmit the question whether they would join us or not. We have -it from high au thority, that the representative of one of the Imperial Powers of Europe, in view of the prospective separation of one or more of the Soufhern States from the present confederacy, has made propositions in advance for the establishment of such relations between it and the Oovemment about to be established in this State, as will insure to that power such a, supply of Cotton for the future as their in creasing demand for that article will require : this information is perfectly authentic." Thus, it will be seen that foreign intrigue was afready hand-and-glove "with domestic treason in sapping the foundations of our Union and seeking pecuhar advantages from its over throw. Mr. Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, had for many years been the editor of a leading Agricultural monthly, and had thus acquired a very decided influence over the planters of the South. A devotee of Slavery, he had hastened to Columbia, on the call of the Legislature, to do his utmost for Secession. He was, of course, sere naded in his turn by the congregated Union-breakers, on the evening of the 7th, and addressed them from the balcony of the Congaree House. The following Is a synopsis of his response : "He said the question now before the country he had studied for years. It had been the one great idea of his life. The de fense of the South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of South Carolina. As old as he was, he had come here to join them in that lead. He wished 'Virginia was as ready as South Carolina, but, unfortunately, she was not; but, cir cumstances being different, it was perhaps better that Virginia and all other border Stales remain quiescent for a time, to serve 386 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. as guard against the North. The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South Carolina, would bring Virginia and every Southern State with them. By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any at tempt for our subjugation. No argument in favor of resistance was wanted now. As soon as he had performed his duty in Vir ginia as a citizen, he came as fast as steam could bring him to South Carolina. He was satisfled if anything was to be done, it was to be done here. He had no doubt it would be done, and the sooner the better. Every day delayed was a day lost to the cause. They should encourage and sustain their friends, and they would frighten their ene mies. " There was no fear of Carolina remaining alone. She would soon be followed by other States. Virginia and half a dozen more were just as good and strong, and able to repel the enemy, as if they had the whole of the slaveholding States to act with them. Even if Carolina remained alone — not that he thought it probable, but supposing so — it was his conviction that she would be able to defend herself against any power brought against her. Multitudes spoke and said the issue was one of courage and honor, or of cowardice, desertion, and degradation." A number of second and third-rate traitors foUowed this Ruffin In a similar vein, but thefr remarks were not deemed worth reporting. But, that evening, the busy tele graph reported from Charleston the more Important resignation of the leading Federal officers for South Carolina, in anticipation of her se ceding. The U. S. District Court had met there in the morning. Dis trict Judge Magrath presiding. The Grand Jury — of course, by precon cert — formally declined to make any presentments, because of " The verdict of the Northern section of the confederacy, solemnly announced to the country, through the ballot-box, on yester day, having swept away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability of the Federal Government of these sovereign States; and the public mind is constrained to lift itself above the consideration of de tails in the administration ofLaw and Justice, up to the vast and solemn issues which have been forced unon us. These issues involve the existence of the Government of which this Court is the organ and minister. In theseextraordinary circumstances, the Grand Jury respectfuUy decline to proceed with their presentments. They deem this expla nation due to the Court and to themselves. Judge Magrath received this com munication with complaisance, and thereupon resigned his office ; saying : " The business of the term has been dis posed of, and, under ordinary circumstances, it would be my duty to dismiss you to your several avocations, with my thanks for your presence and aid. But now I have some thing more to do, the omission of which would not be consistent with propriety. In the political history of the United States, an event has happened of ominous import to fifteen slaveholding States. The State of which we are citizens has been always un derstood to have deliberately fixed its pur pose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have held. For the last time, I have, as a Judge of the United States, ad ministered the laws of the United States within the limits of the State of South Carolina. " While thns acting in obedience to a sense of duty, I cannot be indifferent to the emo tions it must produce. That department which, I believe, has best maintained its integrity and preserved its purity, has been suspended. So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Consti tution of the United States, is now closed. If it shall never be again opened, I thank God that its- doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated with sacrifices to tyranny." C. J. Colcock, Collector at Charles ton, and James Conner, U. S. District Attorney, hke"wise resigned ; and it was announced that B. C. Pressley, Sub-Treasurer, woiUd foUow, " so soon as was consistent with due respect and regard for our present excellent Chief Magistrate [Buchanan], by whose appointment he holds the office." In the face of such multiform and high-seasoned Incitements to go ahead, the efforts of those members of the 1 P SILIIJ. ^ J . w !•> %l^ = ^'^ iP ¦s-^^ ri2/i?.;KjVi'iV'n?(||p.* WHY SECESSION WAS PRECIPITATED. 337 Legislature who would gladly have held back were paralyzed and their remonstrances silenced. They dared neither to spealc nor to vote as thefr con"victions Impelled. AU pleadings and efforts for delay, for reflection, for calm consideration, were stifled or fruitless. A bill call ing a Convention, with the distinct purpose of secession, passed the Senate on the 9th and the House on the 12th. December 6th was the day appointed for the election of delegates; the Convention to meet on the 17th of that month. "Whereupon, Gov. Ham mond resigned his seat In the U. S. Senate, as his colleague, Mr. Chesnut, had already done. On the same day (Nov. 12), a Mih tary Convention of Georgians was held at Mllledge"vllle, which was at tended and addressed by Gov. Joseph E. Bro"V5ai of that State. He affirmed the right of secession, and the duty of other Southem States to sustain South Carolina in the step she was then taking. ' He would like to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding Southern State ! For every Georgian who fell In a conflict thus incited, the lives of two Federal soldiers should expiate the outrage ori State Sovereignty.' The Convention, thus harangued, voted, about two to one, for secession ; and though it had, of course, no legal or official authority, its action was doubtless potent In precipitating the ' Empire State of the South' into the abyss of Disunion. The foregoing detailed, methodical statement of the process whereby Secession was inaugurated In South Carolina, and of the conceptions and purposes developed by that process, seems to render needless a like par ticularity with regard to the subse quent proceedings in that and other States. The germ of the entire movement, with the ideas whereon it was based, Is clearly exhibited In the doings at Columbia and Charleston, during those memorable early days of November, 1860. And, though South Carolina ostentatiously precip itated the catastrophe by her single, sovereign fiat. It is not doubted that she did so upon full understanding with the " Chivalry" of nearly, or quite every Slave State. These had, of course, apprised her own master spirits, in their conferences at water ing-places and other fashionable re sorts during the preceding Summer and Autumn, that, though they could not bring their several States to march abreast with her in the en terprise of National disruption and dissolution, they should have little difficulty in inducing them to fly to her rescue In case she went boldly forward In the predetermined course, and thus exposed herself to imminent peril on behalf of their common and most cherished Interest, Slavery. " Thefrs was the strategy of the leader of a forlorn hope, who, seeing his storming party hesitate and waver In the breach, or under the wall of the hostile fortress, throws his flag for- ¦* On the first day of the South CaroUna Seoes- sioti Convention, at Columbia, December 1'7, 1860, Hon. William Poroher Miles, M. C. from the Charleston District, one of the delegates, made a short speech against adjournment to Charleston, on account of the epidemic (small pox) at Columbia ; saying that he was just from 22 Washington, where he had been in consultation with Southem friends representing every other Southern State, who had unanimously urged the utmost haste in the consummation of South Caro lina's secession. He would adjourn to no other place until the Ordinance of Secession had pass ed. — See Charleston Courier, December 18, 1860. 338 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ward among the enemy, and rushes, sword in hand, to its recovery, calcu lating that his soldiers will thereupon instinctively spring to his and Its res cue at all hazards. The event proved the efficiency of the method, if not the perfect accuracy of the calculation. But the long-standing conspiracy for Disunion was favored, at this crisis, by very powerful Incidental in fluences, whereof the principal were as follows : 1. No public opposition to Slavery having, for many years, been permit ted in the slave-holding region, save at a very few points like St. Louis, where the Free-Labor interest had, from the force of circumstances, silently and suddenly achieved a practical preponderance, the journals, the religious organizations, and the political parties, were all immeasura bly subservient to the Slave Power. In fact, the chief topic of political contention, whether in the press or on the stump, had for twenty years been the relative soundness and thoroughness of the rival parties in their devotion to Slavery. On this ground, Gen. Jackson had immensely the advantage of J. Q. Adams, so far as the South was concerned, when they were rival candidates for the Presidency ; as Gen. Harrison had some advantage of Mr. Van Buren ; Mr. Polk of Mr. Clay ; Gen. Taylor of Gen. Cass; Gen. Pierce of Gen. Scott ; and, lastly, Major Breckin ridge of John BeU. In Kentucky, in the State canvass of 1869, Mr. Joshua F. Bell, "American" candi date for Governor had tried hard to s Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury ; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War ; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secre tary of the Interior. Aaron T. Brown, of Ten nessee, Mr. Buchanan's first Postmaster-Gen- " cut under" his Democratic antago nist, Beriah Magoffin, but had faUed, and been signally defeated. His more spotless record as a Slavery propagandist had enabled the sup porters of Breckinridge to carry even Maryland for him against Bell, in 1860. And now, the readiness to back South Carolina, or, at least, to shield her from harm, was presented as a touchstone of earnestness, to those of all parties, who had for years so loudly vaunted their own and their party's matchless devotion to " Southern rights." 2. The patronage of the Federal Govemment throughout the fifteen Slave States, being wielded and be stowed by the Southern members ° of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, was almost entirely monopolized by thefr fellow- conspirators. The Collectors of Cus toms, Postmasters, Marshals, etc., who had good reason to apprehend the loss of their comfortable places on Mr. Lincoln's accession to power, were generaUy " ripe for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." Many, if not most of them, were early and ac tive promoters -bf the Slaveholders' Rebellion, even while easily deriving large emoluments from the Govern ment they were plotting to destroy. 3. The Legislatures and party Con ventions of' all the Slave States had long been in the habit ' of unanimous ly resolving- that they would never submit to exclusion from the Terri tories, " Black-Republican domiua- tion," etc., etc. Those who were really Unionists were apt to let these resolves pass as a matter of course. eral, died, and was succeeded, in 18j9, by Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, who stood by the Union. ^ See, as a specimen, the Alabama resolves — oa pages 312-13. THE DISUNION CONSPIRACY IN TEXAS. 339 regarding them as a sort of theatrical, sheet-iron thunder, which might scare the North into greater subserviency to the Slave Power, and, at the worst, could do no harm. And now, these resolves were triumphantly quoted by the conspirators, and the people asked whether they meant any thing by passing them, or were only uttering threats which they never intended to make good. 4. The Governors of nearly all the Slave States, including even Dela ware, had actively and zealously sup ported Breckinridge, and had thus justified the withdrawal of a major ity of the Southern delegates from the Charleston Convention, on grounds not essentiaUy differing from those whereon Disunion was now urged. The action now taken by South Car olina was very fafrly claimed to be a direct and necessary sequence of that bolt. The Governors and other lead ing politicians who had supported Breckinridge and Lane In the recent canvass, were held to have thereby pledged themselves to prosecute that pohcy to Its legitimate results. And most of them were fully aware of and ready to meet this expectation. Hence, South Carolina had scarcely thro"WTi up her signal rocket, an nouncing the outbreak of the long meditated revolution, when It was responded to by proclamations and calls of Legislatures in most of the Slave States. Texas was not originally of the number. Her leading pohticians had sho"wn the cloven foot a year too soon, by nominating, early In 1859, a State ticket pledged to favor the, re opening of the African Slave-Trade, which was a well-understood Shib boleth of the South-Western plotters of Disunion. Hardin R. Runnells, a Misslssipplan, who was the Incum bent, was placed at Its head as a candidate for Governor. The peo ple were alarmed by this bold step ; Gen. Sam Houston took the field in opposition to it as an independent Union candidate for Governor ; and, though there was no political organi zation In the State, but that which he confronted, whUe Texas had gone overwhelmingly for Pierce against Scott, and for Buchanan against Fillmore, Gen. Houston carried it with all ease, beating Runnells by 8,670 majority,' in by far the largest vote ever yet polled in the State. Andrew J. Hamilton, running as a Unionist for Congress, In the Western District, in like manner beat T. N. Waul, the regular Democratic candi date, by 448 ' majority. In the East ern District, John H. Reagan,' Dem ocrat, had no serious opposition. Gen. Houston was thus in a posi tion to thwart the Texan consplrar tors, had he e-rinced either principle or courage, when they commenced operating to take their State out of the Union at the close of 1860. He did refuse to call the Legislature, or a Convention; whereupon the con spirators called the Legislature them selves, by a document signed by sixty of their number, ha-ving just as much legal validity and force as a harangue at a negro camp-meeting. But the Disunionists were thoroughly united, determined, and ready ; while thefr adversaries, owing to Houston's pu- ' Houston, 36,170; Runnells, 2'7,500. 8 HamUton, 16,409 ; Waul, 15,961. " Since, Confederate Postmaster-General. Rea gan was elected to Congress from Eastern Texas in 1859, by 20,565 votes to 3,541 for Judge W. B. Ochiltree; but Houston for Governor had 4,183 majority in the District at that election j showing that Reagan had no serious opposition. 840 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. slUanimlty, were as sheep without a shepherd, in a fafr way to be trans formed Into mutton. Had there been a loyal soldier in command of that large portion of our small regular army stationed in Texas, ostensibly for the defense of her exposed North ern and Western frontier, he might have formed a nucleus for an effec tive raUy for the Union. But Mr. John B. Floyd was at the head of the War Department, and had taken care that this force should be wield ed by a thorough-going traitor, who would paralyze, and, in due time, be tray It into the hands of his fellows. Houston was aUowed to remain In office, despised by the implacable en emies to whom he truckled, and de spising himself, until they were ready to dispense with him ; when he obse quiously resigned, enduring an igno minious existence In their midst un til he found rehef from It in death, some two years thereafter. Yirginia had recently chosen for her Governor Mr. John Letcher, whose position was nearly as peculiar as Houston's. The genume South rons had long professed to be Demo crats for Slavery's sake ; Letcher, at heart, and formerly by open avowal, regarding human bondage as a blun der if not a crime, was pro-Slavery for the sake of the Democratic party, whereof he had ever been a bigoted devotee, and which had promoted and honored him beyond any other estimate of his merits but his own. Transferred from the House of Rep resentatives to the Governorship '° by the election of 1859, he, as a hfe-long champion of regular nom inations and strict party discipline. '°"V"ote for Governor: Letcher, Dem., 11,112; Goggin, Am., 71,543. had supported Douglas for President in 1860, and thereby thrown himself Into a very lean minority" of his party. He had, of course, much lee way to make up to reinstate himself In that party's good graces, and hence early and zealously lent himself to the work of the conspirators. The course of Gov. Beriah Magof fin, of Kentucky, was in striking con trast with that of his Southern peers. He, too, had supported Breckinridge ; while his party owed its recently acquired ascendency In his State, and he his election, to the deepening con viction of the slaveholding interest that no other party than the Demo cratic possessed at once the power and the "will to rule the country in con formity to its wishes and presumed Interests. But Kentucky had already repeatedly declared for the Union — conspicuously in her August State Election of 1860, and again In choosing BeU Electors, and gl"ving the rival candidates for President some Forty Thousand more votes than she gave her own Breckinridge, who, but for her apprehensions and dread of disunion, would probably have re ceived her vote. Gov. Magoffin now issued an address to the people of Kentucky, wherein he wisely and forcibly said : " To South Carolina, and such other States as may wish to secede from the Union, I would say : The geography of this country will not admit of a division ; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi river cannot be separated without the horrors of civil war. We cannot sustain you in this movement merely on account of the election of Lincoln. Do not precipitate us, by premature action, into a revolution or civil war, the conse quences of which will be most frightful to .-,?, ^®- " ™^y y«* ^^ avoided. There is still hope faint though it be. Kentucky is a border State, and has suffered more than " Democratic vote of Virginia: Breckinridge 74,323; Douglas, 16,290. ' SECESSION HALTS IN ARKANSAS AND MISSOURI. 341 all of you. She claims that, standing upon the same sound platform, you will sympa thize with her, and stand by her, and not desert her in her exposed, perUous border position. She has a right to claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and modera tion, and patriotism, shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your repre sentatives wiU go out of Congress, and leave ns at the mercy of a Black Eepublican Government. Mr. Lincoln wUl have no check. He can appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be Republican, and' he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest. The Supreme Conrt will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to stand by us, and by our friends in the Free States ; and let us all, the hold, the true and just men in the Free and the Slave States, with a united front, stand hy each other, by our principles, by our rights, our equality, our honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe this is the only way to save it ; and we can do it." Gov. Ehas N. Conway, of Arkansas, transmitted his Annual Message to the new Legislature of that State on tlie 19th of November, 1860, when nearly all the Slave States were alive with drumming and drilling, " and frantic "with telegraphing and haran guing In behalf of Secession ; yet he said nothing on the subject. It is a fafr presumption that he disapproved of the entfre business. But his suc cessor, Henry M. Rector, had been chosen " the preceding August, and he made haste to, do the bidding of the qonspirators. In all the other Slave States south of Maryland, the Governors were heart and soul In the Disunion con- spfracy, and called Legislatures to meet in extra session, issued vehement Proclamations, concocted and put forth incendiary Messages, or did whatever else the master-spirits of the conspiracy required. Their asso ciates and subordinates In office were of like faith and purpose ; and It may fairly be assumed that at least four- fifths of all those in office In the Slave States, whether under the National or any State Government, on the 6th of November, 1860, were ardent ad vocates of Secession. In Missouri, Mr. Claiborne F. Jack son had been chosen Governor " as a. Douglas Democrat; but that desig nation was entirely delusive. Having achieved what he considered the re gular Democratic nomination for Governor, he thought he could not " Extract from a letter in The Hew Tork Herald of Nov. 9, dated • Charleston, Nov. 5, 1860. " As a mark of the popular inclination toward resistance, it is a fact of some significance that the echoes of the word 'coercion' had hardly reached our borders before the whole State was bristhng with spontaneous organizations of Minute-Men — irregular forces, it is true, but, nevertheless, formidable, because armed to the teeth with weapons to which they have been ac customed from early youth, and animated with the idea that they are defending all that is near and dear to them. The elaborate disclaimers, on the part of some of the Lincoln papers, of any design to molest the State, even if she secedes, have no weight whatever here. People very justly argue that, if coercion should be attempted, the Minute-Men will be wanted ; and, if the State should not be molested iu her independence, it wiU be a great advantage to have such a body of men always at command. " At this time, it is impossible to describe the extent of the Minute-Men movement. There is not a hamlet in the State that has not its squad, either of mounted men or infantry. They are drilling every night, and have generally adopted Hardee's Tactics, which, because less monoto nous, are preferred by our impetuous young men to the old, heavy infantry drill. Not a night passes that we do not hear in the streets of Charleston the tramp of largo bodies of armed men, moving with the quick Zouave step, and with admirable discipline and precision." This, it will be seen, was before Lincoln's eleo- tion ; and, of course, before any public steps had been taken toward Secession. As the movement extended to other States, its military manifesta tions were.nearly everywhere such as are poi- trayed above. "As a stump candidate; by 30,577 votes to 28,618 for R. H. Johnson, regular Democrat. » Election of August, 1860 : 0. E. Jackson (Douglas) 74,446; Sam. Orr (Bell) 66,683; Hancock Jackson (Breok.) 11,416 ; Gardenhire (Lincoln) 6,135. 342 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. affijrd to bolt the regular Democratic nomination for President, and so gave at least a nominal gupport to Douglas, who thus obtained the vote of Mis- Bouri in November, when Gov. J. and a large proportion of his supporters were in feehng and purpose with the backers of Breckinridge. He was fully In the hands of the conspfrators from the start, and in due time united openly iu the Rebellion. Outside of Missouri, the Douglas Democracy had been so thoroughly, overwhelm ingly beaten in the vote of the Slave States for President — as thoroughly in Delaware or Maryland as in Georgia or Arkansas — that they seemed to be crushed out of life, or anxious to merge their distinctive character by a plunge into the com mon abyss of Rebellion. Mr. Doug las himself, being catechised on the subject," frankly declared that, should Lincoln be chosen President, he would not consider that a cause for resist ance, but should adhere to and up hold the Union. Yet the result of the election had hardly transpired when his friend Gov. Letcher of Vir ginia, Mr. George N. Sanders, of Kentucky, who had been one of his busiest and noisiest champions, and many more such, made haste to swell the gathering cohorts of Secession. The ablest and most respectable of their number was Mr. Alex. H. Stephens, of Georgia, whose courage and loyalty endured at least a week after those of his late compatriots had bidden them a final adieu. The Legis lature of Georgia having assembled,'" Mr. Stephens presented himself and spoke " boldly as well as ably against the meditated treason ; saying : " While speaking at Norfolk, Ta., during the canvass of 1860. " The flrst question that presents itself is, ShaU the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States ? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought. In ray judgment, the elec tion of no man, constitutipnally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any- State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid stiU in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government — to withdraw from it, becaiise a man has heen constitutionally elected — puts us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency — • and that, too, in accordance with the pre scribed forms of the Constitution — make a point of resistance to the Government, and, without becoming the breakers of that sa cred instrument ourselves, withdraw our selves from it? Would we not he in the wrong? Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge of the people of the South, and especially.of the people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our National engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Ee public is to go down, let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck, with the Constitution of the United States waving over our heads. (Applause.) Let the fa natics of the North break the Constitution, if such is their fell purpose. Let the responsi bility be upon them. I shall speak present ly more of their acts ; but let not the South, let us not be the ones to commit the aggres sion. We went into the election with this people; the result was different from what we wished; but the election has been con stitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government, and go out of the Union on that account, the re cord would be made up hereafter against us. " But, it is said, Mr. Lincoln's policy and principles are against the Constitution, and that, if he carries them out, it will be de structive of our rights. Let us not anticipate a threatened evil. If he "violates the Consti tution, then wUl come our tirae to act. Do not let us break it, because, forsooth, he may. If he does, that is the time for us to strike. (Applause.) I think it would be injudicious and unwise to do this sooner. I do not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln will do anything to jeopardize our safety or securi ty, whatever may be his spirit to do it ; for " At Milledgeville, Nov. 8, 1860. "At the State House, Nov. 14, 1860. A. H. STEPHENS AND HENRY CLAT ON DISUNION 343 he is hound by the constitutional checks "which are thrown around him, which, at this time, render him powerless to do any great mischief. This shows the wisdom of our system. The President of the United States is no Emperor, no Dictator — he is clothed with no absolute power. He can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress. The House of Eepresentatives is largely in the majority against him. In the Senate, he will also be powerless. There "wUl be a majority of four against him : This, after the loss of Bigler, Fitch, and others, by the unfortunate dissensions of the Demo cratic party in their States. Mr. Lincoln cannot appoint an officer without the con sent of the Senate — he cannot form a Cabi net without the same consent. He will be in the condition of George III. (the embodi ment of Toryism)^ who had to ask the Whigs to appoint his Ministers, and was compelled to receive a Cabinet utterly op posed to his views ; and so Mr. Lincoln wUl be compelled to ask of the Senate to choose for him a Cabinet, if the Democracy of that body choose to put him on such terms. He ¦will be compeUed to do this, or let the Gov ernment stop, if the National Democratic men — for that is their name at the North — the conservative men in the Senate — should so determine. Then, how can Mr. Lincoln obtain a Cabinet which would aid him, or aUow him, to "violate the Constitution ? " Why, then, I say, should we disrupt the bonds of this Union, when his hands are tied — when he can do nothing against us ?" Warming with his argument, Mr. Stephens did not hesitate, before con cluding his speech, to say : "I believe in the power of the people to govern themselves when wisdom prevails, and passion is silent. Look at what has al ready been done by them for their advance ment in all that ennobles man. There is nothing like it in the history of the world. Look abroad, from one extent of the coun try to the other; contemplate our great ness : we are now among the fir,?t nations of the earth. Shall it, then, be said that our institutions, founded upon principles of self- government, are a faUure ? " Thus far it is a noble example, worthy of imitation. The gentleman (Mr. Cobb), the other night, said it had proven a failure. A failure in what ? In growth ? Look at our expanse in National power 1 Look at our population and increase in all that makes a people great 1 A failure ? Why, we are the admiration of the civilized world, and present the brightest hopes of mankind. " Some of our public men have failed in their aspirations ; that is true ; and from that comes a great pari of our troubles. (Prolonged applause.) " No ! there is no failure of this Govern ment yet. "We have made great advance ment under the Constitution ; and I cannot but hope that we shall advance stiU higher. Let us be true to our cause." This was frank and noble ; yet there was a dead fly In the ointment, which sadly marred its perfume. That was a distinct avowal of the right of the State to overrule his per sonal con"rictlons, and- plunge him into treason to the Nation. Tears before, Henry Clay, when catechised by Jefferson Da"vis in the Senate, set forth the true American doctrine on this point, as follows : j.- ''Mr. President, I have heard with pain and regret a confirmation of the remark I made, that the sentiment of Disunion has be come familiar. I hope it is confined to South Carolina. I do not regard as my duty what the honorable Senator seems to regard as his. If Kentucky to-morrow un furls the banner of resistance, I never wiU fight under that banner. I owe a para mount aUegiance to the whole Union — a subordinate one to my own State.".'' I'Mr. Clay, at another time, at a caucus of Southern members of Congress, was asked whether, in a certain contingency, Kentuekians, would go for Disunion. He promptly replied : " No, Sir : Kentuckians view Disunion as itself the greatest cf evils, and as a remedy for noth- ing." The foUowing letter likewise erabodies the ruling conviction of his life, which under no cir cumstances could he be induced to depart from: now is one of great importance, and I wish you to lead off in it. "The feeUng for Disunion among some of the intemperate Southern politicians is stronger than I supposed it could be. The masses generaUy, even at the South, are, I believe, yet sound; but they may become inflamed and perverted. The best counteraction of that feeling is to be derived from popular expressions at public meetings of the people. Now, what I would be glad to see, is such meetings held throughout Kentucky. For, you must know, that the Disunionists count up- 344 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Mr. Stephens was, in his earher years, an admirer and follower of Mr. Clay; but, since 1850, he had gone a roving after strange gods. He now said : " Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union, I speak for one, though my views may not agree with them, whatever the re sult may be, I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause, and their destiny is my destiny ; and I trust this wiU be the ultimate course of all. The greatest curse that can befall a free people is civil war. But, as I said, let us call a Conven tion of the people ; let all these matters be submitted to it; and, when the will of a majority of the people has thus been ex pressed, the whole State will present one unanimous voice in favor of whatever may be demanded." Of course, Mr. Stephens was taken at his word. A Convention was called ; a majority of delegates se cured for Disunion ; an Ordinance of Secession passed; and Mr. Stephens sank from the proud position of a citi zen of the American Republic into that of "Vice-President of the Confed eracy of slaveholding traitors and thefr benighted, misguided sateUites and dupes. The South Carolina Convention met at Columbia on the appointed day — December 17th. Gen. D. F. Jamison, its temporary Chairman, on being called to preside, paraded the wrongs of the South In the admission parties, if possible, at Lexington, at LouisviUe, etc., etc , to express in strong language their de termination to stand by the Union? Now is the time for salutary action, and you are the man to act. I inclose some resolutions, which, or some similar to them, I should be happy to see adopted. H. Clat." "To Gen. Leslie Coiffis." " Early in 1860, an eminent New Tork law yer visited Charleston professionally, and was detained in that city several weeks, mingling freely with her citizens and the guests at her principal hotel. Though never a candidate for office, he took a warm interest in public affairs, and had always acted with the 'Whig,' ' Ameri- of California, organization and settle ment of Kansas, etc., etc., and trust ed that " the door is now closed for ever against any further connection" with the Northern confederacy," etc., etc., etc. He further trusted that " we shall not be diverted from our purpose by any dictates from with out;" and that the Convention, in inaugurating such a movement, would heed the counsels of a master-spirit of the French Revolution, whose maxim was, to " dare, and again to dare, and without end to dareP Mr. Chas. G. Memminger'" ha"ving suggested that the members, on the roU being called, advance and be sworn, a delegate responded : " Oh no ! that Is not required ; we came not to make, but to unmake, a gov ernment." Gen. Jamison was, on the fifth ballot, chosen President. At the evening session of the first day, Hon. John A. Elmore, a Commissioner from Alabama, and Hon. Charles Hooker, a Commissioner from Mis sissippi, were Introduced by the Pres ident, and successively addressed the Convention — of course. In favor of prompt and unconditional Secession. Mr. Elmore said : " I am instructed by the Governor of Ala bama to say that he desires, and, he be- can,' or ' Conservative' party. Soon after his re turn to New Tork, some old associates caUed to consult him on political affairs, and were as tounded to hear that his views had undergone a complete change. ""What can that mean?" "It means this," was his weU-considered reply; " that I have spent the past month in the South ; that I find the Union a sham ; that we are, in effect, two peoples, between whom an early war is inevitable ; and that, in that war, I mean to stand by my own hearth and kindred. Good morning, gentlemen 1" '"> Since, Confederate Secretary ofthe Treasury. SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDING. 345 Keves, our State desires (and I unite my voice with him in that opinion), that the ac tion of the Convention be immediate and prompt. [Applause.] It will give the cause strength, hot only in Alabama, as we be lieve, and of which I have a right to speak, but I believe it will give the cause strength in the other States, which are united with yon in sentiment." On motion of Mr. Inghs, it was unanimously, and amid tremendous cheering, " Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should forthwith secede frora the Federal Union, known as the United States of America." The small-pox then raging in Co lumbia, the Convention adjourned to ' Secession HaU' In Charleston, where it met next day. Mr. Buchanan's last Annual Message having been re ceived. Judge Magrath, of Charleston, offered the following, which was debated next day, but does not seem to have passed : " Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as re lates to what he designates the property of the United States in South Carolina, be re ferred to a Committee to report of what such property consists, how the same was ac quired, or, whether the purposes for which it was so acquired can be enjoyed by the United States after the State of South Caro lina shall have seceded, consistently with the dignity and safety of the State; and that said Committee further report the value of the property of the United States not in South Carolina, and the value of the share thereof to which South Carolina may be en titled upon an equal division thereof among the States. [Great applause in the galleries."] The President announced an ad dress from a portion of the Legisla ture of Georgia, which he thought should not be made public ; so it was not. It was afterward understood to be an appeal from fifty-two members of said Legislature for delay and con sultation among the Slave States. The next day, Hon. J. A. Ehnore communicated a dispatch from the Governor of Alabama, In these words : "MoNTGOMEET, AlA., DcC. 17, I860. " Tell the Convention to listen to no prop osition of compromise or delay. "A. B. MooBE." Among the utterances of this Con vention, the follo"wIng seem especially significant and memorable : Mr. Parker said : "Mr. President, it appears to me, with great deference to the opinions that have been expressed, that the public mind is fuUy made up to the great occasion that now awaits us. It is no spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us ; it has been gradually culmiiiating for a long period of thirty years. At last, it has come to that point where we may say, the matter is entirely right." Mr. Inghs said : " Mr. President, if there is any gentleman present who wishes to debate this matter, of course this body will hear him. But, as to delay for the purpose of discussion, I, for one, am opposed to it. As my friend (Mr. Parker) has said, most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty years ; and I presume that we have, by this time, arrived at a decision upon the subject." And Hon. Lawrence M. Keitt — "Ihave been engaged in this movement ever since I entered political life. I am con tent with what has been done to-day, and with what will take place to-morrow. We have carried the body of this Union to its last resting-place, and now we will drop the flag over its grave. After that is done, I am ready to adjourn, and leave the remain ing ceremonies for to-morrow." And Mr. Robert Barnwell Rhett — " The Secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not anything pro duced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gather ing head for thirty years. * * * The point in which I differ from my friend is this : He says he thought it expedient to put this great question before the world upon this simple matter of wrongs — on the ques tion of Slavery; and that question turned upon the Fugitive Slave Law. Now, in re gard to the Fugitive Slave Law, I myself doubted its constitutionality, and doubted it on the floor of the Senate, when I was a member of that body. The States, acting 346 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. in their sovereign capacity, should be re sponsible for the rendition of fngitive slaves. That was our best security." It was, on motion of Mr. Hayne, resolved that a Commissioner be sent to each Slave State, with a copy of the Secession Ordinance, with a view to hasten cooperation on the part of those States; also, that three Com missioners be sent to Washington, with a copy of the same, to be laid before the President, to treat for the dehvery ofthe United States property in South Carolina over to the State, on the subject of the Public Debt, etc. The Ordinance of Secession was reported from a Committee of seven on the fourth day (Dec. 20th), and immediately passed, without dissent. (Yeas 169.) It Is ia the following words : " An Ordinance to dissolve the Union be tween the State of South Carolina, and other States united with her under the compact en titled the Constitution of the United States of America : _ " "We, the people of the State of South Caro lina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Con vention, on the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed ; and that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name ofthe United States of America, is hereby dissolved." A formal " Declaration of Causes, which induced the Secession of South Carolina," was in like manner report ed and adopted. Its substance and force are entirely derived from, and grounded on the alleged Infidelity of the Free States to their constitutional obligations with respect to Slavery, but more especially in the non-rendi tion of fugitive slaves. New Tork, among other States, is herein charged (of course by mistake) with having passed acts to obstruct the return of such fugitives. Indiana and Illinois are likewise among the States thus erroneously accused. The Constitu tion is pronounced a compact between sovereign States, and the Convention proceeds : " We maintain that, in every compact be tween two or raore parties, the obligation is mutual ; that the failure of one of the con tracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obliga tion of the other; and that, where no arbi ter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of faU ure, with all its consequences." No grievance of any name or na ture is aUeged or insinuated, but such as flow from anti-Slavery feeling and- action -in the Free States, culmina ting In the election of Lincoln. The Declaration concludes as foUows : " We, therefore, the people of South Caro lina, by our delegates in Convention assem bled, appeaUng to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union here tofore existing between this State and the other States of North America is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has re sumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State, witli full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com merce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States raay of right do." On motion of Mr. W. F. De Saus- sure, it was further "Resolved, That the passage of the Ordi nance be proclaimed by the firing of artU- lery and the ringing of the bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem appropriate on the passage of the great act of deliverance and liberty." The President, at a quarter past 1, announced that the Ordinance had unanimously passed ; whereupon there burst forth a pent-up flood of congratulatory and jubilant speeches, and then the Convention adjourned, to meet again in the evening for a GEORGIA, ALABAMA, ETC., SECEDING. 347 more formal ratification, at which the Governor " and Legislature were invited to attend. Then and there, the Ordinance, ha"ving" been duly en grossed, was read by the President, then signed by aU the delegates in alphabetical order, and thereupon displayed by the President to the en thusiastic crowd, with a declaration that " the State of South Carolina Is now and henceforth a free and in dependent commonwealth." And then, with wUd, prolonged, exulting huzzas, the assemblage dispersed; and the Charleston papers began to print thenceforth thefr dally quantum of InteUigence from the non-seceding States as " Foreign News." Georgia, as was arranged and ex pected, was the first State to follow South Carolina in her fatal plunge. Her new Legislature, moved by an impassioned Message from her Gover nor, Joseph E. Bro-svn, passed'^ a bill appropriating $1,000,000 to arm and equip the State ; and, on the 18th, a hiU calhng a Convention of delegates, to be chosen In the several counties on the 2d of January ensuing, and to meet one week thereafter. The Con vention bill passed by a unanimous vote ; the Convention thus chosen and convened finally passed" an Ordi nance of Secession : Yeas 208 ; Nays 89, The names of A. H. Stephens and Herschel Y. Johnson, late Doug las leaders in the South, were recorded among the Nays.'* Alabama was held back by a scru ple on the part of her Governor, Andrew B. Moore, who declined to act decisively until the Presidential Electors iu the several States had met, and a, majority cast their votes for Lincoln. He issued his call on the 6th, and the election of delegates was held on the 24th of December. The Secessionists claimed a popular majority of 50,000 in the votes ofthe several counties ; but when the Con vention '* passed an Ordinance of Se cession,'" by a vote of 61 to 39, It was claimed that the minority, being mainly from the Northern counties, where the free population is propor tionally far more numerous than among the great plantations of the South, represented more freemen than did the majority. Florida, through her Legislature, voted " to call a Convention. That Convention met at Tallahassee,^' and passed " an Ordinance of Secession : Yeas 62 ; Nays 7. Several delegates elected expressly as Unionists voted for Secession. Mississippi assembled her Legisla ture, on the call of Gov. John J. Pet- tus, at Jackson; and a Convention was thereby called to meet at the same place, January 7th ; and a Se- '' Francis W. Pickens, newly chosen by the Legislature ; an original NuUifier and life-long Disunionist, "bom insensible to fear." He was in Congress (House) from 1835 to 1843; sent as Minister to Russia by Buchanan in 1858. » November 13, 1860. « January 18, 1861. "^ "A sad thing to observe is, that those who are determined on immediate secession have not the coolness, the capacity, or the nerve, to pro pose something after that. We must secede, it is said ; but, what then we are to do, nobody knows, or, at least, nobody says. This is ex tremely foolish, and more wicked than foolish. AU sorts df business are going to wreck and ruin, because of the uncertainty of the future. No statesmanship has ever been exhibited yet, so far as we know, by those who wUl dissolve the Union. South Carolina considers it her poli cy to create a collision with the Federal authori ties for the purpose of arousing the South from her slumber. Never was there a greater mistake." — Augusta {Ga.) Chronicle and Sentinel, January 1, 186L '= Assembled at Montgomery, January Tth. 26 January 11, 1861. " December 1, 1860. ss January 3, 1861. =° January 10th. 348 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. cession Ordinance was passed by it two days thereafter : Yeas 84 ; Nays 15. Mississippi ha"ving, next to South Carolina, the largest propor tional Slave population of any State in the Union, it is probable that this action more nearly conformed to the real sentiment of her reading, govern ing class, than that of any other State which is claimed as having seceded. In Louisiana, Gov. Thomas O. Moore, an extensive planter and slave holder, cherishing the prejudices of his class, called '" her new Legislature to meet at Baton Rouge, December 10th. This lost no time in calling'" a Convention, by which an Ordinance of Secession was passed :'' Yeas 103; Nays 17. But a New Orleans journal, which had not yet fallen into treason, confidently asserted that a majority of the people who voted for delegates to that Convention had voted for Union delegates, and challenged the Secessionists to pubhsh and scrutinize the popular vote. This they were finally impelled to do, figuring out a smaU majority for their own side. It was plain that, while every Secession ist voted and many Unionists ab stained, the vote for Union and that for Secession delegates were just about equal. As made up by the Se cessionists, they stood : For Secession, 20,448; Against It, 17,296. The vote for Secession is only two-fifths of the vote cast for President just before. The Convention refused — 84 to 45 — to submit their act to a vote of the people. In Texas, a Convention — called, as we have seen — assembled at Austin, January 28th, passed ^ an Ordinance of Secession : Yeas 166 ; Nays 7. This ordinance was submitted to a popular vote, and ratified by a considerable majority ; it being very much safer, in most districts, to vote Secession than not at aU, and not to vote at aU than to vote Union. Arkansas, in spite of her Govern or's reticence, was blest with a Con vention;'* her Legislature voting a call for one; but her popular vote showed a Union majority, and the conspfrators were bafiled for the time. North Carolina was under the rule, but not at first under the control, of the conspirators. Among the dis patches flying, thick as haU, over the South the day after Lincoln's election, was the follo"wIng : "Ealeigh, N. C, Nov. 7, I860. " The Governor and CouncU are in session. The people are very much excited. North Carolina is ready to secede." The Governor (John "W". EUis) and Legislature being of the Breckinridge school of Democracy, it was easy to call a Convention, but diflicult to assemble one without giving the Peo ple some voice in the premises. And they, upon the appointed day of elec tion, not only chose a strong majority of Union delegates, but voted further (for fear of what might happen) tha,t the Convention should not meet at all. Yet another Convention was, directly after the reduction of- Sum ter, hastily elected, which voted the State out of the Union. So, In Yirginia, where Gov. Letcher had early and heartily entered Into the counsels of the Disunionists, the Legislature was called by him to meet In extra session at Richmond on the 7th of January, which It did, and '' passed a biU calhng a Convention; 31 November 26, 1860. si December 11, 1860. ^January 26, 1860. s February 1, 1861. 'January 13, 1861. s" November 16, 1860. MISSOURI, KENTUCKY, ETC., REFUSE TO SECEDE. 349 but the people returned an over whelming Union majority; which, so late as April 4th, by 89 to 45, decided not to pass an Ordinance of Secession. Missouri, under Gov. C. F. Jack son's rule, had a Democratic Legisla ture, which voted"' to caU a Conven tion ; but that body, when convened, was found to be decidedly and in flexibly Union. The pretended Se cession of the State, some time after ward, was the work of unauthorized persons, and had not a shadow of legal vahdity. So, Tennessee, whose Legislature met January 7th, though her Govern or, Isham G. Harris, was thoroughly "with the Disunionists, could not be induced to take the flrst step in their company." « In Kentucky, the open Secession ists were but a handful, and were un able to make any show of strength in the Legislature. The few slave- traders, some scions of the planting aristocracy, with quite a number of politicians of bygone eminence and power (many. If not most, of them ' "Whigs' of other days), were early en- hsted In the movement, and sought to counterbalance, If not conceal, thefr paucity of numbers by Intense bitterness and preternatural activity. They were enabled, through the timidity and twaddhng of the leading pohticians who had supplanted them In place and power, to exert a baleful Influence over the course of their State throughout the ensuing year, but never to drive or lure her to the brink of Secession. So, in Maryland, which was early "visited by emissaries from the seceded States, who exerted every a^ to drag her after them Into the abyss. They were patiently, respectfully treated ; feasted and toasted by the aristocratic few, but nowise encouraged or sym pathized with by the great body of the Industrious classes. Gov. Thomas H. Hicks, though a slaveholder, and not very determined nor consistent In his course at the outset of the Re bellion, met the original appeal for Secession with a decided rebuff. Being strongly memorialized to con vene the Legislature In extra session, he responded " as foUows : " Identified, as I am, hy birth, and every other tie, with the South — a slaveholder, and feeling as warmly for my native State as any man can do — I am yet compelled by my sense of fair dealing, and my respect for the Con stitution of our country, to declare that I see nothing in the bare election of Mr. Lincoln which would justify the South in taking any •steps tending toward a separation of these States. Mr. Lincoln being elected, I am wiUing to await further results. If he will administer the Government in a proper and patriotic manner, we are all bound to sub mit to his Administration, much as we may have opposed his election. "As an individual, I will very cheerfully sustain hira in well-doing, because my suf fering country will he benefited by a consti tutional administration of the Government. If, on the contrary, he shall abuse the trust 85 January 16, 1861. s' Tlie Nashville Banner, a leading journal of the old Whig school, contained late in January, 1861, the following warning of the treacherous schemes that were then culminating in Ten nessee : "Let every true, honest citizen of tbe South beware. The vilest, most damnable, deep-laid and treacherous conspiracy that was ever con cocted in the busy brain of the most designing knave, is being hatched to destroy his liberties by breaking up this Government. If the people do not rise in their strength and put back these meddling politicians, the latter will chloroform them with sectional prejudice, and then ride over them rough-shod before they can recover from the narcotic. The political tricksters, who see their power slipping from their grasp, are play ing a desperate game, and will not ' lose a trick' if they can help it. Let honest men see that the double-dealers do not ' stock the cards.' " ss November 27, 1861. 350 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. confided to him, I shall be found as ready and determined as any other man to arrest him in his wrong courses, and to seek re dress of our grievances by any and all proper means." Delaware had. In 1858, chosen "William Burton (Democrat) for Gov ernor by 7,758 votes to 7,544 for his Oppositi^ rival ; Democracy In Del aware bemg almost exclusively based on Slavery, and having at length car ried the State by its aid. The great body of the party, under the lead of Senator James A. Bayard, had sup ported Breckinridge, and were still in sympathy with his friends' "view of ' Southern Rights,' but not to the extent of approving South Carolina remedies. Their Legislature met at Dover, January 2, 1861. Gov Bur ton, In his Message, said : " The cause of all the trouble is the per sistent war of the Abolitionists upon more than two billions of property; a war waged from pulpits, rostrums, and schools, by press and people — all teaching that Slavery is a crime and a sin, until it has become the opinion of a portion of one section of the country. The only remedy for the evils now threatening is a radical change of pub lic sent'iment in regard to the whole ques tion. The North should retire from its un tenable position immediately." Mr. Dickenson, Commissioner from Mississippi, having addressed the two Houses jointly in advocacy of Seces sion, they passed, directly thereafter, separately and unanimously, the fol lowing : " Resolved, That, having extended to the Hon. H. Dickenson, Commissioner from Mississippi, the courtesy due him as the representative of a sovereign State of the confederacy, as well as to the State he repi-esents, we deem it proper, and due to ourselves and the people of Delaware, to express our unqualified disapproval of the remedy for the existing difficulties suggested by the resolutions of the Legislature of Mis sissippi." ™ To Mr. 0. J. Victor, author of ' Tlie Eistor-g of the Southern Rebellion,' who knew him well, and vouches for his mtegrity. (See his vol. i., Before the opening of 1861, a per fect reign of terror had been estab hshed throughout the Gulf States. A secret order, known as "Knights of the Golden Circle," or as " Knights of the Columbian Star," succeeding that known, six or seven years ear her, as the ' Order of the Lone Star,' ha'ving for Its ostensible object the acquisition of Cuba, Mexico, and Cen tral America, and the estabhshment of Slavery In the two latter, but reaUy operating in the interest of Disunion, had spread its network of lodges, grips, passwords, and alluring myste ry, all over the South, and had rami fications even in some of the cities of the adjoining Free States. Other clubs, more or less secret, were known as 'The Precipitators,' 'Yigilance Committee,'. ' Minute Men,' and by kindred designations ; but all of them were sworn to fldelity to ' Southern Rights ;' while thefr mem bers were gradually prepared and ripened, wherever any ripening was needed, for the task of treason. Who ever ventured to condemn and repu diate Secession as the true and sover eign remedy for Southern wrongs, in any neighborhood where Slavery was dominant, was thenceforth a marked man, to be stigmatized and hunted . down as a ' LIncolnlte,' ' Submission- Ist,' or 'Abohtionist.' One refugee planter from Southern Alabama, him self a slaveholder, but of northern birth, who barely escaped a -riolent death, because of an intercepted let ter from a relative in Connecticut, urging him to free his slaves and return to the North, as he had prom ised, stated'' that he had himself been p. 134.) See to the same effect the testimony of Hon. A. J. Hamilton, of Texas, Rev. Mr. Aughey, of Mississippi, and hundreds of others. South- THB SLAVE STATES ON SECESSION. 361 obhged to join the ' Minute Men' of his neighborhood for safety, and had thus been compeUed to assist In hanging six men of Northern birth because of their Union sentiments; and he personally knew that not less than one hundred men had been hung in his section of the State and in the adjoining section of Georgia, during the six weeks which preceded his es cape in December, 1860. "When, therefore, the time at length arrived,* in pursuance of a formal in vitation from South Carolina, for the assembling a,t Montgomery of a Con vention of delegates from all the States which should, by that time, have seceded from the Union, -with a "view to the formation of a new Con federacy, the States which had united in the movement were as foUows : Pree Population Statee. in 1S60. Slaves. Total. South Carolina 801,271 402,641 708,812 Georgia 595,09T 482,232 1,06T,829 Alabama 529,164 435,182 964,296 Mississippi 354.700 436,696 791,396 Louisiana 876,280 38.3,010 709,290 Florida 78,686 61,758 140,439 Texas* 421,750 180,682 602,482 Total Seceded 2,666,948 2,812,046 4,968,994 Non-SeoededSlaye States 5,638,005 1,638,297 7,271,302 Total Slave States 8,289,953 8,950,343 12,240,296 * Texas had seceded; bnt her delegates had not reached Montgomery when the time arrived for organizing the Convention, The Slave States and District which had not united in the movement, were as foUows : Free Fopvtation Statee. . in 1860. Arkansas 824,828 Delaware 110,420 Kentucky 980,228 Maryland 599,846 Missouri 1,067,852 North Carolina. 661,686 Tennessee 884,068 Virginia. 1,105,192 Dist. Columbia 71,895 Slavee. Tolal. 111,104 485.42T 1,798 112,218 226,490 1,155,718 87,188 687,034 114,965 1,182,317 881.081 992,667 275,784 1,109,847 490,887 1,596,079 8,181 75,076 Total 5,704,900 1,641,478 7,346,878 So that, after the conspiracy had had complete possession of the South ern mind for three months, with the Southem members of the Cabinet, nearly all the Federal officers, most of the Governors and other State func tionaries, and seven-eighths of the prominent and active politicians, pushing It on, and no force exerted against nor in any manner threaten ing to resist it, a majority of the Slave States, with two-thirds of the free population of the entfre slave- holding region, were openly and posi tively adverse to it; either because they regarded the alleged grievances of the South as exaggerated if not unreal, or because they believed that those wrongs would rather be aggra vated than cured by Disunion. XXIII. "PEACE" EFFORTS AT THE NORTH. In one of Beaumarchais's come dies, a green reveler in every advan tage and luxury that noble birth and boundless wealth can secure, asks an attendant the odd question, "What have I done that I should enjoy all these blessings?" — and is answered, with courtly deference and suavity, ern umanimity (in certaiu localities) for Seces sion, was such as violence and terror have often produced iu favor of the most universally de tested men and measures all over the world. Such an apparent unanimity was doubtless se cured, but at the expense of not less than ten thousand precious lives, taken because the vic tims would not conceal and deny their invincible affection for their whole country. « February 4, 1861. 362 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. " Tour Highness condescended to be born." The people of the United States had. In an unexceptionably legal and constitutional manner, chosen for their President an eminently conser vative, cautious, moderate citizen, of blameless life and unambitious spfrit, born in slaveholding Kentucky, but now resident in free niinois, who held, with Jeff'erson and nearly all our Revolutionary sages and patriots, that Human Slavery is an evil which ought not to be diffused and strength ened In this Nineteenth Century of Christian light and love. Hereupon, the ruling oligarchy in certain States, who had done nothing to prevent, but much, indirectly yet purposely, to secure this result, resolved to rend the Repubhc into fragments, tearing their own fragment away from the re sidue. What should be done about it ? The natural, ob"vIous answer springs at once to every unqulvering lip — " Convince the disturbers that thefr only safe course is to desist and behave themselves. They might have had a President who Is not a Republican, had they chosen : having done their best to elect one who is, they must now accept the result they have con tributed to insure, until the evolu tions of four years shall bring around the opportunity for another, and, if they will, a more acceptable choice." Far otherwise was the actual re sponse of the Republic to her spoiled children, and their most unreasonably factious demonstration. Instead of treating their outbreak as culpable and flagrant disloyalty, to be rebuk ed, abandoned, repented, and desist ed from, the flrst impulse from almost every side was to inquire on what terms and by what means they could be mollified, bribed, beseeched. Into remaining peaceably in the Union. This was but follo"wing In the beat en track. Vehement threats of se cession and dissolution were among the established means whereby an aristocracy of less than one-tenth of the American people had for sixty years swayed, almost uninterruptedly, the destinies of the Nation. Why should they not again resort to the expedient which had so often proved effectual ? Why should not the re sponse be substantially the same now as it had hitherto been ? And why should not those whose success fur nished the pretext for this treason be charged with the e"vil, and incul pated as themselves the traitors ? Had not, for a generation, the up holding of a rule based on caste, and a denial to the humblest class of all political rights in half the Union, and of all social and civil, as weU as political, rights In another third of it, been commended and glo rified as Democracy f Had not every assertion, however broad and general, of the right of each rational being to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," been stigmatized as Sectionalism ? Had not a simple adhesion to the policy of Jefferson and the fathers, as to Slavery in the Territories, been denounced as Radicalism, and as " making war on fifteen States ?" Had not ravaging and subjugating foreign lands, with intent to curse them with human bondage, been glorified as " extending the area of Freedom ?" ^ Had not the maintenance of the rights of constitutional majorities, and of the duty of universal submission to the popular wiU, constitutionally as certained and declared, been stigma- DR. CHANNING SEEKS TO DISABUSE THE SOUTH. 353 tized as inciting to disunion and anarchy ? And who could expect that half a century of such utter perversion of the plainest, least equivocal, most ob- -dous terms, should not bear bitter fruit? The inebriate, who fancies the square in which he lives revolving about him, and gravely holds his latch-key In hand, waiting till his door shall In due order present itself, labors under substantiaUy the same hallucination, and Is usually certain to cherish it until he awakes to pro saic reahtles — ^to bruises, self-r^roach, headache, and remorse.' Nearly forty years ago, the great and good Channing, after listening to Benjamin Lundy, "wrote to Mr. Web ster in apprehension that the South would regard and resent any attempt at the North to promote or hasten the removal of her giant curse as im pelled by hostihty or iU-will, though nothing was ftirther from our inten tion.^ The good Doctor can scarcely have read with adequate attention, or at least not "with the utmost profit, the urgent, impassioned adjurations of the demoniacs to the Saviour of mankind, for forbearance and ' non intervention.' "Let us alone," was thefr habitual entreaty : " What have we to do with thee ?" " Art thou come to torment us before the time ?" No dehcacy of handling, no gentleness of treatment, could have pacified them : they must be left undisturbed and unobserved, or irritation and ex- citeriient were unavoidable. Twenty or thirty years ago, there existed in Charleston, S. C, an asso ciation for social and intellectual en- joynient, known as ' The WIstar ' "Von Muller, one of the present King of Prussia's grave and reverend councilors of state, in his younger and wittier days, celebra ted this inversion of the perceptive faculties, in verses still popular in Germany, and which have been rendered into English, as follows : "OUT OF THE TAVERN. " Out of the tavern I 've just stepped to-night : Street I you are caught in a very bad plight ; Eight hand and left are both out of place — Street I you are drunk I — 't is a very clear case I " Moon I 't is a very queer figure you cut — One eye is stafing, whilst t' other is shut; Tipsy, I see ; and you're greatly to blame: Old as you are, 't is a terrible sliame. " Then the street lamps — what a scandalous sight! None of them soberly standing upright ; Rocking and swaggering — why, on my word. Each of the lamps is as drunk as a lord I "All Is confusion — now is n't it odd, " /am the only thing sober abroad? Sure it were rash with this crew to remain ; Better go into the tavern again." ' The follovring is a portion of Dr. Channing's letter: "Boston, May 14, 1848. " Mt Dear Sib : — ^I wish to caEyour attention to a subject of general interest. "A little while ago, Mr. Lundy, of Baltimore, 23 the editor of a paper called ' The Genius oJ" Uni versal Emancipation,' visited this part of the country to stir us up to the work of abolishing Slavery at the South ; and the intention is to or ganize societies for this purposse. I know of few objects into which I should enter with more zeal; but I am aware how cautiously exertions are to be made for it in this part of the country. I know that our Southem brethren interpret every word from this region on the subject of Slavery as au expression of hostility. I would ask if they cannot be brought to understand us better, and if we can do any good till we remove their misapprehensions. It seems to me that, before moving in this matter, we ought to say to them distinctly: 'We consider Slavery as your calami ty, not your crime ; and we will share with you the burden of putting an end to it. We will coi> sent that the public lands shall be appropriated to this object ; or th^t the General Government shall be clothed with power to apply a portion of revenue to it. ' "I throw out these suggestions merely to illustrate my views. We must first let the Southern States see that we are their friends in this affair; that we sympathize with them, and, from principles of patriotism and philanthropy, are willing to share the toil and expense of abol ishing Slavery; or I fear our interference will avail nothing. I am the more sensitive on this subject, from my increased solicitude for the pres ervation of the Union. I know no public inter est so important as this." — Webster's Works, voL v., p. 366. 364 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Club.' Many, if not most, of the more intelligent and cultivated class belonged to It, and strangers of like breeding were freely in"vited to its weekly or bi-weekly meetings. It was its rule to select, at each gather ing, some subject for conversational discussion at the next. At one of these meetings, the economic results of Slavery were incidentally brought into view; when the few remarks dropped from one and another devel oped a decided difference of opinion — the native Carolinians expressing a con"victIon that ' the institution' was profitable ; while two or three mem bers or guests of Northern birth indi cated a contrary impression. Here upon, some one asked, 'Why not select this as the topic for our next meeting ?' 'Agreed !' was the unbro ken response ; and the point was set tled. It was distinctly stipulated that no ethical, ethnological, religious, or other aspect of the main problem, should be considered^ — ^nothing but the simple, naked question — 'Is it economically advantageous to a com munity to hold slaves ?' Hereupon, the assemblage quietly dissolved. At the evening designated for the next regular meeting, the ' Yankee' members of the club were duly on hand, prepared and eager for the ex- " pected discussion ; but not a Carolin ian was present ! Some old head had determined that no such discussion should take place — at least, in Charleston — and had given a hint which had operated as a command. Though the interest in the subject had seemed general at the last meet ing, and the disposition to discuss it mutual and cordial, not a man now appeared to speak for Slavery. The ' Yankees' enjoyed or endured each other's society throughout the even ing, sipped their coffee with due de corum, and dispersed at the proper hour, without an opportunity for dis cussion, lea-ving the proposed debate to stand adjourned over to the open ing ofthe bombardment of Fort Sum ter, in the year of grace 1861. "Why can't you let Slavery alone ?" was Imperiously or queru lously demanded at the North, throughout the long struggle prece ding that bombardment, by men who should have seen, but would not, that Slavery never let the North alone, nor thought of so doing. "Buy Louisiana for us !" said the slave holders. "With pleasure." "Now Florida!" "Certainly." Next: "Vio late your treaties "with the Creeks and Cherokees; expel those tribes from the lands they have held from time immemorial, so as to let us expand our plantations." " So said, so done." " Now for Texas !" " You have it." " Next, a third more of Mexico !" " Yours it is." " Now, break the Missouri Compact, and let Slavery "wrestle with Free Labor for the vast region consecrated by that Compact to Freedom !" " Very good. What next?" "Buy us Cuba, for One Hundred to One Hundred and Fifty MUlions." "We have tried; but Spain refuses to seU it." " Then wrest it from her at all hazards!" And aU this time, while Slavery was using the Union as her catspaw — dragging the Republic into iniqui tous wars and enormous expendi tures, and grasping empire after empire thereby— Northern men (or, more accurately, men at the North) were constantly asking why people hvmg In the Free States could not let Slavery alone, mind their own HOW SHOULD SECESSION BE MET? 365 business, and expend thefr surplus philanthropy on the poor at their own doors, rather than on the happy and contented slaves ! The Slave Power, having resolved to destroy the Union — ^having taken decided steps to that end — several States having definitively seceded, or prepared to secede, from the Union, without giving the least intimation that they could be swerved from this purpose by any pledge or act what ever, on the part ofthe Free States — what was the North to do ? " Let us try the virtue of new pro testations, new prostrations, more grovehng abasements," was the in stinctive, urgent, unanimous response of that large portion of the politicians and traders of the Free States who had already reduced servility to a science. Without the least warrant, in defiance of the most explicit dec larations, it was assumed that Seces sion was but a " strike" of the Slave Power for more complete, unresisted sway over the Union, ra,ther than for utter and final escape from it. Whoever has carefully considered the platforms and the action of the respective parties which confronted each other during the canvass and in the election of 1860, must reahze that Secession could be met in but one of four ways : 1. By substantial acquiescence in the movement, and in its proposed result. 2. By proffering such new conces- . sions and guarantees to Slaverj' as should induce the conspirators to de sist from their purpose, and return to loyalty and the Union. 3. By treating It as Rebellion and Treason, and putting it down, if need be, by the strong arm. 4. By so acting and speaking as to induce a pause in the movement, and permit an appeal " to Philip sober" — from the South Infiamed by passion ate appeals and frenzied accusations,' to the South, enlightened, calmed, and undeceived, by a few months of friendly, familiar discussion, and ear nest expostulation. The first of these alternatives had few open advocates in the Free States ; but there were some who even went the length of declaring Secession a constitutional right,* to be exercised by any State whenever her own con- 'At a great public meeting lield at Mobile, Alabama, November 15, 1 860, a " Declaration of Causes," twenty-two in number, was put forth; from which we select. Jhe following : "The following brief, but truthful history of the Republican party, its acts and purposes, af fords an answer to these questions : " It claims to abolish Slavery in the districts, forts, arsenals, dockyards, and other places ced ed to the United States. To abolish the inter- State Slave-Trade, and thus cut off the Northern Slave States from their profits of production, anel deprive the Southem of their sources of supply of labor. * * * " It has denied the extradition of murderers, marauders, and other felons. •' It has concealed and shielded the murderer of masters or owners, in pursuit of fugitive slaves. * * * " It has advocated negro equality, and made it the ground of positive legislation, hostile to the Southem States. " It opposes protection to Slave property on the high seas, and has justified piracy itself in the case of the Creole. * * * " It has invaded "V"irginia, and shed the blood of her citizens on her own soU. * * * "It has announced its purpose of total aboli tion in the States and everywhere, as well as in the territories, and districts, and other places ceded." * The New York Herald, of November 11, 1860, closes a glowing picture of the growth, condi tion, and prospects of the city of New Tork, as follows : " If, however. Northern fanaticism should tri umph over us, and the Southern States should ex ercise their undhniablb mght to secede from the Union, then the city of New Tork, the river counties, the State of New Jersey, and, very 366 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. "victions of safety and interest should prompt her to that resort — or, if not exactly a right, then a heroic remedy for grievous "wrongs, which could not be practically resisted.'' The second was urgently advoca ted by the entire " Democratic" and "Conservative" strength of the Free States, and by nearly all that still openly clung to the Union in the Slave States. The third was the natural, sponta neous impulse of the great mass of Republicans, who could not see why their adversaries should not submit unqualifiedly to the result of a fair and honest election, as they had uni formly done, constitutionally resisting any unwarranted act or attempt of the President elect or his supporters, whenever the occasion should arise. But they found It difficult to reahze that those who still retained predomi nance in both branches of Congress, and In the Supreme Court — who might have had, moreover, a Demo cratic President, had they chosen to support the candidate of a majority of that party — and who had still the active and earnest sympathy of a large majority of the American Peo ple — could cherish any real fears of usurpation and aggression from the numerical mmority, or the President they had been permitted to choose. It was with little patience that the great body of the Republicans heard suggestions from any of thefr lead ers or oracles of overtures looking to " conciliation" and " peace" through new concessions, in the face of the now chronic menace of Disunion. The asserted right of Secession is one which no govemment or nation ever did or can concede "without sign ing Its own death-warrant. When the Federal Constitution was before the States for ratification, vehemently and formidably opposed, and its adop tion, In several States, for a time suc- cessfuUy resisted, there was manifest danger of its failure in New York, as well as In two other great leading States, Vfrginia and Massachusetts. To the New York Convention, sit ting at Poughkeepsie, the people had returned a majority of delegates hos tile to ratification. The friends of the Constitution were constrained to resort to delay, to policy, and to prop ositions of amendment, to overcome or wear out the resistance they had likely, Connecticut, would separate from those New England and Western States, where the black raan is put upon a pinnacle above tbe white. New Yorli City is for the Union first, and the gallant and chivalrous South afterward." ' A correspondent of the Boston Courier, of November, 1860, after contending that the South has ample cause for seceding, says : " It is perfectly competent for South Carolina to notify the President officially, that she no longer belongs to the confederacy. This she can do at any moment. The Federal ofiBcers, from the district judge, collector, and marshal, to the humblest postmaster, can resign their places. Everybody agrees that this can readily be done at once; and without difiBculty or any quarrel. Suppose so much to be done, and that President Buchanan should "appoint a new Judge and a new Collector, who should repair to Charleston and demand the payment of duties upon any imported goods. Suppose, upou a re fusal to pay the duties exacted, the Collector should do what all the Collectors are bound to do — seize the goods. The owner would have to furnish a bond to the government for their value. The owner would protest against giving one, and only give it, as the lawyers say, when in duress. In any suit upon such a bond, when the question of coercion in. making it was tried, who would compose the jury ? They must be long to South Carolma. We have made these suggestions simply to satisfy any reader how very easily the mere liiatter of peaceable secession can be accomplished, and how futUe would .be all attempts to enforce Federal laws in any State by the aid of officers appointed from abroad. Practically, therefore, a peaceable secession will be veiy apt to work a final separation of the State which desires it, and, ultimately, a general dissolution of the confederacy " •" ^ ° •" SECESSION NOT A STATE EIGHT 357 encountered. In this dilemma, Al exander Hamilton -wrote to James Madison to ask if the Constitution might not be accepted provisionally, with hberty to recede from the Union formed by it. If experience should justify the apprehensions of its adversaries. Mr. Madison prompt ly and wisely responded" in the nega- ti"ve, stating that such conditional ac ceptance had been agitated at Rich mond, and rejected as, in fact, no ratification at all. In the same spir it, Mr. Clay likened our Constitu tional Union to a marriage, which is either indissoluble at the pleasure of one or both parties, or else no mar riage at aU. The Vfrghiia Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution, in the preamble to its Ordinance of Ratification, declared that it was the "impression" of the People of their State that the powers granted by said Constitution, being derived from the People of the United States, may rightfuUy be resumed, J^/ them, when ever those powers shall be perverted to their injury or oppression. But this is nothing else than the fundar mental doctrine of the republican system — that governments are made for the People, not the People for governments ; and that the People, consequently, may, from time to time, modify their forms of govemment in accordance with their riper experi ence and thefr enlightened convic tions — respecting, of course, the lim itations and safeguards they may have seen fit to establish. This right had been set forth, with remarkable clearness and force. In the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, and by many of our patriot sages in later days. John Quincy Adams — never remarkably inclined to pop ularize forms of govemment — had distinctly affirmed it in a speech In Congress ; so had Abraham Lincoln, In one of his debates with Senator Douglas. But the right of a people to modify their Institutions is one_ thing, and the right of a small frac tion or segment of a people to break up and destroy a Nation, is quite an other. The former Is Reform; the latter Is Revolution.' " CoL Hamilton, having first set before Mr. Madison thfe formidable obstacles to ratification, proceeded as foUows : " Tou win understand that the only qualifica tion will be the reservation of the right to recede, in case our amendments have not been decided upon in one of the modes pointed out by the Con stitution vrithin a certain number of years — per haps five or seven. If this can, in the first in stance, be admitted aa a ratification, I do not fear any further consequences." But Madison knew no ifs in the ratification of our federal pact. His reply, in full, is as fol lows : "New Toek, Swnday Evening. "'Hy Dear Sm: — Tours of yesterday is this instant come to hand, and I have but a few mui- utes to answer it. "I am sorry that your situation obliges you to listen to propositions of the nature you describe. My opinion is, that a reservation of a right to withdraw, if amendments be not decided on un der the form ofthe Constitution within a certam time, is a conditional ratification ; that it does Act make New Tork a member of the new Union; ' and, consequently, that she could not be received ou that plan. Compacts must be reciprocal — this principle would not, in such a case, be pre served. The Constitution requires an adoption, in ioio and forever. It has been so adopted by the other States. An adoption for a limited time would be as defective as an adoption of some of the Articles only. In short, any condition what ever must vitiate the ratification. What the new Congress, by virtue of the power to admit new States, "may be able and disposed to do in such case, I do not inquire, as I suppose that is not the material point at present. I have not a mo ment to add more than my fervent wishes for your success and happiness. The idea of reserv ing a right to withdraw was started at Rich mond, and considered as a conditional ratifica tion, which was itself abandoned as worse thau a rejection. Tours, James Madison, Jb." ' Hon. Eeverdy Johnson, who lived in the game house with John C. Calhoun from 1845 to 1849, and enjoyed a very close intunacy with 358 THE AMBEIOAN CONFLICT. But, while it was impossible to concede the asserted right of Seces sion — that' Is, of State withdrawal at pleasure from the Union — (for, even if the Constitution Is to be regarded as nothing more than a compact, it is evident — as Mr. Jefferson observed," in speaking of oilr old Articles of Confederation : " When two parties make a compact, there results to each the power of compelling the other to execute it") — it Is not impossible so. to expound and apply thS original, organic, fundamental right of a peo ple to form and modify their pohtical institutions, as to justify the Free States in consenting to the withdraw al from the Union of the Slave, pro vided It could be made to appear thalt such was the deliberate, intelligent, unconstrained desire of the great body of their people. And the South had been so systematically, so out rageously, deluded by demagogues on l)oth sides of the Slave line, with re gard to the nature and special im portance of the Union to the North ¦ — It being habitually represented as an Immense boon conferred on the Free States by the Slave, whose with- da-awal would whelm us aU in bank ruptcy and ruin — ^that it might do something toward allaying the South em Inflammg-tlon to have it. distinctly and plainly set forth that the North had no desire to enforce upon the South the maintenance of an abhor red, detested Union. Accordingly— the second day after Mr. Lincoln's election had been assured at the polls —the following leading article ap peared" in The New Tork Trilune; "Going to Go. — The people of the tJni- ted t^tates have indicated, according to the forms prescribed by the Constitution, their desire that Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, shall be their next President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, their Vice-President. A very large plurality of the popular vote has been cast for them, and a decided majority of Electors chosen, who will undoubtedly vote for and elect them on the first "Wednes day in December next. The electoral votes will be formally sealed up and forwarded to Washington, there to he opened and count ed, on a gi-ven day in February next, in the presence of both Houses of Congress ; and it will then he the duty of Mr. John 0. Breckinridge, as President of the Senate, to declare Lincoln and Hamlin duly elected President and "Vice-President of these Uni ted States. " Some people do not like this, as is very natural. Dogberry discovered, a good while ago, that ' "When two ride a horse, one must ride behind.' That is not generally deemed the preferable seat; hut the rule remains unaffected by that circumstance. We know how to sympathize with the defeated ; for him, in a letter to Edward Everett, dated Balti more, June 24, 1861, says: " He [Calhoun] did me the honor to give mo much of his confidence, and frequently his Nulli fication doctrine was the subject of conversation. Time and time again have I heard him, and with ever-increased surprise at his wonderful acute ness, defend it on constitutional grounds, and distinguish it, in that respect, from the doctrine of Secession. This last he never, with me, placed on any other ground thau that of revolution. This, he said, was to destroy the Government; and no Constitution, the work of sa_pe men, ever provided for its own destruction. The other was to preserve it — was, practically, but to amend it, and in a constitutional mode." To the same effect, Hon. Howell Cobb— since, a most notable Secessionist — in a letter to the citizens of Macon, Ga., in 1851, said: " When asked to concede the right of a State to secede at pleasure from the Union, with or without just cause, we are called upon to admit that the framers of the Constitution did that which was never done by any other people pos sessed of their good sense and intelligence — ^that is, to provide, in the very organization of ihe Gov ernment, for its own dissolution. It seems to me that such a course would not only have been au anomalous proceeding, but wholly inconsistent with the wisdom and sound judgment which marked the dehberations of those wise and good men who framed our Federal Government. While I freely admit that such an opmion is en tertained by many for whose judgment I enter tain the highest respect, I have no hesitation in declaring that the convictions of my own judg ment are well settled, that no such principle was contemplated in the adoption of our Consti tution." "Letter to Col. Carrington, April 4, 1181. ' November 9, 1860. OFFEB TO LET THE SOUTH GO. 369 ¦we remember how we felt, when Adams was defeated; and Olay, and Scott, and Tremont. It is decidedly pleasanter to be on the winning side, especially when — as now — it happens also to be the right side. "We sympathize with the aflBioted; bnt we cannot recommend them to do any thing desperate. What is the use? They are beaten now ; they may triumph next time : in fact, they have generally had their own way: had they been subjected to the disci pline of adversity so often as we have, they would probably bear it with more philoso phy, and deport themselves more befittingly. We live to learn : and one of the most diffi cult acquirements is that of meeting reverses with graceful fortitude. " The telegraph informs ns that most of the Cotton States are meditating a withdrawal from the Union, because of Lincoln's elec tion. Yery well : they have a right to medi tate, and meditation is a profitable em ployment of leisure. We have a chronic, invincible disbelief in Disunion as a remedy for either Northern or Southern grievances. We cannot see any necessary connection be tween the alleged disease and this ultra- heroic remedy ; still, we say, if any one sees fit to meditate Disunion, let him do so un molested. That was a base and hypocritic row that was once raised, at Southern dic tation, about the ears of John Quincy Adams, because he presented a petition for the dis solution of the Union. The petitioner had a right to make the request; it was the Member's duty to present it. And now, if the Cotton States consider the value of the Union debatable, we maintain their perfect right to discuss it. Nay : we hold, with Jefferson, to the inalienableright of commu nities to alter or abolish forms of govern ment that bave become oppressive or inju rious ; and, if the Cotton States shall decide that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be a revo lutionary one, but it exists nevertheless; and we do not see how one party can have ,a right to do what another party has a right to prevent. We must ever resist the assert ed right of any State to remain in the Union, and nullify or defy the laws thereof: to withdraw from the Union is quite another matter. And, whenever a considerable sec tion of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive mea- » sures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a republic, whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets. " But, while we thus uphold the practical liberty, if not the abstract right, of seces sion, we must insist that >the step be taken, if it ever shall be, with the deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue. Let ample time be given for reflection ; let the subject be fnlly canvassed before the people ; and let a popular vote be taken in every case, before Secession is decreed. Let the people be told just why they are asked to break up the confederation ; let them have both sides of the question fully present ed ; let them reflect, deliberate, then vote ; and let the act of Secession be the echo of an unmistakable popular fiat. A judgment thus rendered, a demand for separation so hacked, would either be acquiesced in with out the effusion of blood, or those who rushed upon carnage to defy and defeat it, would place themselves clearly in the wrong. " The measures now being inaugurated in the Cotton States, with a view (apparently) to Secession, seem to us destitute of gravity and legitimate force. They bear the unmis takable impress of haste — of passion — of dis trust of the popular judgment. They seem clearly intended to precipitate the South into rebellion before the baselessness of the clamors which have misled and excited her, can be ascertained by the great body of her people. We trust that they will be con fronted with calmness, with dignity, and with unwavering trust in the inherent strength of the Union, and the loyalty of the American people." Several other Repubhcan journals, including some of the most influen tial, held simUar language, and main tained a position not unhke that of The Trilune. None of them coun tenanced the right of a State to secede from the Union, or regarded It as more defensible than the right of a stave to secede from the cask which it- helps to form ; nor did they regard the effervescence now exhibited at the South as demonstrating a real desire on the part of her people to break up the Union. But they said impressively to that people: "Be calm ; let us be heard ; allow time for dehberation and the removal of prejudice ; unite -with us in calhng a Convention of the States and People ; and, if that Convention shaU be un able to agree on such amendments to the Constitution as shall remove existing discontent, and your people shaU StiU, with any approach to 360 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. unanimity, insist on disunion, you shall go in peace. Neither Congress nor the President has any power to sanction a dissolution of the Union ; but wait for and unite in a Conven tion, and our differences shall some how be adjusted without fraternal bloodshed." With the same general object, but contemplating a different method of attaining It, the veteran Editor of The Alhany Evening Journal — whose utterances were widely regard ed as deri"vlng additional consequence from his intimate and almost life-long association with Gov. Seward — ^took ground, at an early day, in favor of concessions calculated — at aU events, intended — to calm the ebulhtlon of Southern blood. Being sharply criti cised therefor, by several of his con temporaries, he replied" to them generally as foUows : " The suggestions, in a recent number of The Journal, of a basis of settlement of dif ferences between the North and the South, have, in awakening attention and discussion, accomplished their purpose. We knew that in no quarter would these suggestions be more distasteful than with om- own most valued friends. We knew that the occasion would be regarded as inopportune. We knew also the provocations in the contro versy were with our opponents. Nothing is easier, certainly, than to demonstrate the rightfulness of the position of the Eepublican party — a party that was created by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and owes its recent triumph to the determina tion of Slavery to extend and perpetuate its political dominion, aided by two successive and besotted Federal Administrations. " But, unfortunately, the pending issue is to be decided irrespective of its merits. The election of Mr. Lincoln is the pretext for, and not the cause of, Disunion. The design originated with Mr. Calhoun ; who, when ha failed to be chosen President of the whole Union, formed the scheme of dividing it, and devoted the remainder of his life in training the South up to the treason now impending. Mr. Calhoun had, in McDuffle, Hayne, and other statesmen, eloquent auxiliaries. The contagion extended to other Southern States ; and, by diligence, activity, discipline, and organization, the whole people of the Gulf States have come to sympathize with their leaders. The masses are, in their readiness for civil war, in advance of their leaders. They have been educated to believe us their enemies. This has been effected by system atic misrepresentations of the sentiments and feelings of the North. The result of all this is, that, while the Southern people, with a unanimity not generally understood, are impatient for Disunion, more than one half of them are acting in utter ignorance of the intentions, views, and feelings, of the North. Nor will the leaders permit thera to be disabused. Those leaders know that Mr. Lincoln will administer the Govei-n- ment in strict and impartial obedience to tho Constitution and laws, seeking only the safety and welfare of the whole people, through the prosperity and glory of tho Union. For this reason, they precipitate the conflict ; fearing that, if they wait for a provocation, none will be furnished, and that, without fuel, their fires must be extin guished. " This question, invol'ving the integrity of the Union and the experiment of self-gov ernment, we repeat, will be decided irre spective of its merits. Three miserable months. of a miserable Administration must ' drag its slow length along' before the Re publican Administration can act or be heard.. During these three months, its baleful influ ences will be seen and felt in tha demorali zation of popular sentiment. Its functiona ries and its journals will continue to malign the North and inflame the South ; leaving, on the 4th of March, to their successors an estate as wretchedly encumbered and dilapi dated as imbecile or spendthrift ever be queathed. Mismanaged as that estate has been, and wretched as its present condition is, we regard it as an inestimable, priceless, and precious inheritance— an inheritance which we are unwilling to see wholly squandered before we come into possession. " To our dissenting friends, who wUl not question our devotion to freedom, however much they may mistrust our judgment, we submit a few earnest admonitions : " 1. There is imminent danger of a disso lution of the Union. " 2. This danger originated in the am bition and cupidity of men who desire a bouthern despotism ; and in the fanatic zeal • ot Northern Abolitionists, who seek the emancipation of slaves regardless of conse quences. "3. The danger can only be averted by such moderation and forbearance as wiU "November 30, 1860. ME. THUBLOW WEED FOE (TONCILI ATION. 361 draw out, strengthen, and combine the Union sentiment of the whole country. "The Disunion sentiment is paramount in at least seven States ; while it divides and distracts as many more. Nor is it wise to deceive ourselves with the impression that the South is not in earnest. It is in earnest ; and the sentiment has taken hold of all classes "svith such blind vehemence as to ' crush out' the Union sentiment. " Now, while, as has been said, it is easy to prove all this unjust and wrong, we have to deal with things as they are — with facts as they exist — with people blinded by pas sion. Peaceable Secession is not intended ; nor is it practicable, even if such were its object. Mad, however, as the South is, there is a Union sentiment there worth cherish ing. It will develop and expand as fast as the darkness and delusion, in relation to the feelings of the North, can be dispelled. This calls for moderation and forbearance. We do not, when our dwelling is in flames, stop to ascertain whether it was the work of an incendiary before we extinguish the flre. Hence onr suggestions of a basis of adjust ment, without the expectation that they would be accepted, in terms, by either sec tion, but that they might possibly inaugu rate a movement in that direction. The Union is worth preserving. And, if worth preserving, suggestions in its behalf, how ever crude, will not be contemned. A vic torious party can afford to be tolerant — not, as our friends assume, in the abandonment or abasement' of its principles or charactei- — but in efforts to correct and disabuse the minds of those who misunderstand both. " Before a final appeal — ^before a resort to the ' rough frown of war' — we should like to see a Convention of the People, consisting of delegates appointed by the States. After more than seventy years of ' wear and tear,' of collision and abrasion, it should be no cause of wonder that the machinery of gov- ernnient is found weakened, or out of repair, or even defective. Nor would it be found unprofitable for the North and South, bring ing their respective griefs, claims, and pro posed reforms, to a common arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and determine upon a fature. " It will be said that we have done noth ing wrong, and have nothing to offer. This, supposing it true, is precisely the reason why we should both propose and offer whatever may, by possibility, avert the evils of civil war, and prevent the destruction of our, hitherto, unexampled blessings of Union. "Many suppose that the North has noth ing to lose by a division of the Union. Some even say that we must be gainers by it. We do not, for obvious reasons, intend to discuss this aspect of the question. But it is a mis take — a serious and expensive mistake. The North and South were wisely and hy a good Providence united. Their interests, their welfare, their happiness, their glory, their destiny, is one. Separated, while the North languishes, the South becomes, flrst, a des potism, running riot, for a season, with un restrained African Slavery, to share in time the fate of every tropical nation, whether despotism, monarchy, or republic. That fate, induced by the indolence, luxury, and laxity of the privileged few over the oppressed, do- graded, and enslaved many, is anarchy and destruction. That fate is written in the his tory of all enslaved nations — ^its ancient, seared, and crumbling, but instructive, mon uments are seen in Egypt, in Italy, in Cen tral America, and in Mexico. " These are the e-vils — and they are not imaginary— that we desire to avert. But, conscious of the feebleness of a single voice in such a tempest, there is little to expect but to abide its peltings. The Republican party now represents one side of a controversy fraught with the safety and welfare of this Government and nation. As an individual, we shall endeavor to do our duty ; and,. as we understand it, that duty does not consist in folded arms, or sealed ears, or closed eyes. Even if, as say our Eochester and Syracuse friends — and they are such, in the truest meaning of the word — ^the North stands, in all respects, blameless in this controversy, much is needed to correct the impression of the Southern people; many of whom, truly informed, would join us in defending the Union. We do not mistake the mis sion of the Eepublican party in assuming that, while defending . free territory from aggression, it maintains and upholds the su premacy ofthe Constitution and laws. The people have intrusted the Government to our keeping ; and we must not abuse their confidence or disappoint their "expectations. " We intend to answer in detail the ques tions raised hy The Democrat and Journal. Tt is proper, though perhaps scarcely neces sary, to say that, in this solicitude for the Union, we think and speak only for ourself. We are either better, or not so well, informed of thecondition of the country and the bear ings of this controversy as others — either in • advance of or behind the intelligence of the times. But, as we speak only for ourself, no body else can be compromised or harmed." However well Intended and (under certain aspects) salutary, it may well be questioned whether either of these overtures was not calculated to do more harm than good. Each was, of course, intended to strengthen the Unionists of the South — the former 362 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. by showing that the North did not regard the Slave States as a con quest, of which It was about to take possession, nor yet as a heritage whence were derived Its subsistence and wealth ; but rather that it looked on their people as misguided, excited brethren, with whom we were anx ious to discuss all differences free ly, settle them (U possible) amicably, or part — if part we must — In kind ness and mutual good-"wiU. The lat ter, In a like spirit, was plainly de signed to induce the Southrons to bring their grievances to the bar of amicable investigation and discussion, by assuring them that the itforth stood ready to redress every -wrong to the. extent of Its power. But the chronic misapprehension at the South of any other language from the North than that of abject servility, was then, as ever, deserving of thoughtful con sideration. The palpable fact that the North recoUed "with shuddering aversion from a conflict of arms with the South, was hailed by the Seces sionists as a betrayal of conscious weakness and unmanly fear; while the proffer of fresh concessions and a new compromise was regarded by Southern Unionists as an assurance that they had only to ask, and they would receive — that the North would gladly do anything, assent to any thing, retract anything, to avert the impending shock of war. For the great maUs, during the last few weeks of 1860, sped southward, burdened -with letters of sympathy and encouragement to the engineers of Secession, sthmUatIng if not coun- sehng them to go forward in thefr predetermined course. A very few of the "writers indorsed Secession as a right, and favored it as an end ; but the great majority "wished it carried no further than, would be necessary to frighten, or buUy the ' Black Re publicans' out of what they termed their ' principles,' and sink them, with their ' conservative' fellow-citizens, into measureless abasement at the footstool of the Slave Power. And nearly every current indication of pubhc sentiment pointed to this as the probable result, provided 'the South' should only e-vince a "wlUing- ness to accept the prostration, and graciously forgive the supphant. As trade fell off, and work in the cities and manufacturing viUages was with ered at the breath of the Southem sirocco, the heai-t ofthe North seemed to sink "within her ; and the Charter Elections at Boston, LoweU, Rox bury, Charlestown, Worcester, etc., in Massachusetts, and at Hudson, etc., In New York, which took place early In December, 1860, showed a striking and general reduction of Repubhcan strength. What must and could be done to placate the deeply offended and almost hopelessly alienated South, was the current theme of con versation, and of newspaper discussion. Of the meetings held to this end, the most imposing may fafrly be cited as a sample of the whole. The city of Philadelphia had given a small majority for Lincoln over all his com petitors. Her Mayor, Alexander Henry, though of ' American' ante cedents, had been among his support ers. On the 10th of December, he issued an ofladal Proclamation, " by ad-rice of the Councils" of the city, summoning the whole people there of to assemble on the 13th in Inde pendence Square, there to " counsel together," in view of the fact that PHILADELPHIA FOE 'CONCILIATION.' 363 Disunion appeared to be imminent, unless the " loyal people, casting off the spirit of party, should, in a special manner, avow their unfailing fidelity to the Union, and their abiding faith in the Constitution and laws." The meeting was held accordingly ; called to order by the President of the Common CouncU, prayed for by Bishop Potter, and the speaking ini tiated by Mayor Henry, who, after cautioning his hearers to discard " aU sordid and sdf-interested -views," and to avow thefr " unbroken attachment to the Union," and their determina tion to " leave no honest effort un tried to preserve Its integrity," pro ceeded to set forth the provocations to Secession, and the proper means of counteracting it, after this fashion : " My fellOw-citizens, I should be false to the position in which you have placed me — I should be recreant to my sense of duty — if I withheld an avowal of the truth which tl^is occasion demands. I speak to you frankly, my fellow-citizens ; I tell you that, if, in any portion of our confederacy, senti ments have been entertained and cherished which are inimical to the civil rights and social institutions of any other portion, those sentiments should be relinquished and discountenanced. (Cheers.) The family dis cipline which you choose to adopt for your own fireside, whilst it does not violate the law under which you dwell, is your rightful prerogative; and you are prompt to resist the officious intermeddling of others, how ever well intended. (Applause.) The so cial institutions of each State in this Union are equally the rightful prerogatives of its citizens ; and, so long as those institutions do not contravene the principles of your Federal compact, none may justly interfere with, or righteously denounce them. (Applause.) The efficient cause of the distracted condi tion of our country is to be found in the prevalent belief of the citizens of the South that their brethren of the North are, as a community, arrayed against a social institu tion which they regard as essential to their prosperity. You are ready to aver truth fully that such belief is mistaken and un founded ; but it becomes all who are actua ted by an earnest brotherhood to see to it that, where public sentiment has been mis led, it shall be restored to its standpoint of twenty-five years since. The misplaced teachings of the pulpit, the unwise rhapso dies of the lecture-room, the exciting ap peals of the press, on the subject of Slavery, must be frowned down by a just and law- abiding people. (Great applause.) Thus, and thus only, may you hope to avoid the section al discord, agitation, and animosity, which, at frequently recurring periods, have shaken your political fabric to its center, and, at last, have undermined its very foundation." Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll (old-line Whig, but anti-Lincoln) followed In a far less humiliating strain, but urg ing the immediate, unconditional re peal of the State act antagonistic to the Fugitive Slave Law ; which prop osition was hailed with enthusiastic cheers. He closed as follows : " We are all one country. It is a farce to suppose that this country will be divided. (Applause.) It will be united in peace or in war. (Applause.) You may see, perhaps, legions brought against legions, in a domes tic fary that shall be worse than the fury of a foreign enemy, and they will be united in doing harm. "While we, in the center of the country, will endeavor to interpose kindness and peace, in order to restore the country to the situation in which it was left at the death of Washington, let us be determined to maintain the rights of the whole country, and extend the feeling of fellowship over all the land. (Great cheering.)" Judge . George W. Woodward " spoke next, commencing by an as sault on Mr. Lincoln's premonition that 'the Union must become all Slave or aU Free,' and proceeding to Indicate the exclusion of Slavery from the territories as a dogma which must be given up, or the Union was lost. Here is his statement and con demnation of the policy Inaugurated by Thomas Jefferson : " The inexorable exclusion of slave prop erty from the common territories, which the Government holds in trust for the people of all the States, is a natural and direct step " Of the State Supreme Court ; since, beaten 3 the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1863, by 15,238 majority. A consistent antago nist of ' coercion.' 364: THEVAMBEICAN CONFLICT. toward the grand result of extinguishing slave property, and was one of the record issues of the late election. This policy must be considered as approved also. . Not that every man who voted for the successful nominee meant to affirm that a trustee for several coiiqual parties has a right, in law or reason, to exclude the property of some and admit that of others of the parties for whom he holds; but so is the record. The South- seems inclined to accept the judgment. She holds the property that is to be shut out of the territories — that is to be restricted, crib bed, and confined more and more until it is finally extinguished. Everywhere in the South, the people are beginning to look out for the means of self-defense. Could it be expected that she would be indifferent to such events as have occurred? — that she would stand idle, and see measures concert ed and carried. forward for the annihilation of her property in slaves?" Several States propose to retire from the confederacy ; and that justly alarms us. We come together to consider what may be done to prevent it; and we are bound, in fidelity to ourselves and others, to take the measure of the whole magnitude ofthe danger." The Judge proceeded to set forth that the questions raised among our fathers by the Introduction of Slavery had been wisely settled : "If the Anglo-Saxon loves liberty above all other men, he is not indifferent to gain and thrift, and is remarkable for his capacity of adaptation, whereby he takes advantage of any circumstances in which he finds him self placed. And, accordingly, by the time the colonists were prepared to throw off the British yoke, and to assume among the Pow ers of the earth the separate and equal sta tion to which the laws of nature and of na ture's God entitled them, it had been dis covered that the unwelcome workers, against whose introduction such earnest protests had been made, could be turned to profitable ac count in the Southern States — that the Afri can constitution was well adapted to labor in latitudes which alone could produce some of the great staples of life — and that the North, which could not employ them profit ably, would be benefited by such employ ment as the South could afford. Considera tions of humanity also, as well as the rights of private property, entered into the discus sions of that day. What was best for an in ferior race, thrust unwillingly upon a supe rior ? That both should be free, or that the inferior should serve the superior, and the superior be bound by the law of the relation to protect the inferior? That was a great question ; and, like all the questions of that day, it was wisely settled. The Northem States abolished their Slavery; and so grati fied their innate love of freedom — but they did it gradually, and so did not wound their love of gain. They sold out Slavery to the South; and they received a full equivalent, not only in the price paid down, but in the manufacturing and commercial prosperity which grew up from the productions of slave labor. When the Constitution came to be formed, some of the Northern States still held slaves ; but several had abolished the institution, and it must have been ap parent that natural causes would force it ultimately altogether upon the South. The love of liberty was as intense as ever, and as strong at the South as at the North ; and the love of gain was common also to both sec tions. Here were two master passions to he adjusted, under circum.stances of the gravest delicacy. They were adjusted, in the only manner possible. Concessions and compro mises — consideration for each others' feel ings and interests — sacrifices of prejudices, forbeiirance, and moderation — these were the means by which the ' more perfect Union' was formed. And what a work it was ! If the Union had never brought us a single blessing, the Constitution of the Uni ted States would still have been a magnifi cent monument to the unselfish patriotism of its founders. Not an alliance merely, but a close ahd perfect Union, between people equally ambitious, equally devoted to free dom, equally bent on bettering their condi tion, but separated by State lines and jeal ous of State right!? — one section seeks its prosperity under institutions which were to make every man a freeman — the other un der institutions which tolerated negro Sla^ very. Had the Constitution failed to work out the beneficent results intended, here was an instance . of human efforts to do good, which would forever have challenged tho admiration of mankind. But it did not fail, thank God ! it has made us a great and pros perous nation, and the admiration of the world for the motives of the founders, is swallowed up in wonder at the success of their work; But all this the ' h-repressible conflict' ignores. The passion for liberty has burned out all memories of the compromise and the compact iu these Northern comrau- nities,_which, under the false name of Lib erty bills, obstruct the execution of the bar- gam. What part of the purposes of the founders are the ' underground railroads' in tended, to promote? Whence came these excessive sensibilities, that cannot bear a few ZZV^ ,''^^vT^^r!¦^^''^°''^ ™"1 the white people establish a Constitution ? What does „n?l nf II °'' "^""T^^^ ^"""^ °f the Union, and of the men who made it, who habitually revdes and misrepresents tho Southern peo- PHILADELPHIA IN SACKCLOTH. 365 pie, and excites the ignorant and the thought less in our midst to hate and persecute them ? Be not deceived. Let me not prophesy smooth things, and cry Peace, when there is no peace. Let the truth be spoken, be heard, be pondered, if we mean to save the Union." Judge Woodward concluded his address to this non-partisan Union. meeting after this fashion : " Have I riot a right to say that a Govern ment which was all-sufficient for the coun try fifty years ago, when soil and climate and State sovereignty were trusted- to regu late the spread of Slavery, is insufficient to day, when every upstart politician can stir the people to mutiny against the domestic institutions of our Southern neighbors — when the ribald jests of seditious editors like Greeley and Beecher can sway legislatures and popular votes against the handiwork of Washington or Madison — when the scurril ous libels of such a book as Helper's become a favorite campaign document, and are ac cepted by thousands as law and gospel both — when jealousy and hate have extinguished all our fraternal feelings for those who were born our brethren, and who have done us no harm ?" Mr. Charles E. Lex (who had voted for Lincoln) made an apologetic and deprecatory speech, wherein he said : " However they may suppose the contra ry, our affections are not alienated from our Southern friends ; and, even now, the rumor of any damage to them from a domestic source would bring to their aid a legion of young men from this State — ay, and of those more advanced in life — ready to assist them in the emergency, and willing to shed tlieir blood in their defense. I appeal to you, citizens of Philadelphia, whether I am not speaking the truth. What, then, can we say to them ? What more than we have ex pressed in the resolutions we have offered ? If they are really aggrieved by any laws npon our statute-books opposed to their rights — if, upon examination, any such are found to be in confiict with the Constitution of these United States — nay, further : if they but serve to irritate onr brethren of the South, whether constitutional or not, I, for one, have no objection that they should in stantly be repealed. They are not necessary to our existence as a State. We have lived without them in years that are past, and we can live without them again. I am not here, however, to concede that, in this re spect, our noble commonwealth has done any intentional wrong ; hut if^ in our calm judgment, it shall appear that our feelings, in the slightest degree warped, have appa rently inflicted any injury, she. is noble and generous enough manfully to repair it. Let the Fugitive Slave Law be executed in its full intent and spirit. It is the law of the land ; let it be implicitly obeyed. We might, perhaps, have desired to have a few of its provisions modified ; but let it remain as it is, however liable these portions may be-to Northefn criticism, if the South deem it ne cessary for the protection of her rights. Let us, too, submit, as 'we have hitherto cheer fully done, to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is the great bulwark of the Constitution. Its judgments should be flnal and conclusive, and not be questioned in any quarter. Whilst the free discussion of every question is the privilege of every citizen of the Eepublic, let us dis countenance any denunciation of Slavery, or of those who maintain that institution, as intemperate and wrong, whether they are promulgated in the lecture-room, at the po litical gathering, or from the sacred desk." Mr. Theodore Cuyler followed in a kindred strain, illustrating his no tion of what was required to bring back the seceders and restore frater nal concord to the Union, as follows : " Let us of the North get back to our true position. Let ns flrst set the example of perfect obedience to the Constitution and the laws; and then, when we shall have pulled the beam from our own eye, we may talk to our brother of the mote in his. Let us return the fugitive from labor, as we are bound to do ; or, if we permit his rescue by unlawful violence, compensate his owner for the loss. Let us repeal our obnoxious Per sonal Liberty bills — those mean evasions of the plainest duty ; let us receive our brother of the South, if he will come among us for a little time, attended by his servant, and per mit him thus to come. We are bound by a sacred compact not to interfere or meddle with the institution of Slavery as it exists in many of our sister States ; and yet the pul pit and the press, and many of our public halls, are eloquent with violent and inflam matory appeals touching this subject, whose mischief, extending far beyond the boundary of onr own Commonwealth, extends into the very heart of neighboring States. Who shall say, fellow -citizens, how .much of our present peril springs from this very cause ? Can we wonder that our Southern brother feels that the heart of his Northern fellow- citizen is shut against him ? Can we forget that these appeals have reached the Slaves 866 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. themselves, and filled with dread and appre hension the once quiet and happy homes of many, very .many. Southern masters? Fel low-citizens, although the law may be pow erless, yet there is a moral force which can and would arrest this evil. I appeal to you earnestly — to each one of you individually — by every lawful means in your power, to put an end to 'the violent and inflamma tory discussion of this unhappy subject. The past, the present, and the future, 'appeal to you eloquently to be true to your country and to yourselves. Never before has con stitutional liberty assumed so fair a form among men as here with ns. Never before, under its influence and protection, has any people been so speedily and happily borne to great prosperity ; until now the imagina tion sinks in the effort to contemplate that glorious future on whose very threshold our feet have stood. Can it be that madness and fanaticism — can it be that selfishness and sectionalism — are about to destroy this noblest form of government, freighted as it is with the highest hopes of humanity? (Loud cheers.)" Mr. Isaac Hazlehurst closed the discussion in a far manlier spirit. Himself a ' Conservative,' the 'Amer ican' candidate for Governor In 1857, he had no palinode to offer for North ern 'fanaticism,' and no thought of crouching to Southern treason. On the contrary, he spoke, "with singular and manly directness, as foUows : " Fellow-citizens, it is no time for party, because there are no party questions to be discussed. We are here for the purpose of endeavoring to preserve the Union of these States. The American Union was made perfect by the people of these States, and by the people of these States it is to be maintained and preserved. It is not a ques tion of '¦must be preserved,' but, in the lan guage of Gen. Jackson, 'it shall be pre served.' (Applause.) * * * j gay^ fellow- citizens, th.at Pennsylvania has been true to the Constitution and the Union. She has always been loyal to it. There is no doubt upon that subject. She has nothing what ever to repent of; and we will maintain these principles as presented by your reso lutions. I care not where the traitors are — I care uot where they hide themselves — the first arm that is raised against the Constitu tion and the Union, I will bring all that I have to their defense — all that I have to se cure the enforcement of the laws. (' Good !' Cheers.)" Of the resolutions in which the spirit of this meeting was embodied, these are the most significant ; " Resolved, 4. That the people of Philadel phia hereby pledge themselves to the citi zens of the other States that the statute- books of Pennsylvania shall be carefully searched at the approaching session of the Legislature, and that every statute, if any snch there be, which, in the slightest de gree, invades the constitutional rights of citizens of a sister State, will be at once re pealed ; and that Pennsylvania, ever loyal to the Union, and liberal in construing her ob ligations to it, will be faithful always in her obedience to its requirements. " Resohed, 5. That we recognize the obli gations of the act of Congress of 1850, com monly known as the Fugitive Slave Law, and submit cheerfally to its faithful enforce ment; and that we point with pride and satisfaction to the recent conviction and pun ishment, in this city of Philadelphia, of those who had broken its provisions by aiding in the attempted rescue of a slave, as proof that Philadelphia is faithful in her obedience to the law ; and furthermore, that we recommend to the Legislature of our own State the pas sage of a law which shall give compensa tion, in case of the rescue of a cantured slave, by the county in which such rescue occurs, precisely as is now done by existing laws in case of destruction of property, by violence of mobs. " Resohed, 6. That, as to the question of the recognition of slaves as property, and as to the question of the rights of slaveholders in the territories of the United States, the people of Philadelphia submit themselves obediently and cheerfully to the decisions of . the Supreme Court of the United States, whether now made or hereafter to be made ; and tliey pledge themselves faithfully to ob serve the Constitution in these respects, as the same has been or may be expounded by that august tribunal. And, further: they recommend that whatever points of doubt exist touching these subjects be, in some amicable and lawful way, forthwith submit ted to the consideration of said Court ; and that its opinion be accepted as the final and authoritative solution of all doubts as to the meaning of the Constitution on controverted points. "Resolved, 7. That all denunciations of Slavery, as existing in the United States, and of our fellow-citizens who maintain that in stitution, and who hold slaves under it, are inconsistent with tbe spirit of brotherhood and kindness which ought to animate all who live under and profess to support the Constitution of the American Union " 'CONCILIATION' BY GAG-LAW. 367 That the meaning of aU this was — "In the hope of winning back the seceded States, and of retaining the trade, custom, and profits, which we have hitherto derived from the slave holders, we hereby solemnly pledge ourselves never more to say or do, nor let our neighbors say or do, aught calculated to displease said slavehold ers or offend the Slave Power," was promptly demonstrated. Mr. George W. Curtis, one of our most attract ive and popular public speakers, had been engaged by ' the People's Liter ary Institute' of Philadelphia to lec ture on the evening after the great meeting, and had announced as his subject, " The Policy of Honesty." What reflsctlons were suggested by that topic or title to the engineers of the meeting, can only be inferred from the following notification : " Ofeiob ov the Matoe of the Oitt of ) Philadelphia, Dec. 10, 1860. ) " Deae Sie :— ^The appearance of George W. Curtis, Esq., as a lecturer before the People's Literary Institute, on Thursday evening next, wiU. be extremely unwise. If I possessed the lawful power, I would not permit his presence on that occasion. " Very respectfully, etc. "Alexandbk Henet, Mayor. "James W. White, Esq., Chairman." The following letter from the own er of the HaU betrays a common im pulse. If not a common origin, with the foregoing: " CoNOEET Hall, December 11, 1860. "Deae Sie: — I have been officially in formed that, in the event of G. W. Curtis lecturing in this Hall on Thursday evening next, a riot is anticipated. Under these cir cumstances, I cannot permit the Hall to be used on that occasion. Eespectfully, "Thomas A. Andebws. " J. W. White, Esq." So the Liiicoln city of Philadel phia, like a good many other North ern cities, made her bid for slave- holding forbearance and patronage — no one observing, nor even hinting, that the North had rights and griev ances, as well as the South — that "sectional" aspirations, aggressions, encroachments, were not confined to Free States ; and that. In the concilia tion so generally and earnestly com menced, the Slave Power might fairly be asked to accord some consid eration, some respect, if not to make some concession, to that generous, loving spfrit, which recognizes a brother in the most repulsive form of Humanity, which keenly feels that wrong and degradation to any neces sarily Involve reproach and peril to all, and will rest content with nothing short of Universal Justice and Im partial Freedom, XXIV. 'CONCILIATION' IN CONGRESS. The XXXVIth Congress recon vened for its second and last session on Monday, December 3, 1860, and President Buchanan transmitted his fourth and last Annual Message next day. After briefiy stating therein that the year then closing had been one of general health, ample harvests, and commercial prosperity, he plunged Into the great political controversy of the day after this fashion : " Why is it, then, that discontent now so 368 THE AMBELCA'N CONFLICT,. extensively prevails, and the Union of the States, which is the source of all these bless ings, is threatened with destruction? The long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of Slavery in the Southern States has at length produced its natural effects. The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other ; and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Coun try, when hostile geographical parties have been formed. I have long foreseen, and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proceed solely frora the claims on the part of Con gress or the Territorial Legislatures to ex clude Slavery from the territories, nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the execution of the Fugitive Slave law. "All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South without danger to the Union (as others have been), in the hope that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises, not so much from these causes, as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the Slavery question throughout the North 'for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague no tions of freedom. Hence, a sense of secu rity no longer exists around the faraily altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile insurrec tion. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic dan ger, wheiher real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall pervade the masses of tbe Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable. Self-preservation is the flrst law of nature, and has been im planted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest purpose ; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long con tinue, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and hope lessly insecure. Sooner or later, the bonds of such a Union must be severed. It is my conviction that this fatal period has not yet arrived ; and my prayer to God is, that He would preserve the Constitution and the Union throughout all generations. " But let us take warning in time, and re move the cause of danger. It cannot be de nied that, for five-and-twenty years, the agi tation at the North against Slavery in the South has been incessant. In 1835, picto rial handbills and inflammatory appeals were circulated extensively throughout the South, of a character to excite the passions of tba slaves; and, in the language of Geiu Jackson, ' to stimulate them to insurreotioh, and produce all the horrors of a servile war.' This agitation has ever since been continued by the public press, by the proceedings of State and County Conventions, and hy Abolition sermons and lectures. The time of Congress has been occupied in violent speeches on this never-ending subject ; and appeals, in pamphlet and other forms, in dorsed by distinguished names, have heen sent forth from this central point, and spread broadcast over the Union. " How easy would it be for the American people to settle the Slavery question forever, and to restore peace and harmony to this distracted country I " They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the Slave States have ever contended, is, to be let alone, and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the Slavery existing among them. For this, the people of the North are not more responsible, and have no more right to interfere, than with similar institu tions in Russia or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance, I con fess I greatly rely." How a sane man could talk in this way. In full view ofthe Texas, Nebras ka, and Kansas struggles of the last few years, and of the persistent efforts to acquire Cuba, and "regenerate" Central America In the Interest of the Slave Power, is one of the pro blems reserved for solution in some future and higher existence. To ex pose its Inconsistency with notorious facts were a waste of time and effort ; to lose temper over It were even a graver mistake : the proper, fittest frame of mind wherein to contem plate it is one of silent wonder. Mr. Buchanan proceeded to argue that the election of Mr. Lincohi " does not of itself afford just cause for dissolving the Union;" that "from the very nature of his office, and its high responsibilities, he must necessarily be conservative;" that ME. BUCHANAN EEPUDIATES 'COEECION.' 369 no single act has ever passed Con gress, unless we may possibly except the Missouri Compromise^ impafr- ing, in the shghtest degree, the rights of the South in; thefr property in slaves ; that no such act could be passed. In the present or In the next Congress ; that the Dred Scott deci sion had covered all the ground con tended for by the Slave States, ren dering null and void a recent act of the Legislature of Kansas, abolishing Slavery in that Territory; that all acts of State Legislatures Intended " to defeat the execution of the Fugi tive Slave law were nuUItles, the Su preme Court ha-ring so decided and sustained that law at every point ; nevertheless, the States that have passed such acts ought, and should be urged, to repeal them ; that, should they not be repealed, "the Injured States" "would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union" (for un faithfulness to constitutional obliga tions by those whom . that Govern ment could not control) ; that there Is no reserved or constitutional right of State Secession from the Union, which was clearly intended to be per petual ; that the Federal Govern ment is requfred, and the States ex pressly forbidden, to do many things essential to the idea of sovereignty ; that the Federal Government " has precisely the same right to exercise its power for the people of aU these States, In the enumerated cases, that each one of them possesses over sub jects not delegated to the United States ;" that the Federal Constitu tion is a part of the Constitution of each State, and Is binding upon the people thereof; that the people of States aggrieved or oppressed by Federal power have the right of revo lutionary resistance, but no other — and yet, if any State should see fit to secede from- and defy the Union, there is no help for It ! Let us hear Mr. Buchanan more fully on this point : " What, in the mean time, is the responsi bility and trije position of the Executive ? He is bound by solemn oath, hefore God and the country, 'to take care that the laws he faithfully executed;' and from this obligation he cannot be absolved by any human power. But what, if the performance of this duty, in whole or in part, has been rendered im practicable by events over which he could have exercised no control ? Such, at the present moment, -ij the case throughout the State of South Carolina, so far as the laws of the United States to secure the administra tion of justice by means of the Federal Judi ciary are concerned. All the Federal officers within its limits, through whose agency alone these laws can he carried into execution, have already resigned. We no longer have a District Judge, a District Attorney, or a Marshal, in South Carolina. In fact, the whole machinery- of the Federal Govern ment necessary for the distribution of reme dial justice among the people has been de molished, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace it. " The only acts of Congress on the statute- book, bearing upon this subject, are those of 28th February, 1795, and 3d March, 1807. These authorize the President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any particular case, to call out the militia and employ the Army and Navy to aid him in performing this ser vice, having flrst, by Proclamation, com manded Ihe insurgents to ' disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time.' This duty cannot, by possibility, be performed in a State where no judicial authority exisrs to issue process, and where there is no Marshal to execute it ; and where, even if there were such an officer, the entire population would consti tute one solid combination to resist him." But why cannot the President ap- ' The Ordinance of 119,1, reaffirmed under the Constitution in 1789, is thus clearly affirmed by Mr. Buchanan to be not in derogation of ' South- 24 ern Eights.' This, be it remembered, as well aa the Missouri Compromise itself, had the hearty support of the entu-e South. 370 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. point a new District Judge, a new Marshal, to replace those who have resigned ? If no one of the -vicinage ¦will or dare accept these trusts, why not fill them from loyal States ? If these shall be resisted, will It not be at the proper peril of the insurgents ? If the Federal Government can be driven out of a State, and compelled to stay out, by the cheap process of bullying two or three Federal officers into resigning, and bullying others out of daring to take their places, is ours a real government at all ? The President, proceeding, set forth the main Issue as follows : " The question, fairly stated, is : Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the confederacy? If an swered in the aflirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been conferred npon Congress to declare and to make war against a State. After much serious reflec tion, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Con gress, or to any other department of the Federal Government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the Constitution, that this is not among the speciflc and enumerated powers granted to Congress : and it is equally apparent that its exercise is not ' necessary and proper for carrying into exe cution' any one of these powers," The contrast between this logic and that of Gen. Jackson In hke circum stances ^ has already been noted. But it is difficult to realize that such trans parent sophistry can have deceived even its author. The President had already truly stated that " The Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discre tion. He possesses no power to change the relations heretofore existing between them ; much less to acknowledge the independence of that State." The act of Secession, so caUed, was 2 See pages 94^-100. 'Federal Constitution,' Art. IL, § 3. therefore^at least, so far as the Pre sident was concerned — a simple nul lity. He could know South Carolina only as one of the States composing our Union, whose citizens were con sequently citizens of the United States, and bound to uphold thefr Constitution and obey their laws. If any or many of those citizens chose to break and defy those laws, it was his simple and imperative duty to cause them to be faithfully executed, at whatever inconvenience or peril to the law-breakers. No President had ever suggested or imagined that the opposition of any State to the Fugi tive Slave law, for example, could absolve him from the duty of enforcing that law. This is the President's duty in the premises, and the whole of it, — to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." ' The Constitu tion and laws being, by express pro- -vislon, "the supreme law of the land; * * * anything in the Consti tution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding," ¦* the real question was not — 'Has the Consti tution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a State?' but 'Has any State a reserved, inherent power to coerce the Union into acquiescence In the overthrow of the Federal Con stitution, the subversion of the laws, and the destruction of our National ity?' The President is bound to know no legitimate power -wdthin the Union acting in hostihty to the Con stitution and laws he has solemnly. sworn to uphold and enforce. - Who ever and whatever stands in the way of such enforcement, he can regard only as law-breakers, insurgents, and traitors. ' ^^- ^rt. Yl., % 2. See also Webster-^s Reply to Hayne, pages 86-8. BLACK AGAINST 'COEECION. 371 Of course, ha-dng decided not to perform his sworn duty, the President proceeded to lecture the people whom he thus betrayed on the duty of buying off the banded traitors by new concessions and guarantees ; say ing: " The fact is, that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil -w-ar. If it cannot live in the affections of the peo ple, it must one day perish. Congress pos sess many means of preserving it by concilia tion ; but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force." But, If it cannot be ' cemented,' can ft be 'Mwcemented, dissolved, and de^ stroyed, 'by the blood of its citizens, shed in civil war V If It can, then is it the most stupendous mockery and sham which ever duped and deluded mankind. His panacea for the ills experi enced or imminently Impending was an " explanatory amendment" of the Constitution, which should operate as a "final settlement" of the true construction of the Federal pact on three special points : "1. An express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the States where it now exists or may hereafter exist. " 2. The duty of protecting this right in all the common territories throughout their territorial existence, and until they shall be admitted as States into the Union, with or without Slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe. "3. A like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave, who has escaped from one State to another, restored and 'de livered up' to him, and of the validity of the Fugitive Slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a declaration that .all State laws impairing or defeating this right are violations of the Constitution, and are con sequently null and void." Behind this pitiable exhibition was an elaborate opinion ' from Hon. Jer emiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Buchanan's Attorney -General, sus taining and elaborating the Presi dent's most fatal errors. After set ting forth, in a most grudging and technical fashion, the occasions in which the President is authorized to use force in support of the -riolated laws of the land, Mr. Black proceeds as follows :. "But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers them selves (including Judges, District Attorneys, and Marshals) would be reached by the same influence, and resign their places ? Of course, the first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others could be got to serve. But, in such event, it is more than probable that great difficulty would be found in fllling the offices. We can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. We are, therefore, obliged to consider what can be done in case we have no Courts to issue judicial process, and no min isterial officers to execute it. In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the Courts and Marshals, there must be Courts and Marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of these fnnctions, which be long exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them." That Is to say: A little rebellion may be legally and constitutionally repressed ; but a great one cannot be. ' If we have no Courts' where they are needed, we should constitute them ; and, ' if we have no ministe rial officers,' we should appoint them. The President Is expressly clothed •with the requisite power, and has no right to refrain from exercising it. If no man now hving in South Caro hna dare serve as District Judge or Marshal, then one should be sent thither who has no repugnance and ' Dated November 20, 1860. 372 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. no fear, and be backed by a compe tent force. The President could have found a thousand qualified persons to take either position, had he chosen. The fact that the insurgents were locally formidable — evert omnipotent — only hightened the Imperative ne cessity of deahng with them promptly and sternly. And, If jurors could not there be found to render verdicts ac cording to law, then the culprits should be removed to some region where treason, at the worst, was not universal. But 'The slothful man says, There is a hon In the way;' and he who has determined not to do his duty, wiU never lack excuses for re pudiating it. Mr. Black closed his disorganizing opinion as follows : " If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general hostilities carried on, by the Central Government against a State, then it seems to follow that an at tempt to do so would be ipso facto an expul sion of such State from the Uni«1i. Being treated as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. And, if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife, and en mity, and armed hostility, between different sections of the country, instead of the ' do mestic tranquillity' which the' Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the people bound to con tribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that ? , " The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor, by repelling a direct and positive ag gression upon its property or its oflicers, can not be denied. But this is a totally differ ent thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of State Governments, or to prevent a threatened violation of the Constitution, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one another ; and, if some of them should conquer the rest and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would to tally destroy the whole theory npon which they are now connected. "If this -riew ofthe subject be as correct as I think it is, then the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall arm one part of the people against another, for any purpose beyond that of merely pro tecting the General Government iri the exercise of its proper constitutional func tions." Strange as it must now seem, this assertion of the radical impotence of the Government, this avowal of a fixed purpose to ' let the Union shde,' on the part of the President and his legal adviser, were received in Con gress -with general and concerted taci turnity on the part of the upholders, and with a bounteous display of In dignation on that of the banded as sailants, of the National hfe. Mr. A. R. Boteler,* of Virginia, moved a reference of so much of the Message as related to our National perUs to a Select Committee of one from each State ; which in due time prevailed, and a very fafr Committee was ap pointed — ^Thomas Cor-svin, of Ohio, Chairman ; -with a large preponder ance of the more moderate ' Eepub hcans' and pro-Slavery men in its composition. Mr! Speaker Penning ton, who framed the Committee, was strongly Inclined to ' conciliation,' if that could be effected on terms not disgraceful to the North-; and at least six of the sixteen Eepubhcans placed on the Committee desfred and hoped that an adjustment might yet be achieved. No member of extreme anti-Slavery views was associated with them. But it was soon evident that no ' concession' or ' concUiation' was de sired by a large portion of the pro- ^ From the Potomac district next above Wash ington ; originally a ' Whig' ; then ' American' ; elected to this Congress and supported for Speaker as 'Union'; now, zealous for 'conces sion' and ' peace' ; an open traitor from the day of Virginia's secession. CLINGMAN EBPELS 'CONCILIATION. 373 Slavery members. Mr. Clingman of N. C. — who came into Congress as a '"Whig' of very moderate views regarding Slavery, but had finally turned Democrat under the impulse of zeal for ' Southern Eights,' and been thereupon promoted fi-om the House to the Senate, and who had changed from Douglas to Breckin ridge toward the end of the Presiden tial canvass just closed — assaUed the Message, so soon as it had been read, and broadly intimated that no con cession would satisfy the South. The repeal of all ' Personal Liberty bills,' etc., he observed, "would not be satisfactory to the State from which I come." He protested against " wait ing for an overt act" before seceding, and against fiirther parley or negotia tion between the Free and the Slave States. Said he : " They want to get up a free debate, as the Senator from New York [Mr. SewardJ expressed it, in one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me the other day that a great many of these free debaters were hanging from the trees of that country [Texas]. I have no doubt they would run off a great many slaves from the Border States, so as to make them Free States ; and then. Sir, when the overt act was struck, we should have a hard struggle. I say, there fore, that our policy is not to let this thing continue. That, I think, is the opinion of North Carolina. I think the party for im mediate secession is gaining ground rapidly. It is idle for men to shut their eyes to con sequences like this, if anything can be done to avert the e-ril, while we have power to do it." Messrs. Albert G. Brown, of Mis sissippi, Louis T. Wigfall, of Texas, and Alfred Iverson, of Georgia, spoke in a similar strain, but even more plainly. Said Mr. Iverson : " Gentlemen speak of concession — of the repeal of the Personal Liberty bills. Kepeal them all to-morrow, and you cannot stop this revolution. It is not the Liberty laws but the mob law which the South fears. They do not dread these overt acts; for, without the power of the Federal Govern ment, by force, under Eepublican rule, their institution would not last ten years ; and they know it. . They intend to go out of this Union, and he believed this. Before the 4th of March, five States will have declared their independence, and he was satisfled that three other States would follow as soon as the action of their people can be had. Arkansas will call hev Convention, and Louisiana will follow. And, though there is a clog in the way in the ' lone star' of Texas, in the per son of her Governor, who will not consent to call the Legislature, yet the public senti ment is so strong that even her Governor may be overridden ; and, if he will not yield to that public sentiment, some Texan Brutus may arise to rid his country of this old, hoary -headed traitor. [Great sensation.] There has been a good deal of vaporing and threatening ; but they came from the last men who would carry out their threats. Men talk about their eighteen millions ; but we hear a few days afterward of these same men being switched in the face, and they tremble like a sheep-stealing dog. There will be no war. The North, governed by such far-seeing statesmen .as the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward], will see the futility of this. In less th.an twelve months, a Southern Confederacy will be formed ; and it will be the most successful Government on earth. The Southern States, thus banded together, will be able to resist any force in the world. We do not expect war ; but we will be prepared for it ; and we are not a feeble race of Mexicans either." Messrs. Crittenden, of Kentucky, and Saulsbury, of Delaware, both spoke pleadingly for 'conciliation' • and the Union, but ta deaf ears. A caucus of Southem members was held on Saturday evening, De cember Sth ; but it only served to develop more clearly the broad hne of demarkation between the Union ists and the Disunionists. Messrs. Albert G. Brown, of Mississippi, and John ShdeU, of Louisiana, were among the most fierce for Secession. Messrs. Jefferson Davis, of Missis sippi, and James M. Mason, of Yir ginia, favored further efforts, or, at least, further waiting, for concilia tion. Messrs. Crittenden, Bayard, 874 -THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. and several other 'Border-State' Senators, more earnestly urged this course. Monday, December 9th, being ' res olution day' in the House, was signal ized by the broaching of several new devices for saving the Union., Mr. John Sherman, of Ohio, suggested a faithful observance, on all hands, of the requirements and compromises of the Constitution, with an immedi ate division of the territories into embryo States, -svith a -view to their prompt admission into the Union. Mr. John Cochrane, of New York, revived the old scheme of dividing the territories between Free and Slave Labor on the line of 36° 30'. Mr. English, of Indiana, proposed substantially the same thing. Mr. Noell, of Missouri, proposed an abo lition of the office of President of the United States, and a division of the Union into three districts, each to elect one member of an 'Executive Council,' to which the functions of President should be Intrusted. He suggested, moreover, a 'restoration of the equilibrium between the Free and Slave States,' by a division of several of the latter Into two or more States each. Mr. Thomas C. Hind- man,' of Arkansas, proposed to so amend the Constitution as to pro tect slave property In the territories, etc., etc., and that any State which should pass an act Impairing or de feating the operation of the Fugitive Slave law should thereupon be de prived of her right of representation in Congress. Mr. Charles H. Larra- bee, of "Wisconsin, proposed a Con vention of the States. AU these projects were referred to the Grand Select Committee aforesaid. That Committee adopted, Dec. 13th, a resolve moved by Col. Wm. McKee Dunn, of Indiana, and accepted by Mr. Albert Eust, of Arkansas, as a substitute for one previously offered by himself — after voting down, 22 to 9, one proposed by Mr. Morrill, of Yermont. The proposition adopted is In the following words : " Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Committee, the existing discontents among the Southern people, and the growing hos tility among them to the Federal Govern ment, are greatly to be regretted ; and that, whether such discontents and hostility are without just cause or not, any reasonable, proper, and constitutional remedies, and additional and more speciflc and effectual guaranties of their peculiar rights and in terests as recognized by the Constitution, necessary to preserve the peace of the country and the perpetuation of the Union, should be promptly and cheerfully granted." Twenty-two votes were cast for this proposition, including those of all the members from Slave States who voted. Two (Messrs. Boyce, of South Caro lina, and Hawkins, of Florida) were absent. Mr. Eeuben Davis was pres ent, but did not vote. The Nays (eight) were all Eepubhcans. On motion of Mr. Garnett B. Adrain (Douglas Democrat) of New Jersey, the House,' by 151 Yeas to 14 Nays: "Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the Constitution, wherever manifested ; and that we earnestly recom mend the repeal of all statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and in violation of that sacred instrum'ent, and the laws of Congress passed in pursuance thereof." Mr. Owen Lovejoy (Eepublican) of lUinois, hereupon proposed this counterpart to the foregoing : " Wliereas, The Constitution of the United States IS the supreme law of the land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and law-abiding citizens: There fore, "Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit ' Since, a Eebel Brigadier. ' December 17th. SENATOR -WADE AGAINST CONCESSION. 875 of disobedience to the Oon«titution, wherever manifested ; and that we earnestly recom mend the repeal of all nullification laws; and that it is the duty of the President of the United States to protect and defend the property of the United States." The Yeas were 124; the Nays none — ^most of the Southern mem bers refusing to vote. Mr. Isaac N. Morris (Democrat) of Illinois, next moved "That we have seen nothing in the past, nor do we see anything ih the present, either in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, or otherwise, to justify a disso lution ofthe Union," etc., etc. On this, the Yeas were 115 ; Nays 44. Two of the Nays were North ern Democrats.' On the same day, a resolve, by Mr. Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, proposing a Couunittee of Thfrteen on the absorbing topic, came up in the Senate, and Mr. Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, uttered some weighty words on the general subject. Hav ing shown that the Government had hitherto been under the control of the Slave Power — ^that the personal rights and safety of Northem men of anti-Slavery views were habitually "violated in the South — ^that the pres ent pointed antagonism between the Free' and the Slave States had been caused by a great change of opinion, not at the North, but at the South, he conthiued : ."The Republican party holds the same opinion, so far as I know, with regard to your ¦'peculiar institution' that is held by ©very civilized nation on the globe. We do not differ in public sentiment from England, France, Germany, and Italy, on the subject of Slavery. II "I teU you frankly that we did lay down the principle in our platform, that we would prohibit, if we had the .power. Slavery from invading another inch of the free soil of this Govemment. I stand to that principle to day. I have argued it to half a million of people, and they stand by it — they have com missioned me to stand by it ; and, so help me God, I wUl! I say to you, while we hold this doctrine to the end, there is no Eepublican, or Convention of Republicans, or Republican paper, that pretends to have any right in your States to interfere with your peculiar and local institutions. . On the other hand, our platform repudiates the idea that we have any right, or harbor any ulti mate intention, to invade or interfere with your institution in your own States. * * * "I have disowned any intention, on the part of the Republican party, to harm a hair of your heads. We hold to no doctrine that can possibly work you any inconvenience — any wrong — any disaster. We have beeij, and shall remain, faithful to all the laws — studiously so. It is not, by your own con fessions, that Mr. Lincoln is expected to commit any overt act by which you may be injured. You wiU not even wait for any, you say ; but, by anticipating that the Gov ernment may do you an injury, you will put an end to it — which means; simply and squarely, that you intend to rule or ruin this Government. * * * " As to compromises, I supposed that we had agreed that the day of compromises was at an end. The most solemn we have made have been violated, and are no more. Since Ihave had a seat in the Senate, one of con siderable antiquity was swept from our sta tute-book; and when, in the minority, I stood np here, and asked you to withhold your hands — that it was a solemn, sacred compact between nations — what was the reply ? That it was nothing but an act of Congress, and could be swept away by the same majority which enacted it. That was true in fact, and true in law ; and it showed the weakness of compromises. * * * " We beat you on the plainest and most palpable issue ever presented to the Ameri can people, and one which every man un derstood; and now, when we come to the capital, we tell you that our candidates must and shall be inaugurated — must and shall administer this Government precisely as the Constitution prescribes. It would not only- he humiliating, but highly dishonorable to ns, if we -listened to any compromise by which we should set aside the honest verdict of the people. When it comes to that, yon have no government, but anarchy intervenes, and civil war may follow; and all the evils that human imagination can raise may be consequent on such a course as that. The American people would lose the sheet-anchor of their .liberties whenever it is denied on this floor that a mmority, fairly given, shall rule. I know not what others may do ; but ° Daniel E. Sickles, of New York; Thomas B. Florence, of Pennsylvania, 876 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. 1 tell you that, with that verdict of the peo ple in my pocket, and standing on the plat form on which these candidates were elected, I would suffer anything before I would compromise in any way. I deem it no case where we have a right to extend courtesy and generosity. The absolute right, the most sacred that a free people can bestow upon any man, is their verdict that gives him a full title to the ofiice he holds. If we cannot stand there, we cannot stand any where ; and, my friends, any other verdict would be as fatal to you as to us." The venerable and Union-loving John J. CEmEiirDEH, of Kentucky — the Nestor of the Bell-Everett party — who had first entered Congress as a Senator forty-four years before — who had served, at different times, no less than twenty years, in the upper House of Congress; and who, after filling, for a season, the post of Attor ney-General under Gen. Harrison, and again under Mr. FiUmore, was now, in his fullness of years, about to give place to a Democrat,'" elected because of the greater confidence of the slaveholding Interest in the Demo cratic than In the adverse party — came forward to tender his peace- offering ; and no anti-Eepubllcan In Congress or in the country could have risen whose personal character and history could have more disposed the Eepubhcans to hsten to him with an anxious desire to find the acceptance of his scheme compatible with thefr principles and thefr sense of public duty. His ohve-branch was as fol lows : "A Joint Resolution proposing certain amendments to the Constitution of the Uni ted States: " Wliereas, serious and alarming dissen sions have arisen between the Northern and the Southern States, concerning the rights and security of the rights of the slave- holding States, and especially their rights in the common territory of the United States; and whereas, it is eminently desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by constitutional provisions, which shall do equal justice to alL sections, and thereby re store to the people that peace and good-will which ought to prevail between all the 'citi zens of the United States : Therefore, "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Rep resentatives of tlie United States of America, in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring). That the following arti cles be, and are hereby, proposed and sub mitted as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of said Con stitution, when ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the, several States : "Aetiole 1. In ail the territory of the Uni ted States now held, or hereafter acquired, situate north of latitude 36° 30', Slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punish ment for crime, is prohibited, while such temtory shall remain under territorial gov ernment. In all the territory south of said line of latitude. Slavery of the Afri can race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress. but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial govern ment during its continuance. And when' any territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population re quisite for a member of Congress, according to the then Federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal foot ing with the original States ; with or with out Slavery, as the Constitution of such new State may provide. "Aet. 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery in places under its exclu sive jurisdiction, and situate within the lim its of States that permit the holding of slaves. "Aet. 3. Congress shall have no power to abolish Slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as it exists in the adjoin ing States of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the in habitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress, at any tirae, prohibit officers of tlie Federal Government, or members of Congress whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing with them their slaves, and holding them as such dur ing the time their duties mav require thera to remam there, and afterward taking them from the District. "John C. Breckinridge; chosen to take Mr. Crittenden's seat on the 4th of March 1861 THE CEITTENDEN COMPEOMISE. 377 "Aet. 4. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or to a ter ritory in which slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that transportation be by iand, navigable rivers, or by the sea. "Abt. 5. That, in addition to the provis ions of the third paragraph of- the second section of the fourth article of the Constitu tion of the United States, Congress shall have powef to provide by law, and it shall be its duty to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall apply for it, the full valne of his fugitive slaves in all cases where the marshal, or other officer whose duty it was to arrest said fugitive, was prevented frora so doing by violence or intimidation, or where, after arrest, said fu gitive was rescued by force, and the owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pur suit of his remedy for the recovery of his fngitive slave under the said clause of the Constitution and the laws made in pursu ance thereof And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such fugitive, they shall have the right, in their own name, to sue the county in which said violence, in timidation, or rescue, was committed, and recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them for said fugitive slave. And the said county, after it has paid said amount to the United States, may, for its indemnity, suS and recover from the wrong-doers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from the recovery of his fugi tive slave, in like manner as the owner him self might have sued and recovered. "Aet. 6. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the flve preceding articles ; nor tffe third paragraph of the sec ond section of the first article of the. Consti tution ; nor the third paragraph of the sec ond section of the fourth article of said Constitution; and no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall au thorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with Slavery in any of the States by whose laws it is, or may be, allowed or permitted. "And whereas, also, besides those causes of dissension embraced in the foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States, there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may be remedied by its legislative pow er ; And whereas, it is the desire of Congress, as far as its power will extend-, to remove all just cause for the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the country and threaten the stability of its institutions: Therefore, "Resohed, by the Senate and Souse of Representatives in Congress assembled, That the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of the Con stitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and constitutional by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and execution of those laws; and that they ought not to be re pealed, or so modified or changed as to im pair their efficiency ; and that laws ought to be made for the punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the slave, or other ille gal raeans, to hinder or defeat the due exe cution of said laws. " 2. That all State laws which conflict with the fugitive slave acts of Congress, or any other Constitutional acts of Cona:ress, or which, in their operation, impede, hinder, or delay, the free course and due execution of any of said acts, are null and void by the plain provisions of the Constitution of the United States ; yet those State laws, void as .they are, have given color to practices, and Hi to consequences, which have obstructed the due administration and execution of acts of Congress, and especially the acts for the delivery of fugitive slaves ; and have -thereby contributed much to the discord and com motion now prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture,, does not deem it improper, respectfully and earnestly, to recommend- the repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or such legislative corrections or explana tions of them as may prevent their being used or perverted to such mischievous pur poses. " 3. That the act ofthe 18th of Septeraber, 1850, commonly called the Fugitive Slave law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee ofthe Commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the act, equal in amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of or against the claim ant. And, to avoid misconstruction, the last clause of the fifth section of said act, which authorizes the person holding a war rant for the arrest or detention of a fugitive slave to summon to his aid the posse comi tatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all good citizens to assist him in its exe cution, ought to be so amended as to ex pressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall be resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue. "4. That the laws for the suppression of the African Slave-Trade, and especially those prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States, ought to be more effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed ; and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly made." 378 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. A white man and an Indian, says the legend, once went hunting in partnership ; and the net product of their joint efiTorts was a turkey and an owl, which were to be divided between them. " I -will take the tur key," said the white man, " and you may have the owl ; or you may have the owl, and I^ll take the turkey." "Ah, but," demurred the Indian, " you don't say ' turkey' on,Ge to me." I. For a generation, the Free North had been struggling against a series of important measures, forming a system of public policy, whereof the purpose and necessary eff'ect were the diffusion and aggrandizement of Slavery. Mr. Crittenden, by coope rating therein, to a certain extent, had clearly affirmed, to that extent, the right and justice ofthis resistance. He had earnestly opposed the -riola- tion of our pubhc faith solemnly plighted to the Creek and Cherokee Indians ; he had struggled manfuUy against the annexation of Texas. True, he had not openly condemned and resisted the repudiation of the Missouri Compact; but his studied silence on that topic, In view of the Southern furof in favor of the Ne braska Bill, proves clearly his tacit concurrence in the Northern repug nance to that measure. So also with regard to the projected purchase or seizure of Cuba. Yet this struggle of the North, its importance and its justice, are utterly ignored In this plan of ' adjustment' and ' conciha- tion ;' whUe the South Is proffered guarantees of the perpetuity of Sla very in the District of Columbia as well as in the Slave States, with the utmost faculties and aids to slave- hunting ever known in any country. The show of concession, in the forego ing project, to Northem convictions, relates to the ' mint, anise and cummin' of the great controversy ; it proffers to the Free States no guarantee on a single point ever deemed by them essential. Then as to the territories : Mr. Crittenden's proposition, in sub stance, is, that the North shaU not merely permit, but establish and gua rantee. Slavery in aU present and future territories of the Union south of 36° 30'. The dfrect mcitement herein proffered, the strong tempta tion held out, to fiUibustering raids upon Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Hayti, etc., could never be ignored. The Slave Power would have claimed this as a "vital element of the new compromise — that she had surren dered her just claim to aU territory north of 36° 30' for the conceded right to acquire and enjoy new terri tory south of that hne, and would have insisted on her ' pound of fiesh' — a rigorous fulfiUment of the com pact. Her Sam Houstons, "WUliam "Walkers and Bickleys would have plotted at home and plundered abroad, in the character of apostles, laboring to readjust the disturbed equilibrium ofthe Union by acquiring for the-South that to which she was en titled by the Crittenden Compromise. II. The essence and substance of Mr. Crittenden's ' adjustment' inhere in his proposition that, of the vast territories acquired by us from Mexico, with aU that may be acqufred here after, so much as hes south of the paraUel 36° 30', shaU be absolutely surrendered and guaranteed to Sla very. But this very proposition was made, on behalf of the South, by Gen. Burt, of S. C, m 1847, and was then defeated by the decisive vote of THE CEITTENDEN COMPEOMISE CONSIDEEED. 379 114 to 82 — •not one Whig, and but fou,r Democrats, from the Free States, sustaining it." It was defeated again in the next Congress, when proposed by Mr. Douglas, in 1848: Teas 82; Nays 121 ; only three Democrats and no "Whig from Free States sustaining it." The Uepublican party was now required, in the year 1861, to- assent to a partition of the territories, and an estabhshment of Slavery therein, which both the "Whig and the Demo cratic parties of the Free States had repeatedly, and all but unanimously, rejected before there was any Repub hcan party. Thus the North, under the lead of the Kepubhcans, was re quired to make, on pain of civil war, concessions to Slavery which it had utterly refused when divided only between the ' conservative' parties of fifteen or twenty years ago. III. The vital principle of this, as of aU compromises or projects of con- icUIatlon proposed from the South to the North, was this : ' You shall re gard Slavery as we do, and agree with us that it is beneficent and right. We wiU concede that it is not desi rable nor profitable in your harsh cli mate, on your rugged soil ; and you must concur -svith us in aflSrming that ' it is the very thing for our fervid suns end fertUe vales. Then we will go forward, conquering, annexing, set tling, planting, and filling the markets of the world with our great staples, whUe you shaU be amply enriched by our commerce and by our con stantly expanding markets for your food and manufactures.' In other words, Slavery was henceforth to be regarded, on all hands, as the basis at once of our National industry and our National policy. lY. As a part of this compact, the North was to sUence her lecturers, muzzle her press, chlorofoi-m her pul pits, and bully her people into a si lence respecting Slavery, which should be broken only by the utterance of vindications and panegyrics. Afready the great pubhshing houses of our Northern cities had been very gene rally induced to mutilate the works they from time to time issued, by ex punging from them every passage or sentiment obnoxious to the fastidious, exacting taste of the slaveholders. Some of our authors — Mr. James K. Paulding conspicuous among them — had revised thefr own works, and is sued new editions, wherein thefr old- time utterances adverse to Slavery had been supplanted by fiUsome adu lations of the system or vehement abuse of its opponents. Our Mission ary, Tract, and other rehgious organ izations, had very generally been in duced to expurgate their publications and their efforts of all anti-Slavery ideas. Our great popular churches had either bent to the storm or been broken by It. And now, the work was to be completed by a new and comprehensive ' adjustment,' taking the place and, in part, the name of that ' Compromise' which the Slave Power had first forced upon the North and then cooUy repudiated; an adjustment which was to bind the Free States over to perpetual com plicity in slaveholding, and perpetual stifling of aU exposure of, or remon strance against, the existence, the domination, and the diffusion of Sla very. These strictures are neither im- peUed nor colored by any unkindly feehng toward Mr. Crittenden, whose "See pages 196-7. "Seepages 191-8. 380 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. patriotism and fairness they are not designed to impeach. He doubtless considered carefully and weU what the South could be induced to accept ; and he undoubtlngly beheved this to be embodied and presented in his plan of compromise. A slaveholder himself; born, educated, and hving amid the influences of the institution; he could not or did not realize that his conditions would seem inadmis sible to any but the narrowest and most miserable fanatics. Assuming his premises, regarding the matter exclusively from his standpoint, and putting conscience and consistency entirely out of the question, his pro posal was fair enough ; and its cordial adoption would doubtless have exhi larated the stock market, and caused general rejoicing on exchanges and around the dinner-tables of merchant princes. Its advocates, with good reason, claimed a -large majority of the people in Its favor, and clamored for its submission to a direct popular vote. Had such a submission been accorded, it Is very likely that the greater number of those who voted at all would have voted to ratify it. But, on the other hand, these facts deserve consideration : I. The Democratic and ' Conserva tive' politicians who united on the Crittenden Compromise, and clamor ed for its adoption, had had control of Congress aud the Federal Executive through seven-eighths of our past national history. If this were the true panacea for our troubles respect ing Slavery, why had they not ap phed it long ago ? Why not adopt it under Polk or Fillmore, Pierce or Buchanan, without waiting to the last sands of thefr departing power ? "Why not unite upon it as their platform in the Presidential contest of 1860? Why call upon the Eepubhcans to help them do, after forty years of controversy, what they might them selves have done, without help, al most any time during those forty years? Why repudiate, against the most urgent remonstrances. In 1854, a compromise which, so far as it went, was substantially identical with this, and now ask those whom they then overbore to unite "with them in rati fying another and a worse, in 1861 ? II. The ' Conservatives,' so called, > were still able to establish this Crit tenden Compromise by their own proper strength, had they been dis posed so to do. The President was theirs; the Senate strongly thefrs; In the House, they had a smaU ma jority, as was evinced in thefr defeat of John Sherman for Speaker. Had they now come forward and said, with authority: 'Enable us to pass the Crittenden Compromise, and all shall be peace and harmony,' they would have succeeded without difli culty. It was only through the -withdrawal of pro-Slavery members that the Kepubhcans had achieved an unexpected majority in either House. Had those members chosen , to return to the seats stIU awaiting them, and to support Mr. Crittenden's proposition, they could have carried it without difficulty. III. But it was abundantly e-vident that the passage of this measure would not restore the Union. Several States had already plunged into Se cession, their oracles avowing that they wanted no concession, and would be satisfied with none. Every sug gestion that they should wait for some overt act, at least for some offi cial declaration, from Mr. Lincoln, SENATOE ANTHONY'S PEOPOSITION. 381 had been spumed by them. They made haste to secede, from fear that concessions would be offered — ^that their pretexts for disruption would somehow be obviated. To send con cessions after them, in their scornful, imperious, insulting stampede, would be inviting them to heap new and more dishonoring indignities on the nation they were defying. It was, ia fact, to justify thefr past treason, and incite them to perseverance and greater daring in the evU way they had chosen. IV. Our 'conservative' Supreme Court, by Its Dred Scott decision, had denied to Congrfess all power to exclude Slavery from a single acre of the common territories of the Union ; it had held the Missouri Compromise invahd on this very ground; and now, the North was called to reen act and extend that very line of demarkation between Free and Slave territory which the Court had pro nounced a nuUity. True, Mr. Crit tenden proposed that the new com promise should be ingrafted upon the Constitution ; but that only Increased the difficulty of effecting the adjust ment, without assuring Its validity. For, if the new Southern doctrines respecting property, and the rights qf property, and the duty of protecting those rights, and the radical inability of the Govemment to limit or Impair them, be sound, then the guarantee to Free Labor of the territory north of 36° 30', must prove delusive. In deed, Mr. Jefferson Davis, at a meet ing of the Select Committee framed to consider these very' resolutions, proposed, on the 26th of December, the following : "Resolved, That it shall be declared, by amendment of the Constitution, that prop erty in slaves, recognized as such by the local law of any of the States of the Union, shall stand on .the same footing, in all con stitutional and Federal relations, as any other species of property so recognized ; and, like other property, shall not be subject to be divested or impaired by the local law of any other State, either in escape thereto, or by the transit or sojourn of the owner therein. And in no case whatever shall such property be subject to be divested or impaired by any legislative act of the United States, or any of the territories thereof" When the Senate came to act" upon Mr. Crittenden's proposition, Mr. Anthony, of Ehode Island — a very moderate, conservative Eepuh- lican — made a new overture which ought to have closed the controversy. Announcing his intention to vote for the substitute proposed by Mr. Dan iel Clark, of New Hampshire, as "ab stractly true," and more In accord ance with his idea of the mode in which our troubles should be com posed, Mr. Anthony proceeded : "I believe, Mr. President, that, if the danger which menaces us is to be avoided at all, it must be by legislation; which is more ready, more certain, and more likely to be satisfactory, than constitutional amend ment. The main difiiculty is the territorial question. The demand of the Senators on the other side of the chamber, and of those whom they represent, is, that the territory South of the line of the Missouri Compro mise shall be open to their peculiar proper ty. All this territory, except the Indian res ervation, is within the limits of New Mexico, which, for a part of its northern boundary, runs up two degrees beyond that line. This is now a slave territory ; raade so by territo rial legislation; and Slavery exists there, recognized and protected. Now, I ara will ing, so soon as Kansas can be admitted, to vote for the admission of New Mexico as a State, with such Constitution as the people may adopt. "This disposes of all the territory that is adapted to slave labor, or that is claimed by the South. It ought to settle the. whole question. Surely, if we can dispose of all the territory that we have, we ought not to " January 16, 1861. 382 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. quarrel over that which we have not, and which we have no very honest way of ac quiring. Let us settle the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which may never come. Let the public mind have time to cool ; let us forget, in the gen eral prosperity, the mutual dependence and the common glory of our country, that we have ever quarreled over the question that we have put at rest ; and perhaps when, in the march of events, the northern provinces of Mexico are brought under our sway, they may come in without a ripple on the po litical sea, whose tumultuous waves now threaten to ingulf us all in one common ruin. " In offering to settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of the North who assent to it propose a great sacrifice, and offer a large concession. We propose to take in a State that is deficient in popu lation, and that possesses but imperfectly many of the elements of a member of the Union, and that will require, in one forra or another, even after its admission, the aid of the General Government. But we make the offer in a spirit of compromise and good feel ing, which we hope will be reciprocated. "And now, Mr. President, I appeal to Senators on the other side, when we thus offer to bridge over seven-eighths of the frightful chasm that separates us, will you not build the other eighth? "When, with outstretched arms, we approach you so near, that by reaching out your hands you can clasp ours in the fraternal grasp frora which they should never be separated, will you, with folded arms and closed eyes, stand upon ex treme demands which you know we cannot accept, and for which, if we did, we could not carry our constituents?" There was no response to this ; and the Senate, after ha-ring refused — 30 to 25 — to postpone the subject to take up the Kansas Admission bill, proceeded to vote on Mr. Clark's sub stitute, which was in these words : "Resolved, That the provisions of the Con stitution are ample for the preservation of the Union, and the protection of all the ma terial interests of the country ; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended ; and that an extrication from our present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous efforts to pre serve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce the laws, rather than in new guarantees for peculiar interests, compromi ses for particular difficulties, or concessions to unreasonable demands. "Resohe'd, That all attempts to dissolve the present Union, or overthrow or abandon the present Constitution, with the hope or ex pectation of constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that, in the opinion of the Senate of the United States, no such reconstruction is practicable ; and, therefore, to the maintenance of the existing Union and Constitution should be directed all the energies of all the depart ments of the Government, and the efforts of all good citizens." The vote was now taken on this substitute, which was adopted, as fol lows: Teas. — Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Bingham, Cameron, Chandler, Clark, CoUamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, King, Seward. Sim mons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Vade, Wilkinson, and Wilson — 25 [all Republi cans]. Nats. — Messrs. Bayard, Bigler, Bragg, Bright, Clingman, Crittenden, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson, of Tennessee, Ken nedy, Lane, of Oregon, Mason, Nicholson, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Pugh, Eice, Saulsbury, and Sebastian — 23 [all Democrats, but two Bell-Conservatives, in italics]. Messrs. Iverson, of Georgia, Ben jamin and ShdeU, of Louisiana, Hemphill and Wigfall, of Texas, and E. W. Johnson, ¦ of Arkansas — who had voted just before against taking up the Kansas biU — had now ab sented themselves or sat silent, and allowed Mr. Clark's resolves to sup plant Mr. Crittenden's, which were thus defeated. They doubtless did this In obedience to a resolve, precon certed with Messrs. Davis, Toombs, etc., to accept no adjustment or con cession which did not receive the vote of a majority of the Eepubh cans. In the last hours of the session," the subject was caUed up by Mr. J. M. Mason, of Yirginia, when Mr. Clark's ¦ substitute aforesaid was re considered and rejected — 22 to 14 — in order to have a direct vote on the- ' March 2, 1861. GOV. SEWAED'S CONCESSIONS. 383 Crittenden proposition; which was then defeated: Yeas 19 ['Conserva tives'] ; Nays 20 [Eepubhcans] ; as before. Several more Southern Sen ators had meantime seceded and left. Mr. Lazarus W. Powell, of Ken tucky, having moved" the appoint ment of a Select Committee of Thir teen on the crisis at which the country had now arrived, the Sen ate assented, and Vice-President John C. Breckinridge" appointed Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Toombs, Douglas, Gollamer, Davis, Wads, Bigler, Eice, Doolittle, and Crrimes on said Committee — five of the thirteen Eepubhcans (In italics). Mr. Davis [Jefferson] asked to be ex cused from serving, but finally con* sented. The Committee met two or three days thereafter, and held seve ral animated sessions, but to httle purpose. Mr. Crittenden's main prop osition — ^the hne of 36° 30' — was vo ted down after fall discussion : Yeas Messrs. Bigler, Crittenden, Douglas, Eice, and Powell — 5 ; Nays, Messrs. Davis, Doolittle, CoUamer, Wade, Tomnls, Grimes, and Hunter — 7: absent, Mr. Seward. Messrs. Hunter, Toombs, and Davis, it is said, would have supported it, had it been pro posed and sustained by the Eepubh cans. The remaining propositions of Mr. Crittenden received generally a majority of the whole number of votes, but were not considered adopt ed; the Committee having agreed upon a rule that nothing should be so considered that did not receive a ma jority both of the Eepublican and the anti-Eepublican votes. When the Committee met again," Mr. Seward submitted the following proposition : "First. No amendment shall be -made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere, in any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of per sons held to service or labor by the laws of such State." This was adopted by the following vote: Ybas — Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Critten den, Seward, Douglas, Collamer, Wade, Big ler, Rice, Doolittle, and Grimes — 11. Nats — Messrs. Davis and Toombs — 2. "Second, The Fugitive Slave law of 1850 shall be so amended as to secure to the alleged fugitive a trial by jury." This, having been amended, on mo tion of Mr. Douglas, so as to have the aUeged fugitive sent for trial to the State from which he was charged with escaping, was voted do-wn — all the Eepubhcans and Mr. Crittenden sustaining it; aU the rest opposing it. Mr. Seward '* further proposed, and the Eepubhcans sustained, the fol lowing : " Resolved, That, under the fourth section ofthe fourth article of the Constitution, Con gress should pass an efficient law for the punishment of all persons engaged in the armed invasion of any State from another by combinations of individuals, and punish ing all persons in complicity therewith, on trial and conviction, in the State or. District where their acts of complicity were com mitted, in the Federal Courts." This was negatived by the sohd vote of the anti-Eepubhcan mem bers. It can hardly be necessary to trace ftirther the abortive proceedings of this Committee. They came to nothing, through no want of good- will on the part of a majority of its mem bers, but because most or all of those from the South could or would ac cept nothing as sufficient short of an utter and shameful repudiation by the Eepubhcans of the vital principle of their party — the consecration of ' December 5, 1860. « December, '10, 1860. " December 24th. "December 26th. 384: THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. the Territories to Free Labor. Thus : Mr. Eobert Toombs, of Georgia, having submitted a series of propo sitions, which were, in substance, the Breckinridge platform, without wait ing a vote or any decisive action thereon, made haste to telegraph to Georgia, for effect upon her approach ing ele'ctlon, as follows : " Washingtoit, Dec. 23, 1860. " I carae-here to secure your constitutional rights, and to deraonstrate to you that you can get no guarantee for those rights from your Northern confederates. " The whole subject was referred to a Committee of thirteen in the Senate. I was appointed on the Committee, and accepted the trust. I submitted propositions, which, so far from receiving a decided support from a single meraber of the Bepublican party of the Committee, were all treated with derision and contempt. " A vote was then taken in the Committee on ainendments to the Constitution, proposed by Hon. J. J. Crittenden ; and each and all of them were voted against, unanimously, by the Black Eepublican members of the Committee. " In addition to these facts, a ma,jority of the Black Eepublican merabers of the Cora- raittee declared distinctly that they had no guarantees to offer; which was silently acquiesced in by the other raerabers. "The Black Eepublican members of the Committee are representative inen of- the party and section, and, to the extent of my information, truly represent them. " The Committee of thirty-three on Fri day adjourned for a week, without coming to any vote, after solemnly pledging them selves to vote on all the propositions then before thera, that day. It is controlled by the Black Eepuhlicans, your eneraios, who only seek to amuse you with delusive hopes until your election, that you may defeat the friends of Secession. " If you are deceived by them, it shall not be my fault. I have put the test fairly and frankly. It is decisive against you now. I tell you, upon the faith of a true man, that all further looking to the North for security for your constitutional rights, ought to be instantly abandoned. " It is fraught with nothing but ruin to yourselves and to your posterity. Secession, by the 4th day of March next, should be thundered from the ballot-box by the unani mous voice of Georgia, on the 2d day of January next. Such a voice will be your best guarantee for liberty, tranquillity, and glory. E. Toombs." Though it is neither essential nor practicable here to record all the abortive projects of ' concihation' sub mitted to Congress at this fruitlessly fruitful session, that presented by Mr. C. L. YaUandigham, of Ohio, deserves notice, as the fullest and most logical embodiment yet made of Mr. Cal houn's subtile device for enabling a minority to obstruct and baffle the majority under a political system preserving the forms of a republic. Mr. Y., after a preamble, setting forth " the tendency of stronger gov ernments to enlarge their powers and jurisdiction at the expense of weaker," " and of majorities to usurp and abuse power, and oppress ujlnoritles ;" also affirming that "sectional divisions can no longer be .suppressed," etc., etc., proposed '" that Congress should recommend to the States a' radical change of the Federal Constitution, by adding thereto as foUows : "Aktiole XIII. Sec. 1. The United States are divided into four sections, as follows: " The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Verraont, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Con necticut, New York, New Jersey, and Penn sylvania ; and all new States annexed and adraitted into the Union or formed or erect ed within the jurisdiction of said States, or by the junction of two or more of the sarae or of parts thereof, or out of territory acquired north of said States, shall consti tute one section, to be known as Tue Noetii. "The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas, and all new States annexed or ad raitted into the Union, or erected within the jurisdiction of any of said States, or by the junction of two or more of the same, or of parts thereof, or out of territory now held or hereafter acquired north of latitude 36° 30' and east of the crest of the Eocky Mountains, shall constitute another section, to be known as The West. " The States of Oregon and California, and " February t, 18 6L ME. VALLANDiaHAM'S PEOJECT. 385 all new States annexed or admitted into the Union, or formed or erected within the juris diction of any of said States, or by the junction of two or more of the sarae, or of parts there of, or out of territory now held or hereafter acquired west of the crest ofthe Eocky Moun tains and of the Eio Grande, shall constitute another section, to be known as The Pacific. " The States of Delaware, Maryland, Vir ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Geor gia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi ana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missonri, and all new States annexed or admitted into the Union, or formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any of said States, or by the junction of two or more of the same, or of parts thereof, or out of terri tory acquired east of the Eio Grande and soutli of latitude 36° 30', shall constitute an other section, to be known as The South. " Sec. 2. On demand of one-third of the Senators of any one of the sections on any bill, order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the House of Eepresentatives may be necessary, except on a question of adjournment, a vote shall be had by sec tions ; and a majority of the Senators from each section shall be necessary to the pas sage of each bill, order, or resolution, and to the validity of every such vote. "Sec. 3. Twoof the Electors of President and Vice-President shall be appointed by each State, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, for the State at large. The other Electors to which each State may be entitled shall be chosen in the respective Congressional Districts into which the State may, at the regular decennial period, have been divided, by the electors of each District having the qualifications requisite for elect ors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. A majority of all the Electors in ea^h of the four sections in this article established, shall be necessary to the choice of President and Vice-President ; and the concurrence of a majority of the States of each section shall be necessary to the choice of President by the House of Eepre sentatives, and of the Senators from each section to the choice of Vice-President by the Senate, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them respectively. "Sec. 4. The President and Vice-Presi dent shall hold their offices each during the term of six years ; and neither shall be eligi ble to more than one term except hy the votes of two-thirds of all the Electors of each section, or of the States of each section, whenever the right of choice of President shall devolve upon the House of Eepresenta tives ; or of the Senators from each section, whenever the right of choice of Vice-Presi dent shall devolve npon the Senate. "Seo. 5. The Congress shall provide by 25 law for the case of a failure by the House of Eepresentatives to choose a President, and of the Senate to choose a Vice-President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them respectively, declaring what offi cer shall then act as President; and such officer shall then act a^pordingly until a President shall be eleotea. The Congress shall also provide by law for a special elec tion for President and Vice-President in such case, to he held and corapleted within six months of the expiration of the term of office of the last preceding President, and to be conducted in all respects as provided for in the Constitution for regular elections of the same officers ; except that, if the House of Eepresentatives shall not choose a Presi dent, should the right of choice devolve upon them, within twenty days of the opening of the certificates and counting of the Electoral votes, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the Presi dent. The term of office of the President chosen under such special election shall con tinue six years frora the 4th day of March preceding such election. " Art. xiv. No State shall secede, with out the consent of the Legislatures of all the States of the section to which the State pro posing to secede belongs. The President shall have power to adjust with seceding States all questions arising by reason df their secession ; but the terms of adjustment shall be submitted to the Congress for their ap proval before the same shall be valid. "Akt. XV. Neither the Congress nor a Territorial Legislature shall have power to interfere with the right of the citizens of any of the States within either of the sec tions to migrate, upon equal terms with the citizens of the States within either of the other sections, to the territories of the United States ; nor shall either have power to destroy or impair any rights of either person or property in the territories. New States annexed for admission into the Union, or formed or erected within the jurisdiction of the other States, or by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, and States formed with the consent of Congress out of any territory of the United States, shall be entitled to admission npon an equal footing with the original States, under any Constitution establishing a government re publican in form, which the people thereof may ordain, whenever such States shall con tain, within an area of not less than thirty thousand square miles, a population equal to the then existing ratio of representation for one member ofthe House of Eepresenta tives." Dr. Frankhn — ^who faUed to per. 386 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. ceive the wisdom of di-riding a legis lature into two 'houses' — once com pared said derice to that of a Dutch man, who, ha-ving a loaded wagon stuck fast in a bog, hitched a span of horses to eithef end and 'whipped up both ways.' It Is not certain that he might not have thus extricated his load— or, at least, overturned it ; for even our old Confederation, though a feeble and -ricious, was not an Im possible frame-work of government. We could not have so rapidly in creased in wealth or power under it ; yet we need not have permanently held In the scale of nations a lower rank than that of Switzerland or Sweden. But this project of Mr. Yallandigham, if adopted, would have given us a government which no civilized people could have en dured through a quarter of a cen tury — a government embodying in an aggravated form aU the vices of the old Confederation, with few or none of its -vfrtues — a government requiring a President, yet rendering his election a rare and happy acci dent — a Congress wherein the pas sage of a single act of any decided importance would be the event of a decade — a rule hardly to be endured, yet not to be escaped without a revo lution. For the chief end of this, as of nearly every kindred contrivance of the session, was the construction of a balance whereby three hundred thousand slaveholders would wei2,-h down twenty millions of freemen, and a section which systematically repels immigration, degrades industry, and discourages improvement, be ren dered endiiringly equal in power and consideration with one cherishing a pohcy radically antagonistic to this. Tet this ine-vitable disparity In growth and strength between the Free and the Slave States was the basis of all Southem discontent with -the TJnion, and to counteract or overbear it the object of every device for the removal of Southem grievances and the re dress of Southern -wrongs. The House Conimlttee of Thirty- three encountered the same obstacles, and achieved a hke failure, -with its counterpart in the Senate. Mr. Al bert Eust, of Arkansas, submitted to It '° a proposition which was substan tially identical with Mr. Crittenden's, and which he presented as the ulti matum of the South. It was voted down some days afterward: Yeas 12 ; Nays 15 : no Eepubhcan sustain ing It. On the 18th, Mr. Henry Winfer Da-ris, of Md., offered, the foUowing, which was adopted unani mously : " Resolved, by the Senate and Rouse of Representatives, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause their statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them are in conflict with, or tend to embarrass or hinder, the execution of the laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of the I Vth Article of the Constitution of the United States, for the delivering up of persons held to labor by the laws of any State and escaping there from ; and the Senate' and House of Eepre sentatives earnestly request that all enact ments ha-ving such tendency be forthwith repealed, as required by a just sense of con stitutional obligations, and by a due regard for the peace of the Eepublic. And the President of the United States is requested to communicate these resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with the request that they will lay the same before the Legislatures thereof respectively." Mr. Thomas Cor-wln, of Ohio, from a majority of this Committee, made an elaborate report, on the 14th of January, 1861, favoring concession ' Decem'oer 17 th. ME. COEWIN'S 'PEACE' MEASUEE. 387 and compromise, but not the line of 36° 30.' Messrs. C. C. Washbume, of Wisconsin, and Mason W. Tappan, of N. II., tendered a minority report, setting forth that, in -riew of the Ee bellion, now in progress, no conces sions should be made. They closed by submitting the resolve which had been offered In the Senate by Mr. Clark, of N. H., and which has afready been given. Messrs. Birch, of California, and Stout, of Oregon, submitted a sepa rate minority report, proposing a Convention of the States to amend the Federal Constitution: This pro posal had been voted down by 1-5 to 14 in the Committee, and it was likewise voted down in the House: Yeas 64 ; Nays 108. The Crittenden proposition was moved In the House, as a substitute for Mr. Corwin's, and rejected : Yeas 80 ; Nays 113. The conclusions of the Grand Com mittee, as reported by Mr. Corwin and sustained by the House, were as foUows : " 1. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer ica. in Congress assembled. That all attempts, on the part of the Legislatures of any of the States, to obstruct or hinder the recov ery and surrender of fugitives from labor, are in derogation of the Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with the comity and good neighborhood which should pre vail among the several States, and dangerr ous to the peace of the Union. 2. [Mr. H. Winter Davis's proposition, already given on page 386.] " S. Resohed, That we recognize Slavery as now existing in fifteen of the United States, by the usages or the laws of those States; and we recognize no authority, le gally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so exists, to interfere with slaves or Sla very in such States, in disregard of the rights of their owners or the peace of Society. "4. Resohed, That we recognize the just ness and propriety of a faithful execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursu ance thereof, on the subject of fugitive slaves, or fugitives from service or labor, and discountenance all mobs, or hindrances to the execution of such laws ; and that citi zens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. " 6. Resohed, That we recognize no such conflicting element in its composition, or sufficient cause from any source for a disso lution of this Government ; that we are not sent here to destroy, but to sustain and liar- raonize, the institutions, and to see that equal justice is done to all parts of the same; and, finally, to perpetuate its exist ence on terms of equality and justice to all the States. " 6. Resohed, That the faithful observ ance, on the part of all the States, of all their constitutional obligations to each other, ,'md to the Federal Government, is essential to the peace of the coimtry. "7. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce the Federal laws, protect the Federal property, and pre serve the Union of these States. " 8. Resohed, That each State is request ed to revise its statutes, and, if necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without legislation by Congress, to citizens of other States traveling therein, the same protection as citizens of such State enjoy; and that she alsQ protect the citizens of other States traveling or sojourning therein against popular violence or illegal summary punish ment, without trial, in due form of law, for imputed crimes. " 9. Resohed, That each State be also re spectfully requested to enact such laws as will prevent and punish any attempt what ever in such State to recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or ten-itory. " 10. Resohed, That tho President be re quested to transmit copies of the foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a request that they be commu nicated to their respective Legislatures." The Speaker decided Mr. Corwin's report an Indivisible proposition, and the House, after refusing to lay it on the table, finally passed It by the de cisive majority of 83 : Yeas 136 ; Nays 53 : the proportion of Eepuhli cans to anti-Eepublicans being about the same In the Yeas as In the Nays. Mr. Corwin further reported a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution, whereby any fii- 388 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. ture amendment giving Congress power over Slavery In the States is forbidden; which was defeated, not receiving the requisite two-thirds — Yeas 123 ; Nays 71. It was recon sidered, however, on motion of Mr. Daniel Kllgore, of Indiana, seconded by "' Mr. Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio ; adopted : Yeas 183 ; Nays 65 : and the Senate concurred : Yeas 24 ; Nays 12. This closed the efforts In Congress to disarm the sternly purposed Eebel lion, by yielding without bloodshed a substantial triumph to the Eebels. At this session, after the withdrawal of Southern members In such numbers as to give the Eepuhlicans a large majority in the House and a practical control of the Senate, three separate acts were passed, organiz;ing the Ter ritories of Colorado, Nevada, and Da- kotah respectively — ^the three together covering a very large proportion of all the remaining territory of the United States. All these acts were silent with regard to Slavery ; leav ing whatever rights had accrued to 'the South' under the Constitution, as interpreted and affirmed by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott de cision, not merely unlmpafred, but unassailed and unquestioned, by any Federal legislation or action. The passage of these acts in this form was certainly intended to soothe the prevalent madness, and to strengthen the Unionists of the South, especially ofthe Border States ; though it does not seem to have had any such effect. And, Indeed, it is not probable that cmy concession could have been made, after the withdrawal of Toombs, Daris, etc., from Washington, that would not. have evoked the stern answer — ' Too late !' XXV. PEACE DEMOCEACY — PEACE CONFEEENCE. On the 31st of January, 1861, a Democratic State Convention, called to consider the impending peril of Disunion, assembled at Twaddle HaU, Albany. It was probably the strong est and most imposing assemblage of delegates ever convened -ndthin the State. Not less than thirty of them had been chosen to seats in Congress, while three ' of them had been Demo cratic candidates for Governor ; one of them once elected, and since chosen again. Though called as 'Demo cratic,' there was a large and most respectable representation of the old Whig party, with a number who had figured as ' Americans.' No Conven tion which had nominations to make, or patronage to dispose of, was ever so influentially constituted. All sym pathizing State officers and members of the Legislature were formally in vited to participate in its delibera tions. Sanford E. Church, of Albion, was temporary Chairman, and Judge ^i"asa J. Parker, of Albany, Presi- ' February 28, 1861. i Horatio Seymour, Amasa J. Parker, and William Kelly. VIEWS 01" JUDGE. PAEKEE AND A. B. JOHNSON. 389 dent. On taking the Chafr, Judge Parker said : "This Convention has been called with no view to mere party objects. It looks only to the great interests of State. We meet here as conservative and representative men who have dififeredxamong themselves as to measures of governmental policy, ready, all of them, I trust, to sacrifice such diflfer- ences upon the altar of our common coun try. He can be no true patriot who is not ready to yield his own prejudices, to surren der a favorite theory, and to clip even from his own party platform, where such oraissi(m may save his country frora ruin otherwise inevitable. [Loud cheers.] " The people of this State demand the peaceful settlement of the questions that have led to disunion. They have a right to insist that there shall be conciliation, con cession, compromise. While yet the pillars of our political temple lie scattered on the ground, let them be used to reconstruct the edifice. The popular sentiment is daUy ga thering strength, and will overwhelm in its progress alike those who seek to stem it on' the frail plank of party platforms and those who labor to pervert it to mere party advan tage. [Cheers.]" The venerable Alex. B. Johnson, of Utica, followed, in an address which lauded the good understandhig which had always existed between the Democratic party and the South ; which he attributed to a mutual dread of the undue extension and aggran dizement of Federal power. He said : " To a superficial observer, our difficulties consist of revolutionary movements in the Southern States ; but these movements are only symptoms of a disorder, not the disorder itself; and, before we can treat the disorder understandingly, with a view to its remedy, we must understand its cause ; and we shall find it in the avowed principles on which the late presidential election was conducted to its flnal triumph — principles inculcating sectional hate in place of federal kindness ; in direct contravention with the dying in junctions of the Father of his Country, and of the most eminent of his successors in the presidency. General Jackson." He proceeded to blame the Eepub hcans, " whose principles and con duct have produced the mischief," for refusing to give ' the South' such guarantees of her rights as are re quired ; adding : " What the guarantees should be is in vain for us to prescribe, having no power to either inaugurate them or to conduct thera to a successful consummation ; but, speaking for the Democratic party of this State, and of, we believe, the whole Union, and, indeed, for a vast body of citizens not identified with any party, we feel safe in saying that no guarantee will be unwelcome that shall give the South, and all' its property, the same rights that are or shall be possessed by the North and its property : the same rights which the South possessed at the commence ment of the confederacy : Slavery being at that time no object of antagonism, but the comraon institution of all the States but one ; and we will accord this equality the more readily, by reason that any settleraent which shall continue any inequality between the North and the South will be prejudicial to the permanency of the settleraent, and hence should not be offered by the North, even if the South, from a love of the Union, should be willing to remain therein with less than an equality of its advantages." He considered the prescribed modes of amending the Constitution, and then conthiued: " Possibly, all remedies may be withheld till the seceded States shall have become confederated together and refuse to return. In the possibility of this unhappy determi nation, and which the present aspect of par ties compels us to consider, we are certain that the will of a large portion of the citi zens of this State is against any armed coer cion, on the part of the General or State governments, to restore the Union by civil war; and, in this connection, we have seen with disapprobation the haste evinced by our Legislature to imbrue their hands in fraternal blood, and the pernicious zeal which, without even the apology of any le gislative direction, induced the transmission of this aggressive intention to the governors of not -only the seceded States, but of the Border States, who, at the time, were strug gling to restrain their, citizens from seces sion, and thus revealing to us, that, unless our Northern people interfere, the mistaken sectionalism, which has produced our pre sent misfortunes, is not to be corrected by any evidence of its destructiveness, but is to be continued by partisans, till the South is either subjugated or destroyed. The advo cates of this horrid violence against the doc trines of our Declaration of Independence, and which, if successful in its object, would 390 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. constitute a more radical revolution in our form of government than even secession, certainly mistake not only the age in which we live, but the people whom they repre sent, and who sympathize in no desire to take a bloody revenge on those who think they can live more peacefully and prosper ously alone, than in a Union with those who have, for years, irritated them alraost to madness, by denouncing them as a reproach and a disgrace." Mr. Johnson concluded in these words : "But we are asked, rather triumphantly, ' Have we a government?' The question is intended to imply, that the government must be strong enough for self-preservation, whatever may become a necessary means. The answer is, that the government is as strong as its founders could agree to make it. Its weakness in emergencies like the present was foreseen by the men that framed the Constitution; but they soon perceived that they must take the Constitution, as it now stands, or no confederation could be forraed. If, therefore, we now atterapt to strengthen the government by coercive ac tion, which all men know its founders would have rejected with scorn, we are the revo lutionists, and not the South; so jealous, in deed, were the States of Federal interference, that its protection of them against domestic violence was prohibited, till the disturbed State applied for protection by its legisla ture, or by its chief executive when the le gislature could not be convened. If, then, the States would not accept protection from the general government till it was demand ed, how much less would they have accepted coercion against their own actions ! The government was strong enough while ce mented by mutual good fellowship ; bnt no government, and ours the least of all, is suffi ciently strong to resist incessant aggravations. Finally, if Congress and our States cannot, or will not, win back our Southern brethren, let us, at least, part as friends ; and then pos sibly, if experience shall, as we suppose it will, show the departed States that, in leaving the Union, they have only deserted a happy home, they may be willing to sue us to re admit them ; or, if they shall find a perma nent separation more desirable than Union, we may still exist together as useful and pro fitable neighbors, assisting each other when either is threatened by injustice from the nations of Europe; and the two sections, in stead of wasting their time and energies in quarreling with each other about Slavery, will at least have raore tinie to severally era- ploy all their energies in seeking then- own prosperity in their own way." Gov. Horatio Seymour foUowed^ berating the Eepubhcans generaUy, but especially those In Congress, as the responsible authors of the perils darkening the National sky. now Eeferring to the refasal of the Eepub hcans in Congress to cooperate in the legahzation of Slavery in the territo ries, he asked : "What spectacle do we present to-day? Already six States have withdrawn from this confederacy. Eevolution has actually be gun. The term 'secession' divests it of none of its terrors, nor do arguments to prove secession inconsistent with our Constitution stay its progress, or mitigate its e'vils. All "virtue, patriotisin, and intelligence, seem to have fled from our National Capitol ; it has been well likened to the conflagration of an asylum for madmen-^some look on with idiotic imbecility ; some in sullen silence ; and some scatter the firebrands which consume the fabric above thera, and bring upon all a common destruction. Is there one revolting aspect in this scene which has not its paral lel at the Capitol of your country ? Do you not see there the senseless imbecility, the garrulous idiocy, the maddened rage, dis played with regard to petty personal passions and party purposes, while the glory, the honor, and the safety of the country are all forgotten ? The same pervading fanaticism has brought evil upon all the institutions of our land. Our churches are torn asunder and desecrated to partisan purposes. The wrongs of our local legislation, the growing burdens of debt and taxation, the gradual destruction of the African in the Free States, which is marked by each recurring census, are all due to the neglect of our own duties, caused by the complete absorption of the public mind by a senseless, unreasoning fana ticism. The agitation of the question of Slavery has thus far brought greater social, mora), and legislative evils upon the people of the free States than it has upon the insti tutions of those against whom it has been excited. The wisdom of Frapklin stamped upon the flrst coin issued by our government, the wise motto, 'Mind your business!' The violation of this homely proverb, which lies at the foundation of the doctrines of local rights, has, thus far, proved more hurtful to the meddlers iu the atfairs of others than to those against whom this pragmatic action is directed." Gov. Seymour proceeded to argue that the North had, thus far, had GOT. SEYMOUE UEGES CONCESSION. 391 greatly the advantage in the di-vision or disposition of the Federal territo ries — ^that the claims put forth on be half of the South were just and rea sonable — that the differeiice ought to be settled by compromise — ^that we have no alternative but compromise or civU war- -adding : "We are advised by the conservative States of Yirginia and Kentucky that, if force is to be used, it must be exerted against the united South. It would be an act of folly and madness, in entering upon this contest, to underrate our opponents, and thus subject ourselves to the disgrace of defeat in an in glorious warfare. Let us also see if success ful coercion by the North is less revolution ary than successful secession by the South. Shall yfe prevent revolution by being fore most in overthrowing the principles of our government, and 'all that makes it valuable to our people, and distinguishes it among the nations of the earth ?" ^ Gov. Seymour proceeded to dilate on the valor and sagacity of the men of the South — ^the extent of their coast-line, rendering its effectual blockade nearly Impossible — the ruin of our own industry which must re sult from civU war — and to urge afresh the necessity of compromise ; saying : " The question is simply this — ' Shall we have compromise after war, or compromise without war ?' " He urged that a compromise was requfred, not to pacify the States which have seceded from the Union, but to save the Border States from following, by strengthening the hands of their Unionists. There is no point whereon men are apt to e-rince more generosity than In the sacrifice of other men's convic tions. - What they may consider vital principles, but which we regard as besotted prejudices or hypocritical pretenses, we are always willing to subordinate to any end which we consider beneficent. In fact, a frank, Ingenuous confession of the errors and sins of his adversaries is one of the ' pohtician's commonest exhibi tions of sincerity and patriotism. Thus Gov. Seymour continues : " Let us take care that we do not mistake passion and prejudice and partisan purposes for principle. The cry of 'no compromise' is false in morals ; it is treason to the spirit of the Constitution ; it is infldelity in religion : the cross itself is a compromise, and is plead ed by many who refuse all charity to their fellow-citizens. It is the -vital principle of social existence ; it unites the family circle ; it sustains the church, and upholds' national ities. " But the Eepuhlicans complain that, hav ing won a victory, we ask them to surren der its fruits. We do not wish thera to give up any political advantage. We urge mea sures which are demanded by the honor and the safety of our Union. Can it be that they are less concerned than we are ? Will they admit that they have interests antagonistic to those of the whole commonwealth ? Are they raaking sacrifices, when they do that which is required by the coraraon welfare ?" Had New England and some other of the Fremont States revolted, or threatened to revolt, after the elec tion of 1856, proclaiming that they would never recognize nor obey Mr. Buchanan as President, unless ample guarantees were acfcorded them that Kansas should thenceforth be regard ed and treated as a Free Territory or State, would any prominent Demo crat have thus insisted that this de mand should be complied with? Would he have urged that the ques tion of Freedom or Slavery in Kan sas should be submitted to a direct popular vote^^as the only means of averting civil war ? Yet Gov. Sey mour demanded the submission of the Crittenden Compromise to such a vote, under circumstances wherein (as Gov. Seward had so forcibly sta ted) " the argument of fear" was the only one rehed on, and Eepubhcans were to be coerced into voting for 392 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. that Compromise, or staying away from the polls ; not that their con viction's had changed one iota, but because they could only thus avert the unutterable woes and horrors of a gigantic and desperate civil war. Mp. James S. Thayer (a Whig of other days) followed In a speech which urged the call, by the Legisla ture, of a constitutional State Con vention, to march abreast with simi lar Conventions In the Border Slave States, In quest of " some plan of ad justment on this great question of difference between the North and the South." He continued : " If we cannot, we can at least, in an au thoritative way and a practical manner, arrive at the basis of a peaceable separation [re newed cheers] ; we can at least by discussion enlighten, settle, and concentrate the public sentiment in the State of New York upon this question, and save it frora that fear ful current, that circuitously, but certainly, sweeps raadly on, through the narrow gorge of 'the enforcement of the laws,' to the shoreless ocean of civil war. [Cheers.] Against this, under all circumstances, in every place and form, we must now aud at all times oppose a resolute and unfaltering resistance. The public mind will bear the avowal, and let us make it — that if a revolu tion of force is to begin, it shall be inaugu rated at home. [Cheers.] And if the in coming Administration shall attempt to carry out the line of policy that has been foreshadowed, we announce that, when the hand of Black Eepublioanism turns to blood- red, and seeks from the fragment of the Constitution to construct a scaffiilding for coercion — another narae for execution — we will reverse the order of the French Eevo lution, and save the blood of the people by making those who would inaugurate a reign of terror the first victims of a national guil lotine." [Enthusiastic applause.]" Mr. Thayer proceeded to argue that Southern Secession, under the circumstances, was justified by ur gent considerations of necessity and safety. He said : " The Democratic and Union party at the North made the issue at the last election with the Eepublican party that, in the event of their success, and the establishment of their policy, the Southern States not only would go out of the Union, but would have adequate cause for doing so. [Applause.] Who of us believed that,- with the govern ment in the hands of a party whose avowed policy was no more slave States, no further extension of Slavery, and asserting the power and duty of Congress to prohibit it in all the territories, that the Southern States would remain in the Union ? It seems to me, thus encompassed and menaced, they could not, with safety to their largest interest, and any prudent consideration for their future con dition and welfare, continue in the confed eracy. What would become, in twenty-five years, of 8.000,000 of white people and 4,000,000 of slaves, with their natural in crease, walled in by Congressional prohibi tion, besieged and threatened by a party holding the seats of Federal power and pat ronage, that, according to the doctrine of the President elect, mUst ' arrest the further spread of Slavery,' and place the institution itself ' where the public raind will rest satis- ^ The Bangor (Maine) TJnion of about this date (copied approvingly into The Cincinnati Enquirer of February Sth), said : " The difficulties between the North and the South must be compromised, or the separation of the States shall be peaceable. If the Re pubhcan party refuse to go the full length of the Crittenden Amendment — which is the ver-y- least the South can or ought td take — then, liere in Maine, not a Democrat will be found wliD wiU raise an arm against his brethren of the South. From one end of the State to the other, let the cry of the Democracy be, Compromise oe Peace able Sbparatiojt." Tlie Detroit Free Press of February 3d or 4th (copied into The Cincinnati Enquirer of February 6th), more boldly and frankly said : " We can tell the Republican Legislature, and j the Republican Administration of Michigan, and the Eepublican party everywliere, one thing : tliat, if the refusal to repeal the Personal Liberty laws shall be persisted in, and if there shall not be a change in the present seeming purpose to yield to no accommodation of the National diffi culties, aud if troops shall be raised iu the North to march against the people of the South, u. fire in the rear will be opened upon such troops, which will either stop their march altogether, or wonder fully accelerate it. "In other words, if, in the present posture of tho Republican party toward the National diffi culties, war shall be waged, that war will be fought in Ihe North. We warn it that the con flict, which it is precipitating, will not be with the South, but with tens of thousands of people in tlie North. When civil war shall oome, it will be here in Michigan, and here in Detroit, and ia every Northern State." J. S. THATEE AND E. H. WALWOETH ON 'PEACE. 393 fied in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction?' " This is the position I took, with 313,000 voters in the' State of New York, on the 6th of November last. I shall not recede from it ; having admitted that, in a certain contingency, the Slave States would have just and adequate causes for a separation. Now that the contingency has happened, I shall not withdraw that adraission, because they have been unwise or unreasonable in the ' time, mode, and measure of redress.' [Applause.] '¦ Aside from particular acts that do not admit of any justification, those who imagine that the Southern States do not well know what they are about, forget that they have been forfifteen years looking at this thing with all its importance to their largest interest, as well as to their safety, and mistake the deep and deliberate movement of a revolution for the mere accidents and incidents which al ways accompany it. [Applause.] There are some Democrats and Union men who, when the fever for a fight has subsided, will wake np and wonder that they mistook the mad ness of passion for the glow of patriotism. Again: we should consider that, whatever may be om- construction ofthe Constitution under which we live, as to any right under it for one or more States to go out of the Union, when six States, by the deliberate, formal, authoritative action of their people, dissolve their connection with the govern ment, and nine others say that that dissolu tion shall be final if the seceding members so choose, announcing to the North, 'No interference ; we stand between you and them.' Can you bring them back? No! Enforcement of the laws in six States is a war with fifteen. And, after all, to speak plainly on this subject, and reveal the true secret of the utter repugnance of the people to resort to any coercive measures, it is within their plain judgment and practical comraon sense, that tbe- very raoraent you go outside the narrow circle of the written letter and provisions of the Constitution of the United States, you are confronted with the great world of facts, and find this is not a consolidated governraent; not a govern ment of the whole people in the sense and meaning now attached to it. [Applause.]" Mr. Thayer proceeded to speak of "coercion" in terms which 'go far to elucidate the outcry since made against aUeged usurpations and dis regard of personal rights in dealing with partisans of the EebeUion. Said' he: "It is announced that the Eepublican Administration will enforce the laws against and in all the seceding States. A nice dis crimination must be exercised in the per- forra.ance of this duty : not a hair's breadth outside the raark. You reraember the story of William Tell, who, when the condition was imposed upon hira to shoot an apple from the head of his own child, after he had per formed the task, he let fall an arrow. ' For what is that?' said Gesler. 'To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy !' [Cheers.] Let one arrow winged by the Federal bow strike the heart of an American citizen, and who can number the avenging darts that will cloud the heavens in the confiict that will ensue? [Prolonged applause.] What, then, is the duty of the State of New York? What shall we say to our people when we come to meet this state of facts ? That the Union must be preserved. But. if that cannot be, what then? Peaceable separa tion. [Applause.] Painful and humiliating as it is, let us temper it with all we can of love and kindness, so that we may yet be left in a comparatively prosperous condi tion, in friendly relations with anotlier Con federacy. [Cheers.]" The Committee on Eesolutions hav ing reported, the venerable ex-Chan cellor, Eeuben H. Walworth, ap peared on the platform In support of the second, which earnestly depreca ted civil war ; saying : ."Civil War will not restore the Union, but wUl defeat, forever, its reconstruction." Said the ex-Chancellor : " It would be as brutal, in my opinion, to send men to butcher our own brothers of the Southern States, as it would be to massacre them in the Northern States. We are told, however, that it is our duty to, and we must, enforce the laws. But why — and what laws are to be enforced? There were laws that were to be enforced in the time of the Ame rican Eevolution, and the British Parliament and Lord North sent armies here to enforce them. "But what did Washington say in regard to the enforcement of those laws? That man — honored at home and abroad more than any other man on earth ever was hon ored—did he go for enforcing the laws? No, he went to resist laws that were oppres sive against a free people, and against the injustice of which they rebelled. [Loud cheers.] " Did Lord Chatham go for enforcing the laws? No, he gloried in defense of the libv 391: THB AMEEICAN CONFLICT. erties of America. He made that memo rable declaration in the British Parliament, 'If I was an American citizen instead of being as I ara, an Englishman, I never would subrait to such laws — never, never, never!' [Prolonged applause.]" A sing-le voice was raised In dissent from these inculcations. A Mr. El- seffer having proposed to amend one of the reported resolutions by an as sertion that, if the Federal Govern ment should undertake to "use force," "under the specious and unienable pretense of enforcing the laws," It would " plunge the nation into civil war," and been warmly Supported therein by Mr. Thayer and others, Hon. Geo. W. Chnton,'' of Buffalo, rose In opposition, and said : " We all agree in detesting the very thought of war. [Applause.] But is our country gone? Is the Union dissolved? Is there no governiueiit binding these States in peace and harmony ! Why, the proposi tion was before you, ten minutes ago, that this Union was dissolved, and you voted it down. God grant it may for ever continue ! [Applause.] Oh ! let us conciliate our erring brethren who, under a strange delusion, have, as they say, seceded from us ; but, for God's sake, do not let us humble the glorious government under which we have been so happy ! — which has done, and, if we will by judicious means sustain it, will yet do, so much for the happiness of mankind. [Ap plause.] " Gentlemen : I hate to use a word that would offend my Southern brother, erring as he does ; buf we have reached a time when, as a man — if you please, as a Demo crat — I must use plain terms. There is no s'lich thing as legal secession. There is no such thing, I say, unless it is a secession which is authorized by the original com pact, — and the Constitution of these United States was intended to form a firm and per petual Union. [Cheers.] There is no war rant for it in the Constitution. Where, then, do you find the warrant for it? It is in the unhappy delusion of our Southern brethren, who doubt our love for them and our attach ment to the Constitution. Let us remove that illusion. We will try to do it. But if secession be not lawful, oh! what is it? I use the term reluctantly but truly — it is re bellion ! [Cries of ' No ! No ! revolution, '] It is rebellion ! rebellion against the noblest governraent that man ever framed for his own benefit and for the benefit of the world." " [A Voice: AVe are all rebels, then.]" " Judge Clistos" : May be so, sir. Gen tlemen, this secession doctrine is not a new thing. The people have passed upon it. They passed upon it in the last war. You may do what you please, my friend; but I never, never can be prevailed upon to see, by any process of reasoning, by any impulse of feeling, that the Hartford Convention was not what the people ofthe Union pronounced it — a damnable treason. [Applause.] What is it — this secession ? I am not speaking of the men. I love the men, but I hate trea son. What is it, but the nullification of aU the rights of the United States, and the exe cution of the laws ! A threat to reject them, in arms ! It is nullification by the whole sale. I, for one, have venerated Andrew Jackson, and my blood boiled, in old time, when that brave patriot and soldier of De mocracy said — ' The Union — it must and shall be preserved!' [Loud applause.] Pre serve it ! Preserve it ! Why should wa preserve it, if it would be the thing that these gentlemen would make it — that this amendment would make it! Why should we Ipve a governraent that has no dignity and no power? [Applause.] Admit the doctrine, and what have you? A govern ment that no man who is a freeman ought to be content for one day to live under. Admit it, and any State, of its own sovereign will, may retire from the Union ! Look at it for a moment. Congress, for just cause,^ — for free trade or sailor's rights — declares war. Oh ! where is your government ! Why should it! What right has it to declare war ! The Constitution invested that power in it, but one State says, ' War is not for me — I secede' And so another and another, and tlie government is rendered powerless. * * * '"I understand this amendment to have this point, and no other. It is perfectly nu gatory and useless, unless it has this point, because all the other points for which it can provide are already provided for in the reso lution. It is this : You shall use no force to protect the property of the United States, to retain it in your possession, or to collect your revenue for the common benefit, and the payment of the common debt. Now, I ara willing to say, that the government is false to itselfj false to us, and false to all, if it should use more than necessary force for these purposo3 ; but I ara not prepared to humble the general government at the feet ofthe seceding States. [Applause.] I am unwilling to say to the government, ' You must abandon your property — you must 2 Son of the illustrious De Witt Clinton. 'PEACE' EESOLVBS OF THE NEW TOEK DEMOCEACY. 395 cease to collect the revenues, because you are threatened!' " In other words, gentlemen, it seems to me — and I know I speak the wishes of my constituents, — that, while I abhor coercion, in one sense, as war, I wish to preserve the dignity of the government of these United States as well. [Applause.]" Mr. Elseffer's amendment was thereupon withdrawn, and tte origi nal resolutions unanimously adopted. They are eight in number ; where of the first affirms that " the crisis into which the country has jseen thrown" has been produced by " the conflict of sectional passions ;" and that the calamities now imminent of civU war can only be averted by con cessions. The second condemns a resort to civil war, on the part of the Federal Government, asserting that " cIvU war -wiU not restore the IJnion, but -wiU* defeat, for ever, its recon struction." The third calls for con cihation, concession, and compromise, declaring that " It would be monstrous to refuse them." The fourth declares that It is eminently fit that we should hsten to the appeals of loyal men In the Border States. The fifth approves of the Crittenden proposition, and urges that it be submitted by the Legislature to a vote of the electors of this State. The sixth urges npon Congress " adequate measures of con cihation," and requests the Legisla ture to take steps toward the sum moning of a Convention ofthe States. The seventh urges a compliance with the request ofthe Legislature of Yir ginia for a meeting of Commissioners at Washington, and asks the Legis lature of JSTew York to appoint Com missioners thereto ; and, in case of its faUure, names seven eminent citi zens — not one of them a Eepubhcan — as such Commissioners. The eighth implores " the States in the attitude of secession to stay the sword and save the nation froni civil war," so as to give time for perfecting a compro mise; appealing also to the non* seceded Southern States to act in a similar spirit. Committees were ap pointed to present these resolutions to Congress and. to the State Legis lature, as also to correspond with other States ; and then the Conven tion adjourned, after empowering its President to reconvene it in his dis cretion. The action of this Convention was of great moment under two distinct aspects ; first, as indicating truly and clearly the light In which the Seces sion movement was regarded by the ' conservative' politicians of the IS'orth ;". secondly, as revealing to the * The Albany Argus, for example, of November 10, 1860 — four days after the election of Mr. Lin coln — thus clearly and temperately expressed the view generally taken ofthe Secession move ment by the Democratic journals of the Free States : " We are not at aU surprised at the manifesta tions of feeling at the South. We expected and predicted it ; and for so doing were charged by the Eepublican press with favoring disunion; while, iu fact, we simply correctly appreciated the feeling of that section of the Union. We sympEfthize with and justify the South, as far as this — ^their rights have been invaded to the ex treme Umit possible within the forms of the Constitution, and, beyond this limit, their feel ings have been Insulted and their interests and honor assailed by almost every possible form of denunciation and invective ; and, if we deemed it certain that the real animus of the Bepublican party could be carried into the administration of the Federal Government, and become the per manent policy of the nation, we should think that aU the instincts of self-preservation and of manhood rightfully impelled them to a resort to revolution and a separation from the Union, and we would applaud them and wish them God speed in the adoption of such a remedy." In the same spirit, The Eochester Union, two or three days later, argued that the threatened secession of the Slave States was but a counter poise of the Personal Liberty bills and other 396 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. South the probable action of those ' conservatives,' should the Union be constrained to defend itself by force against a slaveholding effort for its disintegration and overthrow. And, whatever may have been the intent of those assembled, it Is certain that the sentiments expressed by Messrs. Parker, A. B. Johnson, Seymour, Thayer, etc., and the approving re sponse which they elicited, were hailed by the engineers of Secession as proof positive that they would either not be forcibly opposed at all, or would have no difficulty in overcoming, by the help of their sympathizing friends and allies in the Free States, any resistance to their purpose that might be offered.' Mr. Eoscoe Conkling attests that, when the proceedings of this Convention reached Washington, they were hailed with undisguised exultation by the Secessionists still lingering in the halls of Congress; one of whom said to him triumphant ly, " If your President should attempt coercion, he will have more opposi tion at the North than he can over-' come." ° The " Peace Conference," or Con gress, so called, was assembled on the unanimous in-sdtation of the Legisla- measures of antagonism to slaveholding at the North. Said The Union : " Eestrictiug our remarks to actual violations of the Con stitution, the North have led the way, and for a long period have been the sole offenders or aggressors. For many years, laws have been on the statute-books of Northern States, which were passed with the avowed object of prevent ing the ' delivering up' of fugitive slaves,, which the Constitution says, ' .ihoM be delivered up.' Owing to their different circumstances, Northern States have been enabled to secure their che rished object by violating the Constitution in a way that does not necessitate secession from, or a. dissolution of, the Union. Owing to tlieir peculiar circumstances, the Southern States can not retaliate upon the North without taking ground for secession from or a dissolution of the Union. But, in resorting to this mode and measure of redress, they simply followed the example set by Northern States in violating the Constitution to such an extent as they deem neces sary to secure tlieir objects. The Northern States stopped at one given point in their career of nuUiflcatlon, because they had no object to gain by going further. The Southern States propose to stop at another given point, which, in their Judgment, is indicated by the necessities of their position." ^ The Albany Argus of Nov. 12, 18G0, said: " Should secession from the Union be actually attempted by South Carolina alone, or in connec tion with other States, it will be amost important question for the present and next Administra tion, how it shall be treated. Shall it be met by force ? Shall the mihtary power of the Govern ment be employed to retain seceding States within the Union, and compel them to yield obedience to the requiremeuts of tlio Constitu tion ? Waiving, in what we now have to say, all question about the riglit of secession, we be-" lieve tha*,, as a matter of practical administration, neither Mr. Buchanan nor Mr. Lincoln will em- ploy force against the seceding States. If South Carolina, or any other StaEe, through a conven tion of her people, shall formally separate her self from the Union, probably both the present and the next Executive will simply lelfher alone, and quietly allow all the functions ofthe Federal Government within her limits to be suspended. Any other course would be madness ; as it would at once enlist all the Southern States in the con troversy, and plunge the whole country into a civil war. The flrst gun fired in the way of forcing a seceding State back to her allegiance to the Union, would probably prove the knell of its flnal dismemberment. As a matter of pohcy and wisdom, therefore, independent of the ques tion of right, we should deem resort to force most disastrous." Tim New York Herald of November 9th — ^the third day after that ofthe Presidential .election — in its leading editorial, had said : "For far less thau this [the election of Lin coln], our fathers seceded from Great Britain; and they left revolution organized in every State, to act whenever it is demanded by p-ublic opinion. The confederation is held together only by pub lic opinion. Each State is organized as a com plete government, holding the purse and wield ing the sword, possessing tlie right to break the He of ihe confederation as a nation miglit break a treaty, and to repel co'ercion as a nation might repel inva sion. * * * Coercion, if it were possible, is out of the question." The Charleston Courier of November, 1860, announced the formation of Military organizar tions in various parts ofthe North in defense of . 'Southern rights.' AUentown, Pa., was speci- flod as one of the points at which such forces were mustering and drilling. PEOPOSITIONS IN THE 'PEACE' CONFEEENCE. 397 ture of Virginia,^ and convened' in Washington one month prior to Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Thir teen Free States were represented, viz. : Maine, New Hampshire, Yer mont, Massachusetts, Ehode Island,. Connecticut, New York, New Jer sey, Pennsylvania, Oliio, Indiana, Ilhnois, and Iowa ; and seven Slave States, viz. : Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. Ex-Presi dent John Tyler, of Yirginia, was called to the Chair. On motion of Mr. James Guthrie, of Kentucky, it was' " Resolved, That a Committee of one from each State be appointed by the Commission ers thereof, to be nominated to the Presi dent, and to be appointed by him, to whom shall be referred the resolutions of the State of Virginia, and the other States represent ed, and all propositions for the adjustment of existing difficulties between States ; with authority to report what they raay deem right, necessary, and proper, to restore har mony and preserve the Union ; and that they report on or before Friday." This Committee was composed as foUows : Maine, Lot M. Morrill ; New Hampshire, Asa Fowler ; Yermont, Hiland Hall ; Mas- sachusetts, Francis B. Crowninshield ; Rhode Island, Samuel Ames ; Connecticut, Roger S. Baldwin ; JSfew York, David Dudley Field ; New Jersey, Peter D. Vrooin ; Pennsylva nia, Thomas White ; Ohio, Thomas Ewing ; Indiana, Charles B. Smith; Illinois, Ste phen F. Logan ; Iowa, James Harlan ; Dela ware, Daniel M. Bates ; Uorth Carolina, Thomas Euffin ; 'Virginia, James A. Seddon ; KentuA:hy,3a.i'aes Guthrie; Maryland, Eev erdy Johnson ; Tennessee, F. K. ZoUicoffer ; Missouri, A. W. Doniphan. Mr. Guthrie, from the majority of said Committee, on the 15th, made a report, recommending several amend ments to be ingrafted on the Federal Constitution ; which amendments, as perfected and voted on by the Conference, wIU hereafter be given. Gov. Eoger S. Baldwin [Eepubli can], of Connecticut, made a dissent ing report ; recommending that, in stead of the aforesaid amendments, this body adopt and recommend the suggestion of the Legislature of Ken tucky — that of a General Convention of the States. [His proposition wiU be given in full. In connection with its disposal by the Conference.] Mr. James A. Seddon, of Yirginia, made another minority report, where in he affirms that the majority report would not be acceptable to Yirginia, So early as Nov.* 30, 1860, Gov. John Letcher, of Virginia, who, as a Douglas Democrat and former anti-Slavery man, was regarded as among the most moderate of Southem politicians, in an swer to a Union letter from Eev. Lewis P. Clover, a Democrat of Springfield, HI., had said : " I now consider the overthrow of the Union absolutely certain. South Carolina wUl secede ; aud the chain, once broken, is not very likely to be reiinited. * * * Unless something shall be speedily done to quiet the apprehensions of the South, the Union is gone beyond all hope." Mr. Clover replied, stating that he had shown Gov. L.'s letter to Mr. Lincoln (who asked Mr. C, whether it was just to hold him responsible for the Personal Liberty bills, etc., which he had never favored), and trusting that the President elect would "be found a friend to the South." Gov. Letcher responded (Deo. 25, 1860), saying: "I regard the govemment as now doomed, beyond a contingency, to destruction. * * » i have lost all hope, as I see no disposition in the free States to adjust the controversy. We have just heard from Washington that the Eepuhli cans have presented their ultimatum; and I say to you, in sincerity and sorrow, that it will never be assented to. I believe ninety-nine men out of every hundred in Virginia wiU repudiate it with scorn. Conservative as I am, and laboring as I have been for months to secure an adjust ment, before I will assent to that proposition, I will welcome civil war with all its horrors. It would be dishonorable in the South to accept it ; and my motto is, 'Death before dishonor.' " Such were the Southern Unionists whom the Eepuhlicans were expected to conciliate, and stigmatized as repelling. ' Adopted January 19, 1861. " February 4th. ' Ou the 6th. 398 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. because it gave less to the South than even the Crittenden Compro mise ; whereas, Yirginia required the whole of that, and something more. He proposed sundry amendments to the Federal Constitution, in addition to the guarantee to Slavery, forever, of all territory south of 36° 30'; one of which secures- to every slaveholder the right to take his slave through any non-slaveholding State or terri tory, in passing from one slavehold ing State or territory to another ; and also secures to him protection for his slaves.as property, while at sea on such a j ourney . Another isinthesewords: "Aetiole Y. Sec. 1. The elective fran chise and the right to hold office, whether Federal, State, territorial, or municipal, shall not be exercised by persons who are, in whole or in part, of the African race." Another of these amendments pre sumes, and recognizes, the right of peaceable State secession, undertak ing to guard against Its abuses. Mr. Charles A. Wickliffe, of Ken tucky, proposed that this Convention request the several States which have passed Personal Liberty bills, to ab rogate them ; also, that they allow slaves to be carried across their soil respectively. Mr. Amos Tuck [Eepublican], of New Hampshire, submitted an Ad dress to the People of the United States, " deploring the divisions and distractions that now afflict our coun try," but deprecating secession or vio lence, and insisting that " the Consti tution of the. United States, properly understood and fairly enforced, is equal to every exigency." Mr. Tuck's address closed -wdth three resolutions ; which will be given hereafter. Gov. S. P. Chase, of Ohio, pro posed that this Convention adjourn to the 4th of AprU, to enable other States to be represented therein : but this was not agreed to. After several days' discussion and consideration, with votes upon vari ous amendments, Mr. David Dudley Field, of New York, moved to amend the Conomittee's report, by striking out § 7, and inserting as foUows : "Aetiole 1. No State shall withdraw frora the Union without the consent of all the States, given in a Convention of the States, convened in pursuance of an act passed by two-thirds of each House of Congress." This proposition was rejected," as follows : Ays — Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts. New York, NewHamp- sliire, Vermont, Kansas — 10. Noes — Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vir ginia — 11. Mr. Guthrie's report at length coming up for action thereon, Gov. Baldwin moved a substitution for said report of his proposition aforesaid; which was In the foUowing words: " TF7ie7-e(i;s,iinhappy dilferences exist which have ahenated from each other portions of the people of the United States to such an extent as seriously to disturb the peace of the nation, and impair the regular and effi cient action of the Governmenlrwithin the sphere of its constitutional powers and duties: "And whereas, the Legislature of the State of Kentucky has m.4de application to Con gress to call a Convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the Uni ted States : "And whereas, it is believed to be the opinion of the people of other States that amendments to the Constitution are or may become necessary to secure to the people of the United States, of every section, the full and equal enjoyment of their rights and lib erties, so far as the same may depend for their security and protection on the powers granted to or withheld from the General Governraent, in pursuance of the national purposes for which it was ordained and established : "And whereas, it may be expedient that such amendments as any of the States may 'February 26, 1861. EEPUBLICAN OVEETUEES EEJECTED. 899 dpsire to have proposed, should be presented to the Convention in such form as the re spective States desiring the same may deem proper : "This convention does, therefore, recom mend to the several States to unite with Kentucky in her application to Congress to call a Convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the sev eral States, or to conventions therein, for ratification, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress, in accordance with the provision in the fifth article of the Constitution :" which was defeated by the following vote: Ays — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont — 8. Noes — Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Ma ryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Caro lina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Ten nessee, Virginia, Kansas — 13. Mr. Seddon's project, excluding that part, which pro-vides for State secession, was likewise moved as a substitute, and defeated by the fol lowing vote : Ays — Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia — i. Noes — Connecticut, Delaware, niinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Tennes see, Vermont, Kansas — 16. Mr. James B. Clay," of Kentucky, now moved a very long substitute, which was substantially Mr. Seddon's over again; which was rejected by the foUovtdng vote : Axs — Kentucky, Missouri, North Caro lina, Tennessee, Virginia— 5. Noes —Connecticut, Deliware, Illinois, Indiana, ilaine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Ver mont — 14. Mr. Tuck's proposition, consisting of an address and three resolves, was now moved as a substitute. His re solves were as follows : " 1st. Resolved, That this Convention rec ognize tho well understood proposition that the Constitution of the United States gives no power to Congress, or any branch of the Federal Government, to interfere in any manner with Slavery in any of the States ; and we are assured, by abundant testimony, that neither of tho great political organiza tions existing in the country contemplates a violation of the spirit of the Constitution in this regard, or the procuring of any amend ment thereof, by which Congress, or any department of the General Government, shall ever have jurisdiction over Slavery in any of the States. "2d. Re'n' or 'invasion' of a State? If so, their idea of means to preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy. If sick* the little pills of the homoeopathist vtould be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would seem to be no regu lar marriage, but rather a sort of free-love arrangement, to be maintained on ' passional attraction.' By the way, in what consists . the special sacredness of a State ? I speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union hy the Constitution ; for that is the bond we all recognize. That position, how ever, a State cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of' that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and to ruin all wliich is larger than itself If a State and a County, in a given case, should be equal in extent of territory and equal in number of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of principle-, is the State better than the County? Would an exchange of names be an exchange of rights? L^pon principle, on what rightful ground may a State, being no more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in sail and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportion ally larger subdivision of itself in tho most arbitrary way ? What mysterious right, to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely calling it a State J "Fellow- citizens, I am not asserting any- tliing. I am merely asking questions for you to consider. And now, allow mo to bid you fareweU." At Columbus, Ohio, he said : "I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety; for there is nothing going wrong. It is a con soling circumstance that, when we looli out, there is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different views upon political questions : but nobody is suffering anything. This is a most consoling circumstance ; and from it we may conclude that all we want is time, patience, and a reli.ince on that God who has never forsaken this people." At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, en the 15th, he said: "Notwithstanding tho troubles across the river [the speaker pointing southwardly across the Monongahela, and smiling j, there is no crisis but an artificial one. What is there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends over the river? Take even their own views of tho questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. Ire- peat, then, there is no crisis, except such a one as may be gotten up at any time by tur bulent men, aided by designing politicians. My advice to them, under the circumstan ces, is to keep cool. If the great American people only keep their temper both sides of the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the coun try be settled, just as surely as all other dif ficulties, of a like character, which have originated in this Government, have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and, just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as hereto fore." At Philadelphia, being required to assist at the solemn raising of tho United States fiag over Independence Hall, Mr. Lincoln, in reply to an ad dress of welcome by Mr. Theodore Cuyler, said : " I have often pondered over tho dangers incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of 420 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the ofiicers and soldiers of the army who achieved that In dependence. I have often inquired of my self, what great principle or idea it was tliat kept this confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the mother-land ; but that sentiment in tlie Declaration of Inde pendence which gave Liberty,.not alone to the people of ihis country, but, I hop>e, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved on that basis, it will be truly awful. But, if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say that I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed or war. There is no neces sity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say, in advance, that there imll be no bloodshed, unless it be forced upon the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defense." Arrived at Harrisburg, however, on the 22d, Mr. Lincoln, looking across the slave line, experienced sud denly a decided change in the pohti cal barometer. It had been arranged that he should -next day pass through Baltimore, the center of a grand pro cession — a cynosure of admiring eyes — the object of enthusiastic acclama tions — as he had, thus far, passed through nearly all the great cities of the Free States. But Baltimore was a slaveholding city, and the spirit of Slavery was nowhere else more ram pant and ferocious. The mercantile and social aristocracy of that city had been sedulously, persistently, plied by the conspirators for disunion with artful suggestions that, in a confede- •' The Baltimore Exchange of February 23d, significantly said: " Mr. Lincoln, the President elect of the United States, will arrive in tliis city with his racy composed exclusively of the fif teen Slave States, Baltimore would hold the position that New York en joys In the Union, being the great ship-buUdIng, shippiag, importing and commercial emporium, whiten ing the ocean with her sails, and gemming Maryland with the palaces reared from her ample and ever- expanding profits. That aristocracy had been, for the most part, thor oughly corrupted by these insidious whispers, and so were ready to rush Into treason. At the other end of the social scale was the mob — reck less and godless, as mobs are apt to be, especially in slaveholding com munities — and ready at all times to do the bidding of the Slave Power. Between these was the great middle class, loyal and peacefully Inclined, as this class usually Is — outnumber ing both the others, but hitherto divi ded between the old pro-Slavery par ties, and having arrived, as yet, at no common understanding with regard to the novel circumstances of the coun try and the events visibly impending. The city govemment was In the hands of the Breckinridge Democ racy, who had seized it under a cry of reform; and the leaders qf that Democracy were deep In the counsels of treason. It had been proclaimed, in many quarters, and through vari ous channels, that Mr. Lincoln should never hve to be inaugurated ; and The Baltimore Repvhlican of the 22d had a leading article directly calculated to incite tumult and vio lence on the occasion of Mr. Lincoln's passage through the city.'* The police suite this afternoon by special train from Harris- burgh, and will proceed, we learn, directly to Washington. It is to be hoped that no oppor- tunity will be afforded him — or that, if it be af forded, ho will not embrace it — to repeat in our MR. LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION. 421 was directed by Marshal George P. Kane, who, after a sojourn in Fort McHenry, fled in 1863 to the conge nial associations of Richmond and the Confederate Army. It being considered certain that an attempt to assassinate the President would be made, under cover of mob -sdo- lence, should he pass through the city as was originaUy intended, Mr. Lincoln was persuaded to take the cars secretly, during the evening of the 22d, and so passed through Bal timore, unknown and unsuspected, early on the morning of the 23d — reaching Washington about the hour that he was expected to leave Har risburg. The prudence of this step has since been abundantly demon strated ; but it wounded, at the time, the sensibihtles of many friends, who would have much preferred to form an escort of one hundred thousand armed men to see him safely through Baltimore, than to have him pass through it clandestinely and hke a hunted fagitive. The 4th of March, 1861, though Its early morning had been cloudy and chUly, was a remarkably bright and genial day at Washington. To the chUdren of harsh New England, it seemed more hke May than March. Expectations and threats of convul sion had rather Increased than les sened the throng, wherein aU sections of the imseceded States were hberally represented, though the Federal Dis trict and the adjacent counties of Ma ryland and Yirginia doubtless sup phed by far the larger share of it. Menaces that the President elect would never be permitted to take the oath of office — that he would be as sassinated in the act, If no other mode of preventing it should promise suc cess—had been so freely and loudly made," that apprehensions of some concerted attempt at violence or tu mult were widely entertained and fully justified. Lleut.-Gen. Scott had taken the fullest mihtary precautions that his limited force of regulars — perhaps one thousand in all — would permit ; and there was a considerable muster of uniformed Militia. The procession, partly civic, which es corted the retiring and incoming Presidents, who rode in the same carriage, to the Capitol, was quite respectable — unusually so for that non-enthusiastic, and, as yet, strongly pro-Slavery, metropolis. The Senate had been sitting through most of the preceding for ty-eight hours, though this was Mon day, and barely concluded the labors of the session In time to allow Yice- President Breckinridge to resign the Chair in a few courteous words, and take his seat on the fioor as a mem ber, while Yice-President Hamlin left the floor to take the Chair with as little parade — the two thus exchang ing places. This done, and several other new Senators beside Mr. Breck inridge having been sworn in, this space in the Chamber allotted for this occasion to the Embassadors of Foreign Powers ('Dixie' not Inclu ded) was promptly filled by the dip lomatic body in full dress; the mag nates blazing with stars and orders. _ Soon, the Justices of the Supreme Court entered in a body, and the as semblage rose in silent homage, and midst the sentiments which he is reported to have expressed yesterday in Philadelphia." [The " sentiments" thus deprecated are those uttered in reply to Mr. Cuyler, and quoted on the preceding page.] " In Richmond and other journals. 422 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. stood till they were seated. The re maining space on the fioor was now filled to its utmost capacity by mem bers of the House, just adjourned; and It was soon afterward announced that the Presidential party had en tered the edifice. On its appearance, the whole assemblage proceeded to the magnificent and spacious Eastern por tico ofthe Capitol, on which a platform had been erected,and in front of which a considerable space had been clear ed, and was held, by the Mihtary. The President elect was barely Intro duced to the vast concourse by Col. Edward D. Baker, Senator from Ore gon, and received with cheers from perhaps a fourth of the thirty thou sand persons confronting him. Si lence having succeeded, Mr. Lincoln unrolled a manuscript, and, In a firm, clear, penetrating voice, read the foi lowing INATTGUEAL ADDEESS. Fellow- Citizens ofthe United States : In compliance with a custom as old as the 'Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Con stitution of the United States to be taken by the President, before he enters on the execution of his ofi&ce. I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss tliose matters of adminis tration about which there is no special anxi ety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of- the Southern States, that, by the accession of a Republi can Administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be en dangered. Tiiere has never been any rea sonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample e-ridence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when I declare that " I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inter fere with the institution of Slavery in the States where it exists." I believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I have no inclina tion to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with the full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And, more than this, they placed in the plat form, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : "Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the Slates, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own do mestic institutions according to its o'wn judg ment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as amo'ng the gravest of crimes." I now reiterate these sentiments ; and, in doing so, I only press npon the public atten tion the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security, of no section are to be in anywise endangered hy the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one sec tion as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from seiwice or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions : "No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or reg ulation therein, be discharged from such ser vice or labor, but shall be delivered up on. claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." It is scarcely questioned that this pro vision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution — to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause " shall be delivered up, "their oaths are .unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with neaily equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unani- ' mous oath? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by National or by State authority; but surely. that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, It can be of but little cousequenco to him or to others MR. LINCOLN AGAINST SECESSION. 423 by which authority it is done; and should any one, in any case, he content that this oath shall go unkept on a merely unsub stantial controversy as to how it shall be kept ? Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to he introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave ? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State sliall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States?" I take the ofiicial oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules ; and, while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do sug gest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed; than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the flrst inaugm-ation of a President under our Na tional Constitution. During that period, fifteen different and very distinguished citi zens have in succession administered tlie executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I now enter npon the same task, for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar diflidulties. A disruption of the Federal Union, here tofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that, in the contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national govern ments. It is safe to assert that no govern ment proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Con tinue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not pro -vided for in the instrument itself. Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can it, as a contract, he peaceably unmade hy less than all the parties who made it ? One party to a contract may violate it — hreak it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending - 'from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself The Union is much older than the Con stitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thir teen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation, in 1778 ; and, finally, in 1787, one ofthe declared objects for ordain ing and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect union. But, if the destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less than before, the Constitu tion having lost the vital element of per petuity. It follows from these views that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordi nances to that effect, are legally void ; and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of mj^ ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this, which I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite power, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this, there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Oovemment, and col lect . the duties and imposts ; but, beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strictlegal right may exist of the Government to en force the exercise of these offices, the at tempt to do so would be so irritating, and 424 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices. The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be fol lowed, unless chrrent events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper ; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to the circumstances actually existing, and with a view and hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there are persons, in one section or another, who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But, if there he such, I need address no word to them. To tliose, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be well to ascertain why we do it ? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while any por tion of the ills you fly from, have no real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from ? Will you risk the commis sion of so fearful a mistake ? All profess tp be content in the Union if all constitu tional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution,' has been denied ? I think not. Happily, tlia human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly-written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly- written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution; it cer tainly would, if such right were a -vital one. But such is not our case. All tbe vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical ad ministration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length con tain, express provisions for all possible ques tions. Shall fugitives from labor be surren dered by National or by State authority ? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect Slavery in the Terri- tories ? The Constitution does not express ly say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minor ities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease. There is no alternative for contin uing the government but acquiescence on the one side or the other. If a minority in such a case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will ruin and divide them'; for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a ma jority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For instance, why not any por tion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Js there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new Union as to pro duce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession ? Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitu tional check and limitation, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent ar rangement, is wholly inadmissible. So that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also en titled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments ofthe government; and, while it is obvious ly possible that such decision may be erro neous in any given case, still, the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be over ruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that, if the policy of the government, upon the vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the de cisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, as in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to.be their own PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INAUGURAL. 435 masters, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the conrt or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide cases properly brought before them ; and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes Slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other be lieves it is wrong and ought not to be ex tended ; and this is the only substantial dis pute ; and the fugitive slave clause of the constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot he perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separaticm of the sec tions than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ulti mately revived, without restriction, in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surren dered at all, by the other. Physically speaking, we cannot separate — we cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other ; btit the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possi ble, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faitiifully enforced between ahens than laws can among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot flght always ; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fight ing, the identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing gov ernment, they can exercise their constitu tional right of amending, or their revolu tionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amend ment, I fully recognize the full authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the Con vention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permit ting them to take or reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a pro posed amendment to the Constitution (which amendment, however, I have not seen) has passed Congress, to the effect that tlie Fed eral Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I de part from my purpose not to speak of par ticular amendments, so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. The chief rhagistrate derives all his author ity from the people, and .they have con ferred none npon him to fix the terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves, also, can do this if they choose; but the Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present government as it came to his hands, and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world ? In our present differ ences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will ' surely prevail by the judgment ofthis great tribunal,- the American people. By the frame of the Government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom pro vided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wicked ness or folly, eaae, the new relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution in the governraent of the late Federal Union. Yonr refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the active naval and mili tary preparations of this Government, and a formal notice to the commanding general of the Confederate forces in the harbor of Charleston that the President intends to pro vision Fort Sumter, hy forcible means, if ne cessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can only be received by the world, as a dec laration of war against the Confederate States; for the President of the United States knows that Fort Sumter cannot be provisioned withont_the effusion of blood. The undersigned, ii. behalf of their Govern ment and people, accept the gage of battle thus thrown down to them ; and, appealing to God and the judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their cause, the people of the Confederate States will defend their lib erties to the last against this flagrant and open attempt at their subjugation to sec tional power." As the world has not been grati fied with a sight of the credentials and instructions of these gentlemen. It may be discourteous to assume that their eagerness to "accept the gage of battle" carried them beyond the strict limits of their powers and duties; but the subtile casuistry which enabled them to discriminate between a recognition of Confederate independence and an "audience to adjust the new relations springing from a manifest and accomplished revolution," might have secured to them fame and fortune in some more poetic and imaginative vocation. As the Commissioners seem to" ap prehend that they would be charged with a lack of energy if it should be understood that they had aUowed the Government of the United States nearly four weeks wherein to decide between recognizing — or, if they choose, admitting and acting upon — the independence of the Confederate States, and an acceptance of the "gage of battle," It may be requisite to give one more extract from their valedictory, as follows : ' This delay was assented to for the -ex press purpose of attaining the great end of the mission of the undersigned, to wit : a pacific solution of existing complications. The inference, deducible from the date of your meraorandura, that the undersigned had, of their own volition and without cause, consented to this long hiatus m the grave duties with which they were charged, is therefore not consistent with a just expo sition of the facts of the case. The inter vening twenty-three days were employed in active unofficial efforts, the object of 436 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. which was to smooth the path to a pacific solution, the distinguished personage alluded to [Judge Campbell] cooperating with the undersigned; and every step of that effort is recorded in writing, and now in possession of the undersigned and of their Government. It was only when all these anxious efforts for peace had been exhausted, and it became clear that Mr. Lincoln had determined to appeal to the sword to reduce the people of the Confederate States to the will of the section or party whose President he is, that the undersigned resumed the official nego tiation temporarily suspended, and sent their secretarv for a reply to their note of March 12th."" But that the Confederacy was al lowed, in no respect, to suffer by this brief breathing-spell mistakenly ac corded by her plenipotentiaries to the Union — that the ' peace' which we enjoyed was of an equivocal and one-sided character — will appear, not only from the close investment of menaced Fort Sumter — with which no one was allowed to communicate, save by Gov. Pickens's gracious per mission — ^butby the active, aggressive hostility to Federal authority mani fested throughout the South,as evinced in the foUowing order : " Hkad-Qttartres troops Contederate States, ) Near Pensacola, Fla., March 18, 1861. f "The Commanding General learns with surprise and regret that some of our citizens are engaged in the business of furnishing supplies of fuel, water, and provisions, to the arraed vessels of the United States now occupying a threatening appearance off this harbor. "That no misunderstanding may exist npon this subject, it is .announced to all con cerned that this traffic is strictly forbidden ; and all such supplies which may be captured in transit to said vessels, or to Fort Pickens, ' will be confiscated. " The more effectually to enforce this pro hibition, no boat or vessel will be allowed to visit Fort Pickens, or any of the United States naval vessels, without special sanction. "Col. John H. Forney, Acting Inspector- General, will organize an efficient Harbor Police for the enforcement of this order. " By command of Brigadier General "Beaxton Bbagg. "PvOBEET C. "Wood, Jr., Ass't. Adj't.-Gen." And, all through the seceded States, those Unionists who dared to Indicate their devotion to the flag of ^ their fathers were being treated with a stUl more active and positive illus tration of Confederate amity than was accorded to the garrison of Sum ter and the fleet off Pensacola. "Whether President Lincoln did or did hot, for some days after his inau guration, incline to the withdrawal of Major Anderson and his brave handful from closely beleaguered Sumter, is not certain. It is certain that great doubt and anxiety on this point pervaded the country. Some, of the newspaper correspondents at "Washington, who were very properly and keenly on the watch for the least indication of the Presidential pur pose, telegraphed, quite confidently, on the 14th, that Sumter was to be peaceably evacuated ; that Gen. Scott had given his opinion that this was a mihtary necessity ; that the fortress was so surrounded and enveloped ' by Confederate forts and batteries that it could not now be reenforced, nor even provisioned, save at an enormous and unjustifiable cost of human blood ; so that there was no practical alternative to its abandon ment. The new Senate, -which had been . convened for the 4th by President Buchanan to act upon the nomina tions of his successor, remained sit ting in Extra Session until the 28th ; and its Democratic members — ^now reduced by Secession and by changes to a decided minority— urgently and pertinaciously demanded from the majority some declaration of the Pre sident's pui-pose. " Are we to hav§ coercion and civil war, or concession and peace ?" was the burden of theii SENATOR DOUGLAS AGAINST 'COERCION.' 437 inquiries. Messrs. T. L. Clingman,' of North Carolina, Bayard, of Delaware, and Breckinridge,' of Kentucky, who were all three close allies in the past of the Confederate chiefs, and two of them, since, open participants Ih the BebeUIon, were prominent and pertinacious in pushing these Inqui ries; but Mr. Douglas, of lUInoIs, united In them, talking as if the Pre- ' sident were at perfect liberty to en force the laws or not, at his discre tion, and as if his attempting to do It would render him responsible for hghtiag the flames of ci-vU war. He . distinctly advocated the surrender of the Southern fortresses ; saying : " "We certainly cannot justify the holding efforts there, much less the recapturing of those which have been taken, unless we in tend to reduce those States themselves into subjection. * * * "We cannot deny that there is a Southern Confederacy, de facto, in ex istence, with its capital at Montgomery. We may regret it. I regret it most pro foundly ; but I cannot deny the truth of the fact, painful and mortifying as it is." Ifo Democrat in the Senate, and no organ of Democratic opinion out ofthe Senate, proffered an assurance or an exhortation to the President, tending to encourage and support him In upholding the integrity and enforcing the laws of the Union ; and not Deniocrats only, but those who, in the late Presidential contest, had made " the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of .the laws," their platform and their battle-cry, now spoke and acted precisely as would a community who, seeing their sheriff set forth to serve a precept upon a band of desperate law-break ers, were to ask him why he did not desist from his aggressive ¦ project, and join them in preserving the peace. The Republicans of the Sen ate were either unable or unwilhng to shed any additional light on the purposes of the Executive — the reso lution In regard to them, offered by Mr. Douglas, being laid on the table by a party vote : Yeas 23 ; Nays 11. But, before the Senate adjourned, it was very generaUy understood — cer tainly among Eepubhcans — that the Southern forts were not to be surren dered, and that the Union was to be maintained. The month of March had nearly worn away prior to any outward manifestations, by the ' new lords' at Wasliington, of a firm resolve to dis card the policy of indecision and in action whereby their predecessors had permitted the Bepubhc's strongholds^ arms, munitions, and treasure, to be seized and fumed against her by the plotters of Disunion." So late as the 21st of that month, the astute jand 'Mr. Clingman offered the foUowing resolu- tiol: " Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Senate, it,i8 expedient that the President withdraw all Federal troops from the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana, and abstain from all attempts to collect revenue m these States." ' Mr. Breckinridge finally offered the follow- ¦. ing resolution ; action on which — together with that of Mr. Clingman — was precluded by the adjournment of the Senate : ¦"Resolved, That the Senate recommend and advise the removal of the United States troops from the limits ol the Confederate States." ' The New Orleans Bee, one of the most res pectable of Southern joijrnals, in its issue of March 10th, thus expressed the universal con viction of the Southrons that uo flght could be educed from ths North : "The Black Republicans are a cowardly set, after all. They have not 'the courage of their own convictions. They tamper with their princi ples. Loathing Slavery, they are willing to incur almost any sacrifice rather than surrender the Border States. Appearances indicate their dis position eve a to forego the exquisite delight of sending armies an'd fleets to make war on the Confederate States, rather than run the risk of forfeiting the allegiance of the frontier Slave States, "We see by this how boUow apd perfidi- 438 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. rarely over-sanguine Yice-President Stephens '" congratulated his hearers that their revolution had thus far been accomplished without shedding a drop of blood — that the fear of deadly collision with the Union they had renounced was nearly dispelled — that the Southern Confederacy had now a population considerably larger than that of the thirteen United Colonies that won their independence through a seven years' struggle with Great Britain — that its area was not only considerably larger than that of the United Colonies, but larger than that of both France and the Austrian Em pire — larger than that of France, Spain, Portugal, and the British Isles altogether. He estimated the prop erty of the Confederate States as worth Twenty-two Thousand Mil lions of Dollars ; while the last Cen sus makes tbat of the entire Union but Sixteen Thousand Millions — an understatement, doubtless. That the remaining Sla-p^e States would break away from the Union and join the Confederacy was regarded by him as a matter of course. " They will ne cessarily gravitate to us by an impe rious law." As to such others as might be deemed desirable acquisi tions, Mr. Stephens spoke more guardedly, yet no less complacently, as we have already seen." This was by no means idle gas conade or vain-glorious presumption. Throughout the Free States, eminent and eager advocates of adhesion to the new Confederacy by those States — or so many of them as might hope to find acceptance — were widely heard and heeded. The New England" States (except, possibly, Connecti cut), It was agreed,- need indulge no such hope — their sins were past for giveness, and their reprobation eter nal. So with the more 'fanatical' States of the North-"West ; so, perhaps, with "Western New York and Northem Ohio. The remaining States and parts of States, it was assumed, might easily and wisely fit themselves for adhe sion to, and acceptance by, the South ern Confederacy by expelling or sup pressing all ' fanatics,' and adopting the Montgomery Constitution, thus legalizing slaveholding as well as slavehunting on their soU. Among those who were understood to urge such adhesion were Gov. Seymour, of New York, Judge "Woodward aud ous is their policy, and how inconsistent are their acts with their professions. The truth is, they abhor Slavery; but they are fuUy alive to the danger of losing their power aud influence, should they drive Virginia and the other Bor der States out of the Union. They chafe, doubt less, at the hard necessity of perpitting South Carolina and her sisters to escape from their thraldom; but it is a necessity, and they must, perforce, submit to it." "> In his speech at Savannah, already quoted. "See pages 41 6-^18. " The New Tork Eerald o'f December 9, 1860, has a Washington dispatch of the Sth relative to a caucus of Southern Senators then being held at the Capitol, which said : " The current of opinion seems to set strongly in favor of a reconstruction of the Union, with out the New England States. The latter States are supposed to be so fanatical in their -views as to render it impossible that there should be any peace under a government to which they were parties." And Gov. Letcher, of Virginia, in Ms Message of January 1, 1861, after suggesting "that a com mission, to consist of two of our most intelligent, discreet, and experienced statesmen," should be appointed to visit the Legislatures of the Free States, to urge the repeal of the Personal Liberty bills which had beeu passed, .Said : "In renewing the recommendation at this time, I annex a modification, and that is, that commissioners shall not be sent to either of the New England States. The occurrences of tlie last two months have satisfied me that New England Puritanism has no respect for huinan constitutions, and so little regard for the Union that they would not sacrifice their prejudices, ot smother their resentments, to perpetuate it." PROPOSED PRO^SLAVERT 'RECONSTRUCTION. 439 JFrancis W. Hughes," of Pennsylva nia, Eodman M. Price," of New Jer sey, etc., etc. Kindred In Idea, though diverse In its mode of operations, was an associa tion organized at New York during this month, naming itself the " Ameri can Society for promoting National Unity," whereof Prof Samuel F. B. Morse (of telegraphic fame and for tune) was made President, while The Journal qf Commerce became its ac- "credited organ. The cardinal idea of this fraternity was the restoration and conservation of National Unity through the conversion of aU dissi dents to the faith that African Sla very is ordained by God, for the Im provement and blessing of both the "Whites and the Blacks. The pro gramme of this society thus illus trates the bland, benignant piety wherein the movement was ground ed:— ""We believe that the tinie has come when such evil teachings [Abolitionism] should be firmly and boldly confronted, not by the an tagonisms of doubtful and perishable wea pons, but hy 'the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,' as expounded by a broad and faithful recognition of His moral and providential government over the world. It is with this view that we propose an or ganized effort," etc., etc. "Our attention will not be confined to Slavery; but this will be, at present, our main topic. Four millions of immortal be ings, incapable of self-care, and indisposed to industry and foresight, are providentially committed to the hands of our Southern " For many years, Chairman of the Democratic State Committee. " Formerly Representative in Congress from California; since, Democratic Governor of New Jersey. Gov. Price's letter to L. W. Burnett, Esq., of Newark, N. J., appeared in The Newark Mer cury of April 4, 1861. He says : " If we find that to remain with the North, separated from those who have, heretofore, con sumed our manufactures, and given employment to a large portion of our labor, deprived of. that reciprocity of trade which we have hitherto en joyed, our Commerce will cease, European com petition will be invited to Southern markets, our people be compelled to seek employment else where, our State becoming depopulated and im poverished, thereby afiecting our agricultural interest, which has not yet felt the crisis — com merce and manufactures being always first to feel political and financial embarrassments. But at last the blow will be felt by all ; even now, the farmers' products are at ruinous prices at the "West. These are the prospective results of re maining with the present Northem confederacy. "Whereas, to join our destiny with the South wiU be to continue our trade and intercourse, our pros^ perity, progress, and happiness, uninterrupted, and perliaps in an augmented degree. Who is he that would advise New Jersey to pursue the path of desolation when one of prosperity is open before her, without any sacrifice of principle or honor, and without difBoulty or danger ; besides being the course and policy, in my judgment, most likely to reiinite all the States under the ¦glorious 'Stars and Stripes?' "The action of our State will prove influen tial and, perhaps, potential, from our geograph ical position, upon the adjoining great States of ¦ Pennsylvania and New Tork ; and I am confi dent that the people of those States, whose in terests are identical with our own to a consid erable degree, wiU, when they elect, choose also to cast their lot with the South. And, after them, the Western and North-Western States will be found in the same balance, which would be, essentially, a reconstruction of the old Government. What is the difference whether we go to the South, or they come to us? I would rather be the magnanimous brother or friend, to hold out the hand of reconciliation, than he who, as magnanimously, receives the proffer. "It takes little discernment to see that one policy will enrich us, and the other impoverish us. Knowing our rights and interests, we dare maihtaui them. • The Delaware River only sepa rates us from the State of Delaware for more than one hundred miles. A portion of our State extends south of Mason and Dixon's line, and south of Washington city. The Constitution made at Montgomery has many modifications and amendments desired by the people of this State, and none they would not prefer to dis union. We believe that Slavery is no sin; ' that the negro is not equal to the white man ; that Slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition;' still, we might desire some change in the Constitution, which time may effect; but, as a whole, it is, in my opinion, the only basis upou which the coun try can be saved ; and, as the issue between the North and the South has been a practical one (the question of territorial rights was immate rial, and, practically, nothing to us), let us, tlien, save the country — ^let us do that which is most likely to reiinite the States, speedily and peace fully." Arguments nearly identical with the forego ing were used to like purpose by Gov. Sey mour, of New Tork, but in private conversa tions only. 440 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. friends. This stupendous trust they cannot put from them, if they would. Emancipa tion, were it possible, would he rebellion against Providence, and destruction to the colored race in our land. "We at the North rid ourselves of no responsibility hy assum ing an attitude of hostility to Slavery, and thus sundering the bonds of State fellow ship ; we only put it out of our power to do the good which both humanity and religion demand. Should we not rather recognize the Providence of God, in His placing such a vast multitude of the degraded and de pendent sons of Africa in this favored land, and cheerfully cooperate, by all needfid labors and sacrifices, with His benevolent design to save and not to destroy them? Under a Providential dispensation, lifting them up from the degradation and miseries of indolence and vice, and exacting of them due and needful labor, they can certainly be trained and nurtured, as many have been, for the services and joys of heaven ; and, if the climate and institutions of the South are such that our fellow-citizens there can afford to take the onerous care of thera, in return for their services, should we not gladly con sent ? They freely concede to ns our con scientious convictions, our rights, and all our privileges : should we not as freely con cede to them theirs? "Why should we con tend? "Why paralyze business, turn thou sands of the industrious and laborious poor out of employment, sunder the last ties of affection that can bind these States together, destroy our once prosperous and happy na tion, and perhaps send multitudes to prema ture graves — and all for what? Is not such a course a struggle of arrogant assumption against the Providence of the Most High? and, if persisted in, will it not surely bring down His heavy and prolonged judgments upon us ?" • Such were the means whereby many conservative and Christian men were intent on preserving our National unity, and reviving the sentiment of fraternity among our people, In March and the beginning of AprU, 1861. XXVIII. FORT SUMTEE. "Whethee the hesitation of the Executive to reenforce Fort Sumter was real or only apparent, the re serve e-vinced -with regard to his intentions was abundantly justified. The President, In his Inaugural Ad dress, had kindly and explicitly set forth his conception of the duties and responsibilities assumed in taking his oath of office. No man of decent understanding who can read our lan guage had any reason or right to doubt, afber hearing or perusing that document, that he fuUy purposed, to the extent of his abihty, to maintain the authority and enforce the laws of the Union on every acre of the geographical area of our country. Hence, secessionists in "Washington, as well as South of that city, uni formly denounced that manifesto as a declaration of war, or as rendering war inevitable. The naked dishon esty of professed Unionists inquiring — as even Senator Douglas,' for two weeks, persisted in doing — whether ' Mr. Douglas — though one of the most zeal ous advocates of the Crittenden Compromise, and though he, as such, strangely employed all his great ability throughout the winter of '60-'61 to demonstrate that the Republicans ought to act, in accordance not with their own principles and convictions, but with his — and who talked and acted in this vein through most of tbe Sea- SUNSET VIEW OF FORT SUMTER BEFORE THE BOMBARDMENT, FUTILITY OF THE 'PEACE' CLAMOR. 441 Mr. Lincoln intended peace or war, was a sore trial to human patience. A govemment which cannot uphold and vindicate its authority in the country wliich it professes to rule Is to be pitied ; but one which does not even attempt to enforce respect and obedience Is a confessed imposture and sham, and deserves to be hooted off the face of the earth. Nay, more : it was impossible for ours to exist on the conditions prescribed by its do mestic foes. No govemment can en dure without revenue; and the Federal Constitution (Art. I. § 9) expressly prescribes that "No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State he obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties, in an other." But here were the ports of nearly half our Atlantic and Gulf coasts ate's called Session, which followed — yet, when war actually grew out of the conflicting preten sions of the Union and the Confederacy, took nobly and heartily the side of his whole country But, even before the close of the called Session, a decided change in his attitude, if not in his con ceptions, waa manifest. On the 25th of March, replying to a plea for ' Peace,' on the basis of ' No Coercion,' by Senator J. C. Breckinridge, of Ken tucky, he thus thoroughly exposed the futiUty of the main pretext for Disunion : "From the beginning of this Government down to 1859, Slavery was prohibited by Con gress in some portion of the territories of the United States. But now, for the first time in the history of this Govemment, there is no foot of ground in America where Slavery is prohibited by act of Congress. You, of the other side of this chamber, by the unanimous vote of every Re publican iu this body, and of every Repubhcan in the House of Representatives, haye organized all the territories of the United States on tho principle of non-intervention, by Congress, with the question of Slavery— leaving the people to do as they please, subject only to the limitations of the Constitution. Hence, I think the Senator from Kentucky fell into a gross error of fact as well as of law when he said, the other day, that you had not abated one jot of your creed — that you had not abandoned your aggressive policy in sealed against the commerce and navigation of the other half, save on payment of duties utterly unknown to our laws; while goods could be entered at those ports at quite other (and generaUy lower) rates of Impost than those established by CongTess. Hence, Importers, with good reason, refused to pay the established duties at Northern ports until the same should be exacted at Southern as well ; so that three months' acquies cence by the President in what was unti-uly commended as the "Peace pohcy," would have sunk the coun try Into an arch J and whelmed the Government in hopeless ruin. StiU, no one is required to achieve the impossible, though to attempt what to others will seem such may sometimes be accepted by the unself ish and intrepid as a duty ; and this practical question confronted the the territories, and that you were" now pursuing the policy of excluding the Southern people from all the territories of the United States. * * * There never has been a time since the Govem ment was founded when the right of the slave holders to emigrate to the territories, to carry with them their slaves, and to hold them on an equal footing with all other property, was as fully and distinctly recognized in all the lerritories as at this time, and thai, too, by the unanimous vote of the Republican party in both Mouses of Congress. "The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Breckin ridge] has told you that the Southern States, still in the Union, will never be satisfied to re main in it unless they get terms that will give them either a right, in commou with all the other States, to emigrate into the territories, or that will secure to them their rights in the ter ritories ou the principle of an equitable division. These are the only terms on which, as he says, those Southem States now in the Union will con sent to remain. I wish to call tlie attention of that distinguished Senator to the fact that, un der the law as it now stands, the South has all the rights which he claims. First, Southern men have the right to emigrate into all tho territories, and to carry their Slave property with them, oa an equality with the citizens ofthe other States. Secondly, they have an equitable partition of the territories assigned by law, viz. : allis Slave Terri tory up td the thirty-seventh degree, instead of up to the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes— a half degree ¦more than they claim." 442 THE AMERICAN OONFLIOT. President on the threshold: '"What rrieans have I at command wherevrith to compel obedience to the laws?' Kow, the "War Department had, for nearly eight years prior to the last few weeks, been directed successively by Jefferson Davis and John B. Floyd. The better portion of our little army had been ordered by Floyd to Texas, and there put under the command of Gen. Twiggs, by whom It had already been betrayed into the hands of his fellow-traitors. The arms of the Union had been sed ulously transferred by Floyd from the Northem to the Southern arsenals. The most effective portion of the Navy had, In like manner, been dis persed over distant seas. But, so early as the 21st of March, at the close of a long and exciting Cabinet session, it appears to have been defi nitively settled that Fort Sumter was not to be surrendered without a strug gle ; and, though Col. G. W. Lay, an Aid of Gen. Scott, had visited Charles ton on the 20th, and had a long interview with Gov. Pickens and Gen. Beauregard, with reference, it was said, to the terms" on which Fort Sumter should be evacuated, if evacuated at all, the 25th brought to Charleston Col. "Ward H. Lamon, a confidential agent of the President, who, after an interview with the Confederate authorities, was permit ted to -visit the fort, and hold unre stricted intercourse with Major An derson, who apprised the Govem ment through him that their scanty stock of provisions would suffice his little garrison only till the middle of April. Col. Lamon returned Imme diately to Washington, and was said to have reported there, that, In Major Anderson's opinion as well as In his own, the relief of the fortress was impracticable. ' By this time, however, very de cided activity began to be manifest in the Navy Yards still held by the Union. Such ships of war as were ' The New York Herald of April 9th has a dis patch from its Washington correspondent, con firming one sent twenty-four hours earlier to an nounce the determination of the Executive to provision Fort Sumter, which thus explains the negotiations, and the seeming hesitation, if not vacillation, of March: " The peace policy of the Administration has been taken advantage of by the South, while, at the same time, their representatives have been here begging the President to keep hands off. While he was holding back, in the hope that a forbearing disposition, on the part of the authori ties of the seceded States, would be manifested, to his great surprise, he found that, instead of peace, they were investing every fort and navy yard with Rebel troops and fortifications, and actually preparing to make war upou the Fede ral Government. Not only this, but, while the Administration was yielding to the cry against coercion, for the purpose, if possible, of averting the calamity of civil war, the very men who were loudest against coercion were preparing for it; the Government was losing strength with the people; and the President and his Cabinet were ¦charged with being imbecile and false to the high trust conferred upon them. " At last, they have determined to enforce the laws, and to do it vigorously ; but not in an ag gressive spirit. When the Administration de termined to order Major Anderson out of Fort Sumter, some days since, they also determined to do so on one condition : namely, that the fort and the property in it should not be molested, but aUowed to remain as it is. The authorities of the Confederacy would not agree to this, but mani fested a disposition to get possession of the fort and United States property therein. The Grov emment would not submit to any such humilia tion. " It was immediately determined to keep Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, and to supply him with provisions forthwith. * * * There is no desire to put additional men into the fort, unless resistance is offered to the attempt to furnish Major Anderson with supplies. The fleet will not approach Charleston with hostile intent ; but, in view of the great military prepa rations about Fort Sumter, the supply vessels will go prepared to reply promptly to any re sistance of a warlike character that may be offered to a peacefid approach to the fort. The responsibility of opening the war will be thrown upon the parties who set themselves in defiance to the Government. It is sincerely hoped, by tho Federal authorities here, that the leaders of the secessionists will not open their batteries." PIRB OPENEB ON FORT SUMTER. 443 at hand were rapidly fltted for ser vice and put into commission ; while several swift ocean steamers of the largest size were hurriedly loaded with provisions, munitions, and for age. By the 6th or Tth of April, nearly a dozen of these vessels had left New York and other Northern ports, under sealed orders. Lieut. Talbot, who had arrived at "Wash ington on the 6th, from Fort Sumter, bearing a message from Major An derson that his rigidly restricted sup phes of fresh food from Charleston market had been cut off by the Con federate authorities, and that he must soon be starved into surrender, if not reheved, returned to Charleston on the Sth, and gave formal notice to Gov. Pickens that the fort would be pro-sdsioned at aU hazards. Gen. Beauregard immediately telegraphed the fact to Montgomery ; and, on the 10th, received orders from the Con federate Secretary of War to demand the prompt surrender of the fort, and, in case of reftisal, to reduce It. ¦ The demand was accordingly made in due form at 2 p. m., on the 11th, and courteously dechned. But, In conse quence of additional instructions from Montgomery: — ^based on a suggestion of Major Anderson to his summoners that he would very soon be starved out, if not reheved — Gen. Beaure gard, at 11 p. M., again addressed Major Anderson, asking him to state at what time he would evacuate Fort Sumter, if unmolested ; and was an swered that he would do so at noon on the 16th, " should I not receive, prior to that time, controUing instruc tions from my Government, or ad ditional supphes." This answer was judged unsatisfactory; and, at 3:20 A. M., of the 12th, Major Anderson was duly notified that fire would be opened on Fort Sumter in one hour. Punctual to the appointed moment, the roar of a mortar from Sullivan's Island, quickly followed by the rush ing shriek of a shell, gave notice to the world that the era of compromise and diplomacy was ended — that the Slaveholders' Confederacy had ap pealed from sterile negotiations to the ' last argument' of aristocracies as well as kings. Another gun from that Island quickly repeated the warning, waking a response from battery after battery, until Sumter appeared the focus of a circle of vol canic fire. Soon, the thunder of fifty heavy breaching cannon. In one grand voUey, followed by the crashing and crumbling of brick, stone, and mortar around and above them, apprised the little garrison that their stay in those quarters must necessarUy be short. "Unless speedily relieved by a large and powerful fleet, such as the Union did not then possess, the defense was, from the outset, utterly hopeless. It is said that the Confederate lead ers expected to reduce the fort within a very few hours ; It is more certain that the coimtry was disappointed by the inefficiency of its fire and the celerity of its reduction. But it was not then duly considered that Sumter was jiever intended to withstand a protracted cannonad|P from batteries sohdly constructed on every side of It, but to resist and repel the ingress of fleets from the Ocean — a service for which it has since proved itself admirably adapted. Nor was it suffi ciently considered that the defensive strength of a fortress Inheres largely in its ability to compel its assailants to commence operations for Its reduc tion at a respectful distance, and to 444 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. make their approaches slowly, under conditions that secure to its fire a great snperiorlty over that of the besiegers. But here were the assaU ants, in numbers a hundred to one, firing at short range from batteries which liad been constructed and mounted in perfect security, one of them covered with iron rails so ad justed as to glance the balls of the fortress harmlessly from its mailed front. Had Major Anderson been ordered, in December, to defend his post against all aggressive and threat ening demonstrations, he could not have been shelled out of it by a thirty hours' bombardment. But why officers' quarters and barracks of wood should ever have been con structed In the center of such a fort — or rather, why they should have been permitted to stand there after the hostile intentions of the Confederates had been clearly proclaimed — is not obvious. That shells and red-hot balls would be rained into this area — that the frail structures which nearly filled it would inevitably take fire, and not only Imperil magazines, car tridges, and everything else combus tible, but prevent the working of the guns, was palpable from the outset. To have committed to the surround ing waves every remaining particle of wood that was not essential to the defense, would ,seem the manifest work of the night which preceded the opening of the bombardment, after the formal demand that the fort be surrendered. To do this while yet unassailed and unimperiled, instead of rolhng barrel after barrel of pre cious powder iato the sea under the fire of a dozen batteries, with the whole center of the fortress a glowing furnace, and even the casemates bo hot that their tenants could only es cape roasting by lying flat on the fioor and dra-wing their treath through wet blankets, would seem the dictate of the simplest forecast. So, when we read that " the guns, without tangents or scales, and even destitute of bearing-screws, were to be ranged by the eye, and fired ' by guess,' " we have an ample explanation of the inefficiency of their fire, but none of the causes of this strange and fatal lack of preparation for a contest that had so long been imminent. It might seem as if Sumter had been held only that it should be assaUed with impunity and easily taken. It was at Y o'clock — nearly three hours after the first shot came crash ing against her waUs — that Sumter's garrison, having deliberately eaten their breakfast — whereof salt pork constituted the staple — ^fired their first gun. They had been di-rided into three squads or rehefs, each in succession to man the guns for four hours, and then be reheved by an other. Capt. Abner Doubleday com manded the first on duty, and fired the first gun. Only the casemate guns were commonly fired — those on the parapet being too much exposed to the shot and shell pouring In from every quarter to render their use other than a reckless, bootless waste of hfe. The fire of the fort was so weak, when compared to that of its assailants, as to excite derision rather than apprehension on their part. .It was directed at Fort Moultrie, the Cummings' Point battery, and Sulli van's Island, from which a masked battery of heavy columbiads, hitherto unsuspected by the garrison, had opened on their walls with fearful effect. The floattag battery, faced BOMBARDMENT OP PORT SUMTER. 445 •with raUroad bars, though planted very near to Sumter, and seemingly impervious to her balls, was far less effective. A new English gun, em ployed by the Confederates, was re marked by the garrison as wonder fully accurate and efficient ; several of its shots entering their embrasures, and one of them slightly wounding fonr men. But the casemates were shell-proof; the officers constantly warned their men against needless exposure ; so that, though the peril from flre and from their own ammu nition was even greater than that from the enemy's guns, not one was seriously hurt. And, though Fort Moultrie was considerably damaged, and the httle village of Moultrleville — composed of the Summer residences of certain wealthy citizens of Charles ton — was badly riddled. It was claimed, and seems undisputed, that no one was mortally wounded on the CBABLEBTON nABBOB AITD FOBT SITUTBB. side of the assailants. So bloodless was the initiation of the bloodiest struggle that America ever witnessed. But, though almost without casu alty, the contest was not, on the side ofthe Union, a mere mockery of war : it even served to develop traits of heroism. Says one of those who par ticipated in the perils of the defense : "The workmen [Irish laborers, hired in New York for other than military service] were at first rather reluctant to assist the soldiers in handling the gnns; hut they gradually took hold and rendered valuable assistance. Few shots were iired hefore ev ery one of them was desperately engaged in the conflict. , "We had to abandon one gun on account of the heavy fire made upon it. Hearing the fire renewed, I went to the spot. I there found a partj of workmen engaged in serving it. I saw one of them stooping over, with his hands on his knees, convulsed with joy, while the tears rolled down his powder-begrimed cheeks. '"What are you doing here with that gun V I asked. ' Hit it right in the center,' was the reply ; the man meaning, that his shot had taken effect in the center of the floating battery." Says another eye-witness : " Shells burst with the greatest rapidity 446 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. in every portion of the work, hurKng the loose brick and stone in all directions, break ing the windows, and setting fire to what ever wood-work they burst against. The solid-shot firing of the enemy's batteries, and particularly of Fort Moultrie, was di rected at the barbette [unsheltered] guns of Fort Sumter, disabling one ten-inch colum biad [they had but two], one eight-inch co lumbiad, one forty-two pounder, and two eight-inch seacoast howitzers, and also tear ing a large portion of the parapet away. The firing from the batteries on Cumraings' Point was scattered over the whole of the gorge or rear of the fort, till it looked like a sieve. The explosion of shells, and the quan tity of deadly missiles that were hurled in every direction and at every instant of tirae, made it almost certain death to go out of the lower tier of casemates, and also made the working of the barbette or upper [uncov ered] guns, which cont.ained all our heavi est metal, and by which alone we could throw shells, quite impossible. During the first day, there was hardly an instant of time that there was a cessation of the whizzing of balls, which were sometimes coming half a dozen at once. There was not a por tion of the work which was not taken in reverse from raortars. " On Friday, before dinner, several of the vessels of the fleet, beyond the bar, were seen through the port-holes. They dipped their fiag. The commander ordered Sum ter's flag to be dipped in return, which was done, while the shells were bursting in every direction. [The flag-staff was located in the parade, which was about the center of the open space within the fort.] Sergeant Hart saw the flag of Fort Sumter half-way down, and, supposing it had been cut by the ene my's shot, rushed out through the fire to assist in getting it. up. Shortly after it had been re-raised, a shell burst and cut the hal liards, but the rope was so intertwined around the halliards, that the flag would not fall. The cartridges were exhausted by about noon, and a party was sent to the magazines to make more of the blankets and shirts ; the sleeves of the latter being readily converted to the use desired. An other great misfortune was, that there was not an instrument in the fort by which they cpnld weigh the powder ; which, of course, destroyed all approach to accuracy of firing. Nor had they tangent-screws, breech-slides, or other instruments with which to point a gun. " When it became so dark as to render it impossible to see the effect of their shot, the port-holes were closed for the night, while the batteries of the Secessionists continued their fire unceasingly. "During Friday, the oflicers' barracks were three times set on fire by the shells, and three times put out under the most gall ing and destructive cannonade. This was the only occasion on, Which Maj. Anderson allowed the men to expose themselves with out an absolute necessity. The guns on the parapet — which had been pointed the day before — were fired clandestinely hy some of the men slipping up on top. " The flrtng of the rifled guns from the iron battery on Cummings' Point became extremely accurate in the afternoon of Fri day, cutting out large quantities of the ma sonry about the embrasures at every shot, throwing concrete among the cannoneers, and slightly wounding and stunning others. One piece struck Sergeant Kernan, an old Mexican war veteran, hitting him on the head and knocking him down. On being revived, he was asked if he was hurt badly. He replied: 'No; I was only knocked down temporarily;'' and he went to work again. * * * " For the fourth time, the barracks were set on flre early on Saturday morning, and attempts were made to extinguish the flames; but it was soon discovered that red-hot shot were being thrown into the fort with fear ful rapidity, and it became evident that it would be impossible to put out the confla gration. The whole garrison was then set to vrork, or as many as could be spared, to remove the powder from the magazines, which was desperate work, rolling barrels of powder through the fire. " Ninety-odd barrels had been rolled out through the flames, when the heat became so intense as to make it impossible to get out any more. The doors were then closed and locked, and the flre spread and became general. The wind so directed the smoke as to fill the fort so full that the men could not see each other; and, with the hot, sti fling air, it was as much as a man could do to breathe. Soon, they were obliged to cover their faces with wet cloths in order to get along at all, so dense was the smoke and so scorching the heat. "But few cartridges were left, and the guns were flred slowly ; nor could more car tridges be made, on account of the sparks falling in every part of the works. A gun was fired every now and thien, only to let the fleet and the people in the town know that the fort had not been silenced. The cannoneers could not see to aim, much less where they hit. " After the barracks were well on flre, the batteries directed upon Fort Sumter in creased their cannonading to a rapidity greater than had been attained before. About this time, the shells and ammunition in the upper service-magazines exploded scattering the tower and upper portions of SOUTH .CAROLINA IN ECSTASY. the building in every direction. The crash ofthe beams, the roar ofthe flames, and the shower of fragments of the fort, with the blackness of the smoke, made the scene in describably terrific and gi-and. This contin ued for several hours. Meanwhile, the main gates were burned down, the chassis of the barbette guns were burned away on the gorge, and the upper portions of the towers had been demolished by shells. '¦There was not a portion of the fort where a breath of air could be got for hours, except through a wet cloth. The fire spread to the men's quarters on the right hand and on the left, and endangered • the powder which had been taken out of the magazines. The men went through the -fire and covered the barrels with wet cloths ; but the danger of the fort's blowing up be carae so imminent that they were obliged to heave the barrels out of the embrasures. While the powder was being thrown over board, all the guns of Moultrie, of the iron floating battery, of the enfilade battery, and of the Dahlgren battery, worked with in creasing vigor. '' AU but fonr barrels were thus disposed of, and those remaining were wrapped in many thicknesses of wet woolen blankets. But three cartridges were left, and these were in the guns. About this time, the flag-staff of Fort Sumter was shot down, some fifty feet from the truck; this being the ninth time that it had been struck by a shot. The man cried out, 'The flag is down! it has been shot away!' In an instant, Lieut, Hall rushed forward, and brought the flag away. But the halliards were so inextricably tangled that it could not be righted ; it was therefore nailed to the staff, and planted upon the ramparts, while batteries in every direction were playing upon them." The fleet from New York, laden ¦with provisions for the garrison, had appeared off the bar by noon of the day on which flre was opened, but made no effort to fulfiU Its errand. To have attempted to supply the fort would have, at best, involved a heavy cost of hfe, probably to no purpose. Its commander communicated by sig nals with Major Anderson, but re- 447 mained out of the range of the ene my's fire tUl after the surrender; when he returned as he came. Meantime, the boom of heavy ord nance and the telegraph had home far and wide the eagerly awaited tidings that the war for which South Carolina had so long been Impatient had actually begim ; and from every side thousands fiocked to the spec tacle as to a long expected holiday. Charleston herself was drunk with excitement and joyous exultation. Her entire white population, and her gay crowds of well-dressed ° visitors, thronged her streets and quays, noting the volume and resonant thunder of the Confederate cannonade, and the contrasted feebleness of that.by winch it was replied to.* That seven thou sand men, after five months of care ful preparation, could overcome sev enty, was regarded as an achieve ment ranking with the most memo rable deeds of Alexander or Hannibal, Caesar or Napoleon. Champagne flowed on every hand like water ; thousands quaffed, and feasted on the richest viands, who were ere long to regard rancid pork as a dainty, and tea and coffee as faintly remembered luxuries. Beauregard shot up like Jonah's gourd to the altitude of the world's greatest captains ; and " Dam nation to the Yankees !" was drunk -with rapture by enthusiastic crowds whose heads were sure to ache to morrow vrith what they had drunk before. Already, In the ardent ima gination of her Chivalry, the Con federacy had established its independ- ^ The New York merchants who sold the costly fabrics are still waiting for their pay, * A Charleston di3patch,datBd April 13th, says : "Had the surrender not taken place, Fort Sumter would have been stormed to-night. The men are crazy for a fight. "The bells have been chiming all day, guns firing, ladies waving handkerchiefs, people cheering, and citizens making themselves gene rally demonstrative. Jt is regarded as the gre.at- est day in thehistory of South Carolina." —Such it undoubtedly was. 448 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ence beyond dispute, and was about to conquer and lay waste the degene rate, cowardly North. The credit of putting an end to this most unequal contest is due to Louis T. Wigfall, late a Senator from the State of Texas, now styhng himself a Confederate Brigadier. "Wigfall — a Carolinian by birth, a NuUifier by training, and a duelist by vocation — had the faults and -rirtues of his caste; and one of the latter Is a repugnance to witnessing a con flict between parties too palpably iU-matched. Seeing that the fire of Sumter was only maintained as a mat ter of pride — for the fainting garri son had quite enough to do at fight ing the flames that had burned their quarters, and In rolhng out their pow der to prevent Its explosion — Wigfall seized a skiff on the afternoon of Sat urday (the second day of the bom bardment), and made direct toward the almost silenced and thoroughly harmless fortress. He was soon_ at the side of the fort, and, showing his face at an embrasure, wa-ving a white handkerchief on the point of his sword, he asked to be presented to Maj. Anderson. No objection being made, he crawled through the em brasure into the casemate, and was there met by several officers, to whom he urged the futihty of further resist ance. " Let us stop this firing," said he ; "you are on fire, and your flag Is do-OTi. Let us quit." " No," rephed Lieut. Davis, " our flag is not down. Step out here, and you wiU see It waving over the ramparts." Wigfall persisted that the resistance had no longer any justification, and urged one of the officers to wave his white flag toward Moultrie ; and, this being dechned, proceeded to wave it himself. Finally, a corporal was induced to re lieve him in this, but to no purpose. About this time, Maj. Anderson ap proached, to whom Wigfall announced hirnself (Incorrectly) as a messenger from Gen. Beauregard, sent to in quire on what terms he would evac uate the fortress. Maj. Anderson calmly replied : " Gen. Beauregard Is already acquainted -with my only terms." After a few more civil in terchanges of words, to no purpose, Wigfall retired, and was soon suc ceeded by ex-Senator Chesnut, and ex-Eepresentatives Koger A. Pryor and W. Porcher MUes, who assured Maj. A. that Wigfall had acted en tirely without authority. Maj. A. thereupon ordered his fiag, which had been lowered, to be raised again ; but his visitors requested that this be delayed for further conference ; and, having reported to Beauregard, re turned, two or three hours afterwaid, with a substantial assent to Maj. An derson's conditions. The latter was to evacuate the fort, his garrison to retain their arms, with personal and company property, and march out with the honors of war, being conveyed to whatever port in the loyal States they might indicate. Considering his hope less condition, these terms were high ly honorable to Maj. Anderson, and hardly less so to Gen. Beauregard; though It was the manifest Interest of the Confederates not only to stop their prodigal expenditure of ammu nition at the earliest moment, but to obtain possession of the coveted fort-- ress in as effective a state as possible — each day's additional bombardment subtracting seriously from its strength and efficiency, as a defense of Charles ton after it should have faUen into their hands. ^.^^,^,-lOHN Cf, / ^' "'\ SUMTER, NORTH AND SOUTH. 449 WhUe Charleston resumed and in tensified her exulting revels,' and the telegraph invited all ' Dixie' to share the rapture of her triumph, the weary garrison extinguished the fire still raging, and lay do-wn to rest for the night. The steamboat Isabel came down next morning to take them off ; but delay occurred in their removal by tug to her deck, until It was too late to go out by that day's tide. "When the baggage had all been re- m®ved, a part of the garrison was told off as gunners to salute their flag with fifty guns ; the Stars and Stripes being lowered with cheers at the firing of the last gun. UnhappUy, there was at that fire a premature 'explosion, whereby one of the gunners was kiUed, and three more or less seriously wounded. The men were then formed and marched out, preceded by their band, playing inspiring airs, and taken on board the Isabel, whereby they were transferred to the Federal steamship Baltic, awaiting them off the bar, which brought them directly to New York, whence Maj. Ander son dispatched to his Government this brief and manly report : " Steamship Baltic, off Sandy IIook, ) April 18, 1861. \ " The Honorable S. Oameeon, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. : " Sie : Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed, the gorge-wall seriously injured, the maga zine surrounded by iiames, and its door closed from the effects of the heat, four bar rels and three cartridges of powder only being available, and no provisions hut pork reraaining, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by Gen. Beauregard (being the same offered by him on the 11th instant, prior to the commencement of hostilities), and marched out of the fort on Sunday after noon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns. " KOBKET AnDBESON, " Major First Artillery." XXIX. THE CALL TO AEMS. Whethee the bombardment and reduction of Fort Sumter shall or shall not be justified by posterity* it is clear that the Confederacy had no alternative but its own dissolution. Five months had elapsed since the Secession movement was formally in augurated — five months of turmoil, uncertainty, and business stagnation, throughout the seceded States. That section was deeply in debt to the mer chants and manufacturers of the Northem cities, as weU as to the slave-breeders and slave-traders of the Border States; and, while many creditors were naturaUy urgent for their pay, few desired or consented to extend their credits In that quar ter. Secession had been almost every where followed, If not preceded, by ' "Bishop Lynch (Roman Catholic), of Charles ton, S. C, celebrated on Sunday the blood less victory of Fort Sumter with a Te Deum and congratulatory address. In all the churches, allusions were made to the subject. The Epis copal Bishop, wholly blind and feeble, said it was his strcnpr persuasion, confirmed by travel 29 through every section of South Carolina, that the movement in which the people were engaged was begun by them in the deepest conviction of duty to God; and God had-signally blessed their dependence on Him. If there is a war, it will be purely a war of self-defense." — New York IH- Inme, April 16. 450 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. a suspension of specie payments by the Banks ; and, though the lawyers in most places patriotically refused to receive Northem claims for collec tion, a load of debt weighed heavily on the planting * and trading classes of the entire South, of whom thou sands had rushed Into political con vulsion for relief from the Intolerable pressure. Industry,' save on the plantations, was nearly at a stand ; never before were there so many whites vainly seeking employment. The North, of course, sympathized with these embarrassments through the falling off in its trade, especially with the South, and through the paucity of remittances ; but our cur rency was still sound, while Southem debts had always been slow, and paid substantially at the convenience of the debtors, when paid at all. StUl, the feeling that the existing suspense and apprehension were Intolerable, and that almost any change would be an improvement, was by no means confined to the South. Secession, as we have seen, had been initiated by the aid of the most positive assurances that, once fairly in progress, everf^Slave State would speedily and surely unite in it ; yet, up to this time, but seven of the fif teen Slave States, ha-ring a decided minority of the population, and a still more decided noinority of the white inhabitants, of that ' section,' had justified the sanguine promise. On the contrary, the so-called ' Bor der States,' with Tennesfeee and Ar kansas, had voted not to secede, and most of them by overwhelming ma jorities ; save that Kentucky, Mary land, and Delaware had scarcely deigned to take the matter into con sideration. And, despite Vice-Presi dent Stephens's glowing rhetoric, it was plain that the seceded States did not and could not suffice to form a nation. Already, the talk In their aristocratic circles of Protectorates and imported Princes ' betrayed their own consciousness of this. Either to attack the IJnion, and thus prqvoke 'The following private letter from a South Carolina planter to an old friend settled in Texas, gives a fair idea ofthe situation : r "Abbeville C. H., S. C, Jan. 24,1861. V"Deae Sik: — ^I desire you to procure -for me, and send by mail, a Texas Almanac. Six months since, I felt perfectly wiUing to remain in South Carolina ; but I can remain here no longer. At the election of Lincoln, we all felt tUat we must resist. In this move, I placed myself among the foremost, and am yet determined to resist him to the bitter end. I had my misgivings, at first, of the idea of separate Secession; but thought it would be but for a sliort time, and at small cost. In this manner, together with thousands of other Carolinians, we have been mistaken. Everything is in the wildest commo tion. Ji My bottom land on Long Cone, for which I could have gotten thirty dollars per acre, I now cannot sell at any price. All our young men, nearly, are in and around Charleston. Thither we have sent many hundreds of our negroes (/ have sent twenty) to work. Crops were very short last year ; aud it does now seem ;that nothing will be planted this coming season. All are excited to the highest nitch, and not a thought of the future is taken. J Messengers are running here and there, with and without the Governor's orders. We have no money. A forced tax is levied upon every man. I have furnished the last surplus dollar I have. I had about $27,000 in the bank. At first, I gave a check forSlO.OOO; then $6,000; then the re mainder. It is now estimated that we are spending $25,000 per daj/ and no prospect of getting over these times. (It was our full ui^der- standing, when we went out of the Union, that we would have aNpew Government ,,,pfaiy the Southern States. lOur objeM ^Ss ro'bring about a collision with the authorities at Wash ington, which all thought would make all join us. Although we have sought such collision in every way, we have not yet got a fight, and the prospect is very distant. I want the Almanac . to see what part of Texas may suit me. I want to raise cotton principally, bit^jimst raise- corn enough to do me. I cannot iwelhere, and must get away. Many are leaving now^ at least 10,000 negroes have left already; and, before long, one-third of the wealth of South Carolina will be m the West. (l desire you to look around and help me to get a home.\ As ever yours, " Robert Lyon." '¦Wm. n. Russell, of The London Times, in hia HESITATION OP THE BORDER STATES. 451 a war, or to sink gradually but surely out of existence beneath a general appreciation of weakness, insecurity, and intolerable burdens, was the only choice left to the plotters and uphold ers of Secession. And, though signally beaten in the recent elections of the non-sece ded Slave States, they had yet a very strong party In most of those States — stronger in wealth, In social stand ing, and In political activity and in fluence, than In numbers. A major ity of these had been able to bring the Conventions or the Legislatures of their respective States to say, with tolerable unanimity, "If the Black Eepubhcans attempt to coerce the seceded States, we -ndll join them in armed resistance." It was indispen sable, therefore, to their mutual pur poses, that there should be ' coer cion.' So late as April 4th — a mouth after the return of her 'Commissioners' from the abortive Peace Conference — Yirginia, through her Convention, by the decisive vote of 89 to 45, re fused to pass an Ordinance of Seces sion. StUl, her conspirators worked on, liiice those of the other 'Border States,' and claimed, not without plausible grounds, that they were making headway. Eichmond was the focus of their intrigues, as it was of her Slave-trade ; but it was boasted that, whereas two of her three dele gates to the Convention were chosen as Unionists, she would now give a decided majority for Secession. T7ie Hichmond Whig,' the time-honored organ of her Whig ' Conservatives,' " Diary, North and South," writing at Charles ton, April 18, 1861, says: "These tall, thin, fine-faced Carolinians are great materiahsts. Slavery, perhaps, has aggra vated the tendency to look at all the world through parapets of cotton-bales and rice-bags ; and, though more stately and less vulgar, the worshipers here are not less prostrate before the 'almighty dollar" than the Northerners. Again,, cropping out ofthe dead level of hate to the Yankee, grows its climax iu the profession, from nearly every one of the guests, that he would prefer a return to British rule to any re union with New England. * * * They affect the agricultural faith and the belief of a landed gen try. It is not only over the wine-glass — why call-it cup 7 — that they ask for a Prince to reign over them. I have heard the wish repeatedly expressed within the last two- days that we could spare them one of our young Princes, but never in jest or in any frivolous manner." Mr. Russell's letters from Charleston to The Times are to the same effect, but more explicit and circumstantial • * J7i« Bichmond'Whig of November 9, 1860. had the following: "Because the Union was created by the vol untary consent of the original States, it does not follow that such consent can be withdrawn at will by any single party to the compact, and its obligations and duties, its burdens and demands, be avoided. A government resting on such a basis would be as unstable as the ever-shifting sands. The sport of every popular exciteinent, the victim of every conflicting interest, of plot ting ambition or momentary impulse, it would afford no guarantee of perpetuity, while the hours bring round the circuit of a single year. To suppose that a single State could withdraw at will, is to brand the statesmen of the Revolu tion, convinced of the weakness and certain de struction of the old Confederation of States, of laboring to perpetuate the evil they attempted to remedy. The work, which has been the mar vel of the world, would be no government at all ; the oaths taken to support and' maintain it would be bitter mockery of serious obligations; and nothing would exist to invite the confidence of citizens or strangers in its protection. "Less strong would it be than a business partnership of limited time. Prom this, neither party who has entered into it can escape, except by due course of law. Withdrawal of one mem ber carries no rights of possession of property or- control of the affairs of the partnership, unless the injunctions of legal tribunals are invoked to restrain all action until the matter in dispute ia settled. A State seceding knows no law to maintain its interest nor vindicate its rights. The right to secede, on the other hand, places the Governraent more at the mercy of popular' whim than the business interest of the least mercantile estabhshment m the country is placed, by the law of the land." Such were the just and forcibly stated convic tions of a leading journal, which soon after be came, and has smce remained, a noisy oracle of Secession. 452 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. who had secured her vote for Bell and Everett, had been changed — ^by purchase, it was said — and was now as zealous for Secession as hitherto against it. Finally, her Convention resolved, on the 4th aforesaid, to send new Commissioners to wait on Presi dent Lincoln, and appointed Messrs. WiUiam Ballard Preston, Alex. H. H. Stuart, and George W. Eandolph (of whom the last only was formerly a Democrat, and was chosen as a Se cessionist), to proceed to Washington on this errand. They did not ob tain their formal audience until the 13th — the day of Fort Sumter's sur render — when its bombardment. If not Its capture also, was already known in that city — and there was a grim jocosity in their appearance at such an hour to set before the ha rassed President such a missive as this; " Whereas, in the opinion of the Conven tion, the uncertainty which prevails in the public mind as to the policy which the Fed eral Executive intends to pursue toward the seceded States is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is unfavorable to the adjustment ofthe pending difficulties, and threatens a disturb ance of the public peace : therefore, "Resohed, That a Committee of three del egates be appointed to wait on the President of the United States, present to him this preamble, and respectfully ask him to com municate to this Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States." To this overture, after duly ac knowledging its reception, Mr. Lin coln replied as follows : " In answer, I have to say that, having, at the beginning of my official terra, expressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret and mortification I now learn that there is a great and injurious uncertainty in the public mind as to what that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having, as yet, seen occasion to ehange, it is now my purpose to pursue the <;ourse marked out in that Inaugural Address. I commend a careful consideration of the document as the best expression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, I now repeat, 'The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess, property and places belonging to the Gov ernment, and to collect the duties on im ports ; but, beyond what is necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.' By the words 'property and places belonging to the Government,' I chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in possession of the Govemment when it came into my hands. But if, as now appears to be true, in pui-suit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from these places, an unprovoked assault has been made npon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved upon me ; and, in any event, I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been as saulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have se ceded, believing that the commencement of actual war against the Government justifies and, possibly, demands it. I scarcely need to say that I consider the mihtary posts and property, situated within the States which claim to have seceded, as yet belonging to the United States as much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to col lect the duties and imposts by any armed in vasion of any part of the country ; not mean ing by this, however, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to relieve a fort on the border of the country. Frora the fact that I have quoted a portion of the Inaugu ral Address, it inn.st not be inferred that I repudiate any other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as what I now say of the mails may be regarded as a modifica tion." With this answer, the Commission ers retired ; and the next Important news from Yirginia reached Wash ington via Montgomery and New Orleans, which citieS had been ex hilarated to the point of cheering and cannon-firing, by dispatches froin Eichmond, announcing the fact that the Convention had, in secret, taken their State out of the Union, and united her fortunes -svith those of the THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST CALL FOR MILITIA. 453 Confederacy.* The vote by which this result was achieved stood 88 to 55— the majority greatly strength ened, doubtless. If not secured, by an act of the Confederate Congress for bidding the importation of slaves from States out of the Confederacy — an act which, so long as Yirginia adhered to the Union, struck a stag gering blow at the most important and productive t)ranch of her Indus try. And, while the fact of her se cession was still unproclalmed, her authorities at once set whatever mih tary forces they could muster in mo tion to seize the Federal Navy Yard at Norfolk (Portsmouth) and the Ar senal at Harper's Ferry. As the news of the attack on Sum ter flashed over the country, an In tense and universal excitement was aroused in the Free as weU as the Slave States. Indignation was par amount in the former ; exultation ruled throughout the latter.' Many at the North obstinately refused to credit the tidings; and, when news ofthe surrender of the fort so speed ily followed, the number of the in credulous was even increased. All doubt, however, was dispelled when the journals of Monday morning, AprU 15th, displayed conspicuously the following " PEOOLAMATION. " "WnEEBAs, the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstruct ed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law : now, therefore, I, Abra ham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth the Militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate nuraber of 75,000, in order to suppress said combina tions, and to cause the laws to be duly exe cuted. " The details for this object will be irame diately coraraunicated to the State authori ties through the War Department." I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid, this eflFort to maintain the honor, the in tegrity, and existence, of our national Union, and the perpetuity of popular Government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the flrst service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized frora the Union ; and in every event the * The New York Herald of April 13th had a Charleston dispatch ofthe 12th, which thus cor rectly expresses the Confederate idea : "The first shot [at Fort Sumter] from Ste vens's battery was fired by the venerable Ed mund Ruffin, of Virginia. That ball will do more for the cause of Secession in Virginia than volumes of stump speeches." ' The New York Herald of the 14th had the fol lowing: "Richmond, Va., April 13, 1861. ' There is great rejoicing here over the news fA)m Charleston. " One hundred guns have beeu fired to cele brate the surrender of Fort Sumter. " Confederate flags are everywhere displayed ; while music and illuminations are the order of the evening. " Gov. Letcher has just been serenaded. He made a non-committal speech. "The streets are crowded with people, and\ the utmost enthusiasm and excitement prevails." i ' The ^Circular from the War Department, which was sent to the Governors along with this Proclamation, explained -that the call waa for regiments of infantry or riflemen only — each regiment to be composed of '780 men — the ap portionment of regiments to the several States called on being as follows : ft' from Maine .... . 1 Virginia, . 3 New Hampshire . 1 North Carolina .2 Vermont . . . . 1 Kentucky 4 Massachusetts . . 2 Arkansas . X Rhode Island . . 1 Missouri . 4 Connecticut . . . 1 Ohio . . 13 New York . . . IT Indiana . 6 New Jersey . . . 4 Illinois 6 Pennsylvania . . 16 Michigan . 1 Delaware . . . 1 Iowa . . 1 Tennessee . . . 2 Minnesota 1 Maryland . . . . 4 Wisconsin 1 The 94 regiments thus called for would form a total of 73,391 men— the residue of the T5,000 being expected from tho Federal District, 454 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any de vastation, any destruction of, or interference wiih, property, or any disturljance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country ; and I hereby command the persons coraposing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date. '¦ Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary oc casion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and Eepresentatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective chambei-s at 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of Jiijy next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wis dom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. "Done at the City of "Washington, this 15th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. "Abkaham Lincoln. " By the President : " Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.''' This Proclamation was received throughout the Free States with very general and enthusiastic approval. Nearly all of them on this side ofthe Kocky Mountains had Republican Governors and Legislatures, who vied with each other in proffers of men, money, munitions, and everything that could be needed to vindicate the au thority and maintain the Integrity of the Union. The only ' Governor not elected as a Uepublican was William Sprague, of Rhode Island — an in dependent 'conservative' — who not merely raised promptly the quota re- (^uired of him, but volunteered to lead it to Washington, or wherever its services might be required. No State was more prompt and thorough in her response, and none sent her troops into the field more completely armed and serviceably equipped, than did Ehode Island. Among the privates In her first regiment was one worth a million dollars, who destroyed the passage- ticket he had bought for a voyage to Europe, on a tour of observation and pleasure, to shoulder his musket ia defense of his country and her laws. Hitherto, the Democrats and other ' conservatives' of th^Free States had seemed' to sympathize rather with ' the South' than with the new Ad ministration, In so far as they were at variance, though not usually to the extent of justifying Secession. Now, public meetings, addresses, enlist ments, the mustering of companies and of regiments on all sides, seemed for a time to indicate an almost un broken unanimity in support of the Government. The spirit of the hour is very fairiy exhibited In the leading article of The New Yorh Tribune of April 15th, as follows: " Fort Sumter is lost, bnt freedom is saved. There is no more thought of bribing or coax ing the traitors who have dared to aim their cannon-balls at the flag of the Union, and those who gave their lives to defend it. It ~ seems but yesterday that at least two-thirds of the journals of this city "were the virtual allies of the Secessionists, their apologists, their champions. The roar of the great cir cle of batteries pouring their iron haU upon devoted Sumter has struck them all dumb, It is as if one had raade a brilliant and effect ive speech, setting forth the innocence of murder, and, having just bidden adieu to the cheers and the gas-lights, were to be con fronted by the gory form and staring eyes of a victim of assassination, the first fruit of his oratorical success. " For months before the late Presidential election, a majority of our journals predicted forcible resistance to the Government as the natural and necessary result of a Republican triumph ; for months since, they have been cherishing and encouraging the Slavehold ers Eebellion, as if it were' a very natural ' Those of California and Oregon were excep tions; but, being far away, and not caUedon for Militia, their views were then undeveloped. ' See especially pages 355-6, and thenceforward. THE PRESS ON THE PRESIDENT'S CALL. 455 and proper proceeding. Their object was purely partisan — they wished to "bully the Republican Administration into shameful recreancy to Republican principle, and then Call upon the people to expel fi-om power a party so profligate and so cowardly. They did not succeed in this ; they 'have succeeded in enticing their Southern proteges and some time allies into flagrant treason. * * * " Most of our journals lately paradrog the pranks of the Secessionists with scarcely disguised exultation, have been suddenly sobered by the culmination of the slavehold ing conspiracy. They would evidently like to justify and encourage the traitors further, but they dare not ; so the Amen sticks in their throat. The aspect of the people ap palls them. Democrat as well as Repub lican, Conservative and Radical, instinctive ly feel that the guns fired at Sumter were aimed at the heart of the American Repub lic. Not even in the lowest groggery of our city would it be safe to propose cheers for Beauregard and Gov. Pickens. The Tories of the Revolution were relatively ten times as numerous here as are the open sympa thizers with the Palmetto Rebels. It is hard to lose Sumter ; it is a consolation to know that in losing it we have gained a united people. Henceforth, the loyal States are a unit in uncompromising hostility to treason, wherever plotted, however justified. Fort Sumter is temporarily lost, but the country is saved. Live the Republic !" Dissent from this view did, indeed, seem for the moment almost, but not enthely, sUenced. The opposite con ception was temperately set forth, on the evening of that day, by The New Yorh Express, as foUows : "The 'irrepressible conflict' started by Mr. Seward and indorsed by the Republican party, has at length attained to its logical, foreseen result. That conflict, undertaken 'for the sake of humanity,' culminates now in inhumanity itself, and exhibits the afflict ing spectacle of brother shedding brother's blood. "Refnsing the ballot before the bullet, these men, flushed with the power and pat ronage of the Federal Governraent, have madly rushed into a civil war, which will probably drive the remaining Slave States into the arras of the Southern Confederacy, and dash to pieces the last hope for a recon struction of the Union. " To the gallant men who are so nobly defending their flag within the walls of Fort Sumter, the nation owes a debt of eternal gratitude — not less than to the equally gal lant and patriotic spirits, who, in like obedi ence to the demands of duty, are periling their lives and shedding their blood in the heroic, but, as yet, unsuccessful endeavor to afibrd them succor. But, to the cold-blood ed, heartless demagogues who started tliis civil war — themselves magnanimously keep ing out of the reach of bodily harm — we can only say, You must find your account, if not at the hands of an indignant people, then in the tears of widows and orphans. The people of the United States, it must be borne in mind, petitioned, begged, and im plored these men, who are becorae tlieir ac cidental masters, to give them an opportu nity to be heard before this unnatural strife was pushed to a bloody extreme ; but their petitions were all spurned with contempt; and now the bullet comes in to decide the issue!" In another editorial, 'The Express said: " The great fact is upon us. Civil war has commenced. Where it will end. is known only to that Higher Power 'that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will.' Of one thing, however, we are thor oughly convinced — the South can never be subjugated by the North, nor can any mark ed successes be achiet'ed against them. They have us at every advantage. They fight upon their own soil, in behalf of their dearest rights — for their public institutions, their homes, and their property. They are abundantly supplied with all the means and appliances for the contest ; are commanded by oificers who have fought and won battles by the side of those against whom they are now arrayed, with ranks filled by men as in telligent, patriotic, and brave, as e'er faced a foe, and a determination never to be de feated. * * * " The Sotith, in self-preservation, has been driven to the wall, and forced to proclaim its independence. A servile insurrection and wholesale slaughter of the whites will alone satisfy the murderous designs of the Abolitionists. The Administration, egged on by the halloo of the Black Republican journals of this city, has sent its mercenary forces to pich a quarrel and initiate the work of desolation and ruin, A call is made for an army of volunteers, under the pre tense that an invasion is apprehended of the Federal capital ; and the next step will be to summon the slave population to revolt and massacre." The Utica [N. Y.] Observer more pointedly said : " Of all the wars which have disgraced the human race, it has been reservedfor our own enlightened nation to be involved in the most 456 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. useless and foolish one. What advantage can possibly accrue to any one from this war, however prolonged it might be ? Does any suppose that millions of free white Americans in the Southern States, who will soon be arrayed against ns, can be con quered by any efforts which can be brought against them ? Brave men, fighting on their own soil, and, as they believe, for their free dom and dearest rights, can never be subju gated. The war may be prolonged until we are ourselves exhausted, and become an easy prey to military despotism or equally fatal anarchy; but we can never conquer the South. Admit, if you please, that they are rebels and traitors : they are beyond our reach. Why should we destroy ourselves in injuring them ? " Who are to fight the battles of sectional hatred in this sad strife ? The Seceders will fight ; but will the Abolitionists, ^ho have combined with them to overthrow the Union, make themselves food for powder? If this could be so — if ten thousand picked fire-eat ers of either side could be arrayed against each other, and would fight until, like the E!ilkenny cats, all were destroyed — the coun try would be the better for it. But, while the Secessionist defends himself, the Aboli tionist will sneak in the back-ground, leav ing those to do the fighting who have no in terest in the bloody strife, no hatred against their brethren. The best we can hope is, that, at the end of a fearful struggle, when the country becomes tired of gratifying a spirit of fanaticism, we shall have peace through a treaty in which both sides must make sacrifices, but each must agree to respect the rights of the other. How much better to make such a treaty now, before further bloodshed, before worse hatreds are engendered!" Tlie Bangor Union (Maine) still more boldly said : "Democrats of Maine ! the loyal sons of the South have gathered around Charleston, as your fathers of old gathered about Bos ton, in defense of the same sacred principles of liberty — principles which you have ever upheld and defended with your vote, your voice, and your strong right arm. ifour sympathies are with the defenders of the truth and the right. Those who have inau gurated this unholy and unjustifiable war are no friends of yours — no friends of Dem ocratic Liberty. Will you aid them in their work of subjugation and tyranny ? "When the Government at Washington calls for volunteers or recruits to carry on the work of subjugation and tyranny under the specious phrase of ' enforcing the laws,' ' retaking and protecting the public proper ty,' and ' collecting the revenue,' let every Democrat fold his arms, and bid the minions of Tory despotism do a Tory despot's work. Say to them fearlessly and boldly, in the language of England's great Lord, the Earl of Chatham, whose bold words in behalf of the struggling colonies of America, in the dark hours of the Revolution, have en shrined his name in the heart of every friencftf freedom and immortalized his fame wherever the name of liberty is known — say, in his thrilling language : ' If I were a Southerner, as I am a Northerner, wliile a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my arms — never, nev er, nbvbk!' " The Albany Argus more cautiously and guardedly said : "The first gun of civil war is heard, whose reverberations are yet to echo through the civilized world — -the signal of events of which no man can tell the end. A fearful responsibility is due to those who have brought this crisis upon the country. War is not the least of calamities. If the Federal Government were about to sacrifice its trea sures and fleets and arraies to rebuke the Spanish -usurpation in Saint Domingo — if this armament were intended to repel Mexi can aggression, or to assert our right to San Juan against English pretension — every citi zen would gladly rally to the, support ofthe Government. But it is between the States of the Union that the war is to be declared ; and its provocations are to be found in the aggressions of section against section, and the deflance of constitutional guarantees. It is a civil war that opens — a war whose successes are without glory, whose noblest deeds are without honor, for they are won in fratricidal conflict, and their cost is fratri cidal blood." If this were even a natural^ intelligent assertion of Governraent author^ ity, it would appeal to the moral sentiment of the country. If its object and result were to restore the Union and reestablish the Constitution over these States, it might be worth all the sacrifices it imposed. For our selves, we should place no impediments in its way, but bid it God speed to its end. Every Democrat in the North would take the same position. But it cannot, in any event, have this effect. It cannot restore; it can only destroy. There are those who believe that it is the deliberate purpose of the Administration to terminate, in a war in which sectional passions shall be aroused to the utmost hight, the connection be tween the North and the South, and to cut oflf all possible hope of reconstruction. If this il the purpose of the Administration, they have lost no time in its execution. The THE PRESS ON FORT SUMTER. 457 deed of sepai ation is sealed in the first blood shed in this conflict." The Journal of Commerce (New Tork) said : " We will not undertake, at this moment, to apportion the measure of folly and crime, on either side, which has led to the present catastrophe. No doubt it has been precipi tated by the sending of a fleet with troops, by the United States Governraent, for the relief (as was understood) of Sumter. And, on the other hand, it may be said that this action of the United States Governraent was occasioned by the cutting off of supplies from Fort Sumter by the Confederate au thorities, which rendered it necessary to send them from New York or some other point. To this, again, it may be replied, that the cutting off of supplies by the Con federate authorities was caused by the long continued delay of the United States au thorities to take or consent to any measures of adjustment of the pending differences, thus leaving the Confederate authorities subject to the necessity of maintaining a large military force at Charleston for an in definite period, or abandoning their clairas altogether. The Confederate authorities must, however, bear the responsibility (and it is a heavy one) of commencing the actual firing." The Boston Post stUl more mildly said: " The people must speak in their primary capacity, if they would save their country fi-om a miserable destiny — if they would se cure to their families and themselves peace and safety. This should be done in a legal manner. An Extra Session of Congress should be called at once. And, if that body proye incompetent to the duty re quired, then a National Convention should be convened ; and, if all measures for a sat isfactory adjustment fail, after full hearing and answers to statements of discontent, and a portion of our country declare its de termination, at aU events, to dissolve its as sociation with another portion, let it depart in peace, if possible; but, if it be not pos sible, then we shall feel that we have done all that Christianity, reason, and patriotism could demand, and be prepared to meet the last dreadful issue with a sustaining con science.'" The New Yorh Herald of the 15th put forth a ' leader,' whereof the drift is exhibited in the following extracts : "Earnestly laboring in behalf of peace,' from the beginning of these sectional trou bles down to this day, and for the mainte nance of the Union through mutual conces sions, we do not, even yet, utterly despair of arresting this civil war before it shall have passed beyond the reach of reason. In any event, the people of this metropolis owe it to themselves, to their material and political interests, to their social security and to the country at large, to make a solemn and im posing effort in behalf of peace. To this end, we again call npon our fellow-citizens ofthis island, irrespective of creed or party, to meet together in an earnest consultation upon the ways anfl, means of peace. The Governraent at Washington and that at Montgoraery, confronted with the horrors of civil war, may yet recoil from thera. "The conservative city of New York, guiltless of any agency in precipitating upon the two sections of this great country this causeless and senseless appeal to arms, has the right, and has some power, to spealt to the North and the South in behalf of peace." The Herald of the next day con tained a leading article In substantial accordance with the new drift of pub lic sentiment, even among ' conserva tives:' saying : " The measures that have been adopted, within the last few days, by the Government of Mr. Lincoln, entirely change the aspect of public affairs. Had a similar course been purstied five months ago, the last would have been heard of Secession before now. Not the firing of a gun would have been ' The Tr'ue American (Trenton, N. J.), and, so far as can now be traced, every other prominent Democratic journal issued in New Jersey, blamed the Administration and the 'Black Republicans' for inciting and provoking ' the South' to rebel lion and civil war, in substantial accordance with the foregoing views of The New York Express and Tlie Albany Argus. The Pennsylvanian (Philadel phia), and The Patriot and Union (Harrisburg), with nearly every other leading Democratic journal iu Pennsylvania, also treated the war now opening as provoked, if not wantonly com menced, by the 'Black Republicans.' So with the ablest and most widely circulated Democratic journals of Connecticut. The Chicago Times, The Devroit Free Press, and Ohio Statesman (Columbus), likewise regarded and treated the conflict as one which the Republicans had unwarrantably com menced, or, at least, incited. Few or none of these, however, counseled acquiescence in Dis union — much less, a surrender of Washington and Maryland. 458 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. needed; tlie fortifications upon the coast would have been rendered impregnable against local attacks ; and, with the excep tion of South Carolina, no State would have withdrawn from the Union. Such a policy was strongly recommended to Mr. Buchan an's Administration, at the time, by The New Yorh Herald; but treason in his Cabi net, and the atrocious perfidy of many others who surrounded him, prevented his acts from corresponding with the exigencies- of the period. It is better, however, late than never. * * * "The time has passed for such pub lic peace meetings, in the North, as were advocated, and might have effected some beneficial result, a few weeks since. War will make the Northern people a unit. , Re publicans look upon it as inevitable, and Democrats have been gradually becoming disgusted at the neglect and ingratitude with which they have been treated by a section for which they have faithfully borne the heat and burden of conflict for so many years. Fire-eaters have accustomed them selves to adopt an indiscriminate tone of hostility toward citizens of the non-slave holding States, which would liave, long ago, alienated their friends, but that the party attachment of the latter has been founded npon principles, not recklessly to be aban doned. " The policy adopted by Mr. Lincoln, as set forth in his Proclamation and his speech to the Virginia Commissioners, is, on the whole, approved by the masses of the com munity. It cannot harm the North event ually ; and, if the damage it may inflict upon the South is to be regretted, it will be none the less well, if it secures final peace to the country." That those who for years had zeal ously maintained that a simple ad herence to the policy of Jefferson with regard to the exclusion of Sla very from the territories was an un warranted and unjustifiable war upon ' the South,' hnpelled by ' fanaticism' and ' sectional' hate, should, by the mere crashing of a few balls against the walls of a Federal fortress, be converted to an entirely different view of the past and present attitude of the comhatants, was not to be ex pected. That the hated ' Abolition ists' were the real, responsible, culpar ble authors of the long foreseen and deeply deplored collision, was doubt less still the belief of thousands who saw no adequate reason for insisting on It at this juncture, and in whose minds Indignation at the Secession ists, not only as factious and unpa triotic, but as untrue and ungrateful to their ' conservative' friends in the Free States, for the moment over bore all countervailing considerations. But, despite this undertone of demur and dissatisfaction. It is certain that the North had never before seemed so nearly and enthusiastically unani mous and determined as in devotion to the maintenance of the Union for the month or two succeeding the re duction of Fort Sumter. Yery diff'erent was the impression made on the public mind ofthe South by the same occurrences — strikingly diverse was tlie reception there ac corded to the President's Proclama tion. On the evening of April 12th, the Confederates congregated at their capital, Montgomery, held high car nival over the tidings that Beaure gard had, by order, opened fire that morning on Fort Sumter. As was natural, their Secretary of War, Mr. Leroy Pope Walker, was called out for a speech, and, in his responsoj predicted that the Confederate flag would float, before the 1st of May, over Washmgtou City," as it might, ultimately, over FaneuU HaU itself. " Tlie New York Herald of April 10th, after proclaiming in its ' leader' that ' civil war is close at hand,' and announcing that Lieut. Talbot had Washmgtou to Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, says: " Anticipating, then, the speedy inauguration been stopped in, Charleston oa his return from of civil war at Charleston, at Pensacola, or in SOUTHERN RESPONSES TO THE PRESIDENT. 459 This declaration was, very naturally, at once flashed over the whole coun try ; and it was well known that a portion of the Confederate forces were dispatched northvj-ard from Charleston directly after the fall of Sumter." Yet, In the face of these notorious facts. Gov. Letcher respond ed to the President's caU on Yirginia for Militia to defend the capital in the foUo-wing terms : " I have only to say that the militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to sub jugate the Southern States ; and areqiisition made npon rae for such an object — -In ob ject, in my judgment, not within the pur view of the Constitution or the Act of 1795 — wiU not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war ; and, having done so, we will meet you in a spirit as determined as the Administration has ex hibited towai-d the South." To the same effect. Gov. Ellis, of North Carohna — who had long been thoroughly in the interest and coun sels of the plotters of Disunion — re sponded to the call as foUows : " Raleigh, April 15, 1861. " Honorable Simon Cameron, " Secretary of War : "¦Your dispatch is received, and, if genu ine — which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt — I have to say in reply, that I regard the levy of troops made by the Ad ministration for the purpose of subjugating the States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution, and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more in detail when your call is received by mail. John W. Ellis, " Governor of North Carolina." Gov. Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee — lijjewise a thorough sympathizer ¦with South Carolina — ^responded as follows : " Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the defense of our rights and those of our brethren." Texas, or, perhaps, at all these places, the in quiry is forced upon us. What will be the prob able consequences? We apprehend that they will be : first, the secession of Virginia and the other border Slave States, and their union with the Confederate States; secondly, the organization of an army for the removal of the United States ensign and authorities from every fortress or public building within the Confederate States, including ihe 'White House, the Capitol, and other public buildings at 'Washington. After the seces sion of Virginia from the United States, it is not likeiy that Maryland can be restrained from the same decisive act. She will follow the fortunes of Virginia, and will undoubtedly claim that, in withdrawing from the United States, the District of Columb'ia reverts into 'her possession under the supreme right of revolution. ¦ Here we have verge and scope enough for a civil war of flve, ten, or twenty years' duration. " What for ? To 'show that we have a Gov ernment' — to show that the seceded States are still in our Union, and are still subject to its ,Jaw3 and authorities. This is the fatal mistake of Mr. Lincoln, and his Cabinet, and his party. The simple truth — ^patent to all the world — is, that the seceded States are out of the Union, and are organized under au independent Govern ment of their own. The authority of the United States, within the borders of this independent Confederacy, has beeu completely superseded, except in a detached fort here and there. We desire to re.store this displaced authority in its fullintegi-ity. Howisthistobedone? Byentoring into a war with the seceded States for the con tinued occupation of those detached forts ? No. A war will only widen the breach, and enlarge and consolidate this Southern Confederacy, on the one hand; while, ou tlie other hand, it will bring ruinupon the commerce, the manufactures, the financial and industrial interests, cf our Northem cities and States, and may end in an oppressive military despotism. " How then are we to restore these seceded States to the Union ? We can do it only by conciliation and compromise." " Tlie Mobile Advertiser, about this time, had the following: " Wo are prepared to flght, and the enemy is not. Now is the time for action, while he is yet unprepared. Let the fife soun^ ' Gray Jackets over the Border;' and let a hundred thousand men, with such arms as they can snatch, get over the border as quickly as they can. Let a division enter every Northern border State, des troy railroad connection to prevent concentration of the enemy, and the desperate strait of these States, the body of Lincoln's couritry, will com pel him to a peace — or compel his successor, should Virginia not suffer him to escape from his doomed capital. Kentucky and Tennessee are offering to send legions south to our aid. Their route is north. They place themselves at the orders of our Govemment — and we have not yet heard that our Government has ordered theiD. south." 460 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. From Union-loving Kentucky, this reply was rendered : "Feankfoet, April 16, 1861. " Hon. Simon Cameeon, Secretary of War : " Your dispatch is received. In answer, I say emphatically that Kentucky will fur nish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States. " B. Magoffin, " Governor of Kentucky." Four days prior to the date of this exhibition of Kentucky loyalty, the following telegram had flown aU over the country : " Louisville, Ky., April 12, 1861. " Dispatches have come here to hold the Kentucky volunteer regiment "in readiness to raove at a moment's notice from the War Department at Montgomery." This formal order from the Confed erate Government to the Kentuck ians enlisted for its service does not seem to have evoked a renionstrance from her Governor. It was only the call for Kentuckians to maintain the integrity of the Eepublic and enforce the authority of Its Government that aroused his abhorrence of its " wicked purpose." The Louisville Journal — chief ora cle of Bell-Everett ' conservatism' In Kentucky — ^then, as before and since, professedly devoted to the Union — thus responded to the President's call : " The President's Proclamation has reached us. We are struck with mingled amaze ment and indignation. The policy an nounced in the Proclamation deserves the unqualified condemnation of every American citizen. It is unworthy not merely of a statesman but of a man. It is a policy ut terly harebrained and ruinous. If Mr. Lin coln contemplated this policy in his Inau- " The National Intelligencer — ^perhaps the only journal of note issued south of Mason and Dix on's line tfiat did not utterly execrate the Presi dent's call — thus mildly indicated [April 16th] its dissent from the policy thereby initiated : " For ourselves, we have to express the hope and belief that, until the meeting of Congress, the President will employ the forces of the Gov ernment in purely defensive purposes, guarding all points threatened with attack, and awaiting, gural Address, he is a guilty dissembler; if he has conceived it under the excitement aroused by the seizure of Fort Sumter, he is a guilty Hotspur. In either case, he is miserably unfit for the exalted position in which the enemies of the country have placed him. Let the people instantly take him and his Administration into their own hands, if they would rescue the land from bloodshed, and the Union from sudden and irretrievable destruction."" Few or no journals Issued in the Slave States — save a portion of those of St. Louis and Knox-vIUe^-gave the call a more cordial greeting than this. Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson," of Missouri, gave these among his rea sons 4br disregarding and defying the President's caU : " It is illegal, unconstitutional, revolution ary, inhuman, diabolical, and cannot be com plied with." He added : "^Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on so unholy a crusade." Gov. Burton, of Delaware, deferred his response to the 26th, and then stated that " the laws of this State do not confer upon the Executive any authority aUo-mng him to comply with such requisition." He proceed ed, however, formaUy and officially, to ''recommend the formation of volunteer companies for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens of this State against violence of any sort to which they may bo exposed. For these purposes, such compa nies, when formed, will be under the control of the State authorities, though not subject to be ordered by the Executive into the Uni ted States service — the law not vesting in him such authority. They will, however, have the option of ofiering their services to the General Government for the defense of its Capital and the support of the Constitu tion and laws of the country." in the mean time, the counsel and cooperation of the people's representatives, before proceeding to ulterior measures ; and upon those represent atives, when they are assembled, we shall, with out questioning the legal rights of the Govern ment, urge the impolicy of advising and consent ing to the recapture efforts and public property, which we do not want iu States out of the Union, and winch, certainly, cannot be permanently regained to the Union by military force ' ' "April ICth. MARYLAND'S RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S CALL. 461 In other words: Gov. Burton called for an organization of the Mihtia of Delalware, not In obedience to the requisition of the President, nor in support of the integrity and author ity of the Union, but to be wielded by himself, as circumstances should eventually dictate. And, in consist ency -with this, neither the Governor nor the great body of his political ad herents rendered any aid or encourage ment whatever to the Government down to the close of his official life, which happUy terminated -svith the year 1863. Gov. Hicks, of Maryland, made at first no direct, but several Indirect, responses to the President's call. He issued, on the 18th, a Proclamation, assuring the people of Maryland of his desire to preserve " the honor and integrity of the State,^^ and to main tain " within her hmits, that peace so earnestly desired by all good citi zens." He exhorted them to "ab stain from all heated controversy npon the subject," and pledged them that " aU powers vested In the Gov ernor wUl be strenuously exerted to preserve the peace and maintain in- ¦violable the honor and integrity of Maryland;" adding his assurance that "no troops wiU be sent from Maryland, unless It may be for the defense of the National capital" — that being the immediate end for which the President had required them. Finally, this model South em Unionist apprised them that " The people of this State -will, in a short time, have the opportunity afforded them, in a special election for Members of the Con gress of the United States, to express their devotion to the Union, or their desire' to see it brolcen up.'''' In other words : Maryland might, at any time, relieve herself of all her engagements and obhgations to her sister States In the Union by giving a Disunion majority on her vote for Members of Congress! Surely, no Secessionist could go further or ask more than that ! Yet this was the response of the only Governor of a Slave State who had claimed votes for his party In the late Presidential canvass on the ground of Its espe cial and unflinching devotion to '' the Union, the Constitution, and the en forcement of the laws." Mayor Brown, of Baltimore — be ing thoroughly in the confidence as well as the interest of the Disunion ists — was but too happy to indorse and reiterate these sentiments. In a Proclamation of even date with the foregoing, he "heartily concurs" in the Governor's -views aforesaid, " and will earnestly cooperate with his efforts to maintain peace and order In the city of Baltimore;" but he more especially approves and takes delight in the Governor's assurance that "no troops shall be sent from Maryland to the soil of any other State." Of course, he responds to the Governor's suggestion that, at the approaching election, the people of Maryland may vote themselves out of the Union, if a majority shall see fit to do so. He is sure that, if the Governor's counsels shall be heeded, "the storm of war which now threatens the country will, at least, pass over our beloved State and leave it unharmed ; but, If they shall be disregarded, a fearful and fratricidal strife may at once burst forth in our midstP These hints and covert menaces were destined to receive a prompt and tragical explication. 462 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. The President's call was issued on the morning of the 15th-, and, on the evening of the 16th, several com panies from Pennsylvania had reached Washington and reported for duty. In the afternoon ofthe 17th, the Sixth Massachusetts — the first full regiment that responded to the call — started from Boston by rail, leaving the Fourth all but ready to follow. On the 18th, more Pennsylvania Yolun teers, including an artiUery company, reported at Washington, having that day passed through Baltimore — man ger the Governor's and Mayor's Proc lamations aforesaid — without objec tion or impediment. The Sixth Mas sachusetts — one thousand strong — enjoyed that day a magnificent ova tion in New York, and passed on southward at night, reaching Balti more by train about noon on the 19th, utterly unsuspecting and un prepared for the reception that awaited them. But the Secessionists of Baltimore had been intensely excited, on the 18 th, by the arrival of emissaries from Charlesto-wn, Ya., instructed to exact not only pledges but guaran tees from the managers of the Balti more and Ohio Railroad that no Fed eral troops should be permitted to pass over their main line, and that no munitions should be removed thereon from the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry ! In case of their refusal, their great bridge over the Potomac at that point should be blown up. Hereup on, an Immense meeting of " The National Yolunteer Association" was held at evening in Monument Square — T. Parkin Scott presiding ; he, with Wilson C. N. Carr and William Burns (President of said Association) being the speakers. All these were rank Disunionists, and the Associa tion was organized In the interest of Secession. None of the speakers di rectly advocated attacks on the North ern troops about to pass through the city ; 'but each was open In his hos tility to ' coercion,' and ardently ex horted his hearers to organize, arm, and drill, for the conflict now inevi^ table. Carr said : ^'I do not care how many Federal troops are sent to Washington ; they will soon find themselves surrounded by such an army from Virginia and Maryland that escape to their homes will be impossible; and when the 75,000 who are intended to invade the South shall have polluted that soil with their touch; the South will exterminate and sweep them from the earth." [Frantic cheering aud yell ing.] \ The meeting broke up with sten torian cheers for ' the South' and for ' President Davis.' Tq add fuel to the raging flames, news arrived next moming that Lieut. Jones, who was in charge of the Federal Arsenal and other prop erty at Harper's Ferry, with barely forty-five regulars, learning that a force of 2,500 Yirginia Militia was advancing to seize that post, had evacuated It during the night, after endeavoring, in the face of a sud denly gathered force of Yirginians, to destroy by fire the National proper ty, Including fifteen thousand Spring field muskets there deposited. These were somewhat injured ; but the Con federates are understood to have ulti mately repaired and used most of them. Lieut. Jones fled across the thin western strip of Maryland to Chambersburg, Pa., losing three of his men. He left the Ferry at 10 o'clock, p. M., and reached Hagers town, Md., thirty miles distant, next morning; having blown up and de stroyed the pubhc property so far as SECESSION RIOT IN BALTIMORE. 463 possible, but sa-ving none of it to the Government. At the hight of the Irenzied excite ment created by these tidings, the Massachusetts Sixth, with ten com panies of the Philadelphia Washing ton brigade, under Gen. Small, hav ing left Philadelphia at 3 A. m., of the 19th, reached Baltimore, In a train of seventeen passenger cars, containing over two thousand per sons, mainly soldiers. The train stopped at the Camden station, on the east side of the city, a little before noon. The five foremost cars, con taining a portion of the Massachu setts men, were here detached, and drawn singly through the city by four horses each. There being no horses for the remainder, the residue of the regiment, of whom but a small por tion were armed, left the cars and formed In the street, waiting the ar rival of horses. None came ; for the Secession mob who filled the streets had covered the track, immediately- behind the five cars aforesaid, with' heavy anchors, timber, stones, and other obstructions — piled, in one In stance, to a hight of fifteen feet — and, by' the help of these, were prepared to prevent the passage of any more cars. Meantime, the residue of the regiment, as they formed, were as sailed by showers of stones and other missiles, hurled from the streets and the house-tops, whereby several of them were knocked do-svn and other wise badly injured. In the confusion thus created among the raw, unarmed soldiers, a rioter came behind the last platoon, seized the musket of one of the volunteers, and shot him. dead. Hereupon, the soldiers were ordered to flre ; and those who had guns and ammunition did so, with some effect. This caused the mob to recoil ; and the soldiers, learning that the track had been obstructed, closed their ranks, and commenced their march of two miles and a half through the streets of the city to the Washington depot, surrounded and followed by the howling, pelting mob. Mayor Bro-wn and a strong detachment of police marched at the head of the troops, opening a way before them through the vast and angry crowd. Missiles still poured upon them from every quarter ; and, in some cases, heavy pieces of Iron were cast out of second and third-story windows upon their heads. One man was crushed down by one of these iron billets. The front of the column received lit tle injury ; but the rioters closed In upon and attempted to cut off a por tion of the rear, which, being hardly pressed,, was at length ordered to fire ; and the order was obeyed. Several volleys were fired by a small portion of the regiment, whereby eleven of the mob were killed, and four severe ly wounded. Of the soldiers, three were slain, and eight seriously in jured. Most of the remaining volun teers reached the Washington depot and crowded Into the cars, which were dispatched, so soon as possible, for Washington. Fifteen of the sol diers who went on with their comrades were so injured by the missiles that, on reaching the capital, they were sent to the hospital. The train was repeatedly fired at from the hills and woods along the route, but at too great distance to do. harm. At the Jackson bridge. It -w^as stopped by the removal of several rails, which were promptly relaid, under the protection of the troops. . The Pennsylvanians were left be- 464 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. hind ; and, being entirely unarmed, Gen. Small decided that they should not proceed. He attempted to have the cars in which they remained drawn back out of the city, but with out immediate success. Soon, a por tion ofthe mob, desisting from the pursuit of the Massachusetts men, turned upon these, and commenced a violent stoning ofthe cars, whereby the windows were broken and several men severely Injured. The Pennsyl vanians sprang from the cars, and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with their assailants, being aided to some extent by Baltimore Unionists. An irregular conflict was here kept up for nearly two hours, during which ten or twelve soldiers were badly hurt, and one or two killed. FinaUy, Po lice Marshal Kane appeared on the ground, and, being very influential with the Secessionists, soon stopped the flght ; when the Pennsylvanians, returning to the cars, were started on the back track to Philadelphia, where they arrived late that night. At 4 p. M. of that day— the soldiers fi-om the Free States having all de parted — a great meeting of the tri umphant rioters, under a Maryland flag, was held in Monument Square. After a rebel speech by Dr. A. C. Eobinson, Mayor Brown harangued the multitude in favor of peace and order, which was received with e-vi dent disrelish ; but, when he added that he disapproved ofthe President's call, and would not have responded to It, had he been Govemor, the riot ers recognized their friend. He told them that he had conferred with Gov. Hicks, who had united with him in telegraphing to Washington and to Philadelphia that no more Northem troops must be sent through Maryland, and had received "assur ances from the President of the Phil adelphia and Baltimore raUroad that he would send none without further consultation and concert with the au thorities of Baltimore and Maryland. Gov. Hicks further concurred with him In the opinion that it Is folly and madness for one portion of this great nation to attempt the subjugation of another portion. It can never be done. [Cheers.] A deputation was sent for the Governor, who duly ap peared, and, standing under the Maryland flag, addressed the assem blage. He said : " I coincide in the sentiment of yonr wor thy Mayor. After three conferences, we have agreed; and I bow in submission to the people. I am a Marylander ; I love my State, and I love the Union ; but I will suffer my right arm to be torn from my body be fore I will raise it to strike a sister State." Hereupon, the meeting adjourned. That night, Baltimore, and. In fact, nearly all Maryland, were completely In the hands of the Secessionists. The Unionists were terrified, paralyz ed, silenced, and they generally shrank from observation. The rebel mob — ¦ partially armed from the gunstores — paraded the streets of Baltimore un opposed, broke in the doors and win dows of the President-street railroad depot, and demanded the muskets which they Insisted were in the build ing, and were allowed to appoint a Committee to search it, and report. The Committee examined it, was sat isfied, and reported that there were no arms ; so they left. Ex-Gov. Louis E. Lowe harangued the mob, under the Maryland flag, from the portico of Bamum's Hotel; pledging them ample assistance from his [Frederick] county. With the fuU assent, if not by express dh-ectlon, of Mayor Brown BALTIMORE UNDER THE REBELS. 465. and Police Marshal Kane, the tele graph -wires connecting Baltimore with the Free States were cut, and the railroad bridges northward and north-eastward from Baltimore, on the railroads to Philadelphia and Harrisburg, burned ; thus •shutting off Washington and the Government from all communication with the Northern, as Gov. Letcher and his backers had just excluded them from all Intercourse with the Southern, States. The telegraphic communi cation westward was preserved, to en able the master-spirits to dispatch to their confederates In Western Mary land such messages as this to one at Frederick, who soon after joined the Confederate army : " To Bkadt.et T. Johnson, Esq. : " Thank you for your offer. Bring your men by the first train, and we will arrange with the railroad afterward. Streets red with Maryland blood. " Send expresses over the mountains and valleys of Maryland and Virginia for the riflemen to come without delay. Further hordes [of Union volunteers] will be down upon us to-morrow [the 20th]. We will fight them, and whip them, or die. " Geo. p. Kaot:." Mayor Brown sent three envoys to the President, bearing a dispatch in dorsed by Gov. Hicks, wherein he says: " The people are exasperated to the high est degree by the passage of troops, and the citizens are unusually decided in the opinion that no more troops should be ordered to come. " The authorities ofthe city did their best to-day to protect both strangers and citizens, and to prevent a collision, but in vain ; and, but for their great efforts, a fearful slaughter would have occurred. "Under these circumstances, it is my solemn duty to inform you that it is not possible for more soldiers to pass through Baltimore, unless they flght their way at every step. I, therefore, hope and trust, and most earnestly request, that no more troops be permitted or ordered bythe Gov ernment to pass through the city. If they 30 should attempt it, the responsibility for the bloodshed will not rest upon me." The Committee telegraphed back the following message : " Washington, April 20, 1861. "To Matok Buown, Baltimore: We have seen the President and Gen. Scott. We bear frora the former a letter to the Mayor and Governor, declaring that no troops shall be brought through Baltimore, if, in a military point of view, without op position, they can be marched around Bal timore. H". L. Bond, J. C. Beune, Geo. W. Dobbin." The President ofthe Baltimore and Ohio raUroad had already responded to a similar message as follows : "Gentlemen: I have the honor to ac knowledge the receipt of your communica tion of this date, in which you advise, that the troops now here be sent back to the ' borders of Maryland.' Most cordially ap proving this advice, I have just telegraphed the same to the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railroad company, and this company will act in accordance therewith. "J. W. Gakebtt, President." Gov. Andrew, of Massachusetts, having telegraphed to Mayor Brown as follows : " I pray yon to cause the bodies of our Massachusetts soldiers, dead in Baltimore, to be laid out, preserved in ice, and tenderly sent forward by express to me. All ex penses will be paid by the Commonwealth : " Mayor Brown responded as follows : " Sie : No one deplores the sad evenis of yesterday in this city more deeply than my self, but they were inevitable. Our people viewed the passage of armed troops of an other State, through the streets, as an in vasion of our soil, and could not be restrained. The authorities exerted themselves to the best of their ability, but with only partial success. Gov. Hicks was present, and con curs in all my views as to the proceedings now necessary for our protection. Whea are these scenes to cease? Are we to have a war of sections? God forbid! The bodies of the Massachusetts soldiers could not be sent on to Boston, as you requested, all com munication between this city and Philadel phia by railroad, and with Boston by steam ers, having ceased; but they have beea placed in cemented cofiins, and will be placed with proper funeral ceremonies in the mau soleum of Green Mount Cemetery, whero 466 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. they shall be retained until further directions are received from you. The wounded are tenderly cared for. I appreciate your offef ; but Baltimore will claim it as her right to pay all expenses incurred." Gov. Andrew promptly rejoined : "Deab Sie: I appreciate your kind at tention to our wounded and our dead, and trust that, at the earliest moment, the re mains of our fallen will return to us. I am overwhelmed with surprise that a peaceful march of American citizens Wer the high way to the defense of our common capital should be deemed aggressive to Baltimoreans. Through New York, the march was tri umphal." At 3 A. M., on Sunday, April 21st, Mayor Bro-svn received a message from the President, requesting Gov. Hicks and himself to proceed imme diately to Washington for consulta tion. Gov. Hicks being no longer in the city, Mayor Brown, on further conference, went without him, taking three friends — whereof, at least two were ardent Secessionists — to bear him company. They reached Wash ington at 10 A. M., and were admitted to an Immediate Interview with the President, attended by the Cabinet and Gen. Scott. Mr. Lincoln urged, with abundant reason, that he had no choice between bringing troops through Maryland and surrendering the* capital to armed treason. He finally appealed to Gen. Scott, who gave his military opinion that troops might be brought through Maryland by way of Annapolis or the Relay House, without passin'g through Bal timore. The Mayor dilated on the fearful excitement of the Balti moreans, and the Impossibility of his answering for the consequences, if more Northern troops should appear in that city. He adroitly added that his jurisdiction was confined to the city, and that he could make no pro mises as to the behavior of the Mary- landers on either side of it. In his official report of the interview, Mr. Brown says : " The Mayor and his companions availed themselves ofthe President's full discussion^ ofthe questions of the day to urge npon hiiri respectfully, but in the raost earnest manner, a course of policy which would give peace to the country, and especially the with drawal of all orders contemplating the pa.ss age of troops through any part of Maryland." On returning to the cars, the Mayor received a dispatch from railroad President Garrett, announcing the approach of troops (Pennsylvanians) by railroad from Harrisburg to Coek- eysvIUe, a few miles north of Balti more, and that the city was greatly excited thereby ; whereupon, Messrs. Brown & Co. returned to the Presi dent, and demanded a further audi ence, which was granted. The dis patch was submitted ; and the Presi dent and Gen. Scott agreed that the Pennsylvania soldiers, who had thus unwittingly profaned the soil ol Maryland by daring to advance over It to the defense of the National Me tropolis, should be turned back to Harrisburg. There is not much more of this nature to be recorded; but, among the Baltimoreans who, next day, visited Washington to second the de mands of Messrs. Brown & Co., and confirm the impression which it was hoped they had made, was a Com mittee from the Young Men's Chris tian Association, who modestly peti tioned that the President should put an end to the unnatural conflict now imminent by yielding to the demands of the South. To this end, they ad vised that the Federal forces already in Washington should be disbanded; but, at all events, that no more should be marched across the territory of GOV. SEWARD TO GOV. HICKS— GEORGE LAW. 467. Maryland. The President, in reply, called their attention to the fact that the capital was imminently threat ened ; that he was informed that Eebel batteries were being erected on the Yirginia bank ofthe Potomac to command the passage of that yi ver ; that the Bebel Govemment had de termined to establish forthwith its headquarters in the house where this Interview was held; and that the only effect of yielding to their pray ers would be the destruction of the Govemment as well as his own death or captivity. The Young Christians, of course, disclaimed any purpose to produce such a catastrophe ; to 'which the President rephed that their intent mattered httle, since the effect of the course demanded by Baltimore could be no other than this. To a similar but more formal representation from Gov. Hicks, objecting to the passage of Northern troops across any portion of Maryland, Gov. Seward returned the foUowing most moderate and con- clhatory answer : "Depaetment of State, April 22, 1861. " His Excellency Thos. H. Hicks, "Governor of Maryland : "Sie: I have had the honor to receive your communication of this morning, in which you inform me that you have felt it to be your duty to advise the President of the United States to order elsewhere the troops then off Annapolis, and also that no more may be sent through Maryland ; and that you have further suggested that Lord Lyons be requested to act as mediator be tween the contending parties in onr country, to prevent the effusion of blood. " The President directs me to- acknowl edge the receipt of that communication, and to assure you that he has weighed the coun sels which it contains with the respect which he habitually cherishes for the Chief Magis trates of the several States, and especially for yourself. He regrets, as deeply as any magis trate or citizen of the country can, that dem onstrations against the safety of the United States, with very extensive preparations for the effusion of blood, have made it his duty to call out the force to which you allude. " The force now sought to bo brought through Maryland is intended for. nothing but the defense of this capital. The Presi dent has necessarily confided the choice of the national highway which that force shall take in coming to this city to the Lieuten ant-General commanding the Array of the United States, who, like his only predeces sor, is not less distinguished for his human ity than for his loyalty, patriotisra, and dis tinguished public services. The President instructs rae to add that the national high way thus selected by the Lieutenant-General has been chosen by hira, upon consultation with prominent raagistrates and citizens of Maryland, as the one which, while a route is absolutely necessary, is furthest removed from the populous cities of the State, and with the expect.ation that it would, there fore, be the least objectionable one. " The President cahnot but remember that there has been a tune in the history of our country, when a General of the American Union, with forces designed for the defense of its Capital, was not unwelcome anywhere' in the State of Maryland, and certainly not at Annapolis, then, as now, the capital of that patriotic State, and then, also, one of the capitals of the IJnion. " If eighty years could have obliterated all the other noble sentiments of that age in Maryland, the President would be hopeful, nevertheless, that there is one that would forever remain there and everywhere. That sentiment is that no domestic contention whatever, that may arise among the parties- of this Republic, ought in any case to be re ferred to any foreign arbitrament — least of all to the arbitrament of an European mon archy. "I have the honor to be, with distin guished consideration, your Excellency's most obedient servant, "WiLUAM H. Sewaed." The spirit In which these negotia tions were regarded throughout the loyal States is very fairly exhibited In the following letter : "New Yoek, April 25, 1861. " To the President of the United States : " Sir : The people of the Free States have now been for some time cut off from com munication with the capital of their coun try by a mob in the city of Baltimore. The troops of the General Government ha-ve been attacked and shot down by the mob in their passage through that city, in pursuance to the orders of the Government, The lines of coraraunication have been destroyed, and the authority of the General Government has been set at defiance. This state of 468 THE AMERICAN-CONFLICT. things has been permitted to continue for nearly a week ; and our troops going to the capital have been delayed, and have had to fiud their way by irregular and circuitous routes, very much to their inconvenience. Citizens of the Free States have either been prevented altogether from visiting the capi- t.il or from retui'ning thence to their homes, or have been compelled to run the gauntlet, been subjected to all sorts of insult and dan ger, and have had to resort to the most cir cuitous routes by private conveyance and at exorbitant expense. All facilities by mail and telegraph have been cut off by the same unlawful assemblage in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland, at a time when free com munication is so much required between the Free States and Washington. "The public mind is already excited to the highest point that this state of things has been so long tolerated ; and the people are determined that free and uninterrupted communication with the seat of Government shall be imraediately established, not by cir cuitous routes, but by the direct lines of communication that they have heretofore traveled over. And it is demanded of the Government that they at once take mea sures to open and establish those lines of communication, and that they protect and preserve them from any further interruption. Unless this is done, the people will be cora pelled to take it into their own hands, let the consequences be what they raay, and let them fall where they will. It is certainly desirable that this be done through the reg ularly constituted authorities at Washington; and the Government is earnestly desired to act without delay. " There is entire unanimity on the part of the people of the Free States to sustain the Government and maintain the Union. "I trust, Mr. President, that ttis letter will not be received unkindly ; as,*in writing it, I simply do what I feel it to be my duty as a citizen to do in this extraordinary state of things. " I have the honor to be. Sir, your most obedient servant, Geoege Law." Maryland, as we have seen, was practicaUy, on the morning of the 20th of April, a member of the Southem Confederacy. Her Gov ernor spoke and acted the bidding of a cabal of the ablest and most enven omed traitors. At their Instance, he summoned the Legislature to meet In extra session at Annapolis on the 26th ; while it was notorious that a majority of that body would proba bly vote her Immediately out of the Union, and would, at best, proclaim her neutral in the struggle now open ing — would forbid the passage of Federal troops across her soil; and not only forbid, but resist It. Balti more was a Secession volcano In full eruption ; while the counties south of that city were overwhelmingly In sympathy with the Slaveholders' Ee bellion, and their few determined Unionists completely overawed and silenced. The counties near Balti more, between that city and the Sus quehanna, were actively cooperating with the Eebellion, or terrified into dumb submission to its behests. The great populous counties of Frederick, Washington, and Alleghany, compos ing Western Maryland — ^having few slaves — were preponderantly loyal; but they were overawed and para lyzed by the attitude of the rest of the State, and still more by the large force of rebel Yirginians — said to be 5,000 strong — who had been suddenly pushed forward to Harper's Ferry, and who, though not In season to secure the arms and munitions there deposited, threatened Western Mary land from that commanding position. Thus, only the county of Cecil, in the extreme north-east, remained fully and openly loyal to the Union ; that county lying this side of the Susque hanna, and being connected with the Free States by railroad and telegraph. The Eighth Massachusetts, under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, reached PerryvUle, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, on the 20th, and found its progress here arrested by burned bridges, and the want of cars on the other side. But Gen. Butler was not a man to be stopped by such Iiri- W AB HIM GTON RELIEVED VIA ANNAPOLIS. 469 pediments. Seizing the spacious and commodious railroad ferry steamer Maryland, he embarked his men thereon, and appeared with them early next morning before Annapo- hs, the pohtical capital of Maryland, thirty miles south of Baltimore, and about equl-dlstaut with that city from Washington, wherewith it is connect ed by a branch or feeder of the Bal timore road. He found this city vir tually in rebelhon, with its branch railroad aforesaid dismantled, and partially taken up. In the Interest of Secession. Here, too, were the Na val Academy and the noble old frig ate Constitution ; the latter without a crew, and in danger of falhng, at any moment. Into the hands of the enemy. He at once secured the frig ate, landed next day unopposed, his arrival having been preceded a few hours by that of the famous Seventh regiment, composed of the flower of the young chivalry of New York City, which had been transported from Philadelphia direct by the steam boat Boston. The Maryland returned forthwith to PerryvUle for still fur ther reenforcements, munitions, and supplies — no one in Annapolis choos ing, or daring, for some time, to sell anything to the Union soldiers. Gen. Butler was met at Annapolis by a for mal protest from Gov. Hicks against his landiag at that place, or at any other point in Maryland ; the specific objection to his occupying Annapolis being that the Legislature had been called to meet there that week. Gen. Butler, in reply, suggested that, if he could obtain means of transporta tion to Washington, he would gladly " vacate the capital prior to the sit ting of the' Legislature, and not be under the painful necessity of incom moding your beautiful city while the" Legislature is in session." On the morning of the 24th — sev eral other regiments having mean time arrived — Gen. Butler put his column In motion, the Massachusetts Eighth in advance, closely followed by the New York Seventh. They kept the hne of the raUroad, repair ing It as they advanced. A disman tled engine, which they found on the way, was refitted and put to use. The day proved intensely hot. Many of the men had had little or nothing to eat for a day or two, and^ had scarcely slept since they left Phila delphia. Some fell asleep as they marched ; others fell out of the ranks, utterly exhausted; one was sunstruck, and had to be sent back, permanently disabled. The people whose houses they passed generally fled in terror at the first sight of the Northern Goths, who, they had been told, had come to ravage and desolate the South. Nothing to eat could be bought ; and, as they did not choose to take without buying, they hun grily marched, buUding bridges and laying rails by turns, throughout the day and the following night. The Seventy-first New York foUowed the next day, and passed, four miles out, the camp of Gov. Sprague's Ehode Island regiment, by whom they were generously supplied with provisions. Arrived at the Annapolis Junction, the soldiers were met by cars from Washington, In which they proceeded on the 25th — the New York Seventh in the advance — to that city, and were hailed with rapture by its loyal deni zens, who composed, perhaps, one- half of its entire population. Wash ington had, for a week, been isolated from the North, while surrounded 470 THE AMERLCAN OONU'LIUT. and threatened by mahgnant foes. A spirited body of volunteers — ^tem porary sojourners at or casual visit ors to the capital — under Cassius M. Clay as Colonel, had stood on guard during those dark days " and darker nights ; and these, in addition to the small force of regulars commanded by Gen. Scott, had constituted, up to this time, the entire defensive force of the Federal metropolis. The Legislature of Maryland con vened in extra session, In accordance with Gov. Hicks's call, not at An napolis, but at Frederick — far from any Union force, but within easy striking distance of the Confederates at Harper's Ferry. Gov. Hicks, in his Message (April 27th), recapitula ted most of the facts just related, adding that Gen. Butler, before land ing at Annapolis, asked permission to do so, but was refused. He said : " The people of Annapolis, though greatly exasperated, acting under counsel of the ' most prudent citizens, refrained from molesting or obstruct- '^ The Richmond Exaininer, of April 23d, con-- tained this article : "The capture of Washington City is perfectly within the pawer of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia wiU only make the effort by her consti tuted authorities; nor is there a single moment to lose. The entire population pant for the on set ; there never was half tho unanimity among the. people before, nor a tithe of the zeal, upon any subject, that is now manifested to take AVashington, aud drive from it every Black Re publican who is a dweller there. " From the mountain-tops and valleys to the shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to capture Washington City, at all and every human hazard. That filthy .cage of un clean birds must and will assuredly be purified by flre. The people are determined upon it, and are clamorous for a leader to conduct them to the onslaught. The leader will assuredly arise ; ay, and that right speedily. " It is not to be endurea that this flight of Abolition harpies shall come down from the black North for their roosts in the heart of the South, to defile and brutalize the land. They come as our enemies ; they act as our most deadly Ing the passage of the troops through the city." Again : "Notwithstanding the fact that our most learned and intelligent citizens admit the right of the Government to transport its troops across our soil, it is evident that a portion of the people of Maryland are op posed to the exercise of that right. 1 have done all in my power to protect the citizens of Maryland, and to preserve peace within our borders." Gov. Hicks admits that he has been somewhat swerved from his true course by " the excitement pre vailing among our people during the last few days;" but he restates his dehberate and well-considered posi tion, as follows : " It is of no consequence now to discuss the causes which have induced our troubles. Let us look to our distressing present and to our portentous future. The fate of Mary land, and, perhaps, of her sister border Slave States, will undoubtedly he seriously affect ed by the action of your honorable body. Therefore should every good citizen bend his energies to the task before us ; and therefore should the animosities and bickerings of the past be forgotten, and all strike hands in the bold cause of restoring peace to our State and to our country. I honestly and most earnestly entertain the conviction that the only safety of Maryland lies in maintaining a neiitral position between our brethren of the North foes ; they promise us bloodshed and fire ; and this is the only promise they have ever redeemed. The fanatical yell for tbe immediate subjugation of the whole South is going up hourly from the united voices of all the North ; and, for the pur pose of making their work sure, they have de termined to hold Washington City as the point whence to carry on their brutal warfare. " Our people can take it — they will take it — and Scott, the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the Beast, combined, cannot prev'ent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deepl,7 injured people will teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey across the borders of the Free negro States still more rapidly than he came ; and Scott, the traitor, will be given the opportunity, at the same time, to try the dif ference between ' Scott's Tactics' and the Shang- hae Drill for quick movements. " Great cleansing and purification are needed and will be given to that festering sink of iniqui ty, that wallow of Lincoln and Scott — ^the dese crated city of Washington; and many indeed will be the carcasses of dogs and caitiffs that will blacken the air upon the gallows before the great work is accomphshed. So let it bo 1" SECESSION OVERBORNE IN MARYLAND. 471 and of the South. We have violated no right of either section. We have been loyal to the Union. The unhappy contest be tween the two sections has not been com menced or encouraged by us, although we have suffered from it in the past. The im pending war has not come by any act or wish of ours. We have done all we could to avert it. We have hoped that Maryland and other Border Slave States, by their conserva tive position and love for the Union, might have acted as mediators between the extremes of both sections, and thus have prevented the terrible evils of a prolonged civil war. Entertaining these -views, I cannot counsel Maryland to take sides against the General, Government, until it shall comrait outrages npon us which would justify us in resisting its authority. As a consequence, I can give no other coun.sel than that we shall array ourselves for Union and peace, and thus pre serve our soil from being polluted with the blood of brethren. Thus, if war must be between the North and South, we may force the contending parties to transfer the field of battle fi-om our soil, so that our lives and property may be secure." The Legislature, thus instructed, decided not to secede from the Union — ^unanimously in the Senate — 53 to 13 in the House ; but proceeded to pass an act to provide for the public safety, constituting a ' State Board' of seven, whereof all were rank Seces sionists but Gov. Hicks ; which Board was to have full control over the or ganization and direction of the mili tary forces of Maryland ; appointing aU oificers above the rank of captain. This Board was to have full power to adopt measures foi; the safety, peace and defense of the State ; and was directed to proscribe no officer for " his pohtical opinions." Its oath of office included no promise of allegi ance to the Federal Constitution or Govemment. The purpose of this measure was more fuUy developed by a report from the Committee on Federal Eelations, in which the Pre sident was charged -with acts of tyranny and schemes of subjugation ; and the attempt to bring the State, step by step, into collision with the Federal Govemment clearly revealed. But by this time the strength and re solution of the Free States had been demonstrated, and the sober second thought of Maryland began to assert Its ascendency. The violence and preternatural activity of the Seces sionists had, for a time, concealed the paucity of their numbers; but it was now evident that they were scarcely a third of the entire white population, and less than a fourth in all that major portion of the State lying north anU west of Baltimore. A Home Guard of Unionists was organized In Frederick, comprising her most . substantial citizens. A great Union meeting was held In Baltimore on the evening of May 4th; whereat the creation of the Board of Pubhc Safety, and all kin dred measures, were unsparingly de nounced. Next day, Gen. Butler pushed forward two regiments fi-om the Annapolis Junction to the Eelay House, nine miles from Baltimore, and controlhng the communications between that city and Frederick. On the 9th, a force of 1,300 men from Perryville debarked at Locust Point, Baltimore, under cover of the guns of the Harriet Lane, and quietly opened the railroad route through that city to the Eelay House and Washington, encountering no oppo sition. Gen. Butler took permanent military possession of the city on the 13th, whUe a force of Pennsylvanians from Harrisburg advanced to Cock- eysvIUe, reopening the Northem Cen tral railroad. The Legislature adopt ed, on the 10th, the foUovring : \Whereas, The war against the Confede rate States is unconstitutional and repugnant to civilization, and will result in a bloody 4:72 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. and shameful overthrow of our institutions ; and, while recognizing the obligations of Maryland to the Union, we sympathize with the South in the struggle for their rights— for the sake of humanity, we are for peace and reconciliation, and solemnly protest. against this war, and will take no part in it. " Resohed, That Maryland implores the President, in the name of God, to cease this unholy war, at least until Congress assem bles ; that Maryland desires and consents to the recognition of the independence of the Confederate States. The military occupa tion of Maryland is unconstitutional, and she protests against it, though the violent interference with the transit of Federal troops is discountenanced ; that the vindi cation of her rights be left to time and rea son, and that a Convention, under existing circumstances, is inexpedient." The Federal authority having been fully reestablished In Baltimore, and the Union troops within or upon her borders decidedly outnumbering the Confederate, the Secession fever in the veins of her people subsided as rapidly as It had risen. Having been accustomed from time immemorial to acquiesce In whatever the slavehold ing Interest proposed, and seeing that interest thoroughly affiliated with the plotters of Disunion, the great ma jority had consulted what seemed the dictates of prudence and personal safety by flocking to what appeared, in view of the temporary weakness and paralysis of the Federal Govern ment, the strong side — the side where on were evinced confidence, energy, and decision. Under like Influences, Maryland would have been voted out of the Union as promptly, and by as decisive a majority, as Yirginia or Tennessee was. Another week's ex hibition of the spirit in which Mayor Brown and the Young Christians were aUowed to press their impudent demands at the White House, and to return thence to Baltimore not even arrested, would have thrown her head long into the arms of treason. Her Legislature finaUy adjourned on the 14th, after having sent an em bassy to Montgomery in quest of ' peace ;' which was so received and \answered by Davis as to convey to >the South the Impression that Mary land was In sympathy with the Ee bellion. On the 14th, also. Gov. Hicks issued an official Proclamation, calling for four regiments of volunteers, in an swer to the President's requisition. The route through Baltimore being fully reopened, and communication restored between the Free States and Washington, the safety of the capital was secured ; regiment after regiment pouring into it by almost every train, until, by the end of May, not less than fifty thousand men — ^raw and undis ciplined, Indeed, but mainly of the best material for soldiers — held the line of the Potomac, or guarded the approaches to the capital. And still, from every side, the people of the loyal States were urging more regi ments upon the Government, and begging permission to swell the ranks of the Union armies, so as to overmatch any conceivable strength of the rebels. Baltimore was still, and was des tined, for years, to remain, the focus and hiding-place of much active though covert ti;eason ; her Confede rates maintaining constant commu nication with Eichmond, and con tinually sending men, as well as medi cines, percussion caps, and other presslngly needed supplies, to the Eebel armies, mainly across the lower Potomac, through the southem coun ties of the State ; which, being -thor oughly 'patriarchal' in their social and Industrial polity, preponderantly ' and ardently sympathized with the Eebel cause. THB NORFOLK NAVY YARD ABANDONED. 473 xxx. PEOGEESS OF SECESSION. The Convention of Yebginia, whereof a great majority had been elected as Unionists, was, neverthe less, bulhed, as we have seen, at the hight of the Southern frenzy which followed the reduction of Fort Sum ter, into voting their State out of the Union.' In order to achieve this end, it was found necessary to con sent to a submission of the ordinance to a popular vote ; and the 23d of May was appointed for the election. But, in utter mockery of this conces sion, the conspirators proceeded forth with to act upon the assumption that the vote of the Convention was con clusive, and the State already defi nitively and absolutely out of the Union. Within twenty-four hours after the vote of the Convention to secede, and while that vote was still covered by an Injunction of secrecy, they had set on foot expeditions for the capture of the Federal Arsenal, arms and munitions, at Harper's Ferry, as also for that of the Norfolk Na-vy Yard. So early as the night of the 16th, the channel of Elizabeth Elver, leading up from Hampton Eoads to Norfolk, was partially ob structed in their interest by sinking two small vessels therein, -with Intent to preclude the passage, either way, of Federal ships of war. The num ber appears to have been increased during the foUowing nights ; while a hastUy coUected mihtary force, under Gen. Taliaferro — a Yirginia brigadier who reached Norfolk from Eichmond on the 18th — was reported to be pre paring to seize the Navy Yard and Federal vessels during the night of Saturday, the 20th. The Southern officers of the Yard, having done the cause of the Union aU the harm they could do under the mask of loyalty, resigned and disappeared in the course of that day. The Navy Yard was In charge of Capt. McCauley, a loyaP officer, but a good deal past the prime of life. A young Decatur or Paul Jones would have easily held it a week against all the Yirginian Militia that could have been brought within range of its guns, and would never have dreamed of abandoning It while his cartridges held out. No man fit to command a sloop of war would have thought of skulking away from a possession so precious and Im portant, until he had, at least, seen the whites of an enemy's eyes. For here were the powerful forty-gun steam frigate Merrimac, richly worth a miUion dollars even in time of peace, with the Cumberland, the German- town, the Plymouth, the Earitan, the Columbia, and the Dolphin, beside the huge old three-decker Pennsyl vania, the dismantled seventy-fours Delaware and Columbus, with near ly two thousand ° cannon, some thou- ' April 17th, 1861. 'That is to say: Capt. McCauley has never renounced the service, but still draws the pay of an officer ofthe U. S. Navy. " The Report to the Senate of its Select Com mittee, appointed to investigate this shameful transaction, made by Hon. John P. Hale, April 18th, 1862, says: "According to the returns received at the Ordnance bureau of the Navy Department, it appears that there were seven hundred aud 474 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. sand stand of arms, and immense quantities of munitions, naval stores, timber, etc. ; the whole having cost, in peace, more than ten millions of doUars, while its value at this time was absolutely incalculable. 'The 170BF01.E, HABBOK AND NAVY-TAED. Federal magaziue, just below Nor folk, apparently left without a guard. had been broken open the night be fore by the Eebels, and robbed of sixty-eight guns in the Yard. Other evidence, however, taken by tho Committee, goes to show quite conclusively that there were in the Yard at the time of the evacuation at least two thou sand pieces of heavy ordnance, of which about three hundred were new Dahlgren guns, and the remainder were of old pattern's. Captain Paulding walked about among them on tbe 18th of AprU, and estimated that there were between two and three thousand. . Captain McCauley, who must be supposed to have had ample means of knowledge on the subject, thinks there were nearly three thousand pieces of cannon. Mr. James H. Clements, a reliable and intelligent man, testifies that he was familiar with the guns at the Yard, and thinks he Speaks within bounds when he puts the number of them at eighteen hundred ; and he explains very satis factorily the discrepancy between the account in the Ordnance bureau and the estimates of the witnesses already mentioned, and of others who appeared before the Committee, stating the number of guns variously at from fifteen hun dred to three thousand. Upon the whole evi dence, the Committee are forced to the conclu sion that there were as many as two thousand pieces of artillery of all calibers in and about the Yard at the time of its abandonment, com prising the armaments of three line-of-battle ships and several frigates." THE .NATIONAL DISGRACE AT NORFOLK. 475 ove»four thousand kegs of powder. Capt. McCauley, with aU these for- midable ships of war, cannon, and munitions, had several hundred good and, true men under his command. He had received, some days before, express orders to send the Merrimac forthwith to Philadelphia, and had had her fitted out for the voyage, imder the direction of Chief Engi neer Isherwood, who was sent thither from Wasliington on purpose; but, when she was reported all ready but her guns, he declined to order them on board — or, rather, gave the order, but very soon countermanded it — excusing his vacUlation or perplexity by his dread of exasperating the Eebels, and referring to the reported obstructions sunk In the channel, which the Merrimac, properly hand led, would have crushed hke an egg shell, and thus passed over without a check to her progress. Finally, on the evening of the 20th, he gave or ders to scuttle aU the ships but the Cumberland, preparatory to flight — as if this were not the very course to preserve them for the future use of the Eebels. The steam frigate Pawnee, Capt. Hiram Paulding, left Washington on the evening of the 19th, and arrived, at 4 p. li. of the 20th, abreast of Fortress Monroe. Here she took on board Col. Wardrop's regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, 450 strong, raising her flghting force to some six hundred men. She now steamed cau tiously and slowly up the river to the Navy Yard, which she reached soon after 8 o'clock. Capt. Paulding had instructions from the Secretary of the Navy, directing him to take com mand at Norfolk, on his arrival there, and to act as circumstances should dictate ; but, at aU events, to save the public property from faUing into the hands of traitors. He found the guns in the Na-ry Yard rendered useless by Capt. McCauley's orders, and nearly all the ships of war dis abled—several of them already sink ing. Among the scuttled was the Mer rimac — alone worth all the rest — bare ly the Cumberland having been re served to bear away the expectant fugitives. StIU, Capt. Paulding might have held his position a week against all the traitors yet developed in Yir ginia ; and that week would liave brought at least 30,000 men to his aid. But, without awaiting the firing of a shot, or even the appearance of a foe, he proceeded at once to trans fer, with the utmost haste, books, pa pers, money, and some other of the most portable portions of the public property, to the Pawnee and the Cumberland; not even saving the small arms, of which his Government stood in urgent need. The cannon he abandoned were (or had been) par tially spiked ; but so Inefficiently, with nails, etc., that they were promptly and easily restored by the Eebels to a serviceable condition. The mus kets, revolvers, etc., were broken, and, with great quantities of shot and sheU, thrown into the water. Several hours were spent in this work — the marine barracks, in the center of the Yard, being set oh fire, about midnight, to give light for its continuance. Lieut. H. A. Wise* had accompa nied Capt. Paulding from Washing ton, and was detailed by him, on or before their arrival, to board the Merrimac and bring her out, if pos sible ; and he was accordingly on her ' Since, of the Naval Ordnance Bureau. 476 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. deck at the earliest moment. He found her partially filled with water, and rapidly fiUIng — a block, which he threw from her lower deck into her hold, Indicating by the splash that the water was already over her orlop deck. He returned immedi ately, and reported the fact to Capt. Paulding, who thereupon decided to desist from further attempts to save her, but to mutilate the guns in the Yard, fire the vessels, ship-houses, and other structures, and blow up the (stone) dry dock. Some of the old and relatively worthless guns were dismantled by knocking off their trunnions ; but the new Dahl gren guns proved so tough that not one of them was or could thus be rendered useless. Capt. Paulding now recalled the order he had given Lieut. Wise to blow up the dry dock, and ordered trains to be laid instead, so that, at a signal, the ships might be fired. This was accordingly done ; but the previous partial submersion of the ships, under Capt. McCauley's unaccountable order to scuttle them, of course prevented their destruction. Thus, when the Plymouth was reached in its turn by Lieut. Wise, she had sunk below her upper deck, so flood ing the train that it could not be fired. Lieut. Wise, who narrowly es caped -with a scorching from the in conceivably rapid combustion of the upper portion of the Merrimac, when he fired his train whUe on board of her, pulled down the channel in his small boat after the escaping vessels, and got on board the Pawnee below Craney Island, when seven or eight miles on her way. The Pawnee, tow ing the Cumberland, moved slowly down the river at 4 a. m. (high tide), brilliantly lighted on their course by the remaining vessels and alb the combustible property left behind. The Cumberland, drawing seventeen feet of water, grounded In passing one ofthe vessels sunk in the channel, but was got off, an hour or two afterward, uninjured. No molestation was of fered them by the Eebels, who, very naturaUy, thought themselves fortun ate In so easily obtaining possession of what was left behind. Most of the vessels were destroyed ; but the Mer rimac, the best of them all, though badly burned above the water-line, was saved by the Eebels, and, in due time, metamorphosed Into the Iron clad Yirginia, with which such mem orable havoc was -wrought in Hamp ton Eoads. A crowd from Norfolk and Portsmouth burst into the Yard, so soon as our ships had fairly depart- • ed, and saved for the uses of treason .whatever they could, including the dry dock, which had been mined, but not fired, and was readily filled with water. At 6 o'clock, a volunteer company had taken formal possession in the name of Yirginia, and raised her flag over the ruins. By 7, the work of unspiking cannon had com menced ; and, by 9, several guns had been planted along the dock, where they might serve in resisting the re turn of the Yankees under some more Intrepid leader than he who had just slunk away. It was said that Gen. Tahaferro was drunk throughout the night, and was with difficulty aroused at 6 in the moi^iing to hear that all was over. Two officers of the Paw nee, who were left to fire the Navy Yard, were cut off or bewUdered by the rapid spread ofthe conflagration, and compeUed to cross, by skiff, to Norfolk, where they were instantly taken prisoners. No hves were lost. HCCW VIRGINIA WAS LOST. 477 Thus ended the most shameful, cow ardly, disastrous performance that stains the annals of the American Navy." Many, perhaps most, of the Union delegates to the Yirginia Conven tion left it directly after the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, feeling that they had no longer any business in such company. The residue pro ceeded. In utter contempt of their own vote directing the submission of the act to the people, to adopt and ratify the Confederate Constitution ; and to enter" into a convention with the Confederacy, through A. H. Ste phens, whereby all the public prop erty, naval stores, munitions of war, etc., acquired by their State at Nor folk and elsewhere, from the United States, were turned over to said Con federacy ; and If was agreed that "the whole military force and military operations, offensive and defensive, of said Coramonwealth, in the impending conflict with the United States, shall be under the chief control and direction of the President of said Confederate States, upon the same principles, basis, and footing, as if said Com monwealth were now, and during the inter val, a member of said Confederacy." This agreement was approved and ratifled by the Convention on the 25th; although, so early as April 20th, the movement of- Confederate troops, from Alabama, Georgia, and South Carohna, to Eichmond, had commenced. The treaty of offen sive and defensive alliance negotiated by Yice-President Stephens did not, therefore, inaugurate that movement : it could but regulate and perhaps augment it.' ' It is impossible to interpret the course of many officers of the Army and Navy in this and similar emergencies, save on the presumption that they were in doubt as to whether they ought, as loyal men, to stand by the ' Black Re pubhcan' rulers who had just been invested with power at Washington or side with the militant champions of that Slave Power which had some how become confounded, in their not very lucid or intelligent conceptions, with the Constitution and the Union. At all events, it is certain that their indecision or pusillanimity potently aided to crush out the Unionism of the South, and came very near wrecking the Union itself. Mr. Hale's Report, already cited, says : " The aid which might have been derived from the workmen in the Yard, and other loyal citi zens of Norfolk and Portsmouth, is, in some de gree, a matter of conjecture, and it is not pro posed to introduce it as an element in the decision of this question. During the closing days of the United States authority at Norfolk, the revolt had acquired such strength, momentum, and con fidence, that perhaps no material assistance of this kind was to be depended upon. It is proper to remark, however, that there was abundant evi dence before the Committee that at least a major ity of the citizens of both Norfolk and Ports- mouth were on the side ofthe Union, and would have been warmly and openly so had the Gov emment shown a strong Imnd and a timely deter mination to defend itself. An elecHim for mayor was held in Portsmouth a few days previous to the surrender, at which fhe Union candidate ivas elected by an overwhelming majority. A voluntary mili tary association, considerable in numbers and in fluence, was formed in Norfolk for the exclusive purpose of assisting in the defense of the Yard against the insurgents, proffered their services, and off'ered such tests of their fidelity as should have at once secured their acceptance by the au thorities of the Yard. How suicidal a policy was pursued, all know and remember. The Govem ment exhibited such utter feebleness and irresolu tion, and the enemy so much vigor and fierce pur pose, unencumbered by scruples of any kind, that it is not strange that the friends ofthe 'Umon, find ing- themselves unsupported by the Government they were anxious to serve and protect, should finaUy yield to the tempest of treason and pas sion surging around them, and find, in a compul sory submission and in silence, at least a refuge from the insults and outrages of a ferocious rev olutionary mob. But, so irrepressible was the loyal feeling of many of the citizens of Norfolk, that, on the evening of the 20th of April, they greeted the arrival ofthe "Pawnee" at the dock with cheer cm cheer, under the supposition that she had come to reenforce and hold the Yard, and bring them deliverance from the perils and dishonor of a war against that Union which they loved. That hope was cruelly disappointed by the hasty at tempt to destroy the Yard ; and tho Government afforded the loyal men at Norfolk — as, indeed, everywhere else at that time — every possible rea son for the conviction that the Rebellion was the win ning side, a'nd that devotion to the Government could end onVy in 'defeat, loss, and death." "April 24th. 478 THE AMERICAN CONFHCT. A complete reign of terror had, by this time, been established through out Eastern or Old Yirginia. Immi grants from Free States were hunted out on suspicion of Unionism, un less they chose to enlist at once in the Eebel army ; and only the most violent and obstreperous sympathy with Secession could save them from personal outrage. Appeals from those who had formerly figured as inflexi ble Unionists were circulated through the journals, calling upon all true Yirginians to stand by the action of their State, and thereby preserve her from the horrors of an Intestine war. Thus, Mr. A. H. H. Stuart — a leadingWhig of other days,an eminent member of Congress, afterward Sec retary of the Interior under President Fillmore — who had been elected to the Convention as a Unionist from the strong Whig county of Augusta, and had opposed Secession to the last, now wrote a letter to The Staunton Spectator, maintaining this position : " In my judgment, it is the duty of all good citizens to starid by the action of the State. It is no time for crimination or re crimination. We cannot stop now to inquire who brought the troubles upon us, or why. It is enough to know that they are upon us ; and we must meet them like men. We must stand shoulder to shoulder. Our State is threatened with invasion, and we must repel it as best we can. The only way to preserve peace is to present a united front. If we show divisions among ourselves, the enemy will be encouraged by them, and may make thera the pretext for sending armies into our borders for the purpose of sustaining the hands of the disaffected. Our true policy, then, is to stand together as one man in the hour of danger, and leave our faraily feuds to be adjusted after the contest is over." To the same effect, but a httle more boldly, Mr. James M. Mason, late a Senator of the United States, •wrote as follows : " To tlie Editor of ihe Winchester Yirginian: " The question has been frequently put to me— 'What position will Virginia occupy. should the Ordinance of Secession be re jected by the people at the approaching election V And the frequency of the ques tion may be an excuse tor giving publicity to the answer. " The Ordinance of Secession withdrew the State of Virginia from the Union, with all the consequences resulting from the separation. It annulled the Constitution and laws of the United States within the limits of this State, and absolved the citizens of Virginia frora aU obligations and obedience to them. "Hence, it follows, if this Ordinance be rqected by the people, the State of Vir ginia will remain in the Union, and the people of the State will remain bound by the Constitution of the United States ; and obedience to the government and laws of the United States will be fully and rightfully enforced against them. "It follows, of course, that, in this war now carried on by the Governraent of the United States against the seceding States, Virginia must immeAiateX-^ change sides, and, under the orders of that Government, turn her arms against her Southem sisters. " From this, there can be no escape. As a member of the Union, all her resources of men and money will be at once at the command of the Government of the Union. " Again : for mutual defense, immediately after the Ordinance of Secession passed, a treaty or 'military league' was forraed by the Convention in the name of the people of Virginia, with the Confederate States of the South, by which the latter were bound to march to the aid of our State against the invasion of the Federal Government. And we have now in Virginia, at Harper's Ferry and at Norfolk, in face of the common foe, several thousands of the gallant sons of South Carolina, of Alabama, of Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi, who hastened to fulfill the covenant they made, and are ready and eager to lay down their lives, side by side wii;h our sons, in defease of the soil of Virginia. " If the Ordinance of Secession is rejected, not only will this ' mihtary league ' be an nulled, but it will have been raade a trap to inveigle our generous defenders into the hands of their enemies. ' Virginia reraaining in the Union, duty and loj^alty to her obligations to the Union will require that those Southern forces shall not be perraitted to leave the State, but shall be delivered up to the Government of the Union ; and those who refuse to do so will be guilty of treason, and be justly dealt with as traitors. _ " Treason against the ^nited States con sists as well ' in adhering to its enemies and giving them aid' as in levying war. BAST AND WEST VIRGINIA. 479 "If it be asked— 'What are those to do, who, in their consciences, cannot vote to . separate Virginia from the United States ?' — the answer is simple and plain : Honor and duty alike require that they should not vote ,on the question ; if they retain such opinions, they must leave the State. "None ca,n doubt or question the truth of what I have written ; aud none can vote against the Ordinance of Secession, who do not thereby (whether ignorantly or other wise) vote to place himself and his State in the position I have indicated. J. M. Mason. " Winchester, Va., May^6, 1861." Under the Influence of such Incul cations, backed by corresponding ac tion, the more conspicuous Unionists being hunted out, and the greater number silenced and paralyzed, the election was a perfect farce,' through out both Eastern and South-Western Yirginia. Even Alexandria — always, hitherto, strongly Union — -gave but 106 Union votes to over 900 Seces sion ; while in lower Yirginia scarce ly a Ufion vote was polled. Thus, when the conspirators came to an nounce the result, they reported that, including the votes taken in camp, 125,950 had been cast for Secession to 20,373, for the Union; but they significantly added that this did not include the vote of several Western counties, which were in such a state of confusion that no returns there from had been received ! North- Western Yirginia, including more than a third of the geographi cal area of the State, with from one- fifth to one-fourth of its white popu lation, had, for many years, chafed under the sway ofthe slaveholding oli garchy in the East. Eepeated strug gles respecting bases of legislative ap portionment, of taxation, etc., and on questions of Internal improvement, had clearly indicated that the an tagonism between the East and the West was founded in natural causes, and could not be compromised nor overcome. When opportunity pre sented, the West had repeatedly pro tested against the perpetuation of Slavery, but still more earnestly against the subordination of all her Interests and rights to the Incessant exactions of the Slave Power ; though her ruling politicians and presses were usually held in subjection to the domi nant Interest by the preponderating power of the East. Her people had but to look across the Ohio, whereto their streams tended and their sur plus produce was sent, to convince them that their connection with the Old Dominion was unfortunate and injurious. Ten years prior to this, Muscoe E. H. Garnett,' a leading politician of Old Yirginia, writing privately to his friend and compatriot, WUliam H. Trescott," of South Carolina, who had sounded him with regard to the aid to be expected from Yirginia, In case South Carolina should then secede from the Union, had responded '" as foUows : " I believe thoroughly in our own theories, and that, if Chai leston did not grow quite so fast in her trade with other States, yet the relief from Federal taxation would vastly ' 77ie Louisville Journal of June 1st, said : " The vote of Virginia last week on the ques tion of Seoession was a perfect mockery. The State was full of troops from other States of the Confederacy ; while all the Virginia Secessionists, banded in military companies, were scattered in various places to overawe tho friends of Union or drive them from the polls. The Richmond Convention, in addition to other acts of usurpa tion, provided that polls should be opened in all the military encampments, besides the ordinary voting places. * * * No man voted against Secession on Thursday last but at the peril of being lynched or arrested as an incendiary dangerous to the State." ° Democratic representative in Congress from 1857 to 1861 ; since then, iu the Rebel Congress. ' Assistant Sec'ry of State under Buchanan. "" Richmond, May 3, 1851. 480 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. stimulate your prosperity. If so, the pres tige of the Union would be destroyed, and you would be the nucleus for a Southern confederation at no distant day. But I do not doubt, from all I have been able to learn, that the Federal Governraent would use force, beginning with the form most embarrassing to you, and least calculated to excite sympathy : I mean a naval blockade. In that event, could you withstand the re action of feeling which the suffering com merce of Charleston would probably mani fest? Would you not lose that in which your strength consists, the union of your people? I do not mean to iraply an opinion; I only ask the question. If you force this blockade, and bring the Govern ment to direct force, the feeling in Virginia would be very great. I trust in God it would bring her to your aid. But it would be wrong in me to deceive you by speaking certainly. I cannot express the deep morti fication I have felt at her course this winter. But I do not believe that the course of the Legislature is a fair expression of tbe popu lar feeling. In the East, at least, the great majority believe in the right of Secession, and feel the deepest sympathy with Caro lina in opposition to measures which they regard as she does. But the west — West ern Virginia — there is the rub I Only 60,000 slaves to 494,000 whites." When I consider this fact, and the kind of argument which we have heard in this body,'" I cannot but regard with the greatest fear, the ques tion whether Virginia would assist Carolina in such an issue." Mr. Garnett had clearly and truly foreseen that Western Yirginia must necessarily constitute a formidable obstacle to the triumph of Secession. The forty-nine counties which now compose the State of West Yirginia, had, in 1860, a free population of 363,971, -with only 12,771 slaves, or but one slave to nearly thirty white persons ; and even this small number of slaves were, in good part, held in the counties of Greenbrier, Monroe and Hampshire, lying on the south ern verge of the new State, and, for the most part, adhering to old Yir ginia in the struggle for Disunion. In the nature of things, this people were not, and could not be, disposed to divide the Eepublic, and place themselves on the most exposed and defenseless frontier of a far smaUer and weaker nation, In the Interest, and forthe supposed benefit, of human Slavery. And yet this enormous sacrifice was required of them by the slaveholding conspiracy, which, since it could not hope to win _ them by persuasion, was preparing to subject theih to its sway by force of arms : and It was a secret condition of. the adhesion of Yirginia to the Confed eracy that her territorial area was, -in no case, to be curtailed by any treaty of peace that might ultimately .be made with the Union. ' On the other hand, the accession of Yirginia to the Confederacy had rendered a peaceful concession of Southern independence a moral, and well nigh a geographical, impossibil ity. West Yirginia — ^but more espe cially that long, narrow strip, strange ly Interposed between Pennsylvania and Ohio, (locally designated " The Panhandle,") could not be surren dered by the Union -without involv ing the necessity of still further na tional disintegration. For this " Pan handle" stretches northerly to within a hundred miles of Lake Erie, nearly • severing the old from the new Free States, and becoming, in the event of Its possession by a foreign and hostUe power, a means of easily Interposing a military force so as to cut off all communication between them. If the people of the Free States could have consented to surrender their brethren of 'West Yirginia \o their common foes, they could not have relinquished their territory without " Mr. Garnett counts the Valley (Shenandoah,) OS a portion of Western Virginia, '" Mr. G. was then a member of a Virginia State Convention. TJfiJS JNEBSEE UJiflONISM BETRAYED. consenting to their own ultimate dis- 1 ruption and ruin. West Yirginia was .thus the true key-stone of the Union arch. •I The Legislature of Tennessee, which assembled at Nashville January 7th, 1861, and elected Breckinridge ; Democrats for officers in both Houses, had, on the 19th, decided to call a .State Convention, subject to a vote lOf the people. That vote was taken early in March ; and, on the 10th, the result was officially proclaimed as follows : No Convention, 91,803 ; for Convention, 24,749 ; Union majority, 67,054. Several counties did not •render their returns ; and it was said that their vote would reduce the Union majority to something over • 50,000 ; but the defeat of the Seces sionists was admitted to be complete and overwhelming. StUl, the conspirators'for Disunion kept actively plotting and mining; and, by means of secret societies, and all the machinery of aristocratic sedi tion, believed themselves steadily gaining. They had no hope, how ever, of hurhng their State into the vortex of treason, save on the back of an excifement raised by actual colhsion and bloodshed. Up to the hour of the bombardment of Sumter, ' though the Govemor and a majority of the Legislature were fuUy in their interest, they remained a powerless minority of the people. When the news of that bombard ment was received, and the excite ment created by it was at its hight, ' the leaders of the ' conservative' or Union party were beguiled into a r fatal error. On the 18th, they issued : from NashvUle an address to the peo ple of Tennessee, wherein, after glan- 31 481 cing at the leading events which ha^ just occurred on the seaboard, they proceeded to say : " Tennessee is called upon by the Presi dent to furnish two regiments ; and the State has, through her Executive, refused to com ply with the call. This refusal of our State we fully approve. We commend the wis dom, the justice, and the huraanity, of the refusal. We unqualifiedly disapprove of secession, botli as a constitutional right, and as a remedy for existing evils ; we equally condemn the policy of the Administration in reference to the seceded States. But, while we, without qualification, condemn the policy of coercion, as- calculated to dis solve the Union forever, and to dissolve it in the blood of onr fellow-citizens, and regard it as sufficient to justify the State in refusing her aid to the Government, in its attempt to suppress the revolution in the seceded States, we do not think it our duty, consider ing her position in the Union, and in view of the great question of the peace of our dis tracted country, to take sides against the Government. Tennessee has wronged no State nor citizen of this Union. She has vio lated the rights of no State, north or south. She has been loyal to all where loyalty was due. She has not brought on this war by any act of hers. She has tried every m cans in her power to prevent it. She now stands ready to do anything within her reach to stop it. And she ought, as we think, to decline join ing either party. For, in so doing, she would at once terminate her grand mission as peace-maker between the States of the South and the General Government. Nay, more : the almost inevitable result would be the transfer of the war within her own borders ; the, defeat of all hopes of reconcili ation ; and the deluging of the State with the blood of her own people. "The present duty of Tennessee is to maintain a position of independence — :taking sides with the Union and the peace , of t^e country against all assailants, whether from the North or the South. Her position should be to maintain the sanctity of her soil fropi the hostile tread of any party. " We do not pretend to foretell the future of Tennessee, in coniiection with the other States,; or in reference to the Federal Gov emment. We do not pretend to be able to tell the fnture purposes of the President and Cabinet in reference to the impending war. But, should a purpose be .developed bythe Governraent of overrunning and subjugating our brethren of the seceded Stqtes, we say, unequivocally, that it will be the duty ofthe State to resist at all hazards, at any cost, and by arms, any such purpose or attempt 482 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. And, to meet any and all emergencies, she ought to be fully armed;, and we would re spectfully call upon the authorities of the State to proceed at once to the accomplish ment of this object. " Let Tennessee, then, prepare thorough ly and efficiently for coming events. In the mean ti.rae, let her, as speedily as she can, hold a conference with her sister slavehold ing States yet in the Union, for the purpose of devising plans for the preservation of the peace of the land. Fellow-citizens of Ten nessee ! we entreat yon to bring yourselves up to the magnitude of the crisis. Look in the face impending calamities ! Civil war — what is it ? The bloodiest and darkest pages of history answer this question. To avert this, who would not give his tirae, his talents, his untiring energy — his all ? There may be yet time to accomplish every thing. Let us not despair. The Border Slave States may prevent this civil war : and why shall they not do it ?" Of course, these gentlemen were, though unconsciously, on the high road to open treason, whither they all arrived ere the lapse of many weeks. How they saved their State from the woes of civil war,^ aiid pre served her soil from the tread of hos tile armies. Is already weU known. Of the many who weakly, culpably allowed themselves to be beguiled or hurled into complicity in the crime of dividing and destroying their coun try, there is no name whereon will rest a deeper, darker stigma than that of John Bell. Conservatism having thus bound itself hand and foot, and cast Its fet tered and helpless form at the feet of rampant, aggressive treason, the re sult was inevitable. An emissary from the Confederate traitors, in the person of Henry W. Hilliard," of Alabama, forthwith appeared upon the scene. The Legislature secretly adopted" a resolve that the Governor might or should appoint " three Com missioners on the part of Tennessee to enter into a military league with the authorities of the Confederate States, and with the authorities of such other slaveholding States as may wish to enter into it ; having in *vlew the protection and defense of the entire Sout;h against the war which is now being carried on against it." The Governor appointed as such Commissioners Messrs. Gustavus A. Henry, Archibald O. W. Totten, and Washington Barrow ; who lost no time in framing a Convention " between the State of Tennessee and the Confederate States of America," whereof the vital pro-visions are as foUows : "First: Until the said State shall be come a member of said Confederacy, accord ing to the Constitutions of both 'powers, the whole military force and military operations, offensive and defensive, of said State, in the impending conflict with the United States, shall be under the chief control and direction of the Confederate States, upon the sarae baSs, principles and footing, as if said State were now and during the interval a mem ber of said Confederacy. Said force, to gether with those of the Confederate States, is to be employed for the common defense. "Second: The State of Tennessee will, upon becoming a member of said Confeder acy, under the permanent Constitution of said Confederate States, if the same shall occur, turn over to said Confederate States all the public property, naval stores and munitions of war, of which she raay then be in possession, acquired frora the United States, on the same terms and in the same manner as the other- States of said Confed eracy have done in like cases." This convention— concluded on the 7th — was submitted to the Legisla ture, still in secret session, and rati fied : in Senate, Yeas 14 ; Nays 6 ; absent or not voting, 5. In the House, Yeas 43 ; Nays 15 ; absent or not voting, 18. This Legislature had, on theprecedingday,passed an ordInai\pe of Secession, whereof the first two, and most essential, articles are as follows : "First: 'We, the people of the State of " Formerly a "Whig member of Congress. "May 1, 186L TENNESSEE'S FRAUDULENT SECESSION 483. Tennessee, waiving an expression of opinion as to the abstract doctrine of secession, bnt asserting the right, as a free and independ ent people, to alter, reform or abolish our form of government in snch manner as we think proper, do ordain and declare that all the laws and ordinances by which the State of Tennessee became a meraber of the Fede ral Union of the United States of America are hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all obligations on our part be withdrawn therefi-om ; and we do hereby resume all the rights, functions and powers, which, by any of said laws and ordinances, were conveyed to the Government of the United States, and absolve ourselves from all the obligations, restraints and duties, incurred thereto ; and do hereby henceforth becorae a free, sove reign and independent State. "Second: We, furthermore, declare and ordain that Article 10, sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, which requires members of the General As sembly, and all officers, civil and military, to take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, be, and the same are hereby, abrogated and annulled, and all parts of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee making citizenship of the United States a qualification for office, and recognizing the Constitution of the United States as the supreme law of this State, are, in like man ner, abrogated and annulled." This Ordinance, with a pendant providing for the adoption of the Confederate Constitution, was nomi nally submitted to a popiUar vote of the State, to be taken on the Sth of June ensuing ; but such a submission, after " all the pubhc property, naval stores and munitions of war" and the whole " military operations, offensive and defensive, of the said State," were placed " under the chief control and direction of the President of the Confederate States," was, of course, a farce." The network of railroads checker ing the State, and especially the great line connecting Yirginia, through Knoxville and Chattanooga, -with the Cotton States, was instantly covered with Eebel soldiers, and all freedom of opinion and expression, on the side of the Union, completely crushed out. Gov. Harris, on the 24th of June, is sued his proclamation, declaring that the vote of the Sth had resulted as follows : Separation. J^o Separation. East'Tennessee 14,7.80 32.923 Middle " .... 58,265 8,198 West " 29.127 6,117 Military Camps ... . 2,741 (none) Total 104,913 47,238 But a Convention of the people of East Tennessee — a region wherein the Immense preponderance of Union sentiment still commanded some de gree of freedom for Unionists — ^held at Green-vIUe on the 17th, and where in thirty-one counties were represent ed by delegates, adopted a declaration of grievances, wherein they say : " We, the people of East Tennessee, again assembled in a Convention of our delegates, make the following declaration in addition to that heretofore promulgated by us at Knoxville, on the 30th and 31st days of May last: " So far as we can learn, the election held in this State on the 8th day of the present month was free, with but few exceptions, in no part of the State, other than East Ten nessee. In the larger portion of Middle and West Tennessee, no speeches or discussions in favor of the Union were permitted." Union papers were not allowed to circulate. Measures were taken, in some parts of West Tennessee, in defiance of the Constitution and laws, which allow folded tickets, to have " I%e Louisville Journal of May 13th, said: "The spirit of Secession appears to have reached its culminating point in Tennessee. Certainly, the feE spirit has, as yet, reached no higher point of outrageous tyranny. The whole ofthe late proceeding in Tennessee has been as gross an outrage as ever was perpetrated by the worst tyrant of all the earth. The whole Secession movement, on the part ofthe Legisla ture of that State, has been lawless, violent and tumultuous. The pretense of submitting the Ordinance of Secession to the vote of the people of the State, after placing her military power and resources at the disposal and under the command of the Confederate States without any authority from the people, is as bitter and inso lent a mockery of popular, rights aa the human mind could invent." " An attempt, a shprt time before the election, 484 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the ballots numbered in such manner as to mark and expose the Union voters. A Dis union paper. The Nashville Gazette, in urg ing the people to vote an open ticket, de clared that ' a thief takes a pocket-book or effects an entrance into forbidden places by stealthy means — a tory, in voting, usually adopts pretty much the same mode of pro cedure.' Disunionists, in many i)laces, had charge of the polls ; and Union men, when voting, were denounced as Lincolnites and Abolitionists. The unanimity of the votes in many large counties, where, but a few weeks ago, the Union sentiment was _ so strong, proves beyond doubt that Union men were overawed by the tyranny of the military law, and the still greater tyranny of a corrupt and subsidized press. * * * Volunteers were allowed to vote in and out of the State, in flagrant violation of the Con stitution. From the moment the election was over, and before any detailed statement of the vote in the different counties had been published, and before it was possible to ascertain the result, it was. exultingly proclaimed that Separation had been carried by from fifty to seventy thousand votes. This was to prepare the public mind, to enable the Secessionists to hold possession of the State, though they should be in a minority. The final result is to be announced by a Dis union Governor, whose existence depends upon the success of Secession ; and no pro vision is made by law for an examination of the vote by disinterested persons, or even for contesting the election. For these and other causes, we do not regard the result of the election as expressive of the will of a major ity of the freemen of Tennessee." " The people of East Tennessee — a mountainous, pastoral region, hke New Hampshire or the Tyrol, where in Slavery never had and never could have any substantial foothold — she having about one slave to twenty freemen — earnestly petitioned and entreated permission to' remain in the Union ; and, if the residue of the State were resolved to go out, then they asked of it to be set off and quit-claimed, so that they might en joy " the right, as a free and Inde pendent people, to alter, reform, or abolish our form of government in such manner as we see proper," which the legislators of their State, In their Ordinance of Secession, had solemnly asserted. But they were at once given to understand that this could not be granted. The right' aforesaid was recognized by the Confederates as inhering in aU ^ho sought to destroy the Union, not in those who essayed to preserve or adhere to it. So East Tennessee — ^Isolated from her natural allies by the shameful neutrality of Kentucky — was ruthlessly trampled Iinder the iron heel of the Eebellion. Her bolder Unionists were shot down like evolves, or hung by scores like sheep-stealing dogs ; while those more cautious or reticent were outlawed and hunted from their State. For weary months and years, she lay helpless and bleeding in the grasp of her blood-thirsty foes, while thou sands of her sons were torn from their homes by a merciless conscription, and compelled to fight and die for the traitorous cause they abhorred. to hold a Union meeting at Paris, Tenu., resulted in the death of two Union men — shot by the Disunionists ; and a notice that Hon. Emerson Etheridge would speak at Trenton, Tenn., elicited the following correspondence : "Trenton, Tbnn., April 16, 1861. " To J. D. 0. Atkins and R. G. Payne • " Etheridge speaks here on Friday. Be here to answer him Friday or next day." The following is the answer to the above : "MEMPms, April 16, 1861. " To Messrs. ; I can't find Atkins. Can't come at that time. If Etheridge speaks jbrthe South, we have no-reply. If against it. our oidy . answer to him and his backers must be cold steel and bullets. R. G. Payne." " Parson Browulow, iu his "Experiences among the Rebels," says: " For Separation and Representation at Rich mond, East Tennessee gave 14,100 votes. One- half of that number were Rebel troops, liaving no authority under the Constitution to vote at any elec- tioii. Por No Separation and No Representa tion, East Tennessee gave 33,000 straight-out Union votes, with at least 6,000 quiet citizens deterred from coming out by threats of violence and by the presence of drunken troops at the polls to insult them." SECESSION , OF NORTH CAROLINA. 485 The State of Nokth Caeolina, though never dehberately and intel- ligently hostile to the Union, became a Bjiuch easier prey to the conspira tors. Her Democratic Legislature — reconvened at Ealeigh, November 19th, 1860 — had refased, a month later, to pass a biU to arm the State, though -visited and entreated to that end by Hon. Jacob Thompson, then a member of Mr. Buchanan's Cabi net; and had adjourned" without even calhng a Convention. This, as we have seen, did not prevent Gov. EUis taking military possession of the Federal forts near Beaufort and Wil mington (January 2d), on the pretext that, if he did not do it, a mob would ! He proceeded to reconvene the Legis lature in extra session, and to worry it Into calhng a Convention ; for "which, an election was duly held.'" But the act making this call pro-vi ded thait the people, when electing delegates, might vote that the Con vention should or should not meet. They profited by the gracious ¦per mission, and, while electing a Union Convention by an immense majority, voted — ^to guard against accidents — that the Convention should not meet : their vote — quite a hea'vy one — stand ing: Fer holding, 46,672; Against holding, 47,323 : majority for No Con vention, 661. This vote temporarily checked all open, aggressive move ments in the interest of Disunion, but did not arrest nor diminish the efforts of Its champions. On the contrary, a great State Eights Convention was assembled at Ealeigh on the 22d of March, and largely attended by lead ing Disunionists from South Carolina, Yirginia, and other States. Its spirit and its deihonstrations left no doubt of the fixed resolve of the master spirits to take their. State out of the Union, even In defiance of a majority of her voters. But they concluded to await the opportunity which South Carohna was preparing. This oppor tunity was the taking of Fort Sum ter; when Gov. EUis proceeded to seize the U. S. Branch Mint at Char lotte"" and the Federal Arsenal at Fay- ette-vIUe ;" and thereupon "^ to call an extra session ofthe Legislature. This session commenced May 1st, and in a few days thereafter resulted In the passage of the following: ¦ " 'Whereas, By an unwarranted and unpre cedented usurpation of power by the Ad ministration at Washington City, the Gov ernraent of the United States of America has been subverted ; and whereas, the honor, dig nity, and welfare ofthe people of North Car olina imperatively demand that they should resist, at all hazards, such usurpation ; and whereas, there is an actual state of revolu tion existing in North Carolina, and our sis ter State of Virginia, making common cause with us, is threatened with invasion by the said Administration ; now, therefore, "Resolved, That his Excellency, the Gov ernor, be authorized to tender to Virginia, or to the Government of the Confederate States, such portion of our volunteer forces now, or that raay be hereafter, under his command, as may not- be necessary for the immediate defense of North Carolina." The Legislature proceeded at once to call a Convention ; delegates to be elected on the 13th, and the Conven tion to assemble on the 20th. On that day, the Convention assembled — ^having been elected under the In fluence of the Fort Sumter efferves cence and of such assertions as are contained in the preamble just quo- • ted. Mr. Thomas L. Clingman, late of the U. S. Senate, having been delegated by the Legislature to the Confederate Congress at Montgom ery, on the 14th, submitted to that body the following : " December 22d. '" January 30, 1861. '" AprU 20th. "' AprU 23d. " April 26th. 486 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. " Resolution, authorizing the Governor to use all the powers of the State, civil and military, consistent with the Constitution, to protect the persons and property of our citizens, and to maintain and defend the honor of North Carolina. " Whereas, The Constitution of the United States has been entirely subverted, and its Government has been converted into a mili tary despotisra, by the usurpations of the Administration of Abraham Lincoln ; And whereas, the said Abraham Lincoln has pro mulgated a proclamation declaring the ports of North Carolina in a state of blockade, and directing our ships engaged in lawful commerce to be seized ; And whereas, such measures are, by the laws of civilized na tions, only to be resorted to against a foreign State, and one against which war has been declared ; And whereas, North Carolina has no alternative, consistent with her safety and honor, but to accept the position thus assigned to her, as being that of an inde pendent and foreign State : " Therefore, be it resohed. That the Gov ernor is hereby authorized to use all the powers of the State, civil and military, con sistent with the Constitution, to protect the persons and property of our citizens, and to maintain and defend the honor of North Carolina. " A true copy, from the minutes of the House of Commons of North Carolina. " Edward Cantwell, C. H. C." By such statements, wholly un contradicted, the loyalty and patriot ism of North Carohna were, for the moment, utterly paralyzed. The peo ple, assured by those they had learned to trust that the Federal Government had been utterly subverted by usurp ation, and that a mihtary despotism, headed by Abraham Lincoln, was making unprovoked war upon them, which their honor and their interests alike required them to resist, were passive, bewildered and helpless in struments in the hands of the con spirators. The Convention, on the very day of Its assembling, passed an Ordinance of Secession by a unani mous vote, and forthwith linked the efforts and fortunes of North Carolina with those of the traitoK, by adopting and ratifying the Confederate Consti tution. It has been -widely represented, and, to some extent, believed, that the failure of the Peace Conference or Congress, so called, with the re fusal of the Eepubhcans to pass the Crittenden Compromise, backed by President Lincoln's Inaugural, was generally received throughout the Slave States as a declaration of war on the South, and, as such, resented by large and controUing acquisitions to the ranks of the Disunionists in the hitherto unseceded States. The true view Is widely different from this. , "We have seen that the Yirginia Con vention refasedj so late as April 4th, by a vote of nearly two to one, to pass an Ordinance of Secession. TheAjSKANSAS Convention assem bled about the 1st of March ; and, on the 16th, was waited on by WU ham S. Oldham, a meniber of the Confederate Congress and a Com missioner from Jefferson Davis, bear ing a message from that potentate, dated March 9th— four days after the adjournment of Congress, and when the contents of Mr. Lincoln's In augural were famUiar to the e^itire South. The Convention listened to Mr. Davis's letter, wherein he dilated on the identity of institutions and of interests between his Confederacy and the State of Arkansas, urging the adhesion of the latter to the former; and, after taking two days to delibe rate, a majority — 39 to 35 — voted not to secede from the Union. The Convention proceeded, however, to resolve that a vote of the people of their State should be taken on the 1st of August ensiling — the ballots reading " Secession " or " Coopera- ARKANSAS ON IRREVOCABLE COMPACTS. 487 tion" — the Convention to stand ad journed to August 17th ; when, if it should, appear that Secession had re ceived a majority, this should be regarded as an instruction from their constituents to pass the Ordinance, which they had now rejected ; and so, having elected five delegates to a proposed Conference of the Border States, at Frankfort, Ky., May 27th, the Convention stood adjom-ned." Yet this identical Convention was reconvened upon the reception of the news from Fort Sumter, and proceeded, with httle hesitation, to pass an Ordinance of Secession," by a vote of 69 to 1. That Ordi nance asserts that this Convention, by resolves adopted March 11th, had pledged " the State of Arkansas to resist to the last extremity any at tempt on the part of such power to coerce any State that seceded from the old Union." The Ordinance proceeds to set forth that the Legis lature of Arkansas had, on the 18th of October, 1836, by virtue of au thority vested therein by the Con vention which framed the State Con stitution, adopted certain propositions made to that State by Congress, which propositions " were freely accepted, ratified, and irrevocably confirmed, as articles of compact and union be tween the State of Arkansas and the United States;" which irrevocable compact this Convention proceeded formaUy to revohe and annul, and to declare " repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside," bythe identical act which w;ithdraw's Arkansas from, the Unio'n and absolves Its citizens from all allegiance to its Govemment ! The meaning of this may not be understood without explanation. The » March 22d. soil or pubhc lands of Arkansas, before there was any such State or Territory, had belonged fully and absolutely to the Union, ha-viag been acquired by It in the purchase of Loui siana. To that soil, thus purchased and paid for, and the Indian title thereto at a stUl further cost ex tinguished. Congress had not chosen either to ahenate or imperil its title by the creation and admission of the State of Arkansas. As a prere quisite, therefore, of such admission, said State was required to enter into an irrevocable compact never to claim nor exercise ownership of said public lands, until that title should be ceded and conveyed, upon due considera tion, by the Union, to individual or other purchasers. Having thus be come a State and been admitted into the Union by -virtue Of this irre vocable compact, Arkansas proceeds to revoke the compact and seize the lands ! The ' conservatives' in the Conven tion — ^that is, those who were opposed to Secession at its earlier meeting — now issued an address, justifying their change of position by the fact that the Federal Govemment had determined to use force against the seceded States, and adding : " The South is ' our country;'' and, while we are satisfied that, up to the moment when the Government committed the folly and wickedness of making war upon the seceded States, the conservative party in Arkansas was largely in the ascendant, we cannot believe that her soil is polluted by a being base and cowardly enough to stop to consider, in casting his lot in the unequal struggle in which she is engaged, whether she is 'right or wrong.' " The ' conservatism' of these gentle men, it seems, had not been shocked by the mihtary seizure by Secession- ' May 6, 1861. 48& THE- AMERICAN OONFLIOT. ists, two weeks previous, of the Fede ral arsenal at Napoleon,'' containing 12,000 Springfield musketsand a large amount of munitions and stores ; nor by that of Fort Smith," also con taining valuable deposits of arms, munitions, and Indian goods. These, and many kindred acts of violence a;rid outrage on the side of disunion, had been committed without a shadow of disguise, and -with no other excuse than the treason of the perpetrators — Solon Borland, late U. S. Senator, hating led the party that captured Fort Smith. ' Coercion ' was ab horred and execrated only when ex ercised in defense of the Union. MissouEi was found in a most an omalous condition on the breaking out of the great struggle, destined so severely to try her integrity, as well as that of the nation. Though her slaves were less than a tenth of her total population, and her real inter ests were bound up in the triumph of Free Labor and the maintenance of the Union, yet her managing poli ticians, of the Calhoun or extreme pro-slavery school, had contrived for years to wield and enjoy her power and patronage, by keeping a firm and skillful hold on the machinery of the Democratic party. They had thus succeeded, through a long and bitter canvas8,in hunting Col. Thomas H. Benton — once the autocrat of the State — out of the Senate, and, ulti mately, out of pubhc life. In ac cordance -vvith their settled pohcy the most of them had professed to support Senator Douglas for Presi dent In 1860 ; and, on the strength of their regularity as Democrats, had elected Claiborne F. Jackson as Gov emor, Thomas C. Eeynolds as Lieut. Governor, and a Legislature either thoroughly committed or easUy mold ed to their ultimate schemes. Of this Legislature, the Senate had instructed" its Committee on Federal Eelations to report a blU calhng a State Convention, which, in due time, became a law." The Convention was accordingly chosen and held; but, when it came to assemble, not one avowed Disunionist was found among its members. Even Sterling Price, a Democratic ex-Governor, who in due time became one of the ablest and most successful of Eebel Generals, had secured his election only by a profession of Unionism. Its Committee on Federal Eelations, through its Chairman, Judge H. E. Gamble," reported at length, on the 9th of March — four days after Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural had been read aU over the country — in pointed op position to the views of the Dis unionists. After discussing the ques tions which agitated the country from a Southern point of view, with the usual complaints of Northern fanatic cism, intermeddling, and aggression, condemning coercion, whether em ployed by or agaiast the seceded States, and warmly Indorsing the Crittenden Compromise, the Conven tion, on the report of this Committee, : "Resolved, That at present, there is no adequate cause to impel Missouri to dissolve her connection with the Federal Union; but, on the contrary, she will labor for such an adjustment of the existing troubles as will secure peace, rights,, and equality, to all the States. " Resohed, That the people of this 'State are devotedly attached to the institutions of our country, and earnestly desire that, by a tair and amicable adjustment, the pre^nt causes of disagreement may be removed, 'April 23d. « AprU 24th. "Jan. 5th, 1861. [ "Jan. 16th. » Afterward made Governor. MISSOURI LURED TO THE BRINK; the Union perpetuated, and peace and har mony restored between the North and the South." And hereupon the Convention ad journed " to the third Monday in December, after appointing seven del egates to the proposed Border-State Convention, and a Committee with power to call an earlier meeting of this body. If deemed necessary. The Legislature, however, remain ed in session, completely under the control of Gov. Jackson and his Dis union aUies; and one of its most notable acts provided a metropohtan pohce for the city of St. Louis, under the control of five Commissioners, to be appointed by the Govemor ; who, of course, took care that a decided majority of them should be Seces sionists. Thus, the practical control of the chief city of the State, and of the entire Missouri valley, was seized by the enemies ofthe Union. Fort Sumter having been captured, and a most insulting, defiant refusal returned by Gov. Jackson to the President's requisition for troops, he proceeded "' to call an extra session of his Legislature, to begin May 2d, "for the purpose of enacting such laws and adopting such measures as may be necessary for the more per fect organization and equipment of the Militia of this State, and to raise money and such other means as may be required to place the State In a proper attitude of defense." Orders were Issued by his Adjutant-General, Hough, to the Mihtia officers of the State, to assemble their respective commands May 3d, to go into encamp ment for a week. The Legislature ha'ving been on that day reconvened by him, the Govemor transmitted to it a Message, denouncing the Pre sident's call for troops as " unconsti tutional and Illegal, tending toward a consohdated despotism." Though he did not venture, directly, to ad vocate secession, he did all he could and dared to promote it ; urging the Legislature to appropriate a large sum to arm the State and place it in a posture of defense. He said : " Our interests and sympathies are identi cal with those of the slaveholding States, and necessarily unite our destiny with theirs. The similarity of our social and political in stitutions, our industrial interests, our sym pathies, habits, and tastes, our common ori gin, territorial contiguity, all concur in point ing out our duty in regard to the separation now taking place between the States of the old Federal Union." The Legislature obsequiously obey ed his behests ; giving him, so far as it could, the entire control of the military and pecuniary resources of the State. Had not these machinations been countervailed, Missouri would have soon fallen as helplessly and passively into the hands of the Confederates as did North Carohna or Arkansas. Her slaveholders, though not num err ous, constituted her political and so cial aristocracy. They were large landholders, mainly settled in the fertile counties" stretched along both banks of the Mlssoiirl river, through the heart of the State, and exerting a potent control over the poorer, less InteUigent, and less influential pio neers, who thinly overspread the ru ral counties north and south of them. "" March 22d. " AprU 22d. ^ Of the 114,965 slaves held in 1860 m the en tire State, no less than 50,280 were held in twelve Counties stretching along the Missouri river: viz: Boone, 6,034; Callaway, 4,521; Chariton, 2,837; Clay, 3,456; Cooper, 3,800; Howard, 5,889; Jackson, 3,944; Lafayette, 6,367; Pike, 4,056; Platte, 3,313; St. Charles, 2,181 ; Saline, 4,876. Probably two-thirds of all the slaves iu the State were held withm 20 mUes of that river. 490 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. The mercantile aristocracy of St. Louis was predominantly devoted to their supposed interests and docile to their commands. But for St. Louis on one side and Kansas on the other, Missouri could scarcely have been saved. But Kansas had a population whom the rough experiences of pre vious jrears had educated into deadly hostihty to the Slave Power ; while St. Louis possessed. In her liberty- loving Germans, in her intelligent and uncompromising citizens of east ern lineage, and In The St. Louis Democrat — a journal of high charac ter and extensive influence, which could neither be bought nor fright ened into recreancy to the Interests of Free Labor — the elements of pow erful resistance to the meditated trea son. Although the Governor had so promptly and abusively repelled Pre sident Lincoln's requisition, a full regiment had been raised by Col. Frank P. Blair, while four others were in process of formation In St. Louis, within ten days from the issue of the President's call. The Federal Arsenal In "Western Missouri was located at Liberty, Clay County, In the midst of a strongly pro- Slavery population. As It had been often robbed with impunity to arm the 'Border Euffians' for their re peated raids into Kansas, it was natu rally supposed that it might now be drawn upon for Its entire contents in behalf of what was essentially the same cause. Accordingly, on the 20th, It was seized by a strong force, and the guns and munitions therein deposited carried off to arm and equip the gathering hosts of treason. But the Federal Arsenal at St. Louis had a garrison of several hun dred regulars, under the command of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, who promptly made arrangements, not to destroy, but to protect and defend, its stores of arms and munitions. During the night of the 25th of April, the great bulk of these were quietly but rapid ly transferred to a steamboat, and removed to Alton, 111., whence they were mainly conveyed to Springfield, the capital of that State, foiling the Secessionists, who were organizing a ' State Guard' in the vicinity with a view to their capture, and who had, for several days, been eagerly and hopefully 'awaiting the right moment to secure these arms.\ Having thus sent away all that were not needed, Capt. Lyon and Col. Blair, on the morning of May 10th, suddenly sur rounded the State Guard at Camp Jackson, at the head of 6,000 armed Unionists and an effective battery, and demanded their surrender — al- • lowing half an hour for compliance -with this peremptory request. Gen. D. M. Frost, in command -of the camp, being completely surprised, had no ¦ alternative but compliance. Twenty cannon, twelve hundred new rifles, several chests of muskets, large quantities of ammunition, etc., most of which had recently been received from the Baton Eouge Arsenal, now in Confederate hands, were among the ' spoils of victory.' The news of this exploit preceded the return of the Unionists from the camp to the city ; and the chagrin of the embryo Eebels Impelled them to proceed from insults to violence. At length, one of the Unionist regi ments (German) were impelled to fire upon its assailants, when twenty- two persons fell dead — one of them a woman. A furious excitement was aroused by this tragedy, but inquiries GOV. JACKSON FIGURING FOR SECESSION. 491 established the endurance and forbear ance of the volunteers, so long as pa tience was a 'virtue. The rage and hate of the Seces sionists were intensified by this se rious blow ; but they took care not to provoke further collision. The un questioned fact that the streets and aUeys of the discomfited State Guard's ' Camp Jackson' were named after Da'vis, Beauregard, etc., was not needed to prove the traitorous char acter of the organization. Capt. Lyon was made Brigadier-General of the First Brigade of Missouri Yolunteers. Gen. "William S. Harney returned from the East to St. Louis on the - 12th, and took command of«the Union forces. Nine days thereafter, he en tered into a truce or compact with Gen. Sterling • Price, whereof the ob ject was the pacification of Missouri. But this did not prevent the traitors from hunting and shooting Unionists in every part of the State where Slavery and treason were locally in the ascendant — thousands having been driven in terror from their homes before the end of May. Some of them were served 'with notices from one or another of the secret societies of Eebels overspreading the State. In at least one instance, a citizen was arrested and sent to Jef ferson City, to be tried by Court Martial on a charge of raising a Union company; and, on the 22d, the American fiag was taken down from its staff In front of the ' Post Office in St. Joseph, and the authori ties of that city (In the Northwest comer of the State) formally resolved that no American flag should be planted within its limits. Gen. Har ney's compact with Price, pro'ving a protection to treason only, was repu diated at Washington, and Gen. Harney himself superseded In the command ofthe department by Gen. Lyon. Gov. Jackson thereupon "' issued a circular, professing to regard the Harney compact as still in force, and Insisting that "the people of Missouri should be permitted, in peace and se curity, to decide upon their future course ; that they could not be subju gated," etc., etc. Yery soon," an in terview was had, at St. Louis, between Gen. Price, on behalf of the Govern or, and Gen. Lyon and Col. Blair, on the side ofthe Union; whereat Gen. Price demanded, as a vital condition of peace, that no Federal troops should be stationed in, or aUowed to pass through, the State. Gen. Lyon peremptorily refused compli ance. Jackson and Price returned that night to Jefferson City; and the next moming brought tidings to St. Louis that the Gasconade railroad" bridge had been burnt, as also a por tion of the bridge over the Osage river, and the telegraph wires cut, under the direction of a son of the Governor. On the back of this came a proclamation from Jackson, caUing out 50,000 State MUitia to repel Fed eral Invasion, and closing as follows : " In issuing this proclamation, I hold it to be my most- solemn duty to remind you that Missouri is still one of the United States; , that the Executive department of the State Government does not arrogate to itself the power to disturb that relation ; that power has been wisely vested in the Convention, which will, at the proper time, express your sovereign will ; and that, meanwhile, it is your duty to obey all constitutional require ments of the Federal Government. But it is equally my duty to advise you that your first allegiance is due to your own State, and that you are under no obligation whatever "June 4th. "June 11th. 492 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. to obey the unconstitutional edicts of the military despotism which has introduced it- self.at Washington, nor submit to the infa mous and degrading sway of its wicked min ions in this State. No brave-hearted Mis- sourian will obey the one or submit to the other. Rise, then, and drive out ignomini ously the invaders, who have dared to dese crate the soil which your labors have made fruitful, and which is consecrated by your homes." Thus, though Missouri had authori tatively and overwhelmingly refused to leave the Union, her Governor made war upon it, and, mustering all the forces of Slavery and treason, proceeded openly to cast in his and their lot -with the fortunes ofthe Great EebeUion. Kentuckt, despite the secret affih- atlon of her leading politicians with the traitors, whom many of them ultimately joined, refused from the outset, through the authentic action of her people, to unite her fortunes with those of the Eebellion. Though she had, for some years, been a ' Demo cratic' State — casting her Presiden tial vote for Buchanan and Breckin ridge, In 1856, by some seven thou sand majority" — the cloven foot of treason had no sooner been exhibited, by the disruption of the Democratic party at Charleston, than her people gave unmistakable notice that they would acquiesce in no such purpose. Her State Election occurred not long afterward,"" when Leslie Combs, 'Union' candidate for Clerk of her highest Court (the only office filled at this election by the general vote ofthe State), was chosen by the magnificent majority of 23,223 over his leading '° Buchanan 74,642 ; PUlmore 67,416; Fre mont 314. '" August 6, I860. "Combs 68,165; M'Clarty (Breckinridge) 44,942; Bomng(Douglas) 10,971; Hopkins(Lin- cohi) 829. competitor, and 11,423 over the com bined votes of all" others. If Maj. Breckinridge had been made their, candidate for President by the bolt ers with any idea of thereby seducing ' the home of Henry Clay' from her loyalty, that hope was Ul-grounded, as the Presidential election more con clusively demonstrated — Bell and Ev erett carrying the State by a large plurahty." Yet her Democratic Gov emor, Magoffin,"" though he forcibly protested" against the headlong im petuosity wherewith South Carohna persisted In dragging the South Into Disunion — summoned her" Legisla ture to meet In extra session, and, on its assembhng," addressed to it a Message, urging the caU of a State Convention, wherein he premises that r We, the people of the United States, are no longer one people, united and friendly. The ties of fraternal love and concord, which once bound us together, are sun dered. Though the Union of the States may, by the abstract reasoning of a class, be construed still to exist, it is really and prac- tically-^to an extent; at least — fatally im paired. )The confederacy is rapidly resolv ing itself into its original integral parts, and its loyal members are intent upon contract.. ing wholly new relations. Reluctant as we may be to realize the dread calamity, the great fact of revolution stares us in the face, demands recognition, and will not be theo rized away. Nor is the worst yet told. We are not yet encouraged to hope that this revolution will be bloodless. A collision of arms has even occurred between the Federal Government and the authorities of a late member of the Union, and the issue threat ens to involve the whole country in fratrici dal war. It is under these circumstances of peculiar gloom that you have been stini- moned? * "¦ * In view of the partial dis- i-uption of the Union, the secession of eight or ten States, the establishment of a South ern Confederated Eepublic, and the adminis- °' Bell 66,058; Breckinridge 53, J43; Douglas 25,651 ; Lincohi 1,364. " Elected in 1859. " See page 340. " December 27, I860. •" January 17, 1801. KENTUCKY'S PECULIAR LOYALTY. tration of t^is Govei'mhent upon the prindi- ples ofthe Chicago Platform— a condition of our country, most likely, near at hand — what attitude -will Kentucky hold, and by virtue of what authority shall her external relations be determined ? Herein are involved issues of momentous consequence to the people. It is of vital importance to our own safety and domestic peace that these questions be solved in accordance with the will of a majority of our people. * * * The ordinary departments of the Government are vested with no power to conduct the State through such a revolu tion. Any attempt, by either of these de partments, to change our present external relations, would involve a usurpation of pow er, and might not command that confidence and secure the unanimity so essential to our internal safety." The Legislature heard him patient ly, but refiised to foUow him. It de chned to call a State Convention, but proposed instead a National Conven tion to re-vise the Federal pact, and a 'Peace Conference' at "Washington; which latter was duly held, as we have already seen. No action look ing to Disunion could be extracted from that Legislature, which ad journed soon afterward. And, though the Secessionists sought to atone for their paucity of numbers by preter natural activity, especiaUy through their secret organizations, as ' Knights of the Golden Circle,' etc., and called a ' State Eights' Convention, to meet at Frankfort on the 22d of March, by a secret circular, wherein they as sumed that Disunion was an accom phshed fact, nothing of importance had been effected by them when the roar of the batteries encirchng. Fort Sumter called the nation to arms. Gov. Magoffin, having refiised, with insult, to respond to the President's call for Mihtia to maintain the Union, ' summoned the Legislature to meet once more, in extra sessidn, assign ing, as one reason therefor, the ne cessity of promptly putting the State in a complete position for defense. 498 His caU was Issued April 18th ; and, on the evening of that day, an Im mense Union meeting was held at LouisviUe, whereof James Guthrie, Archibald Dixon, and other 'con servatives,' were the master-spirits. This meeting resolved against Seces sion, and against any forcible resist ance thereto — in favor of arming the State, and against using her arms to put down the rampant treason at that moment ruhng in Baltimore as well as in Eichmond, and ostentatiously preparing for a speedy msh upon ¦Washington. Two of its resolves 'wUl sufficiently exhibit the inconse quence and unreason of this species of conservatism: viz: "Resohed, First: That, as the Confede rate States have, by overt acts, commenced war against the United States, without con sultation with Kentucky and their sister Southern States, Kentucky reserves to her self the right to choose her own position ; and that, while her natural sympathies are with those who have a coraraon interest in the protection of Slavery, she still acknowl edges her loyalty and fealty to the Govern ment of the United States, which she will cheerfally render until that Government becomes aggressive, tyrannical, and regard less of onr rights in slave property. " Second : That the National Government should be tried by its acts ; and that the several States, as its peers in their appropri ate spheres, will hold it to a rigid account ability, and require that its acts .should be fraternal in their efforts to bring back the seceded States, and not sanguinary or coer cive." The red-hot balls fired Into Sumter by the traitors had hardly cooled, when Kentucky Unionism Insulted the common-sense and nauseated the loyal stomach of the Nation by this astounding drivel. The consequences may well be imagined. Not a single Eebel In aU the State was induced by it to relax his efforts in behalf of slaveholding treason; and men, mu nitions, and supphes were openly, and 494 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. almost daily, dispatched to the mus tering Eebel hosts In the South and Southeast ; while, for months, noth ing was done by that State for the cause of the Union. The first regi ment of Kentuckians raised for the Union armies was encamped on the free side of the river, in deference to urgent representations from pro fessed Unionists and to Kentucky's proclaimed neutrahty. The meeting further resolved: " Eighth : That we look to the young men of the Kentucky State Guard as the bul warks of the safety of our Commonwealth ; and we conjure them to reraeraber that they are pledged equally to fidelity to the United States and to Kentucky." That ' State Guard,' organized by Gen. Simon B. Buckner, under the auspices of Gov. Magoffin, became a mere recruiting and drilling conven ience of the Eebel chiefs — its mem bers being dispatched southward so fast as ripened for their intended service. Ultimately, ha'ving corrupt ed all he could, Buckner followed them Into the camp of open treason," and was captured at the head of a portion of them at the taking of Fort Donelson. The Legislature having reassem bled," Magoffin read them another lecture in the interest of the Ee bellion. The Union was gone — ^the Confederacy was a fixed fact — ^.It would soon be composed of ten, and perhaps of thirteen. States ; Presi dent Lincoln was a usurper, " mad with sectional hate," and bent on subjugating or exterminating the South. The Federal Govemment was rolhng up a frightful debt,^ which Kentucky would not choose to help pay, etc., etc. "Whereupon, he again urged the call of a Con vention, with a view to State inde pendence and self-protection. The Legislature had been chosen in 1859, and had a Democratic ma jority In either House, but not a Dis union majority. It could not be in duced to call a XDon vention, nor .even to favor such neutrahty as Magoffin proposed. Yet he presumed to issue *' a Proclamation of Neutrality, de nouncing the war as a " horrid, un natural, lamentable strife," forbid ding either the Union or the Con federate Government to invade the soil of Kentucky, and interdicting all " hostile ' demonstrations against either of the aforesaid sovereignties" by citizens of that State, " whether incorporated in the State Guard or otherwise." Had he been an auto crat, this might have proved effectual. But the Legislature refused to indorse his Proclamation ; refused to vote him Three Millions wherewith to " arm the State;" and so amended the Militia Law as to require the ' State Guard' to swear allegiance to the Union as well as to Kentucky. Senator Lovell H. Eousseau" among others, spoke" decidedly, boldly, In opposition to all projects of Dis union or semi-Disunion ; saying : " When Kentucky goes down, it will be in blood. Let that be understood. She will not go as other States have gone. Let the responsibility rest on you, where it be- ¦" The Louisville Journal of Sept. 27th de nounced the treachery of Buckner iu the fol lowing terms : "Away with your pledges and assurances — with your protestations, apologies, and procla mations, at once and altogetlierl Away, parri cide I Away, and do penance forever ! — be shriven or be slain — away I You have less paUiation than Attila — less boldness, magna nimity, and^nobleness than Coriolanus. "S ou are the Benedict Arnold of the day! You are the Catiline of Kentucky! Go, then, miscreant 1" " April 28th. « May 20th. " Smce, a gallant Union General " May 22d. ' FINAL 'PEACE' EFFORT IN THE WEST. 495 t t t t lorigs. It is all yonr work, and whatever happens will be your work. We have more right to defend our Government than you have to overturn it. Many of ns are sworn to support it. Let our good Union brethren at the South stand their ground. I know that many patriotic hearts in the seceded States still beat warmly for the old Union — the old flag. The time will come when we shall all be together again. The politicians are having their day. Thepeople will yet have theirs. I have an abiding confidence in the right, and I know this Secession movement is all wrong. There is, in fact, not a single substantial reason for it. If there is, I should be glad to hear of it. Onr Government has never oppressed us with a feather's weight. The direst oppres sion alone could justify what has brought all our present suffering upon us. May God, in His raercy, save our glorious Republic !" The Legislature adjourned on the 24th — ^the Senate ha'ving just resolved that " Kentucky will not sever connection with the National Government, nor take up arms for either belligerent party ; but arm herself for the preservation of peace within her borders;" and tendering their services as mediators to effect a just and honorable peace. Eev. Eobert J. Breckinridge — always a devoted Unionist, because never a devotee of Slavery — in an address at Cincinnati, one year later, declared that Kentucky was saved from the black abyss by her prox imity to loyal Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, whose Governors, it was known, stood pledged to send ten thousand men each to the aid of her Unionists whenever the necessity for their presence should be Indicated. Had she been surrounded as Tennes see and North Carolina were, she must have fallen as they did. She would have so faUen, not because a majority of her people were disloyal, but because the traitors were better organized, more determined, more heUigerent, and bent on success at any cost. They would have succeeded, be cause the behests of the slaveholding caste are habitually accepted and obeyed as law in every slaveholding community. An election for delegates to the proposed "Peace Convention" was held May 4th, and resulted In an immense Union majority — 7,000 In Louisville, and over 50,000 In the State. The Secessionists, ascertain ing their numerical weakness, and nu'wiUIng to expose It, withdrew their tickets a few days previously, and took no part In the election. The " Peace Convention" assem bled May 27th; but Yirginia, at whose Instance it was called, sent no delegates, and none were present but from Kentucky, save four from Mis souri and one from Tennessee. John J. Crittenden presided. Among the delegates were some who have since proved traitors ; but the great ma jority were earnestly devoted to the Union. And yet, this Convention failed to assert the Imperative duty of obedience to its constituted au thority, without which the Union Is but a name for anarchy. It depre cated civil war as abhorrent and ruinous, and exhorted the people to " hold fast to that sheet anchor of republican hberty, the principle that the will of the majority, constitution ally and legally expressed, must gov ern ;" yet failed to charge those who, defying this principle, were plunging the whole land into confusion and carnage, with the full responsibihty of their acts, or to call on the people to put them down. It still harped on the wrongs of the South, though condemning her rebelhon ; exhorted the North to " discard that sectional and unfriendly spirit, which has con tributed so much to inflame the 496 THE AMIER-ICAS CO-NF-LlCT. feelings of the Southem people;" proposed a voluntary Convention of all the States, to de'vise "measures of peaceable adjustment;" and indi cated what those measures should be, by gravely recommending " First : That Congress shall at once pro pose such constitutional amendments as will secure to slaveholders their legal rights, and allay their apprehensions in regard to pos sible encroachments in the future. "Second: If tiiis should fail to bring about the results so desirable to us, and so essential to the best hopes of our country, then let a voluntary Convention be called, composed of delegates from the people of all the States, in which measures of peace able adjustment may be devised and adopted, and the nation rescued from. the continued horrors and calamities of civil war." While ' conservatives' were thus dis coursing, the bolder traitors went on arming and drilhng, until the south western half of the State was -virtu ally subject to their sway; while, from every quarter, troops were forwarded to their armies in the field ; and the tri umphant Secessionists of Tennessee, from their grand camp at NashviUe, were threatening to open the road to LouisviUe, whence supplies were not sent them so freely as they deemed required by their needs or their dignity. The climax was reached when" Gen. Buckner proclaimed that he had entered into a compact vrith Gen. McClellan, commanding the Federal department of the Ohio, whereby the latter stipulated that no Union troops should press the soil of Kentucky, which State should be sustained In her chosen attitude of neutrality ; and, in case ' the South ' should plant an army on her soil, Kentucky should be required to show them out — If' they did not go, or, if she faUed to expel them, then the United States might interpose; but our forces must be withdrawn so soon as the Eebels had been expeUed I Gen. McClellan promptly denied that he had made any such treaty — or, in fact, any treaty at all. He had had an inter-view with Buckner, at the request of the latter, who had prom ised to drive out any Confederate force that should invade Kentucky — that was all. No doubt remained that Buckner had dra'wn largely on his imagination ; proclaiming, as agreed on, much that he had scarcely ventured to propose. Gov. Magoffin having appointed July 1st as the day for electing Eepresentatives in Congress, in defer ence to the President's call of an Extra Session, the election was held accordingly, and resulted in the choice of nine Unionists to one Secessionist (H. C. Burnett, who fled, to the Eeb- » els, d,fter ser'ving through the called session.) The vote of the State showed an aggregate of 92,365 for the ' Union' to 36,995 for the Secession candidates, gi'ving a majority of 55,370 for the former. And this election was held when no Federal soldier trod the soU of Kentucky; under a Governor at heart with the Eebels; and after every effort had been exhausted to win her to the side of treason. The -Southern frenzy had affected but a smaU minority of her people ; while the terrorism which had coerced so many States into submission to the 'will of the conspirators was rendered powerless by the proximity of loyal and gaUant communities. Kentucky voted as nearly every Slave State would have done, but for the amazing falsehoods 'JunelOth, 1861. JEFFERSOIT DAVIS -ON 'PEACE. 497 which were diffused among their .people, whUe none dared to contra dict them. — ^while thousands dared not be loy^l to their country, because .the more reckless minions of the Slave Power stood ready to execute its condign vengeance on all who .dared oppose its darling project, or who should in any manner dispute its sway. XXXI. THE FOECES IN CONFLICT. Mr. Jeffeeson Davis, in his Spe cial Message to his Congress,' wherein he asserts that war has been declared against the Confederacy by President Lincoln's Proclamation of April 15th, heretofore given, 'with more plausl- bUity asserts that the Democratic party of the Free States stands pub hcly committed to the principles which justify the secession and con federation of the States owning his sway, by Its reiterated affirmation and adoption of " the Eesolutions of '98 and '99,'" and that the whole country had ratified this committal by large majorities, in the reelection as President of Mr. Jefferson, in the first election of Mr. Madison, and in the election of Gen. Pierce. Assum ing this as a basis, Mr. Davis had no difficulty In cou'vinclng those whom he more Immediately addressed, that, for his confederates to surprise, cap-, ture, or otherwise obtain, through the^ treachery of their custodians, the forts, arsenals, armories, custom-hous es, mints, sub-treasuries, etc., etc., of the Union, In their respective States — even (as in the case of North Caro hna and Ai-kansas) those which had not seceded — was a peaceful, regular, legitimate, legal procedure ; while to resist such spoliation and maintain the right of the Union to possess and control the property it had created and hitherto enjoyed, was unjusti fiable aggression and unprovoked war. Mr. Lincoln (said Mr. Davis) had no constitutional right to issue " the declaration of war against this Confederacy which has prompted me to convoke you." It was his duty to have quietly let the Confederates help themselves, by virtue of shot and shell, to such portions of the prop erty of the Union as they should see fit to touch and take. In fact, this whole Message, like several which suc ceeded it,e-rinces the consciousness of its author that he had no longer to square his assertions by what was regarded, out of the Confederacy, as historic truth, or his deductions hy what the civilized world had estab- ' Montgomery, April 29, 1861. ' He says : "From a period as early as 1198, there had 'existed in all the States a party, almost uninter- liiptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that each State was, in the last resort, the sole judge, as well of its wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. ? • * The Democratic 32 party of the United States repeated,- iu its suc cessful canvass of 1836, the declaration,, made in numerous previous political contests, that it- would faithfully abide by and uphold the prin ciples laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures of [1798 and] 1799, and that it adopts those principles as constituting one of th« main foundations of its political creed." 498 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. lished as the dictates of human rea son. Thus, he does not hesitate tb assert that " In the Inaugural Address delivered by President Lincoln, in March last, he asserts a maxim, which he plainly deems to be un deniable, that the theory of the Constitu tion requires, iu all cases, that the majority shall govern." * * * * "The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved unpropitious to the con tinuance of Slave Labor ; while, the reverse being the case at the South, * * * the North ern States consulted their own interests by selling their Slaves to the South and prohib iting Slavery within their limits." Now, not one-fifth of the slaves held In the Northern States, just be fore or at the time they respectively abolished Slavery, were sold to the South — -as hundreds of them, still liv ing, can bear witness ; nor is it true that Slavery was ever proved unsuit- ¦ ed to or unprofitable in the North, in the judgment of her slaveholders. Had the slaveholding caste been as omnipotent here as In the South, con trolling parties, pohtlcs, and the press. Slavery would have continued to this day. It was by the »o?2.-slaveholdIng possessors of infiuence and power, here as everywhere else, that Slavery was assailed, exposed, reprobated, and ultimately overthrown. No class ever yet discovered that aught which min istered so directly and powerfully to its o"wn luxury, sensuality, indolence, and pride, as Slavery does to those of the slaveholders, was either unjust, pernicious, or unprofitable. With greater truth and plausibil ity. Mr. Davis assured Ms Congress that " There is every reason to believe that, at no distant day, other States, identical in po litical principles and community of interest • with those which you represent, will join this Confederacy.'' This expectation was, In good part, . ¦July 20, 186L * 31,443,790. fulfilled. Wlien Mr. Da-vis was next' called to address his Congress— which had meantime adjoumed from Mont gomery to Eichmond — ^In announcing the transfer of the Executive depart ments like-wise to the new capital, he said: "Gentlemen ofthe Congress of the Confeder ate States of America : "My Message addressed to you at the commencement of the last session contained such full information of the state of the Con federacy as to render it unnecessary that I should now do more than call your attention to such important facts as have occurred during the recess, and the matters connected with the public defense. " I have again to congratulate you on the accession of new members to our Confedera tion of free and equally sovereign States. Our beloved and honored brethren of North Carolina and Tennessee have consummated the action foreseen and provided for at your last session ; and I have had the gratification of announcing by Proclamation, in Confor mity with the law, that these States were admitted into the Confederacy. The people of 'Virginia also, by a majority previously un known in our history, have ratified the ac tion of her Convention uniting her fortunes with ours. The States of Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia, have likewise adopt ed the permanent Constitution of the Con federate States ; and no doubt is entertained of its adoption by Tennessee, at the election to be held early in next month." The Confederacy ha'ving thus at tained its full proportions prior to any serious collision between Its ar mies and those of the Union, we may now properly consider and compate the relative strength of the opposing parties about to grapple In mortal combat. I. The total population of the Uni ted States, as returned by the Census of 1860, somewhat exceeded Thirty- one Millions,' whereof the Free States, with all the territories, contained Nine teen," and the Slave States, Including the District of Columbia, over Twelve' MiUions. As the Free States aU ad- '19,128,143. '12,315,372. EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY IN OUR STRUGGLE. 499 hered to the Union, whUe, of the Slave States, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri' did not unite with the Confederacy, the pre ponderance of population In the ad hering over that of the seceded States was somewhat more than two to one. The disparity in wealth between the contending parties was at least equal to this ; so that there was plausibility in the claim of the Confederates to that sympathy which the generous usually extend to the weaker party in a hfe-and-death struggle. In Manu factures, Commerce, Shipping, etc., the preponderance was Immensely on the side of the Union. II. The prestige of regularity, of legitimacy, and of whatever the Old World Imphes by the comprehensive .term 'Order,' was hkewise on the side of the Union. The Confederacy appeared as a disturber of preexisting arrangements, and thus of the gen eral peace. Its fundamental theories of State Sovereignty, Eight of Seces- . sion, etc., were utter novelties to the mass of mankind, and were at war with the instincts and prepossessions of nearly aU who could understand them. The greatness and security, wealth and power,- of England were based on the supersedure of the Hep tarchy by the Eealm, and on the conversion of Scotland and Ireland, respectively, from jealous and hostile neighbors into integral portions of the British commonwealth. France, feeble and distracted while divided into great feudatories, became strong and commanding from the hour that these were absorbed into the power and influence of the monarchy, and Burgundy, Picardy, Anjou, etc., be came mere geographical designations of portions of the nation 'one and Indivisible.' Italy, through her at length half-reahzed aspirations of so many weary centuries — Germany, StiU In fragments, In defiance of her ardent hOpes and wishes, the impo sing and venerable anarchy that Yol- talre pronounced her, four genera tions back — Poland, through her la mentable partition — and nearly every great calamity which modern history had taught mankind to deplore — pro tested against such disintegrations as the Confederacy had initiated, and not less against the principles on which they were justified. And especially did the Democracy of Europe ^ — the party of Progress, and Eeform of whatever country — Instinctively re volt against doctrines and practices which tended unmistakably backward to the ages ahke of national and of individual impotence, wherein peo ples were weak, though castes were strong; to the ages of barbarispi and .of feudahsm, wherein nobles and chieftains were mighty, but laws and magistrates of small account. The Democracy of Euroj^e were never for one moment misled or confused by the Confederates' pretensions as to reserved rights and constitutional liberty. Their instinct at once rec ognized their deadly foe through all his specious disguises. Men who had, as conspirators and revolution ists, been tenanting by turns the dun geons and dodging the gibbets of 'Divine Eight' from boyhood, repu diated with loathing any affiliation with this rebellion ; and no word of cheer ever reached the ears of Ita master-spirits from Kossuth, MazzinI, '' Kentucky and Missouri are claimed as having done so; and, hence, were both represented, from an early day, in the Confederate Congress. But the claim is baseless and unpudent. ¦500 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Ylctor Hugo, Ledru EoUIn, Louis Blanc, Garibaldi, or any other of those who, defying the vengeance of des pots, have consecrated their lives and sacrificed personal enjoyment to the championship of the Eights of Man. III. The Confederates had vastly the advantage In the famlharlty of their people with the use of arms,' and in their addiction to and genius for the art of war. The Northern youth of 1860 were not nearly so famihar with the use of the hunter's rifle or fowling-piece as were their ancestors of 1770. The density of our popu lation had expelled desirable game almost entirely from all the New- England States but Maine ; in the prairie States, It rapidly disappears before the advancing wave of ci-vilized settlement and cultivation. Our In dian wars of the present century have nearly all been fought on our western and south-western borders ; our last war with Great Britain was condemn ed as unwise and unnecessary by a large proportion of the Northem people ; so was the war upon Mex ico: so that it may be fairly said that, while the South and South-West had been repeatedly accustomed to hostilities during the present century. the North and East had kno-wn veiy little ' of war but by hearsay since the peace which secured our independ ence, eighty years ago. lY. The Eebels had a decided ad vantage In the fact that, on the main question underlying the great issue they had made up — the question of upholding, strengthening, extending, and perpetuating Slavery, or (on the other hand) restricting, confining, weakening it, with a 'view to its ulti mate extinction — they had the active sympathy of a decided majority of the American people. The vote for President In 1860 '" had shown that scarcely more than two-fifths of the American People were even so far hostile to Slavery as to 'wish its farther diffusion arrested. Had pohtical ac- , tion been free in the Slave States, they would probably have sweUed Mr. Lincoln's poll to fully Two Mil lions; but, on the other hand, the hopeless distraction and discourage ment of the pro-Slavery forces so paralyzed effort on that side, by dcr monstrating Its futility, as seriously to diminish the anti-Lincoln vote. Had there been but one instead of three pro-Slavery tickets in the field, its vote In Maine, New Hampshire, 'A Southern gentleman, writing from Au gusta, Ga., in February, 1861, said: "Nine-tenths of our •youth go constantly armed ; and the common use of deadly weapons is quite disregarded. No control can be exer cised over a Jad after he is fourteen or fifteen years of age. He then becomes ' Mr.' so-and-so, and aokpovvledges no master." The ^treet-fights, duels, etc., so prominent among the ' peculiar institutions' of the South, doubtless conduced to the ready adaptation of her whites to a state of war. "Pollard, in liis "Southern History" of our struggle, smartly, if not quite accurately, says : "In the war of 1812, the North furnished 58,552 soldiers; the South 96,812^^makihg a majority of 37,030 iu favor of the South. Of , the number furnished by the North- Massachusetts furnished 3,110 New Hampshire " 897 Connecticut " 387 Rhode Island " 637 Vermont '• 181 In all 6,162 While the State of South Carolma furnished 5,696. Inthe Mexican War, Massachusetts furnished 1,047 New Hampshire " 1 The other New England States. .0,000 In all 1,048 The whole number of troops contributed by the North tothe Mexican War was 23,054; while the South contributed 43, 630 — very nearly dou ble — and, in proportion to her population, four times as many soldiers as the North." '"Lincoln 1,857,610; all others 2,787,780. SLAVERY THE RELIGION OF 'THE SOUTH.' 501 Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, H- llnois, and (in fact) nearly every Free State, would have been far heavier than that actuaUy returned; so it will be but fair to estimate the pro- Slavery voters of the entire Union as preponderating in just about the pro portion of Three Milhons to Two. In other words, three-fifths of the en tire American People (the Blacks being then of little more account, pohticaUy, than so many cattle) sym pathized •with the EebeUion in so far as its animating purpose was the for tification, diffusion, and aggrandize ment of Slavery. And this explains that exaggeration of the Importance as weU as of the beneficence of human chatteUiood which Is seen to pervade all the ear her harangues, manifestoes, and State papers, circulated or uttered- in the interest of Disunion. He would un derrate the sagacity of the conspira tors, and Impute, to them a blind fanaticism which they never felt, wbo should faU to take into account the state of antecedent opinion where on these were designed to operate. Let hhn but consider that, through out thirteen ofthe fifteen Slave States, no journal of any note or infiuence had for many years been issued which was not an ardent champion and eu logist of Slavery — that no man could be chosen to Congress from any dis trict in those thirteen States, and none from more than two districts of the entire fifteen, who was not a facUe and eager instrument of the Slave Power, even though (as in West Yirginia) their inhabitants weU understood that Slavery was to them a blight and a curse — that every prominent and powerful rehgious or ganization throughout the South was sternly pro-Slavery, Its preachers making more account in their prelec tions of Ham and Oneslmus than of Isaiah and John the Baptist — and he will be certain to render a judgment less hasty and more just. There were probably not a hundred white churches souths of the Potomac and Ohio which would have received an avowed Abohtionist into their com munion, though he had been a Jona than Edwards In Orthodoxy, a Wes ley in piety, or a Bunyan in religious zeal. The Industry, Commerce, and Pohtics of the South were not more squarely based on Slavery than was its Eeligion. Every great national rehgious organization had either been rendered phant and subservient to the behests of Slavery or had been shiv ered by its resistance thereto. And no sooner had Secession been Inau gurated in the South than the great Protestant denominations which had not already broken their connection with the North proceeded unani mously and with emphasis to do so — the Protestant Episcopalians, who had never received a word of reproof for slaveholding from their Northern brethren, unanimously taking the lead, foUowed by the still more nu merous Baptists. And even the Southem Press^ Incendiary and vio lent as it was, was outstripped by the Southern pulpit in the unanimity and vehemence of Its fulminations in be half of Secession." "Of the sermons with which the South was carpeted — ' thick as Autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallombrosa' — ^between November, 1860, and May, 1861, that entitled " Slavery a Divine Trust," by Rev. B. M. Palmer, of New- Orleans, was perhaps the most forcible and note worthy. In it, Mr. Pahner says : " In determining our duty in this emergency, 502 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. And not in the South only, but in the North also, had the temples and organizations of religion been gradu aUy molded and manipulated into a more guarded but not less effective subserviency to the Slave Power. Of the' many periodicals edited and issued In the Interest of the Eoman Catholic faith and polity, hardly one had ever Indicated even a wish that Slavery should fall; while a large majority were among its most vehe ment, unshrinking champions. The case was scarcely better with those sustained by the Protestant Episco palians ; while, among the organs of the other great denominations, Sla very had about as many apologists as assailants. The godless ruffianism and rowdy lawlessness of the North were, of course, as thoroughly pro- Slavery as those of the South — con scious baseness and ill-deserving al ways requiring somewhat to look do'wn upon and to trample underfoot ; and he who has nothing else to boast of al ways seeking to make the most ofthe [constructive] whiteness of his skin. It thus chanced that, in this, as in some other controversies, the sleek sanctity and the rough rascahty at the respective extremities of the social scale were found acting in concert, as when the Jewish hierarchy were aided In compassing the death of Jesus by the rabble cry of ' Crucify him!' alternated with clamors for the release of Barabbas the robber. Y. The Eebellion had, at the outset of the struggle, the Immense advan tage always enjoyed by the belligerent who alone has a positive creed, a definite purpose, and is mo"ving di rectly, consistently, toward his pro claimed goal. It said, ' I stand for Slavery — strike for Slavery — put aU at risk for Slavery — and I demand the sympathy and succor of all who concur with me In regarding Slavery as just and beneficent.' And what it thus boldly and reasonably de manded it naturally and generaUy secured. There were slaveholders of the Eevolutionary school — relics of the era or inheritors ofthe faith of Washington and Jefferson — who re- it is necessary that we should first ascertain the nature of the trust providentially committed to us. * * The' particular trust assigned to such a people becomes the pledge of Divine protection; and their fidehty to it determines the fate by which it is overtaken. * * * _ "If, then, the South is such a people, what, at this juncture, is their providential trust? I answer, that it is to conserve and perpetuate ihe institution of domestic Slavery as now existing. * * For us, as now situated, the duty is plain, of conserving and transmitting the system of Sla very, with the freest scope for its natural devel opment and extension. * * * " This duty is bounden upion ¦us again, as the constituted guardians of tlie slaves themselves. Our lot is not more implicated in theirs than is their lot in ours ; in our mutual relations, we survive or we perish together. The worst foes of the black race are those who have intermeddled in their behalf We know, better than others, that every attribute of their character fits them for dependence and servitude. " By nature, the most affectionate and loyal of all races beneath the sun, they are also the most helpless ; and no calamity can befall them great er than the loss of that protection they enjoy under this patriarchal system. * * * "Last of all, in this great struggle, we defend ihe cause of God and of religion. The Abolition spirit is undeniably atheistic. * * It is .nowhere denied that the first article in the creed of the dominant party is the restriction of Slavery within its present limits. * * * " This argument, then, which sweeps over the entire circle of our relations, touches the four cardinal points of duty to ourselves, to our slaves, to tlie world, and to Almighty God. It establishes tbe nature aud solemnity of our present trusts to preserve and transmit our existing system, of domestic servitude, with the right, unchallenged by ¦mmi, to go and root itself wherever Providence and nature may carry it. This trust we will discharge, in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness of the hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink, even from tho baptism of fire. If modern crusaders stand in serried ranks upon some plain of Esdraelon, there shall we be iu defense of our trust. Not till the last man has fallen behind the last ram part, shall it drop from our hands." THB FRIENDS AND THE FOES OF SECESSION. 503 pudiated Secession and clung to the Union ; but there was not an earnest devotee of human chattelhood — whether in the South or in the North — whether in America or in Europe — whethier a Tory aristocrat, scorning and fearing the unwashed multitude, or an Irish hod-carrier, of the latest importation, hating ' nay- gurs,' and 'wishing them all ' sint back to Africa, where they belong' — whose heart did not throb In open or secret sympathy with the Slave holders' EebeUion. Many did this whose judgments told them that Secession was a mistake — a rash, headlong staking of momentous in terests on the doubtful chances of a mortal strife that might easily and safely have been avoided ; but, after aU, the truth remained, that whoever reaUy loved Slavery did not and could not regard the EebeUion otherwise than 'with tenderness, -with forbearance, 'with that ' fellow feel ing ' that ' makes wondrous kind,' and insists that the mistakes it sees and admits shaU be regarded and treated with generous allowance. There were thousands in the Free States, never really for bondage, whom party ties and party necessities had held In silent, passive complicity with the Slave Power through years, whose bonds were snapped like glass by the concussion of the first cannon- shot of the war ; but whoever was really pro-Slavery was at heart an apologist for if not an active partisan of the Slaveholders' Eebellion — not merely at first, but so long as his affections were unweaned from the grim and gory Idol of their early love. On the other hand, the Unionists were fettered, their unity threatened, their enthusiasm chiUed, their effi ciency Impaired, by the complication of the struggle -with the problem of Slavery. They stood for Law, Or der, and Established Eight ; all which were confidently, plausibly claimed as guarantors of Slavery. They were struggling to preserve the Union; yet their efforts, even in their own despite, tended to unsettle and en danger that which, in the conception of many, was the Union's chief end and function. Even the loyal Mil lions were not ripe, at the outset — though they might, by a heroic leader, have been surely and rapidly ripen ed — for stern deahng with the source of all our woes. Hence, the proffer of new concessions, new guarantees to Slavery, backed by vehement prot estations of devotion to its chartered rights, which marked the initial sta ges of the struggle. The reflecting few remembered how kindred profes sions — doubtless sincere — of unsha ken, invincible loyalty to the British Crown, were constantly reiterated by our fathers In aU the earher stages of their Eevolutionary struggle ; and how like protestations of loyalty to the throne and person of Louis XYI. were persisted in by the leaders' of the French in their great convulsion, down to within a short period of the abohtion of the monarchy, closely foUowed by the execution of the mon arch. So History repeats its great lessons, and must, so long as the na ture of Man remains essentially un changed. The Eepubhcans of 1 860 purposed no more than the Secession ists a speedy and 'violent overthrow of Slavery. Each were but instru ments In the hands of that benign, inscrutable Power which ' shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will;' but, in their common bhndness, the 504 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. advantage was 'with those who seemed to be strugghng more directly, logical ly, fearlessly toward their avowed end. YI. The strong rehance of the Eebels on their Cotton, as so vitally necessary to the maritime Powers of Europe that it would compel them speedily to recognize the independ ence of the Confoderacy, and even to aid in its achievement, by forcibly raising the foreseen blockade of their ports, was not justified by the event. Communities, like indi'viduals, are apt to magnify their own conse quence, and to fancy the rest of man kind subsisting by their favor, if not on their bounty. (" Soldiers !" said a General, going into battle, "re member that you are Portuguese !") The Southrons, in their impetuosity and conceit, seem not to have duly considered that their dependence on others was In the direct ratio of the dependence of others on them, and that Europe could dispense with their Cotton 'with (at least) as little incon venience as they could forego the re ceipt of whatsoever its proceeds might purchase. Yet It Is manifest that a region which produced for sale only a few great staples, which western Europe could not produce and must largely buy, and which bought freely of whatever Europe most desired to sell, would be regarded with partial ity by her manufacturing and trading classes, when contrasted with an ad versary who largely bought Cotton and Tobacco, and made Wares and Fabrics to sell. It is but stating the most ob'vious truth to assert that — regarding- the Southrons as generous, la'vish customers, and the Yankees as sharp, close-fisted, tricky, dangerous rivals, the responsible authors of the American tariffs, whereby their ex ports to the New "World were rs' stricted and their profits seriously curtaUed — the fabricating, trading,. banking classes across the Atlantic were, for the most part, early and ardent partisans of Disunion. YII. That the ingrain Tories, Aris tocrats, and Eeactionlsts of the Old World should be our instinctive, im placable foes, was ine-ritable. For eighty years, this Eepubhc had been not only a standing but a growing refutation of their most cherished theories, their 'vital dogmas. A New England to'wn meeting, wherein the shoemaker moves that $6,000 be this year raised by it for the support of common schools, and is seconded by the blacksmith — neither of them worth, perhaps, the shop whereia by daily labor he earns his daUy bread — ^the wagon-maker mo'ving to amend by raising the sum to $8,000, and the doctor making a five-minutes' speech to show why this should or should not prevail — when the ques tion is taken, first on the amendmentj then on the main proposition — either of them standing or falhng as a ma jority of those present shall decide—^ such Is a spectacle calculated to striiie more terror to the soul of Kingcraft, than would the apparition of a score of speculating Eousseaus or fighting Garibaldis ; and its testunony to the safety and beneficence -of InteUigent democracy increases in weight 'with every year of its peaceful and pros perous endurance. When it has qui' etly braved unharmed the shocks and mutations of three-quarters of a cen tury, assertions of Its utter insecm-Ity and baselessness — solemn assurances that it cannot- possibly stand, and must ine'vitably topple at the first serious trial — sound very much Ukg ADVANTAGE OF THE DEFENSIVE. 505 fresh predictions of a repeatedly post poned, but StiU confidently expected, ' end of the world.' Cai-lyle once re marked that the British people, hav ing considered and condemned all the arguments for retaining the Corn- Laws that could be expressed In lan guage, were stIU waiting to see whether there might not be some reasons therefor quite -wnutterable. So the people of Europe, having endured the burdens and fetters of Aristocracy and PrivUege throughout three generations, on the strength of assurances that all democracies were necessarUy 'violent, unstable, regard less of the rights of Property, inimi cal to Social Order, and incompatible •with tranquUUty and thrift, had be gun very generaUy to direct the atten tion of their self-appointed guides and rulers to the actual condition of the Model Eepubhc, and to ask them how they reconcUed their theories with that. The question was an ugly one, to which not even a plausible answer could be given, until Jefferson Davis supphed one. Hope and gratitude on the one hand, apprehension and dread on the other, made the heredi tary masters and chief priests of the Old World the natural, instinctive alhes of the Slaveholders' EebeUion. Hence, of aU the British mihtary or naval officers, the high-born ftmctlon- aries, who 'visited our country during the struggle, few even affected neu trahty or reserve, while the great majority were the open, ardent par tisans of the Eebel cause. YIII. The vastness of the territory occupied by the belligerents, the rugged topography of much of the country over which the contest was fought, the general badness of Ameri can roads, 'with the extraordinary faciUtles newly afforded to military operations by the EaUroad and the Electric Telegraph, secured enormous advantages to the party standing generally on the defensive. The Confederate President, sitting In his cabinet at Montgomery or Eichmond, could thence dispatch a message to his lieutenant In Florida or on the Eio Grande, and receive a response the next day — ^perhaps the next hour — while our President or General-in- Chief could not hear of operations at Pensacola or New Orleans for a week or more, and so could not give seasonably the orders required to re pair a disaster or improve a victory. The recovery of New Orleans was first learned in Washington through Eichmond journals ; and so of many other signal Union triumphs. A corps could be sent from Yirginia to Tennessee or Mississippi, by the Con federates, in half the time that was required to countervail the move ment on our side. If they chose to menace Newbern, N. C, or our forces on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, they could do so with troops dra'wn from Eichmond or Chattanoo ga before we could learn that any had started. True, as the war wore on, and their railroads wore out — more especially after their territory was cut in two by the opening of the Mississippi — this advantage was ma terially lessened ; but the ruggedness of the country remained ; while the badness of American, especiaUy of Southem, roads, afforded undimin ished, and, to a European, Inconceiv ably, great advantages to the party acting on the defensive. IX. The Confederates had a superiority from the first in this, that their leaders and officers were 506 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. thoroughly in earnest. Their chief had been educated at West Point, had fought through the Mexican War, had been four years at the head of the War Department, and been succeeded therein by Floyd, a man after his own heart, who left the service, at the close of 1860, in precisely that state which was deemed most favorable to their great design. One, if not both-, of them knew per sonaUy almost every officer in our service ; knew the military value of each ; knew that he was pliant or otherwise to the behests of slave- holding treason. They knew whom to caU away to help organize and lead their own forces, and who, even if loyal, would serve them better in our armies than he could do In their O'wn. The immense advantages they thus secured can never be overesti mated. Their Generals exposed their hves in leading or repelling charges with a reckless courage which made promotions rapid in their ranks ; and, where the troops on both sides are raw and undisciplined, the bravest and most determined officers, if capable, are seldom beaten. In the course of the war, eminent courage and conspicuous cowardice were often displayed on either side; but the Eebels were seldom beaten through the pusillanimity, never through the treachery, of their leaders. Ou the other hand. President Lln- ' coin, without mihtary education or experience, found himself suddenly plunged into a gigantic and, to him, most unexpected war, with no sln^e " " Mr. Lincoln," said au officer who called at the White House during the dark days, when Wasliington was isolated and threatened from every side, " every one else may desert you, but / never will." Mr. Lincoln thanked and dismissed member of his Cabinet even pretend ing to military genius or experience, and 'with the offices of his army fiUed to his hand by those who were now the chiefs of the Eebellion. His officers were all strangers to him ; many of them superannuated and ut terly inefficient, yet bearing names associated with remembered heroism, and not to be shelved without in voking popular as well as personal reprobation. How should an Hli nois lawyer, fresh from comparative obscurity, and who never witnessed the firing of a platoon or read a page of Yauban, presume to say, even •had he dared to think, that the il lustrious Lieutenant-General at the head of our armies, covered all over -with the deep scars of wounds re ceived In glorious conflicts nearly half a century ago, no longer pos sessed the mental -vigor requisite to the planning of campaigns or the direction of military movements? The bare suggestion, on Mr. Lincoln's part, would have been generally scout ed as the acme of ignorant conceit and fool-hardy presumption. But not merely was it true that, while Jefferson Davis was not only able to place every man In his service exactly In the position he deemed him fitted for, while Abraham Lin coln had neither the requisite knowl edge " nor the legal authority to do' llke-wise with our officers, the fact that every one who went over to the Confederates thereby proved that his heart was in their cause, gave that side a just confidence In their mili- him to his duties. Two days afterward, he learned that this modern Peter had absconded to take service with the Rebels. His name was J. Bankhead Magruder, then a Lieut. CoL of Artillery; since, a Confederate Major-GeneraL OUR ARMY OFFICERS IN THE •WAR. 507 tary leader's which was wanting in ours. The bitter distich — " Heaven takes tbe good, too good on earth to stay, ¦ And leaves the bad, too bad to take away," has a qualified application to this case. Of the army officers — some two hundred in number^— who went over to the Eebelhon, not one fancied that he was consulting his own ease or physical comfort In so doing. Say they were ambitious, ' sectional,' traitorous, forsworn, or whatever you •will: it is barely possible that some of them shared the prevalent South em delusion that the North would not fight ; but it is not probable that their error on this point at all ap proached that of their stay-at-home Gompatriots,who supposed the North" a smaU patch of country mainly de voted to the production of school masters, counter-jumpers, peddlers, and keepers of watering-place hotels, all keen at a bargain, but never to be driven into a fight. Perhaps no other class of the Southern people were so free from the prevalent de lusion on this head as were their relatively 'educated, •widely-traveled, observant army officers, who, aban doning, the service of their whole country, proffered their swords and their lives to the cause of Human Slavery. On the other hand, the indolent, the stolid, the conscious ly inefficient, who aspired to light work and easy living, naturally clung to a service wherein they had found what they most desired. The Confederacy might fail; the Union, even though defeated and curtailed, could not weU absolutely go do'wn. Many thus remained whose hearts inclined to the other side, but who did not believe the overthrow or dis ruption of the Union would prove a light undertaking. X. The more fiagrant instances of official cowardice or imbecility which these pages must often record, will sometimes prompt the question — " Were these men downright trai tors ?" And the general answer must be : Consciously, purposely, according to their own conceptions, they were not. They did not desire, nor seek to compass, the division of the re pubhc. Many of them were not even bewildered by the fatal delusion of State omnipotence. They hoped for and sought such an issue from our perilous complications as would leave our country undivided, and stronger, more powerful, greater than before. But they had undoubtlngly imbibed that one-sided, narrow, false concep tion of the genius and history of our political fabric which identifies Sla very with the Constitution, making the protection and conservation ofthe former the chief end of our National existence — not a local and sectional excrescence, alien and hostile to the true nature and paramount ends of our system, to be borne with patience and restrained from diffusing its -rirus until opportunity should be present ed for its safe eradication. To this large and influential class of our officers, the Eebellion seemed a sad mistake, impelled and excused by the factious, malignant, unjustifiable re fusal of the Eepubhcans to give ' the South' her ' rights' in the territories ; and they controUingly desired that there should be the least possible ""Do you know John Williams?" asked a Southem young lady of average education, ad dressing her Yankee school-mistress. — " No, I do not happen to recollect any person of that name." "Why, I supposed you must know him — he came from the North." 508 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. fighting until cool reflection and the enormous cost of the struggle should calm or .overbear the rage of extrem ists on both sides, and Induce reunion on the basis, substantially, of the Crittenden Compromise. Whoever keeps this explanation in mind will be enabled by it to comprehend move ments, delays, vacillations, obstinate torpors, and even whole abortive cam paigns, which must otherwise seem utterly unaccountable. XI. The Eebellion had, moreover, a decided advantage in the respect that all its partisans, civU as well as military, were thoroughly In earnest, and ready to prove their faith by their works. " You are a Unionist," said a Baltimorean to a New York friend — " I don't doubt it. But are you ready to fight for the Union? / am a Secessionist, and am going to fight for Secession." There were few real Secessionists who shrank from this test of their sincerity. On the side of the Union were the calm calcula tions of interest, the clear suggestions of duty, the inspirations of a broad, benignant patriotism ; but these were tame and feeble Impulses when contrasted -with the vengeful hate, the quivering, absorbing rage, the '* The Louisville {Ky.) Courier of June, 1861, published the following infamous fabrication as from The New York Tribune, and it immediately ran the rounds of the journals ofthe Confederacy: "From the New York Tribune. 'Do tou HEAB ? The Beauty and the Booty shall be YOUES, ONLY CONQUER THESE REBELS OP THE South bepoee the next crop comes in. Tho next crop will be death to us I Let it be hewn down in the field, burned, trampled, lost ; or, if you have the opportufaity, ship it to New York, and we will build up Gotham by the prices it must bring next season. We shall have the monopoly of the markets, having duly subjected our vassals in the South. Go ahead, brave fel lows. Zouaves of New York, whom we were apt to spit upon, though you do the work at flres. Go ahead I Don't mind yellow fever ; don't mind black vomit; don't mind bilious fever, or stormy "wrath, which possessed the great body of the Secessionists, trans forming even women into fiends. These Impulses were sedulously cul tivated and stimulated by the engi neers of Disunion, through the un contradicted diffusion by their jour nals of the most atrocious forgeries " and the most shameless inventions."; The North was habltuaUy represent ed to the Ignorant masses of the South as thirsting for their blood and bent on their extermination — as sendr Ing forth her armies instructed to ravish, kill, lay waste, and destroy ; and the pulpit was not far behind the press In disseminating these atrocious falsehoods. Hence, the Southem militia, and even conscripts, were im pelled by a hate or horror of their adversaries which rendered them valiant in their own despite, making. them sometimes victors where the memories of their grandfathers at Charleston and at Guilford, and of their fathers at Bladensburg, had led their foes to greatly undervalue their prowess and their efficiency. XII. Wliether Slavery should prove an element of strength or of weakness to the Eebellion necessarily depended on the manner In which it should be cholera, or measles, or small pox, or hot weather, or hard hving, or cold steel, or hot shot I Go 1' " " The Norfolk ( Va.) Herald of April 22a, said: " It is rumored that Lincoln has been drunk for three days, and that Capt. Lee has command at the Capitol; and also that CoL Lee, of Yir ginia, who lately resigned, is bombarding Wash ington from Arlington Hights. If so, it will account for his not having arrived here to take command, as was expected." The New Orleans Picayjme of about May 15th, 1861, said: " All the Massachusetts troops now in Wash ington are negroes, with the exception of two or three drummer.boys. Gen. Butler, in command, is a native of Liberia. Our readers may recol lect old Ben, the barber, who kept a shop in Poydras-street, and emigrated to Liberia tvith a small competence. Gen. Butler is his son." SLATERY, LOYALTY, AND STATE SOVEREIGNTY. 509 treated bythe defenders ofthe Union. It was a nettle, which, handled timid ly, tenderly, was certain to sting the hand that thus toyed with It; the only safety lay In clutching it reso lutely and firmly. Slavery had made the Eebelhon; Slavery coerced the South into a silence that counter feited unanimity by howling ' Aboli tionist!' on the track of every one who refused to seem a traitor to his country, and sending its bloodhounds and Thugs to throttle or knife him. An aristocracy of three hundred thousand famihes, haughty, high- spirited, trained to arms, and accus tomed to rule aU who approached them, 'wielding aU the resources and governing the conduct not only of Four Millions of Slaves, but of nearly twice that number of free persons, who served the lordly man-o'wners as merchants, factors, la'wyers, doc tors, priests, overseers, navigators, mechanics, slave-hunters, etc., etc., never. dreaming that they could cher ish any opinions but such "as the planting aristocracy prescribed, was no contemptible foe. So long as their slaves should remain obedient to their orders and docile to their will, kno'wing nothing but what they were told, and hoping for nothing beyond their daUy rations of com and pork, a comniunity of Twelve Millions, Jiblding an area of nearly One Million square miles — the governing caste -conscripting the Poor Whites to fill its armies, and using the labor of the slaves to feed and clothe them — ^pre sented to its foes on every side a front of steel and fiame. Only by pene trating and disintegrating their pha lanx, so that its parts should no longer 'Support each other, but their enforced cohesion give place to their natural antagonism, could its power be broken and its persistence overborne. And here it may be instructive to note that the paramount loyalty to his State, vaunted by the Southron as the keystone of his political arch, always resolved itself, on a searching analysis, into devotion to Slavery. Thus, when Yirginia seceded, we have seen Alex. H. H. Stuart, with other eminent ' conservatives,' who had, up to this point, resisted Dis union, now take ground In its favor ; while Magoffin, C. P. Jackson, etc., always insisted that it was to his State that each citizen owed his first and highest duty. A favored officer in our regular army transmitted his resignation, to be tendered in case his State seceded, and was not cash iered therefor, as he should have been promptly and finaUy. All over the South, men said, ' This Secession is madness — it wiU ruin aU concerned — I have resisted It to the best of my ability — but my State has seceded nevertheless, and I must go with my State.' But, on the^ other hand. Ster ling Price, Humphrey Marshall, James B. Clay, Eichard Hawes, Simon B. Buckner, William Preston, Charles S. Morehead, and scores hke them — in good part old Whigs, who could not help knowing better — never seemed to imagine that the refusal of their respective States to secede laid them under the smallest obhgation to restrain their traitorous propensities. ' State Sovereignty' was potent only to authorize and excuse treason to the Union — never to re strain or prevent it. XIII. The Southem leaders entered upon their great struggle 'with the Union under the impression — which, ¦with the more sanguine, amounted 510 THB AMERICAN CONFLICT. to undoubting confidence — that they were to be largely aided by coopera tion and diversion on the part of their Northern friends and allies. They did not, for a moment, suppose that the Free States were to be, even in appearance, a unit against their ef forts." Doubtless, there was disap pointment on both sides — the North believing that there could never fail to be an open and active Union party at the South ; while the South counted on like aid from the North ; butthere was this material difference between the two cases : The Southem lead ers had received innumerable assur ances, through a series of years, of Northem sympathy and aid In the anticipated struggle for their ' rights ;' while probably no single Eepubhcan had received a letter or message from any Southron of note, urging that no concession be made, but that the Disunionists be crowded to the wall, and compelled to back square out or fight. On the contrary, almost every Southern plea for the Union had as sumed as its basis that the North could, would, and should, be induced to recede from its position of resistance to Slavery Extension, or else . The alternative was not always plain ly expressed ; but the inference was irresistible, that Southern Unionism differed from Secessionism in that it proposed allowing the North a month or two longer wherein to back out of its chosen position before -visiting its perverseness with the retribution of fire and sword. ' Walt a little long er,' was the burden of Southern ap peals for persistence in Unionism : ' the North is preparing to recede : she will presently agree, rather than fight, to give us, at least, the Critten den Compromise.' But suppose she should not — what then ? This ques tion was sometimes answered, some times not ; but the logical inference was inevitable : ' Then we will unite with you in a struggle for Disunion.' Here were the toils In which Yirginia Unionism had Immeshed itself before the bombardment of Sumter, and which foredoomed it to suicide direct ly thereafter. The more earnest and resolute Southerners had been talking of their ' rights ' and their ' -wrongs,' for a number of years, in such a definite, decisive way that they felt that no one could justifiably fail to compre hend them. Some of them were Disunionists outright — ^regarded sepa ration as at all events desirable for the South, and certain to enhance her prosperity, wealth, and power. Others preferred to remain in the Union, if they could shape its pohcy and mold It to their will; but the " The New Orleans Picayune of February 21st, 1861, had a letter from its New York corre spondent 'Antelope,' dated the 13th, which, with reference to Mr. Lincoln's speech, two days ear lier, at Indianapolis, said : " Lincoln even goes so far as to intimate that hostile armies will march across the seceded States to carry out the darling project of recap ture, and the .' enforcement of the laws;' but ho surely could not have counted the dreadful aud sickening result when such a course wandered through his hot and frenzied brain. March hos tile armies through thfe Southern States I Why, where are the armies to come from that are to take up the march? 'Where are the loans of money to come from to carry on this diabolical and fiendish crime 7 Au American army suffi ciently powerful cannot be raised to do it ; while, as regards the raising of moneys to prosecute tho fratricidal strife. New York, the banking emporium of the Union, will refuse, point blank, to advance a dollar for so unholy a purpose. * * * " No I no I The South is too terribly in earn est for our bankers to furnish the sinews where with to whip it back to its ' allegiance ;' and, if the atrocious game shoidd still be persisted in, instead of having the funds to work with, the new Govemment of Mr. Lincoln will find itself fiat upon its back." . MR. BUCHANAN TO JEFFERSON. DAVIS. 611 former class, though few at first, had been steadily gaining from the latter. Each of these were constantly, openly saying, " Give us our rights iti the Union, or we will secure them by going out of the Union." When, therefore, they received messages of sympathy and cheer from their Northern compatriots in many ardu ous struggles, they could not but understand their assurances of con tinued and thorough accord as mean ing what was implied by like assu rances from Southern sources. Among the captures by Gen. Grant's army, during his glorious Mississippi campaign of 1863, were several boxes of the letters and pri vate papers of Jefferson Davis, found in an out-house on a plantation be tween Jackson and Ylcksburg. Seve ral of these letters were given to the pubhc by their captors, many of them bearing the signatures of North em men of note, who have never denied their authenticity. These letters throw a clear hght on the state of Southem opinion ¦which In duced the Secession movement of 1860-61, and are therefore essential contributions to the history of that period. As such, a portion of them ¦will here be given. So early as 1850, James Buchanan (not yet President) wrote to Mr. Da-ris, complaining that ' the South ' was disposed to be too easily satisfied, with regard to her ' rights ' in the territories^ In this 'private and confidential' letter, dated Wheats land, March 16th, he says : " So far' from having in any degree re coiled from the Missonri Oompromise, I have prepared a letter to sustain it, written with all the little ability of which I am master. Ton may ask, why has it not been published ? The answer is very easy. From a careful examination of the proceedings in Congress, it is clear that Non-intervention is all that will be required by the' South. "Webster's speech is to be the base of the compromise — it is lauded to the echo by distinguished Southern men — and what is it? Non-inter vention; and Non-Intervent'ion simply because the Wilmot Proviso is not required to pre vent the curse of Slavery from being injlieted on the Territories. Under these circumstaur ces, it would be madness in rae to publisli my letter, and take higher ground for the South than they have taken for themselves. This would be to out-Herod Herod, and to be more Southernrthan the South. It could do no good, but might do much mischief. " The truth is, the South have got them selves into a condition on this question from which it appears to me now they can- • not extricate themselves. My proposition of the Missouri Compromise was at once abandoned by them, and the cry was Non intervention. They fought the battle at the last Presidential election with this device upon their banners. The Democracy of Pennsylvania are now everywhere rallying to Non-intervention. They suppose in doing this they are standing by the South in the manner most acceptable to their Southern brethren. Our Democratic journals are praising the speech of "Webster," because all the appearances are that it is satisfactory to the South. It is now too late to change front with any hope of success. You may retreat with honor upon the principle that you can carry your slaves to California, and hold them there under the Constitution, and refer the question to the Supreme Court of the United States. I am sorry, both for your sakes and my own, that such is the condiiion in which you are placed. " / say for my own sahe, because I can never yield the position which I have de liberately taken in favor of the Missouri Oompromise ; and I shall be assailed by fanatics and free-soilers as long as I live, for having gone further in support of the rights of the South than Southern Senators and Representatives. I am committed for the Missouri Oompromise, and that committal shall stand. "Should there'be any unexpected change in the aspect of aifairs at "Washington which would hold out the hope that the publication of my Missouri Oompromise letter would do any good, it shall yet be published." In this spirit, Northem aspirants and office-seekers had for years. been ' Mr. Webster's deplorably famous speech of March Vth, 1850. 512 THS AMERICAN CONFLICT. egging on the leaders of Southern opinion to take higher ground In opposition to Northern 'fanaticism' and in assertion of ' Southern rights.' Gen. John A. Quitman, of Missis sippi — an able and worthy disciple of Mr. Calhoun — in a letter written shortly before his death, stated that Senator Douglas, just prior to the Cincinnati Convention of 1856, made complaints to him of the disposition of Southern men tq be too easily satisfied, substantially like those of Mr. Buchanan, just quoted. He suggested that they should boldly demand all their rights, and accept nothing less. In this spirit, the fol lowing letter from a leading Demo crat of Illinois, formerly Governor of that State, was written after the secession of South Carolina : " Bellville, 111., Dec. 28, 1860. " Deak Friends : 1 write to you because I cannot well avoid it. I am, in heart and soul, for the South, as they are right in the principles and possess the Constitution. " If the public mind will bear it, the seat of Government, the Government itself, and the Army and Navy, ought to remain with the South and the Constitution. I have been promulgating the above sentiment, al though it is rather revolutionary. A Pro- ¦visional Government should he established at Washington to receive the power of the out-going President, and for the President elect to take the oath of office out of slave territory. " Now I come to the point. All the Slave States must separate from the North and come together. The Free States will not concede an atom, hut are bent on the de struction of Slavery. 'Why, in God's name, cannot the Northern Slave States see this fact, as clear as noonday before their eyes ? " The general secession ought to be ao complished before the 4th of March. Mr. Buchanan deserves immortal honor for keep ing down bloodshed. In one hour, by tele graph, he could order Fort Moultrie to fire on Charleston, and the war would rage over the Union. I am, in heart and soul, against war; but the best way to keep peace is to be able to defend yourselves. " If the Slave States would unite and form a Convention, they might have the power to coerce the North into terms to amend ihe Constitution so as to protect . Slavery more efficiently. " You will pardon this letter, as it pro ceeds from friendly motives, from " Your friend, John Rbtwolds. " To the Hon. Jeff. Davis and Ex-Governor "Wm. Smith." Prof. Charles W. Hackley, of Co lumbia College, New York, 'writing two days earlier to Mr. Da'vis, to suggest a moderate and reasonable mean between the Northem and the Southern positions respecting the territories, commences -: " My sympa thies are entirely with ' the South' " — > an averment wliich doubtless meant much more to the receiver than was intended by the 'writer. Yet it Is probable that nine out of every ten letters 'written from the North to the South during that boding Winter, If they touched on public affairs at aU, were more exceptionable and mis leading than was this one. Ex-President Pierce wrote, almost a year pre-viously, and in prospect of the Presidential nomination for 1860, as follows : Clarendon Hotbl, Jan. 6, 1860. Mt Deab Friend : I wrote you an un satisfactory note a day or two since. I have just had a pleasant interview with Mr. Shep ley, whose courage and fidelity are equal to his learning and talents. He says he would rather fight the battle with you as the stand ard-bearer, in 1860, than under the auspices of any other leader. The feeling and judg ment of Mr. S. in this relation is, I am confi dent, rapidly gaining ground in New Eng land. Our people are looking for "the Coming Man." One who is raised by all the elements of his character above the at mosphere ordinarily breathed by politicians. A man really fitted for this emergency by his ability, courage, broad statesmanship and patriotism. Col. Seymour (Tho's. H.) ar rived here this morning, and expressed his views in this relation in almost the identical language used by Mr. Shepley. It is true that, in the present state of things at 'Wash ington, and throughout the country, no man can predict what changes two or three months may bring forth. Let me suggest that, in the morning debates of Congress, full justice seems to me not to have been done NORTHERN SYMPATHY WITH 'THE SOUTH.' 518 to the Democracy of the North. I do not believe that our friends at the South have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to the pitch of intense ex asperation, between those who respect their political obligations, and those who have apparently no impelling power hut that which a fanatical position on the subject of domestic Slavery imparts. Without discuss ing the question of right — of abstract power to secede — I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur without blood; and if through the madr^ess of North em Abolitionists that dire calamity must eome, th,e fighting-will not be along Mason and Dixon's line merely. It will be within our own borders, in our own streets, between the two classes of citizens to whom I have referred. Those who defy law and scout constitutional obligations, will, if we ever reach the arbitrament of arms, find occupa tion enough at home. Nothing but the state of Mrs. Pierce's health would induce me to leave the country now, although it is quite likely that my presence at home would be of little service. I have tried to impress npon our people, especially in N. H. and Connecticut, where the only elections are to take place during the coming Spring, that, whil^our Union meetings are all inthe right direction and well enough for the present, they will not be wor'th the paper upon which their resolutions are written unless we can overthrow political Abolitionism at the polls, and repeal the unconstitutional and obnoxious laws which in the cause of "Personal Liberty" have been placed upon our statute-books. I shall look with deep interest, and not without hope, for a decided change in this relation. Ever and truly your friend, Franklin Pikboe. Hon. Jeff. Davis, Washington, D. C. Such are specimens of the North- erw letters where-with Southem states men were misled Into the belief that the North would be divided into hos^ tile camps whenever the South should strike boldly for her 'rights.' It proved a grievous mistake ; but It was countenanced by the habitual tone of 'conservative' speakers and jour nals throughout the canvass of 1860, and thence do-wn to the collision at Sumter. Even then, the spirit which impeUed these assurances of Northem Byinpathy -with, and readiness to do and dare for, 'the South,' was not 33 extinguished, though Its more obvious manifestations were in good part sup pressed for a season. A very few persons — hardly a score in all — of the most uncontrollable Southern sympathies, left the North to enter the Confederate armies ; but many thou sands remained behind, awaiting the opportunity, which disappointment and disaster were soon to present, wherein they might take ground against the prosecution of the ' Abo htion War,' and in favor of a ' com promise' that was not to be had — at all events and on any terms, of 'Peace.' There is, or has been, a quite general impression, backed by constant and confident assertions, that the people of the Free States were united In support of the War until an anti-Slavery aspect was given to It bythe Administration. Yet that Is very far from the truth. There was no moment wherein a large por tion of the Northern Democracy were not at least passively hostile to any form or shade of ' coercion ;' while many openly condemned and stigmatized It as atrocious, unjustifi able aggression. And this opposition, even when least vociferous, sensibly subtracted from the power and dimin ished the efficiency of the North. XIY. Whether there was greater unanimity at the South or at the North in sustaining the Union or the Confederacy in the prosecution of their stmggle, will, perhaps, never be conclusively determined. There were moments during its progress when the South appeai'ed almost a unit for Secession, while the dis heartened North seemed ready to give up the contest for the Union ; as there were crises wherein the Ee beUion seemed to reel on the brink 514 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. of speedy dissolution : but neither of these can justly be taken as an accu rate test of the average popular senti ment of the respective sections. Yet we have seen that a majority of the Southern people could never, untU fi-enzled bythe capture of Fort Sum ter and by ofl&cial assurances (un- denied in their hearing) that Lincoln had declared unprovoked and utter ly unjustifiable war upon them, be induced to hft hostile hands against thefr country ; and that Secession was only forced down the throats of those who accepted it by violence, outrage, and terror. A few additional facts on this head, out of thousands that might be cited, wiU here be given : Eev. John H. Aughey, a Presby terian clergyman of Northern birth, but settled in Northern Mississippi for some years prior to the outbreak of the Eebelhon, in his " Iron Fur nace,"" gives a synopsis of a Seces sion speech to which he listened in Atala county. Miss., just after Presi dent Lincoln's election, rannlng thus : "The halter is the only argument that should be used against the submissionists; and I predict that it wiU soon, very soon, be in force. ¦ " We have glorious news from Tallahatchie. Seven tory submissionists were hanged there in one day ; and the so-called Union candi dates, having the wholesome dread of hemp before their eyes, are not caifvassing the county," etc., etc. When the election was held for delegates to the Convention which assumed the power to take Missis sippi out of the Union, Mr. Aughey attended It, and says : " Approaching the polls, I asked for a Union ticket, and was informed that none had been printed, and that it would be advisable to vote the Secession ticket. I thought otherwise ; and, going to a desk. made out a Union ticket, and voted it, amidst the frowns and suppressed murmurs of the judges and bystanders; and, as the result proved, I had the honor of depositing the only vote in favor of the Union which was polled in that precinct. I knew of many who were in favor of the Union, hut who were intimidated by threats, and bythe odium attending it, from voting at all." Such was the case at thousands of poUs throughout the South, or wherever the Confederates were strong enough to act as their hearts prompt ed. Mr. Clingman's boast. In the Senate, that 'free debaters' were 'hanging on trees' down his way, was uttered. It should be noted, in December, 1860. And thus it was that several Counties in Tennessee" gave not a single vote against Seces sion, while Shelby (Including Mem phis) gave T,132 for Secession to fiwe against it, and a dozen others gave respectively 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 23, and 28 votes for the Union to many thousands for Seces sion. There was only the semblance of an election. "If you vote the Union ticket, you must prepare to leave the State," said Senator Ma son ; and the more reckless and less responsible Secessionists readily trans lated such words into deeds. Where Slavery had undivided sway, a voter had just the same liberty to be a Unionist as he had to be an Aboli tionist — that is, none at all. But there were many communities, and even entire counties, throughout the South, wherein Slavery had but a nominal or limited existence ; as in Texas, thirty-four counties — some of them ha-ving each a considerable free population — were returned, in 1860, as containing each less than a hun dred slaves. Some of these could be, "Philadelphia, W. S. and Alfred Martin, 1863. " Franklin, Humphreys, Lincoln. THE PEOPLE FOR THE UNION. 515 and 'were, controlled by their mana ging pohticians, holding offices and earning perquisites by the grace of the Slave Power enthroned at the State capital ; others were incorrigible, and were managed in this way : In Gray son county (ha'ving 8,187 Inhabitants, of whom 1,291 were slaves), when Se cession was proposed, a county meet ing was held, to consider the project; by which, after discussion, it was de cided to negative the movement, and hold no election for delegates to the proposed State Convention. This gave the Secessionists the opportu nity 'they wanted. They proceeded to hold an election, and to choose delegates, who helped vote the State out of the Union. And this was one case hke many others. Gen. Edward W. Gantt, who had, in August, 1860, been chosen to Con gress as an Independent Democrat, from the Southem district of Arkan sas, and who was an early and ardent Secessionist, testifies, since his recla mation to Unionism, that the poor farmers and other industrious non- slaveholders of his region were never Secessionists — that, where he had al ways been able to induce three-fourths of them to vote -with him as a Demo crat, he could not persuade half of them to sustain him as a Secessionist — that thefr hearts were never in the cau86 ; and that those who could be persuaded to vote for it did so reluc tantly, and as though It went against the grain. No rational doubt can exist that, had time been afforded for consideration, and both sides been generaUy heard, a free and fair vote would- have sho-wn an immense ma jority, even in the Slave States, against Secession. For the Union was strong — im mensely strong — in the traditions, the affections, the instincts, and the aspirations, of the great majority of the American People. Its preserva tion was Inseparably entwined with their glories, their interests, and their hopes. In the North, no one had, for forty years, desired its dissolution, unless on account of Slavery ; at the South, the case was essentially the same. No calculations, however im posing and elaborate, had ever con vinced any hundred persons, on whichever side of the 'slave line, that Disunion could be really advantage ous to either section. No line could be drawn betwixt 'the South' and ' the North' which would not leave one or the other exposed to attack — none which six plain citizens, fairly chosen from either section, could be induced to adopt as final. Multi tudes who supported Secession did so only as the most efficacious means of Inducing the North to repudiate the ' Black Eepubhcans' and agree to the Crittenden or some kindred Compro mise — In shprt, to bully the North into giving the South her ' rights' — never Imagining, at the outset, that this could be refased, or that Disunion would or could be really, conclusively effected. Thousands died fighting under the flag of treason whose hearts yearned toward the old banner, and whose. aspfr ation for an ' ocean-bound repubhc' — one which should be felt and respected as first among nations — could not be quenched even In their own life-blood. And, on the other hand, the fiag rendered iUustrious by the triumphs of Gates and Greene and Washington — of Harrison, Brown, Scott, Macomb, and Jackson — of Tmxtun, Decatur, HuU, Perry, Por ter, and McDonough — was through- 516 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. out ' a tower of strength' to the Unionists. In the hours darkened by shameful defeat and needless dis aster, when the Eepubhc seemed rocking and reeling on the very brink of destruction — when Europe almost unanimously pronounced the Union Irretrievably lost, and condemned the infatuation that demanded persist ence in an utterly hopeless contest — the heart of the loyal MUlions never faltered, nor was their faith shaken that, in spite of present reverses, the flag of thefr fathers would float once more over Eichmond and Charleston and Montgomery, over Ealeigh, At lanta, and Houston, the symbol of Na tional authority and power, accepted, beloved, and rejoiced in, by a great, free, happy people. XXXII. WEST YIEGINIA. The Yirginia Convention of 1861, of which a majority assumed to vote their State out of the Union, as we have seen, had been elected, not only as Unionists, but under an express stipulation that thefr action should be valid only in case of Its submission to and Indorsement by a vote of the People. How shamefully that con dition was evaded and cfrcumvented, we have seen. The vote to secede, taken on the 17th of April, and al ready anticipated by acts of hostUity to the Union under the authority of the State, was, so far as possible, kept secret untU the .25th, when it was proclaimed by Gov. Letcher that the Convention had, on the preceding day, adopted the pro'vlsional Consti tution of the Confederate States, and placed the entire mihtary power of the State under the control of Jeffer son Da'vis, by a ' convention,' whereof the material pro"vision Is as follows : "1st. Until the union of said Common wealth with said Confederacy shall be per fected, and said Commonwealth shall be come a meraber of said Confederacy, accord ing to the Constitutions of both Powers, the whole military force and military operations, offensive and defensive, of said Common wealth, in the impending conflict with the United States, shall be under the chief con trol and direction of the President of said Confederate States, upon the same principle, basis, and footing, as if said Commonwealth were now, and during the interval, a mem ber of said Confederacy." Thus It will be seen that the Union ists of Yirginia were liable, that day and every day thereafter, to be called out as militia, and ordered to assault Washington, seize Pittsburg, or in vade any portion of the loyal States, . as Da'vis and his subordinates might direct; and, having thus involved themselves in the guilt and peril of flagrant treason against the Union, they were to be allowed, a month later, to vote themselves out of the Confederacy and back into the Union again ! The stupendous impudence of this mockery of submission was so palpable as almost to shield it from tho reproach of imposture ; and, as if to brash aside the last fig-leaf of dis guise, Letcher, nine days thereafter,' issued a fresh proclamation, calling out the mUItla of the State to repel 'May 3d, 1861. ¦ SIEUBENVIUE WEST TIBQIHU. 518 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. apprehended Invasion from "the Gov ernment at Washington," and desig nating twenty points throughout the State— five or six of them westward of the mountains— at which the mili tia from the adjacent counties res pectively were required to assemble forth'with, for organization and ser vice ; and, only three days later ' — still seventeen days prior to that on which the people were to vote for or against Secession — the State was for mally admitted Into and Incorporated with the Confederacy, and Gen. Eobert E; Lee ' put in chief command of the Confederate forces in Yirgi nia — by this time, largely swelled by arrivals from South Carohna, Geor gia, Alabama, and other Rebel States. "The people of West Yirginia, thus summoned, in the name of their State, to fight against the country they loved for a Eebellion they abhorred, saw the toils closing fast around them, and reahzed that they must awake and resist, or they would soon be helpless under the feet of their be trayers. Eebel officers, appointed from Eichmond, were busily at work, enlisting and mustering their young men for the uses of treason, under the guise of obedience to lawful and constitutional authority. On the ith, a strong and spirited Union mass meeting was held at Kingwood, Pres ton county, near the north line of the State, at which the most deter mined hostility to Secession was avowed, and the separation of West ern from Old Yirginia demanded. The meeting ftirther resolved to vote, on the appointed day, for a member of Congress — ^not that ofthe Confede racy, but that of the Union. A like meeting, ImpeUed by a similar spirit. was held at Wheeling on the follow ing day, whereby adherence to the Union was affirmed, separation from Eastern Yirginia demanded, and a determination e'vinced to render no further tribute, whether mihtary or pecuniary, to the Eebel rule, at Eich mond. Hon. John S. Carlile was especially decided and zealous in ad vocacy of separation. Another great Union meeting was held at Wheehng on the 11th, which was addressed In the same spfrit by Mr. Carhle, as also by Francis H. Pierpont. The response of the masses was unani mous and enthusiastic. On the 13th, a Convention of delegates, represent ing thirty-five counties of West Yir ginia, assembled at Wheeling, to re iterate more formaUy the general de mand that Secession be repudiated, and West Yirginia severed from the Old Dominion. This Convention adjourned on the 15th, after calhng a pro'vlsional Convention, to assemble on the 11th of June. The delegates were to be chosen on the 26th of May; on which day, about forty Counties held regular elections, and chose delegates in accordance with the call — usually, by a heavy vote. The provisional Convention met on the designated day. Arthur J. Boreman was chosen permanent Chairman ; and John S. Carlile, on the 13th, reported, from the Commit tee on Business, a Declaration, de nouncing the usurpation by which the Convention at Eichmond had pretended to sever Yfrglnia from the Union, repudiating the idea of al legiance to the Southern Confede racy, and vacating the offices of all who adhered to the Eebelhon. In the debate which followed, Mr. Car- ' May 6th. ' Late a Colonel of Cavalry in the U. S. regular Army. ORGANIZATION OF WEST VIRGINIA. 519 hie opposed an immediate di-vision of the State ; but Mr. Dorsey, of Mo nongahela, who urged It, being sup ported by Pierpont and others, ob tained, on the 20th, a unanimous vote in favor of ultimate separation — Yeas 56. The Convention had voted, two days earlier, by 57 to 17, that the separation of Western from Eastern Yirginia was one of Its para mount objects. In the afternoon of that day, Francis H. Pierpont, of Marlon county, was chosen Governor, Daniel Paisley, of Mason county, Lieutenant-Governor, with five mem bers to form an Executive Council. These elections were aU unanimous. The Convention, it wIU be noted, was a Convention of Yirginia, wherein the loyal counties and loyal people were represented, so far as the Ee belhon did not prevent ; and all this action was taken, not in behalf of West Yirginia as such, but of loyal Yirginia. The Legislature, which met -soon after at Wheeling, was a Legislature of Yirginia, elected on the regularly appointed day of elec tion — eastern as weU as western counties being represented therein ; and this Legislature, as well as the Convention, heartily assented to the formation of the new State of West Yfrglnia. This action was taken, throughout, on the assumption that the loyal people of a State constitute the State; that traitors and rebels, who repudiate all respect for or loy alty to the Constitution and Govern ment of the country, have no right to control that Government; and that those people of any State who heartily recognize and faithfuUy discliarge thefr obligations aa loyal citizens, have a right to fuU and perfect protection from the Republic they thus chng to and uphold. Congress, after due deliberation, assented to and ratified this claim, admitting the new State of West Yirginia * into the Union as the equal of her elder sisters; her people being henceforth under no other obligation to the authorities of Old Yirginia than are the people of that State to the authorities of her young sister across the Alleghanies. Of course, neither the Eebels in arms, nor their sympathizers any where, were dehghted with this ap phcation of the principle of seces sion. Gov. Letcher, in a Special Mes- sage,° treated it as one of the chief sources of his general unhappiness. He says • " President Lincoln and his Cabinet have willfully and deliberately proposed to violate every provision of the third section of the fourth article of the Constitution, which each one of thera solemnly swore or afiirmed, in the presence of Almighty God, to ' preserve, protect, and defend.' That section is in these words: " ' New States may be admitted by the Con gress into this Union ; but no new State shall bo formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State formed by the junction of two or more States or parts of States, with out tbe consent of tbe Legislatures of the States conpemed, as well as of the Congress;' " The answer to this is ready and simple: President Lincoln and his Cabinet do not regard John Letcher as Governor of that State of Yirginia which is a member of our Federal Union. The Governor of that Yir ginia is Francis H. Pierpont ; and Its Legislature is that which, elected by loyal Yirginians, assembled at Wheel ing, and gave Its free, hearty, and al most unanimous assent to the dmsion of the old and the formation of the new State. All this must be as plain to Letcher as to Lincoln. Those who * First named Kanawha, after its principal river. 'January 6th, 1862. 520 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. hold that Letcher and his fellow-con spirators had a legal right to precipi tate their State Into treason, so as to bind her loyal, Umon-lo'ving citizens to follow and sustain them therein, will echo his lamentations ; but those who stand by their country and her Government take a difl'erent 'view of the matter." All direct communication between Western Yirginia and Washington was, and remained, Interrupted for some weeks after the primary ' Eebel foray on Harper's Ferry. The Eeb els remained in force at that point, completely controlhng travel and transportation on the Baltimore and Ohio road. They fiuaUy obstructed that road altogether, by destroying' several bridges farther west; con tinuing to hold and to strengthen their position at Harper's Ferry. Two companies of Confederate or State militia entered the village of Clarksburg, the capital of Harrison county, on the 20th, but found them selves speedily outnumbered by the Union mihtia of that place, on whose demand they surrendered their arms and dispersed without a contest. Although some thousands of West Yirginians had volunteered to fight for the Union, none of them were en camped on the soil of their State untU after the election held" to ratify or reject the Ordinance of Secession. The Government, assured that West ern Yfrginia was overwhelmingly for the Union, doubtless chose not to have that unanimity attributed, even °A Union soldier who, having been taken prisoner by the Rebels and paroled, was, in the Summer of 1862, in camp on Governor's Island, New- Tork, was asked by a regular army ofBcer — "What is your regiment?" He answered: " The 6th 'Virginia." " Virginia f" rejoined the falsely, to the presence of a Union force. The Yirginians who volun teered were mustered in and organ ized at Camp Carlile, in Ohio, oppo site Wheehng, under the command of Col. Kelly, himself a Yirginian. George B. McClellan, who had been appointed a Major-General and as signed to the comma!id of tbe De-, partment of the Ohio, remained at Cincinnati, his home. Three days after the election aforesaid, he issued from that city a spirited address " To the Union men of Western Yirginia," wherein he says : "The General Government has long enough endured the machinations of a few factious Eebels in your midst. Armed trai tors have in vain endeavored to deter you from expressing your loyalty at the polls. Having failed in this infamous attempt to deprive you of the exercise of your dearest - rights, they now seek to inaugurate a reign of terror, and thus force you to yield to their schemes, and submit to the yoke ofthe trai torous conspiracy, dignified by the name of the Southern Confederacy. They are des troying the property of citizens of your State, and ruining your magnificent railways. The General Government has heretofore care fully abstained from sending troops across the Ohio, or even from posting them along its banks, although frequently urged by many of your prominent citizens to do so. " It determined to await the result of the State election, desirous that no one might be able to say that the slightest effort had been made from this side to influence the fi-ee ex pression of your opinions, although the many agencies brought to bear upon you by the Eebels were well known. You have now shown, under the most adverse circum stances, that the great mass ofthe people of Western "Virginia are true and loyal to that beneficent Government under which we and our fathers have lived so long." A brief and. stirring address to his soldiers was issued simultaneously with the above; and, both being read Westpoiuter ; " then you ought to be fighting on the other side." Of course, this patriot will naturally be found among those who consider the division of "Virginia a usurpation and an outrage. 'Night of April 18th. "May 16th. "May 23d. PORTERFIELD'S APPEAL TO WEST VIRGINIA. 521 to those in Camp Carlile that even ing, the 1st Yfrginia, 1,100 strong. Col. KeUy, crossed to Wheehng early next morning, closely foUowed by the 16th Ohio, Col. Irvine. The 14th Ohio, Col. Steedman, crossed simul taneously, and quietly occupied Par- kersburg, the terminus of the North- , western branch of the Baltimore and Ohio road. A rebel force, then hold ing Grafton, which connected the branch aforesaid with the main or Wheehng division of the railroad, had meditated a descent on Wheel ing; but, finding themselves antici pated and outnumbered, they ob structed and destroyed the raifroad west of them, so that the Unionists did not reach Grafton till the morn ing of the 30th. On the 31st, both tracks having been repafred, a force of seven or eight thousand men was coUected at this point, under the im mediate command of Gen. Morris; the Eebels having been pushed back, 'without resistance, to Philippi, the capital of Barbour county, some fif teen mUes southward, and entirely off the hne of the raifroad. From this place, Col. G. A. Porterfield, as com mander of the Yirginia Eebel forces, issued the foUowing proclamation : " Fellow-Citizens : I am jn your section of Virginia, in obedience to the legally con stituted authorities thereof, with the view of protecting this section of the State from invasion by foreign forces, and to protect the people in the fall enjoyment of their rights — civil, religious, and political. In the per formance of my duties, I shall endeavor to exercise every charitable forbearance, as I have hitherto done. I shall not inquire whether any citizens of Virginia voted for or against the Ordinance of Secession. My only inquiry shall and will be as to who are the enemies of our mother — the Common wealth of Virginia. My duty now compels me to say to all, that the citizens of the Com monwealth will at all times bo protected by me and those under my command. Those who array themselves against the State will be treated as her enemies, according to the laws thereof. " Virginians ! allow me to appeal to you, in the name of our common mother, to stand by the voice of your State, and especially to repel invasion from any and every quarter. Those who reside within the State, who in vite invasion, or who in any manner assist, aid, or abet invaders, will be treated as ene mies to Virginia. I trust that no Virginian, whether native-born or adopted, will refuse to defend his State and his bi-others against invasion and injury. Virginians ! be true ; and, in due time, your common mother will come to your relief. " Already, many of you have rallied to the support of the honor of your State, and the maintenance of your liberties. "Will you continue to be freemen, or will you submit to be slaves ? "Will you allow the people of other States to govern you? Have you for gotten the precepts of Madison and Jeffer son ? " Eemember that ' the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.' Virginia has not made war. "War has been made upon her and her time-honored principles. Shall she be vin dicated in her efforts to maintain the liber ties of her people? or shall. she bow her head in submission to tyranny and oppression ? It seems to me that the true friend of ra tional liberty cannot hesitate. Strike for your State!. Strike for your liberties I Eally! raUy at once in defense of your mother!" Gen. McCleUan ha-ving ordered that Phlhppi be captured by surj)rlse, the attempt was made oh the night of June 2d. Two brigades of two regiments each approached the Eebel camp by different roads. They were to have enveloped the town by 4 a. m. of the 3d ; but the roads were bad, the night intensely dark and stormy, and the division under Col. Kelly, which had to make the longer march — twenty-two miles — -did not, because it could not, a.rrive In season. The Eebels, only six or eight hundred in number, could make no successful stand against the forces already in their fi-ont, and were evidently pre- ' The omission of Washington's name here is most appropriate aud significant. 522 T-HE AMERICAN CONFLICT. paring for a hurried retreat. The Unionists, under Cols. Dumont and Lander, opened with artillery and promptly charged with infantry, when the dismayed Eebels, after a moment ary resistance, fled. Col. Kelly's division came in at this Instant, and fell upon the Eebels, who were ut terly demoralized and dispersed. Col. Kelly received a severe wound from a pistol-shot through the lungs, and two Unionists were klUed. The Eeb els lost sixteen killed and ten prisoners, 'with all their provisions, munitions, and tents, and nearly aU their arms. Porterfield, gathering up such portion of his forces as he could find, retreated hastily to Bev erly, and thence to HuttonsvIUe; where the Eebel array was rapidly increased by conscription, and Gov. Wise placed in command. Gen. McCleUan arrived at Grafton on the 23d, and at once issued a proclamation severely condemning the guerrlUa warfare to which the Eebels were addicted. On the 25th, he issued a second address to his sol diers, exhorting them to forbear pil lage and outrage of every kind, re membering always that the people were thefr friends. His forces were rapidly augmented, tlU they amount ed, by the 4th of July, to over 30,000 men ; while the Eebels In his front could hardly muster 10,000 In all. He therefore resolved to advance. The Eebel main force, several thou sand strong, under Gen. Eobert S. Gar nett, was strongly intrenched on Lau rel HiU, a few mUes north of Beverly, the capital of Eandolph county, hold ing the road to PhUippi; while a smaller detachment, under Col. John Pegram, was Intrenched upon the summit and at either base of Elch Mountain," where passes the turn pike from Beverly westward to Buck- hannon — ^his position being a strong one, three or four miles distant from the Eebel main body. McClellan, after reconnoitering, and determining by scouts the position of the enemy, de cided, first, to attack and crush Pe gram; and, to this end, sent CoL Eosecrans to make a detour of eight miles through the mountains, and gain the turnpike two or three, miles In the rear of Pegram. This was suc cessfully accomphshed; but a drag oon, dispatched by McClellan -n-ith orders to Eosecrans, was captured during the day, and the plan of attack discovered. The Eebels were found Intrenched on the top of the mountain, with three cannon. Eose crans, who had marched since day light through forests and thickets of laurel, under a cold, pelting rain, by mountain bridle-paths, and, in part, through trackless woods, had, of course, no artillery. He approached the Eebel position about noon, and was immediately opened upon by their guns, which made much noise to httle purpose. The vigorous mus ketry fire, soon opened on either side, was little more effective, because of the rain, the inequalities of the ground, and the density of the low, bushy forest. But the Unionists were largely superior in numbers, and, after half an hour of this random firing, were ordered to fix and charge " " Rich Mountain is a gap in the Laurel Hill Range, where the Staunton and Western turn pike crosses it between Buckhannon and Beverly, and about four or flve miles out of the latter place. It is about as far from Laurel HiU proper (that is, where the Beverly and Fairmount turn pike crosses it, and where the enemy is in trenched) as Beverly is. It is also about twenty- five miles from Buckhannon." — WlieeUng Intelli gencer. ' CAPTURE OF PEGRAM.— DEATH OF GARNETT. 523 hayonets; which orders were promptly and vigorously obeyed. The Eebels at once took to flight, lea-ving their cannon, wagons, tents, provisions, and stores, 'with 135 dead. Gen. McCleUan remained through out the day inactive in front of Col. Pe- gram's position, awaiting ad-vices from Eosecrans, that failed to reach him. Pegram, better ad'vlsed of Rosecrans' operations, and justly alarmed for his own safety, attempted to escape dur ing the foUo'wing night, but found it impossible, and was compeUed, after a day's hiding in the forest, to surren der" his remaining force — about 600 men — at discretion. Gen. McCleUan pushed on to Bev erly, which he entered early next morning, fianking Gen. Garhett's po sition at Laurel Hill, and compelling him to a precipitate flight northward. Six cannon, two hundred tents, sixty wagons, and over one hundred pris oners, were the trophies of this suc cess. The Rebel loss In killed and wounded was about 150 ; the Union about 50. Gen. Garnett, completely flanked, thoroughly worsted, and fear- fally outnumbered, abandoned his camp at Laurel HiU without a strug gle, crossing the Laurel Mountains eastward, by a by-road, into the nar row vaUey of Cheat river, traversed by one 'wretched road, which he took care to make worse for his pursuers by feUing trees across it at every op portunity. It rained incessantly. This valley is seldom more than a wooded glen ; whence he hoped to escape across the main ridge of the AUeghanies eastward into Hardy county. Provisions and supplies of every kind were scarce enough with the ftigitlves, and, for the most part. 'with their pursuers also. Rain fell incessantly, swelling the unbridged ri-vulets to torrents. Skirmishes were frequent; and four companies of a Georgia regiment, being cut off from the main body, were taken prisoners. At length, having crossed the Cheat at a point kno-wn as Carrick's Ford, which proffered an admirable position for defense, Garnett turned to fight ; and, though the Union forces rapidly came up in overpowering numbers, and opened a heavy fire both of mus ketry and artillery, yet the strong and sheltered position of the Confed erates enabled them for some time to hold the ford, twice repulsing efforts to cross it. Col. Taliaferro, com manding the Rebel rearguard, finally withdrew by order, ha'ving exhausted his cartridges and lost about thfrty men. The position had by this time been fianked by Col. Dumont, with his 7th Indiana, who had fairly gained the crest on the right, when he was ordered to turn it on the left ; and, marching down the bluff and through the middle of the stream, between the two armies firing over thefr heads, the regiment, forcing their way through the tangled thicket of laurel, appeared on the right flank of the Rebels, who thereupon fled. The road crosses the stream again a quar ter of a mUe below ; and here a des perate attempt was made by Garnett to raUy his forces for another strug gle ; but In vain. They received and returned one volley, when they start ed to run — they being, at least, 3,000, and the Indianians, dfrectly upon them, barely 600; but there were enough more not far behind. Gen. Garnett exerted hunself desperately to hold his men, without success ; and. « July 12th. 524 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. while SO doing, was shot through the body by Sergt. Burlingame, and fell dead without a groan. A shght, boy ish Georgian — probably an Aid — alone stood by him to the last, and shared his fate." Gen. McCleUan, with a large portion of his force, had not united in this chase, but had moved southerly from Beverly, sev eral miles, to HuttonsvIUe ; whence, on the next day," he telegraphed to Washington that " Gen. Garnett and his forces have been routed, and his baggage and one gnn taken. His army are completely demoralized. Gen. Garnett was killed while attempting to rally his forces at Oarrioksford, near St. George. " We have completely annihilated the en emy in "Western "Virginia. " Our loss is about thirteen killed, and not more than forty wounded ; while the ene my's loss is not far from two hundred killed ; and the number of prisoners we have taken will amount to at least one thousand. We have captured seven of the enemy's guns in all. "A portion of Garnett's forces retreated; but I look for their capture by Gen. Hill, who is in hot pursuit." This expectation was not reahzed. The pursuit was only continued two miles beyond the ford ; when our weary soldiers halted, and the resi due of the Rebels, under Col. Ram sey, turning sharply to the right, made their way across the mountains^ and joined Gen. Jackson at Monterey. A strong Union force, under Gen. Cox, made an advance from Guyan dotte simultaneously -with Gen. Mc- CleUan's on Beverly, capturing Bar- bours'vUle after a shght skirmish, and moving eastward to the Kanawha, and up that river. At Scarytown, some miles below Charleston, a de tachment of 1,500 Ohio troops, un der Col. Lowe, was resisted" by a smaller Rebel force, well posted, un der Capt. Patton, and repulsed, -with a loss of 57 men. Five officers, in cluding two Colonels, who went heed lessly forward, without their com mands, to observe the fight, rode into the Eebel lines, and were cap tured. The Eebels abandoned the place that night, lea-ving their leader dangerously wounded to become a prisoner. Gen. Cox pushed steadUy forward, reaching Charleston, the capital of Kanawha county, on the 25th. Gov. Wise, who commanded the Eebels In this quarter, had expected here to make a stand; but, discouraged by the tidings which had reached him, some days before, of Garnett's disas ters, continued his flight up the river. Gen. Cox pursued, reaching, on the 29th, Gauley bridge, which Wise had burned to impede pursuit. The peo ple of that valley, and. Indeed, of nearly all Western Yirginia — being Unionists — complained that the Eeb els mercilessly plundered them of every thing eatable ; which was doubtless true to a great extent, and, for the most part, unavoidable. In the race up the Kanawha valley. Wise succeeded, to the last, in keep ing ahead, which was the only mili tary success he ever achieved. He " The Cincinnati Gazette's correspondent, ' Ag ate,' in describing the battle, says : " Among the enemy's wounded was a yonng Massachusetts boy, who had received a sliot in the leg. He bad been visiting the South, and had been impressed into the Rebel service. As soon as the battle began, he broke from tbe Rebel ranks, and attempted to run down the hiU and cross over to our side... His own lieu tenant saw him in the act, and shot him with a revolver. Listen to such a tale as that I did, by the side of the sad young sufferer, and tell me if your blood does not boil hotter thau ever be fore, as you think, not of the poor deluded fol lowers, but of the leaders, who, for personal am bition and personal spite, began this infernal rebellion." " July 14th. ¦ July 11\h. THE AFFAIR OF CARNIFEX' FERRT. 525 retreated to Le-wisburg, the capital of Greenbrier, one of the few coun ties west of the main ridsce of the Alleghanies which, ha'ving a conside rable number of slaves, and having been settled entirely from Old Yir ginia, has evinced a preponderating devotion to the Eebel Cause. Here he was reenforced, and out ranked, about August 1st, by Gen. John B. Floyd, who, under the influ ence of the inspiring news from Bull Eun, and the depletion of the Fede ral forces by the mustering out of service of the. three months' men, was soon able to assume the offensive. Keeping weU to the right of New Elver— the main affluent which unites near Gauley bridge -with the Gauley to form the Kanawha — he surprised the 7th Ohio, Col. Tyler, whUe at breakfast at Cross Lanes, near Sum- mers-rille,'" and routed it with a loss of some 200 men. Mo-ving thence southerly to Carnifex Ferry, he was endeavoring to gain the rear of Gen. Cox, who was still south of him, when he was himself attacked by Gen. Eosecrans, who, at the head of nearly 10,000 men, came rapidly down upon him from Clarksburg, nearly a hundred miles northward. Most ofthe Union troops had marched seventeen miles that day, when, at 3 o'clock p. M. of the 10th, they drew up in front of Floyd's strong and weU-forttfled position on the north bank of the Gauley, just below the mouth of Meadow river. Eosecrans ordered a reconnoissance in force by Benham, which was somewhat too gal- " The capital of Nicholas county. " Pollard says of this conflict: " The successful resistance of this attack of the enemy, in the neighborhood of Carnifex Ferry, was one of the most remarkable incidents of tiie campaign iu Western Vu-ginia. The force lantly executed, resulting In a short, but severe action, wherein the advan tage of position was so much on the side of the Confederates that their loss must have been considerably less than ours, which was about two hun dred. Including Col. Lowe, of the 12th Ohio, klUed, and Col. Lytle, of the 10th, severely wounded, as was Lieut.-Col. White, of the 12th. Col. McCook's Ohio brigade (Germans) at one time received an order to storm the Eebel • Intrenchments, and wel comed It with a wild delight, which showed how gladly and thoroughly it would have been obeyed ; but it was an order which Eosecrans had not given, and which, after a cJareful ob servation of the works, he counter manded. Instead of assaulting, he directed a more thorough reconnois sance to be made, and the troops to be so posted, as to be ready for de- eisive work early In the morning. But, when dayhght dawned, the enemy were missing. Floyd, disap pointed in the expected support of Wise, and largely outnumbered, had wisely withdrawn his forces under cover of the night, abandoning a por tion of his equipage, much baggage, and a f4w smaU arms, but no cannon." He rapidly retreated some thirty miles to Big Sewell Mountain, and thence to Meadow Bluff, whither he was not closely followed. Wise strengthened the position on Big Sewell, named It Camp Defiance, and there remained. Gen. Lee, arri'ving from the North with a considerable Eebel force, took of , Gen. Floyd's command was l.TdO men; and from 3 o'clock p. M. until night-fall it sus tained, with unwavering determination and the most brilliant success, an assault from an enemy between eight and nine thousand strong, made with small-arms, grape, and round-shot, from howitzers and rifled cannon." 526 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. command of both Floyd's and Wise's troops, swelling his army to 20,000 men. Eosecrans, after remaining sev eral days In his front at Big SeweU, re treated thirty miles to the Gauley, and was not pursued ; Gen. Lee being soon after recalled to take a command on the coast, and Gov. Wise ordered to report at Eichmond. Gen. Lee, before leaving the North, had made a strong reconnoissance in force rather than a serious attack, on the position held by Gen. Eeynolds on Cheat Mountain, In Eandolph county, not far from the arena of Garnett's and of Pegram's disasters. There was skirmishing on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of September, during which Col. John A. Washington, one of Gen. Lee's aids, was killed, with nearly one hundred other Eebels. The Union loss was nearly equal to this, mainly In prisoners. Eeynolds's force was about half that of his assail ants, but so strongly posted that Lee found it impossible to dislodge him, and retired to his camp at Green brier. Here Eeynolds, whose forces were equal, if not superior, to those in his front, after Lee's departure for the South, paid a return visit to the Eebels, now commanded by Gen. H. E. Jackson, of Georgia, on the 3d of October. Eeynolds, in turn', found his adversary's position too strong to be carried by assault, and retreated unpursued, after a desultory contest of several hours. On the 10th of November, at 8 p. M., Col. Jenkins, with his regiment of Eebel cavalry, which had been en gaged for some time in guerrilla war fare, dashed Into the -village of Guy andotte, on the Ohio river, near the Kentucky line, surprising the Union forces stationed there and taking over a hundred prisoners. AU who re sisted were killed by the guerrillas, who left hastily next morning, with all the plunder they could carry. Col. Zeigler, of the 5th [loyal] Yfr ginia, who arrived early next morn ing, ordered the houses of the Seces sionists to be burned, on the assump tion that they had instigated the Eebel raid, and furnished the infor mation which rendered It safe and successlul; and, the leading citizens being mostly rebels, the viUage was mainly consumed. This destruction was generally condemned as barbar ous, though the charge was probably true, and would have justified any penalty that might have been Inflicted on those only who supplied the in formation. Eosecrans having posted himself at Gauley Mount, on Ne-w Elver, three miles above its junction with the Gauley, Floyd and Wise, after Lee's departure, took position on the opposite (south) side of New Elver, and amused themselves by shelling the Union teamsters engaged in sup plying our army. Here Eosecrans attempted to flank and surprise them, but was first defeated by a great fiood in the river, rendering it impassable ; and next by the failure of Gen. Ben- ham to gain Floyd's rear and ob struct his retreat, as he had been or dered to do. The attack In front was duly made," but Floyd retreated un molested by Benham, and.but faintly pursued. On the 14th, his rear-guard of cavafry was attacked and driven by Benham; Its Colonel, St. George Croghan, being killed. No further pursuit was attempted. Floyd re treated to Petersto'wn, more than "November 12th. ALLEGHANY SUMMIT— HUNTERSVILLE. 627 fifty 1^ miles southward. And thus died ^out the campaign in the south em piirt of West Yirginia. In the north-east. Gen. Kelly, who held and guarded the Alleghany sec tion of the Baltimore and Ohio EaU road, starting from New Creek on the night of October 25th, advanced rapidly to Eomney, the capital of Hampshire county, driving out a Rebel battahon and capturing two cannon, sixty prisoners, several hun dred stand of arms, 'with all the camp equipage, pro-risions, and munitions. By this spirited dash. West Yirginia was nearly cleared of armed Eebels. Gen. E. H. Mifroy, who had suc ceeded Gen. Eeynolds in command at Cheat Mountain, attempted, soon afterward," a simUar dash on the Eebels in his front, strongly posted at AUeghany Summit, twenty-two miles distant, on the turnpike to Staunton. To this end, he moved forward vrith 3,200 men, nearly half of which were dfrected to make a detour by the old Greenbrier road, to assault the enemy's left. The com bination faUed. The fiank move ment, under Col. Moody, of the 9th Indiana, was not effected in time. The Rebel forces, consisting bf four regiments, under Col. Edward John son, were neither surprised nor dis mayed ; and the attack in front, led by Col. James A. Jones, of the 25th Ohio, though gallantly made, did not succeed. The Eebels, finding them selves superior in numbers as well as position, attacked in turn, and were hkewise repulsed, as also in an at tempted flank movement. StiU, Mil roy, having lost 150 men, with his ranks still further depleted by the skulking of his raw troops, had begun to retreat before Col. Moody, at 8 A. M., commenced his flank attack, which was of course a failure. Mil roy retreated unpui-sued to his old camp. But, not discouraged, he dis patched Major Webster, of the 25th Ohio, with 800 men, on the last day of the year, to break up a Eebel post at HuntersviUe, fifty miles south, on the Greenbrier. The weather waa cold ; the ground covered with snow , yet the march was made in three days, the Eebel force driven out, and six buildings, filled -with pro'vlsiona and forage, destroyed by fire ; the expedition returning without loss or accident. Here closed the campaign of 1861 In Western Yirginia, with scarcely a Eebel uniform or picket to be seen, on that side of the Alle ghany Mountains." "December 12th. ™ Though the crest of the main ridge of the Alleghanies is the natural and proper line of de marcation between ' the Old Dominion' and new, or West Virginia, and pretty accurately discrim inates the Counties vi herein Slavery and Seces sion did, from those wherein they did not, at any time, predominate, yet three or four Counties — Monroe, Greenbrier, See. — which geographically pertain to West Virginia, have, either voluntarily or under duress, adhered to Old Virginia and the Rebellion. . Note. — ^The originally proposed State of Zo- nawAo included within her boundaries only the Counties of Virginia lying north and west of, but not including, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Green brier, and Pocahontas — thirty -nine in all, with a total population iu 1860 of 280,691, whereof 6,894 were slaves. The Constitution of West Virginia expressly included the five counties above named, making the total population 315,969, of whom lOiliY were slaves. It fur ther provided that the counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, Frederick, Berkeley, Jeffer son, and Morgan, might also be embraced within the new State, provided their people should, by vote, express their desire to be — which they, excepting those of Frederick, in due time, did — raising the population, in 1860, ofthe new State to 316,742, and entitling it to three representa tives in Congresa 528 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. xxxin. EAST YIEGINIA— BULL EUN. If the North had been, or at least had seemed, obstinately apathetic, be cause skeptical as to the probability or the Imminence of Civil War, it was fully and suddenly undeceived by the developments that swiftly fol lowed the bombardment of Fort Sumter, but especiaUy by the occur rences in Baltimore and the attitude of Maryland. For a few weeks,* all petty differences seemed effaced, all partisan jealousies and hatreds for gotten. A few ' conservative' presses sought to stem the rushing tide; a few old Democratic leaders struggled to keep the party lines distinct and rigid ; but to httle purpose. Twelve States; whose Legislatures happened to be sitting In some part of AprU or May, 1861, tendered pecuniary aid to the Government, amounting, in the aggregate, to nearly Nineteen Millions of DoUars ; while some Five Milhons were as promptly contribu ted, in the cities and chief to-wns of the North, to clothe and equip volun teers. Eailroads and steamboats were mainly employed in transporting men and munitions to the hne of the Potomac or that of the Ohio. Never before had any Twenty MUlions of people evinced such absorbing and general enthusiasm. But for the de plorable lack of arms. Half a MiUion volunteers might have been sent into camp before the ensuing Fourth of July. President Lincoln issued, on the 27th of April, a proclamation an nouncing the blockade of the coast of Yirginia and North Carohna; due evidence ha-ring been afforded that Yirginia had formally an(^ North Carohna practically adhered to the Eebellion. Some weeks were re quired to collect and fit out the ves sels necessary for the blockade of even the chief ports of the Eebel States ; but the month of May * saw this undertaking so far completed as to make an entrance into either of those ports dangerous to the block ade-runner. On the 3d, the Presi dent made a further call for troops — this time requiring 42,000 additional volunteers for three years; beside adding ten regiments to the regular army — about doubhng its nominal strength. A large force of volun teers, mainly Pennsylvanians, was organized at Chambersburg, Pa., under the command of Major-Gen. Robert Patterson, of the Pennsyl vania mUitia ; ' while Gen. Butler, having completed the taming of Bal timore, by planting batteries on the highest points and sending a few of her more audacious traitors to Fort McHenry, was made'' a Major-Gener al, and placed in command of a De partment composed of tide-water Ylr^ ginia with North Carolina. George B. McClellan and John C. Fremont (then in Europe), had afready ' been appointed Major-Generals in the regular army, as had Gen. John A. 'Richmond and Norfolk, the Sth; Charleston, the 11th; New Orieans and Mobile, the 27th; Savannah, the 28th. 'May 16th. ' May lst and speedily thereafter. GEN. BUTLER AT FORTRESS MONROE. 529 ¦Dix likewise In the volunteer ser vice. Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott, at Washington, was commander-in-chief, as weU as In immediate charge of the large force rapidly pouring Into the capital and its eu'vlrons — ^In part, by steamboat up the Potomac ; In part, by way of the Eaifroad through Balti more. There were cities that hailed the Union soldiers with greater en thusiasm, but none that treated them 'with more civihty and deference, than Baltimore, from and after But ler's arrival in that city ; though he somewhat embarrassed the trade of that hitherto thi-I-ring mart by search ing for and seizing large quantities of arms, secreted in her cellars or snugly stowed away in the holds of her vessels, awaiting transportation to lower Yirginia. One of his last and most important seizures was that of the person of George P. Kane, Marshal of Police ; who, making all possible opposition to captures of arms designed for the Eebels, was taken also to the Fort, that he might see that they were in safe hands. UnluckUy, he, like other traitors, was not retained there so long as he should have been ; but this was by no fault of Gen. Butler, who was ordered to take command at Fortress Monroe, whither he repaired on the 22d, and where he soon found him self at the head of some 15,000 raw hut gallant soldiers. It had been decided that no offen sive movement should be made prior to the 24th (the day after the farce of voting to ratify the Ordinance of Secession) — ^the Government having apparently resolved that no Union soldier should, on that day, tread the soil of Yirginia, save 'within the nar row limits, or immediately under the fro'wning walls, of Fortress Monroe. So Gen. Butler soon found some ten or twelve thousand Confederates In his front, under command of Gens. Huger and Magruder, (both recently of the regular army,) with earth works and batteries facing liim at every commanding point, well mount ed with powerful guns from the spoils of the Norfolk Navy Yard. The white population in that slave- holding neighborhood was so gene- ¦ rally disloyal that, of a thousand in habitants of the httle -village of Hampton, lying just under the guns of the fort, but a hundred remained on the 1st of June.* Gen. Butler found his position so cramped by the proximity and au dacity of the Eebels, whose cavalry and scouts almost looked Into the mouths of his guns, that he resolved on enlarging the circle of his Yir ginia acquaintance ; to which end he seized and fortified the point known as Newport News, at the mouth of James river; and, on the 9th of June, ordered a reconnoissance in force for some eight or ten miles northward, with Intent to surround, surprise, and capture, the Eebel po sition nearest him, known as Little Bethel. To this end, Col. Abram Duryea's Zouaves were dispatched from Hampton at 1 o'clock next moming, followed by Col. F. Towns- end's 3d New- York, an hour later, 'with directions to gain the rear of Little Bethel, so as to cut oft" the re treat of the Eebels ; while Col. Phelps, with a Yermont battalion, supported by Bendix's New-York * This village ¦^as burnt, August 9th, by Ma- gruder's order, that it iliight no longer aflford shel- 34 ter to our troops. An attempt was at fir.st made to attribute this devastation to tho Unionists. 530 THE AMERICAN-.JCONFLICT. regiment, was to approach that post in front, ready to attack at daybreak. The whole expedition was under the command of Gen. E. W. Pierce, a militia Brigadier from Massachusetts. Gen. Butler had given precise or ders and directed the use of ample precautions to avoid collision in the darkness between the several portions of our . own forces. Yet, just before daybreak, at a junction of roads, some two miles from Little Bethel, the regiments of Col. Bendix and Col. Townsend neared each other; TEN MrLES AROUND FORTRESS MONROE. and the former, mistaking the latter for enemies, opened fire with both artillery and musketry, whereby two of Col. To'wnsend's men were killed, and eight or ten seriously, besides a large number slightly wounded. The mistake was soon discovered; but not untU the whole expedition had been thrown into confusion — those in ad vance, with reason, presuming that the Eebels were assaulting their rear, and preparing for defense on this pre sumption. The Eebels at Little Bethel were, of course, alarme(f, and made good their retreat. Gen. Pierce sent back to Gen. Butler for reenforce- BIG BETHEL— HARPER'S FERRT. 531 ments ; and another regiment was ordered up to his support. Col. Dur- yea had already surprised and cap tured a picket-guard of the enemy, consisting of thirty persons, who were sent prisoners to the fort. Gen. Pierce, finding only a hastUy deserted camp at Little Bethel, pushed on to Big Bethel, several miles fur ther. Here he found a substantial, though hastUy constructed, breast work, protected from assault by a deep creek, 'with 1,800 Confederates, under Col. J. B. Magruder, behind it. Gen. Pierce, who, probably, had never before seen a shot fired in ac tual war, ordered an attack ; planting his few lomaU guns in the open field, half a mUe from the weU-sheltered Eebel batteries in his front. Our baUs, of course, buried themselves harmlessly in the Eebel earthworks ;* while our men, though partially screened by woods and houses, were, exposed to a deadly fire from the Eebels. For four hours, the action thus continued — necessarUy 'with con siderable loss on our side and very httle on the other. Finally, a more determined assault was made by a part of our infantry, led by Major Theodore Winthrop, Aid to Gen. Butler, who was shot dead while standing on a log, cheering his men to the charge. His courage and con duct throughout the fight rendered him conspicuous to, and excited the admiration of, his enemies. Lieut. John T. Greble, of the 2d regular ar tillery, was hkewise kiUed instantly, by a ball through the head, while serving his gun in the face of the foe. Our total loss, in the advance and the attack, was hardly less than 100 men ; while the Eebels reported theirs at 1 killed and 7 wounded. Gen. Pierce, whose inexperience and Incapacity had largely contributed to our mis fortune, finally ordered a retreat, which was made, and in good order ; the Eebels following for some miles 'with cavalry, but at a respectful dis tance. And, so conscious were their leaders that they owed their advan tage to accident, that they abandoned the position that night, and retreated so far as Yorktown, ten miles up the Peninsula." No further collisions of moment occurred In this department . that season. Gen. Butler was suc ceeded by Gen. Wool on the 16th of August. Eeports of a contemplated Eebel invasion of the North, through Mary land, were current throughout the month of May, countenanced by the fact that Maryland Hights, opposite Harper's Ferry, were held by John ston through most of that month, while a considerable force appeared opposite WlUiamsport on the 19th, and seemed to meditate a crossing. A rising in Baltimore, and even a dash on PhUadelphia, were among thefr rumored purposes. Surveys and reconnoissances had been made by them of Arlington Hights and othei eminences on the Yirginia side ofthe Potomac, as If with intent to plant batteries for the shelling of Washing ton. But the Union forces, in that State and Maryland, increased so ra pidly, that any offensive movement 'Pollard says: "The only injury received from their artillery was the loss of a mule." ' CoL (since, Major-Gen.) D. H. HUl, who com manded the 1st North CaroUna in this affair, in his official report, after claiming a victory, says : " Fearing that heavy reenforcements would be sent up from Portress Moilroe, we fell back at nightfaU upon our works at Yorktown." ¦WINCHESTER • K ERNST ^~»- WHITEPOST 'J'-^l,^",^'" ^)??-~ASHBY'S MARTINSBURG e BUNKER H1LL5 i} harper's FERRV rr 'sANDYtHOOK >l JERLIN /,# / WATERFORDj J/NOLAN'S FERRV V^CLARKSBURGlav \ ^ ¦''hW , I ^SNICKERS GAP K<^.-^'^'^. r'5'.' M1DDLEBURg'/;T./;[|J,.,» gum SPR.» ^^,qt.. LEWINS GCOftfi^OVf^^ PlESSANfeVflL. THORNTOrOCCW. v. CHAIN BR^gU,.j¥g .FRW^ROYAL RecTORTOWN ^^f| .^ ^ viENJi^oS^SW-NGTO^-* FALLS CH.i ¦.^R. F«C>,p »to„._l SALEM Alsr^^j.ytHOROUOHFAREV?^ t!/ © I-**'"'- >5>>ft« GAP ^^''Tl CENTREVILLE ANNANDALE #"/l»%y ^""^^ GHOVETON,,.^F;;"u„,„„ ^.J^ ^C"/ i.# a.~% U\iGAIN|SV-r^ » MiiLS^-'tAlHFAX >*LEXANDR''^1 - ¦* * " ^ ^^^ f _ i^° . ^^>V STA. H "sN.BALTIMORE t,S?o5= SULPHUR SPR. WASHINGTON• TO THORNTON'S GAP 5m. 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Afv/V«. ^.^-^^-^-^REpe^j^sBURG ..\^ CLARKS.MT ,.,,, L..„^J^«^ nHflwr.rp rnti^M — \^ j^ /'^'~~~-~a Qj^''^-^fi^m^ WINGGEORECH o lo SPOTSYLVANIA CxH. .Pfl^ * v > '^ "^-— i' >p^ otlGUINNEYS 'T^ ^~^ '^Xfi 1^- '^LDVERDIERSV. .-Vj. .''AT fl. PORTROllSir'" ¦V -JZ/ir R. \aJ. I qBowling green TMILFORO WASHINGTON AND VTOmrTT, CEOSSING INTO YIBGINI A.— VIENNA. 533 in that quarter on the part of the Eebels 'would have been foolhardy in the extreme. Finally, on the night of the 23d — the day of her election aforesaid — Gen. Scott gave the order for an advance.; and, before morning, 10,000 Unionists 'were planted on the ' sacred soil.' Gen. Mansfield super intended the crossing of the Long Bridge ; 'while Gen. McDo'well con ducted that over the Chain Bridge at Georgeto'wn ; 'whence the 69th Ifew Tork, Col. Corcoran, 'was pushed for- •ward to seize the crossing of the Orange and Manassas Gap Eailway, some miles 'west'ward. The New- York Fire Zouaves, Col. EUs'worth, moved by steamers directly on Alex andria ; but the Eebels in that city had either been 'warned by treachery, or 'were alarmed by the menacing appearance of the gunboat Pa'wneS, and had very generally escaped 'when the Zouaves landed. Some 300 of them, mainly ci'dlians, 'were captured bytheNe'wTork 69th, in their flight on the railroad aforesaid. No resist ance was met at any point. But CoJ. EUs'worth, seeing a Secession flag flying from the ' Marshall House' at Alexandria, stepped in, 'with four foUowers, and took it down. Pass ing do'wn the stairs, he 'was met by one Jackson, the hotel-keeper, who, raising a double-barreled gun, shot EUsworth dead on the spot. He was himself instantly shot in turn by Francis E. Bro'wneU, one of Col. Ells worth's foUowers ; and the two who, at one moment, confronted each other as strangers but as mortal foes, the next lay side by side in death. Jack son's deed, which, at the North, was shudderingly regarded as assassina tion, at the South, was exulted over as an exhibition of patriotic heroism ; and a subscription was at once set on foot for the benefit of his family; This incident was rightly regarded by many as indicative of the terrible earnestness of the contest upon which the American people were now en tering. Gen. McDowell, having firmly es tablished himself on the right bank of the Potomac for several miles op posite to and below Washington, pro ceeded to fortify his- position, but made no further offensive demonstra tions for several weeks ; whose quiet was broken only by a brisk dash into and through the -viUage of Fairfax Court-House by Lieut. C. H. Tomp kins, of the 2d regular cavalry — re sulting in a loss of six on either side — and by an ambuscade at Vienna. Late on Monday, June 17th, Gen. Eobert C. Schenck, under orders from Gen. McDowell, left camp near Alex andria, with 700 of Col. McCook's 1st Ohio, on a railroad train, and pro ceeded slowly up the track toward Leesburg, detaching and stationing two companies each at Fall's Church and at two road-crossings as he pro ceeded. He was nearing Vienna, thirteen miles from Alexandria, with four remaining companies, numbering 275 men, utterly unsuspicious of dan ger, when, on emerging from a cut and turning a curve, eighty rods from the village, his train was raked by a masked battery of two guns, hastily planted by Col. Gregg,' who had been for two or three days scouting along our front, with about 800 Eebels, mainly South Carolinians, and who, starting that morning frpm DraneSr -viUe, had been tearing up the track at Vienna, and had started to return ' Afterward, Gen. Maxcy Gregg ; Governor- elect of South CaroUna ; kiUed at Fredericksburg. 53i THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. to Dranes"dlle when they heard the whistle of Gen. Schenck's locomotive. Several rounds of grape were fired point-blank iuto the midst of the Ohio boys, who speedily sprang from the cars, and formed under the pro tection of a clump of trees on the side of the track. The engineer, who was backing the train, and, of course, in the rear of it, instantly detached his locomotive, and started at his best speed for Alexandria, leaving the cars to be burnt by the Eebels, and the dead and wounded to be brought off iu blankets by their surviving comrades. The Eebels, deceived by the cool, undaunted bearing of our force, did not venture to advance, for fear of falhng into a trap in their turn; so that our loss in men was but 20, including one captain. The Eeb els, of course, lost none. Each party retreated immediately — the Eebels to Fairfax Court House. As very much has since been said, on both sides, with partial justice, of outrages and barbarities, devastation and rapine, whereof ' the enemy' is always assumed to be guilty, the fol lowing manifesto, issued by a Con federate chief at the very outset of the contest, and before it could have had any foundation in fact, casts light on many similar and later in culpations : " Head-qtjaetees, Dep't of Alexandria, ) Oamp Piokens, June Sth, 1861. J "a PEOOLAMATIOlSr. " To thepeople of the Counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William: " A reoliless and unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. Abraham Lincoln, re gardless of all moral, legal, and constitutional restraints, has thrown his Abolition hosts among you, who are murdering and impris oning your citizens, confiscating and de stroying your property, and committing other acts of violence and outrage, too shocking and revoltipg to humanity to be enumerated. " All rules oC, civilized warfare are aban doned, and they proclaim by their acts, if not on their banners, that their war-cry is 'Beauty and Booty=' All ihat is dear to man — your honor, and that of your wives and daughters — your fortunes and yonr lives, are involved in this momentous contest. " In the name, therefore, ofthe constituted authorities of the Confederate States — in the sacred cause of constitutional liberty and self-government, for which we are contend ing — in behalf of civilization itself— I, G. T. Beauregard, Brigadier-General of the Con federate States, commanding at Camp Pick ens, Manassas Junction, do make this my Proclamation, and invite and enjoin you, by every consideration dear to the hearts of freemen and patriots, by the name and memory of your Eevolutionary fathers, and by the purity and sanctity of your domestic firesides, to rally to the standard of your State and country ; and, by every means in your power, compatible with honorable warfare, to drive back and expel the invaders from your land. I conjure you to be true and loyal to your country and her legal and constitutional au thorities, and especially to be vigilant observ ers ofthe movements and acts of the enemy, so as to enable you to give the earliest au thentic information at these headquarters, or to the officers under my command. "I desire -to assure you that the utmost protection in my power will be given to you all. G. T. Beauebgaed, " Brigadier-General Commanding." Three days before, and in utter unconsciousness of the fulmination which Beauregard was preparing, Gen. McDowell, in command of our forces in his front, had issued the foUo'wing : " Hbad-quaetees Dep't of N. E. Vieginia, AELiisfGTOisr, June 2d, 1861. " Geneeal Oedee No. 4. — Statements of the amount, kind, and value, of all private property taken and used for Government purposes, and of the damage done in any way to private property, by reason of the occupation of this section of the country by the "United States troops, will, as soon as practicable, be made oat and transmitted to department head-quarters of brigades by the commanders of brigades, and officers in charge of the several fortifications. These statements will exhibit : " First The quantity of land taken pos session of for the several field-works, and the kind and value of the crops growing there on, if any. GEN. PATTEESON CEOSSES THE POTOMAC. 535 " Second. The quantity of land used for the several encampments, and the kind and value ofthe growing crops, if any. " Third. The number, size, and character of the buildings appropriated to public pur poses. " Fourth. The quantity and value of trees cnt down. " Fifth. The kind and extent of fencing, etc., destroyed. " These statements will, as far as possible, give the valne of the property taken, or of the damage sustained, and the name or names of the owners thereof. Citizens who have sustained any damage or loss as above will make their claims upon the command ing officers of the troops by whom it was done, or, in cases where these troops have moved away, upon the commander nearest tliem. " These claims will accompany the state ment above called for. The commanders of brigades will require the assistance of the commanders of regiments or detached com panies, and will make this order known to the inhabitants in their vicinity, to the end that all loss or damage may, as nearly as possible, be ascertained while the troops are now here, and hy whom, or on whose ao- . count, it has heen occasioned, that justice may be done alike to the citizen and to the Government. The name of the officer or officers, in case the brigade commanders shall institute a board to fix the amount of loss or damage, shall be given in each case. "By order of Brig. Gen. McDowell. "James B. Fby, Ass't Adj't-General." Of course, this order does not prove that no outrage was commit ted, no wanton injury inflicted, by our soldiers, in this or other portions of the Confederacy. War cannot afford to be nice in the selection of its instruments ; and probably no cam paign was ever prosecuted through a friendly, much more a hostile, region, wherein acts of violence and spo liation were not perpetrated by sol diers on the defenseless inhabitants of the country. But that the com manders on our side, and, in fact, on both sides, were generaUy earnest and 'vigUant in repressing and pun ishing these excesses, is the simple truth, which should be asserted and insisted on for the honor of our coun try and her people. Gen. Eobert Patterson, with about 20,000 men, broke camp at Cham bersburg, June 7th, and advanced to Hagerstown, while Col. Lew. "Wal lace, on his right, took quiet posses sion of Cumberland, and made a dash upon Eomney, which he easily cap tured. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Eebels, burned the bridge at Point of Eocks on the 7th, and evacuated Harper's Ferry on the 14th, destroying the superb railway bridge over the Potomac. He re treated upon Winchester and Lees burg, after having destroyed the armory and shops at the Ferry — the machinery having been already sent off to Eichmond. The Chesapeake Canal and the several raUroads in this region were thoroughly disman tled. The Potomac was crossed at Williamsport, by Gen. Thomas, on the 16th. But, for some reason, this advance was countermanded, and our troops all recrossed on the 18th — Gen. Patterson remaining at. Hagers town. The Eebels at once returned to the river, completing the work of destruction at Harper's Ferry, and conscripting Unionists as well as Con federates to fiU their ranks. Patter son recrossed the Potomac at Wil liamsport on the morning of July 2d, at a place known as ' Falling- Waters,' encountering a small Eebel force un- • der Gen. Jackson (afterward known as ' Stonewall'), who, being outnum bered, made little resistance, but feU back to Martinsburg, and ultimately to Bunker HiU. On the 7th, an or der to advance on Winchester was given, but not executed. FinaUy, on the 15th, Patterson moved forward to 536 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. Bunker HiU, on the direct road to and nine mUes from Winchester, which he occupied without resistance. On the 17th, he turned abruptly to the left, moving away from the enemy in his front, and marching to Charlesto'wn, twelve miles eastward, near the Potomac, leaving Johnston at fuU Uberty to lead his entire force to Manassas. The consequences of this extraordinary movement by Pat terson were so important and so dis astrous as to demand for it the fullest elucidation. Maj.-Gen. Charles W. Sanford, of New Tork, who was second in com mand to Gen. Patterson during this campaign, testifies" positively that he was dispatched from Washington by Gen.'Scott and the Cabinet, on the 6th of July, to report to Patterson and serve under him,because ofthe latter's tardiness and manifest indisposition to figlit — that he reported to Patterson at Williamsport, 'with two fresh regi ments, on the 10th ; was there placed in command of a di-vision composed of 8,000 New Tork troops, and deliv ered orders from Gen. Scott, urging " a forward movement as rapidly as possible" — ^that Patterson then had 22,000 men and two batteries ; that delay ensued at Martinsburg; but that the army advanced from that place — on the 15th— -to Bunker Hill, nine miles from Johnston's fortified camp at Winchester— Sanford's di vision mo'ving on the left or east of the other two ; that Patterson visited him (Sanford) — -whose pickets were three miles further ahead — that after noon, after the army had. halted, and comphmented him on his comforta ble location; to which he (S.) respond ed — " Very comfortable. General ; but when shaU we move on ?'* to which Patterson repUed— but this is so im portant that we must give the precise language of Gen. Sanford's sworn testimony : He hesitated a moment or two, and then said- 'I don't know yet when we shall move And, if I did, I would not tell my own father.' I thought that was rather a queer sort of speech to make to me, under the circumstances. But I smiled and said: ' General, I am only anxious that we shall get forward, that the enemy shall not escape us.' He replied: 'There is no danger of that. I will have a reconnoissance to-mor row, and we will arrange about moving at a very early period.' He then took his leave. " The next day, there was a reconnoissance on the 'Winchester turnpike, about four or five miles below the General's camp. He sent forward a section of artillery and sorae cavalry, and they found a post and log fence across the Winchester turnpike, and some of the enemy's cavalry on the other side of . it. They gave them a round of grape. The cavalry scattered off, and the reconnoissance returned. That was the only reconnoissance I heard of while we were there. My own pickets went furtlier than that. But it was understood, the next afternoon, that we were to march forward at daylight. I sent down Col. Morell, with 40 men, to open a road down to Opequan creek, within five miles of the camp at Winchester, on the side-roada I was upon, which wpuld enable me, in th& course of three hours, to get between John- ston and the Shenandoah river, and effectu ally bar his way to Manassas. I had my ammunition all distributed, and ordered my men to have 24 hours' rations in their hav ersacks, independent of their breakfast. We were to march at 4 o'clock the next morn ing. I had this road to the Opequan com pleted that night. I had then with rae, in addition to my eight regiments, amounting to about 8,000 men and a few cavalry, Doubleday's heavy United States battery of 20 and 30-pounders, and a very good Ehode Island battery. And I was willing to take the risk, whether Gen. Patterson followed me up or not, of placing myself between Johnston and the Shenandoah river, rather than let Johnston escape. And, at 4 o'clock, I should have moved over that road for that purpose, if I had had no further orders. But, a little after 12 o'clock at night [July 16th- ITth], I received a long order of three pages from Gen. Patterson, instructing me to move on to Charlestown, which is nearly at right an gles to the road I was going to move on, and ' Before the Joint Committee of Congress oa the Conduct of the 'War. GEN. SANFOED ON PATTEESON'S CONDUCT. 537 twenty-two miles from "Winchester, This was after I had given my orders for the other movement. " Question by the Chairman: [Senator "Wade] And that left Johnston free ? " Answer: Tes, sir ; left him free to make Ms escape, which he did. * * * " Question : In what direction would Johnston have had to move to get hy you ? " Answer : Eight out to the Shenandoah river, which he forded. He found out from his cavalry, who were watching us, that we were actually leaving, and he started at 1 o'clock that same day, with 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah where it was so deep that he ordered his men to put their cart ridge-boxes on their bayonets, got out on the Leesburg road, and went down to Ma nassas. * * * " Question by the Chairman : Did Patter son assign any reason for that movement ? "Answer: I was, of course, very indig nant about it, and so were all my officers and men ; so much so that when, subse quently, at Harper's Ferry, Patterson came by my camp, there was a universal groan — against all discipline, of course, and we sup pressed it as soon as possible. The excuse given by Gen. Patterson was this : that he had received intelligence that he could rely npon that Gen. Johnston had been reenforced by 20,000 men from Manassas, and was going to make an attack npon him; and, in the order which I received that night^a long order of three pages — I was ordered to oc cupy all the communicating roads, turning off a regiment here, and two or three regi ments there, and a battery at another place, to occupy all the roads from Winchester to the neighborhood of Charlestown, and all the cross-roads, and hold them all that day, until Gen. Patterson's whole army went by me to Charlestown ; and I sat seven hours in the saddle near a place called Smithfield, while Patterson, with his whole army, went byme on their way to Ohaylestown, he being apprehensive, as he said, of an attack from Johnston's forces. " Question by Mr. Odell : You covered this movement? "Answer: Yes, sir. Now the statement that he made, which came to me through Col. Ahercrombie, who was Patterson's brother-in-law, and commanded one division in that army, was that Johnston had been reenforced; and Gen. Fitz- John Porter re ported the same thing to my officers. Gen. Porter was then the chief of Patterson's staff, and was a very exceUent officer, and an ac complished soldier. They all had got this story, which was without the slightest shadow of foundation ; for there httd not a single man arrived at the ea/m/p since we had got full information that their force consisted of 20,000 men, of whom 1,800 were sick with the measles.* The story was, however, that they had ascertained, by reliable in formation, of this reenforoement. Where- they got their information, I do not know. None such reached me ; and I picked up deserters and other persons to get all the information. I could; and we since have learned, as a matter of certainty, that Johnston's force never did exceed 20,000 men there. But the excuse Patterson gave was, that Johnston had been reenforced by 20,000 men from Manassas, and was going to attack him. That was the rea son he gave then for this movement. But, in this paper he has lately published, he hints at another reason— another excuse — which was that it was by order of Gen. Scott. Now, I know that the peremptory order of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson, re peated over and over again, was this — I vvas present on several occasions when tele graphic communications went from Gei;. Scott to Gen. Patterson ; Gen. Scott's orders to Gen. Patterson were that, if he were strong enough, he was to attack and beat Johnston. But, if not, then he was to place himself in such a position as to keep Johnston employed, and prevent him from making a junction with Beauregard at Ma nassas. That was the repeated direction of Gen. Scott to Gen. Patterson ; and it was because of Patterson's hesitancy, and his hanging back, and keeping so far beyond the reach of Johnston's camp, that I was ordered to go up there and reenforce him, and assist him in any operations necessary to effect that object. The excuse of Gen. Patterson now is, that he had orders from Gen. Scott to move to Charlestown. Now, that is not so. But this state of things ex isted : Before the movement was made from Martinsburg, Gen. Patterson suggested to Gen. Scott that Charlestown would be a better base of operations than Martinsburg, and suggested that he had better move on Charlestown, and thence make his ap proaches to Winchester; that it would be better to do that than to move directly to Winchester from Martinsburg; and Gen. Scott wrote back to say that, if he found that movement a better one, he was at lib erty to make it. But Gen. Patterson had already commenced his movement on Win chester direct from Martinsburg, and had got as far as Bunker Hill ; so that the movement which he had formerly suggested, to Charles town, was suppressed by his own act. But that is the pretense now given in his pub lished speech for making the movement from Bunker Hill to Charlestown, which was a retreat, instead of the advance which the movement to Charlestown he first pro posed to Gen. Scott was intended to be. * * 538 THE AMEEICAN CONFIICT. " Question by the Chairman : I have heard it suggested that he undertook to excuse this movement on the ground that the time of many of his troops had expired, and they refused to accompany him. " Answer : That, to my knowledge, is un true. The time of none of them had ex pired when this movement was made. All the troops that were there were in the high est condition for the service. These three- months' men, it may be well to state to you who are not military men, were superior to any other volunteer troops that we had, in point of discipline. They were the dis ciplined troops of the country. The three- months' men were generally the organized troops of the different States — New- York, Pennsylvania, etc. We had, for instance, from Patterson's own city, Philadelphia, one of the finest regiments in the service, which was turned over to me, at their own request; and the most of my regiments were disci plined and organized troops. They were all in fine condition, anxious, zealous, and earnest for a fight. They thought they were going to attack Johnston's camp at Winchester. Although I had suggested to Gen. Patterson that there was no necessity for tliat, the camp being admirably fortifled with many of their heavy guns from Norfolk, I pro posed to him to place ourselves between Johnston and the Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, or to remain in his camp, either of which would have effected Gen. Scott's object. If I had got into a fight, it was very easy, over this road I had just been opening, for Patterson to have reenforced me and to have come up to the fight in time. The proposition was to place ourselves between Johnston's forti fied oamp and the Shenandoah, where his for tified camp would have been of no use to him. "Question: Even if you had received a check there, it would have prevented his junction with the forces at Manassas? "Answer : Yes, sir; I would have risked a battle with my own division rather than Johnston should have escaped. If he had attacked me, I could have taken a position where I could have held it, while Patterson could have fallen upon him and repulsed him. " Question by Mr. Odell : Had you any such understanding with Patterson ? " Answer : I told him I would move down °If any Unionist is curious to see, and has the patience to read, all the excuses which can be trumped up for Patterson's conduct through out this wretched business, he will find them embodied and skillfully marshaled iu Mr. Fitz John Porter's testimony before the Joint Com mittee [of the XXXVnth Congress] oa the Conduct of the War, vol. ii. pp. 152-59. I see on this side-road in advance, leaving Gen. Patterson to sustain me if I got into a fight.. So, on the other hand, if he should attack Patterson, I was near enough to fall upon Johnston's flank and to support Patterson. By using this communication of mine to pass Opequan creek — where, I had informed Patterson, I had already pushed forward my, pickets, [200 men in the day and 400 more at night,] to prevent the enemy from burning the bridge — it would have enabled me to get between Johnston and the Shenandoah river. On the morning of our march to Charlestown, Stuart's cavalry, which fig ured so vigorously at Bull Eun, was upon my flank all day. They were apparently about 800 strong. I saw them constantly on my flank for a number of miles. I could distinguish them, with my glass, with great ease. Finally, they came within abont a mile of the line of march I was pursuing, and I sent a battery around to head them off, and the 12th regiment across the fields ia double-quick time to take them in the rear. I thought I had got them hemmed in. But they broke" down the fences, and went across the country to Winchester, and I saw nothing more of them. They were then about eight miles from Winchester, and must have got there in the course of a couple of hours. That' day, at 1 o'clock^ as was ascertained from those who saw hira crossing the Shenandoah — Johnston started from Winchester with 8,000 men, forded the Shenandoah, and got to Manassas on Friday night ; and his second in command started the next day with all the rest of the avail able troops — something like 9,000 men; leaving only the sick, and a few to guard them, in the camp at Winchester — and they arrived at the battle-field in the midst of the fight, got out of the cars, rushed on the battle-field, and turned the scale. I have no doubt that, if we had intercepted Johnston, as we ought to have done, the battle of Bull Eun would have been a victory for us in stead of a defeat. Johnston was, undoubt edly, the ablest general they had in their army."" Patterson remained at Charlesto-mi, idle and useless, until the 22d ; when, learning of the disaster at Bull Eun, notlung tbereiu that essentiaUy contradicts Gen. Sanford's testimony, or is calculated to relieve Gen. Patterson from the grave imputations which that testimony must iix in the breast of every loyal American. AU that it seems to establish is a per fect identity of principles, sympathies, and pur poses, between Porter and Patterson, with a rare skiU in framing excuses on the part ofthe former. MoDOWB.LL'S ADVANCE TO CENTEEVILLE. 539 he fell back hastily to Harper's Ferry ; '" where, on the 25th, he was superseded by Gen. N. P. Banks. The movement ofthe Union Grand Army, commanded in the field by Gen. Irwin McDowell, but directed from "Washington by. Lieut. Gen. Scott, commenced on Tuesday, July 16th. Gen. Tyler's column, in the advance, bivouacked that night at Vienna, four and a half miles from Fairfax Court House. It rested next night at Germantown, two miles be yond Fairfax ; and, on Thursday, at 9 o'clock A. M., pushed on to and tiirough Centerville, the Eebels re tiring quietly before it. Three miles beyond that -villagej however, the Eebels were found strongly posted at Blackburn's ford, on Bull Etnsr, and, on being pressed, showed fight. This was at 1^ o'clock p. m. A spirited conflict, mainly vnth artillery, re sulted — the Eebels being in heavy force, under the immediate command of Gen. James Longstreet. The Unionists, more exposed, as weU as outnumbered, finaUy drew back, leav ing the Eebel position intact. The losses were nearly equal : ' 83 on our side; 68 on the other. Sherman's battery, Capt. Ayres, did most of the actual fighting, supported by Col. Eichardson's brigade, consisting of the 1st Massachusetts, 12th New- Tork, and 2d and 3d Michigan. Ee- garded as a reconnoissance in force, the attack might be termed a success ; since the result demonstrated that the main Eebel army was in position along the wooded valley of Bull Eun, half-way between Centerville and Manassas Junction, and purposed to remain. Gen. McDow.ell's army was moved up to and concentrated around the ridge on which Centerville is situated during the 18th and 19th, with in tent to advance and attack the Eeb els, posted along Bull Eun and be tween that stream and Manassas Junction, on Saturday, the 20th. But delay was encountered in the reception of adequate subsistence, which did not arrive till Friday night. During Saturday, three days' rations were distributed and issued, and every preparation made for moving punctually at 2 o'clock next morning. Meantime, Beauregard, maintaining an absolute quiet and inoffiensiveness on his front, and fully informed by spies and traitors of every movement between him and Washington, had hastily gathered from every side all the available forces of the Confede racy, including 15,000, or nearly the '° On the day of McDowell's advance to Cen terville, and of the coUision at Blackburn's Ford, Gen. Scott telegraphed compladningly to Patter son as foUows : " Washington, July 18th, 1861. " Major-Gen. Patterson, etc. : I have cer tainly beeu expecting you to beat the enemy. If not, to hear that you have felt him strongly, or, at least, had occupied- him by threats and demonstrations. Tou have been at least his equal, and, I suppose, superior, in numbers. Has he not stolen a march and sent reenforce ments toward Manassas Junction ? A week is enough to win a victory. * * "Winfield Soott.' To this, Patterson responded as follows : " Charlestown, July 18th, 1861. . "Col.*E. D. Townsend, A. A. G., etc.: Tele- gram of to-day received. The enemy has stolen no march upon me. I have kept him actively employed, and, by threats and reconnoissances in force, caused him to be reenforced. I have accomplished more in this respect than the General-in-Chief asked, or could well be expect ed, in the face of an enemy far superior in num bers, with no line of communication to pro- j^(,t_ * * * * R. Patterson." At this very moment, Patterson knew that he had, by his flank march to Charlestown, com pletely relieved Johnston from all apprehension of attack or disturbance, and left him perfectly free to reenforce Beauregard with his entire army. 640 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. full strength, of Gen. Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah, and had decided to assume the offensive and attack our forces before Gen. Patter son could come up to join them. Had our advance been made on Sat urday, as we originally intended, it Avould have encountered but two- thirds of the force it actually com bated; had it been delayed a few hours longer, we should have stood on the defensive, with the immense advantage of knowing the ground, and of choosing the positions where on to fight. Such are the overruling casualties and fatalities of war. Bull Eun is a decent mill-stream, fordable, in summer, at intervals of BATTLE FIELD OF BTTLL ETTN. half a mile to a mile. Its immediate valley is generaUy narrow and wood ed, inclosed by blufi's, neither high nor very steep, but afibrding good positions for planting batteries to command the roads on the opposite side, so screened by woods and brush as to be neither seen nor suspected until the advancing or attacking party is close upon them. This fact ex plains and justifies Gen. McDowell's (or Scott's) order of battle. This was, briefly: to menace the Eebel right bythe advance of our 1st di-vision on the direct road from Centre-ville to Manassas Junction, while making a more serious demonstration on the road running duo west from Center- SUCCESS OF OUE FLANK ATTACK. 541 ville to Groveton and Warrenton, and crossing BuU Eun by the Stone Bridge ; while the real or main attack was to be made by a column 15,000 strong, composed of the 2d (Hunter's) and 3d (Heintzelman's) divisions, which, starting -from their camps a mile or two east and southeast of Centerville, were to make a consider able detour to the right, crossing Cub Eun, and then Bull Eun at a ford known as Sudley Spring, three miles above the Stone Bridge, thus turning the Eebel left, and rolling it up on the center, where it was to be taken in flank by our 1st division (Tyler's) crossing the Stone Bridge aj^the right moment, and completing the rout of the enemy. The 5th di-dsion (MUes's) was held in reserve at Centerville, not only to support the attacking columns, but to .guard against the ob vious peril of a fomiidable Eebel ad vance on our left across Blackburn's Ford to Center-dlle, flanking our flank movement, capturing our mu nitions and suppUes, and cutting off our line of retreat. The 4th di'dsion (Eunyon's) guarded our communica tions with Alexandria and Arlington ; its foremost regiment being about seven miles back from Center'olle. The movement of our army was to have commenced at 2^ o'clock a. M., and the battle should have been opened at aU points at 6 A. m. ; but our raw troops had never been brig aded prior to this advance, and most of their officers were utterly without experience ; so that there was a- delay of two or three hours in the flanking divisions reaching the point at which the battle was to begin. Gen. Tyler, "Beauregard's official report of the battle, Which was dated Manassas, August 26th, (after be had received and read all our official reports,) in front of Stone Bridge, opened with his artillery at 6^ a. m., eUciting no reply ; and it was three hours, later when Hunter's advance, under Col. Burnside, crossed at Sudley Spring ; his men, thirsty with their early march that hot July moming, stop ping as they crossed to drink and fiU their canteens. Meantime, every movement of our forces was made manifest to Beauregard, watchins them from the slope two or three miles west, by the clouds of dust that rose over their Une of march; and regiment after regiment was hun-ied northward by him to meet the immi nent shock. No strength was wasted by him upon, and scarcely any notice taken of, our feint on his right ; but, when Burnside's brigade, after cross ing at Sudley, had marched a mile or so through woods down the road on the right of Bull Eun, and come out into a clear and cultivated coun try, stretching thence over a mile of rolling fields down to Warrenton turnpike, he was -vigorously opened upon by artiUery from the woods in his front, and, as he pressed on, by infantry also. Continuing to ad vance, flghting, followed and sup ported by Hunter's entire division, which was soon joined on its left by Heintzelman's, which had crossed the stream a Uttle later and further do'wn, our attacking column reached and crossed the Warrenton road from Centerville by the Stone Bridge, giv ing a hand to Sherman's brigade of Tyler's division, and all but clearing this road -of the Eebel batteries and regiments, which here resisted our efforts," under the immediate com- says ofthe state ofthe battle at this time: " Heavy lossesjiad now been sustained on our side, both in numbers and in the personal worth 542 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. mand of Gen. Josepli E. Johnston. Here Griffin's battery, which, 'with Eickett's, had done the most effective ¦fighting throughout, was charged with effect by a Eebel regiment, which was enabled to approach it with impunity by a mistake of our officers, who supposed it one of our own. Three different attacks were repulsed with slaughter, and the bat tery remained in our hands, though all its horses were killed. At 3 p. M., the Eebels had been driven a mile and a half, and were nearly out of sight, abandoning the Warren ton road entirely to our victorious troops. Gen. Tyler, on hearing the guns of Hunter on our right, had pushed Sherman's, and soon after Keyes's brigade, over the Eun to as sail the enemy in his front, driving them back after a severe struggle, and steadily advancing until checked by a heavy flre of artillery from bat teries on the hights above the road, supported by a brigade of Eebel infantry strongly posted behind breastworks. A gallant charge by the 2d Maine and 3d Connecticut temporarily carried the buildings behind which the Eebel guns were sheltered ; but the breastworks were too strong, and our men, recoiling from their fire, deflected to the left, moving down the Eun under the shelter of the bluff, covering the efforts of Captain's Alexander's pio neers to remove the heavy abatis, whereby the Eebels had obstructed the road up from the Stone Bridge. This had at length been effected; and Schenck's brigade and Ayres' battery, of Tyler's di'vision, were on the point of crossing the Eun to aid in comple ting our triumph. But i^e Eebels, at first out-num bered at the point of actual collision^ had been receiving reenforcements nearly all day ; and, at this critical moment. Gen. Kirby Smith,'° who had that moming . left Piedmont, fifteen miles distant, with the remain ing brigade of Gen. Johnston's army, appeared on the field. Cheer after cheer burst from the Eebel hosts, but now so do'wncast, as this timely re- enforcement rushed to the front of the battle." Smith almost instantly of the slain. The 8th Georgia regiment had suffered heavily, being exposed, as it took and maintained its position, to a fire from the enemy, already posted within a hundred yards of their front and right, sheltered by fences and other cover. It was at this time that Lieut. Col. Gard ner was severely wounded, as also several other valuable officers ; the Adjutant of the regiment, Lieut. Branch, was killed, and the horse of the regretted Bartow was shot under him. The 4th Alabama also suffered severely from the deadly fire of the thousands of muskets which they so dauntlessly fronted, under the immediate leader ship of Bee himself. Its brave Colonel, E. J. Jones, was dangerously wounded, and many gal lant officers fell, slain or hors de combat. "Now, however, with the surging mass of over 14,000 Federal infantry pressing on their front, and under the incessant fire of at least tweaty pieces of artillery, with the fresh brig ades of Sherman and Keyes approaching — the latter already in musket -range — our lines gave back, but under orders from Gen. Bee. " The enemy, maintaining their fire, pressed their sweUing masses onward as our shattered battalions retired : the slaughter for the moment was deplorable, and has filled many a Southern home with life-long sorrow. " Under this inexorable stress, tbe retreat contmued until arrested by the energy and reso lution of Gen. Bee, supported by Bartow and Evans, just in the rear of the 'Eobinson House, and Hampton's Legion, which had been already advanced, and was in position near it. " Imboden's battery, which had been handled with marked skill, but whose men were almost exhausted, and the two pieces of Walton's bat tery, under Lieut. Richardson, being threatened by the enemy's infantry on the left and front, were also obliged to fall back. Imboden, leaving a disabled piece on the ground, retired until he met Jackson's brigade, while Elchardson joined the main body of his battery near the Lewis House." '" A Connecticut traitor. " The Richmond Dispatch of August 1st has a spirited account of the battle, by an eye-witness, writing at Manassas Junction, July 22d- from which we extract the foUowing: BLZEY'S CHAEGE— ROUT OF OUE FOECES. 543 fell from his horse, wounded ; but the command of his brigade was promptly assumed by Col. Amold Elzey," who pressed forward, backed by the whole reassured and exultant Eebel host, who felt that the day was won. Our soldiers, who had been thirteen hours marching and fighting, weary, hungry, thirsty, con tinually encountering fresh Eebel regiments, and never seeing even a company hurrying to their own sup port, became suddenly dismayed and panic-stricken. Elzey's and Early's.'" fresh battalions filled the woods on their right, extending rapidly toward its rear, tiring on them from under cover, and seeming, by their shots and cries, to be innumerable. Two or three of our regiments recoiled, and then broke, rushing down to the Eun. Jefferson Da-ds, who had left Eich mond at 6 A. M., reached the Junction at 4, and galloped to the battle-field just in time, it was said, to witness the advance of his cavalry, l,-500 " Between 2 and 3 o'clock, large numbers of men were leaving the field, some of them wounded, others exhausted by the long struggle, who gave us gloomy reports ; but, as the firing on both sides continued steadUy, we felt sure that our brave Southerners had not been conquered by tbe overwhelming hordes of the North. It is, however, due to truth to say that the result at this hour hung trembling in the balance. We had lost numbers of our most distinguished offi cers. Gens. Bartow and Bee had beeu stricken down ; Lieut. Col.' Johnson, of the Hampton Legion, had been kiUed; CoL Hampton had been wounded. But there was at hand the fear less General whose reputation as a commander was staked on this battle: Gen. Beauregard promptly offered to lead the Hampton Legion into action, which he executed in a style un surpassed and unsurpassable. Gen. Beauregard rode up and down our lines, between the enemy aud his o-wn men, regardless of the heavy fire, cheering and encouraging our troops. About this time, a shell struck his horse, taking his head off, and killing the horses of his Aids, Messrs. Ferguson and Hayward. Gen. Beau regard's Aids deserve honorable mention, par ticularly those just named, and Cols. W. Poroher Miles, James Chestnut, John L. Maiming, and A. E. Chisholm. GeiL Johnston also threw him self into the thickest of the fight, seizing the colors of a Georgia regiment, and rallying them to the charge. His staff signalized tliemselves by their intrepidity, Col. Thomas being killed and Major Mason wounded. "Tour correspondent heard Gen. Johnston exclaim to Gen. Cocke, just at the critical mo ment, 'Oh, for four regiments!' His wish was answered ; for in the distance our reenforcements appeared. The tide of battle was turned in our favor by the arrival of Gen. Kirby Smith, from Wmchester, -with 4,000 men of Gen. Johnston's division. Gen. Smith heard, while on the Ma nassas railroad cars, the roar of battle. He stopped the train, and hurried his troops across the fields to the point just where he was most needed. They were at first supposed to be the enemy, their arrival at that point of the field being entirely unexpected. The enemy fell Jack, and a panic seized them. Cheer after cheer from our men went up, and we knew the battle had been won." The LouisviUe Courier, a thoroughly Secession sheet, had an account from its correspondent, " Se De Kay," who was au officer in the Ken tucky battalion attached to Gen. Johnston's army, which reached the battle-field among the last, and who, writing from Manassas, Monday, July 2 2d, after stating that Beauregard had been driven two miles, says : "The fortunes of the day were evidently against us. Some of our best officers had been slain, aud the flower of our army lay strewn upon the field, ghastly in death or gaping with wounds. At noon, the cannonading is described as terrific. It was an incessant roar for more thau two hours, the havoc and devastation at this time being fearful. McDowell, with the aid of Patterson's division of 20,000 men, hadnearbj outflanked us, and they were just in ihe act of pos sessing themselves of the railway to Richmond. Then all would have been hst. But, most oppor tunely — I may say providentiaily—dt this juncture. Gen. Johnston, with the remnant of his division — our army, as we fondly ccdl it, for we have been friends and brothers in camp and field for three months — redppeared, and made one other desperate struggle to obtain the vantage-ground. Elzey's brigade of Marylanders and "Virginians led the charge ; and right manfully did they execute the work." " A Marylander who didnof ' go with his State.' " Beauregard's report of the battle says : " Col. Early, who, by some mischance, did not receive orders untU 2 o'clock, which had been sent hira at noon, came on the ground immedi ately after Elzey, with Kemper's 1th 'Virginia, Hay's 7th Louisiana, and Barksdale's 13th Mis sissippi regimen ts. This brigade, by the personal direction of Gen. Johnston, was marched by the Holkham house, across the fields to the left, entirely around the woods through which Elzey had passed, and under a severe fire, iuto a po sition in Ime of battle near Churn's house, out flanking the enemy's right." 544 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. strong, under Lieut. Col. Stuart, on the heels of our flying troops. He telegraphed that night to his Con gress as follows : " Manassas JireroTioN, Sunday night. " Night has closed npon a hard-fought field. Our forces were victorious. The enemy was routed, and fled precipitately, abandoning a large amount of arms, ammu nition, knapsacks, and baggage. The ground was strewed for miles with those killed, and the farm-houses and the ground around were filled with wounded. "Pursuit was continued along several routes, toward Leesburg and Centerville, until darkness covered the fugitives. We have captured several field-batteries, stands of arms, and Union and State flags. Many prisoners have been taken. Too high praise cannot be bestowed, whether for the skill of the principal officers, or for the gallantry of all our troops. The battle was mainly fought on our left. Our force was 15,000 ; that of the enemy estimated at 35,000. " Jeffersojst Davis." Had D.avis been aware of the utter demoralization of our soldiers by panic, he would doubtless have l;ad them pursued, not only toward Cen terville, but, if possible, into and be yond it ; and he would not have needed so grossly to understate tile strength of his army in order to magnify his victory. Before 3 p. m., there had been fitful cannonading and skirmishing, but no serious engagement, on our left. '" But, when our defeat on the right became manifest. Gen. Johnston " again ordered Ewell to advance and attack; which he did, but was re ceived by the 2d brigade, Col. T. A. Davies, with so rapid and spirited a fire of grape and canister that he precipitately retreated. There were still more than three hours of good daylight when the Eebels saw our routed right rushing madly from the field," like frightened sheep, yet their pursuit amounted to nothing. They came across Bull Eun, preceded by their cavalry, and seem to have taken a dehberate, though rather distant, survey of the 5th division, drawn up in good order along the slope west of Centerville, and eagerly expecting their advance. But they appear to have been aware that their victory was a lucky accident, and they did not choose to submit its prestige to the chances of another fray. Having gratified their thirst for knowledge, considerably out of musket-shot, they' returned to their previous hiding- places in the woods skirting Bull '° Beauregard says, in his official report, that he sent orders to Gen. Ewell, holding his ex treme right at the Union Mills ford, next south of Blackburn's (on Bull Run), to advance and attack ; and that they did advance a mile toward Centerville on the Union MiUs road, but retreated again " under a sharp fire of artillery, in conse quence ofthe miscarriage of orders." " Gen. Johnston, who had joined Beauregard, at Winchester on the 20th, was the ranking offi cer, and entitled to command : but, after listening to Beauregard's plans, promptly acceded to them, and directed him to carry them into execution. As Davis himself finally arrived on the field, the Eebel army may be said to have had three com manders-in-chief during the course of the battle. "A correspondent of The New York Tribune, who witnessed and described the battle and the flight, says : " Notwithstanding all that I had seen, it seemed incredible that our whole army should melt away in a night; and so I remained all Centerville, trusting that, by the morning, a sort of reorganization would have taken place, and that our front would still oppose the enemy.. At 1 a. m., I started toward the battle-field; and, on reaching a considerable acclivity, was amazed to flnd that no vestige of our troops re mained, excepting a score or two of straggling fugitives, who followed the tracks of those who had gone before. 'While returning to Centerville, a group of Rebel cavalry passed, who looked inquiringly, but did not question. Their conver sation turned upon the chances of cutting off the retreat at Fairfax Court House. After seeking Mr. Waud, an artist from New Tork, who also fingered, I went straight to Fairfax. As we passed the church used as a hospital, the doctors came out, and, finding what was the condition of afl^airs, walked rapidly away. I do not wish to say that they deserted tbe wounded. Tbey may have returned, for aught I know." FAILUEE OF THE VICTORS TO PURSUE — LOSSES. 545 Eun. " During the fore part of the night, some of our men, who had not been stampeded, went down toward the battle-field and brought away one or two guns, which had been abandoned in the flight, but not cap tured by the enemy. Our 5th di- 'vision, constituting the reserve, now become the rear-guard, of our army, remained in position until after mid night; when, under peremptory orders from Gen. McDoweU, it commenced its deUberate retreat to the en-virons of Washmgton." Gen. McDoweU reports our losses in this engagement at 481 kUled and 1,011 wounded, but says nothing of how many wounded or others were taken prisoners." Gen. Beauregard reports the Eebel loss at 269 killed and 1,533 wounded;" in aU, 1,852; saying nothing of any loss in prison ers, of whom two or three hundred were taken by our soldiers in the early part of the battle, and duly for warded to Washington. He says he had sent 1,460 wounded and other prisoners to Eichmond, and estimates "Beauregard, in his official report, thus lamely explains this modesty : "Early'sbriKade,meanwhile, joined bythe 19th Virginia regiment, Lieut. Col. Strange, of Cocke's brigade, pursued the now panic-stricken, fugitive enemy. Stuart, -with his cavalry, and Beckham, had also taken up the pursuit along the road by which the enemy had come upon the field that moming; but, soon encumbered by prisoners, who thronged his way, the former was unable to attack the mass of the fast-fleeing, frantic Federalists. Withers's, E. J. Preston's, Cash's, and Kershaw's regiments, Hampton's Legion and Kemper's battery, also pursued along the 'Warrenton road by the Stone Bridge, the enemy having opporttmely opened a way for them through the heavy abatis which my troops had made on the west side of the bridge, several days before. But ihis pursuit was soon recatted, im consequence of a false report, which unfortu- tiately reached us, that the enemy's reserves, known to be fresh and of considerable strength, were threat- eniitg ihe position of Union MiUs Ford." "The impression that the Eebels, had they pursued, might have captured or dispersed our flying forces, is tmsustadned by facts. For be tween the panic-stricken fugitives and the -vic tors were not merely the reserve (Sth) di vision, which remained in position, and had not filed a shot, but the 1st (Tyler's) division forming our left, which had suffered httle loss, but had signally repulsed the demonstration made upon it at the close of the flght ; while the better portion of our beaten right and center, including the regular infantry and cavalry, still stood its ground and sternly faced the foe. Maj. Barry, our Chief of Artillery iu the battle, in his official report, after noticing the loss of ten of his guns at the close, through the flight of their supporting infantry, says : " The army having retired upon Centerville, I was ordered by Gen. McDowell in person, to post the artillery in position to cover the retreat. "The batteries of Hunt, Ayres, Tidball, Ed- 35 wards. Green, and the New-Tork Sth regiment, (the latter served by volunteers from Wilcox's brigade,) 20 pieces in all, were at once placed in position ; and thus remained untU 12 o'clock p. M., when, orders having been received to re tire upon the Potomac, the batteries were put in march, and, covered by Eichardson's brigade, retired in good order and -without haste, and, early next morning, reoccupied their former camps on the Potomac." CoL J. B. Richardson, commanding the 4th brigade of Tyler's division, remained unmolested in position one mile in advance of Centerville, on the Blackburn's Ford road, untU 2 A. M. of Mon day ; then retreated, per order, through Center- vihe to Fairfax and Arlington, entirely unassailed. "' Among our IriUed were Col. James Came ron, brother of the Secretary of War — of the 79th New Tork (Highlanders); Gol. Slocum, and Major Ballou, of the 2d Ehode Island ; and Lieut. Col. Haggerty, of the 69th New Tork. Among our wounded were Gen. David Hunter and Gen. S. P. Heintzelman — commanding divisions ; CoL Ohver B. Wilcox, of Michigan; CoL Gilman Marston, of the 1st New Hampshire ; Col. A. M. Wood, of the 14th New York; Col. H. W. Slocum, of the 27th New Tork; and Col. N. L. Farnham, of the 11th New Tork (Fire Zouaves). CoL Wilcox was also taken prisoner, as weU as Col. Michael Corcoran, of the 69th New Tork (Irish), and Maj. James D. Potter, of the 38th New Tork — ^both shghtly wounded. " " Se De Kay," a Eebel officer, writing to The LouisviUe Courier from Manassas Junction, on the 2 2d, says: " Our loss is fully tiuo thousand killed and wounded. Among the killed are Gen. Bee, of South CaroUna; Gen. E. K. Smith, [a mistake], Gen. Bartow, of Georgia; CoL Moore and all the Alabama field officers; CoL Fisher and the North Carolina field officers; Adjt. Branch, of Georgia, and a host of other leadmg men." 546 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. [five weeks after the fight] that the number may be increased to 1,600. That is certainly a very lean exhibit of prisoners as the fruit of so de cisive a victory ; but the fleetness of our soldiers is to be taken into the account. He guesses that our losses -will amount to 4,500 in killed, wound ed, and prisoners, and adds : "The ordnance and supplies captured in clude some 28 " field-pieces of the best character of arms,'* with over 100 rounds of ammunition for each gun, 37 caissons, 6 forges, 4 battery- wagons, 64 ai-tillery horses, completely equipped, 500,000 roundsof smaU- arms ammunition, 4,500 sets of accouter- ments, over 500 muskets, some 9 regimental and garrison flags, with a large number of pistols, knapsacks, swords, canteens, blan kets, a large store of axes and intrenching tools, wagons, ambulances, horses, camp and garrison equipage, hospital stores, and some subsistence." At 7 A. M., of Monday, the 22d, the last of our stragglers and wounded left CentervUle, which a Eebel cav alry force was about to enter. But there was no pursuit, and no loss on our part after the battle, but of what our men threw away. Beauregard explains his failure to pursue, after our discomfiture, as foUows : " An army which had fought like onrs on that day, against uncommon odds, under a July sun, most of the time without water and without food, except a hastily snatched meal at dawn, was not in condition for the toil of an eager, effective pursuit of an enemy immediately after the hattie. " On the foUowing day, an unnsnaUy heavy and nnintermitting fall of rain inter vened to obstruct our advance, with reason able prospect of fruitful results. Added to this, the want of a cavalry force of sufficient numbers made an efficient pursuit a mUitary impossibUity." The forces actually engaged in this celebrated battle, so decisive in its results and so important in its conse quences, were probably not far from 25,000 on either side ; " whUe the com batants actually on the battle-field, or so near it as to be practically at the disposal of the respective command- "" Our reports admit a loss of 1 7 guns ; other accounts make it 22. Beauregard, writing on the 26th of August, should have been able to state the exact number. His statement of the number of muskets taken at "over 500," in cluding aU those dropped by our dead and wounded, proves that the stories told by exci ted correspondents and other fugitives, of our men throwing away everything that could im pede their flight, were gross exaggerations. " Gen. Heintzelman, in his official report of the battle, gi-ring an account of his retreat by the circuitous road on which he had advanced, says: "Having every reason to fear a vigorous pur suit from the enemy's fresh troops, I was desi rous of forming a strong rear-guard ; but neither the efforts of the officers of the regular army, nor the coolness of the regular troops with me, could induce them to form a single company. We re lied entirely for our protection on one section of artillery and a few companies of cavalry. Most of the road was favorable for infantry, but unfa vorable for cavalry and artillery. About dusk, as we approached the Warrenton turnpike, we heard a firing of rifled cannon on our right, and learned that the enemy had established a battery enfilading the road. Capt. Arnold, -with his sec tion of artillery, attempted to run the gauntlet and reach the bridge over Cub Run, about two mUes from Centerville, but found it obstructed ¦with broken vehicles, and was compelled to abandon his pieces, as they were under the fire of these rifled cannon. The cavalry turned to the left, and, after passing through a strip of woods and some flelds, struck a road which led them to some camps occupied by our troops in the morning, through which we gained the turn pike. At about 8 p. M., we reached the camps we had occupied in the morning. Had a brigade from the reserve advanced a short distance be yond Centerville, nearly one-third of the artil lery lost might have been saved, as it waa aban doned at or near this crossing." These were the only gvms lost by us, save those abandoned for want of horses, on the im mediate fleld of conflict "Pollard, in his "Southern History," says: "Our effective force of all arms ready for action on the field, on the eventftd moming, was less than 30,000 men." This was before the arrival of that portion of Johnston's army led to the field by Kirby Smith, and afterward commanded by Elzey, or the brig ade of Early — to say nothing of the reenforce ments tbat were received during the day from the direction of Richmond. CAUSES OF OUR DEFEAT — SCOTT'S STEATBGT. 547 ers, were, on either side, not far from 35,000. But the Eebels, who were somewhat the fewer at day-break, fought under the encouraging stimu lus of a knowledge that every hour, as it passed, added to their strength ; that each railroad train arriving at the Junction, • brought fresh brigade after brigade to their support ; " and these, as they arrived, were hastened to that part of the field whereon their services could be most effective : whUe our men, who had been called to arms at 2 o'clock in the morning, and had generally thrown aside their knapsacks and haversacks to facihtate their movements, had been fourteen hours marching — some of them on the double-quick for mUes — or fight ing, and were utterly exhausted and faint -with hunger and thirst ; whUe not a single company had been added to their numbers. Some regiments fought badly, and had been demor- aUzed and dispersed prior to the gen eral catastrophe; but the great ma jority e'dnced a courage and devotion which, under favoring auspices, would have commanded victory. They gave way only when hope seemed dead — when the ever-increasing hosts of their foes not only outnumbered them in their front, but fiUed the woods on their right flank, exposing them- to an ehfilading fiire, which they could not return with effect ; and, their de feat once confessed, the confusion and panic of their flight are explained, not excused, by the fact that, owing to the long detour they had necessarily made in advancing to the attack, pur suant to the plan of battle, their line of retreat lay in part along the front of the foe, much of whose strength was actually nearer to Centerville than they were when the fortunes of the day turned against them. The causes ofthis disaster, so shame fully misstated and perverted at the time, are now generally understood. 1^0 one could, at this day, repeat the misrepresentations that for the mo ment prevailed, 'without conscious, palpable guilt and ignominy. The true, controlling reasons of our defeat are, briefly, these : I. The fundamental, fatal error on our side was that spirit of hesitation, of indecision, of calculated delay, of stoUd obstruction, which guided " our Mihtary councUs, scattering our " Mr. Julius Bing, on his return from captivity at Richmond, having been taken prisoner on the battle-field, after seeing and hearing all that he could on both sides, reports as follows : "Beauregard's force at Bull Run was 27,000 ; which was increased by 8,000 of Johnston's the day before, and by 5,000 more during the en gagement. This statement is confirmed from an independent and trustworthy source." " The New York Times of July 26th contained a carefully prepared statement, by its Editor, of a conversation with Gen. Scott at his o-wn dinner- table on the Tuesday before the battle ; wherein Gen. Scott developed his conception of the strat egy required for the overthrow of the Eebellion, as follows : "If the matter had been left to him, he said, he would have commenced by a perfect blockade of every Southem port on the Atlantic and on the Gulf Then he would have collected a large force at the capital for defensive purposes, and another large one on the Mississippi for offensive operations. The Summer months, during which it is madness to take troops south of St. Louis, should have been devoted to tactical instruction — and, with the first frosts of Autumn, he would have taken a column of 80,000 well-disciplined troops down the Mississippi — and taken every important point on that river, New Orleans in-" eluded. It could have been done, he said, with greater ease, with less loss of life, and with far more important results, than would attend the marching of an army to Richmond. At eight points, the river would probably have been de fended, and eight battles would have been ne cessary; but, in every one of them, success would have been made certain for us. The Mississippi and the Atlantic once ours, the Southern States would have been compelled, by the natural and inevitable pressure of events, to seek, by a return to the Union, escape from the 548, THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. forces and paralyzing our efforts. Had any real purpose of suppressing the EebeUion been cherished by Gen. Scott, he would never have scattered our eastern forces along the line of the Potomac and Chesapeake, from Cumberland to Fortress Monroe, di- "vided into three or four distinct armies, under the command of mihtia ofiicers who had never smelt burning powder, unless in "a squirrel-hunt. His advance across the Potomac, after ha-^ng been put off so long as possi ble, was made, as we have seen, on the 24th of May. Within one week thereafter, a column of 50,000 men should have taken the road to Eich mond, "with their commander in their ruin that would speedily overwhelm them, out of it, 'This,' said he, 'was TO1/ plan. But I am only a subordinate. It is my business to give advice when it is asked, and to obey orders when they are given. I shall db it. There are men in the Cabinet who know much more about war than I do, and who have far greater influence than I have in determining the plan of the cam paign. There never was a more just and upright man than the President — ^never one who desired more sincerely to promote the best interest of the country. But there are men among his ad visers who consult their own resentments far more than the dictates of wisdom and experi ence, and these men willprobaMy decide the plan ef the campaign. I shall do, or attempt, what ever I am ordered to do. But they must not hold me responsible. If I am ordered to go to Rich mond, I shall endeavor to do it. But I know perfectly weU that they have no conception of the difficulties we shall encounter. I know the country — how admirably adapted it is for de fense, and how resolutely and obstinately it -will be defended. I would like nothing better than to take Richmond ; now that it has been dis graced by becoming the capital of the Rebel Confederacy, I feel a resentment toward it, and should like nothing better than to scatter its Congress to the winds. But I have lived long enough to know that human resentment is a very bad foundation for public policy ; and these gentlemen will live long enough to learn it also. I shall do what I am ordered. I shall flght when and where I am commanded. But, if I am compelled to fight before lam ready, they shall not hold me responsible. These gentlemen must take the responsibility of their acts, as I am willing to take that of mine. But they must not throw their responsibihty upon my shoulders.' " This is the substance and very nearly the language of a portion of Gen. Scott's conversa tion on the occasion referred to. It proves oou- clusively that he was opposed to the advance upon Richmond by way of Manassas, at that time. " Hon. Francis P. Blair, in a speech in the House (Aug. 1st, 1 861), after repelling the false impu tation that Gen. Scott had been constrained by the President (his only superior) to flght this bat tle prematurely, in opposition to the dictates of his o-wn judgment, stated that " The President, after he had information that Gen. Johnston had escaped through the hands of Gen. Patterson and had jomed Gen. Beaure gard on Friday evening, went to Gen. Scott, and suggested the propriety of waiting until Patter son's corps could oome up and reenforce the army that was then before Manassas ; but, so firmly fixed was Gen. Scott's determination to attack the enemy then and there, that the President's sug gestion was disregarded. The Secretary of War also returned from the field before the battle, and endeavored to induce Gen. Scott to send forward reenforcements; he urged it again and again; and finally succeeded in having flve regiments sent, two of which reached Centerville before the retreat commenced." Mr. Blair then took up the above statement of The Times, and thus dealt -with it : " I do not believe that it was Gen. Scott's plan. I do not think he would promulgate his plan. I think, even, that, if such was his plan, gentlemen, -without arrogating to themselves any superior military knowledge, might well dissent from it. I do not profess to have any knowledge of military matters at all ; and yet I can say that any such plan as tbat would lead to a fatal disaster to our coun try, in the relations which it would bring about bet-ween the people of the Northem and South ern States : in the relations it would bring about between our Govemment and foreign govern ments, and between the Union men in the Bor der States and their enemies. • I think it would be a fatal mistake. I am well satisfied that it is not the plan of the Govemment, and will not be acted upon, whether Gen. Soott favors it or not. That is the plan which the Confederate troops and authorities are in favor of, and they have proceeded upon it. Their desire is to make the whole of this war -within the Border States,, and escape themselves scot free — ^not only free from Scott, but from all our other Generals. They -wish to enjoy entire quietude, in order to raise their cotton, that they may hold it out to foreign nations as a bribe to break our blockade. Tlmt is their object and their heart's desire. " They -wish, also, to intrench themselves with in those Border States, where they can get plen ty of subsistence, and -wring a reluctant support from the Union men of those States. The coun ties of Alexandria and Fairfax gave an immenso Union vote when the question was submitted to them ; and, at the last vote upon the Ordinance of Secession, they would have given the same vote for the Union if they had not been re strained by the bayonets of the Confederate troops; for, in whatever part of Virginia they F. P. BLAIR — SCOTT — PATTERSON. ¦549 midst, even though he had to travel in an ambulance. MoAong slowly, steadily, cautiously forward, our army should have been reenforced by two or three fresh regiments each day, being exercised in fleld maneuvers at every opportunity. On or before the 1st day of July, this array, one hun dred thousand strong, should have been before Eichmond, not then for tified to any serious extent, and should have replaced the Stars and Stripes on the steeples of that city by the Fourth, at latest. That we had ample force to do this, is now beyond doubt ; for the Eebels, gathering all their strength from the Shenandoah on the one side to the James on the other, were barely able, on the 21st — three weeks after we should have been be fore Eichmond — to beat a third of our regiments that might and should have confronted them." n. The flagrant disobedience and defection of Gen. Patterson,^" unac countable on any hypothesis consist- were free from the Confederate bayonets, they gave a majority of votes against Secession. The same was the case in Tennessee. Any such plan as that which The Times says is Gen. Scott's plan of carrying on the war would leave the unarmed Union men of the Border States and ofthe South em States at the mercy of the armies of the Con federate States. It would leave the 25,000 ma jority in East Tennessee, the vast majority in Missouri, and everywhere else, at the mercy of the Rebels. "I say, further, that, if we remain idle for such a period of time, doing nothing upon the borders of these revolted States, however great an army we might possess, we should, by so do ing, proclaim to the world that we were unable to enter those States and put down Rebelhon ; and the governments of Europe would make it a pretext for acknowledging the independence of those States. " It is manifest, therefore, that such important pohtical considerations must enter largely into any plan of campaign ; and no plan is admissible which, by its delays, destroys the business of the country, leaves the Union men of the Border States and their property a prey to the Rebels, and gives a pretext to foreign Powers to inter fere for the purpose of forcing our blockade." That the policy of 'wait and get ready,' in volved, in fact, a virtual admission of (he inde pendence of the Confederacy, while enabling the Rebels to crash out the last vestiges of Union ism in the South, as also to cover all the impor tant points -with impregnable fortifications, erect ed in good part by slave labor, is too obvious to need enforcement It was the pohcy of all who ¦wished to save the Union by surrendering at dis cretion to the Eebels, bidding them do what they pleased -with the Constitution, the Govern ment, the territories, so that they would but con sent to endure us as fellow-countrymen. "That Gen. Scott, though loyal and Union- loving, was always in favor of buying off the Rebellion by compromises and concessions, and averse to what was most unjustly termed ' coer cion' and 'invasion,' is no secret. How eagerly he jumped upon the ' finality' platform when nominated for President, in 1852, and ordered a grand salute of one hundred guns in honor of the passage of Mr. Guthrie's Compromise proposi tions in the " Peace Conference" of 1861, are matters of record. That he sought to have Fort Sumter evacuated, a month later, as a " mihtary necessity," is well known. Two or three weeks thereafter, oa the very morning that the Eebels opened fire on Sumter, The National Intelligencer, of AprU 12th, contained the foUowing, which was widely understood to have been inspired, if not directly written, by him : " There is a general and almost universal de sire that no coercive measures should be resort ed to, so as to induce actual coUision of arms be tween the States that say they have seceded aud the Government of the United States, until aU peaceful remedies have been exhausted, yet : " Great confidence is inspired by an exhibi tion of the actual strength and power of the Government. It gratifies national pride to have the consciousness that the Government is in pos session of power, and that, when it is not exer cised, it may receive the credit of forbearance. There would be an objection that this attribute of power should be directed, at the present mo ment, to any specific end ; even though that end should be the execution of the laws. But no thing can be more evident than that universal satisfaction is felt and security inspired by the knowledge that the power of the Govemment is ready, at a moment's notice, to be apphed and used." " PoUard, in his " Southern History," blandly says: " The best service which the army of the She nandoah could render was to prevent the defeat of that of the Potomac. To be able to do this, it was necessary for Gen. Johnston to defeat Gen. Patterson, or to elude him. The latter course was the more speedy and certain, and was, therefore, adopted. Evading the enemy by the disposition of the advance guard under CoL 550 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT, ent with the possession, on his part, of courage, common sense, and loyalty." in. The faUure of Gen. Scott to send forward with Gen. McDowell a force adequate to pro-vide against all contingencies. The fact that 20,000 volunteers remained idle and useless, throughout that eventful Sunday, in and immediately around Washing ton — Scott ha-ving obstinately resist ed entreaties that they should be dis patched to the front — insisting that McDoweU had " men enough" — that he needed no cavalry, etc. — of itself attests strongly the imbecility and lack of purpose that then presided over our military councils.^' IV The Eebels were kept thor oughly acquainted by their confeder-- ates, left by Davis, Floyd, etc., in our service, with everything that took place or was meditated" on our side ; and so were able to anticipate and bafile every movement of our ar mies." Thus, a military map or plan of the region directly west of Wash ington had been completed for use at the War Department barely two days before our advance reached Cen terville ; but, the movement being rapid, the Eebels left here many ar ticles in their hasty flight, and, among them, a copy of this map, which was supposed to be unknown to all but a few of our highest officers. It was so throughout. Washington swarmed Stuart, our army moved through Ashley's Gap to Piedmont, a station of the Manassas Gap railroad. Hence, the infantry were to be transported by the railway, while the cavalry and artiUery were ordered to continue their march. Gen. Johnston reached Manassas about noon on the 20th, pre ceded by the 7th and Sth Georgia regiments and by Jackson's brigade, consisting of the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th, and .S3d Virginia regiments. He was accompanied by Gen. Bee, with the 4th Alaba ma, the 2d, and two companies of the 11th Mis sissippi The president of the raUroad had as sured him that the remaining troops should arrive during the day." ** Patterson was a Breckinridge Democrat of the extreme pro-Slavery type — of that type whose views were expressed by The Pennsylvanian — (see page 428). When, on the reception of the tidings of Fort Sumter's surrender, a great pop ular uprising took place in Piuladelphiai as in other cities, and immense crowds paraded the streets, demanding that the flag of the Union should be everywhere displayed, Gen. Patter son's was one of the mansions at which this pub lic exaction of an avowal of sympathy with the outraged symbol of our Union was longest and most sturdily resisted. " W. H. RusseU, writing from Washington to The London Times on the 19th, two days before the battle — doubtless obtaining his information from authentic sources — thus states the disposi tion of our forces at that moment: Under McDowell, at Foirfax and Centerville . . 30,000 Under Patterson, on the Shenandoah . . . . 22,000 UnderMansfleld, In and about Washington . . 16,000 Under Butler, at and near Portress Monroe . 11,000 Under Banks, In and near Baltimore ... . 7,400 Total 86,400 Thus, while the Rebels concentrated, from Richmond ou the south to Winchester on the north, aU their available strength upon Manassas, and had it in hand before the close of the battle, McDowell had but httle more than a third of our corresponding forces wherewith to oppose it — he acting on the offensive. In other words, we fought with 35,000 men, a battle in which we might and should have had 75,000. ^^ Mr. Julius Bing, a German by birth but British by naturalization, who was on the battle field as a spectator, and was there taken prison er, and conducted next morning to Beauregard's head-quarters, whence he waa sent to Richmond, and who seems to have had the faculty of making himself agreeable to either side, stated, after his return, that among the men he met at Beaure gard's head-quarters, at the Junction, was Col. Jordan, formerly of our War Department, who boasted that he had received, "Before the attack at Bull Run, a cipher dis patch from some weU-informed person within our Unes, giving fuU details of our movements, including the particulars of the plan of battle, the time at which operations would commence, and the number of our troops." '" A correspondent of The New York Tribune, iu his account of the battle, says : "A remarkable fact to be considered is, that the enemy seemed perfectly acquainted with our plans. The feint of Col. Richardson availed. nothing, since the Rebel force had nearly all been withdra-wn from that position. Our com bined attack was thoroughly met, and at tho very points where partial surprises had been an ticipated." CAUSES OF OUE DEFEAT — SHOET ENLISTMENTS. 551 -vdth traitors, many of them holding official positions of the gravest re sponsibihty; and whatever it was important to Bea,uregard to know he speedUy ascertained. To cross the Potomac, a little below or above our camps, was never difficult ; and, once across, trusty messengers knew where to flnd fleet horses and sure guides to take them to the Eebel hues. The Confederate chiefs knew which among our officers meant them any harm, and which might be confidently trust ed never to take them at disadvan tage. They e'^dently had no more apprehension that Patterson would obstruct or countervail the march of Johnston to Manassas than that Breckinridge or Burnett would do them mortal harm in Congress. V. The fall, very early inthe action, of Gen. David Hunter," command ing the 2d or leading division, was most untimely and unfortunate. He was so seriously wounded that he was necessarily borne from the field. Gen. Heintzelman,^' commanding the 3d division, was also wounded; not as severely, but so as to disable him. Gen. McDowell either had control of Eunyon's division, guarding his line of communication, or he had not. If he had, he should have ordered the bulk of it to advance that morning on Centerville, so as to have had it weU in hand to precipitate on the foe at the decisive moment; or, if he was so hampered by Scott that he was not at liberty to do this, he should have refused to attack, and resigned the command of the army, rather than fight a battle so fettered. After the mischief was done, Eun yon's division was ordered forward from Fairfax — of course, to no pur pose. But it should, at least, have been promptly employed to block completely with its bayonets the roads leading to Washington, sternly arresting the flight of the panic- stricken fugitives, and gathering them up into something which should bear once more the semblance of an army. YI. The original call of President Lincoln on the States, for 76,000 miUtia to serve three months, was a deplorable error. It resulted natu raUy from that obstinate infatuation which would beUeve, in deflance of all history and probability, that an aristocratic conspiracy of thirty years' standing, culminating in a rebeUion based on an artificial property valued at Four Thousand Milhons of Dol lars, and 'wielding the resources of ten or twelve States, having nearly ten miUions of people, was to be put do'wn in sixty or ninety days by some process equivalent to reading the Eiot Act to an excited mob, and sending a squad of pohce to disperse it. Hence, the many prisoners of war taken "with arms in their hands, in West "Virginia and Missouri, had, up to this time, been quite commonly permitted to go at large on taking an oath '° of fidelity to the Constitution — a process which, in their view, was about as significant and imposing aa taking a glass of cider. The Gov ernment had only to call for any num ber of men it required, to serve du ring the pleasure of Congress, or tUl the overthrow of the EebeUion, and " Colonel of the 3d cavalry in the regular ser vice. " Colonel in the regular service. "For the first year of the war, no regular list of prisoners taken by us — not even of those paroled — was kept at the War Department; hence, we fell deplorably behind in our account current -with the Eebels. 552 THE AMEEICAN OONFLIOT. they could have been had at once. Eegiments were pressed upon it from aU sides; and the hotels of Washing ton were crowded by keen competi tors for the coveted pri-vilege of rais ing more batteries and fresh bat talions. None asked for shorter terms to serve, or would have then hesi tated to enUst for the war. It was entirely proper to caU out the organ ized and uniformed miUtia as minute- men to defend Washington and pro tect the pubUc property untU volun teers could be raised ; but no single regiment should have been organized or enUsted, during that springtide of National enthusiasm, for any term short of the duration of the war. YII. It is impossible not to per ceive that the Eebel troops were bet ter handled, during the conflict, than ours. Gen. McDoweU, who does not appear to have actively participated in any former battle but that of Bue- na Yista, where he served as Aid to Gen. Wool, seems to have had very httle control over the movements of his forces after the beginning of the conflict. Gov. Sprague, who fought through the day as brigadier with the 2d Ehode Island, whose Colonel, Slo cum, and Major, Ballou, were both left dead on the battle-fleld, observed to one who asked him, near the close of the fight, what were his orders, that he had been flghting aU day without any. In short, our army was projected like a bolt, not 'wielded hke a sword. YIII. Although our army, before fighting on that disastrous day, was largely composed of the bravest and truest patriots in the Union, it con tained, also,muchindiff'erent material. Many, in the general stagnation and dearth of employment, had volun teered under a firm con'viction that there would be no serious fighting ; that the Eebels were not in earnest; that there would be a promenade, a froUc, and, ultimately, a compromise, which would send every one home, unharmed and exultant, to receive from admiring, cheering thousands the guerdon of his valor. Hence, some regiments were very badly offi cered, and others gave way and scat tered, or fled, just when they weremost needed. IX. Col. D.S. Miles, a Marylander, commanding the 5th (reserve) di'vi- sion, was drunk throughout the action, and playing the buffoon ; riding about to attract observation, 'with two hats on his head, one within the other. As, however, he was pretty certainly a traitor, and was not ordered to ad vance, it is hardly probable that his drunkenness did any serious damage, save as it disgusted and disheartened those whose Uves were in his hands. No one who did not share in the sad experience 'wiU be able to realize the consternation which the news of this discomflture — grossly exagger ated — diffused over the loyal portion of our country. Only the tidings which had reached Washington up to 4 o'clock — aU presaging certain and decisive victory — were permitted to go north by telegraph that day and evening; so that, on Monday mom ing, when the crowd of fugitives from our grand army was pouring into Washington, a heedless, harmless, worthless mob, the loyal States were exulting over accounts of a decisive triumph. But a few hours brought different advices ; and these were as much worse than the truth as the former had been better: our army had been utterly destroyed — cut to EXTENT AND EESULTS OF OUE DISCOMFITURE. 553 pieces, with a loss of twenty-five to thirty thousand men, beside aU its artUlery and munitions, and Wash ington lay at the mercy of the enemy, who were soon to advance to the cap ture and sack of our great commer cial cities. Never before had so black a day as that black Monday lowered npon the loyal hearts of the North ; and the leaden, weeping skies reflected and hightened, while they seemed to sympathize 'with, the general gloom. It would have been easy, -with ordi nary effort and care, to have gathered and remanded to their camps or forts around* Alexandria or Arlington, all the 'wretched stragglers to whom fear had lent "wings, and who, thro'wing away their arms and equipments, and abandoning all semblance of miUtary order or discipline, had rushed to the capital to hide therein their shame behind a cloud of exaggerations and falsehoods. The stiU effective bat teries, the soUd battaUons, that were then wending their way slowly back to their old encampments along the south bank of the Potomac, depressed but unshaken, dauntless and utterly unassaUed, were unseen and unheard from ; while the panic-stricken racers fiUed and distended the general ear 'with their tales of impregnable in trenchments and masked batteries, of regiments slaughtered, brigades ut terly cut to pieces, etc., making out their miserable selves to be about aU that was left of the army. That these men were aUowed thus to straggle into Washington, instead of being peremptorily stopped at the bridges, and sent back to the encampments of their several regiments, is only to be accounted for on the hypothesis that the reason of our mUitary magnates had been temporarily dethroned, so as to divest them of aU morai respon- sibiUty. The consequences of this defeat were sufficiently serious. Our 75,000 three months' men, whose term of en, Ustment, for the most part, expired within the three weeks foUo'wing the battle, generaUy made haste to quit the ser-vice and seek their several fire sides at the earhest possible moment." Our armies were thus depleted with a rapidity rarely equaled ; and the Government, which, throughout the preceding month, had been defending itself as best it could against impor tunities and entreaties to be aUowed to furnish a regiment here or a bat- " Gen. McDowell, in his official report, in giv ing his reasons for fighting as and when he did, says: "I could not, as I have said more early, push on faster, nor could I delay. A large and the best part of my forces were three months' volun teers, whose term of service was about to expire, but who were sent forward as having long enough to serve for the pui-pose of the expedi- tioiL On the eve of the battle, the 4th Penn sylvania regiment of volunteers, and the battery of volunteer artillery of the New Tork Sth mUi tia, whose term of service expired, insisted on their discharge. I wrote to the regiment, ex pressing a request for them to remain a short time ; and the Hoa Secretary of War, who was at the time on the ground, tried to induce the battery to remain at least five days. But in vain. They insisted on their discharge that night. It waa granted : and, the next morning, when the army moved forward into battle, these troops moved to the rear to the sound of the enemy's cannon. " In the next few days, day by day, I should have lost ten thousand of the best armed, driUed, officered, and disciplined troops in the army. In other words, every day, which added to the strength ofthe enemy, made us weaker." It should here be added, that a member of the New Tork battery aforesaid, who was most earnest and active in opposing Gen. McDoweU'a request, and insisting on an Immediate discharge, was, at the ensuing election, in fiiU view of aU the facts, chosen Sheriff of the city of New- Tork — probably the most lucrative office fiUed by popular election in the country. 554 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. tery there, was glad thenceforth to take all that offered, and to solicit where it had been so earnestly soU- cited. The nation awoke from a dream of invincibiUty and easy tri umph to find itself inextricably in volved in a desperate and dubious struggle for life. And the thinly disguised or utterly undisguised ex ultation wherewith the news of this disaster was received by thousands whose sympathy with the Eebels had hitherto been suppressed, or only in dulged in secret, proved that, in the struggle now upon us, the Eepublic could not count on the support even of all those who still claimed to be loyal to the Constitution and Union. On the other hand, the Eebellion was immensely strengthened and consolidated by its victory. Tens of thousands throughout the South, who had hitherto submitted in si lence to proceedings which they con demned and deplored, but lacked the power or the courage to resist, yet whose hearts were still with their whole country and the old fiag, now abandoned the Union as hopelessly lost, and sought, by zeal in the cause of the Eebellion, to efface the recol lection of their past coldness and in fidelity ; while no one who had pre viously been a Eebel any longer cherished a shadow of doubt that the independence of the Confederacy was secured. The vote of Tennessee for Secession, the sudden uprising of a great Eebel army in Missouri, and the strengthening of the cause and its defenders everywhere, owe much of their impulse to the dispatches which flashed over the rejoicing South assurances that the grand ar my of the North, 35,000 to 50,000 strong, had been utterly routed and dispersed by Beauregard's 15,000 to 20,000 Confederates. Yet it is to be added that, what ever the exultation of one party, the depression of the other was not with out its compensations. The North, at first stunned, was ultimately rather chastened and sobered than disheart ened or unnerved by its great dis aster; while the South, intoxicated by its astounding success, expended in fruitless exultation energies that might better have been devoted to preparation for future and more de termined struggles. If, as fhe Con federates were told, 16,000 of their raw recruits, badly armed and provi ded, had sufficed to rout and scatter double or treble their number of Yankees, superbly equipped for the contest, what need could there be for self-denial, and sacrifice, and a gen eral volunteering to recruit their vic torious armies? They hastily con cluded that the struggle was -virtually over — that nothing remained but to prescribe the terms on which peace should be accorded to the vanquished ; and this delusion continued for months undispelled and effective. And thus, while the instant effect of the tidings was the doubling of the Eebel numbers in the field and a re duction of ours by half, yet a few weeks sufficed to efface this disparity, and the expiration of three months saw our forces swelled once more till they exceeded those of the enemy. The Nation, fiung headlong to the earth, and temporarily paralyzed by her fall, rose at length with a truer appreciation of the power, the pur pose, and the venom of her foes, and a firmer resolve that they should be grappled with and overcome. ORGANIZATION OF THE XXXVIITH CONGEESS. 555 XXXIV. THE EXTEA SESSION. The XXXYIIth Congress con vened, pursuant to the President's summons, in Extra Session, at noon on the 4th of July ; when, on a call of the roll, an ample quorum of either House was found in attendance, in cluding full delegations from Ken tucky,' Missouri,' Maryland,^ and Delawai'e.'' Tennessee had not yet chosen Eepresentatives; and, when she did choose, at her regular State election, flve weeks later, only the three districts east of the mountains elected members to the Union Con gress ; and, of these, one — Thomas A. E- Nelson — ^being arrested by the Eebels wlule on his way to Washing ton, regained his Uberty by renoun- .eing the Union and professing ad herence to the Eebellion. Of the seceded States, only Arkansas chose Eepresentatives to Congress in 1S60 ; and these renounced theh seats by open and active adhesion to tlie Southern Confederacy. In the Sen ate, the fom' States first named were fully represented ; whUe Andrew Johnson was present fi-om Tennes see, making 44 in aU. Western Yir ginia had chosen three members at the regulai- State election in AprU, whUe another had been elected by a hght vote, either then or subsequent ly, from the district lying along the Potomac, above and below Harper's Ferry. Of Eepresentatives, 157 in aU answered to thefr names at the first caU. Galusha A. Grow [Eepubh can], of Pennsylvania, was chosen Speaker, and Emei-son Etheridge [Bell-Everett], of Tennessee, Clerk of the House. John W. Forney [Doug las], of Pennsylvania, was soon after ward elected Clerk of the Senate. President Lincoln's Message was transmitted to both Houses on the foUowing day. It was lai-gely de voted to a recital of occurrences al ready narrated. It did not distinctly avow that the Government had ever ' The Representatives from Kentucky had been chosen a few weeks before at a special election, wherein nine districts elected 'conser vative' or pro-Slavery Unionists, whUe the 1st reelected, bv a considerable majority, Henry C. Burnett, a Secessionist, who only served through the Extra Session, and then fled to p.irticipate openly in the RebeUion. The only remaining district seriously contested was tlie Sth (Fayette, Bourbon, etc.), which elected John J. Crittenden (Union) over WiUiam E. Simms (late Democrat, now Secessionist), by 8,272 to 5,706. The ag gregate vote of the State showed a preponder ance of more than two to one for the Union. ' The members from this State had been cho sen in August, 1 860 : five of them as Democrats ; one (Francis P. Blair.) as a Republican ; another (James S. Eohins) as a Bell-Everett Unionist. One of the Democrats had already gone over to the RebeUion, as two more of them did after ward. ' Maryland had very recenUy chcsen her Rep- . ¦ resentatives at a special election, wherem each,' district elected a professed Unionist — the 6th'- (south-western) by barely 162 majority. But Henry May, elected as a Democrat over Win ter Davis in the Baltimore city district, by 8.424 votes to 6,214, received the unanimous and ar dent support of the Secessionists, and, as after ward appeared, for very good reasons. " Delaware had elected George P. Fisher (Unionist), in 1860, by the combined vote of the Lincoln aud BeU parties — giving him 257 major ity over Biggs (Breckinridge); whUe Eeed (Doug las) drew away 761 votes. 556 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. purposed the evacuation of Fort Sumter, but set forth the material facts as follows : " On the 5th of March (the present in cumbent's flrst full day in office), a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sum ter, written on the 28th of February, and received at the War Department on the 4th of March, was, by that Department, placed in his hands. This letter expressed the pro fessional opinion of the writer, that reen forcements could not be thrown into that fort within the time for his relief rendered necessary by the limited supply of pro visions, and with a "view of holding posses sion of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the officers of his command, and their me moranda on the subject were made in closures of Major Anderson's letter. The whole was immediately laid before Lieut.- Gen. Scott, who at once concurred with Major Anderson in opinion. On reflection, however, he took full time, consulting with other officers, both of the Army and of the Navy, and, at the end of four days, came reluctantly but decidedly to the same con clusion as before. He also stated, at the same time, that no such sufficient force was then at the control of the Government, or could be raised and brought to the ground within the time when the provisions in the fort would be exhausted. In a purely mili tary point of view, this reduced the duty of the Administration in the case to the mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort." Thus baffled with regard to Fort Sumter, the Administration had re solved to reenforce and precision Fort Pickens, Fla., simply as an indi cation of its purpose to maintain, in the South, the constitutional rights of the Government ; and had dis patched the steamship Brooklyn to Pensacola for that purpose; but had been defeated in its effort, because " the officer commanding the Sabine, to which vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration (and of the existence of which the present Ad ministration, up to the time the order was dispatched, had only too vague and uncer tain rumors to fix attention), had refused to land the troops." The news of this failure reached' Washington "just one week before the fall of Sumter ;" and thereupon the President proceeded at once .to notify Gov. Pickens, of South Caro lina, that he should pro-vision Fort Sumter. " Whereupon, the fort was attacked and bombarded to its faU, ¦without even awaiting the arrival of the pro'visioning expedition." The President sets forth the course with regard to the seceded States which he had endeavored to pursue, until forced to abandon it by 'vio lence and 'bloodshed on their part, as follows : "The policy chosen looked to the ex haustion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only to hold the public places and property not already wrested from the Government, and to collect the revenue ; relying for the rest on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of the mails, at Government expense, to the very people who were resisting the Government; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturb ance to any of the people, or any of their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, everything was forborne, without which it was believed possible to keep the Government on foot." But this pohcy it was neither the interest nor the disposition of the Confederates, as such, to acquiesce in. The naked fact that it was deemed advisable on the part of the Union, raises the presumption that it would not answer the ends of the Secessionists. Says the President ; " They have forced upon the country the distinct issue : ' immediate dissolution or blood.' " And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question, whether a constitutional republic or de mocracy — a government of the people hy tlie same people — can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own do mestic foes. It jsresents the question, whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration, ac- BOEDEE-ST'ATE NEUTEALITT.-ST ATE EIGHTS. 557 cording to organic law, in any case, can always, npon the pretenses made in this case, or on any other pretenses, or arbi trarily, withoftt any pretense, break up their government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask : ' Is there in all re publics this inherent and fatal weakness?' 'Must a government, of necessity, be too itrong for the liberties of its own people, or too wealc to maintain its own existence?' " So -viewing the issue, no choice was left bnt to call out the war power of the Gov ernment ; and so, to resist force employed for its destruction hy force employed for its preservation." After a brief exposure ofthe deceit and violence which governed the issue of the pretended submission, in Yir ginia and other States, of the question of Secession to a vote of the people, after they ha(i been bound hand and foot k> the car of the Confederacy, Mr. Lincoln says : _" The people ofVirginia have thns allowed this giant insurrection to make its nest with in her borders ; and this Government has no choice left bpt to deal with it where it finds it. And it has the less regret, as the loyal citizens have, in due form, claimed its pro tection. Those loyal citizens this Govern ment is bound to recognize and protect, as being 'Virginia." With regard to the self-styled neu trahty of Kentucky, as of other States which had, by this time, passed out of that chrysahs condition into open rebelhon, the President forcibly says : "In the Border States, so called — in fact, the Middle States — there are those who favor a policy which they call ' armed neutrality ;' that is, an arming of these States to prevent the Union forces passing one way, or the Disunion the other, over their soil. This ¦would be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it would be building an impassable wall along the line of separation — and yet, not quite an impassable one ; for, under the guise of neutrality, it would tie the hands of the Union men, and freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke, it would take all the trouble off the hands of Secession, except only what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do forthe Disimionists that which, of all things, they most desire — ^feed them weU, and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fldelity to the Constitution, no obligation to maintain the Union; and, while very many who favored it are, doubtless, loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in efiect." As to the work directly in hand, the President thus briefly proclaims : " It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at the control of the Government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand men and $4:00,000,000. That number of men is about one-tenth of those of proper ages within the regions where, apparently, all are willing to engage ; and the sum is less than a twenty- third part of the money valne owned by the men who seem ready to devote the whole, A debt of $60P,000,000 now is a less sum per head than was the debt of our Eevolu tion when we came out of that struggle; and the money value in the country now bears even a greater proportion to what it was then than does the population. Surely, each man has as strong a motive now to pre serve our liberties as each had then to estab lish them. " A right result, at this time, will be worth more to the world than ten times the men and ten times the money." The cool assumptions and fluent sophistries of the Confederates, -with regard to State Eights, are very frankly and thoroughly handled by the President; but those who are famihar with the teachings of Web ster and Jackson on this subject can need no further argument. Mr. Lin coln thus deals 'with the fiction of ' State Sovereignty :' "The States have their statiis m the Union ; and they have no other legal status. If they break from this, they can only do so against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase, the Union gave each of them whatever of independence and lib erty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally, some independent colo nies made the Union ; and, in turn, the Union threw off their old dependence for them and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the Union." 658 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. As to the proper division, or parti tion, of powers between the Federal and the State governments, he says : " Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the whole — to the General Gov ernment ; while whatever concerns only the State should be left exclusively to the State. This is all there is of original principle about it. Whether the National Constitution, in defining boundaries between the two, has applied the principle, with exact accuracy, is not to be questioned. We are all bound by that defining, without question." As to the abstract justice and rightfulness of Secession, he says : " What is now combated is the principle that Secession is consistent with the Constitu tion — is lawful and peaceful. It is not con tended that there is any express law for it ; and nothing should ever be implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequen ces. The nation purchased, with money, the countries out of which several of these States were formed. Is it just that they shall go off without leave, and without refunding? The nation paid very large sums (in the ag gregate, I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just that she shall now be off without con sent, or without making any return ? The nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States, in common with the rest. Is it just, either that creditors shall go unpaid, or the remain ing States pay the whole ? A part of the present National debt was contracted to pay the old debts of Texas. Is it just that she shall leave, and pay no part ofthis herself? " Again : If one State may secede, so may another ; and when all shall have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors ? Did we notify them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed their money ? If we now recognize this doc trine, by aUowing the seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others choose to go, or to extort terms upon which they will promise to remain." The following illustration of the essential unreasonableness of Seces sion is ingenious and striking : " If all the States, save one, should assert the power to drive that one ont of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder poli ticians would at once deny the power, and denounce the act as the greatest outrage upon State Eights. Bnt suppose that precisely the same act, instead of being called 'driving the one out,' should be called 'the seceding of the others from that one;' it would be exactly what the seceders claim to do ; un less, indeed, they make the point, that the one, because it is a minority, Inay rightfully do what the others, because they are a ma jority, may not rightfully do." JS'o mention of Slavery as the grand, inciting cause of the Eebel lion occurs in this Message ; yet there is significance in the fact, sta ted by the President, that, while all the Free States had been, beyond ex ception, firm, hearty, and zealous in responding to his calls for troops : "None of the States commonly called Slave States, except Delaware, gave a regi ment through regular State organization. A few regiments have been organized within some others of those States, by individual enterprise, and received iitfo the Govern ment service." .. But that this is essentially a con test between aristocratic assumption and popular liberty the President perceives, and does not hesitate to declare. He says : " Our adversaries have adopted some dec larations of independence, in which, unlike the good old one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words ' all men are created equal.' Why? They have adopted a temporary National Constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one signed by Washington, they omit, 'We, the people,' and substitute ' We, the deputies of the sove reign and independent States.' Why ? Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people ? " This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and sub stance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men — to lift artificial weights from all shoulders — to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all — to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to par tial and temporary departures, from neces sity, this is the leading object of the Gov ernment for whose existence we contend. "I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and appreciate this. It is worthy of note that while, in this the Government'iS hour of trial, large numbers of those in the Army and Na-vy who have been favored with the oflSces have resigned, and proved false to the hand that pampered CONTESTED SEATS IN THE HOUSE. 559 them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his flag. " Great honor is due to those officers who remained true, despite the example of their treacherous associates ; but the greatest hon or, and most important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose com mands, but an hour before, they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct of plain people. They understand, without an argument, that the destroying the Gov ernment which was made by Washington means no good to th,em. " Our popular government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have already settled : the successful establishing and the successful administer ing of it. One still remains : its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for thera to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets ; and that, when ballots have fairly and constitutionally deci ded, there can be no successfnl appeal back to bullets ; that there can be no successful appeal except to ballots themselves, at suc ceeding elections. Such will be a great les son of peace ; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war — teaching ali the folly of be ing the beginners of a war." He concludes his Message 'with these impressive and memorable words : " It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of employing the war power, in defense of the Government, forced upon him. He could but perform this duty, or surrender the existence of the Government. No compromise by public servants could, in this case, be a cure ; not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular government can long sur- -vive a marked precedent, that those who carry an election can only save the Govern ment from immediate destruction hy giving np the main point npon which the people gave the election. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions. '¦As a private citizen, the Executive could not have consented that these institutions shall perish ; much less could he, in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had conflded to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, noteven to count the chances of his own life, in what might follow. In full -view of his great re sponsibility, he has, so far, done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, ac cording to your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views and your action may so accord with his as to assure all faithful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights, of a certain and speedy restoration to them, under the Con stitution and the laws. "And, having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts." Several of the opening days of the Session were mainly devoted by the House to the consideration of dis puted claims to s'eats — there being rival claimants from Oregon, from Nebraska, and from the Ist district of Pennsylvania, beside three mem bers in all from Yirginia, whereof two (Messrs. CarUle and Whaley) were chosen from Western districts, by heavy votes, on the regular day of election; while the other (Mr. Upton) was chosen under different auspices. The Convention which passed the Ordinance of Secession had assumed power to annul or sus pend the law which pro-vides that a regular election shall be held, and Members of Congress semi-annually chosen thereat, on the fourth Thurs day of May ; but the people of West Yirginia had treated this action of the Convention as a nullity, not hav ing been ratified by a popular vote, as the law calUng the Convention re~ quired ; and had elected in its despite. Congress approved and sustained this action, and Messrs. Carhle and Wha ley held their seats -with very little dissent. There was more demur as to Mr. Upton's case — his poll being light, the time and manner of his election irregular, and he having voted in Ohio the preceding Novem ber ; but he was not unseated. The 560 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. remaining contests involved no ques tion connected with Slavery or se cession. On the Sth, the House, on motion of Mr. Hohnan (Dem.), of Ind., modified at the suggestion of Mr. Hickman (Eepubhcan), of Pa., " Resolved, That the House, during the present extraordinary session, will only con sider bills and resolutions concerning the military and naval operations of the Gov ernment, and the flnanoial affairs therewith connected, and the general questions of a judicial character; and all hUls and resolu tions of a private character, and all other bills and resolutions not directly connected with the raising of revenue, or affecting the mili tary or naval affairs of the Government, shall be referred to the appropriate Com mittees without debate, to be considered at the next regular session of Congress." On the 9th, Mr. Lovejoy, of HI., moved the following : " Resohed, That, in the judgment of this House, it is no part of the duty of the sol diers of the United States to capture and return fugitive slaves." After a strenuous effort to rule this out of order, as precluded by the resolve before quoted, a vote was taken on a motion of Mr. Mallory, of Ky., that it do Ue on the table ; which was negatived : Yeas 66 ; Nays 81. Mr. Lovejoy's resolve was then adopted : Yeas 92 ; Nays 55 ; [the Yeas all Eepuhlicans ; Nays, all the Democrat and Border-State con servatives, with Messrs. Sheffield, of E. I., Horton, of Ohio, Wm. Kel logg, of 111., Nixon, of N. J., and Woodruff, of Conn.] On the 10th, Mr. Clark, of N. H., proposed, and on the 11th the Sen ate adopted, the foUo'wing : " TVJierea^, a conspiracy has been formed against the peace, union, and liberties of the People and Government ofthe United States ; and, in furtherance of such conspiracy, a portion of the people of the States of "Vir ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ten nessee, Arkansas, and Texas, have attempted to withdraw those States from the Union, and are now in arms against the Govern ment ; And whereas, James M. Mason and Eobert M. T. Hunter, Senators from Vir ginia; Thomas L. Clingman and Thoma? Bragg, Senators from North Carolina ; James Chesnut, Jr., a Senator from South Carolina ; A. 0. P. Nicholson, a Senator from Tennes see; William K. Sebastian and Charles B. Mitchell, Senators from Arkansas ; and John Hemphill and Louis T. Wigfall, Senators from Texas, have failed to appear in their seats in the Senate, and to aid the Govern ment in this important crisis ; and it is ap parent to the Senate that said Senators are engaged in said conspiracy for the destruc tion of the Union and Government, or, with full knowledge of such conspiracy, have failed to advise the Government of its pro gress, or aid in its suppression : Therefore, " Resolved, That the said Mason, Hunter, Clingman, Bragg, Chesnut, Nicholson, Se bastian, Mitchell, Hemphill, and Wigfall, be, and they hereby are, each and all of them, expelled from the Senate of the United States." Messrs. Bayard, of Del., and La tham, of Cal., sought to have this so modified as merely to declare the seats of the indicated Senators vacant and strike their names from the roll •; but the Senate rejected the amend ment (Yeas 11 ; Nays 32) and passed the original resolve : Yeas 31 Eepuh licans and McDougall, of Cal., — in aU, 32 ; Nats — Messrs. Bayard, Breckinridge, Bright, Johnson, of Mo., Johnson, of Tenn., Latham,Nesmith, PoIk,Powell,and Eice — 10. The Yice-President thereupon de clared the resolve adopted by a two- thirds vote. On the 10th, a bill reported from the Committee of Commerce, by Mr. Washbume, of IU., providing for the collection of revenue from imports — adapting our revenue laws to the state of facts created by a formida ble rebellion — authorizing the Presi dent to designate other places as ports of dehvery instead of those held by Eebels — also, to close, by proclama tion, ports so held — to prohibit aU in tercourse between loyal and insurgent PEOBOSALS TO OEIPPLB OR AEEESt/tHB WAE. 561 districts, etc. etc. — was passed, under the Pre'sdous Question — Yeas 136 ; Nats — ^Messrs. Burnett, (Ky.,) Harding, (Ky.,) Norton, (Mo.,) George H. Pendleton, (Ohio,) Eeid, (Mo.,) Eobinson, (111.,) Yallan digham, (Ohio,)"Voorhees, (Ind.,) Wadsworth, (Ky.,) and Wood, (N. Y.>-10. This bUl came up in the Senate, on the 12th ; and, after a brief debate, •was passed : Yeas 36 ; Nats — Messrs. Breckinridge, (Ky.,) Bright, (Ind.,) Johnson, (Mo.,)Kennedy, (Md.,) Polk, (Mo.,) and Powell, (Ky.)— 6. The House, on the 10th, Uke'wise passed its first Loan biU — authorizing the Secretary of tlie Treasury to bor row Two Hundred and Fifty Millions of DoUars, for the support of the Govemment and the prosecution of the War. Mr. Yallandigham, of Ohio, made an elaborate speech, in thorough-going opposition to the bill and to the entire policy of ' coercion;' submitting, in reply to a question from Mr. Hohnan (Dem.), of Ind., the foUowing proposition, as embody ing his 'views touching the general subject, but asking no present action thereon : " Resolved, That the Federal Govern ment i-i the agent of the people of the seve ral States composing the Union ; that it con sists of three distinct departments — the le gislative, the executive, and the judicial — each equally a part of the Government, and _ equally entitled to the oonfldence and sup- 'port of the States and the people; and that it is the duty of every patriot to sustain the Several departments of the Government in the exercise of all the constitutional powers of each which may ,be necessary and proper for the preservation of the Gov ernment in its principles and in its vigor and integrity, and to stand by and to defend to the utmost the flag which represents the Govemment, the Union, and the cohntry." Mr. HoLMAJf. "While the gentleman cen sures the Administration, let me ask him whether, with his own constituents, he is resolved that the Union shall be maintained. Mr. Yallandigham. "My votes shall speak for me on that subject. My position is defined in the resolution just read. I am answerable only to my conscience and to my constituents, and not to the gentleman from Indiana." 36 The bUl passed tmdef the previous question : Yeas 150 ; Nats— Messrs. Burnett, of Ky., Norton and Eeid, of Mo., Vallandigham, of Ohio, and B. Wood, of N. Y. [The three first- named went over to the Rebels soon after the close of the session.] On the 11th, the Army Appropri ation bill being under consideration in Committee of the Whole, Mr. YaUandigham moved to add this pro'viso : " Provided, however. That no part of the money hereby appropriated shall he em ployed in subjugating, or holding as a con quered province, any sovereign State now or lately one of the United States ; nor in abolishing or interfering with African Sla very in any of the States." The pro-viso was voted do'wn, and the biU (appropriating $161,000,000) reported and passed. On the 13th, the bill calUng out Half a Milhon Yolunteers being under consideration, Mr. YaUandig ham moved to add to it (as he had already done in Committee of the Whole) the following : " Provided further. That, before tho President shall have the right to call out any more volunteers than are now in the service, he shall appoint seven Commission ers, whose mission it shall be to accompany the army on its march, to receive and con sider such propositions, if any, as may at any time be submitted by the Executive of the so-called Confederate States, or of any one of them, looking to a suspension of hos tilities, and the returil of said States, or any of them, to the Union, or to obedience to the Federal Constitution and authorities." The amendment was voted down without a division, and the bill passed. This day, Messrs. John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey presented themselves as Senators from the State of Yirginia (not the new State of West Yirginia, since organized), -vice Hunter and Mason, expelled as trai tors. They presented credentials, set ting forth theh" appointment by GoV. 562 TH.E AMERICAN CONFLICT. Pierpont to fill the existing vacan cies. Messrs. Bayard and Saulsbury, of Del., strenuously resisted their admission — the former wishing their credentials referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. Powell, of Ky., also opposed their acceptance as Senators; which was advocated by Messrs. Andrew Johnson, of Tenn., Latham, of Cal., TrumbuU, of 111., Collamer, of Yt., and Ten Eyck, of N.J. Mr. Bayard's motion to' refer was voted down : Yeas — : Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Polk, Powell, and Saulsbury ; Nays 35 : And Messrs. Carlile and Willey wfere then sworn in and took their seats. On motion of Mr. F. P. Blair, the House this day expeUed John B. Clark, a member elect from Missouri (but who had not taken his seat), be cause he had " taken up arms against the Government of the United States, and now holds a com mission in what is called the State Guard of Missouri, under the Eebel Government of that State, and took part m the engagement at Booneville against the United States forces." This was adopted (after an at tempt to send it to the Committee of Elections), by Yeas 94 to Nays 45 (nearly, but not entirely, a party vote). On the 15th, Mr. B. Wood, of N. Y., moved that it be " Resolved, That this Congress recommend the Governors of the several States to con vene their Legislatures, for the purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each congressional district, to meet in general Convention at Louisville, in Ken tucky, on the first Monday in September next: the purpose of the said Convention to be to devise measures for the restoration of peace to the country." On motion of Mr. Washburne, of IU., this was laid on the table : Yeas 92 ; Nays 51. Mr. Wm. Allen (Dem.), of Ohio, moved that it be " Resolved, That, whenever the States now in rebellion against the General Govern ment shall cease their rebellion and become loyal to the Union, it is the duty of the Govemment to suspend the further prosecu tion of the present war. "Resohed, That it is no part of the object of the present war again.st the rebellions States to interfere with the institution of Slavery therein." This was ruled out of order 'with out dissent. Mr. YaUandigham here moved a long series of resolves, condemning as unconstitutional the increase of the Army, the blockade of the ports of the insurgent States, the seizure of dispatches iii the telegraph offices, the arbitrary arrest of persons sus pected of complicity 'with treason, and nearly every important act of the President in resistance to the Eebellion. On motion of Mr. Love joy, of 111., these resolves were un ceremoniously laid on the table. A bill, introduced by Mr. Hick man, of Pa., defining and punishing conspiracies against the United States — providing that persons who con spire to overthrow, put do'wn, or de stroy by force, the govemment of the United States, or to levy war against the same, may be arraigned for trial ' before any U. S. district or circuit court, and, on due conviction, may* be punished by fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment for not more than six years, was now called up and passed : Yeas 123 ; Nays 7. Most of the Nays were opposed not to the bill, but to the precipitancy of its passage. The Senate concurred, a few days thereafter, and the bill became a law. Mr. McClernand (Dem.), of 111!, moved, and the House, by 121 to 5, voted, that " Whereas, a portion of the people of tha HENET MAT'S VISIT TO EICHMOND. 563 ¦United states, in violation of their Constitu tional obligations, have taken np arms against the National Government, and are now striving, hy aggressive and iniquitous war, to overthrow it, and break up the Union of these States : Therefore, " Resohed, That this House hereby pledges itself to vote for any amount of money and any number of men which may be necessary to insure a speedy and effectual suppression of such Eebellion, and the permanent resto ration of the Federal authority everywhere within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States." Nats — Messrs. Burnett, Grider, (Ky.,) Norton, Eeid, and Wood — 5. Mr. Potter, of Wise, offered the foUowing, which was adopted : " Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be directed to inquire whether Hon. Henry May, a Eepresentative in Con gress from the fourth district of the State of Maryland, has not been found holding crimi nal intercourse and correspondence with persons in armed rebellion against the Gov ernment of the United States, and to make report to the House as to what action should be taken in the premises ; and that said Committee have power to send for per sons and papers, and to examine witnesses on oath or affirmation ; and that said Hon. . Henry May be notified of the passage of this resolution, if practicable, before action th&eon by the Committtee." Mr. May, being ill, -was not then in his seat ; but, the Committee hav ing reported, on the 18th, that no evidence had been presented to them fending to inculpate Mr. May, he took the fioor, and made what he termed a personal explanation, avow ing that he had been to Eichmond on an errand of conciliation and peace, e-vincing intense hostility to the Administration and the War on its part, and very thorough sympathy, at least, -with the Baltimore friends of the Eebels. He said : " At the time I received notice of this ac cusation, it was under my consideration whether I could, with honor, come here, and enter upon the duties of a Eepresenta tive upon this floor. The humiliation that I felt . at the condition of my constituents, hoand in chains ; absolutely without the fights of a free people in this land ; every precious right belonging to them, under the Constitution, prostrated and trampled in the dust :_ military arrests in the dead hour of the night ; dragging the most honorable and virtuous citizens from their beds, and con fining them in forts ; searches and seizures the most rigorous and unwarrantable, with out pretext of justification; that precious and priceless writ of habeas corpus, for which, from the beginning of free govern ment, the greatest and best of men have lived and died— all these prostrated in the dust; and hopeless imprisonment indicted without accusation, without inquiry or in vestigation, or the prospect of a trial — Sir, is there a representative of the people of the United States here in this body, acknowl edging the sympathy due to popular rights and constitutional liberty, who does not feel indignant at the perpetration of these out- With regard to his permission to visit. Eichmond, he said: " I did not feel at liberty to go across the Potomac without permission ofthe authori ties of this Government. And so, I felt it my duty to wait on the Chief Magistrate, and tell him, as I did, most frankly and fully, the objects of my visit. I did not ask for his sanction ; I did not desire it. I did not wish to embarrass the Chief Magistrate in such away. I had no claim upon his confi dence ; I had no right to ask him for any commission or authority ; but I felt it was my duty to state to him distinctly the ob jects which governed me, and obtain his per mission to cross the Potomac. It was most distinctly understood, between the President and me, that I took no authority from him — none whatever ; that I asked for none, and disclaimed asking for any ; that I went on the most private mission on which a hum ble citizen could go. I asked his consent, also, to bbtain from the military authorities a pass. Having jurisdiction on the other side of the Potamao, they were to be con sulted, and the necessary formalities ob served. The President authorized me to say to Gen. Scott that I had conversed with him, and that, while he gave no sanction what ever to my ¦visit to Eichmond, he did not object to my going there on my own respon sibility." Mr. May carefully avoided all dis closure of the purport of his confer ences with the Eebel chiefs at Eich mond; but it was manifest that he visited and was recei-ved by them as a sympathizing friend, and that his 564 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. communications were not intended to discourage them in their efforts. The conclusion is irresistible, that he went to Eichmond hoping to elicit from the Confederate chiefs some proffer, overture, or assent, looking to reiinion on their own terms, but had been ut terly disappointed and rebuffed. He closed as follows : " Mr. Speaker, all the crime, all the trea son of this act, rests on me, and me alone ; and I am content, in the sight of high Heav en, to take it and press it to my heart." Mr. Francis Thomas, of Maryland, replied ably and thoroughly to Mr. May's assaults on the Administration and its policy of ' coercion;' pointing to the recent vote of the People of Maryland (44,000 "Union" to 24,000 "Peace") as their verdict on the issues whereon the President was ar raigned by his colleague. He said : " The apportionment of representatives in the Legislature was made in old colonial times. It has been modified ; but, up to this day and hour, the majority of the people of Maryland have no voice in the choice of their Legislature. Under our new Consti tution, however, the majority, by a general ticket, elect a Governor; and, at the last election, they elected one responsive to the sentiment that beats warmly in the hearts of the people of Maryland. But the Legisla ture of Maryland, elected two years ago, not with a view to this issue, have been engaged in embarrassing the Governor in all his mea sures of policy. One of those measures, which Gov. Hicks thought a very prudent. measure under the existing state of things in Mary land, was to collect the arms held by private citi,zens, without distinction of party. This the Legislature prevented from being carried into execution, and passed a law which goes very far to secure arms in the hands of indi- ¦viduals. Why? If the citizens of Maryland are for warring against the Government, they should not be permitted to have arms. If they are for peace, they do not need them ; for the arm of the United States protects them, and the banner of the confederacy floats over them. Why, then, have the Le gislature interposed obstructions, by law, to the collection of arms? Do they think it prudent to leave them in the hands of pri- ¦vate holders, to be concealed where they can not be found? It could not be for the pur pose of upholding the laws of the Union. It could not be to uphold the statutes of Mary land. Tho President of the United States is faithful to his duty ; and the people of Ma ryland are faithful to theirs." The bill providing for the reorgan ization of the Army being this day before the Senate, Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, proposed to add to it the following : '^And be it further enacted. That no part of the Army or Navy of the United States shall be employed or used in subjecting or holding as a conquered province any sove reign State now or lately one of the United States." Mr. J. H. Lane, of Kansas, moved to amend this, by adding, " Unless a military necessity shall exist in enforcing the laws and maintaining the Con stitution of the Union." A very able and earnest debate arose hereon, wherein Messrs. Pow ell, Polk, and Bright, on the one hand, and Messrs. Sherman, of Ohio, Bro^wning, of Illinois, Lane, pf Kan sas, Fessenden, ot Maine, etc., on the other, took part. Mr. Lane's amend ment was rejected by Yeas 11 (all EepubUcans) to Nats — ^Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, Browning, Carlile, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Hairis, How«, John son, of Tenn., Johnson, of Mo., Kennedy, ^ Latham, McDougall, Morrill, Nesmith, Polk, Powell, Saulsbury, Sherman, Ten Eyck, and Willey— 24. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, now moved the following as a substitute for Mr. Powell's proposition : "And be it further enacted, That the pur poses of the military establishment provided for in this act are to preserve the Union, to defend the property, and to maintain the constitutional authority, of the Governraent." This was adopted, after debate; Yeas 33; Nays 4. [Breckinridge and Powell, of Ky., Johnson and Polk, of Missouri.] As Mr. Powell's amendment waa thus superseded, Mr. Breckinridge VIEWS OP CONSEEVATIVE REPUBLICANS. 565 now moved the foUowing, as an addi tion to the amendment just adopted : " But the Army and Navy shall not be employed for the purpose of subjugating any State, or reducing it to the condition of a Territory or province, or to abolish Slavery therein." This was rejected by the foUowing vote : Yeas — Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, W. P. Johnson, of Mo.,Kennedy, Latham, Nesmith, Polk, Powell, and Saulsbury — 9. Nats — ^Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Brown ing, Carlile, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, John son, of Tenn., King, Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, McDougall, Morrill, Pomeroy, Sher man, Sumner, "Ten Eyck, Wade, Willey, and WOson— 30. The original amendment was then rejected, so as to strike out aU these declaratory propositions, and leave the bill as it came from the Commit tee of the Whole ; when it was- en grossed, read a third time, and passed. Bearing in mind that this debate occurred three days before the battle of Bull Eun, that it was initiated by a pro-Slavery Democrat from Ken tucky, and that it occurred when loyal men stiU generaUy and confi dently expected that the EebeUion would soon be suppressed, leaving Slavery intact, it may be well to note some of the significant intimations which it ehcited from the more con servative EepubUcans; as follows : Mr. Dixou (of Conn.) "Mr. President, the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. PowellJ has alluded to remarks of mine, and has said that I have declared on this floor, that, if it were necessary to abolish Slavery in order to save the Union, Slavery should be abol ished. Mr. President, I ha-ve said no such thing. What I said was this : that, if the war should be persisted in, and be long pro tracted, on the part of the South, and, in the course of its progress, it should turn ont that either this Government or Slavery must be destroyed, then the people of the North — the conservative people of the North — would say, ' Bather than let the Government per ish, let Slavery perish.' That is what I said ; and I say it now, and shall continue at all times to say the same ; not, by any means,a8 a threat, but as a warning and an admonition.'' Mr. Beowkino (of 111.) " Mr. President, I cannot say, in common vnth the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Cariile], that I regret that this amendment has been proposed to the_ Senate. I shall certainly vote against it ; it does not meet my views, nor receive my approbation ; but it may still be well that it has heen offered ; as it affords us an oppor tunity _ of. comparing notes, understanding the opinions of each other, and giving the country at large a distinct understanding of what the purpose and intentions of the Con gress ofthe United States are. I speak only for one; I intend to speak very briefiy, but very plainly, my sentiments on this subject. "I differ, furthermore, frora the Senator from Virginia, in the supposition that the in stitution of Slavery has had nothing to do in involving the country in the calamities which now press upon it. H.id it not been for the sentiments and opinions which are engendered, fostered, and cherished by the institution of Slavery, I cannot persuade my self to believe that there ever would have been found a disloyal heart tothe American Constitution upon the American conti nent. I believe that the whole trouble has grown out of the institution of Slavery, and its presence among us; and (as I re marked) the sentiments and opinions which it necessarily engenders,' fosters, and cher ishes. The war, it is true, is not a war for tbe extermination of Slavery. With the in stitution of Slavery where it exists, tho Gen eral Government has nothing, as a Govern ment, to do; nor has the General Govern ment ever assumed the power of, in any shape or manner, controlling the institution of Slavery, or its management, in the States where it exists. The General Government has never been aggressive either upon the Slave States or upon the institution of Sla very. These troubles have all grown out of precisely the opposite — not the aggressions of the General Government, or of the Free States — ^but out of the aggressions of Slavery itself, and its continual struggles for expan sion and extension to countries where it had no right to go, and where our fathers never intended it should go. If Slavery had been content to remain where the Constitution placed it — if it had been content with the privileges and immunities which the Consti tution guaranteed to it — the Free States and the Slave States ofthis Union could have lived together in a perpetual bond of fraternity. " Mr. President, History gives no instance, in my judgment, of such long-suffering and forbearance as there has been, not by the people of the Slave States, but as there has been exhibited by the people of the Free 566 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. States of this Union, in the endurance of out rages, wrongs, and oppressions, that they have suffered at the hands of that institution, and those who maintain the institution, and Iiave suffered from their strong and enduring devotion to the General Government — tothe institutions that our fathers achieved for us, and transmitted to us. I think I should not he at all mistaken in asserting that, for every slave that has ever been seduced from the service of his owner, by the interference of citizens of the Free States with the institu tion where it exists, more than ten free white men of the Free States of this Union have been outraged — every privilege of free dom trodden upon — every right of person vio lated — by lawless mobs in the Slave States. We have horne all this uncomplainingly; we have borne it without a murmur, because we were willing to bear it — willing to make the sacrifice, for the sake of the glorious in stitutions that were the common property .ind common blessing of us all. " Mr. President, we have not invited this war: the people of the loyal States of the Union are in no degree responsible for the calamities that are now upon the country : we gave no occasion for them. There is, in the history of man, no instance of so stupen dous a conspiracy, so atrocious a treason, so causeless a rebellion, as that which now exists in tliis country ; and for what purpose? What wrong had we ever done to the Slave States, or to the institution of Slavery ? I have heard, in all the assaults that have been made on this Administration, no single spe cification of one injustice thatihey had ever suffered at the hands of tho General Govern ment, or at the hands of the Free States, or of tbe people of the Free States. " Mr. President, I am. not prepared to ad mit, either — as some gentlemen take pains to explain — that this is not a war of subju gation. If it is not a war of subjugation, what is it ? What was it set on foot for, if it is not for the sole, identical purpose of subjugating the atrocious Eebellion that exists in the country ?" Mr. Sherman. "My friend will allow me?" Mr. Bkowniitg. " Certainly." Mr. Sherman. " My friend misunderstood my language. I said distinctly that it was not the purpose of this war to subjugate a State, a political community ; but I will go as far as he or any other living man to up hold the Government against all rebellious citizens, whether there be one or many of thera in a State. If nine-tenths of the peo ple of any State rebel against the authority of this Government, the physical power of this Government should be brought to re duce those citizens to subjection. The State sur-vives ; and, I have no doubt, the State of South Carolina, and the State of Florida, and the State of Virginia, will he repre sented on this floor long after the honorable Senator and I have filled the mission allotted to us." Mr. Beowning. " I trust so. I will not stop to deal with technicalities ; I care not whether you call it the subjugation of the people or the subjugation of the State, where all the authorities of a State, where all the ofiicers, who are the embodiment of the power of the State, who speak for the State, who represent the government of tho State, where they are' all disloyal and banded in treasonable confederation against this Government, I, for one, am for subjugating them; and you may call it the subjugation- of the State, or of the people, just as you please. I want this Eebellion put down, this wicked and causeless treason punished, and an example given to the world that will ' teach them that there is a power in the free men of this continent to maintain a consti tutional government. " Why, Mr. President, it is just a struggle to-day — the whole of this fight is about that, and nothing else — whether there shall be any longer any such thing as government on this continent or not ; and the very moment that the doctrine of Secession, the very mo ment that the astounding heresy of Seces sion, is admitted, in any sense or in any degree, government is overthrown ; be- causi, if there be any, such thing as a right existing in a State to secede at any time at her will — causelessly to dismember this Union and overthrow this Government — .there is an end to all constitutions and all laws ; and it is a struggle to-day for the life of the nation. They have assailed that life : we have not done it ; and all that the Gov ernment has done, and all thatthe Adminis tration proposes to do, is in necessary self- defense against assaults that are made upon the very life of the nation. * * * Now, Mr. President, one thing more'. It is better that .people everywhere^ should understand precisely what is going'en, what has hap pened, and what is to happen. For one, 1 should rejoice to see all the States in re bellion return to their allegiance ; and, if they return, if they lay down the arms of their rebellion, and come back to their duty and their obligations, they will be as fully protected now, and at all times hereafter, as they have ever been before, in all their rights, including the ownership, use, and management of slaves. Let them return to their allegiance ; and I, for one, am now for gmng to the Slave States as fully and com pletely all the protection ofthe Constitution and laws as they have ever enjoved in any past hour of our existence. "^"t) sir, let us understand another thing. As I have already, said, the power VIEWS OP ME. BROWNING, OP ILL. 56T to terminate this war now is not with ns. The power is with us, hut not to terminate it instantly. We will terminate it, if it is not terminated, as it should be, by those who began it. But, sir, I say, for one — I speak for myself, and myself only, hut I be lieve, in so speaking, I utter the sentiments which will 'burst from every free heart in all the Northern States of the confederacy — that, if our brethren of the South do force upon us the distinct issue — ' Shall this Gov ernment be overthrown, and it and all the hopes for civil liberty, all the hopes for the oppressed and down-trodden of all the des potisms of the earth, go down in one dark, dreary night of hopelessness and despair?' — if they force upon us the issue whether the Governmeut shall go down, lo maintain the institution of Slavery, or whether Slavery shall be obliterated, to sustain the Constitn- tion and the Government for which our fathers fought and bled, and the principles that were cemented in their blood — I say, sir, when the issue comes, when they force it npon us, that one or the other is to be overthrown, then I am for the Government and against Slavery ; and my voice and my vote shall be for sweeping the last vestige of barbarism from the face of the continent. I trast that necessity may not be forced on ns; but, when it is forced upon us, let us meet it like men, and not shrink from the high and holy and sacred duties that are laid upon ns, as the consei-vators not only of government, but as the conservators of the eternal principles of justice and freedom for the whole human family. "It is better, Mr. President, that we should understand each other ; and I repeat, in conclusion, that, when the issue comes — and if'\t comes — it comes because it is forced npon ns ; it comes upon us as a hard, un- ¦welcome necessity — I trust we shall be found adequate to the emergency ; I trust that our hearts will not fail ns in the day of that ter rible confiict — ^for it ii to be a. terrible one, if this war goes on. If rebellion does not recover of its madness — if American citizens ¦wfll continue so infatuated as to prosecute stiU further this unnatural war against the best and most blessed Government that the world has ever known — this issue may be forced upon us. I say it is not true, as gen tlemen have ventured to assert, that, if it were known by the people of the great Northwest that, in any possible contingency, this war might result in the overthrow and extermination of Slavery, they would no longer give their support to this Govern ment. If it were- known or believed by the people of the great Northwest that this Government should become so recreant to its duties as to shrink from_ meeting that great question, when forced upon ns, in my opinion, they would descend in an avalanche upon this Capitol, and hurl us from the places we should be unworthy to fill. " We do not desire this issue ; we do not want this necessity ; but we have no power to prevent it; and it is better that the peo ple everywhere should understand that, if the necessity is forced upon us, our choice is promptly, instantly, manfully made, and made for all time — that we make the de cision, and we will abide by the decision, to stand by the Government ; and, if if does go down — if not only this nation, but the great brotherhood of mankind everywhere, is -to witness that unspeakable and unheard of calamity of the overthrow of constitu tional government here — let us go down in a manly effort to sustain and uphold it, and to sweep away the causes that brought upon us all this trouble." '*¦ * * * * * Mr. CarUIe, of Ya., having de murred to these views, Mr. Browning rejoined, as follows : "If he imderstood me as announcing any. wish or any intention that this war should be a war waged against Slavery, he totally misapprehended my meaning." Mr. Caelilb. " I did noi so understand the Senator." Mr. Beo-wniktg. "For I took especial •pains to say that I -would rejoice to see this war terminated ; and, if the institution still existed when it is terminated, I should bo for giving it then, as we had always done heretofore, in the best faith in the world, every possible protection that the Constitu tion and laws intended it should have ; but that, if the issue was forced upon us — as it might he — to make a choice between the Government, on the one side, and Slavery onthe other, then I was for the Government." Mr. Sheeman, of Ohio. " I do not under stand either the Senator from Kansas on my right, or the Senator from Connecticut, or the Senator from Kansas behind me, to say that it is the purpose of this war to abolish Slavery. It is not waged for any such pur pose, or with any snch view. They have all disclaimed it. Why, then, does the Sen- a.tor [Mr. Powell] insist upon it ? I will now say, and the Senator may make the most of it, that, rather than see one single foot of this country of ours torn from the national domain by traitors, I will myself see the slaves set free; but, at the same time, 1 utterly disclaim any purpose of that kind. If the men who are now waging war against the Government, fitting out pirates against our commerce, going back to the old mode of warfare of the middle ages, should prosecute this EebeUion to such an extent that there 568 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT, is no way of conquering South Carolina, for instance, except by emancipating her slaves, I say, Emancipate her slaves and conquer her rebellious citizens ; and, if they have not people there enough to elect merabers of Congress and Senators, we will send people there. Let there be no misunderstanding my position ; I wish it distinctly understood ; but, at the same time, I utterly disclaim that it was any purpose, or idea, or object of this war to free the slaves. On the contrary, I ara in favor of the Constitution as it is ; I am in favor of giving the people — the loyal peo ple — of the Southern States, every constitu tional right that they now possess. I voted last Winter to change the Constitution for their benefit — to give them new guarantees, new conditions. I would not do that now ; but I did last Winter. I will give them all the Constitution gives them, and no more." Mr. John J. Crittenden, of Ky., on the 19 th, submitted to the House the following : " Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the Disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital; that, in this national emergency. Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged, on our part, in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of over throwing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States ; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights, of the several States unimpaired ; and, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." Mr. Stevens, of Pa., objecting. The resolution could not be con sidered forthwith ; but it was taken up on Monday, and, on motion of Mr. Burnett, of Ky., di-vided — the vote being first taken on so much of the resolution as precedes and includes the word " capital," which was adopt ed by Yeas 121 ; Nays — Messrs. Bur nett and Eeid — (Eebels :) when the remainder was likewise adopted: Yeas 117 ; Nays — Messrs. Potter, of Wis., and Eiddle, of Ohio — (Eepub Ucans.) Mr. Burnett declined to vote. It is worthy of record that on this sad day, while Washington, crowded with fugitives from the routed Upion 'Grand Army, seemed to lie at the mercy of the Eebels, Congress legis lated calmly and patiently through out; and the House, on motion of Mr. Yandever, of Iowa, unanimously " Resohed, That the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the Union, and the enforcement of the laws, are sacred trusts which must be executed ; that no dis aster shall discourage us from the most am ple performance of this high duty ; and that we pledge to the country and the world the employment of every resource, national and individual, for the suppression, overthrow, aud punishment of Eebels in arms." Mr. Andrew Johnson, of Tenn., on the 24th, moved in the Senate a resolution identical with that of Mr. Crittenden, so recently adopted by the House ; which was zealously op posed by Messrs. Polk and Breckin ridge, and, on special grounds, by Mr. Trumbull, who said : " As that resolution contains a statement which, in my opinion, is untrue, that this capital is surrounded by armed men, who started this revolt, I cannot vote for it. I shall say ' Nay.' " I wish to add one word. The revolt was occasioned, in my opinion, by people who are not here nor in this vicinity. It was started in South Carolina. I think the reso lution limits it to a class of persons who were not the originators of this Eebellioij." But the resolution was nevertheless adopted, by the foUo-wing vote : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Chan dler, Clark, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fes senden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, Har ris, Howe, Johnson, of Tenn., Kennedy, King, Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, Latham, Morrill, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Saulsbury, Sher man, Ten Eyck, Wade, "Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson —30. Nats— Messrs. Bi-eokinridge, Johnson, of Mo., Polk, Powell, Trumbull- 5. ^ This day, the Senate considered a bill to confiscate proi)erty used for CONFISCATION — EMANCIPATION. 569 insurrectionary purposes by persons engaged in rebeUion or forcible re sistance to the Government; and Mr. Trambull, of IU., moved the fol io-wing amendment: "And be it further enacted. That when ever any person, claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person, under the laws of any State, shall employ such person in aiding or promoting any in surrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States, or shall permit him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such service or labor, and the person whose labor or service is thus claimed shall be thence forth discharged therefrom — any law to the contrary notwithstanding." This proposition was advocated by Mr. Ten Eyck, of N. J., who had op posed it two days before, in Commit tee, but who now urged its passage on the assumption that slaves had been engaged on the Eebel side in the battle of Bull Eun. Mr. Pearce, of Md., earnestly opposed it, saying : ''It will inflame suspicions which have had much to do with producing our present evils; will disturb those who are now calm and quiet; inflame those who are restless; irritate numbers who would not he exas perated by any thing else ; and will, jn all probability, produce no other real effect than these. Being, then, useless, unnecessary, and u-ritating, it is, in my opinion, unwise." The vote was then taken, and the amendment adopted : Yeas 33 ; Nays — Breckinridge and PoweU, of Ky., Johnson and Polk, of Mo., Kennedy and Pearce, of Md. — 6. The biU was then engrossed, read a third time, and passed. When this bUl reached the House, it encountered a most strenuous and able opposition from Messrs. Critten den and Burnett, of Ky., YaUandig ham and Pendleton, of Ohio, and Diven, of N. Y. Mr. Cox, of Ohio, moved (August 2d) that the bin do Ue on the table : which was negatived : Yeas 57 ; Nays 71. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens closed a 'vigorous speech in its favor with this impressive admonition : " If this war is continued long, and is bloody, I do not believe that the free people of the North will stand by and see their sons and brothers and neighbors slaughtered by thousands and tens of thousands by rebels, with arms in their hands, and forbear to call upon their enemies to be our friends, and to help us in subduing them. I, for one, if it continues long, and has the consequences mentioned, shall be ready to go for it, let it horrify the gentleman from New York [Mr. Diven] or anybody else. That is my doc trine: and that will be the doctrine of the whole free people of the North before two ' years roll around, if this war continues. "As to the end of the war, until the Eebels are subdued, no man in the North thinks of it. If the Government are equal to the people — and I believe they are — there will be no bargaining, there will be no nego tiation, there will be no truces with the Eebels, except to bury the dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, dis banded his organization, submitted himself to the Government, and sued for mercy. And, sir, ii those who have the control of the Government are not fit for this task, and have not the nerve and mind for it, the people will take care that there are others who are — although, sir, I have not a bit of fear of the present Administration or of the present Executive. "I have spoken more freely, perhaps, than gentlemen within my hearing might think politic ; but I have spoken just what I felt. I have spoken what I believe wUl be the result ; and I warn Southern gentlemen that, if this war is to continue, there will be a time when my friend frora New York [Mr. Diven] will see it declared by this free nation that every bondman in the South — belong ing to a Eebel, recollect; I confine it to thera — shall be called upon to aid us in war against their masters, and to restore this Union." The bUl 'v^as now recommitted, on motion of Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio ; and an attempt by Mr. Stevens to reconsider this decision was defeated by laying on the table — Yeas 71 ; Nays 61. It was reported back next day from the Judiciary Committee by Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, so amended as to strike out the section relating to slaves — adopted on motion of Mr. 570 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. Trumbull as aforesaid — and insert instead the following : "Seo. 4. And be -it further enacted. That, whenever hereafter, during the present in surrection against the Government of the United States, any person claimed to be held to labor or service, under the laws of any State, shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to take up arms against the United States, or shall be required or per mitted by the person to whora such service or labor is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to work or be employed in or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or •mtrenchraent, or in any military or naval service whatever, against the Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such case, the person to whom such service is claimed to be due shall forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State or of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding; and -\vhenever thereafter the person claiming such service or labor shall seek to enforce 'his claim, it shall be a full and sufiicient answer to such claira, that the person whose service or labor is claimed had been employed in hos tile service against the Government of the United States, contrary to the provisions of this act." Mr. Bingham called for the previ ous question on the reading of the bill, as thus amended, which was seconded. Mr. Holman, of Indiana, moved that the bill be laid on the table ; which was beaten : Yeas 47 ; Nays 66. The amendment of the Judiciary Committee was then agreed to ; the bill, as amended, ordered to be read a third time, and passed, as follows : Ybas — Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Arnold, Ashley, Babbitt, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Samuel S! Blair, Blake, BuflSnton, Chamberlain, Clark, Colfax, Fred erick A. Conkling, Covode, Duell, Edwards, Eliot, Fenton, Fessenden, Franchot, Frank, Granger, Gurley, Hanohett, Harrison, Hutch ins, Julian, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Wil liam Kellogg, Lansing, Loomis, Lovejoy, Mc Kean, Mitchell, Justin S. Morrill, Olin, Pot ter, Alex. H. Eice, Edward H. Eollins, Sedg wick, Shefiield,Shellabarger, Sherman, Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Benj. F. Thomas, Train, ¦ July 25, 1861. Van Home, Verree, Wallace, Charles W Walton, E. P. Walton, Wheeler, Albert S. White, and Windom — 60. Nats — Messrs. Allen, Ancona, Joseph Bai- ly, George H. Browne, Burnett, Calvert, Cox, Cravens, Crisfield, Crittenden, Diven, Dun- lap, Dunn, English, Fouke, Grider, Haight, Hale, Harding, Holman, Horton, Jackson, Johnson, Law, May, McClernand, McPher son, Mallory, Menzies, Morris, Noble, Norton, Odell, Pendleton, Porter, Eeid, Eobinson, James S. Eollins, Sheil, Smith, John B. Steele, Stratton, Francis Thomas, Vallandig ham, Voorliees, Wadsworth, Webster, and Wickliffe— 48. The bill, thus amended, being re turned to the Senate, Mr. TrumbuU moved a concurrence in the House amendment, which prevailed by the following vote : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Brown ing, Clark, Collamer, Dixon, Doolittle, Fes senden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harris, King, Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, McDou gall, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, and Wilson — 24. Nats — Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, Car lile, Cowan, Johnson, of Mo., Latham, Pearce, Polk, Powell, Eice, and Saulsbury — 11. Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, sub mitted ^ the following : " Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. That .we, as representatives of the people and States, re spectively, do herehy declare our fixed deter mination to maintain the supremacy of the Government and the integrity ofthe Union of all these United States ; and to this end, as far as we may do so, we pledge the entire re sources of the Government and people, untU all rebels shall submit to the one and cease their efforts to destroy the other." Which was adopted : Yeas 34; Nays 1 — Mr. Breckinridge. Mr. S. S. Cox, of Ohio," asked the House to suspend its rules to enable him to offer the following : " Whereas, it is the part of rational beings to terminate their difliculties by rational: methods, and, inasmuch as the difi'eren- ces between the United States authorities and the seceding States have resulted in a civil war, characterized by bitter hostility and extreme atrocity; and, although the party in the seceded States are guilty of ' July 29th. S. COX. AND W. P. JOHNSON POR 'PEACE' 571 breaking the national unity and resisting the national authority : Yet, "Be it resohed. First: That, while we make undiminished and increased exertions by our Navy and Army to maintain the integrity and stability of this Governraent, th^ common laws of war, consisting of those maxims of humanity, moderation, and hon or, which are a part of the international code, ought to be observed by both parties, and for a stronger reason than exists be tween two alien nations, inasmuch as the two parties have a common ancestry, histo ry, prosperity, glory, Government, and Union, and are now unhappily engaged in lacera ting their common country. Second: That, resulting from these preraises, while there ought to be left open, as between two alien nations, the same- means for preventing the war being carried to outrageous extremities, there ought, also, to be left open some means for the restoration of peace and Union. Third: That, to this end — the restoration of peace and union on the basis of the Consti tution — there-be appointed a Committee of one member from each State, who shall re port to this House, at its next session, such amendments to the Constitution of the Uni ted States as shall assuage all grievances, and bring about a reconstruction of the na tional unity; and that, for the preparation of such adjustment, and the conference re quisite for that purpose, there be appoint-ed a commission of seven citizens of the United States, consisting of Edward Everett, of Mas sachusetts, Franklin Pierce, of New Hamp shire, Millard FiUmore, of New York, Eev erdy Johnson, of Maryland, Martin Van Buren, of New York, Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, and James Guthrie, of Kentucky, who shall request from the so-called Confederate States the appointment of a similar commis sion, and who shall meet and confer on the subject in the city of Louisville, on the first Monday of September next. And that the Committee appointed from this House notify said Commissioners of their appointment and function, and report their action to the next s'ession, as an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, to be proposed by Con gress to the States for their ratification, according to the fifth article of the Constitu tion." The House refused to suspend : Yeas 41 ; Nays 85. Mr. Waldo P. Johnson,' of Mo., proposed (Aug. 5th) to add to the biU pro-viding for an increase of the En gineer Corps the foUo'wing : "And be it further enacted. That this Congress recommend the Governovs of the several States to convene their Legislatui-es for tho purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each Congressional district, to meet in general Convention at Louisville, in Kentucky, on the first Monday in Septeraber next ; the purpose of the said Convention to be to devise measures for the restoration of peace to our country.'' Mr. Carlile, of Va. " Mr. President, there is no one, perhaps, within the limits of the Union, who is more anxious that peace should be restored to our country than I am ; but, sir, in the presence of a large, organized army, engaged in an effort to overthrow the institutions of the country, and permanently to divide tliese States that- have so long existed as one people, I do not think any such proposition as this ought to be made until that army shall be disbanded, and until an offer to meet those who desire peace shall be made to them by those who are engaged in this Eebellion. I cannot, therefore, entertaining these views, vote for the amendment offered by the Senator from Missouri — not that I would not go as far as he will go, or any other Senator on this floor, to allay the strife in our land; but I think that propositions of this kind, coming from the Senate of the United States at this hour, are inopportune; and, instead of aid.. ing the effort that may be made for peace, they will prolong the civil war that is now raging in the. country." Mr. McDougall, of Cal. " I wish merely to amend the remark made by the Senator from Virginia. He says this proposition would be inopportune. I say.it would be intensely cowardly." Mr. Johnson's proposition was re jected by the following vo^e : Yeas — Messrs. Bayard, Breckinridge, Br' ght, Johnson, of Mo., Latham, Pearce, Polk, Powell, and Saulsbury. — 9. , Nats — Messrs. Baker, Browning, Carlile, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Howe, King, Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, McDougall, Morrill, Eice, Sherman, Sumner, Ten Eyok, Trumbull, Wade, Wil kinson, Wilmot, and Wilson — 29. The bill increasing the pay of sol diers being that day under considera tion, Mr. Wilson, of Mass., moved to add the following : "And be it further enacted. That all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the Presi- ' Who, with his colleague, Trusten Polk, openly joined the Rebels soon afterward. 572 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. dent of the United States, .after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out or re lating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved, and in all re spects legalized and made valid, to the same intent, and with the same effect, as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Con gress of the United States." The amendment was agreed to, and the biU thereupon passed, as fol lows : Yeas 33 ; Nats — Messrs. Breckinridge, Kennedy, Polk, Powell, and Saulsbury — 5. This bill was, the same day, recon sidered, and the above amendment, being moved afresh, was again adopt ed : Yeas 37 ; Nats — Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright,Ken- nedy, Pearce, and Powell — 5. So the amendment was once more agreed to, and the bill passed. The bill being thus returned to the House, Mr. Yallandigham moved to strike out the above section, which was defeated by the following vote : Yeas — Messrs. Allen, Ancona, George H. Browne, Calvert, Cox, Crisfield, Jackson, Johnson, May, Noble, Pendleton, James S. Eollins, Shell, Smith, Vallandigham, Voor- hees, 'Wadsworth, Ward, and "Webster — 19. Nats— 74. The bill was thereupon passed. Mr. Calvert, of Md., offered the foUowing : "That, whilst it is the duty of Congress, by appropriate legislation, to strengthen the hands of Governraent in its efforts to main tain the Union and enforce the supremacy of the laws, it is no less our duty to examine into the original causes of our dissensions, and to apply such remedies as are best cal culated to restore peace and union to the country : Therefore, it is " Resolved (The Senate concurring here in), that a Joint Committee, to consist of nine members of this House and four mem bers of the Senate, be appointed to consider and report to Congress such amendments to the Constitution and laws as may be neces sary to restore mutual confidence and insure a more perfect and endurable Union amongst these States." This proposition was laid on the table : Yeas 72 ; Nays 39 — ^nearly a party division. And Mr. Diven, of N. Y., thei'eupon asked the unani mous consent of the House to enable him to off'er the following : " Resolved, That, at a time when an armed rebellion is threatening the integrity of the Union, and the overthrow of the Govern ment, any and all resolutions or recommend ations designed to make terras with armed rebels are either cowardly or treasonable." Mr. YaUandigham objected; and the House refused to suspend the rules : Noes 36 ; Ays 56 — not two- thirds. The session terminated by adjourn ment at noon, August 6th, having lasted but thirty-three days. XXXV. MISSOUEI. We have seen Conventions of the people of several States coolly assume the power, asserted or reserved in no one of their respective Constitutions, to take those States out of the Union, and absolve their people from all ob ligation to uphold or obey its Govern ment, in flagrant defiance of that Federal charter, framed for and adopted by the people of the United States, and by them recognized and accepted as the supreme law of the MISSOUEI BETEATED BT JACKSON. land, anythmg in the Constitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. We have seen one of these Conventions assume and ex ercise the right of revoking a funda mental compact between the State and the Union, which is, by its ex- 573 press terms, irrevocable. We have seen State Legislatures, in default of Conventions, usurp, practically, this tremendous power of secession ; and have heard a now loyal Governor proclaim that a popular majority for Secessionists, in an election of mem- ) lancaster" ' kirksv/lle {charleston ATHENS JV SUGAR Cr'> 7: " VI ;.sTON \ , > .STJOS£PH .,^M4lBAL>.ts./jnQ.-., J (^NEWARK <^ HUDSON rmoNROE ICAN roN QUINCy lANNIBAL ^ >. MtAIRY V^prirhe. (LEAVENWORTH ^^^ >^\ ' ^^^^ -CAMBRID*GeA, '^FAYETTE jSfis< I . LEXINGTON B'^J'o J INDEPENDENCE ^^S^FUITOM i ^ BOONEVILLEf^^^"y "^l LONE JACK* SEDALIA I'... WARRENtoI^ 1*. A S.tCHARKS^ # MAP Of* MiesODBL bers of Congress, might serve to nul lify the obhgation of the citizens of that State to the Federal Constitu tion and Union. We are now to con- tiemplate more directly the spectacle Of a State plunged into secession and civil war, not in obedience to, but in defiance of, the action of her Conven tion and the express will of her peo ple — not, even, by any direct act of her Legislature, but by the will of her Executive alone.' Gov. Jackson, ' Pollard, in his " Southem History," says : "Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, tbe Border States were unwilling to rush into disso lution until every hope of a peaceful settlement 574 THE* AMEEICAN CONFLICT. as we have seen, having found the Convention, which his Legislature had called, utterly and emphatically intractable to the uses of treason, had reconvened his docile Legislature." But even this body could not be in duced to vote the State out of the Union. Below that point, however, it stood ready enough to aid the bolder conspirators ; and its pliancy was taxed to the utmost. The State School Fund, the money provided to pay the July interest on the heavy State Debt, and all other available means, amounting in the aggregate to over three millions of dollars, were appropriated to military uses, and placed at the disposal of Jackson, un der the pretense of arming the State against any emergency. By another' act, the Governor was invested with despotic power — even verbal opposi tion to his assumptions of authority being constituted treason ; while every citizen liable to military duty was declared subject to draft into active service at Jackson's will, and an oath of obedience to the State Executive exacted. Under these acts, Jackson appointed ex-Gov. Sterling Price Major-General of the State forces, with nine Brigadiers — Parsons, M. L. Clark, John B. Clark, Slack, Harris, Eains, McBride, Stein, and Jeff'. Thompson, commanding in so many districts into which the State was di vided. These Brigadiers were or dered by Maj. Gen. Price to muster and organize the militia of their sev eral districts so fast as possible, and send it with all dispatch to Boone ville and .Lexington, two thriving young cities on the Missouri, respect- of the question had vanished. This was the position of Missouri, to whoso Convention not a single Seceisiouibt was elected. Gov. Price was ively some forty and one hundred miles west of Jefferson, and in the heart of the slaveholding region. This call having been made, Jackson and Price, fearing an attack from the Federal forces gathering at St. Louis, started westward with their follow ers, reaching Booneville on the 18th of June. Price, being sick, kept ou by steamboat to Lexington. They had not moved too soon. Gen. Lyon and his army left St. Louis by steamboats on the 13tli,and reached Jeff'erson City on the morn ing ofthe 15th, only to find that the Confederate chiefs had started when he did, with a go.od hundred nnles advantage in the race. Kecm bark ing on the 16th, he reached Roche- port, 12 mUes below Booneville, next morning, and espied the Rebel en campment just across the river. In it were collected some two or three thousand men, only half armed; and not at all drilled, under the imine- diate command of Col. Marmaduke. Jackson, utterly disconcerted by Lyon's unexpected rapidity of move ment, had ordered his ' State Guard' to be disbanded, and no resistance to be offered. But Marmaduke deter mined to fight, and started for the landing, where he hoped to surprise and cut up the Unionists while de barking. He met Lyon advancing in good order, and was easily routed by him, losing two guns, with much camp-equipage, clothing, etc. His raw infantry were dispersed, but his strength in cavalry saved him from utter destruction. Jackson fled to Warsaw, on the 0?age, some eighty miles south-west: elected from his district as a Union man, with out opposition; and, en the assembling of the ConventioUj was chosen its PresidenL" 'May 3d, SJGEL'S FIGHT NEAE CAETHAGE. 575 Fifteen miles north of that place, at Camp Cole, a half-organized regiment of Unionists, under Capt. Cook, was asleep in two barns, with no pickets out save northward, when, during the night of the 18th, they were sur prised by a Rebel force from the southward, under Col. O'Kane, and utterly routed — being unable t«"''y 'o reenforce Beaure- SJ. ,.„, • ."-eenforces Beauregard at Manassas, 510; &J2, outranks Beauregard, 544; allusion to, 618 Johnston, Josiah S., of La., on Cuba, 268. Jo.NES, Col., (Rebel,) wounded at Bull Run, 542. ANALYTICAL INDEX. "JnS!' ?°'- J'»''^s A., Alleghany Summit, 527. JONES, LIEUT., evacuates Harper's Perry 642 9^.^°^'"''''' .^^"^^ J-' <" Border Ruffian, Zii , threatens to bombard Lawrence, 244 Jordan, Col., (Rebel,) boasts of having received details of our plan of battle before Bull Eun 550 Joseph, The, captured by the Savannah, 598. Journal of ihe Times, The, 115. Judah, The, destroyed at Pensacola, 601-2. Julian, George "W., of Ind., nominated for Vice- President by the Free-Soilers, 224. Kagi, J. H., a hberator of slaves, 286; rejoins Brown at Topeka, 287; is Brown's Secretary of War 238; killed at Harper's Ferry, 292. ' Kanawha : see West Virginia. Kane, Judge John K., letter to from Polk, 109 ; his decision in the case of Euphemia Willmms, 216. K.\NE, George P., Marshal ofthe Baltimore Po lice, 421 ; puts a stop to the riot at Baltimore, 464 ; his dispatch to Bradley T. Johnson, 466; is sent to Fort McHenry by Gen. Butler, 629. Kansas, the Nebraska-Kansas struggle, 224 to 251; admitted as a State, 251. (See John Bkown, BORDRR EtJFFIiNS, etc.) Kearsarge, U. S. Gunboat, blockades the Sum ter at Gibraltar, 602. Keitt, Lawrence M., of S. C, an abettor of the assault on Sumner, 299 ; in Secession Convention, 845. Kelley, Col., qf W. Va., iu command of Camp Carlile, Ohio, 520; crosses to Wheeling, 522; is wound ed at Philippi, 522; captures Eomney, etc., 527. Kelly, Wiluam, at Tweddle HaU, 388. Kendall, Amos, to P. M. at Charleston, 129. Kentucky, 17; slave population iu 1790, 36; unanimously devoted to Jefferson, etc., 83 ; the Eesolu tions of '98, 88; withdrawal of delegates from the Doug las Convention, 31 8 ; Magoffin elected Governor, 338; his coarse toward South Carolina, 840; the State re mains in the Union, 349 ; population in 1860, 351 ; Leg islature of, proposes a general Convention of the States, 897-403 ; her Governor's answer to the President's call for troops, 460 ; progress of secession in ; Magoffin's message, 492-3 ; Legislature remains loyal ; Union meet ing inLonisville, 498-4; the nature of the State Guard ; Buckner; Legislattire reassembles; speech of Eous seau, 494-5 ; neutrality sentiments of the Legislature ; election for the 'Peace Convention,' 495; activity of the secessionists; vote of the State forCon^essmen, 496; her Members at the extra session, 55o; President's Message with regard to her neutrality, 557 ; Rebels in the Western portion threaten Cairo, 638; disposition of Federal troops, 587; review of her political course, 608-9 ; her vote for the Union ; Union Legislature as sembles, 609; Magoffin's letter to the President, 610; the reply, 6li ; Magof&n's Message, 612 ; loyal resolves ofthe Legislatnrc; Gen. Grant occupies Paducah, 612; Gens. Polk and ZoUicoffer invade the State, 618 ; ex-6ov. Morehead arrested ; ZoUicoffer captures Barboursville, 614; Breckinridge's Address, 616; Gen. Sherman suc ceeds Anderson, 615; the affairs at Wild-Cat and Pike ton, 616 ; Schoepfs retreat ; proceedings of the Seces sion Convention at Bussellville, 617. Kentucky Yeoman, The, on fugitive slaves^ 217. Kednappino, cases o^ 217. KiLLiNGEE, Mb., in American Convention, 247. King, Rufus, remarks in Convention, 42. King, Thomas Butlee, goes to California, 201. King, "Wm. R., Mmister to Paris ; is instructed by Calhoun as to Annexation, 169 ; denounces Clay's Compromise, 206 ; nominated for Vice-President, 222. King wood, Va., Union meeting at, 518. "Knights op the Golden Circle," their influ ence at the South, 850 ; do. in Kentucky, 493. Keum, John M., Mayor of Alton, 141. L. Lapayettb, letter from Washington to, 51; let ter from, in prison, 51 ; lelter to Hamilton, 51; 2o4. Lamon, Ool. "Waed II., visits Charleston, 54J. 41 641 Lander, Gen., at the battle of Philippi 522 L^, Gen. Henry S., of Ind., 24G; elected Governor in I860, 826. H"^ Gen James H., turns back the Border KulBans, 284; in Congress, 664; 685; 537- 598 Lane, Joseph, of Oregon, in the Dem. Conven tion of 1860, 817; nominated for Vice-President, 819- makes a speech against coercion, 402, ' La Salle, voyages on tbe Mississippi, 54 ; 147. Lauman, Col., wounded at Belmont 697 Laurel Hill, Va., figbt at, 522-3. L.4.URENS, Henry, letter from Washington to 19 ; 254; letter to his son, 36. ^ ' Law, George, in the American Convention of 1866, 247 ; his letter to the President, 467-8. Lawless, Judge, his charge at St. Louis, 134. Lawrence, Abbott, of Mass., in the Whig Con vention of 1848, 192. Lawrence, Kansas, the founding of, 236 ; iUegal voting at, 238 ; beleaguered by Atchison, etc., 248-4 ; ¦Brown's speech at, 234^5 ; the flght at, 285. Lay, Col. G. W., goes to Charleston, 442. Leavenworth, Kansas, outrages at, 239 ; 335. Leavitt, Judge, in case of Margaret Garner, 219. Lecompton, Kansas, Conveution at, 240. Lecompton Constitution, The, submitted to a vote ofthe people, 249-50; flnally rejected, 250. Lee, Col., (Union,) at BaU's Bluff, 623. Lee, Gen. Robert E., brings . reenforcements against old Brown at Harper's Ferry, 293 ; takes com mand of Eebel forces in Virginia, 518, commands in "West Vu-ginia, 525-6. Leeman, Wm. H., kUled at Harper's Ferry, 292. Leigh, Benj. Watkins, Comm'r to S. C, 100 ; 1 10. Lesesne, Me., of S. C, favors ' cooperation,' 333. Letcher, John, his politics, etc., 225 ; his pecu liar position as Governor of Virginia, 840 ; hastes to join the traitors, 842; calls his Legislature together, 848 ; his letters to L. P. Clover, of 111., 897 ; considers New England past forgiveness, 488; his answer to the President's requisition, 459 ; 465; proclaims the adop tion of the Confederate Constitution, 516; proclamation calling out the militia, 616 to 617; his Message on the proceedings in West Virginia, etc., 519. Lewinsville, Va., reoccupied by our army, 620. Lex, Charles B., speech at PhUadelphia,3G5. Lexington, Mo., a Border Ruffian rendezvous, 283 ; the siege and battle of, 586 to 689 ; Col. Mulligan's official report, 588^9 ; why not reenforced, 598-4. Liberator, The, 116; 122. Liberia, colonization of, 72. Liberty, Mo., Federal Arsenal seized at, 490. Lincoln, Abraham, in the Rep. Convention of 1856, 246; his canvass of Illinois with Douglas, 801; his speeches there, 301-2 ; nominated for the Presidency, 821 ; his position in the canvass deflned, 322 ; review or the canvass, 328 to 326 ; classifled table of the vote, 828 ; 357; 408; Breckinridge declares him duly elected; his journey to the capital, 418 ; speeches at Indianapolis, Columbus, and Pittsburgh, 419; speech at PhiladelphiiL 419-20; his Iniiugurai, 422 to 426 ; reflections, and opinionsof the Press thereon, 427-8; his Cabinet, 428; his incredulity, etc., 429 ; reply to the Virginia Com missioners, 462; proclamation calling for 75,000 troops, 453-4; opinions of the Press, 454 to 458; replies of Southern Governors; spirit of Southern Press, 4o9 to 461 ; holds an interview with Gov. Hicks and Mayor Brown, 466; with the Young Men's Christian Com mittee, 466-7 ; letter from George Law to, 467-8 ; allu sion to by Tlie Jiiclimmid Examzner, 470; vote cast for him in Kentuckv, 492; 494; 497-8; total voe re ceived by him. 500 ; Magruder's treachery, .500 , allusion toby tL Norfolk Jrerald,i0%;b\^; his view of West Virginia, 619; proclaims a blockade; calls for 42000 more trooDS 528; 651; his Message at the Extra Ses- Zn'6l6 tTloofsen. Fremont's letter to, 583-4 ; Davis ^rlloVfn witti regard to the privateersmen, 699 Ma- SSln's letter! amUlie President's reply, 610-11; direcU the formation of army corps, 619. Livingston, Kdwaud, 95. 6-42 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Locke, John, onthe Slave-Trade, 28. Loguen, Jerry, a fugitive slave, 215. London Times, The, RusseU' s estimate of our forces prior to Bull Eun, 550. Lone Star, order ofthe, 270; 350. Longstreet, Gen. Jas., at Blackburn's ford, 539. Lopez, his intrigues and death, 270. Loring, Ellis Gray, his church mobbed, 126. Louis XIV., decides to acknowledge our Inde pendence, 265. Louisiana, 53; purchase of, 84^5; Whig or 'Union' party triumph in, 211; withdr.iws from the Dem. Convention, 314; iegisiativc instructions to her delegates. 310; secession of, and tho votes thereon, 848;'population in 1800,851; seizure of Federal pro perty in, 412; surrender of the cutter McClellan to the authorities of, 413. Louisville, Ky., dispatch from, announcing the order of the Montgomery War Department, 460 ; pro ceedings of the Union meeting at, 493-4. Louisville Courier, The, infamous fabrication of, 508; its repmt of Bull Eun, 643; 617. Louisville Journal, The, on tho President's call to arms, 460; on the mockery of the vote in Virginia, 479; on the rei^n of terror in Tennessee, 483; denun ciation of Buckner, 494; citation from, 617. Lovejoy, Elij.ui P., sketch of his life, martyr dom, and death, 130 to 142. Lovejoy, Owen, of Ills., 374; 560. Lowe, Col., killed at Fredericktown, Mo., 591. Lowe, Col., (Union,) repulsed at Scarytown, 524; killed at Carnifex Ferry, 525. Lowe, Gov. Louis E., to the Baltimore mob, 464. Lowe, Gov., of Iowa, his majority, 300. Ludlow, Dr., his church mobbed, 1 26. Lundy, Benjamin, biographical sketch of. 111 to 115; allusion to, 141; 152; 363. Lyons, Lord, demands Mason and SlideU, 608. Lyon, Robert, of S. C, to a friend in Texas, 450. Lyon, (jEN. Nathaniel, his services at St. Louis ; captures Gen. Frost's camp, 490 ; succeeds Gen. Harney ; .has an interview with Gen. Price, 491 ; whips Marmaduke, 574; arrives at Springfield, 576; defeats the Eebels at Dug-Springs, 577; attacks the enemy at Wilson-s Creek, 578; his heroism and death, 579-80; Pollard's opinion of him, 582. Lytle, Col., wounded at Carnifex Ferry, 525. " M. Madison County, Miss., men hung there, 128. Madison, James, 42; 43; 63; 72; takes the Southern view of the Missouri question, 75; 82; S'); drafts the Virginia Eesolves of 1799, 84; 110; 264-5; letter to Hamilton, 357 ; 497. Madisonian, The, letter frora GUmer to, 156. Magoffin, Beriah, of Ky., elected Governor, 833; his Union Address, 340; his answer to the Presi dent's requisition, etc., 460; his Message, 492-3 ; 493; 494; 496; .509; 609; his letter to the President, 610; the reply, 611; Message, 611, 612; ZoUicoffer to, 613. Magrath, Judge, of S. C, 336 ; 345. Magruder, J. B., 506; 529; 531. Maine, admission of into the Union, 79-80; 326. Mallory, Stephen R., of Fla., 429. Marcy, Gov., of N. T., 122; extract frora his Message, 124; 186; 222; 273. Markle, Cvpt., (Union,) kiUed at Belmont, 597. Marmaduke, Col., routed at BooneviUe, Mo., 574. Marshall, Chief Justice, 106; 109; 110; 252. Marshall, Humphrey, of Ky., 539; 614 Marston, Col. Gilman, at BuU Run, 525. Martin, Luther, 44; 107. Maryland, 36; first Abohtion Society in, 107; 142; withdraws from the Douglas Convention, 818; 819; populaiion in 1860,8.51; 461; 468; Butler lands at Annapolis, 468-9; Legislature convenes at Frederick, 4Tp; decides not to secede, etc., 471; 471-2"; loyal et last, 472 ; 55,5. See Baltimo&b. Marysvillb, Kansas, fraudulent voting at, 238 Mason, James M., 35; 73; opposes Clay's Com promise measures, 204; 212; attends the Ostend meet ing, 273. 305;^ favors further efforts for 'conciliation,' 373; 382; 40o; hisletterto The Winchester V-irginm'i 478-9; 514; taken from the Trent by Capt Wilkes] 606; is rendered up to Great Britain, 608. Mason, Major, wounded at BuU Run, 543. Massachusetts, 20; slave population in 1790; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 86; 37; abol ishes Slavery, 103; 125; Disunion hinted at, 175; sends Mr. Hoar to Charleston, 180; withdraws from the Douglas Convention, 813; 362. May, Henry, 555; makes a ' personal explana tion,' 668-4; 615. McCauley, Capt., at Norfolk Navy Yard, 473-5. McCall, Gen., 620 ; 624; 625-6. Mc'Calmont, Col. J. S., (Union,) 626. McClaety, Mr,, of Ky., 492. ilcCjiELLAN, Gen. Geo. B., 496 ; his Address to theWest Virginians, 520; 521; 622; Laurel Hill, Cheat Mountain, 528; 5-24; 523; 693; 616; takes command at Washington, etc., 619; extract from his report, etc. 620-21; 624; 6-26-7; "All quiet on the Potomac," 628; his interdict of tho Hutchinsons, etc., 629-630. McClellan, U. S. putter, betrayed to Rebels, 413. McClelland, Robert, of Mich., 189. McClurken, Major, wounded at Belmont, 697. McClernand, John A., of lUs., 189; 195; 300; 662-3; 69L • ' McCrillis, Mr., of Me., delegate to Chicago, 321. MoCuRDY, Edward, speech at Charleston, 403. McCulloch, Gen. Ben., 413; 575; defeated at Dug Springs, Mo., 677; commands .at Wilson's Creek, 678; 631; his proclamation, 582 ; is joined by Price at Neosho, 689. McGowan, Mr., of S. C, in Convention, 334-5. McDowell, Gen., 533 ; his General Order No. 4, 634-5; moves on Centerville, 639; his plan of battle, 640; report of our losses, 545; 650-1; 552; report with regard to the three months' men, 653; 618. McDougall, Me., ofCah, 571. Macfarland, with Mason and SlideU, 606. McIntosh, Feancis J., burnt by a mob, 134. McLe.vn, Judge, decision in Margaret Gamer's case, 219; opinion in the Dred Scott case, 260. Mecklenburg Declaration, The, 35. MEMPi-ns, Tenn., celebration of South Carolina's secession at; Senator Johnson burnt in effigy, etc, 407. Memphis Appeal, Tlie, citation from, 597. Memphis Avalanche, The, citation from, 597. Meigs, Henry, vote on Missouri Compromise, 80. Memminger, Chas. G., of S. C, 344; 429. Mervine, Com. Wm., destroys the Judah, 601-2. Methodists, The, and Slavery, 120-21. Mexico, 148; 176; warwith, 186-7; 188; 190. Milwaukee, Wise, fugitive-slave case at, 215. Milton, John, of Fla., in Dem. Convention, 314 Milledgeville, Ga., Military Convention at, 337. Miles, Wm. Poroher, of S. C, 337 ; 448. Miles, Col. D. S., at Bull Run, 552. Milroy, Gen., (Union,) 527. Minnesota, 300 ; 301. Mississippi, 128; 157; 211; Foote chosen Gov ernor, 211 ; withdraws from the Democnatic Conven tion, 8l4; 330; 844; secession of, and the vote thereon, 347-3; 350; population in 1860, 851; Mr. Aughey's experience, etc., 514. Missouri, struggle for the admission of, 74 to 80; 103; 225; 235; 262; withdraws from the Douglas Con- vcnticm, 818; .Jackson chosen Governor, 841;' refuses to secede, 849 ; population in 1860, 851 ; 460 ; 4S9 ; Jack son calls for iiO.OOO militiii. 491-2; 556; map of the war region in, 573 ; sham Secession at Neosho, 689-90. See C. F. JacixSon, Eeynolds, St. Louis, etc ANALYTICAL INDEX. 643 Missonri Argus, The, citation from, 128. Mitchell, Col., wounded at Wilson's Creek, 579. Mobile, Ala., declaration of causes, etc, at, 355; 407 ; seizure of the Federal Arsenal at, 412 ; surrender of the cutter Cass at, 418. Mobile Advertiser, The, citation from, 459. Montgomery, Col., captiu-es Port Scott, 185. Moneob, Jas.,75 ; 108-9-10 ; 154; 175 ; 266 ; 267. Monroe, Thos. B., Se., of Ky., 614; becomes a member of the Eebel Congress and a Senator, 617. Monroe, Thos. B., Jr., 6l4. Montebal, the sheriff of, tempted to engage in slave-catching, 218. Moody, Col., (Union,) at AUeghany Summit, 527. MooEE, Gov. A. B., of Ala., his dispatch to the S. C. Convention, 345; 847; orders the seizure of Fed eral property, 412. MooRE, Gov. Thos. 0., of La., caUs a Secession Convention, 848. Moore, Col., (Rebel,) kUled at Bidl Run, 545. Morehead, Charles S., 509 ; 614. MoSe, Hannah, her opinion of Oglethorpe, 32. Moegan, Capt. John, 597 ; 614. moeeis, gouvbeneue, 43 to 45. MoEEis, Isaac N., of IU., 375. MOERISON, Capt. J. J., surrenders the cutter Cass to the Rebels, 413. Morse, Prop. Samuel F. B., 439. Mount Oebad, Kansas, seized by the Border EnfSans, 243. MouTON, Mr., of La-, withdraws from the Dom- oci-atic Convention, 314. MuLLDfS, Me., of S. C, Secession speech of, 335. Mulligan, Col., is besieged in Lexington, 586 ; his report of the siege, 583-9. Napoleon, Ark., seizure of the Arsenal at, 4S8. Napoleon Bonaparte, acquires Louisiana of Spain, 54; sells it to the United States, 56; his rapa city compared with the Ostend Manileste, 275. ' NashviUe Banner, The, citation from, 349. Nashville Gazette, The, extract from, 484. Nashville, The Privateer, she burns the Har vey Birch ; is blockaded by the Tuscarora, etc., 60.3. National Intelligencer, The, its letter from Henry Chiy, 162 to 164; on the President's call, 460 ; letter to, supposed te be from Gen. Scott, 549. Nebraska, .the Kansas struggle, 224 to 251. Nelson, Gen. Wm., at Piketon, Ky., 616, Nelson, Judge Samuel, 252 ; on Dred Scott, 257. Nelson, Thos. A.R.,of Tenn., renounces theUnion on his way to Congress, 555. Nevada Teeriioey, organized by Congress, 388. Nevvaek, N. j., pro-Slavery riots at, 126. Nbwbt, D., killed at Harper's Perry, 292. New Hampshiee, 20; slave population iu 1790; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 36 ; abolishes Slavery, 108; State, election of 1860, 826. New Jeesey, slave population of; troops fur nished during the Eevolution, 86; Legislature favors the Missouri Eestriction, 77; first Abolition Society in, 107; provides for Emancipation, 108 ; Eepublican tri umph in, in 1868, 300. New Mexico, in Congress, 190 to 196; 201; President Taylor's Message in relation to, 202 ; in Con gress again, 203; Mason, Jeff. Davis, Clay, and Webster, as to Slavery in, "204 to 206; 208; acts of her Legisla ture with respect to Slaves, ete., 802 to 304 ; the ques tion of iu the ' Peace Conference,' 404-5. New Oeleans, 54; Walker arrested at, 276: celebration of the Secession of S. C. at, 407; seizure of the Mint and Custom House at, 412. New Orleans Bee, Tlie, on ' Black Republicans,' 437. New Orleans Picayune, The, quotation from. Gen. Butler's pedigree, etc., 508; its construction of Lin coln's Indianapolis speech, 510. New Orleans True American, The, citation from,128. New Yoek, 19; slave population of, in 1790; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 86; Legisla ture favors Missouri Eestriction, 77; iirovides for Em.ancipation, 108; action against the Abolitionists, in 1836, 124 ; changes from Eepublican to Democratic, 800 ; political condition of, prior to Lincoln's election, 827; reduction of Eepublican strength, in Dec, 1860, 8C2 : arrival of the 7th and 7l8t regiments at 'Washington, 469. " ' New York City, Hamlet, a fugitive slave at, 215 New York Courier and Enquirer, The, 124. New Por/c -Express, TAdjOn President's' caU,455 ; 457. New York Herald, The, dispatch from Washington to, 332; letter from Charleston to, 841 ; on the condi tion of the North in the event of Disunion, 355; up holding the right of secession, 396 ; letter from Charles ton to, 427; Washington dispatch to, 438; on Fort Sumter, 442 ; dispatch from Charleston to ; dispatch from Eichmond, 458; on the President's call for troops, 457; apprehends the capture of Washington, 458-9. New York Journal of Commerce, The, extract from, 1-28 ; 439 ; on the President's call for troops, 457. New York Times, Tlie, statement of a conversa tion with Gen. Scott, 547. NewYorh Tribune, TAe, poem from," The Flaunting Lie," 220; editorial from, "Going to go," 358-9; on pro ceedings at Charleston, after Sumter's fall, 449 ; on tho President's call for troops, 454-5 ; the infamous fabrica tion of The Louimyille Courier, 508 ; report of the bat tle of Bull Eun, 644; evidence from, that the Eebels were acquainted with our plan, 550. Nicaragua, invaded by Walker, 276; Demo- ci-atic resolves with regard to, 277. Nicholas, Wilson C, letter from Jefferson to, 85. Niles, John M., of Conn., on Annexation, 174. Niles' s Register, citation from, 80; 110. Norfolk, "Va., seizure of the Navy Yard at, 414; troops set in motion for tho seizure, 453 ; the ships, property, ete., at, 478; map of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 474; destruction ofthe Yard and its contents, 475; the State troops take possession, 476; vigorous Union sen timent at, just prior to the work of destruction, 477. Norfolk Herald, The, rumors quoted from, 508. Norris, Moses, of N. H., 229. Nmfh Alabamian, The, letter from Henry Clay on Annexation, 166 ; flnal letter fi:om Clay, 167. North Carolina, slave population in 1790; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 86; cedes her territory, 49; the cotton gin, 64; 123; allows free ne groes to vote, 179 ; withdraws from the Douglas Con vention, 818; secession of, 848; population in 1860, 861 ; seizure of Federal property by, 4lf-12 ; her Governor's answer to the President's call for troops, 459; progress of Secession ; vote on the holding of a Convention ; re solve of tho Legislature, 485; resolve of the Confeder ate Congress with regard to; Ordinance of Secession passed, 486. See Appended Notes, 632. Northfield, N. H, pro-Slavery violence at, 127. "Notes on Yirginia," citation from, 21. Oats, annual product of, by 8th U. S. Census, 22. Ochilteeb, Judge W. B., of Texas, 339. Odell, Mr., 537-8. Oglethorpe, James, his early history, and set tlement of Georgia, 81 ; his opposition to Slavery and the use of rum ; his Integrity, etc, 82. Ohio, becomes a State in 1803, 52 ; diminished Eepublican majority in, 800; Eepublican majority swelled in, 301;- pledges assistance to the Kentucky Unionists, 495. Ohio Statesman, The, on the President's call, 457. O'Kane, Col., (Rebel,) surprises Camp Cole, 575. Oldham, Wm. S., sent by Davis to Arkansas, 486. Oliver, Mordecai, 241 ; chosen Secretary of State in Missouri, 676. QU THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. Ord, Gen., commands at DranesviUe, 625-6. Ordinance op 1784, The, 39; 50. Ordinance of 1787, The, passage of, and an ex tract from, 40; 50; allusion to, 869. Ordinance of Nullification, The, 93. Oregon, congressional action upon the Territory of, 190 to 198 ; has a Democratic majority, 800 , 801. Orr, James L., of S. C, sent tc "VVashington, 411. Osawatomie, Kansas, sacked and burnt by Bor der Euffians, 244; battle of, 284. Ostend Manifesto, The, extract from, 273-4^5. Otis, Harrison Gray, 122. " Out of the Tavern," 353. Owen, Robert Dale, cited by Lovejoy, 132. Oxford, Kansas, fraudulent voting at, 249 ; 285. P. Palmbe, Rev. B. M., hia Sermon, 501-2. Palmyra, Kansas, sacked by Border Ruffians. Palmyra, Mo., Rebels defeated at, 576. Palo Alto, battle of, 187. Palsley, Daniel, Lt.-Gov. of W. Virginia, 519. Panama, the Congress at, 267-8. Parker, Amasa J., President of the Tweddle Hall Convention, 838 ; his speech, 889 ; 896. Parker, Mr., of S. C, remarks of, iu the Seoes sion Convention, 346. Parkeesburg, Ta., occupied by Unionists, 621. Parkville Luminary, The, Mo., destroyed, 238-9. Parrott, Lieut. E. G., takes the Savannah, 598. Parsons, Gen., (Rebel,) in Northern Missouri,587. Pate, H. Clay, whipped at Black-jack, 214. Patterson, Com., destroys a Florida fort, 177. Patterson, Gen. Robert, 528 ; crosses the Po tomac 585; moves frora Bunker Hill to Charlestown, 586; Gen. Sanford's testimony, 536 to 533; Pattorsnn falls back to Harper's Ferry and is superseded, 539; Gen. Scott's dispatch, and Patterson's reply, 539 ; allu sion to, 540; 649-50; his politics; refuses to display the American flag, 550 ; allusion to, 618. Patton, Col., (Rebel,) victor at Scarytown, 524; marches to reenforce Price at Lexington, 587. Patriot and Union, The, on President's call, 457. Paulding, Com. Hiram, captures Walker, 276; takes command at Norfollc Navy Tard, 475; his work of destruction there, 476. Pawnee, U. S. Ship, arrives at Norfolk Navy Yard, 476 ; two of her officers made prisoners, 476. Payne, Henry B., of Ohio, his resolves in the Charleston Convention. 810 ; 312; 818. Payne, R. G., threatens Mr. Etheridge, 484. Pearce, Gen., reenforces Gov. Jackson, 575. Pegram, Col. John, defeated at Rich Mountam, 622-8 ; is captured, with 600 men, 628. Pennington, Wm., Speaker, 305; 306; 372. Pensacola, Fla., seizure of Federal property at, 412; Bragg in command; schooner Judah burnt, 601- 2; the Eebels attack Santa Eosa Island; they evacuate the post, d02. Pennsylvania, slave population in 1790; troops furnished during the Eevolution; emanciimtion, 36; Legislature favors the Missouri Itestrlction. 77; 108; Eepuhlicans triumph in, 800 ; Curtin elected Governor 826; 896; militia of, attacked at Baltimore, 468-4 Pennsijlvania Freeman, The, 114. Pennsylvania Hall, burned by a mob, 115. Perry, U. S. Brig, captures the Savannah, 598. Petrel, The Privateer, sunk, 599. Pettus, Gov. John J.,of Miss., for Secession, 347. Phelps, Col., in tha battle of Big Bethel, 529. Philadelphia, Pa., riots at, 126 ; fugitive-slave arrests at, 216; Convention at in 1856, 247; Peace Meeting at, 862 to 366; Geo. W. Curtis at, 867; speech of President Lincoln, 419-20. Philadelphia Pennsylvanian, The, on the Presi dent's Inaugural, 428 ; 457. Philanthropist, The, 112. Philbrick, Capt., (Union,) at Ball's Bluff, 621. Philippi, Va., 521-2. Phillips, Wendell, 116; 117; 142. Phillips, Wm., tarred and feathered by the Bor der Euffians, 289 ; killed at Leavenworth, 245. Pickens, Gov. Feancis W., of S. C, 347 ; 410; sends Col. Hayne to Washington, 412; confers with Col. Lamon, 442. PiEECE, Franklin, of N. H., nominated for President, 222; elected 224; inaugurated, 224; 226; 227; appoints Eeeder Governor of Kansas, 286; dis perses the Free-State Legislature at Topeka, 244; 246; 270; directs the Ostend meeting, 278; in the Conven tion of 1860, 817 ; 497 ; his letter to Jeff. Davis, 512. Pierce, Gen. B. W., at Big Bethel, 530-31. PiBEPONT, Francis H., 518; chosen Governor of Virginia, 519 ; appoints two Senators, 562. Piketon, Ky., affair at, 616. Pillow, Gen., at the battle of Belmont, 596. Pinckney, Charles C, on the adoption of tho Constitution, 43 to 45; speech of Jan. 17th, 1787, 49. Pinckney, Henry L., of S. C, 144; 145. PiNKNEY, William, of Md., on Missouri, 75. Pittsburgh, Pa., the Convention of 1856 at, 246 ; excitement at, in regard to tho transfer of arms to the South, 408; schedule of the order of transfer, 408; speech of President Lincoln at, 419. Pittsfield, N. H., Geo. Storrs mobbed at, 27. Platte Argus, The, Mo., citation from, 238. Plummer, Rev. Wm., D. D., 128. Plummer, Col. John B., 581; 591. Poinsett, Joel R., 149 ; 176. Polk, Gen. Bishop, bombards our troops at Bel mont, 695; crosses to Belmont; drives off the Union ists, 596; occupies Columbus, Ky., 613. Polk, James K., 69; nominated for President, 164 ; is elected, 167 ; 168 ; letter to John K. Kane, 169 ; is openly committed to Annexation, 174; 185; 186; his special message, 187 ; makes an offer for Cuba, 269. Pollard, Edward A., his summing up of the initial conquests by the South, 413-14; his estimate of fhe troops furnished by the North and South respect ively, in 1812, and the Mexican War, 500 ; remarks on the battle of Carnifex Ferry, 525; remarks on the bat tle of Bethel, 631; his estimate of Eebel forces at Bull Eun, 546; on the manner in which Gen. Johnston eluded Patterson, 649-60; testifles as to the Union sentiment of Missouri, 673-4; account of the affair at Camp Cole, Mo., 575; opinion of Gen. Lyon, etc., 582; 639; 590; 593; statement of Eebel loss at Belmont, 597; admits the hostility of Kentucky to the Eebel lion;^ on Henry Clay's influence, 609-10; estimato of the llebel forces in Kentucky, 615. Pope, GEN.,iu Northern Missouri, 587 ; dispatch to Gen. Fremont, 683; in south-western Missouri, 693. Poster, Col. Andrew, appomted Provost-Mar shal of Washington, 619. Porter, Fitz John, testifles for Patterson, 538. Porter, W. D., President of the S. C. Senate, 330. Port Royal, expedition to, 604 to 606; map of the bombardment, 604; surrender of tho forts, 605; Sherman's proclamation; 'contrabands' flock iu, 606. Potter, Bishop, prays at ' Peace' meeting, 363. Potter, Major James D., at Bull- Run, 545. Pound Gap, Ky., the Rebels retreat to, 616. Powell, Lazarus W., of Ky., proposes a Com mittee of Thirteen on the Crisis, 876; 882; 562; 564. Presbyterians, The, and Slavery, 118; 631. Preston, Mr., of S. C, on Abolitionists, 128. Preston, Wm., 509 ; f.ees tothe Confederacy, 614. Preston, Wm. B., one of Virginia's Commis sioners to President Lincoln, 452. Price, Gov. Rodman M., to L. W. Burnett, 439. Price, Gen. Sterling, his election to the Mis souri Convcnti'on, 488; makes n compact with Harney; has an interview with Gen. Lvcm, 491 ; allusion to, 609; la appointed Major-General, 674; resigns the command ANALYTICAL INDEX. 645 to McCulloch, at "Wilson's Creek, 678 ; wonnded, 682 ; besieges Lexington, 685-6; captures Lexington, 889; retreats to Pineville, 690 ; will not yield Missouri with out a battle, 698. Pryor, Roger A., visits Fort Sumter, 448. Pugh, Geo. E., of Ohio, at Charleston, 322. Punta Arenas, surrender of Walker at, 276. a. Quakers, Thb, assist Lundy in North Carolina, 118; their opposition to Slavery, 117-13 ; they petition Congress for abolition in the Federal Disti-ict, 144. QoiNCY, JoSiah, of Boston, threatens contingent secession. 85. Quitman, John A., in the Democratic Conven tion of 1866, 246; a flllibuster, 270; statement of with regard to Senator Dougia^ 612. B. Rains, Gen., one of Jackson's Brigadiers, 574. Raleigh, N. C, Convention of Southern Gov ernors at, 329 ; State Eights Convention at, 485. Randolph, George W., one of the Virginia Commissioners to President Lincoln, 452. Randolph, John, of Roanoke, opposes the intro duction of Slavery into the North-West Territory, 62 ; 109 ; 110 ; 154 ; his opinion on the Cuba question, 268. Reagan, John H., of Texas, elected to Congress, 839 ; a member of Davis's Cabinet, 429. Rbalf, Richard, John Brown's Sec. of State, 287. RebeUion Record, The, in relation to Belmont, 597. Rector, Grov. Henry M., of Ark., 341. Eedpath, James, on John Brown, 282-3 ; 289. Eeed, Dr., of Ind., delegate to the Democratic Convention ; favors the Slave-Trade, 816. Eeeder, Andrew H., appointed Govemor of Kansas, 286 ; his soundness on the Slavery question as serted by The Union, 286 ; has a census taken, and or ders an election, 287; sets aside fi-audulent returns, 289; is superseded by Shannon, 240; chosen delegate to Congress, 240 ; C-ongressional action thereon, 241. Eeid, Gen., attacks Osawatomie, 284. Religion, and the Slave-Trade, 27 ; 117 to 121. Eesaca de la Palma, battle of, 187. "Resolutions op '98," extracts from, 83-84; indorsed by the Democratic Convention of 1852, 222 ; alluded to by Davis in one of his Messages, 497. Reynolds, Gbn., attacked by Gen. Lee at Cheat Mountain, 526; superseded by Gen. Milroy, 527. Eeynolds, John, his letter to Jeff. Davis, 512. Reynolds, Thomas C, is elected Lieut. Govern or of Missouri, 488 ; his proclamation, 676 ; 538. Ehett, Robert B., of S. C, 333 ; remarks in the Convention, 846 ; his motion for a Convention of slaveholding States, 414. Rhode Island, slave population in 1790 ; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 36 ; 87 ; flrst manu mission society in, 107 ; emancipates her slaves, 108 ; legislative attempts against Abolition, 125 ; 800 ; State election of 1860, 326; State troops proceed to Washing ton under Gov. Sprague, 469. ElCHAHDSON, Col. j. B., at BuU Run,539 ; 549. EiCHARDSON, Wm. a., of IU., reports biU organ izing Nebraska, 225 ; 233 ; moves an amendment, 234 Richmond, Va., Breckinridge Convention at, 318; the focus of Disunion intrigues, 451 ; rejoices over fall of Sumter, 453; made the Confederate capital, 498. Richmond Enquirer, Tlie, copies Jackson's letter in reply to Gilmer's, 159; Federal song from, 268. Richmond Examiner, The, urges the capture of "Washington City, 470. Hichmond Whig, The, citation from, 123 ; 451. Richmond, The, U. S. Ship, almost destroyed by Hollins's Eam, 603. Rich Mountain, Va., battle of, 522-3. lUVAS, surrender of Walker at, 276. Eobinson, Da. A. C, speech at Baltimore, 464. Robinson, Gov., of Kansas, his house destroyed by Border Eufiians, 244. Rochester Union, The, on causes of secession, 396. Rodney, Cjssar A., of Del., 52 ; 107. Rollins, James S., of Mo., EusseU to, 80, 555. Roman Catholics, with regard to Slavery, 118. Romney, Va., surprised by the Federals, 527. Root, Joseph M., of Ohio, resolve by, 193. Rosecrans, Gen., wins the battle of Rich Moun tain, 522 ; captures Pegram, 528 ; attacks Floyd at Car nifex FeiTy; 525; attempts to surprise the Eebels at Gauley Mount, 626. Rousseau, Louis H.,of Ky., speech of, 494-5. RuATAN, Island of. Walker lands there, 277. Ruffin, Edmund, of Va., speech of, at Colum bia, S. C, 836-6; flres tho flrst shot at Sumter. RuFFm, Mr., of N. C, in ' Peace Conference,' 402. Runnels, Hardin R., of Texas, beaten for Gov ernor, by Houston, 839. Rusk, Thomas J., of Texas, on Nebraska, 226. Russell, Col. Wm. H., of Mo., to RoUins, 80. Russell, Lieut., destroys schooner Judah, 602. Russell, Majors, and Waddell, their compli city in the Bailey defalcations, 410. Russell, Wm. H., of The London Times, his opin ion of the Carohnians, 451 ; his estimate of tho Union forces before Bull Eun, 560 ; citation from, 682.. Russellville, Ky., Secession Convent'n at, 617. Russia mediates between Great Britain and the U. S., with respect to captm-ed slaves, 176. Rust, Albert, of Ark., proposition of, 386. Rutledge, John I., on the Constitution, 44^-5. Rynders, Capt, of N. Y., a delegate to the Charleston Convention ; favors the Slave Trade, 816. Saloman, Col., routed at WUson's Creek, 679. Samuels, Mr., of Iowa, his resolves in the Dem. Convention, SiO; 312. Sanders, Geo. N., of Ky., joins the Rebels, 342. Sandusky, Ohio, fugitive-slave case at, 218. Sanford, Gen. Chas. W., his testimony as to Patterson's movements, etc., 536 to 538. San Jacinto, battle of, 150. San Jacinto, The, takes Mason and Slidell, 666. Santa Fe, expedition from Texas to, 151. Santa Rosa Island, map of, 601 ; the Rebel attack on the Zouaves there, 602. Saulsbury, Mr., of Del., declines to withdraw from the Charleston Convention, 815 ; pleads for " con. ciliation" in the Senate, 873. Savannah, The Privateer, captured by the brig Perry, 508 ; disposal of her crew, etc., 599. Scarytown, Va., Federals repulsed at, 524. Schenck, Gen. Robert C, of Ohio, 189 ; ad. vances to Vienna, 583-4. Schoepf, Gbn., defeats the Rebels at WUd-Cat, 616 ; his retreat from fancied foes, 617. Schofield, Major, Adjutant to Gen. Lyon, 579. Scott, Mr., delegate from Missouri, 74; 75; 89. Scott, Dred, account of his case, 251 to 253 ; Judge Taney's decision, 253 to 257; Judge Wayne's opinion, 257; Judge Nelson's Judge Grier's, 267; Judge Daniel's, 257-8 ; Judge Campbell's, Judge Cat ron's, 258; Col. Benton's views, 259; Webster^s, 260 ; Judge McLean's opinion, 260; Judge Curtis's, 260 to 268; Buchanan's views, 264; 806 to 809 ; allusion to, 381. Scott, Lieut.-Col., defeated by Atchison, 587. Soott, Rev. Orange, 126. Scott, T. Parkin, presides at Baltimore, 442. Scott Gen. Winfield, ordered to Charleston by Jackson, 94; nominated for President, 228; vote cast for him. 224; 421 ; his advice as to Fort Sumter, 436 ; orders Pennsylvania troops home again, 466 ; 470 ; 646 THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT. 615; ,520; orders an advance into Virginia, 633; sends Gen. Sanfcii-d to Gen. Patterson, 586; directs the move ment on CenterviUe, 5:39 ; dispatch to Gen. Patterson, 539; The Tlme.'is account of a conversation with, 647 ; Blair's strictures on. '548-9 ; letter to Tlie National Ini&lliqencer, 549 ; his culpable neglect to send suffi cient forces -A-ith McDowell, 550; 666; his requisition on Geu. Fremont, 687; removes Fremont, 593; is largely to be bl.amcd for the Bull Run disaster; his comments on Patterson's testimony, 613. Se De Kay, report of losses at Bull Run, 545. Seddom, James A., of Va., report in the 'Peace Conference,' 397-8; vote on it, 899; laid on table, 402. Semmes, Capt. Raphael, the Sumter, 602. Sergeant, John, of Pa. , appointed to the Pana ma Congress, 203-9. Seward, Wm. IL, speech of March 11th, 1350, 43 ; 129 ; speech at Cleveland, Ohio, 199 ; 201 ; 231 ; 251 ; his 'irrepressible conllict' speech, 301 ; in the Chicago Convention, 321; speech at Auburn, 1360, 327; 860; his proposition in the Committee of Thirteen, 388; 391; 402; a member of President Lincoln's cabinet, 428; his incredulitv, 429 ; his correspondence with the Eebel Conimissioneis, 4.30 to 482; letter from Judge Campbell to, 4.3.3-4 ; receives a final letter from the Commission ers, 435-6; replies to Gov. Hicks's requests, 467; see Appended Notes, 632. Seymour, Col., allusion to, 512. Seymour, Horatio, at the Tweddle Convention, 3SS; his speech there. 390-91; 896; is understood to favor an adhesion to '- the South," 438-9. Shadrack, a fugitive slave, 215. Sh.ambaugh, Isaac N., on Missouri, 590. Shannon, "VVilson, of Ohio, appointed Governor of Kansas, 240 ; his speech at Westport, Mo., 240 ; 242 ; calls out 5,000 raen to reduce Lawrence, 243. Shaw, Henry, vote on Missouri Compromise, SO. Shawnee Mission, Kansas Border RufSan Legislature at, 289 ; its enactments there, 289-40. Shays's Insurrection, 20. Sherman, Roger, 35 ; remarks in debate on the Constitution, 480; 441; 445. Sherman, Joh.v, of Ohio, 241 ; for Speaker, 304 -5; his ' Peace ' proposition, 874 ; 564; remarks, 566-7. Sherman, Gen. T. W., commands the Port Eoyal Expedition, 604 ; issues a proclamation, 606. Sherman, Gen. "W. T., in Kentucky, 615. Sigel, Col. Franz, beats the Rebels at Car thage, Mo., 575; is outranked by Gen. Lyon, 576; at tacks the enemy at Wilson's Creek, 579 ; 531 ; 591 ; 593. Sims, Thomas, the case of, 215. Slack, Gen., 574; wounded, 582. Slemmer, Lieut., holds Fort Pickens, 412 ; 601. Slidell, John, of La., 373 ; taken by Capt. Wilkes, 606 ; rendered up to Great Britain, 608. Sloane, Rush S., assists fugitive slaves, 218. Slocum, Col. H. W., wounded at BuU Run, 545. Slocum, Col., kiUed at Bull Run, 545 ; 552. Smith, Caleb B., of Ind., 194; reports a bUl to organize Oregon, 197 ; a member of the cabinet, 423. Sjhtu, Gen. E. K., wounded at Bull Run, 545. Smith, Gen., makes a feint to Columbus, Ky., 595. Smith, Gerrit, 127; forms an Abolition Society at Peterborough, N. Y., 128. Smith, Wm. N. H., supported for Speaker, 305. Snead, Thos. L., Jackson to Davis, 577. Soule, PierrEi at the Ostend meeting, etc., 273. South Carolina, concurs in the Declaration of Independence, 35; slave population in 1790 ; troops fur- nishedduring the Eevolution, 36; 87; ratification Con vention meets, 1788, 48 ; the Cotton-Gin, 63-4 ; Nullifi cation inaugurated, 93 ; is satisfled with the Compro mise TariflT, 101 ; 108; 123; mails rifled at Charieston, 128-9; votes for Van Buren, etc., 154; 173; trejitment of negro seamen, 179 ; of Mr. Hoar's mission to, 181 ; 186; votes .against unqualified Secession in 1851, 211 ; withdraws from the Dem, Convention, 314; Seces sion proceedinirs of, 830 to 337; Convention called, 387; proceedings of the Convention. 344 to 317; Ordinance of Secession, and vote thereon, 346_; ' Declaration of Causes,' etc., 846; population in 1860, 351; 407; forts occupied by State troops, 409; 410; sends Commis sioners to Washington, 411 ; Col. Hayne sent, 41.i. See CUAELESTON, FoKT SuMTEE, etc. Spain, her traffic in slaves, 27-8 ; 54; the Holy Alliance, 266. See Cuba, Ostkxd, etc. Sprague, Gov. Wm., of R. I., 326 ;. 469 ; 552. Squatter Sovereign, The, citation from, 237. Stanton, Frederick P., Sec'y of Kansas, 249. Staunton Spectator, The, 478. Star of the West, The, attempts to relieve Sumter, 412 ; seized at Indianola, 413. St. Charles, Mo., Lovejoy mobbed at, 137. Steadman, Capt., of S. C, Port Royal, 605. Steedman, Col., crosses into Virginia,j521." Stein, Gen., one of Jackson's Brigadiers, 574. Stephens, Alex. H., 191; 233; opposes the Ne braska bill, 2-34; Union Speech before the Legislature, 342 to 344; votes against Secession, 347; elected "Vice-President of the Confederacy, 415; speech at Sa vannah, 416 to 418 ; view of the Confederacy, 488 ; 477. Stephe;;S, James, vote ou Mo. Compromise, 801. Stevens, Aaron D., wounded at Harper's Ferry, 292 ; 294 ; 298 ; is executed, 299. Stevens, Thaddeus, speech of, 569. St. Joseph, Mo., American flag lowered at, 491. St. Lawrence, The, sinks the Petrel, 599. St. Louis, whipping of suspected Abolitionists at, 132; McIntosh burned at, J34; Federal property secured at, 412; Gov. Jackson obtiii^-is control of the police of, 489 ; politics of the city; fight between the mob and the soldiers, 490-91; Fremont"^fortifies it, 684. St. Louis Democrat, The, aUusion to, 490. St. Louis Observer, The, 130; extract from, 131; removed to Alton, 134 ; comments from, 186 ; its press destroyed, 187; the editor slain, etc., 141. St. Louis Republican, The, citation from, '131; stigmatizes Z7t6 Observer, 136. Storrs, Henry R., vote on Mo. Compromise, 80. Stone, Gen. Chas. P., McClellan's order to, 620- . 21 ; 621 ; 622; his orders to Col. Baker, 624. Stout, Mr., of Oregon, tenders a minority report in the Committee of Thirty-three, 387. Stringfellow, Gen., a Border Ruffian, 243 ; 283. Stringham, Com. S. H., 599; 627. Stuart, A. H. H., of Va., a Commissioner to President Lincoln, 452; his letter to The Staunton Spectator, 473 ; allusion to, 509. Stuart, Lieut.-Col., (Rebel.) at Bull Run, 543^. Stuart, Gen. J. E. B., at DranesviUe, 626. Sturgis, M.ajoe, 579 : in the battle of A¥"ilson's Creek, 680 to 582 ; tries to reenforce Mulligan, 487. Sumner, Charles, 229 ; 231 ; assault on, 299. Sumter, The Privateer, escapes. out of the Mississippi ; is blockaded at Gibraltar, 602. Sweeny, Gen., persuades Lyon to attack the Eebels at Wilson's Creek, 679. Syracuse, N. Y., fugitive-slave case at, 215. T. Taggaet, Col. John H., at Dranesville, 626. Talbot, Lieut., sent to ¦ Washington by Major Anderson, 443. Taliaferro, Col., at Carrick's Ford, 523. ' Taliaferro, Gen., commands the Rebels at Nor- '^ folk, 473 ; said to have been drunk, 476. Tallmadge, Gen. Js., of N. Y., his proviso, 74. Tammany Hall, pro-Slavery meeting at, 126. Taney, Roger Brooke, defends Rev. Jacob Gruber, 109 ; appointment ns Chief Justice, 252 ; on Dred Scott, 253 to 257 ; the decision identical with Cal houn's theories, 259 ; Judge Curtis's reply to, 261-2. Tappan, Arthur, 114; 116; 126. Tappan, Lewis, his house mobbed, 126. Tassells, an Indi.in, hung iu Georgia, 106. Taylor, Gen. Zachary, in Texas, 186; defeats ANALYTICAL INDEZ; 647 theMcdoans, 187; nominatbdfbr President and elec- i°^i' '-SJ' ^ote received, 193 - iuaugui-ated, 198; 199; 800; iOl; Special Message, 202; .Annual Message 202- communicates the California Constitutiim, 203- his d«ath, 208; proclamation against flllibustering, 269. Taylor, John W., of N. Y., 75; his speech on the Missouri question, 77; 78. Tennessee, slave population in 1790, 36; with draws from the Charleston Convention, 818 ; refuses to secede, 849 ; population in 1860, 861 ; her answer to tho President's call, 459; progress 'of Secession in, 431 to 4S4; vote on Secession; the ' conservative' party 481- makes a convention with the Oontederacy, 432 ; Oi-di- nanco of Secession. 482-3 ; vote on separation, 43.3 ; 490 • reign of terror in, 514. See East Tennessee. ' Texas, reasons for its Annexation, 08 ; histori cal sketch ot; 147-8; early eflorts to purchase it 149- revolutioE in. 160-1 ; Webster opposes the Annex.at!on of, 152-8; further efforts to acquire it, li54-8; Whigs in Congress protest against Annexation, 159 ; Van Bnren »nd Clay oppose it, 161^; Col. Benton on, 165; in fluence of the question on the Presidential election, 166-3 ^ Calhoun favors Annexation, 169 to 171 ; Con- gression.il, 171 to 174; lAnnexation eonsummiited, 175; admitted into the Union. lS.5-6; 209; withdraws from the Dem. Convention, 315; Houston and Eiinnells, a39 ; secession of, and vote thereon, 848 ; population in 1860,851; 373; Twiggs's treason, etc., 418; 514-15. ^ Thayer, James S., in Tweddle Hall, 392- 3 ; 396. ~ Theodoea, The, conveys Mason and SlideU, 606. Thomas, Adj't Gen., accompanies Gen. Cameron on his Western tour, 690; 615. Thomas, Col., (Rebel,) kiUed at BuU Run, 543. Thomas, Francis, rephes to Mr. May, 564. Thomas, Gen., crosses the Potomac, 235. Thomas, Jesse B., of HL, ou Missouri, 79. Thom.as, Philip Francis, appointed Secretary of the Treasury, 411 ; resigns, 412. Thompson, Jeff., 574; is defeated at Frederick- town, Mo., 591. Thompson, Jacob, fraud discovered in his De partment, 410; advises the traitors of the Star of the West's departure ; his resignation, 410 ; 435. Thompson, Judge James, ofPa., speaks in favor ofthe Fngitive Slave Law, 212. Thompson, George, 127. Tipton, Mo., Gen. Fremont is visited by Gen. Cameron and suite at, 590. Titus, Col., of Fla., a Border Ruffian, 243. Tod, Gov. David, of Ohio, chosen President of the Douglas Convention, 818. Tompkins, Lieut. C. H., dashes mto Fairfax, 533. Toombs, Robert, of Ga., 382; his dispatch to Georgia, 384; 883; a member of Davis's Cabinet, 429. Topeka, Kansas, Free-State Convention at, 240 ; the Legislature at, dispersed, 244. Toucey, Isaac, in the Dem. Convention, 317. Townsend, Col. P., at Little Bethel, 529-30. Teavis, Cdl., put to death in Texas, 150. Trenholm, Mr., of S. C, offers resolves favoring ' cooperation,' 883-4. Trent, The, Mason and SUdeU abstracted from, 606; Secretary Welles on the seizure, 606; Great Bri^ ain's course, 607-8. Trescott, Wm. H., Garnett's letterto, 479-80. Troup, Got., of Ga., sympatliizes with the Nul liflers, 100 , his treatment of the Indians, 108. Thie American, The, on the President's call, 457. Trumbull, Lyman, of HI., 307 ; 568 ; offers an amendment to the Confiscation bill, 669. Teuxillo, landing and death of Walker at, 277. Tuck, Amos, of N. H., a member of the 'Peace Conference,' 898; resolutions of, 899; 404. TuRRiiL, Joel, of N. Y., 145. Tuscarora, V. S. Gunboat, blockades the Sumter, 602; blockades the Nashville, 608. TylBe, Col., routed in West Virginia, 525. Tyler, Gbn., at Bull Run, 539 ; 541-2. Tyler, John, sketch of his political life 154 to efci,''f9h'4oL'''' ''''""¦'^" "' '"^ ''"''''' '^""f"- TwiQGS, Gen., surrenders ia Texas, 413 ; 442. TJ. Union Humane Society, The, 112. Unitarians, The, and Slavery, 121. Uiiited States Telegraph, Tlie, 143. Univebsalists, The, and Slavery, 121. Upton, Mr., of Va., in XXXVIIth Congress, 659. Utica, N. Y., Abolitionists dispersed at, 127. Utica Observer, Tlie, on the President's call, 455-6. V. Vallandigham, C. L., of Ohio, catechises old Brown, 293; his opinion of Brown, 294; his 'Peace' proposition, 334-5 ; remarks at the Extra Session, cen suring the Administration, 561; moves provisos to the Army Appropriation bill, etc., 561; 662; 615; 629. Van Buren, John, on Fugitive Slave Act, 213. "Van Buren, Martin, influenoea causing his de feat in the Baltimore Convention of 1844, 69; supports the Tariff of 1828, 91; supplants Calhoun as Vice-Presi dent in 1882, 93; allusion t), 130; makes an offer to Mex ico for Texas, 149 ; his reply to Gen. Hunt, 151 ; is beat en by Gen. HarrLson, 154 ; 156 ; 169 ; his reply lo Wm. H. Hammet, 161; 162; 163; 165 ; letter to Waterbury and others, 190 ; nominated for President by the Free- Soilers, 191 ; to Minister Van Ness, 269 ; 426. Vandever, Me., of Iowa, offers a resolution, 568. Vermont, slave population of, in 1790, 36; 326. Verplanok, Gulian C, his Tariff bill, 101. Victor, 0. J., reference to his " History of the Southern Eebellion," 350. Vienna, Va., the affair at, 533-4; reoccupied by our forces, 620. ViNCBNNES, U. S. Ship, runs aground, 603. Virginia, 17; feeble colonial growth, natural advantages of, etc., 28; negroes first introduced, 29; slave population of, in 1790 ; troops furnished during the Eevolution, 36; her territorial claims, 37 ; her deed of cession to the Confederation, 33 ; legislative resolves of 1789, 84 ; sympathizes with South Carolina in her Nnlhflcation defeat, 100 ; flrst Abolition Society in, 1 07 ; Convention of 1829, 103 to 111 ; resolution of the Legis lature on the suppression of Abolition, 123 ; relations ¦with the District of Columbia, 142 ; Eesolutions of '98 and '99 indorsed by the Democratic Convention of 18,52, 222 ; withdrawal of delegates from the Charleston Con-' vention, 313; the position of Letcher as Governor, 340; State unable to secede, 848-9 ; population in 1860, 851 ; Convention of to ratify the Federal Constitution, 857 ; calls the ' Peace' Conference, 396-7 ; sends new Commis sioners to President Lincoln, 452 ; the President's reply to the Commissioners, 452 ; Secession of the State, and the Convention's vote thereon, 452 ; her answer to the President's call for troops, 459 ; emissaries of, sent to Baltimore, 462 ; State troops seize Harper's Ferry, 462; she threatens Western Maryland, 468; commences hostilities before she is fairly out of the Union, 473 ; allusion to the Convention of, 486; enters into a Con vention with theScmthern Oonfedei-acy, 477; reign of terror in; the ' situation' considered by Messrs. Stuart and Mason, 478-9 ; popular vote on tho Ordinance of Secession, 479; M. E. H. Garnett on Virginia and West Virginia, 479-80 ; sends no delegates to the Ken tucky 'P"eace' Convention, 495; allusion to her Dis union, 610; Convention between the State and the Confederacy, 610 ; Letcher calls out the militia to repel Federal inv.asion, 616-17; admitted into the Confed eracy, and Gen. Lee placed in command of the Confed erate forces, 518; boundary between West and Old Virginia, 627 ; tbe President's Message with regard to, 657. See West Vieginia, Nokfolk, BEinEi, Bun. Eon, etc. Voyages, Ocean; by 8th Census, 23 648 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. w. Wade, B. P., of Ohio, 231 ; 232 ; speech, 375-6. Walker, Mr., of Wise, 172 ; 195. Walker, Robert J., Governor of Kansas, 249. Walker, L. P., of Ala., 312; 313; -withdraws at Charleston, 314 ; speech after fall of Sumter, 458 ; 632. Walkee, William, his invasion of Nicaragua, and his death, 276-7. Wallace, Col. Lewis, 535. Walworth, R. H., at Tweddle HaU, 393-4. Washburne, Mb., of III, 305; 560. Washington, George, letter to Laurens, 19 ; 42 ; 43; letters to Lafayette, 51 ; 81; 82; 83; his fair deal ing with the Indians, 102 ; 254 ; his Foreign Policy, 264 ; citation from his Farewell Address, 266 ; allusion to, 615. Washington, Col. John A., captured by Brown's men, 290; 293; killed at Cheat Mountain, 526. Washington City, 40 7 ; frauds of Floy d and Baily at, 410-11 ; arrival of Col. Hayne at, 412 ; inauguration of President Lincoln at, 421-2 ; the dark days at, 470. 'Washington Star, The, citation from, 329. Waul, T. N., beaten for Congress, 339. Wayne, Judge, of Ga., on Dred Scott, 259. Webster, Daniel, 78 ; his reply to Hayne, 86- 7; 101; speech at Niblo's Garden, 152 to 154; 155; 192 ; 202 ; speech at Abington, 199 ; 205-6 ; 207 ; on the Fugitive Slave Law. 220-21 ; -2-28 ; 260 ; 271 ; letter from Channing to, 353; 870; speech at Buffalo, 404; 511.. Weed, Thurlow, editorial by, 360-61. Weightm:an, Col., kUled at "WUson's Creek, 582. Weston, Mo., a man tarred and feathered at, 239. Weston Reporter, The, (Mo.,) citation from, 238. Westport, Mo., Border Ruffian resolves at, 239. Wentz, Lbeut.-Col, kiUed at Belmont, 597. Wesley, John, 32; 70; 255, 501. West Virginia, 479 ; 480 ; population in 1860, 480; refuses to secede, etc., 513; Pierpont chosen Gov ernor of, 519 ; Letcher's Message, 519 ; Federal troops enter the State; Porterfield's Address, 621 ; battle of Philippi, 521-2; of Eioh Mountain, 52-2-8; Cheat Moun tain, 528 ; Carnifex FeiTV, 526; Guyandotte destroyed, 526; boundary between West and Old Virginia, 527. Wheeling, Va , meeting and Convention at, 518. Wheeling Intelligencer, The, citation from, 522. Whitney, Eli, 53; early Ufe, etc., 58-9; goes to Georgia, 60; invents the Cotton-Gin, 61; letter to Pal- ton, 66; his death, 66. White, J. W., letter from T. A. Andrews to, 367. White, Lieut.-Col., at Carnifex Ferry, 525. White, Major Frank J., 591-2. Whitfield, John W., 237; 240; 241; sacks and burns Osawatomie, 245. Whiitiee, John G., poem by, 630. Wigfall, Letvis T., of Texas, 373 ; 448i- Wilcox, Col., wounded at Bull Run, 54Si; Wild Cat, Ky., Rebels defeated at, 615-16. Wilkes, Capt., seizes Mason and ShdeU, 606-7. Wilkesbarre, Pa., fugitive-slave ease at, 216. Williams, Euphemia, the case of, 216. Williams, Col. John S., at Piketon, Ky., 616. Wilmot, David, of Pa., 189; 319. Wilson, Senator, of Mass., 309; 571-2. Wilson's Zouaves, at Banta Rosa Island, 602. Wilson's Creek, battle of, 578 to 582. Winthrop, Major Theo., killed at Bethel, 531. Winchester Yirginian, The, J. M. Mason to,_478-9. Wise, Henry A., his prescription for Abolition ists, 123; 144; 146; his speech in the House, 1842, 158; opinion of John Brown, 293;. 294; 829; com mands the Eebels in West "Virginia, 622; 524; out ranked by Floyd, etc., 525. Wisconsin, 215; 300; 301. Wistar, Lieut.-Col., at Ball's Bluff, 623. Witherspoon, Rev. T. S., 128. Wool, Gen., succeeds Gen. Butler, 531. Wood, Col. A. M., wounded at BuU Run, 545. Woodward, Judge Geo. W., speech at the Phil adelphia 'Peace' meeting, 363 to 865; 406; 488. Worcester, Mass., mob violence at, 126. Wrentham, Mass., Abolition petition from, 144. Wright, Col. J. V., killed at Behnont, 597-8. Wright, Silas, 91 ; nominated for Vice-Presi dent, 164 ; nominated for Governor of New York, 166. Wyandot. Kansas, Convention at, 250. Yancey, Wm. L., his non-interference resolve in the Convention of 1848, 192; allusion to, 259; with draws from the Charleston Convention, 814. Yates, Edward, on Slavery, 70. Young Men's Christian Association, their in terview with the President, 466-7 ; allusion, 472. Zagonyi, Majoe, his speech to his soldi^s, 591-2 ; his gallant charge into Sprlngfleld, 592. Zeiglee, Col., orders the houses of Secessionists at Guyandotte to be burnt, 526. ZOLLICOFFEE, Gen., Occupies Cumberland Gap; his dispatch to Magoffin, 613 ; captures Barboursville, Ky.; his depredations on the Kentuckians, 614; at- fsickB, and is driven ftom, Wild-Cat, 615. End of Vol. I. YALE UNIVERSITY l3U73b Mm:' u''i]d'\-)^"'^