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Katharine  E.   Coman 


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THE 


RISE  AND  FALL 


OF   THE 


CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 


BY 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


VOLUME  I. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,    3,   and   5   BOND   STEEET. 

1881. 


COPYRIGHT    BY 

JEFFEESON    DAVIS, 
1881. 


TO 

THE  WOMEN  OF   THE   CONFEDEKACY, 

WHOSE   PIOUS   MINISTRATIONS    TO    OUR    WOUNDED    SOLDIERS 

SOOTHED   THE   LAST    HOUES    OF   THOSE 

WHO   DIED   FAR   FROM   THE    OBJECTS    OF   THEIR    TENDEREST    LOYE ; 

WHOSE    DOMESTIC    LABORS 

CONTRIBUTED  MUCH  TO  SUPPLY  THE  WANTS    OF  OUR  DEFENDERS  IN  THE  FIELD  ; 

WHOSE   ZEALOUS    FAITH    IN    OUR   CAUSE 

SHONE  A  GUIDING-  STAR  UNDIMMED  BY  THE  DARKEST  CLOUDS  OF  WAR  ; 

WHOSE   FORTITUDE 
SUSTAINED  THEM  UNDER  ALL  THE  PRIVATIONS  TO  WHICH  THEY  WERE  SUBJECTED  ; 

WHOSE   ANNUAL    TRIBUTE 

EXPRESSES   THEIR   ENDURING    GRIEF,    LOVE,    AND   REVERENCE 

FOR   OUR   SACRED   DEAD  ; 

AND 

WHOSE    PATRIOTISM 

WILL   TEACH    THEIR    CHILDREN 

TO   EMULATE   THE   DEEDS    OF    OUR   REVOLUTIONARY   SIRES; 

BY   THEIR   COUNTRYMAN, 

JEFFERSON  DAYIS. 


PREFACE. 


The  object  of  this  work  has  been  from  historical  data  to 
show  that  the  Southern  States  had  rightfully  the  power  to 
withdraw  from  a  Union  into  which  they  had,  as  sovereign  com- 
munities, voluntarily  entered ;  that  the  denial  of  that  right  was 
a  violation  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  compact  between  the 
States ;  and  that  the  war  waged  by  the  Federal  Government 
against  the  seceding  States  was  in  disregard  of  the  limitations 
of  the  Constitution,  and  destructive  of  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  author,  from  his  official  position,  may  claim  to  have 
known  much  of  the  motives  and  acts  of  his  countrymen  im- 
mediately before  and  during  the  war  of  1861-'65,  and  he  has 
sought  to  furnish  material  for  the  future  historian,  who,  when 
the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  day  shall  have  given  place 
to  reason  and  sober  thought,  may,  better  than  a  contemporary, 
investigate  the  causes,  conduct,  and  results  of  the  war. 

The  incentive  to  undertake  the  work  now  offered  to  the 
public  was  the  desire  to  correct  misapprehensions  created  by 
industriously  circulated  misrepresentations  as  to  the  acts  and 
purposes  of  the  people  and  the  General  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States.  By  the  reiteration  of  such  unappropriate  terms 
as  "rebellion"  and  "treason,"  and  the  asseveration  that  the 
South  was  levying  war  against  the  United  States,  those  ignorant 
of  the  nature  of  the  Union,  and  of  the  reserved  powers  of  the 
States,  have  been  led  to  believe  that  the  Confederate  States 
were  in  the  condition  of  revolted  provinces,  and  that  the  United 


Yi  PREFACE, 

States  were  forced  to  resort  to  arms  for  the  preservation  of 
their  existence.  To  those  who  knew  that  the  Union  was  formed 
for  specific  enumerated  purposes,  and  that  the  States  had  never 
surrendered  their  sovereignty,  it  was  a  palpable  absurdity  to 
apply  to  them,  or  to  their  citizens  when  obeying  their  mandates, 
the  terms  "  rebellion  "  and  "  treason  "  ;  and,  further,  it  is  shown 
in  the  following  pages  that  the  Confederate  States,  so  far  from 
making  war  or  seeking  to  destroy  the  United  States,  as  soon  as 
they  had  an  official  organ,  strove  earnestly,  by  peaceful  recogni- 
tion, to  equitably  adjust  all  questions  growing  out  of  the  separa- 
tion from  their  late  associates. 

Another  great  perversion  of  truth  has  been  the  arraignment 
of  the  men  who  participated  in  the  formation  of  the  Confederacy 
and  who  bore  arms  in  its  defense,  as  the  instigators  of  a  contro- 
versy leading  to  disunion.  Sectional  issues  appear  conspicuously 
in  the  debates  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  its  many  compromises  were  designed  to  secure 
an  equilibrium  between  the  sections,  and  to  preserve  the  inter- 
ests as  well  as  the  liberties  of  the  several  States.  African  servi- 
tude at  that  time  was  not  confined  to  a  section,  but  was  numeri- 
cally greater  in  the  South  than  in  the  North,  with  a  tendency 
to  its  continuance  in  the  former  and  cessation  in  the  latter.  It 
therefore  thus  early  presents  itself  as  a  disturbing  element,  and 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  which  were  known  to  be 
necessary  for  its  adoption,  bound  all  the  States  to  recognize  and 
protect  that  species  of  property.  When  at  a  subsequent  period 
there  arose  in  the  Northern  States  an  antislavery  agitation,  it 
was  a  harmless  and  scarcely  noticed  movement  until  political 
demagogues  seized  upon  it  as  a  means  to  acquire  power.  Had 
it  been  left  to  pseudo-philanthropists  and  fanatics,  most  zealous 
where  least  informed,  it  never  could  have  shaken  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Union  and  have  incited  one  section  to  carry  fire 
and  sword  into  the  other.     That  the  agitation  was  political  in 


PEEFACE.  VJtf 

its  character,  and  was  clearly  developed  as  early  as  1803,  it  is  be- 
lieved has  been  established  in  these  pages.  To  preserve  a  sec- 
tional equilibrium  and  to  maintain  the  equality  of  the  States 
was  the  effort  on  one  side,  to  acquire  empire  was  the  manifest 
purpose  on  the  other.  This  struggle  began  before  the  men  of 
the  Confederacy  were  born  ;  how  it  arose  and  how  it  progressed 
it  has  been  attempted  briefly  to  show.  Its  last  stage  was  on  the 
question  of  territorial  governments ;  and,  if  in  this  work  it  has 
not  been  demonstrated  that  the  position  of  the  South  was  jus- 
tified by  the  Constitution  and  the  equal  rights  of  the  people  of 
all  the  States,  it  must  be  because  the  author  has  failed  to  pre- 
sent the  subject  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  force  and  clearness. 

In  describing  the  events  of  the  war,  space  has  not  per- 
mitted, and  the  loss  of  both  books  and  papers  has  prevented, 
the  notice  of  very  many  entitled  to  consideration,  as  well  for 
the  humanity  as  the  gallantry  of  our  men  in  the  unequal  com- 
bats they  fought.  These  numerous  omissions,  it  is  satisfactory 
to  know,  the  official  reports  made  at  the  time  and  the  subse- 
quent contributions  which  have  been  and  are  being  published 
by  the  actors,  will  supply  more  fully  and  graphically  than  could 
have  been  done  in  this  work. 

Usurpations  of  the  Federal  Government  have  been  pre- 
sented, not  in  a  spirit  of  hostility,  but  as  a  warning  to  the 
people  against  the  dangers  by  which  their  liberties  are  beset. 
When  the  war  ceased,  the  pretext  on  which  it  had  been  waged 
could  no  longer  be  alleged.  The  emancipation  proclamation 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which,  when  it  was  issued,  he  humorously  ad- 
mitted to  be  a  nullity,  had  acquired  validity  by  the  action  of 
the  highest  authority  known  to  our  institutions — the  people 
assembled  in  their  several  State  Conventions.  The  soldiers  of 
the  Confederacy  had  laid  down  their  arms,  had  in  good  faith 
pledged  themselves  to  abstain  from  further  hostile  operations, 
and  had  peacefully  dispersed  to  their  homes  ;  there  could  not, 


viii  PREFACE. 

then,  have  been  further  dread  of  them  bj  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  The  plea  of  necessity  could,  therefore,  no 
longer  exist  for  hostile  demonstration  against  the  people  and 
States  of  the  deceased  Confederacy.  Did  vengeance,  which 
stops  at  the  grave,  subside  %  Did  real  peace  and  the  restoration 
of  the  States  to  their  former  rights  and  positions  follow,  as  was 
promised  on  the  restoration  of  the  Union  %  Let  the  recital  of 
the  invasion  of  the  reserved  powers  of  the  States,  or  the  people, 
and  the  perversion  of  the  republican  form  of  government  guar- 
anteed to  each  State  by  the  Constitution,  answer  the  question. 
For  the  deplorable  fact  of  the  war,  for  the  cruel  manner  in 
which  it  was  waged,  for  the  sad  physical  and  yet  sadder  moral 
results  it  produced,  the  reader  of  these  pages,  I  hope,  "will 
admit  that  the  South,  in  the  forum  of  conscience,  stands  fully 
acquitted. 

Much  of  the  past  is  irremediable  ;  the  best  hope  for  a  resto- 
ration in  the  future  to  the  pristine  purity  and  fraternity  of  the 
Union,  rests  on  the  opinions  and  character  of  the  men  who  are 
to  succeed  this  generation :  that  they  may  be  suited  to  that 
blessed  work,  one,  whose  public  course  is  ended,  invokes  them 
to  draw  their  creed  from  the  fountains  of  our  political  history, 
rather  than  from  the  lower  stream,  polluted  as  it  has  been  by 
self-seeking  place-hunters  and  by  sectional  strife. 

THE  AUTHOE. 


OOK"TE]SrTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction 1 

PART    I . 

CHAPTER  I. 

African  Servitude. — -A  Retrospect. — Early  Legislation  with  Regard  to  the  Slave- 
Trade. — The  Southern  States  foremost  in  prohibiting  it. — A  Common  Error 
corrected. — The  Ethical  Question  never  at  Issue  in  Sectional  Controversies. 
— The  Acquisition  of  Louisiana. — The  Missouri  Compromise. — The  Balance 
of  Power. — Note. — The  Indiana  Case         .......       3 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Session  of  1849-50.— The  Compromise  Measures. — Virtual  Abrogation  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise. — The  Admission  of  California. — The  Fugitive 
Slave  Law. — Death  of  Mr.  Calhoun. — Anecdote  of  Mr.  Clay        .        .         .14 

CHAPTER  III. 

Reelection  to  the  Senate. — Political  Controversies  in  Mississippi. — Action  of 
the  Democratic  State  Convention. — Defeat  of  the  State-Rights  Party. — 
Withdrawal  of  General  Quitman  and  Nomination  of  the  Author  as  Can- 
didate for  the  Office  of  Governor. — The  Canvass  and  its  Result. — Retire- 
ment to  Private  Life 18 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Author  enters  the  Cabinet. — Administration  of  the  War  Department. — Sur 
veys  for  a  Pacific  Railway. — Extension  of  the  Capitol. — New  Regiments 
organized. — Colonel   Samuel  Cooper,  Adjutant-General. — A  Bit  of  Civil 
Service   Reform. — Reelection   to   the    Senate.™ Continuity  of  the   Pierce 
Cabinet. — Character  of  Franklin  Pierce 22 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Territorial  Question. — An  Incident  at  the  White  House. — The  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  Bill. — The  Missouri  Compromise  abrogated  in  1850,  not  in  1854. 
B 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— Origin  of  "  Squatter  Sovereignty." — Sectional  Rivalry  and  its  Conse- 
quences.— The  Emigrant  Aid  Societies. — "  The  Bible  and  Sharpe's  Rifles." 
— False  Pretensions  as  to  Principle. — The  Strife  in  Kansas. — A  Retro- 
spect.— The  Original  Equilibrium  of  Power  and  its  Overthrow. — Usurpa- 
tions of  the  Federal  Government. — The  Protective  Tariff. — Origin  and 
Progress  of  Abolitionism.— Who  were  the  Friends  of  the  Union? — An 
Illustration  of  Political  Morality 26 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Agitation  continued. — Political  Parties :  their  Origin,  Changes,  and  Modifica- 
tions.— Some  Account  of  the  "Popular  Sovereignty,"  or  "Non-Interven- 
tion," Theory. — Rupture  of  the  Democratic  Party. — The  John  Brown  Raid. 
— Resolutions  introduced  by  the  Author  into  the  Senate  on  the  Relations 
of  the  States,  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  Territories ;  their  Discus- 
sion and  Adoption     .         .         .         .* 85 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  Retrospect.— Growth  of  Sectional  Rivalry. — The  Generosity  of  Virginia. — 
Unequal  Accessions  of  Territory. — The  Tariff  and  its  Effects. — The  Re- 
publican Convention  of  1860,  its  Resolutions  and  its  Nominations. — The 
Democratic  Convention  at  Charleston,  its  Divisions  and  Disruption. — The 
Nominations  at  Baltimore. — The  "  Constitutional-Union "  Party  and  its 
Nominees. — An  Effort  in  Behalf  of  Agreement  declined  by  Mr.  Douglas. — 
The  Election  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin. — Proceedings  in  the  South. — Evi- 
dences of  Calmness  and  Deliberation. — Mr.  Buchanan's  Conservatism  and 
the  Weakness  of  his  Position. — Republican  Taunts. — The  "  New  York 
Tribune,"  etc 47 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Conference  with  the  Governor  of  Mississippi.— The  Author  censured  as  "  too 
slow." — Summons  to  Washington. — Interview  with  the  President. — His 
Message.— Movements  in  Congress.— The  Triumphant  Majority.— The  Crit- 
tenden Proposition.— Speech  of  the  Author  on  Mr.  Green's  Resolution. — 
The  Committee  of  Thirteen.— Failure  to  agree— The  "  Republicans  "  re- 
sponsible for  the  Failure.— Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Representatives.— 
Futility  of  Efforts  for  an  Adjustment.— The  Old  Year  closes  in  Clouds       .     57 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Preparations  for  Withdrawal  from  the  Union. — Northern  Precedents.— New 
England  Secessionists.— Cabot,  Pickering,  Quincy,  etc.— On  the  Acquisition 
of  Louisiana. — The  Hartford  Convention.— The  Massachusetts  Legislature 
on  the  Annexation  of  Texas,  etc.,  etc *70 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

False  Statements  of  the  Grounds  for  Separation. — Slavery  not  the  Cause,  but 
an  Incident. — The  Southern  People  not  "  Propagandists  "  of  Slavery. — 
Early  Accord  among  the  States  with  Regard  to  African  Servitude. — State- 
ment of  the  Supreme  Court. — Guarantees  of  the  Constitution. — Disregard 
of  Oaths. — Fugitives  from  Service  and  the  "  Personal  Liberty  Laws." — 
Equality  in  the  Territories  the  Paramount  Question. — The  Dred  Scott 
Case. — Disregard  of  the  Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court. — Culmination  of 
Wrongs. — Despair  of  their  Redress. — Triumph  of  Sectionalism  .         .         .77 


PART     II. 

TEE    CONSTITUTION. 
CHAPTER   I. 

The  Original  Confederation.- — "  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union." 
— Their  Inadequacy  ascertained. — Commercial  Difficulties. — The  Confer- 
ence at  Annapolis. — Recommendation  of  a  General  Convention. — Resolution 
of  Congress. — Action  of  the  Several  States. — Conclusions  drawn  therefrom     86 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Convention  of  1787. — Diversity  of  Opinion. — Luther  Martin's  Account  of 
the  Three  Parties. — The  Question  of  Representation. — Compromise  effected. 
— Mr.  Randolph's  Resolutions. — The  Word  "  National "  condemned. — Plan 
of  Government  framed. — Difficulty  with  Regard  to  Ratification,  and  its 
Solution. — Provision  for  Secession  from  the  Union. — Views  of  Mr.  Gerry 
and  Mr.  Madison. — False  Interpretations. — Close  of  the  Convention  .  94 

CHAPTER   III. 

Ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  the  States. — Organization  of  the  New  Gov- 
ernment.— Accession  of  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island. — Correspondence 
between  General  Washington  and  the  Governor  of  Rhode  Island        .         .103 

CHAPTER  TV. 

The  Constitution  not  adopted  by  one  People  "  in  the  Aggregate."— A  Great  Fal- 
lacy exposed.— Mistake  of  Judge  Story.— Colonial  Relations.— The  United 
Colonies  of  New  England. — Other  Associations. — Independence  of  Com- 
munities traced  from  Germany  to  Great  Britain,  and  from  Great  Britain 
to  America. — Mr.  Everett's  "  Provincial  People."— Origin  and  Continuance 
of  the  Title  "  United  States."— No  such  Political  Community  as  the  "  Peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  "  114 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Preamble  to  the  Constitution. — "  We,  the  People  "     .         .         .        .         .   121 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

PAGE 

The  Preamble  to  the  Constitution — subject  continued. — Growth  of  the  Federal 
Government  and  Accretions  of  Power. — Revival  of  Old  Errors. — Mistakes 
and  Misstatements. — Webster,  Story,  and  Everett. — Who  "ordained  and 
established  "  the  Constitution  ? 127 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Verbal  Cavils  and  Criticisms. — "Compact,"  "Confederacy,"  "Accession,"  etc. 
— The  "  New  Vocabulary." — The  Federal  Constitution  a  Compact,  and  the 
States  acceded  to  it. — Evidence  of  the  Constitution  itself  and  of  Contem- 
porary Records  .        .        .        .  .        , 134 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Sovereignty 141 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  same  Subject  continued. — The  Tenth  Amendment. — Fallacies  exposed. — 
"  Constitution,"  "  Government,"  and  "  People  "  distinguished  from  each 
other. — Theories  refuted  by  Facts. — Characteristics  of  Sovereignty. — Sov- 
ereignty identified  ;  never  thrown  away 146 

CHAPTER  X. 

A  Recapitulation. — Remarkable  Propositions  of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  in  the 
Convention  of  1787,  and  their  Fate. —  Further  Testimony. — Hamilton, 
Madison,  Washington,  Marshall,  etc. — Later  Theories. — Mr.  Webster  :  his 
Views  at  Various  Periods. — Speech  at  Capon  Springs. — State  Rights  not 
a  Sectional  Theory 157 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  Right  of  Secession. — The  Law  of  Unlimited  Partnerships.— The  "  Perpet- 
ual Union"  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  "More  Perfect 
Union  "  of  the  Constitution. — The  Important  Powers  conferred  upon  the 
Federal  Government  and  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  the  Compact  the 
same  in  both  Systems. — The  Right  to  resume  Grants,  when  failing  to 
fulfill  their  Purposes,  expressly  and  distinctly  asserted  in  the  Adoption  of 
the  Constitution 168 

CHAPTER   XII. 

Coercion  the  Alternative  to  Secession. — Repudiation  of  it  by  the  Constitution 
and  the  Fathers  of  the  Constitutional  Era. — Difference  between  Mr.  Web- 
ster and  Mr.  Hamilton 177 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

PAGE 

Some  Objections  considered. — The  New  States. — Acquired  Territory. — Alle- 
giance, false  and  true. — Difference  between  Nullification  and  Secession. — 
Secession  a  Peaceable  Remedy. — No  Appeal  to  Arms. — Two  Conditions 
noted .        .        .        .        .        .        .180 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Early  Foreshadowings. — Opinions  of  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Rufus  King. — Safe- 
guards provided. — Their  Failure. — State  Interspoition. — The  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  Resolutions. — Their  Endorsement  by  the  People  in  the  Presidential 
Elections  of  1800  and  Ensuing  Terms. — South  Carolina  and  Mr.  Calhoun. — 
The  Compromise  of  1833. — Action  of  Massachusetts  in  1843-'45. — Opin- 
ions of  John  Quincy  Adams. — Necessity  for  Secession        .         .         .         .185 

• 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  Bond  of  Union  necessary  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence. — Articles  of 
Confederation.— The  Constitution  of  the  United  States. — The  Same  Prin- 
ciple for  obtaining  Grants  of  Power  in  both.— The  Constitution  an  Instru- 
ment enumerating  the  Powers  delegated.— The  Power  of  Amendment 
merely  a  Power  to  amend  the  Delegated  Grants.— A  Smaller  Power  was 
required  for  Amendment  than  for  a  Grant. — The  Power  of  Amendment 
is  confined  to  Grants  of  the  Constitution. — Limitations  on  the  Power  of 
Amendment .193 


PART    III. 

SECESSION   AND    CONFEDERATION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Opening  of  the  New  Year.— The  People  in  Advance  of  their  Representatives.— 
Conciliatory  Conduct  of  Southern  Members  of  Congress.— Sensational 
Fictions.— Misstatements  of  the  Count  of  Paris.— Obligations  of  a  Senator. 
—The  Southern  Forts  and  Arsenals.— Pensacola  Bay  and  Fort  Pickens.— 
The  Alleged  "  Caucus  "  and  its  Resolutions.— Personal  Motives  and  Feel- 
ings.—The  Presidency  not  a  Desirable  Office.— Letter  from  the  Hon.  C. 
C-  Clay 199 

CHAPTER  II. 

Tenure  of  Public  Property  ceded  by  the  States.— Sovereignty  and  Eminent  Do- 
main.—Principles  asserted  by  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Virginia,  and 
other  States.— The  Charleston  Forts.— South  Carolina  sends  Commissioners 
to  Washington.— Sudden  Movement  of  Major  Anderson.— Correspondence 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of  the  Commissioners  with  the  President. — Interviews  of  the  Author  with 
Mr.  Buchanan. — Major  Anderson. — The  Star  of  the  West. — The  President's 
Special  Message. — Speech  of  the  Author  in  the  Senate. — Further  Proceed- 
ings and  Correspondence  relative  to  Fort  Sumter. — Mr.  Buchanan's  Rec- 
titude in  Purpose  and  Vacillation  in  Action 209 

CHAPTER  III. 

Secession  of  Mississippi  and  Other  States. — Withdrawal  of  Senators. — Address 
of  the  Author  on  taking  Leave  of  the  Senate. — Answer  to  Certain  Objec- 
tions   220 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Threats  of  Arrest. — Departure  from  Washington. — Indications  of  Public  Anx- 
iety.— "Will  there  be  War?" — Organization  of  the  "Army  of  Missis- 
sippi."— Lack  of  Preparations  for  Defense  in  the  South. — Evidences  of 
the  Good  Faith  and  Peaceable  Purposes  of  the  Southern  People         .         .  226 


CHAPTER  V. 

Meeting  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States. — Adoption  of  a 
Provisional  Constitution. — Election  of  President  and  Vice-President. — Noti- 
fication to  the  Author  of  his  Election.— His  Views  with  Regard  to  it.— 
Journey  to  Montgomery. — Interview  with  Judge  Sharkey. — False  Reports 
of  Speeches  on  the  Way. — Inaugural  Address. — Editor's  Note   .         .         .  229 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Confederate  Cabinet 241 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Early  Acts  of  the  Confederate  Congress. — Laws  of  the  United  States  continued 
in  Force.— Officers  of  Customs  and  Revenue  continued  in  Office. — Com- 
mission to  the  United  States.— Navigation  of  the  Mississippi.— Restrictions 
on  the  Coasting-Trade  removed.— Appointment  of  Commissioners  to  Wash- 
ington          . 


243 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Peace  Conference.— Demand  for  "  a  Little  Bloodletting."— Plan  proposed 
by  the  Conference. — Its  Contemptuous  Reception  and  Treatment  in  the 
United  States  Congress.— Failure  of  Last  Efforts  at  Reconciliation  and  Re- 
union.—Note.— Speech  of  General  Lane,  of  Oregon 247 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PAGE 

Northern  Protests  against  Coercion. — The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  Albany  "  Ar- 
gus," and  "  New  York  Herald." — Great  Public  Meeting  in  New  York. — 
Speeches  of  Mr.  Thayer,  ex-Governor  Seymour,  ex-Chancellor  Walworth, 
and  Others. — The  Press  in  February,  1861. — Mr.  Lincoln's  Inaugural. — 
The  Marvelous  Change  or  Suppression  of  Conservative  Sentiment. — His- 
toric Precedents 251 

CHAPTER  X. 

Temper  of  the  Southern  People  indicated  by  the  Action  of  the  Confederate 
Congress. — The  Permanent  Constitution. — Modeled  after  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution.— Variations  and  Special  Provisions. — Provisions  with  Regard  to 
Slavery  and  the  Slave-Trade. — A  False  Assertion  refuted.— Excellence  of 
the  Constitution. — Admissions  of  Hostile  or  Impartial  Criticism         .         .  258 

CHAPTER   XL 

The  Commission  to  Washington  City. — Arrival  of  Mr.  Crawford. — Mr.  Bu- 
chanan's Alarm. — Note  of  the  Commissioners  to  the  New  Administra- 
tion.— Mediation  of  Justices  Nelson  and  Campbell. — The  Difficulty  about 
Forts  Sumter  and  Pickens. — Mr.  Secretary  Seward's  Assurances. — Du- 
plicity of  the  Government  at  Washington. — Mr.  Fox's  Visit  to  Charleston. 
— Secret  Preparations  for  Coercive  Measures. — Visit  of  Mr.  Lamon. — Re- 
newed Assurances  of  Good  Faith. — Notification  to  Governor  Pickens. — 
Developments  of  Secret  History. — Systematic  and  Complicated  Perfidy 
exposed 263 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Protests  against  the  Conduct  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. — 
Senator  Douglas's  Proposition  to  evacuate  the  Forts,  and  Extracts  from 
his  Speech  in  Support  of  it. — General  Scott's  Advice. — Manly  Letter  of 
Major  Anderson,  protesting  against  the  Action  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment.— Misstatements  of  the  Count  of  Paris. — Correspondence  relative  to 
Proposed  Evacuation  of  the  Fort. — A  Crisis 281 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  Pause  and  a  Review. — Attitude  of  the  Two  Parties. — Sophistry  exposed  and 
Shams  torn  away. — Forbearance  of  the  Confederate  Government. — Who 
was  the  Aggressor  ? — Major  Anderson's  View,  and  that  of  a  Naval  Officer. 
— Mr.  Horace  Greeley  on  the  Fort  Sumter  Case. — The  Bombardment  and 
Surrender. — Gallant  Action  of  ex-Senator  Wigfall. — Mr.  Lincoln's  State- 
ment of  the  Case 289 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

PART     IV. 

TEE   WAR. 
CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

Failure  of  the  Peace  Congress.  —  Treatment  of  the  Commissioners. —  Their 
Withdrawal. — Notice  of  an  Armed  Expedition. — Action  of  the  Confed- 
erate Government. — Bombardment  and  Surrender  of  Fort  Sumter. — Its 
Pteduction  required  by  the  Exigency  of  the  Case. — Disguise  thrown  off. — 
President  Lincoln's  Call  for  Seventy-five  Thousand  Men. — His  Fiction  of 
"  Combinations." — Palpable  Violation  of  the  Constitution.^— Action  of  Vir- 
ginia.— Of  Citizens  of  Baltimore. — The  Charge  of  Precipitation  against 
South  Carolina. — Action  of  the  Confederate  Government. — The  Universal 
Feeling 296 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Supply  of  Arms  ;  of  Men. — Love  of  the  Union. — Secessionists  few. — Efforts 
to  prevent  the  Final  Step. — Views  of  the  People. — Effect  on  their  Agri- 
culture.— Aid  from  African  Servitude. — Answer  to  the  Clamors  on  the  Hor- 
rors of  Slavery. — Appointment  of  a  Commissary-General. — His  Character 
and  Capacity. — Organization,  Instruction,  and  Equipment  of  the  Army. — 
Action  of  Congress. — The  Law. — Its  Signification. — The  nope  of  a  Peace- 
ful Solution  early  entertained  ;  rapidly  diminished. — Further  Action  of 
Congress. — Policy  of  the  Government  for  Peace. — Position  of  Officers  of 
United  States  Army. — The  Army  of  the  States,  not  of  the  Government. — 
The  Confederate  Law  observed  by  the  Government.— Officers  retiring  from 
United  States  Army. — Organization  of  Bureaus 301 

CHAPTER  III. 

Commissioners  to  purchase  Arms  and  Ammunition. — My  Letter  to  Captain 
Semmes. — Resignations  of  Officers  of  United  States  Navy. — Our  Destitu- 
tion of  Accessories  for  the  Supply  of  Naval  Vessels. — Secretary  Mallory. — 
Food-Supplies. — The  Commissariat  Department. — The  Quartermaster's  De- 
partment.—The  Disappearance  of  Delusions.— The  Supply  of  Powder.— 
Saltpeter.— Sulphur. — Artificial  Niter-Beds. — Services  of  General  G.  W. 
Rains. — Destruction  at  Harper's  Ferry  of  Machinery.  —  The  Master  Ar- 
morer.— Machinery  secured.— Want  of  Skillful  Employees.— Difficulties 
encountered  by  Every  Department  of  the  Executive  Branch  of  the  Gov- 
ernment   .         .         .         .         .         .         •         •         •         •         •         •         .311 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Proclamation  for  Seventy-five  Thousand  Men  by  President  Lincoln  further 
examined. — The  Reasons  presented  by  him  to  Mankind  for  the  Justification 
of  his  Conduct  shown  to  be  Mere  Fictions,  having  no  Relation  to  the  Ques- 
tion.—What  is  the  Value  of  Constitutional  Liberty,  of  Bills  of  Rights,  of 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

PAGE 

Limitations  of  Powers,  if  they  may  be  transgressed  at  Pleasure  ? — Secession 
of  South  Carolina. — Proclamation  of  Blockade. — Session  of  Congress  at 
Montgomery. — Extracts  from  the  President's  Message. — Acts  of  Con- 
gress.— Spirit  of  the  People. — Secession  of  Border  States. — Destruction  of 
United  States  Property  by  Order  of  President  Lincoln       ,        .  .319 

CHAPTER  V. 

Maryland  first  approached  by  Northern  Invasion. — Denies  to  United  States 
Troops  the  Right  of  Way  across  her  Domain. — Mission  of  Judge  Handy. — 
Views  of  Governor  Hicks. — His  Proclamation. — Arrival  of  Massachusetts 
Troops  at  Baltimore. — Passage  through  the  City  disputed. — Activity  of 
the  Police. — Burning  of  Bridges. — Letter  of  President  Lincoln  to  the 
Governor. — Visited  by  Citizens. — Action  of  the  State  Legislature. — Occu- 
pation of  the  Relay  House. — The  City  Arms  surrendered. — City  in  Pos- 
session of  United  States  Troops. — Remonstrances  of  the  City  to  the  Pas- 
sage of  Troops  disregarded. — Citizens  arrested;  also,  Members  of  the 
Legislature. — Accumulation  of  Northern  Forces  at  Washington.— Invasion 
of  West  Virginia  by  a  Force  under  McClellan. — Attack  at  Philippi;  at 
Laurel  Hill. — Death  of  General  Garnett     .......  330 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Removal  of  the  Seat  of  Government  to  Richmond. — Message  to  Congress  at 
Richmond. — Confederate  Forces  in  Virginia.— Forces  of  the  Enemy. — Let- 
ter to  General  Johnston. — Combat  at  Bethel  Church. — Affair  at  Romney. — 
Movements  of  McDowell. — Battle  of  Manassas 339 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Conference  with  the  Generals  after  the  Battle. — Order  to  pursue  the  Enemy. — 
Evidences  of  a  Thorough  Rout. — "Sweet  to  die  for  such  a  Cause." — 
Movements  of  the  Next  Day. — What  more  it  was  practicable  to  do. — Charge 
against  the  President  of  preventing  the  Capture  of  Washington. — The 
Failure  to  pursue. — Reflection  on  the  President. — General  Beauregard's 
Report. — Endorsement  upon  it. — Strength  of  the  Opposing  Forces. — Ex- 
tracts relating  to  the  Battle,  from  the  Narrative  of  General  Early. — Resolu- 
tions of  Congress. — Efforts  to  increase  the  Efficiency  of  the  Army      .         .  352 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798-99. — Their  Influence  on  Political  Affairs. — 
Kentucky  declares  for  Neutrality. — Correspondence  of  Governor  Magoffin 
with  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  President  of  the  Con- 
federate States. — Occupation  of  Columbus,  Kentucky,  by  Major-General 
Polk. — His  Correspondence  with  the  Kentucky  Commissioners. — President 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Lincoln's  View  of  Neutrality. — Acts  of  the  United  States  Government. — 
Refugees. — Their  Motives  of  Expatriation. — Address  of  ex-Vice-President 
Breckinridge  to  the  People  of  the  State. — The  Occupation  of  Columbus 
secured. — The  Purpose  of  the  United  States  Government. — Battle  of  Bel- 
mont.— Albert  Sidney  Johnston  commands  the  Department. — State  of 
Affairs. — Line  of  Defense. — Efforts  to  obtain  Arms  ;  also  Troops     .         .  385 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Coercion  of  Missouri. — Answers  of  the  Governors  of  States  to  President 
Lincoln's  Requisition  for  Troops.  —  Restoration  of  Forts  Caswell  and 
Johnson  to  the  United  States  Government. — Condition  of  Missouri  similar 
to  that  of  Kentucky. — Hostilities,  how  initiated  in  Missouri. — Agreement 
between  Generals  Price  and  Harney. — Its  Favorable  Effects. — General 
Harney  relieved  of  Command  by  the  United  States  Government  because  of 
his  Pacific  Policy. — Removal  of  Public  Arms  from  Missouri. — Searches 
for  and  Seizure  of  Arms. — Missouri  on  the  Side  of  Peace. — Address  of  Gen- 
eral Price  to  the  People. — Proclamation  of  Governor  Jackson. — Humiliating 
Concessions  of  the  Governor  to  the  United  States  Government,  for  the  Sake 
of  Peace. — Demands  of  the  Federal  Officers. — Revolutionary  Principles  at- 
tempted to  be  enforced  by  the  United  States  Government. — The  Action 
at  Booneville. — The  Patriot  Army  of  Militia. — Further  Rout  of  the  Enemy. 
— Heroism  and  Self-sacrifice  of  the  People. — Complaints  and  Embarrass- 
ments.— Zeal :  its  Effects. — Action  of  Congress. — Battle  of  Springfield. — 
General  Price. — Battle  at  Lexington. — Bales  of  Hemp. — Other  Combats     .  410 

CHAPTER  X. 

Brigadier-General  Henry  A.  Wise  takes  Command  in  Western  Virginia. — His 
Movements. — Advance  of  General  John  B.  Floyd. — Defeats  the  Enemy. — 
Attacked  by  Rosecrans. — Controversy  between  Wise  alid  Floyd. — General 
R.  E.  Lee  takes  the  Command  in  West  Virginia. — Movement  on  Cheat 
Mountain. — Its  Failure. — Further  Operations. — Winter  Quarters. — Lee  sent 
to  South  Carolina 432 


CHAPTER   XL 

The  Issue. — The  American  Idea  of  Government. — Who  was  responsible  for 
the  War  ? — Situation  of  Virginia. — Concentration  of  the  Enemy  against 
Richmond. — Our  Difficulty. — Unjust  Criticisms. — The  Facts  set  forth. — 
Organization  of  the  Army. — Conference  at  Fairfax  Court-House. — Inaction 
of  the  Army. — Capture  of  Romney. — Troops  ordered  to  retire  to  the  Val- 
ley.— Discipline. — General  Johnston  regards  his  Position  as  unsafe. — The 
First  Policy. — Retreat  of  General  Johnston. — The  Plans  of  the  Enemy. — 
Our  Strength  magnified  by  the  Enemy. — Stores  destroyed. — The  Trent 
Affair 438 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PAGE 

Supply  of  Arms  at  the  Beginning  of  the  War ;  of  Powder;  of  Batteries;  of  other 
Articles. — Contents  of  Arsenals. — Other  Stores,  Mills,  etc. — First  Efforts  to 
obtain  Powder,  Niter,  and  Sulphur. — Construction  of  Mills  commenced. — 
Efforts  to  supply  Arms,  Machinery,  Field-Artillery,  Ammunition,  Equip- 
ment, and  Saltpeter. — Results  in  1882. — Government  Powder-Mills  ;  how 
organized. — Success. — Efforts  to  obtain  Lead. — Smelting- Works. — Troops, 
how  armed. — Winter  of  1862. — Supplies. — Niter  and  Mining  Bureau. — 
Equipment  of  First  Armies. — Receipts  by  Blockade-Runners. — Arsenal  at 
Richmond. — Armories  at  Richmond  and  Fayetteville. — A  Central  Labor- 
atory built  at  Macon. — Statement  of  General  Gorgas.— Northern  Charge 
against  General  Floyd  answered. — Charge  of  Slowness  against  the  Presi- 
dent answered. — Quantities  of  Arms  purchased  that  could  not  be  shipped 
in  1861.— Letter  of  Mr.  Huse 471 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Extracts  from  my  Inaugural. — Our  Financial  System. — Receipts  and  Expen- 
ditures of  the  First  Year. — Resources,  Loans,  and  Taxes. — Loans  autho- 
rized.— Notes  and  Bonds. — Funding  Notes. — Treasury  Notes  guaranteed  by 
the  States. — Measure  to  reduce  the  Currency. — Operation  of  the  General 
System. — Currency  fundable. — Taxation. — Popular  Aversion. — Compulsory 
Reduction  of  the  Currency. — Tax  Law. — Successful  Result. — Financial 
Condition  of  the  Government  at  its  Close. — Sources  whence  Revenue  was 
derived. — Total  Public  Debt. — System  of  Direct  Taxes  and  Revenue. — The 
Tariff. — War-Tax  of  Fifty  Cents  on  a  Hundred  Dollars. — Property  subject 
to  it. — Every  Resource  of  the  Country  to  be  reached. — Tax  paid  by  the 
States  mostly. — Obstacle  to  the  taking  of  the  Census. — The  Foreign  Debt. 
— Terms  of  the  Contract. — Premium. — False  Charge  against  me  of  Repu- 
diation.— Facts  stated. — The  Tariff :  its  History  and  Oppressiveness         .     484 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

Military  Laws  and  Measures.— Agricultural  Products  diminished.— Manufactures 
flourishing.— The  Call  for  Volunteers.— The  Term  of  Three  Years.— Im- 
proved Discipline.— The  Law  assailed.— Important  Constitutional  Question 
raised.— Its  Discussion  at  Length.— Power  of  the  Government  over  its  own 
Armies  and  the  Militia.— Object  of  Confederations.— The  War-Powers 
granted.— Two  Modes  of  raising  Armies  in  the  Confederate  States.— Is  the 
Law  necessary  and  proper  ?— Congress  is  the  Judge  under  the  Grant  of 
Specific  Power.— What  is  meant  by  Militia.— Whole  Military  Strength 
divided  into  Two  Classes.— Powers  of  Congress.— Objections  answered.— 
Good  Effects  of  the  Law.— The  Limitations  enlarged.— Results  of  the  Op- 
erations of  these  Laws.— Act  for  the  Employment  of  Slaves.— Message  to 
Congress.—"  Died  of  a  Theory."— Act  to  use  Slaves  as  Soldiers  passed.— 
Not  Time  to  put  it  in  Operation ,  gQS 


XX  CONTENTS. 

APPENDIXES. 

APPENDIX   B. 

PAGE 

Speech  of  the  Author  on  the  Oregon  Question 521 

APPENDIX  C. 

Extracts  from  Speeches  of  the  Author  on  the  Eesolutions  of  Compromise  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Clay 528 

On  the  Reception  of  a  Memorial  from  Inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  and  Dela- 
ware, praying  that  Congress  would  adopt  Measures  for  an  Immediate  and 
Peaceful  Dissolution  of  the  Union 532 

On  the  Resolutions  of  Mr.  Clay  relative  to  Slavery  in  the  Territories      .         .  533 

APPENDIX  D. 

Speech  of  the  Author  on  the  Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 

transmitting  to  Congress  the  "  Lecompton  Constitution  "  of  Kansas   .         .  541 

APPENDIX  E. 

Address  of  the  Author  to  Citizens  of  Portland,  Maine 546 

Address  of  the  Author  at  a  Public  Meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston ;  with  the 

Introductory  Remarks  by  Caleb  Cushing 550 

APPENDIX  F. 

Speech  of  the  Author  in  the  Senate,  on  the  Resolutions  relative  to  the  Rela- 
tions of  the  States,  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  Territories         .         .569 

APPENDIX   G. 

Correspondence  between  the  Commissioners  of  South  Carolina  and  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  (Mr.  Buchanan),  relative  to  the  Forts  in  the 
Harbor  of  Charleston C91 

APPENDIX  II. 

Speech  of  the  Author  on  a  Motion  to  print  the  Special  Message  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  January  9,  1861 603 

APPENDIX  I. 

Correspondence  and  Extracts  from  Correspondence  relative  to  Fort  Sumter, 
from  the  Affair  of  the  Star  of  the"  West,  January  9,  1861,  to  the  With- 
drawal of  the  Envoy  of  South  Carolina  from  Washington,  February  8,  1861,  624 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

APPENDIX  K. 

PAGE 

The  Provisional  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States,  adopted  February  8, 

1861 640 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  Permanent  Constitution  of  the 

Confederate  States,  in  Parallel  Columns 648 

APPENDIX   L. 

Correspondence   between  the  Confederate  Commissioners,  Mr.  Secretary  Sew- 
ard, and  Judge  Campbell 675 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Jeffeeson  Davis,  aged  Thiety-two  „  .  .        Frontispiece 

J.  0.  Calhoun     ......  Face  page    17 

Beiaefield,  Eaely  Residence  of  Me.  Dayis        ...  20 

The  Fiest  Confedeeate  Cabinet        .  .  .  .     242 

Alexandee  H.  Stephens      .  .  .  .  .  .258 

Geneeal  P.  G.  T.  Beaueegaed  .....     288 

Membees  of  Peesident's  Staff      .....  348 

Geneeal  A.  S.  Johnston  .  .  .  .  .  .     405 

Geneeal  Robeet  E.  Lee      .  .  .  .  .  .  506 

Battle  of  Manassas  (Map)      ......     382 


I^TEODUCTIOlSr. 


A  duty  to  my  countrymen ;  to  the  memory  of  those  who 
died  in  defense  of  a  cause  consecrated  by  inheritance,  as  well 
as  sustained  by  conviction ;  and  to  those  who,  perhaps  less  for- 
tunate, staked  all,  and  lost  all,  save  life  and  honor,  in  its  behalf, 
has  impelled  me  to  attempt  the  vindication  of  their  cause  and 
conduct.  For  this  purpose  I  have  decided  to  present  an  histori- 
cal sketch  of  the  events  which  preceded  and  attended  the  strug- 
gle of  the  Southern  States  to  maintain  their  existence  and  their 
rights  as  sovereign  communities — the  creators,  not  the  crea- 
tures, of  the  General  Government. 

The  social  problem  of  maintaining  the  just  relation  between 
constitution,  government,  and  people,  has  been  found  so  diffi- 
cult, that  human  history  is  a  record  of  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
establish  it.  A  government,  to  afford  the  needful  protection 
and  exercise  proper  care  for  the  welfare  of  a  people,  must  have 
homogeneity  in  its  constituents.  It  is  this  necessity  which  has 
divided  the  human  race  into  separate  nations,  and  finally  has 
defeated  the  grandest  efforts  which  conquerors  have  made  to 
give  unlimited  extent  to  their  domain.  When  our  fathers  dis- 
solved their  connection  with  Great  Britain,  by  declaring  them- 
selves free  and  independent  States,  they  constituted  thirteen 
separate  communities,  and  were  careful  to  assert  and  preserve, 
each  for  itself,  its  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction. 

At  a  time  when  the  minds  of  men  are  straying  far  from  the 
lessons  our  fathers  taught,  it  seems  proper  and  well  to  recur  to 
the  original  principles  on  which  the  system  of  government  they 
devised  was  founded.  The  eternal  truths  which  they  announced, 
the  rights  which  they  declared  "  unalienable"  are  the  foundation- 
stones  on  which  rests  the  vindication  of  the  Confederate  cause. 
1 


2  RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

He  must  have  been  a  careless  reader  of  our  political  history 
who  has  not  observed  that,  whether  under  the  style  of  "  United 
Colonies  "  or  "  United  States,"  which  was  adopted  after  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  whether  under  the  articles  of  Confed- 
eration or  the  compact  of  Union,  there  everywhere  appears  the 
distinct  assertion  of  State  sovereignty,  and  nowhere  the  slightest 
suggestion  of  any  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  States  to  consolidate 
themselves  into  one  body.  Will  any  candid,  well-informed  man 
assert  that,  at  any  time  between  1776  and  1790,  a  proposition  to 
surrender  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  and  merge  them  in  a 
central  government  would  have  had  the  least  possible  chance 
of  adoption  ?  Can  any  historical  fact  be  more  demonstrable 
than  that  the  States  did,  both  in  the  Confederation  and  in  the 
Union,  retain  their  sovereignty  and  independence  as  distinct 
communities,  voluntarily  consenting  to  federation,  but  never 
becoming  the  fractional  parts  of  a  nation  ?  That  such  opinions 
should  find  adherents  in  our  day,  may  be  attributable  to  the 
natural  law  of  aggregation ;  surely  not  to  a  conscientious  regard 
for  the  terms  of  the  compact  for  union  by  the  States. 

In  all  free  governments  the  constitution  or  organic  law  is 
supreme  over  the  government,  and  in  our  Federal  Union  this 
was  most  distinctly  marked  by  limitations  and  prohibitions 
against  all  which  was  beyond  the  expressed  grants  of  power 
to  the  General  Government.  In  the  foreground,  therefore,  I 
take  the  position  that  those  who  resisted  violations  of  the  com- 
pact were  the  true  friends,  and  those  who  maintained  the  usur- 
pation of  undelegated  powers  were  the  real  enemies  of  the  con- 
stitutional Union. 


PAET    I. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

African  Servitude. — A  Retrospect. — Early  Legislation  with  Regard  to  the  Slave- 
Trade. — The  Southern  States  foremost  in  prohibiting  it. — A  Common  Error 
corrected. — The  Ethical  Question  never  at  Issue  in  Sectional  Controversies. — 
The  Acquisition  of  Louisiana. — The  Missouri  Compromise. — The  Balance  of 
Power. — Note. — The  Indiana  Case. 

Inasmuch  as  questions  growing  out  of  the  institution  of 
negro  servitude,  or  connected  with  it,  will  occupy  a  conspicuous 
place  in  what  is  to  follow,  it  is  important  that  the  reader  should 
have,  in  the  very  outset,  a  right  understanding  of  the  true  nature 
and  character  of  those  questions.  No  subject  has  been  more 
generally  misunderstood  or  more  persistently  misrepresented. 
The  institution  itself  has  ceased  to  exist  in  the  United  States  ; 
the  generation,  comprising  all  who  took  part  in  the  controversies 
to  which  it  gave  rise,  or  for  which  it  afforded  a  pretext,  is  pass- 
ing away  ;  and  the  misconceptions  which  have  prevailed  in  our 
own  country,  and  still  more  among  foreigners  remote  from  the 
field  of  contention,  are  likely  to  be  perpetuated  in  the  mind  of 
posterity,  unless  corrected  before  they  become  crystallized  by 
tacit  acquiescence. 

It  is  well  known  that,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  African  servitude  existed  in  all  the  States 
that  were  parties  to  that  compact,  unless  with  the  single  excep- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  in  which  it  had,  perhaps,  very  recently 
ceased  to  exist.  The  slaves,  however,  were  numerous  in  the 
Southern,  and  very  few  in  the  Northern,  States.  This  diversity 
was  occasioned  by  differences  of  climate,  soil,  and  industrial 


4  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

interests — not  in  any  degree  by  moral  considerations,  which  at 
that  period  were  not  recognized  as  an  element  in  the  question. 
It  was  simply  because  negro  labor  was  more  profitable  in  the 
South  than  in  the  North  that  the  importation  of  negro  slaves 
had  been,  and  continued  to  be,  chiefly  directed  to  the  Southern 
ports.*  For  the  same  reason  slavery  was  abolished  by  the  States 
of  the  Northern  section  (though  it  existed  in  several  of  them  for 
more  than  fifty  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution), 
while  the  importation  of  slaves  into  the  South  continued  to  be 
carried  on  by  Northern  merchants  and  Northern  ships,  without 
interference  in  the  traffic  from  any  quarter,  until  it  was  pro- 
hibited by  the  spontaneous  action  of  the  Southern  States  them- 
selves. 

The  Constitution  expressly  forbade  any  interference  by  Con- 
gress with  the  slave-trade — or,  to  use  its  own  language,  with  the 
"  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  "  as  any  of  the  States 
should  think  proper  to  admit — "  prior  to  the  year  1808."  Dur- 
ing the  intervening  period  of  more  than  twenty  years,  the  mat- 
ter was  exclusively  under  the  control  of  the  respective  States. 
Nevertheless,  every  Southern  State,  without  exception,  either 
had  already  enacted,  or  proceeded  to  enact,  laws  forbidding  the 
importation  of  slaves.f     Yirginia  was  the  first  of  all  the  States, 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that,  during  her  colonial  condition,  Virginia  made  stren- 
uous efforts  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Africans,  and  was  overruled  by  the  Crown ; 
also,  that  Georgia,  under  Oglethorpe,  did  prohibit  the  introduction  of  African  slaves 
until  1*752,  when  the  proprietors  surrendered  the  charter,  and  the  colony  became  a 
part  of  the  royal  government,  and  enjoyed  the  same  privileges  as  the  other  colonies. 

f  South  Carolina  subsequently  (in  1803)  repealed  her  law  forbidding  the  importa- 
tion of  slaves.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  action  was  the  impossibility  of  enforc- 
ing the  law  without  the  aid  of  the  Federal  Government,  to  which  entire  control  of 
the  revenues,  revenue  police,  and  naval  forces  of  the  country  had  been  surrendered 
by  the  States.  "  The  geographical  situation  of  our  country,"  said  Mr.  Lowndes,  of 
South  Carolina,  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  February  14,  1804,  "  is  not  un- 
known. With  navigable  rivers  running  into  the  heart  of  it,  it  was  impossible,  with 
our  means,  to  prevent  our  Eastern  brethren  ....  engaged  in  this  trade,  from  intro- 
ducing them  [the  negroes]  into  the  country.  The  law  was  completely  evaded.  .  .  . 
Under  these  circumstances,  sir,  it  appears  to  me  to  have  been  the  duty  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  repeal  the  law,  and  remove  from  the  eyes  of  the  people  the  spectacle  of  its 
authority  being  daily  violated." 

The  effect  of  the  repeal  was  to  permit  the  importation  of  negroes  into  South 
Carolina  during  the  interval  from  1803  to  1808.     It  is  probable  that  an  extensive 


1808]  LIMITATION  OF  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  CONGRESS.  5 

North  or  South,  to  prohibit  it,  and  Georgia  was  the  first  to  incor- 
porate such  a  prohibition  in  her  organic  Constitution. 

Two  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade 
were  presented  February  11  and  12,  1790,  to  the  very  first  Con- 
gress convened  under  the  Constitution.*  After  full  discussion 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  was  determined,  with  regard 
to  the  first-mentioned  subject,  "  that  Congress  have  no  authority 
to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment  of 
them  within  any  of  the  States  "  ;  and,  with  regard  to  the  other, 
that  no  authority  existed  to  prohibit  the  migration  or  importa- 
tion of  such  persons  as  the  States  might  think  proper  to  admit, 
"  prior  to  the  year  1808."  So  distinct  and  final  was  this  state- 
ment of  the  limitations  of  the  authority  of  Congress  considered 
to  be  that,  when  a  similar  petition  was  presented  two  or  three 
years  afterward,  the  Clerk  of  the  House  was  instructed  to  return 
it  to  the  petitioner.f 

In  1807,  Congress,  availing  itself  of  the  very  earliest  moment 
at  which  the  constitutional  restriction  ceased  to  be  operative, 
passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  into  any  part 
of  the  United  States  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  January, 
1808.  This  act  was  passed  with  great  unanimity.  In  the  House 
of  Representatives  there  were  one  hundred  and  thirteen  (113) 
yeas  to  five  (5)  nays ;  and  it  is  a  significant  fact,  as  showing  the 
absence  of  any  sectional  division  of  sentiment  at  that  period, 
that  the  -Q.ve  dissentients  were  divided  as  equally  as  possible  be- 
tween the  two  sections :  two  of  them  were  from  Northern  and 
three  from  Southern  States. J 

The  slave-trade  had  thus  been  finally  abolished  some  months 
before  the  birth  of  the  author  of  these  pages,  and  has  never 

contraband  trade  was  carried  on  by  the  New  England  slavers  with  other  ports,  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  means  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Southern  States  forbidding  it. 

*  One  from  the  Society  of  Friends  assembled  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  the 
other  from  the  Pennsylvania  society  of  various  religious  denominations  combined  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery. 

For  report  of  the  debate,  see  Benton's  "Abridgment,"  vol.  i,  pp.  201-207,  et  seq. 

f  Sec  Benton's  "  Abridgment,"  vol.  i,  p.  397. 

%  One  was  from  New  Hampshire,  one  from  Vermont,  two  from  Virginia,  and 
one  from  South  Carolina. — (Benton's  "  Abridgment,"  vol.  iii,  p.  519.) 

No  division  on  the  final  vote  in  the  Senate. 


6  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

since  had  legal  existence  in  any  of  the  United  States.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  maintenance  or  extinction  of  the  system  of  negro 
servitude,  already  existing  in  any  State,  was  one  exclusively  be- 
longing to  such  State.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  no  subse- 
quent question,  legitimately  arising  in  Federal  legislation,  could 
properly  have  any  reference  to  the  merits  or  the  policy  of  the 
institution  itself.  A  few  zealots  in  the  North  afterward  cre- 
ated much  agitation  by  demands  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
within  the  States  by  Federal  intervention,  and  by  their  activity 
and  perseverance  finally  became  a  recognized  party,  which,  hold- 
ing the  balance  of  power  between  the  two  contending  organiza- 
tions in  that  section,  gradually  obtained  the  control  of  one,  and 
to  no  small  degree  corrupted  the  other.  The  dominant  idea, 
however,  at  least  of  the  absorbed  party,  was  sectional  aggran- 
dizement, looking  to  absolute  control,  and  theirs  is  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  war  that  resulted. 

No  moral  nor  sentimental  considerations  were  really  involved 
in  either  the  earlier  or  later  controversies  which  so  long  agitated 
and  finally  ruptured  the  Union.  They  were  simply  struggles 
between  different  sections,  with  diverse  institutions  and  interests. 

It  is  absolutely  requisite,  in  order  to  a  right  understanding  of 
the  history  of  the  country,  to  bear  these  truths  clearly  in  mind. 
The  phraseology  of  the  period  referred  to  will  otherwise  be  es- 
sentially deceptive.  The  antithetical  employment  of  such  terms 
m  freedom  and  slavery,  or  "anti-slavery"  and  "  pro-slavery,"  with 
reference  to  the  principles  and  purposes  of  contending  parties 
or  rival  sections,  has  had  immense  influence  in  misleading  the 
opinions  and  sympathies  of  the  world.  The  idea  of  freedom  is 
captivating,  that  of  slavery  repellent  to  the  moral  sense  of  man- 
kind in  general.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand  the  effect 
of  applying  the  one  set  of  terms  to  one  party,  the  other  to  an- 
other, in  a  contest  which  had  no  just  application  whatever  to  the 
essential  merits  of  freedom  or  slavery.  Southern  statesmen  may 
perhaps  have  been  too  indifferent  to  this  consideration — in  their 
ardent  pursuit  of  principles,  overlooking  the  effects  of  phrases. 

This  is  especially  true  with  regard  to  that  familiar  but  most 
fallacious  expression,  "  the  extension  of  slavery."  To  the  reader 
unfamiliar  with  the  subject,  or  viewing  it  only  on  the  surface, 


1787]         THE  EXTENSION  OF  SLAVERY  AND  ITS  MEANING.  7 

it  would  perhaps  never  occur  that,  as  used  in  the  great  contro- 
versies respecting  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  it  does 
not,  never  did,  and  never  could,  imply  the  addition  of  a  single 
slave  to  the  number  already  existing.  The  question  was  merely 
whether  the  slaveholder  should  be  permitted  to  go,  with  his 
slaves,  into  territory  (the  common  property  of  all)  into  which 
the  non-slaveholder  could  go  with  his  property  of  any  sort. 
There  was  no  proposal  nor  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Southern 
States  to  reopen  the  slave-trade,  which  they  had  been  foremost 
in  suppressing,  or  to  add  to  the  number  of  slaves.  It  was  a 
question  of  the  distribution,  or  dispersion,  of  the  slaves,  rather 
than  of  the  "  extension  of  slavery."  Removal  is  not  extension. 
Indeed,  if  emancipation  was  the  end  to  be  desired,  the  dispersion 
of  the  negroes  over  a  wider  area  among  additional  Territories, 
eventually  to  become  States,  and  in  climates  unfavorable  to  slave- 
labor,  instead  of  hindering,  would  have  promoted  this  object  by 
diminishing  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  ultimate  emancipation. 

The  distinction  here  defined  between  the  distribution,  or  dis- 
persion, of  slaves  and  the  extension  of  slavery — two  things 
altogether  different,  although  so  generally  confounded — was 
early  and  clearly  drawn  under  circumstances  and  in  a  connec- 
tion which  justify  a  fuller  notice. 

Yirginia,  it  is  well  known,  in  the  year  1784:,  ceded  to  the 
United  States — then  united  only  by  the  original  Articles  of 
Confederation — her  vast  possessions  northwest  of  the  Ohio, 
from  which  the  great  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  and  part  of  Minnesota,  have  since  been  formed.  In 
1787 — before  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution — the 
celebrated  "  Ordinance  "  for  the  government  of  this  Northwest- 
ern Territory  was  adopted  by  the  Congress,  with  the  full  con- 
sent, and  indeed  at  the  express  instance,  of  Virginia.  This  Or- 
dinance included  six  definite  "  Articles  of  compact  between  the 
original  States  and  the  people  and  States  in  the  said  Territory," 
which  were  to  "  for  ever  remain  unalterable  unless  by  common 
consent."  The  sixth  of  these  articles  ordains  that  "  there  shall 
be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  Terri- 
tory, otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the 
party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted." 


8  RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

In  December,  1805,  a  petition  of  the  Legislative  Council 
and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Indiana  Territory — then 
comprising  all  the  area  now  occupied  by  the  States  of  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin — was  presented  to  Congress. 
It  appears  from  the  proceedings  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
that  several  petitions  of  the  same  purport  from  inhabitants  of 
the  Territory,  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  William  Henry 
Harrison,  the  Governor  (afterward  President  of  the  United 
States),  had  been  under  consideration  nearly. two  years  earlier. 
The  prayer  of  these  petitions  was  for  a  suspension  of  the  sixth 
article  of  the  Ordinance,  so  as  to  permit  the  introduction  of 
slaves  into  the  Territory.  The  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a 
select  committee  of  seven  members,  consisting  of  representatives 
from  Virginia,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina,  Kentucky, 
and  New  York,  and  the  delegate  from  the  Indiana  Territory. 

On  the  14th  of  the  ensuing  February  (1806),  this  committee 
made  a  report  favorable  to  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  and 
recommending  a  suspension  of  the  prohibitory  article  for  ten 
years.  In  their  report  the  committee,  after  stating  their  opinion 
that  a  qualified  suspension  of  the  article  in  question  would  be 
beneficial  to  the  people  of  the  Indiana  Territory,  proceeded  to 
say: 

"  The  suspension  of  this  article  is  an  object  almost  universally 
desired  in  that  Territory.  It  appears  to  your  committee  to  be  a 
question  entirely  different  from  that  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
inasmuch  as  it  would  merely  occasion  the  removal  of  persons,  al- 
ready slaves,  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  The  good 
effects  of  this  suspension,  in  the  present  instance,  would  be  to 
accelerate  the  population  of  that  Territory,  hitherto  retarded  by 
the  operation  of  that  article  of  compact ;  as  slaveholders  emigrat- 
ing into  the  Western  country  might  then  indulge  any  preference 
which  they  might  feel  for  a  settlement  in  the  Indiana  Territory, 
instead  of  seeking,  as  they  are  now  compelled  to  do,  settlements 
in  other  States  or  countries  permitting  the  introduction  of  slaves. 
The  condition  of  the  slaves  themselves  would  be  much  ameliorated 
by  it,  as  it  is  evident,  from  experience,  that  the  more  they  are 
separated  and  diffused  the  more  care  and  attention  are  bestowed 
on  them  by  their  masters,  each  proprietor  having  it  in  his  power 


1807]  RESOLUTIONS  OF  INDIANA   TERRITORY.  9 

to  increase  their  comforts  and  conveniences  in  proportion  to  the 
smallness  of  their  numbers." 

These  were  the  dispassionate  utterances  of  representatives  of 
every  part  of  the  Union — men  contemporary  with  the  origin  of 
the  Constitution,  speaking  before  any  sectional  division  had 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  subject.  It  is  remarkable  that  the 
very  same  opinions  which  they  express  and  arguments  which 
they  adduce  had,  fifty  years  afterward,  come  to  be  denounced 
and  repudiated  by  one  half  of  the  Union  as  partisan  and  sec- 
tional when  propounded  by  the  other  half. 

No  final  action  seems  to  have  been  taken  on  the  subject 
before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  but  it  was  brought  for- 
ward at  the  next  session  in  a  more  imposing  form.  On  the  20th 
of  January,  1807,  the  Speaker  laid  before  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives a  letter  from  Governor  Harrison,  inclosing  certain 
resolutions  formally  and  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Legisla- 
tive Council  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Indiana  Ter- 
ritory, in  favor  of  the  suspension  of  the  sixth  article  of  the 
Ordinance  and  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  the  Territory, 
which  they  say  would  "meet  the  approbation  of  at  least  nine 
tenths  of  the  good  citizens  of  the  same."  Among  the  resolu- 
tions were  the  following : 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  abstract  question  of  liberty 
and  slavery  is  not  considered  as  involved  in  a  suspension  of  the 
said  article,  inasmuch  as  the  number  of  slaves  in  the  United  States 
would  not  be  augmented  by  this  measure. 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  suspension  of  the  said  arti- 
cle would  be  equally  advantageous  to  the  Territory,  to  the  States 
from  whence  the  negroes  would  be  brought,  and  to  the  negroes 
themselves.  .  .  . 

"  The  States  which  are  overburdened  with  negroes  would  be 
benefited  by  their  citizens  having  an  opportunity  of  disposing  of 
the  negroes  which  they  can  not  comfortably  support,  or  of  remov- 
ing with  them  to  a  country  abounding  with  all  the  necessaries  of 
life  ;  and  the  negro  himself  would  exchange  a  scanty  pittance  of 
the  coarsest  food  for  a  plentiful  and  nourishing  diet,  and  a  situ- 
ation which  admits  not  the  most  distant  prospect  of  emancipation 
for  one  which  presents  no  considerable  obstacle  to  his  wishes." 


10         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

These  resolutions  were  submitted  to  a  committee  drawn,  like 
the  former,  from  different  sections  of  the  country,  which  again 
reported  favorably,  reiterating  in  substance  the  reasons  given  by 
the  former  committee.  Their  report  was  sustained  by  the  House, 
and  a  resolution  to  suspend  the  prohibitory  article  was  adopted. 
The  proposition  failed,  however,  in  the  Senate,  and  there  the 
matter  seems  to  have  been  dropped.  The  proceedings  consti- 
tute a  significant  and  instructive  episode  in  the  political  history 
of  the  country. 

The  allusion  which  has  been  made  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
renders  it  proper  to  notice,  very  briefly,  the  argument  put  for- 
ward during  the  discussion  of  the  Missouri  question,  and  often 
repeated  since,  that  the  Ordinance  afforded  a  precedent  in  sup- 
port of  the  claim  of  a  power  in  Congress  to  determine  the  ques- 
tion of  the  admission  of  slaves  into  the  Territories,  and  in  justifi- 
cation of  the  prohibitory  clause  applied  in  1820  to  a  portion  of 
the  Louisiana  Territory. 

The  difference  between  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation 
and  that  of  the  Federal  Constitution  is  so  broad  that  the  action 
of  the  former  can,  in  no  just  sense,  be  taken  as  a  precedent  for 
the  latter.  The  Congress  of  the  Confederation  represented  the 
States  in  their  sovereignty,  each  delegation  having  one  vote,  so 
that  all  the  States  were  of  equal  weight  in  the  decision  of  any 
question.  It  had  legislative,  executive,  and  in  some  degree  ju- 
dicial powers,  thus  combining  all  departments  of  government  in 
itself.  During  its  recess  a  committee  known  as  the  Committee 
of  the  States  exercised  the  powers  of  the  Congress,  which  was 
in  spirit,  if  not  in  fact,  an  assemblage  of  the  States. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Congress  of  the  Constitution  is  only 
the  legislative  department  of  the  General  Government,  with 
powers  strictly  defined  and  expressly  limited  to  those  delegated 
by  the  States.  It  is  further  held  in  check  by  an  executive  and 
a  judiciary,  and  consists  of  two  branches,  each  having  peculiar 
and  specified  functions. 

If,  then,  it  be  admitted — which  is  at  least  very  questionable — 
that  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  rightfully  the  power 
to  exclude  slave  property  from  the  territory  northwest  of  the 
Ohio  River,  that  power  must  have  been  derived  from  its  charac- 


1807]  ORDINANCE  OF  1787.  H 

ter  as  an  assemblage  of  the  sovereign  States ;  not  from  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  in  which  no  indication  of  the  grant  of 
authority  to  exercise  such  a  function  can  be  found.  The  Con- 
gress of  the  Constitution  is  expressly  prohibited  from  the  as- 
sumption of  any  power  not  distinctly  and  specifically  delegated 
to  it  as  the  legislative  branch  of  an  organized  government. 
What  was  questionable  in  the  former  case,  therefore,  becomes 
clearly  inadmissible  in  the  latter. 

But  there  is  yet  another  material  distinction  to  be  observed. 
The  States,  owners  of  what  was  called  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tory, were  component  members  of  the  Congress  which  adopted 
the  Ordinance  for  its  government,  and  gave  thereto  their  full 
and  free  consent.  The  Ordinance  may,  therefore,  be  regarded 
as  virtually  a  treaty  between  the  States  which  ceded  and  those 
which  received  that  extensive  domain.  In  the  other  case,  Mis- 
souri and  the  whole  region  affected  by  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, were  parts  of  the  territory  acquired  from  France  under  the 
name  of  Louisiana ;  and,  as  it  requires  two  parties  to  make  or 
amend  a  treaty,  France  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  should  have  cooperated  in  any  amendment  of  the  treaty 
by  which  Louisiana  had  been  acquired,  and  which  guaranteed 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory  "  all  the  rights,  advan- 
tages, and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  and  "  the 
free  enjoyment  of  their  liberty,  property,  and  the  religion  they 
profess." — ("  State  Papers,"  vol.  ii, "  Foreign  Eelations,"  p.  507.) 

For  all  the  reasons  thus  stated,  it  seems  to  me  conclusive 
that  the  action  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  in  1787 
could  not  constitute  a  precedent  to  justify  the  action  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1820,  and  that  the  prohibitory 
clause  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  without  constitutional 
authority,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  a  part  of  the  joint  owners 
of  the  territory,  and  in  disregard  of  the  obligations  of  the  treaty 
with  France. 

The  basis  of  sectional  controversy  was  the  question  of  the 
balance  of  political  power.  In  its  earlier  manifestations  this 
was  undisguised.  The  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  from 
France  in  1803,  and  the  subsequent  admission  of  a  portion  of 
that  Territory  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  afforded  one  of  the 


12         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

earliest  occasions  for  the  manifestation  of  sectional  jealousy, 
and  gave  rise  to  the  first  threats,  or  warnings  (which  proceeded 
from  !New  England),  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Yet, 
although  negro  slavery  existed  in  Louisiana,  no  pretext  was 
made  of  that  as  an  objection  to  the  acquisition.  The  ground 
of  opposition  is  frankly  stated  in  a  letter  of  that  period  from 
one  Massachusetts  statesman  to  another — "  that  the  influence  of 
our  part  of  the  Union  must  be  diminished  by  the  acquisition  of 
more  weight  at  the  other  extremity."  * 

Some  years  afterward  (in  1819-20)  occurred  the  memorable 
contest  with  regard  to  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  Missouri, 
the  second  State  carved  out  of  the  Louisiana  Territory.  The 
controversy  arose  out  of  a  proposition  to  attach  to  the  admis- 
sion of  the  new  State  a  proviso  prohibiting  slavery  or  involun- 
tary servitude  therein.  The  vehement  discussion  that  ensued 
was  continued  into  the  first  session  of  a  different  Congress  from 
that  in  which  it  originated,  and  agitated  the  whole  country  dur- 
ing the  interval  between  the  two.  It  was  the  first  question  that 
ever  seriously  threatened  the  stability  of  the  Union,  and  the 
first  in  which  the  sentiment  of  opposition  to  slavery  in  the  ab- 
stract was  introduced  as  an  adjunct  of  sectional  controversy. 
It  was  clearly  shown  in  debate  that  such  considerations  were 
altogether  irrelevant ;  that  the  number  of  existing  slaves  would 
not  be  affected  by  their  removal  from  the  older  States  to  Mis- 
souri; and,  moreover,  that  the  proposed  restriction  would  be 
contrary  to  the  spirit,  if  not  to  the  letter,  of  the  Constitution. •)- 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  restriction  was  adopted,  by  a  vote 
almost  strictly  sectional,  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It 
failed  in  the  Senate  through  the  firm  resistance  of  the  Southern, 
aided  by  a  few  patriotic  and  conservative  Northern,  members 
of  that  body.     The  admission  of  the  new  State,  without  any 

*  Cabot  to  Pickering,  who  was  then  Senator  from  Massachusetts. — (See  "  Life 
and  Letters  of  George  Cabot,"  by  H.  C.  Lodge,  p.  334.) 

f  The  true  issue  was  well  stated  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  A.  Foot,  a  representative 
from  Connecticut,  in  an  incidental  reference  to  it  in  debate  on  another  subject,  a 
few  weeks  after  the  final  settlement  of  the  Missouri  case.  He  said :  "  The  Missouri 
question  did  not  involve  the  question  of  freedom  or  slavery,  but  merely  whether  slaves 
now  in  the  eountvxj  might  be  permitted  to  reside  in  the  proposed  new  State  ;  and  tohetlier 
Congress  or  Missouri  possessed  the  power  to  decide.'''' 


1820]  LOUISIANA  TEKRITORY.  13 

restriction,  was  finally  accomplished  by  the  addition  to  the  bill 
of  a  section  for  ever  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  that  portion  of 
the  Louisiana  Territory  lying  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes,  north  latitude,  except  Missouri — by  implication 
leaving  the  portion  south  of  that  line  open  to  settlement  either 
with  or  without  slaves. 

This  provision,  as  an  offset  to  the  admission  of  the  new  State 
without  restriction,  constituted  the  celebrated  Missouri  Compro- 
mise. It  was  reluctantly  accepted  by  a  small  majority  of  the 
Southern  members.  Nearly  half  of  them  voted  against  it, 
under  the  conviction  that  it  was  unauthorized  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  that  Missouri  was  entitled  to  determine  the  question 
for  herself,  as  a  matter  of  right,  not  of  bargain  or  concession. 
Among  those  who  thus  thought  and  voted  were  some  of  the 
wisest  statesmen  and  purest  patriots  of  that  period.* 

This  brief  retrospect  may  have  sufficed  to  show  that  the 
question  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  institution  of  slavery  was 
in  no  wise  involved  in  the  earlier  sectional  controversies.  Nor 
was  it  otherwise  in  those  of  a  later  period,  in  which  it  was  the 
lot  of  the  author  of  these  memoirs  to  bear  a  part.     They  were 

*  The  votes  on  the  proposed  restriction,  which  eventually  failed  of  adoption,  and 
on  the  compromise,  which  was  finally  adopted,  are  often  confounded.  The  advocacy 
of  the  former  measure  was  exclusively  sectional,  no  Southern  member  voting  for  it 
in  either  House.  On  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  line  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes,  the  vote  in  the  Senate  was  34  yeas  to  10  nays.  The  Senate  con- 
sisted of  forty-four  members  from  twenty-two  States,  equally  divided  between  the 
two  sections— Delaware  being  classed  as  a  Southern  State.  Among  the  yeas  were 
all  the  Northern  votes,  except  two  from  Indiana— being  20— and  14  Southern.  The 
nays  consisted  of  2  from  the  North,  and  8  from  the  South. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  vote  was  134  yeas  to  42  nays.  Of  the 
yeas,  95  were  Northern,  39  Southern;  of  the  nays,  5  Northern,  and  37  Southern. 

Among  the  nays  in  the  Senate  were  Messrs.  James  Barbour  and  James  Pleasants, 
of  Virginia;  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina;  John  Gaillard  and  William  Smith, 
of  South  Carolina.  In  the  House,  Philip  P.  Barbour,  John  Randolph,  John  Tyler, 
and  William  S.  Archer,  of  Virginia ;  Charles  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina  (one  of  the 
authors  of  the  Constitution) ;  Thomas  W.  Cobb,  of  Georgia ;  and  others  of  more  or 
less  note. 

(See  speech  of  the  Hon.  D.  L.  Yulee,  of  Florida,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  on 
the  admission  of  California,  August  6,  1850,  for  a  careful  and  correct  account  of  the 
compromise.  That  given  in  the  second  chapter  of  Benton's  "  Thirty  Years'  View  " 
is  singularly  inaccurate ;  that  of  Horace  Greeley,  in  his  "  American  Conflict,"  still 
more  so.) 


14:         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

essentially  struggles  for  sectional  equality  or  ascendancy — for 
the  maintenance  or  the  destruction  of  that  balance  of  power  or 
equipoise  between  North  and  South,  which  was  early  recognized 
as  a  cardinal  principle  in  our  Federal  system.  It  does  not  fol- 
low that  both  parties  to  this  contest  were  wholly  right  or  wholly 
wrong  in  their  claims.  The  determination  of  the  question  of 
right  or  wrong  must  be  left  to  the  candid  inquirer  after  exami- 
nation of  the  evidence.  The  object  of  these  preliminary  inves- 
tigations has  been  to  clear  the  subject  of  the  obscurity  produced 
by  irrelevant  issues  and  the  glamour  of  ethical  illusions. 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Session  of  1849-'50. — The  Compromise  Measures. — Virtual  Abrogation  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise. — The  Admission  of  California. — The  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
— Death  of  Mr.  Calhoun. — Anecdote  of  Mr.  Clay. 

The  first  session  of  the  Thirty-first  Congress  (1849-50)  was 
a  memorable  one.  The  recent  acquisition  from  Mexico  of  New 
Mexico  and  California  required  legislation  by  Congress.  In  the 
Senate  the  bills  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Territories  were 
referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Clay,  the  distin- 
guished Senator  from  Kentucky,  was  chairman.  From  this 
committee  emanated  the  bills  which,  taken  together,  are  known 
as  the  compromise  measures  of  1850. 

With  some  others,  I  advocated  the  division  of  the  newly 
acquired  territory  by  an  extension  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  line  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  min- 
utes north  latitude.  This  was  not  because  of  any  inherent  merit 
or  fitness  in  that  line,  but  because  it  had  been  accepted  by  the 
country  as  a  settlement  of  the  sectional  question  which,  thirty 
years  before,  had  threatened  a  rupture  of  the  Union,  and  it  had 
acquired  in  the  public  mind  a  prescriptive  respect  which  it 
seemed  unwise  to  disregard.  A  majority,  however,  decided 
otherwise,  and  the  line  of  political  conciliation  was  then  obliter- 
ated, as  far  as  it  lay  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  do  so.     An 


1850]  LINE   OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  15 

analysis  of  the  vote  will  show  that  this  result  was  effected  almost 
exclusively  by  the  representatives  of  the  North,  and  that  the 
South  was  not  responsible  for  an  action  which  proved  to  be  the 
opening  of  Pandora's  box.* 

However  objectionable  it  may  have  been  in  1820  to  adopt 
that  political  line  as  expressing  a  geographical  definition  of  dif- 
ferent sectional  interests,  and  however  it  may  be  condemned  as 
the  assumption  by  Congress  of  a  function  not  delegated  to  it,  it 
is  to  be  remembered  that  the  act  had  received  such  recognition 
and  £w<m-ratification  by  the  people  of  the  States  as  to  give  it 
a  value  which  it  did  not  originally  possess.  Pacification  had 
been  the  fruit  borne  by  the  tree,  and  it  should  not  have  been 
recklessly  hewed  down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  The  frequent  as- 
sertion then  made  was  that  all  discrimination  was  unjust,  and 
that  the  popular  will  should  be  left  untrammeled  in  the  forma- 
tion of  new  States.  This  theory  was  good  enough  in  itself,  and 
as  an  abstract  proposition  could  not  be  gainsaid  ;  but  its  practi- 
cal operation  has  but  poorly  sustained  the  expectations  of  its 
advocates,  as  will  be  seen  when  we  come  to  consider  the  events 
that  occurred  a  few  years  later  in  Kansas  and  elsewhere.  Re- 
trospectively viewed  under  the  mellowing  light  of  time,  and 
with  the  calm  consideration  we  can  usually  give  to  the  irreme- 
diable past,  the  compromise  legislation  of  1850  bears  the  impress 
of  that  sectional  spirit  so  widely  at  variance  with  the  general 
purposes  of  the  Union,  and  so  destructive  of  the  harmony  and 
mutual  benefit  which  the  Constitution  was  intended  to  secure. 

The  refusal  to  divide  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico  by 
an  extension  of  the  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  to  the  Pa- 
cific was  a  consequence  of  the  purpose  to  admit  California  as  a 
State  of  the  Union  before  it  had  acquired  the  requisite  popula- 
tion, and  while  it  was  mainly  under  the  control  of  a  military 
organization  sent  from  New  York  during  the  war  with  Mexico- 
and  disbanded  in  California  upon  the  restoration  of  peace.     The 

*  The  vote  in  the  Senate  on  the  proposition  to  continue  the  line  of  the  Missouri 
compromise  through  the  newly  acquired  territory  to  the  Pacific  was  twenty-four  yeas 
to  thirty-two  nays.  Reckoning  Delaware  and  Missouri  as  Southern  States,  the  vote 
of  the  two  sections  was  exactly  equal.  The  yeas  were  all  cast  by  Southern  Senators ; 
the  nays  were  all  Northern,  except  two  from  Delaware,  one  from  Missouri,  and  one 
from  Kentucky. 


10         RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

inconsistency  of  the  argument  against  the  extension  of  the  line 
was  exhibited  in  the  division  of  the  Territory  of  Texas  by  that 
parallel,  and  payment  to  the  State  of  money  to  secure  her  con- 
sent to  the  partition  of  her  domain.  In  the  case  of  Texas, 
the  North  had  everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  the 
application  of  the  practice  of  geographical  compromise  on  an 
arbitrary  line.  In  the  case  of  California,  the  conditions  were 
reversed  ;  the  South  might  have  been  the  gainer  and  the  North 
the  loser  by  a  recognition  of  the  same  rule. 

The  compensation  which  it  was  alleged  that  the  South  re- 
ceived was  a  more  effective  law  for  the  rendition  of  fugitives 
from  service  or  labor.  But  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  this  law 
provided  for  the  execution  by  the  General  Government  of  obli- 
gations which  had  been  imposed  by  the  Federal  compact  upon 
the  several  States  of  the  Union.  The  benefit  to  be  derived  from 
a  fulfillment  of  that  law  would  be  small  in  comparison  with  the 
evil  to  result  from  the  plausible  pretext  that  the  States  had 
thus  been  relieved  from  a  duty  which  they  had  assumed  in  the 
adoption  of  the  compact  of  union.  Whatever  tended  to  lead  the 
people  of  any  of  the  States  to  feel  that  they  could  be  relieved 
from  their  constitutional  obligations  by  transferring  them  to 
the  General  Government,  or  that  they  might  thus  or  other- 
wise evade  or  resist  them,  could  not  fail  to  be  like  the  tares 
which  the  enemy  sowed  amid  the  wheat.  The  union  of  States, 
formed  to  secure  the  permanent  welfare  of  posterity  and  to  pro- 
mote harmony  among  the  constituent  States,  could  not,  without 
changing  its  character,  survive  such  alienation  as  rendered  its 
parts  hostile  to  the  security,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  one 
another. 

It  was  reasonably  argued  that,  as  the  Legislatures  of  fourteen 
of  the  States  had  enacted  what  were  termed  "  personal  liberty 
laws,"  which  forbade  the  cooperation  of  State  officials  in  the 
rendition  of  fugitives  from  service  and  labor,  it  became  neces- 
sary that  the  General  Government  should  provide  the  requisite 
machinery  for  the  execution  of  the  law.  The  result  proved 
what  might  have  been  anticipated  —  that  those  communities 
which  had  repudiated  their  constitutional  obligations,  which 
had  nullified  a  previous  law  of  Congress  for  the  execution  of  a 


c:/ 


i  i1'  '/       ■  .11     i     Al  PliKT 


1850]  ITS  MOST  TRUSTED  LEADER.  17 

provision  of  the  Constitution,  and  had  murdered  men  who  came 
peacefully  to  recover  their  property,  would  evade  or  obstruct,  so 
as  to  render  practically  worthless,  any  law  that  could  be  enacted 
for  that  purpose.  In  the  exceptional  cases  in  which  it  might  be 
executed,  the  event  would  be  attended  with  such  conflict  be- 
tween the  State  and  Federal  authorities  as  to  produce  conse- 
quent evils  greater  than  those  it  was  intended  to  correct. 

It  was  during  the  progress  of  these  memorable  controversies 
that  the  South  lost  its  most  trusted  leader,  and  the  Senate  its 
greatest  and  purest  statesman.     He  was  taken  from  us — 

"  Like  a  summer-dried  fountain, 
"When  our  need  was  the  sorest " ;  — 

when  his  intellectual  power,  his  administrative  talent,  his  love  of 
peace,  and  his  devotion  to  the  Constitution,  might  have  averted 
collision ;  or,  failing  in  that,  he  might  have  been  to  the  South 
the  Palinurus  to  steer  the  bark  in  safety  over  the  perilous  sea. 
Truly  did  Mr.  "Webster — his  personal  friend,  although  his  great- 
est political  rival — say  of  him  in  his  obituary  address,  "  There 
was  nothing  groveling,  or  low,  or  meanly  selfish,  that  came  near 
the  head  or  the  heart  of  Mr.  Calhoun."  His  prophetic  warn- 
ings speak  from  the  grave  with  the  wisdom  of  inspiration. 
Would  that  they  could  have  been  appreciated  by  his  country- 
men while  he  yet  lived  ! 

Note. — While  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  were  pending,  and  the  excite- 
ment concerning  them  was  at  its  highest,  I  one  day  overtook  Mr.  Clay,  of  Ken- 
tucky,  and  Mr.  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  in  the  Capitol  grounds.  They  were  in  earnest 
conversation.  It  was  the  7th  of  March— the  day  on  which  Mr.  Webster  had  deliv- 
ered his  great  speech.  Mr.  Clay,  addressing  me  in  the  friendly  manner  which  he 
had  always  employed  since  I  was  a  schoolboy  in  Lexington,  asked  me  what  I 
thought  of  the  speech.  I  liked  it  better  than  he  did.  He  then  suggested  that  I 
should  "  join  the  compromise  men,"  saying  that  it  was  a  measure  which  he  thought 
would  probably  give  peace  to  the  country  for  thirty  years— the  period  that  had 
elapsed  since  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  of  1820.  Then,  turning  to  Mr.  Ber- 
rien, he  said,  "  You  and  I  will  be  under  ground  before  that  time,  but  our  young 
friend  here  may  have  trouble  to  meet."  I  somewhat  impatiently  declared  my  un- 
willingness to  transfer  to  posterity  a  trial  which  they  would  be  relatively  less  able 
to  meet  than  we  were,  and  passed  on  my  way. 

2 


18         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   TIIE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Reelection  to  the  Senate. — Political  Controversies  in  Mississippi. — Action  of  the 
Democratic  State  Convention. — Defeat  of  the  State-Rights  Party. — Withdrawal 
of  General  Quitman  and  Nomination  of  the  Author  as  Candidate  for  the  Office 
of  Governor. — The  Canvass  and  its  Result. — Retirement  to  Private  Life. 

I  had  been  reelected  by  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi  as 
ray  own  successor,  and  entered  upon  a  new  term  of  service  in 
the  Senate  on  March  4,  1851. 

On  ray  return  to  Mississippi  in  1851,  the  subject  chiefly  agi- 
tating the  public  mind  was  that  of  the  "  compromise  "  measures 
of  the  previous  year.  Consequent  upon  these  was  a  proposition 
for  a  convention  of  delegates,  from  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  respectively,  to  consider  what  steps  ought  to  be  taken  for 
their  future  peace  and  safety,  and  the  preservation  of  their  con- 
stitutional rights.  There  was  diversity  of  opinion  with  regard  to 
the  merits  of  the  measures  referred  to,  but  the  disagreement  no 
longer  followed  the  usual  lines  of  party  division.  They  who 
saw  in  those  measures  the  forerunner  of  disaster  to  the  South 
had  no  settled  policy  beyond  a  convention,  the  object  of  which 
should  be  to  devise  new  and  more  effectual  guarantees  against 
the  perils  of  usurpation.  They  were  unjustly  charged  with  a 
desire  to  destroy  the  Union — a  feeling  entertained  by  few,  very 
few,  if  by  any,  in  Mississippi,  and  avowed  by  none. 

There  were  many,  however,  who  held  that  the  principles  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  purposes  for  which 
the  Union  was  formed,  were  of  higher  value  than  the  mere 
Union  itself.  Independence  existed  before  the  compact  of  union 
between  the  States  ;  and,  if  that  compact  should  be  broken  in 
part,  and  therefore  destroyed  in  whole,  it  was  hoped  that  the 
liberties  of  the  people  in  the  States  might  still  be  preserved. 
Those  who  were  most  devoted  to  the  Union  of  the  Constitution 
might,  consequently,  be  expected  to  resist  most  sternly  any 
usurpation  of  undelegated  power,  the  effect  of  which  would  be 
to  warp  the  Federal  Government  from  its  proper  character,  and, 
by  sapping  the  foundation,  to  destroy  the  Union  of  the  States. 


1851]  DEVOTION  TO  THE  UNION.  19 

My  recent  reelection  to  the  United  States  Senate  had  con- 
ferred upon  me  for  six  years  longer  the  office  which  I  preferred 
to  all  others.  I  could  not,  therefore,  be  suspected  of  desiring 
a  nomination  for  any  other  office  from  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion, the  meeting  of  which  was  then  drawing  near.  Having,  as 
a  Senator  of  the  State,  freely  participated  in  debate  on  the 
measures  which  were  now  exciting  so  much  interest  in  the  pub- 
lic mind,  it  was  very  proper  that  I  should  visit  the  people  in 
different  parts  of  the  State  and  render  an  account  of  my  stew- 
ardship. 

My  devotion  to  the  Union  of  our  fathers  had  been  so  often 
and  so  publicly  declared  ;  I  had,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  so 
defiantly  challenged  any  question  of  my  fidelity  to  it ;  my  ser- 
vices, civil  and  military,  had  now  extended  through  so  long  a 
period,  and  were  so  generally  known — that  I  felt  quite  assured 
that  no  whisperings  of  envy  or  ill  will  could  lead  the  people  of 
Mississippi  to  believe  that  I  had  dishonored  their  trust  by  using 
the  power  they  had  conferred  on  me  to  destroy  the  Government 
to  which  I  was  accredited.  Then,  as  afterward,  I  regarded  the 
separation  of  the  States  as  a  great,  though  not  the  greatest, 
evil.* 

I  returned  from  my  tour  among  the  people  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed for  the  meeting  of  the  nominating  convention  of  the 
Democratic  (or  State-Eights)  party.  During  the  previous  year 
the  Governor,  General  John  A.  Quitman,  had  been  compelled 
to  resign  his  office  to  answer  an  indictment  against  him  for  com- 
plicity with  the  "  filibustering  "  expeditions  against  Cuba.  The 
charges  were  not  sustained ;  many  of  the  Democratic  party  of 
Mississippi,  myself  included,  recognized  a  consequent  obligation 
to  renominate  him  for  the  office  of  which  he  had  been  deprived. 
When,  however,  the  delegates  met  in  party  convention,  the 
committee  appointed  to  select  candidates,  on  comparison  of  opin- 
ions, concluded  that,  in  view  of  the  effort  to  Hx  upon  the  party 
the  imputation  of  a  purpose  of  disunion,  some  of  the  antecedents 
of  General  Quitman  might  endanger  success.  A  proposition 
was  therefore  made,  in  the  committee  on  nominations,  that  I 
should  be  invited  to  become  a  candidate,  and  that,  if  General 
Quitman  would  withdraw,  my  acceptance  of  the  nomination 


20         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

and  the  resignation  of  my  place  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
which  it  was  known  would  result,  was  to  be  followed  by  the 
appointment  by  the  Governor  of  General  Quitman  to  the 
vacated  place  in  the  Senate.  I  offered  no  objection  to  this 
arrangement,  but  left  it  to  General  Quitman  to  decide.  He 
claimed  the  nomination  for  the  governorship,  or  nothing,  and 
was  so  nominated. 

To  promote  the  success  of  the  Democratic  nominees,  I  en- 
gaged actively  in  the  canvass,  and  continued  in  the  field  until 
stricken  down  by  disease.  This  occurred  just  before  the  elec- 
tion of  delegates  to  a  State  Convention,  for  which  provision  had 
been  made  by  the  Legislature,  and  the  canvass  for  which,  con- 
ducted in  the  main  upon  party  lines,  was  in  progress  simultane- 
ously with  that  for  the  ordinary  State  officers.  The  Democratic 
majority  in  the  State  when  the  canvass  began  was  estimated  at 
eight  thousand.  At  this  election,  in  September,  for  delegates 
to  the  State  Convention,  we  were  beaten  by  about  seven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  votes.  Seeing  in  this  result  the  foreshadow- 
ing of  almost  inevitable  defeat,  General  Quitman  withdrew 
from  the  canvass  as  a  candidate,  and  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  party  (empowered  to  fill  vacancies)  called  on  me  to  take 
his  place.  My  health  did  not  permit  me  to  leave  home  at  that 
time,  and  only  about  six  weeks  remained  before  the  election 
was  to  take  place  ;  but,  being  assured  that  I  was  not  expected 
to  take  any  active  part,  and  that  the  party  asked  only  the  use 
of  my  name,  I  consented  to  be  announced,  and  immediately 
resigned  from  the  United  States  Senate.  Nevertheless,  I  soon 
afterward  took  the  field  in  person,  and  worked  earnestly  until 
the  day  of  election.  I  was  defeated,  but  the  majority  of  more 
than  seven  thousand  votes,  that  had  been  cast  a  short  time  be- 
fore against  the  party  with  which  I  was  associated,  was  reduced 
to  less  than  one  thousand.* 

*  The  following  letter,  written  in  1853  to  the  Hon.  William  J.  Brown,  of  Indi- 
ana, formerly  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  State,  and  subsequently  published, 
relates  to  the  events  of  this  period,  and  affords  nearly  contemporaneous  evidence  in 
confirmation  of  the  statements  of  the  text : 

H  Washington,  D.  C,  May  T,  1S53. 

"  My  dear  Sir  :  I  received  the  '  Sentinel '  containing  your  defense  of  me  against 
the  false  accusation  of  disunionism,  and,  before  I  had  returned  to  you  the  thanks  to 


Cm 

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1851]  THE  RIGHT  OF  A  PEOPLE  TO  CHANGE  THEIR  GOVERNMENT.   21 

In  this  canvass,  both  before  and  after  I  became  a  candidate, 
no  argument  or  appeal  of  mine  was  directed  against  the  per- 
petuation of  the  Union.     Believing,  however,  that  the  signs  of 

which  you  are  entitled,  I  received  this  day  the  St.  Joseph  '  Valley  Register,'  marked 
by  you,  to  call  my  attention  to  an  article  in  answer  to  your  defense,  which  was 
just  in  all  things,  save  your  too  complimentary  terms. 

"  I  wish  I  had  the  letter  quoted  from,  that  you  might  publish  the  whole  of  that 
which  is  garbled  to  answer  a  purpose.  In  a  part  of  the  letter  not  published,  I  put 
such  a  damper  on  the  attempt  to  fix  on  me  the  desire  to  break  up  our  Union,  and 
presented  other  points  in  a  form  so  little  acceptable  to  the  unfriendly  inquirers,  that 
the  publication  of  the  letter  had  to  be  drawn  out  of  them. 

"  At  the  risk  of  being  wearisome,  but  encouraged  by  your  marked  friendship,  I 
will  give  you  a  statement  in  the  case.  The  meeting  of  October,  1849,  was  a  con- 
vention of  delegates  equally  representing  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  in  Mis- 
sissippi. The  resolutions  were  decisive  as  to  equality  of  right  in  the  South  with  the 
North  to  the  Territories  acquired  from  Mexico,  and  proposed  a  convention  of  the 
Southern  States.  I  was  not  a  member,  but  on  invitation  addressed  the  Convention. 
The  succeeding  Legislature  instructed  me,  as  a  Senator,  to  assert  this  equality,  and, 
under  the  existing  circumstances,  to  resist  by  all  constitutional  means  the  admission 
of  California  as  a  State.  At  a  called  session  of  the  Legislature  in  1850,  a  self-con- 
stituted committee  called  on  me,  by  letter,  for  my  views.  They  were  men  who  had 
enacted  or  approved  the  resolutions  of  the  Convention  of  1849,  and  instructed  me, 
as  members  of  the  Legislature,  in  regular  session,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1850.  To  them  I  replied  that  I  adhered  to  the  policy  they  had  indicated  and  in- 
structed me  in  their  official  character  to  pursue. 

"  I  pointed  out  the  mode  in  which  their  policy  could,  in  my  opinion,  be  executed 
without  bloodshed  or  disastrous  convulsion,  but  in  terms  of  bitter  scorn  alluded  to 
such  as  would  insult  me  with  a  desire  to  destroy  the  Union,  for  which  my  whole 
life  proved  me  to  be  a  devotee. 

"  Pardon  the  egotism,  in  consideration  of  the  occasion,  when  I  say  to  you  that 
my  father  and  my  uncles  fought  through  the  Revolution  of  1776,  giving  their  youth, 
their  blood,  and  their  little  patrimony  to  the  constitutional  freedom  which  I  claim 
as  my  inheritance.  Three  of  my  brothers  fought  in  the  war  of  1812.  Two  of 
them  were  comrades  of  the  Hero  of  the  Hermitage,  and  received  his  commendation 
for  gallantry  at  New  Orleans.  At  sixteen  years  of  age  I  was  given  to  the  service 
of  my  country ;  for  twelve  years  of  my  life  I  have  borne  its  arms  and  served  it 
zealously,  if  not  well.  As  I  feel  the  infirmities,  which  suffering  more  than  age  has 
brought  upon  me,  it  would  be  a  bitter  reflection,  indeed,  if  I  was  forced  to  conclude 
that  my  countrymen  would  hold  all  this  light  when  weighed  against  the  empty  pane- 
gyric which  a  time-serving  politician  can  bestow  upon  the  Union,  for  which  he  never 
made  a  sacrifice. 

"  In  the  Senate  I  announced  that,  if  any  respectable  man  would  call  me  a  dis- 
unionist,  I  would  answer  him  in  monosyllables.  .  .  .  But  I  have  often  asserted  the 
right,  for  which  the  battles  of  the  Revolution  were  fought— the  right  of  a  people 
to  change  their  government  whenever  it  was  found  to  bo  oppressive,  and  subver- 
sive of  the  objects  for  which  governments  are  instituted — and  have  contended  for 


22         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  time  portended  danger  to  the  South  from  the  usurpation  by 
the  General  Government  of  undelegated  powers,  I  counseled 
that  Mississippi  should  enter  into  the  proposed  meeting  of  the 
people  of  the  Southern  States,  to  consider  what  could  and 
should  be  done  to  insure  our  future  safety,  frankly  stating  my 
conviction  that,  unless  such  action  were  taken  then,  sectional 
rivalry  would  engender  greater  evils  in  the  future,  and  that,  if 
the  controversy  was  postponed,  "the  last  opportunity  for  a 
peaceful  solution  would  be  lost,  then  the  issue  would  have  to  be 
settled  by  blood." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Author  enters  the  Cabinet. — Administration  of  the  War  Department. — Surveys 
for  a  Pacific  Railway. — Extension  of  the  Capitol. — New  Regiments  organized. — 
Colonel  Samuel  Cooper,  Adjutant-General. — A  Bit  of  Civil-Service  Reform. — 
Reelection  to  the  Senate. — Continuity  of  the  Pierce  Cabinet. — Character  of 
Franklin  Pierce. 

Happy  in  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  a  planter ;  busily  engaged 
in  cares  for  servants,  in  the  improvement  of  my  land,  in  build- 
ing, in  rearing  live-stock,  and  the  like  occupations,  the  time 
passed  pleasantly  away  until  my  retirement  was  interrupted  by 
an  invitation  to  take  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Pierce,  who 
had  been  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  in 
November,  1852.  Although  warmly  attached  to  Mr.  Pierce 
personally,  and  entertaining  the  highest  estimate  of  his  charac- 
ter and  political  principles,  private  and  personal  reasons  led  me 
to  decline  the  offer.  This  was  followed  by  an  invitation  to  at- 
tend the  ceremony  of  his  inauguration,  which  took  place  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1853.     While  in  Washington,  on  this  visit,  I  was 

the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  States,  a  part  of  the  creed  of  which  Jeffer- 
son was  the  apostle,  Madison  the  expounder,  and  Jackson  the  consistent  defender. 

"  I  have  written  freely,  and  more  than  I  designed.  Accept  my'  thanks  for  your 
friendly  advocacy.  Present  me  in  terms  of  kind  remembrance  to  your  family,  and 
believe  me,  very  sincerely  yours,  Jefferson  Davis. 

"  Note. — No  party  in  Mississippi  ever  advocated  disunion.  They  differed  as  to 
the  mode  of  securing  their  rights  in  the  Union,  and  on  the  power  of  a  State  to 
secede — neither  advocating  the  exercise  of  the  power.  J.  D." 


1853]  ACTS  AS  SECRETARY   OF  WAR.  23 

induced  by  public  considerations  to  reconsider  my  determina- 
tion and  accept  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War.  The  public 
records  of  that  period  will  best  show  how  the  duties  of  that 
office  were  performed. 

While  in  the  Senate,  I  had  advocated  the  construction  of 
a  railway  to  connect  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  with  the  Pa- 
cific coast ;  and,  when  an  appropriation  was  made  to  determine 
the  most  eligible  route  for  that  purpose,  the  Secretary  of  "War 
was  charged  with  its  application.  "We  had  then  but  little  of 
that  minute  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  interior  of  the  con- 
tinent which  was  requisite  for  a  determination  of  the  problem. 
Several  different  parties  were  therefore  organized  to  examine 
the  various  routes  supposed  to  be  practicable  within  the  north- 
ern and  southern  limits  of  the  United  States.  The  arguments 
which  I  had  used  as  a  Senator  were  "the  military  necessity 
for  such  means  of  transportation,  and  the  need  of  safe  and  rapid 
communication  with  the  Pacific  slope,  to  secure  its  continuance 
as  a  part  of  the  Union." 

In  the  organization  and  equipment  of  these  parties,  and  in  the 
selection  of  their  officers,  care  was  taken  to  provide  for  securing 
full  and  accurate  information  upon  every  point  involved  in  the 
determination  of  the  route.  The  only  discrimination  made  was 
in  the  more  prompt  and  thorough  equipment  of  the  parties  for 
the  extreme  northern  line,  and  this  was  only  because  that  was 
supposed  to  be  the  most  difficult  of  execution  of  all  the  surveys. 

In  like  manner,  my  advocacy  while  in  the  Senate  of  an  ex- 
tension of  the  Capitol,  by  the  construction  of  a  new  Senate- 
Chamber  and  Hall  of  Representatives,  may  have  caused  the 
appropriation  for  that  object  to  be  put  under  my  charge  as 
Secretary  of  War. 

During  my  administration  of  the  War  Department,  material 
changes  were  made  in  the  models  of  arms.  Iron  gun-carriages 
were  introduced,  and  experiments  were  made  which  led  to  the 
casting  of  heavy  guns  hollow,  instead  of  boring  them  after  cast- 
ing. Inquiries  were  made  with  regard  to  gunpowder,  which 
subsequently  led  to  the  use  of  a  coarser  grain  for  artillery. 

During  the  same  period  the  army  was  increased  by  the  ad- 
dition of  two  regiments  of  infantry  and  twa  of  cavalry.     The 


24:         RISE    AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

officers  of  these  regiments  were  chosen  partly  by  selection  from 
those  already  in  service  in  the  regular  army  and  partly  by  ap- 
pointment from  civil  life.  In  making  the  selections  from  the 
army,  I  was  continually  indebted  to  the  assistance  of  that  pure- 
minded  and  accurately  informed  officer,  Colonel  Samuel  Cooper, 
the  Adjutant-General,  of  whom  it  may  be  proper  here  to  say 
that,  although  his  life  had  been  spent  in  the  army,  and  he,  of 
course,  had  the  likes  and  dislikes  inseparable  from  men  who 
are  brought  into  close  contact  and  occasional  rivalry,  I  never 
found  in  his  official  recommendations  any  indication  of  partiality 
or  prejudice  toward  any  one. 

When  the  first  list  was  made  out,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
President,  a  difficulty  was  found  to  exist,  which  had  not  oc- 
curred either  to  Colonel  Cooper  or  myself.  This  was,  that  the 
officers  selected  purely  on  their  military  record  did  not  constitute 
a  roster  conforming  to  that  distribution  among  the  different 
States,  which,  for  political  considerations,  it  was  thought  desira- 
ble to  observe — that  is  to  say,  the  number  of  such  officers  of 
Southern  birth  was  found  to  be  disproportionately  great.  Under 
instructions  from  the  President,  the  list  was  therefore  revised 
and  modified  in  accordance  with  this  new  element  of  geographi- 
cal distribution.  This,  as  I  am  happy  to  remember,  was  the 
only  occasion  in  which  the  current  of  my  official  action,  while 
Secretary  of  War,  was  disturbed  in  any  way  by  sectional  or  po- 
litical considerations. 

Under  former  administrations  of  the  War  Office  it  had  not 
been  customary  to  make  removals  or  appointments  upon  politi- 
cal grounds,  except  in  the  case  of  clerkships.  To  this  usage  I 
not  only  adhered,  but  extended  it  to  include  the  clerkships  also. 
The  Chief  Clerk,  who  had  been  removed  by  my  predecessor, 
had  peculiar  qualifications  for  the  place ;  and,  although  known 
to  me  only  officially,  he  was  restored  to  the  position.  It  will 
probably  be  conceded  by  all  who  are  well  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject that  his  restoration  was  a  benefit  to  the  public  service.* 

[The  reader  desirous  for  further  information  relative  to  the 

*  Soon  after  my  entrance  upon  duty  as  Secretary  of  War,  General  Jesup,  the 
Quartermaster-General,  presented  to  me  a  list  of  names  from  which  to  make  selec- 
tion of  a  clerk  for  his  department.     Observing  that  he  had  attached  certain  figures 


1857]  ADMINISTRATION   OF  FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  25 

administration  of  the  War  Department  during  this  period  may 
find  it  in  the  various  official  reports  and  estimates  of  works  of 
defense  prosecuted  or  recommended,  ^arsenals  of  construction 
and  depots  of  arms  maintained  or  suggested,  and  foundries  em- 
ployed, during  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Pierce,  1853-'57.] 

Having  been  again  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi 
as  Senator  to  the  United  States,  I  passed  from  the  Cabinet  of 
Mr.  Pierce,  on  the  last  day  of  his  term  (March  4,  1857),  to  take 
my  seat  in  the  Senate. 

The  Administration  of  Franklin  Pierce  presents  the  only  in- 
stance in  our  history  of  the  continuance  of  a  Cabinet  for  four 
years  without  a  single  change  in  its  personnel.  "When  it  is  re- 
membered that  there  was  much  dissimilarity  if  not  incongruity 
of  character  among  the  members  of  that  Cabinet,  some  idea 
may  be  formed  of  the  power  over  men  possessed  and  exercised 
by  Mr.  Pierce.  Chivalrous,  generous,  amiable,  true  to  his 
friends  and  to  his  faith,  frank  and  bold  in  the  declaration  of  his 
opinions,  he  never  deceived  any  one.  And,  if  treachery  had 
ever  come  near  him,  it  would  have  stood  abashed  in  the  presence 
of  his  truth,  his  manliness,  and  his  confiding  simplicity. 

to  these  names,  I  asked  whether  the  figures  were  intended  to  indicate  the  relative 
qualifications,  or  preference  in  his  estimation,  of  the  several  applicants ;  and,  upon 
his  answer  in  the  affirmative,  without  further  question,  authorized  him  to  appoint 
"  No.  1 "  of  his  list.  A  day  or  two  afterward,  certain  Democratic  members  of  Con- 
gress  called  on  me  and  politely  inquired  whether  it  was  true  that  I  had  appointed  a 
Whig  to  a  position  in  the  War  Office.    "  Certainly  not,"  I  answered.    "  We  thought 

you  were  not  aware  of  it,"  said  they,  and  proceeded  to  inform  me  that  Mr. , 

the  recent  appointee  to  the  clerkship  just  mentioned,  was  a  Whig.  After  listening 
patiently  to  this  statement,  I  answered  that  it  was  they  who  were  deceived,  not  I. 
I  had  appointed  a  clerk.  He  had  been  appointed  neither  as  a  Whig  nor  as  a  Demo- 
crat, but  merely  as  the  fittest  candidate  for  the  place  in  the  estimation  of  the  chief 
of  the  bureau  to  which  it  belonged.  I  further  gave  them  to  understand  that  the 
same  principle  of  selection  would  be  followed  in  similar  cases,  so  far  as  my  authority 
extended.  After  some  further  discussion  of  the  question,  the  visitors  withdrew,  dis- 
satisfied with  the  result  of  the  interview. 

The  Quartermaster-General,  on  hearing  of  this  conversation,  hastened  to  inform 
me  that  it  was  all  a  mistake— that  the  appointee  to  the  office  had  been  confounded 
with  his  father,  who  was  a  well-known  Whig,  but  that  he  (the  son)  was  a  Democrat- 
I  assured  the  General  that  this  was  altogether  immaterial,  adding  that  it  was  "a 
very  pretty  quarrel "  as  it  stood,  and  that  I  had  no  desire  to  effect  a  settlement  of  it 
on  any  inferior  issue.  Thenceforward,  however,  I  was  but  little  troubled  with  any 
pressure  for  political  appointments  in  the  department. 


26         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTER    Y. 

The  Territorial  Question. — An  Incident  at  the  White  House. — The  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska Bill. — The  Missouri  Compromise  abrogated  in  1850,  not  in  1854. — Ori- 
gin of  "  Squatter  Sovereignty." — Sectional  Rivalry  and  its  Consequences. — The 
Emigrant  Aid  Societies. — "  The  Bible  and  Sharpe's  Rifles." — False  Pretensions 
as  to  Principle. — The  Strife  in  Kansas. — A  Retrospect. — The  Original  Equilib: 
rium  of  Power  and  its  Overthrow. — Usurpations  of  the  Federal  Government. — 
The  Protective  Tariff. — Origin  and  Progress  of  Abolitionism. — Who  were  the 
Friends  of  the  Union  ? — An  Illustration  of  Political  Morality. 

The  organization  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas  was  the  first 
question  that  gave  rise  to  exciting  debate  after  my  return  to  the 
Senate.  The  celebrated  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  had  become  a 
law  during  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Pierce.  As  this  occupies 
a  large  space  in  the  political  history  of  the  period,  it  is  proper 
to  state  some  facts  connected  with  it,  which  were  not  public, 
but  were  known  to  me  and  to  others  yet  living. 

The  declaration,  often  repeated  in  1850,  that  climate  and  the 
will  of  the  people  concerned  should  determine  their  institutions 
when  they  should  form  a  Constitution,  and  as  a  State  be  admit- 
ted into  the  Union,  and  that  no  legislation  by  Congress  should 
be  permitted  to  interfere  with  the  free  exercise  of  that  will 
when  so  expressed,  was  but  the  announcement  of  the  fact  so 
firmly  established  in  the  Constitution,  that  sovereignty  resided 
alone  in  the  States,  and  that  Congress  had  only  delegated  powers. 
It  has  been  sometimes  contended  that,  because  the  Congress  of 
the  Confederation,  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  prohibited  invol- 
untary servitude  in  all  the  Northwestern  Territory,  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  must  have  recognized  such  power  to  exist 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Hence  the  deduction 
that  the  prohibitory  clause  of  what  is  known  as  the  Missouri 
Compromise  was  justified  by  the  precedent  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787.  To  make  the  action  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera- 
tion a  precedent  for  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  to 
overlook  the  great  distinction  between  the  two. 

The  Congress  of  the  Confederation  represented  the  States  in 
their  sovereignty,  and,  as  such  representatives,  had  legislative, 


1854]  THE  TERRITORIAL  QUESTION.  27 

executive,  and,  in  some  degree,  judicial  power  confided  to  it. 
Virtually,  it  was  an  assemblage  of  the  States.  In  certain  cases  a 
majority  of  nine  States  were  required  to  decide  a  question,  but 
there  is  no  express  limitation,  or  restriction,  such  as  is  to  be  found 
in  the  ninth  and  tenth  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  General  Government  of  the  Union  is  com- 
posed of  three  departments,  of  which  the  Congress  is  the  legis- 
lative branch,  and  which  is  checked  by  the  revisory  power  of 
the  judiciary,  and  the  veto  power  of  the  Executive,  and,  above 
all,  is  expressly  limited  in  legislation  to  powers  expressly  dele- 
gated by  the  States.  If,  then,  it  be  admitted,  which  is  certainly 
questionable,  that  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  power 
to  exclude  slave  property  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  that 
power  must  have  been  derived  from  its  character  as  representing 
the  States  in  their  sovereignty,  for  no  indication  of  such  a  power 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 

If  it  be  assumed  that  the  absence  of  a  prohibition  was  equiv- 
alent to  the  admission  of  the  power  in  the  Congress  of  the  Con- 
federation, the  assumption  would  avail  nothing  in  the  Congress 
under  the  Constitution,  where  power  is  expressly  limited  to 
what  had  been  delegated.  More  briefly,  it  may  be  stated  that 
the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  could,  like  the  Legislature  of 
a  State,  do  what  had  not  been  prohibited  ;  but  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  could  only  do  what  had  been  expressly  per- 
mitted. It  is  submitted  whether  this  last  position  is  not  conclu- 
sive against  the  possession  of  power  by  the  United  States  Con-\ 
gress  to  legislate  slavery  into  or  exclude  it  from  Territories  be- 
longing to  the  United  States. 

This  subject,  which  had  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
been  one  of  angry  discussion  and  sectional  strife,  was  revived, 
and  found  occasion  for  renewed  discussion  in  the  organization 
of  Territorial  governments  for  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The  Com- 
mittees on  Territories  of  the  two  Houses  agreed  to  report  a  bill 
in  accordance  with  that  recognized  principle,  provided  they 
could  first  be  assured  that  it  would  receive  favorable  considera- 
tion from  the  President.  This  agreement  was  made  on  Satur- 
day, and  the  ensuing  Monday  was  the  day  (and  the  only  day  for 
two  weeks)  on  which,  according  to  the  order  of  business  estab- 


28         RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

lished  by  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  bill 
could  be  introduced  by  the  Committee  of  that  House. 

On  Sunday  morning,  the  22d  of  January,  1854,  gentlemen 
of  each  Committee  called  at  my  house,  and  Mr.  Douglas,  chair- 
man of  the  Senate  Committee,  fully  explained  the  proposed 
bill,  and  stated  their  purpose  to  be,  through  my  aid,  to  obtain 
an  interview  on  that  day  with  the  President,  to  ascertain  whether 
the  bill  would  meet  his  approbation.  The  President  was  known 
to  be  rigidly  opposed  to  the  reception  of  visits  on  Sunday  for 
the  discussion  of  any  political  subject ;  but  in  this  case  it  was 
urged  as  necessary,  in  order  to  enable  the  Committee  to  make 
their  report  the  next  day.  I  went  with  them  to  the  Executive 
mansion,  and,  leaving  them  in  the  reception-room,  sought  the 
President  in  his  private  apartments,  and  explained  to  him  the 
occasion  of  the  visit.  He  thereupon  met  the  gentlemen,  pa- 
tiently listened  to  the  reading  of  the  bill  and  their  explanations 
of  it,  decided  that  it  rested  upon  sound  constitutional  principles, 
and  recognized  in  it  only  a  return  to  that  rule  which  had  been 
infringed  by  the  compromise  of  1820,  and  the  restoration  of 
which  had  been  foreshadowed  by  the  legislation  of  1850.  This 
bill  was  not,  therefore,  as  has  been  improperly  asserted,  a  mea- 
sure inspired  by  Mr.  Pierce  or  any  of  his  Cabinet.  Nor  was  it 
the  first  step  taken  toward  the  repeal  of  the  conditions  or  obli- 
gations expressed  or  implied  by  the  establishment,  in  1820,  of 
the  politico-sectional  line  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  min- 
utes. That  compact  had  been  virtually  abrogated,  in  1850,  by 
the  refusal  of  the  representatives  of  the  North  to  apply  it  to  the 
territory  then  recently  acquired  from  Mexico.  In  May,  1854, 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  was  passed ;  its  purpose  was  declared 
in  the  bill  itself  to  be  to  carry  into  practical  operation  the  "  prop- 
ositions and  principles  established  by  the  compromise  measures 
of  1850."  The  "Missouri  Compromise,"  therefore,  was  not  re- 
pealed by  that  bill — its  virtual  repeal  by  the  legislation  of  1850 
was  recognized  as  an  existing  fact,  and  it  was  declared  to  be 
"  inoperative  and  void." 

It  was  added  that  the  "  true  intent  and  meaning  "  of  the  act 
was  "  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to 
exclude  it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly 


1854]  PURPOSE   OF  THE   KANSAS  BILL.  29 

free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their 
own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

From  the  terms  of  this  bill,  as  well  as  from  the  arguments 
that  were  used  in  its  behalf,  it  is  evident  that  its  purpose  was  to 
leave  the  Territories  equally  open  to  the  people  of  all  the  States, 
with  every  species  of  property  recognized  by  any  of  them ;  to 
permit  climate  and  soil  to  determine  the  current  of  immigration, 
and  to  secure  to  the  people  themselves  the  right  to  form  their 
own  institutions  according  to  their  own  will,  as  soon  as  they 
should  acquire  the  right  of  self-government ;  that  is  to  say,  as 
soon  as  their  numbers  should  entitle  them  to  organize  them- 
selves into  a  State,  prepared  to  take  its  place  as  an  equal,  sov- 
ereign member  of  the  Federal  Union.  The  claim,  afterward  ad- 
vanced by  Mr.  Douglas  and  others,  that  this  declaration  was 
intended  to  assert  the  right  of  the  f  rst  settlers  of  a  Territory,  in 
its  inchoate,  rudimental,  dependent,  and  transitional  condition, 
to  determine  the  character  of  its  institutions,  constituted  the 
doctrine  popularly  known  as  "  squatter  sovereignty."  Its  asser- 
tion led  to  the  dissensions  which  ultimately  resulted  in  a  rup- 
ture of  the  Democratic  party. 

Sectional  rivalry,  the  deadly  foe  of  the  "  domestic  tranquil- 
lity "  and  the  "  general  welfare,"  which  the  compact  of  union 
was  formed  to  insure,  now  interfered,  with  gigantic  efforts,  to 
prevent  that  free  migration  which  had  been  promised,  and  to 
hinder  the  decision  by  climate  and  the  interests  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  institutions  to  be  established  by  these  embryo  States. 
Societies  were  formed  in  the  North  to  supply  money  and  send 
emigrants  into  the  new  Territories ;  and  a  famous  preacher,  ad- 
dressing a  body  of  those  emigrants,  charged  them  to  carry  with 
them  to  Kansas  "  the  Bible  and  Sharpe's  rifles."  The  latter 
were  of  course  to  be  leveled  against  the  bosoms  of  their  South- 
ern brethren  who  might  migrate  to  the  same  Territory,  but  the 
use  to  be  made  of  the  Bible  in  the  same  fraternal  enterprise 
was  left  unexplained  by  the  reverend  gentleman. 

The  war-cry  employed  to  train  the  Northern  mind  for  the 
deeds  contemplated  by  the  agitators  was  "  No  extension  of 
slavery  ! "  Was  this  sentiment  real  or  feigned  ?  The  number 
of  slaves  (as  has  already  been  clearly  shown)  would  not  have 


30         RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

been  increased  by  their  transportation  to  new  territory.  It 
conld  not  be  augmented  by  further  importation,  for  the  law  of 
the  land  made  that  piracy.  Southern  men  were  the  leading  au- 
thors of  that  enactment,  and  the  public  opinion  of  their  descend- 
ants, stronger  than  the  law,  fully  sustained  it.  The  climate  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  was  altogether  unsuited  to  the  negro,  and 
the  soil  was  not  adapted  to  those  productions  for  which  negro 
labor  could  be  profitably  employed.  If,  then,  any  negroes  held 
to  service  or  labor,  as  provided  in  the  compact  of  union,  had 
been  transported  to  those  Territories,  they  would  have  been  such 
as  were  bound  by  personal  attachment  mutually  existing  between 
master  and  servant,  which  would  have  rendered  it  impossible 
for  the  former  to  consider  the  latter  as  property  convertible  into 
money.  As  white  laborers,  adapted  to  the  climate  and  its  prod- 
ucts, flowed  into  the  country,  negro  labor  would  have  inevitably 
become  a  tax  to  those  who  held  it,  and  their  emancipation  would 
have  followed  that  condition,  as  it  has  in  all  the  Northern  States, 
old  or  new — -Wisconsin  furnishing  the  last  example.*  It  may, 
therefore,  be  reasonably  concluded  that  the  "  war-cry  "  was  em- 
ployed by  the  artful  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  less  informed 
and  less  discerning ;  that  it  was  adopted  in  utter  disregard  of 
the  means  by  which  negro  emancipation  might  have  been  peace- 
ably accomplished  in  the  Territories,  and  with  the  sole  object  of 
obtaining  sectional  control  and  personal  promotion  by  means  of 
popular  agitation. 

The  success  attending  this  artifice  was  remarkable.     To  such 

*  Extract  from  a  speech  of  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  May  17,  1860:  "There  is  a  relation  belonging  to  this  species  of  property, 
unlike  that  of  the  apprentice  or  the  hired  man,  which  awakens  whatever  there  is 
of  kindness  or  of  nobility  of  soul  in  the  heart  of  him  who  owns  it ;  this  can  only  be 
alienated,  obscured,  or  destroyed,  by  collecting  this  species  of  property  into  such 
masses  that  the  owner  is  not  personally  acquainted  with  the  individuals  who  com- 
pose it.  In  the  relation,  however,  which  can  exist  in  the  Northwestern  Territories, 
the  mere  domestic  connection  of  one,  two,  or  at  most  half  a  dozen  servants  in  a 
family,  associating  with  the  children  as  they  grow  up,  attending  upon  age  as  it  de- 
clines, there  can  be  nothing  against  which  either  philanthropy  or  humanity  can 
make  an  appeal.  Not  even  the  emancipationist  could  raise  his  voice ;  for  this  is  the 
high-road  and  the  open  gate  to  the  condition  in  which  the  masters  would,  from  in- 
terest, in  a  few  years,  desire  the  emancipation  of  every  one  who  may  thus  be  taken 
to  the  northwestern  frontier." 


1856]  NORTHERN  INDIGNATION,   HOW  AROUSED.  31 

an  extent  was  it  made  available,  that  Northern  indignation  was 
aroused  on  the  absurd  accusation  that  the  South  had  destroyed 
"  that  sacred  instrument,  the  compromise  of  1820."  The  in- 
ternecine war  which  raged  in  Kansas  for  several  years  was  sub- 
stituted for  the  promised  peace  under  the  operation  of  the  nat- 
ural laws  regulating  migration  to  new  countries.  For  the  frat- 
ricide which  dyed  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas  with  the  blood  of 
those  who  should  have  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  subduing 
the  wilderness ;  for  the  frauds  which  corrupted  the  ballot-box 
and  made  the  name  of  election  a  misnomer — let  the  authors  of 
"squatter  sovereignty"  and  the  fomenters  of  sectional  hatred 
answer  to  the  posterity  for  whose  peace  and  happiness  the 
fathers  formed  the  Federal  compact. 

In  these  scenes  of  strife  were  trained  the  incendiaries  who 
afterward  invaded  Yirginia  under  the  leadership  of  John  Brown ; 
and  at  this  time  germinated  the  sentiments  which  led  men  of 
high  position  to  sustain,  with  their  influence  and  their  money, 
this  murderous  incursion  into  the  South.* 

ISTow  was  seen  the  lightning  of  that  storm,  the  distant  mut- 
tering of  which  had  been  heard  so  long,  and  against  which  the 
wise  and  the  patriotic  had  given  solemn  warning,  regarding  it 
as  the  sign  which  portended  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.- 

Diversity  of  interests  and  of  opinions  among  the  States  of 
the  Confederation  had  in  the  beginning  presented  great  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  the  formation  of  a  more  perfect  union.  The 
compact  was  the  result  of  compromise  between  the  States,  at 
that  time  generally  distinguished  as  navigating  and  agricultural, 
afterward  as  Northern  and  Southern.  "When  the  first  census 
was  taken,  in  1790,  there  was  but  little  numerical  difference  in 
the  population  of  these  two  sections,  and  (including  States  about 
to  be  admitted)  there  was  also  an  exact  equality  in  the  number 
of  States.  Each  section  had,  therefore,  the  power  of  self-pro- 
tection, and  might  feel  secure  against  any  danger  of  Federal  ag- 
gression. If  the  disturbance  of  that  equilibrium  had  been  the 
consequence  of  natural  causes,  and  the  government  of  the  whole 
had  continued  to  be  administered  strictly  for  the  general  wel- 

*  See  "  Report  of  Senate  Committee  of  Inquiry  into  the  John  Brown  Raid." 


32         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

fare,  there  would  have  been  no  ground  for  complaint  of  the 
result. 

Under  the  old  Confederation  the  Southern  States  had  a 
large  excess  of  territory.  The  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  of 
Florida,  and  of  Texas,  afterward  greatly  increased  this  excess. 
The  generosity  and  patriotism  of  Virginia  led  her,  before  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  to  cede  the  Northwest  Territory  to 
the  United  States.  The  "  Missouri  Compromise  "  surrendered 
to  the  North  all  the  newly  acquired  region  not  included  in  the 
State  of  Missouri,  and  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees 
and  a  half.  The  northern  part  of  Texas  was  in  like  manner 
given  up  by  the  compromise  of  1850 ;  and  the  North,  having 
obtained,  by  those  successive  cessions,  a  majority  in  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  took  to  itself  all  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico. 
Thus,  by  the  action  of  the  General  Government,  the  means  were 
provided  permanently  to  destroy  the  original  equilibrium  be- 
tween the  sections. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  injury  to  which  the  South  was  sub- 
jected. Under  the  power  of  Congress  to  levy  duties  on  imports, 
tariff  laws  were  enacted,  not  merely  "  to  pay  the  debts  and  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States,"  as  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  but,  positively  and 
primarily,  for  the  protection  against  foreign  competition  of 
domestic  manufactures.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  impose  the 
main  burden  of  taxation  upon  the  Southern  people,  who  were 
consumers  and  not  manufacturers,  not  only  by  the  enhanced 
price  of  imports,  but  indirectly  by  the  consequent  depreciation 
in  the  value  of  exports,  which  were  chiefly  the  products  of 
Southern  States.  The  imposition  of  this  grievance  was  unac- 
companied by  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  the  tax  thus  borne 
was  to  be  paid  into  the  public  Treasury,  for  the  increase  of  price 
accrued  mainly  to  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturer.  Nor  was 
this  all :  a  reference  to  the  annual  appropriations  will  show  that 
the  disbursements  made  were  as  unequal  as  the  burdens  borne — 
the  inequality  in  both  operating  in  the  same  direction. 

These  causes  all  combined  to  direct  immigration  to  the  North- 
ern section  ;  and  with  the  increase  of  its  preponderance  a])peared 
more  and  more  distinctly  a  tendency  in  the  Federal  Govern- 


1835]  EFFECTS  OF  THE  SECTIONAL  POLICY.  33 

ment  to  pervert  functions  delegated  to  it,  and  to  use  them  with 
sectional  discrimination  against  the  minority. 

The  resistance  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  State,  in 
1820,  was  evidently  not  owing  to  any  moral  or  constitutional 
considerations,  but  merely  to  political  motives ;  and  the  com- 
pensation exacted  for  granting  what  was  simply  a  right,  was 
the  exclusion  of  the  South  from  equality  in  the  enjoyment  of 
territory  which  justly  belonged  equally  to  both,  and  which  was 
what  the  enemies  of  the  South  stigmatized  as  "  slave  territory," 
when  acquired. 

The  sectional  policy  then  indicated  brought  to  its  support  the 
passions  that  spring  from  man's  higher  nature,  but  which,  like 
all  passions,  if  misdirected  and  perverted,  become  hurtful  and, 
it  may  be,  destructive.  The  year  1835  was  marked  by  the  pub- 
lic agitation  for  the  abolition  of  that  African  servitude  which 
existed  in  the  South,  which  antedated  the  Union,  and  had  existed 
in  every  one  of  the  States  that  formed  the  Confederation.  By 
a  great  misconception  of  the  powers  belonging  to  the  General 
Government,  and  the  responsibilities  of  citizens  of  the  Northern 
States,  many  of  those  citizens  were,  little  by  little,  brought  to 
the  conclusion  that  slavery  was  a  sin  for  which  they  were  an- 
swerable, and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government 
to  abate  it.  Though,  at  the  date  above  referred  to,  numerically 
so  weak,  when  compared  with  either  of  the  political  parties  at 
the  North,  as  to  excite  no  apprehension  of  their  power  for  evil, 
the  public  demonstrations  of  the  Abolitionists  were  violently  re- 
buked generally  at  the  North.  The  party  was  contemned  on 
account  of  the  character  of  its  leaders,  and  the  more  odious 
because  chief  among  them  was  an  Englishman,  one  Thompson, 
who  was  supposed  to  be  an  emissary,  whose  mission  was  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Let  us  hope  that 
it  was  reverence  for  the  obligations  of  the  Constitution  as  the 
soul  of  the  Union  that  suggested  lurking  danger,  and  rendered 
the  supposed  emissary  for  its  destruction  so  odious  that  he  was 
driven  from  a  Massachusetts  hall  where  he  attempted  to  lec- 
ture. But  bodies  in  motion  will  overcome  bodies  at  rest,  and 
the  unreflecting  too  often  are  led  by  captivating  names  far  from 
the  principles  they  revere. 
3 


34         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Thus,  by  the  activity  of  the  propagandists  of  abolitionism, 
and  the  misuse  of  the  sacred  word  Liberty,  they  recruited  from 
the  ardent  worshipers  of  that  goddess  such  numbers  as  gave 
them  in  many  Northern  States  the  balance  of  power  between 
the  two  great  political  forces  that  stood  arrayed  against  each 
other ;  then  and  there  they  came  to  be  courted  by  both  of  the 
great  parties,  especially  by  the  Whigs,  who  had  become  the 
weaker  party  of  the  two.  Fanaticism,  to  which  is  usually 
accorded  sincerity  as  an  extenuation  of  its  mischievous  tenets, 
affords  the  best  excuse  to  be  offered  for  the  original  aboli- 
tionists, but  that  can  not  be  conceded  to  the  political  associ- 
ates who  joined  them  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  power; 
with  them  it  was  but  hypocritical  cant,  intended  to  deceive. 
Hence  arose  the  declaration  of  the  existence  of  an  "irrepres- 
sible conflict,"  because  of  the  domestic  institutions  of  sovereign, 
self-governing  States — institutions  over  which  neither  the  Fed- 
eral Government  nor  the  people  outside  of  the  limits  of  such 
States  had  any  control,  and  for  which  they  could  have  no  moral 
or  legal  responsibility. 

Those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  and  who  will  look  without 
prejudice  or  excitement  at  the  record  of  events  which  have  oc- 
curred in  our  day,  will  not  fail  to  wonder  how  men  professing 
and  proclaiming  such  a  belief  should  have  so  far  imposed  upon 
the  credulity  of  the  world  as  to  be  able  to  arrogate  to  them- 
selves the  claim  of  being  the  special  friends  of  a  Union  contract- 
ed in  order  to  insure  "  domestic  tranquillity  "  among  the  people 
of  the  States  united ;  that  they  were  the  advocates  of  peace,  of 
law,  and  of  order,  who,  when  taking  an  oath  to  support  and 
maintain  the  Constitution,  did  so  with  a  mental  reservation  to 
violate  one  of  the  provisions  of  that  Constitution — one  of  the 
conditions  of  the  compact — without  which  the  Union  could 
never  have  been  formed.  The  tone  of  political  morality  which 
could  make  this  possible  was  well  indicated  by  the  toleration 
accorded  in  the  Senate  to  the  flippant,  inconsequential  excuse 
for  it  given  by  one  of  its  most  eminent  exemplars — "  Is  thy 
servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  thing  ? " — meaning  thereby, 
not  that  it  would  be  the  part  of  a  dog  to  violate  his  oath,  but  to 
keep  it  in  the  matter  referred  to.     (See  Appendix  D.) 


1856-'60]  CHANGES  IN  POLITICAL   PARTIES.  35 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Agitation  continued. — Political  Parties :  their  Origin,  Changes,  and  Modifications. — 
Some  Account  of  the  "  Popular  Sovereignty,"  or  "  Non-Intervention,"  Theory. — 
Rupture  of  the  Democratic  Party. — The  John  Brown  Raid. — Resolutions  intro- 
duced by  the  Author  into  the  Senate  on  the  Relations  of  the  States,  the  Federal 
Government,  and  the  Territories ;  their  Discussion  and  Adoption. 

The  strife  in  Kansas  and  the  agitation  of  the  territorial  ques- 
tion in  Congress  and  throughout  the  country  continued  during 
nearly  the  whole  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration,  finally  cul- 
minating in  a  disruption  of  the  Union.  Meantime  the  changes, 
or  modifications,  which  had  occurred  or  were  occurring  in  the 
great  political  parties,  were  such  as  may  require  a  word  of  ex- 
planation to  the  reader  not  already  familiar  with  their  history. 

The  names  adopted  by  political  parties  in  the  United  States 
have  not  always  been  strictly  significant  of  their  principles.  The 
old  Federal  party  inclined  to  nationalism,  or  consolidation,  rather 
than  federalization,  of  the  States.  On  the  other  hand,  the  party 
originally  known  as  Republican,  and  afterward  as  Democratic, 
can  scarcely  claim  to  have  been  distinctively  or  exclusively  such 
in  the  primary  sense  of  these  terms,  inasmuch  as  no  party  has 
ever  avowed  opposition  to  the  general  principles  of  government 
by  the  people.  The  fundamental  idea  of  the  Democratic  party 
was  that  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  and  the  federal,  or  con- 
federate, character  of  the  Union.  Other  elements  have  entered 
into  its  organization  at  different  periods,  but  this  has  been  the 
vital,  cardinal,  and  abiding  principle  on  which  its  existence  has 
been  perpetuated.  The  "Whig,  which  succeeded  the  old  Federal 
party,  though  by  no  means  identical  with  it,  was,  in  the  main, 
favorable  to  a  strong  central  government,  therein  antagonizing  the 
transatlantic  traditions  connected  with  its  name.  The  "  Know- 
Nothing,"  or  "  American,"  party,  which  sprang  into  existence 
on  the  decadence  of  the  Whig  organization,  based  upon  opposi- 
tion to  the  alleged  overgrowth  of  the  political  influence  of  natu- 
ralized foreigners  and  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  had  but 
a  brief  duration,  and  after  the  Presidential  election  of  1856  de- 
clined as  rapidly  as  it  had  arisen. 


36         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

At  the  period  to  which  this  narrative  has  advanced,  the 
"  Free-Soil,"  which  had  now  assumed  the  title  of  "  Republican  " 
party,  had  grown  to  a  magnitude  which  threatened  speedily  to 
obtain  entire  control  of  the  Government.  Based,  as  has  been 
shown,  upon  sectional  rivalry  and  opposition  to  the  growth  of 
the  Southern  equally  with  the  Northern  States  of  the  Union, 
it  had  absorbed  within  itself  not  only  the  abolitionists,  who 
were  avowedly  agitating  for  the  destruction  of  the  system  of 
negro  servitude,  but  other  diverse  and  heterogeneous  elements 
of  opposition  to  the  Democratic  party.  In  the  Presidential 
election  of  1856,  their  candidates  (Fremont  and  Dayton)  had 
received  114  of  a  total  of  296  electoral  votes,  representing  a 
popular  vote  of  1,341,264  in  a  total  of  4,053,967.  The  elections 
of  the  ensuing  year  (1857)  exhibited  a  diminution  of  the  so- 
called  "  Republican "  strength,  and  the  Thirty-fifth  Congress, 
which  convened  in  December  of  that  year,  was  decidedly  Demo- 
cratic in  both  branches.  In  the  course  of  the  next  two  years, 
however,  the  Kansas  agitation  and  another  cause,  to  be  presently 
noticed,  had  so  swollen  the  ranks  of  the  so-called  Republicans, 
that,  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Con- 
gress, which  met  in  December,  1859,  neither  party  had  a  decided 
majority,  the  balance  of  power  being  held  by  a  few  members 
still  adhering  to  the  virtually  extinct  Whig  and  "  American,"  or 
Know-Nothing,  organizations,  and  a  still  smaller  number  whose 
position  was  doubtful  or  irregular.  More  than  eight  weeks 
were  spent  in  the  election  of  a  Speaker ;  and  a  so-called  "  Re- 
publican "  (Mr.  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey)  was  finally  elected 
by  a  majority  of  one  vote.  The  Senate  continued  to  be  de- 
cidedly Democratic,  though  with  an  increase  of  the  so-called 
"  Republican  "  minority. 

The  cause  above  alluded  to,  as  contributing  to  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  so-called  Republican  party  after  the  elections  of 
the  year  1857,  was  the  dissension  among  the  Democrats,  occa- 
sioned by  the  introduction  of  the  doctrine  called  by  its  inventors 
and  advocates  " popular  sovereignty,"  or  "non-intervention," 
but  more  generally  and  more  accurately  known  as  "squatter 
sovereignty."  Its  character  has  already  been  concisely  stated 
in  the  preceding  chapter.     Its  origin  is  generally  attributed  to 


1860]  THE  NICHOLSON  LETTER.  37 

General  Cass,  who  is  supposed  to  have  suggested  it  in  some 
general  expressions  of  his  celebrated  "Nicholson  letter,"  writ- 
ten in  December,  1847.  On  the  16th  and  17th  of  May,  1860,  it 
became  necessary  for  me  in  a  debate,  in  the  Senate,  to  review 
that  letter  of  Mr.  Cass.  From  my  remarks  then  made,  the  fol- 
lowing extract  is  taken  : 

"  The  Senator  [Mr.  Douglas]  might  have  remembered,  if  he 
had  chosen  to  recollect  so  unimportant  a  thing,  that  I  once  had  to 
explain  to  him,  ten  years  ago,  the  fact  that  I  repudiated  the  doc- 
trine of  that  letter  at  the  time  it  was  published,  and  that  the  De- 
mocracy of  Mississippi  had  well-nigh  crucified  me  for  the  construc- 
tion which  I  placed  upon  it.  There  were  men  mean  enough  to 
suspect  that  the  construction  I  gave  to  the  Nicholson  letter  was 
prompted  by  the  confidence  and  affection  I  felt  for  General  Taylor. 
At  a  subsequent  period,  however,  Mr.  Cass  thoroughly  reviewed 
it.  He  uttered  (for  him)  very  harsh  language  against  all  who  had 
doubted  the  true  construction  of  his  letter,  and  he  construed  it 
just  as  I  had  done  during  the  canvass  of  1848.  It  remains  only 
to  add  that  I  supported  Mr.  Cass,  not  because  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Nicholson  letter,  but  in  despite  of  it ;  because  I  believed  a 
Democratic  President,  with  a  Democratic  Cabinet  and  Democratic 
counselors  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  and  he  as  honest  a  man 
as  I  believed  Mr.  Cass  to  be,  would  be  a  safer  reliance  than  his 
opponent,  who  personally  possessed  my  confidence  as  much  as  any 
man  living,  but  who  was  of,  and  must  draw  his  advisers  from,  a 
party  the  tenets  of  which  I  believed  to  be  opposed  to  the  interests 
of  the  country,  as  they  were  to  all  my  political  convictions. 

"  I  little  thought  at  that  time  that  my  advocacy  of  Mr.  Cass 
upon  such  grounds  as  these,  or  his  support  by  the  State  of  which 
I  am  a  citizen,  would  at  any  future  day  be  quoted  as  an  endorse- 
ment of  the  opinions  contained  in  the  Nicholson  letter,  as  those 
opinions  were  afterward  defined.  But  it  is  not  only  upon  this 
letter,  but  equally  upon  the  resolutions  of  the  Convention  as  con- 
structive of  that  letter,  that  the  Senator  rested  his  argument.  [I 
will  here  say  to  the  Senator  that,  if  at  any  time  I  do  him  the  least 
injustice,  speaking  as  I  do  from  such  notes  as  I  could  take  while 
he  progressed,  I  will  thank  him  to  correct  me.] 

"  But  this  letter  entered  into  the  canvass  ;  there  was  a  doubt 
about  its  construction  :  there  were  men  who  asserted  that  they 


38         RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

had  positive  authority  for  saying  that  it  meant  that  the  people  of 
a  Territory  could  only  exclude  slavery  when  the  Territory  should 
form  a  Constitution  and  be  admitted  as  a  State.  This  doubt  con- 
tinued to  hang  over  the  construction,  and  it  was  that  doubt  alone 
which  secured  Mr.  Cass  the  vote  of  Mississippi.  If  the  true  con- 
struction had  been  certainly  known,  he  would  have  had  no  chance 
to  get  it." 

Whatever  meaning  the  generally  discreet  and  conservative 
statesman,  Mr.  Cass,  may  have  intended  to  convey,  it  is  not  at 
all  probable  that  he  foresaw  the  extent  to  which  the  suggestions 
would  be  carried  and  the  consequences  that  would  result  from  it. 

In  the  organization  of  a  government  for  California  in  1850, 
the  theory  was  more  distinctly  advanced,  but  it  was  not  until 
after  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  in  1854,  that  it 
was  fully  developed  under  the  plastic  and  constructive  genius 
of  the  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois.  The  leading  part 
which  that  distinguished  Senator  had  borne  in  the  authorship 
and  advocacy  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  which  affirmed  the 
right  of  the  people  of  the  Territories  "  to  form  and  regulate 
their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,"  had  aroused  against  him  a 
violent  storm  of  denunciation  in  the  State  which  he  represented 
and  other  Northern  States.  He  met  it  very  manfully  in  some 
respects,  defended  his  action  resolutely,  but  in  so  doing  was  led 
to  make  such  concessions  of  principle  and  to  attach  such  an 
interpretation  to  the  bill  as  would  have  rendered  it  practically 
nugatory — a  thing  to  keep  the  promise  of  peace  to  the  ear  and 
break  it  to  the  hope. 

The  Constitution  expressly  confers  upon  Congress  the  power 
to  admit  new  States  into  the  Union,  and  also  to  "  dispose  of  and 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory 
or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States."  Under  these 
grants  of  power,  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Government  had 
been  for  Congress  to  lay  off  and  divide  the  common  territory  by 
convenient  boundaries  for  the  formation  of  future  States ;  to 
provide  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  departments  of  gov- 
ernment for  such  Territories  during  their  temporary  and  pro- 


1860]  TRANSITION"  FROM  A  TERRITORIAL   CONDITION.  39 

visional  period  of  pupilage ;  to  delegate  to  these  governments 
such  authority  as  might  be  expedient — subject  always  to  the 
supervision  and  controlling  government  of  the  Congress.  Fi- 
nally, at  the  proper  time,  and  on  the  attainment  by  the  Ter- 
ritory of  sufficient  strength  and  population  for  self-government, 
to  receive  it  into  the  Union  on  a  footing  of  entire  equality  with 
the  original  States — sovereign  and  self-governing.  All  this  is 
no  more  inconsistent  with  the  true  principles  of  "  popular  sov- 
ereignty," properly  understood,  than  the  temporary  subjection 
of  a  minor  to  parental  control  is  inconsistent  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  or  the  exceptional  discipline 
of  a  man-of-war  or  a  military  post  with  the  principles  of  repub- 
lican freedom. 

The  usual  process  of  transition  from  a  territorial  condition 
to  that  of  a  State  was,  in  the  first  place,  by  an  act  of  Congress 
authorizing  the  inhabitants  to  elect  representatives  for  a  con- 
vention to  form  a  State  Constitution,  which  was  then  submitted 
to  Congress  for  approval  and  ratification.  On  such  ratification 
the  supervisory  control  of  Congress  was  withdrawn,  and  the 
new  State  authorized  to  assume  its  sovereignty,  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Territory  became  citizens  of  a  State.  In  the  cases 
of  Tennessee  in  1796,  and  Arkansas  and  Michigan  in  1836,  the 
failure  of  the  inhabitants  to  obtain  an  "  enabling  act "  of  Con- 
gress, before  organizing  themselves,  very  nearly  caused  the  rejec- 
tion of  their  applications  for  admission  as  States,  though  they 
were  eventually  granted  on  the  ground  that  the  subsequent  ap- 
proval and  consent  of  Congress  could  heal  the  prior  irregularity. 
The  entire  control  of  Congress  over  the  whole  subject  of  terri- 
torial government  had  never  been  questioned  in  earlier  times. 
Necessarily  conjoined  with  the  power  of  this  protectorate,  was 
of  course  the  duty  of  exercising  it  for  the  safety  of  the  per- 
sons and  property  of  all  citizens  of  the  United  States,  perma- 
nently or  temporarily  resident  in  any  part  of  the  domain  be- 
longing to  the  States  in  common. 

Logically  carried  out,  the  new  theory  of  "  popular  sovereign- 
ty "  would  apply  to  the  first  adventurous  pioneers  settling  in  the 
wilderness  before  the  organization  of  any  Territorial  government 
by  Congress,  as  well  as  afterward.     If  "  sovereignty  "  is  inhe- 


40         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

rent  in  a  thousand  or  live  thousand  persons,  there  can  be  no 
valid  ground  for  denying  its  existence  in  a  dozen,  as  soon  as 
they  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  governments.  The  ad- 
vocates  of  this  novel  doctrine,  however,  if  rightly  understood, 
generally  disavowed  any  claim  to  its  application  prior  to  the 
organization  of  a  territorial  government. 

The  Territorial  Legislatures,  to  which  Congress  delegated  a 
portion  of  its  power  and  duty  to  "  make  all  needful  rules  and 
regulations  respecting  the  Territory,"  were  the  mere  agents  of 
Congress,  exercising  an  authority  subject  to  Congressional  super- 
vision and  control — an  authority  conferred  only  for  the  sake  of 
convenience,  and  liable  at  any  time  to  be  revoked  and  annulled. 
Yet  it  is  proposed  to  recognize  in  these  provisional,  subordi- 
nate, and  temporary  legislative  bodies,  a  power  not  possessed 
by  Congress  itself.  This  is  to  claim  that  the  creature  is  en- 
dowed with  an  authority  not  possessed  by  the  creator,  or  that 
the  stream  has  risen  to  an  elevation  above  that  of  its  source. 

Furthermore,  in  contending  for  a  power  in  the  Territorial 
Legislatures  permanently  to  determine  the  fundamental,  social, 
and  political  institutions  of  the  Territory,  and  thereby  virtually 
to  prescribe  those  of  the  future  State,  the  advocates  of  "  popular 
sovereignty "  were  investing  those  dependent  and  subsidiary 
bodies  with  powers  far  above  any  exercised  by  the  Legislatures 
of  the  fully  organized  and  sovereign  States.  The  authority  of 
the  State  Legislatures  is  limited,  both  by  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution and  by  the  respective  State  Constitutions  from  which  it 
is  derived.  This  latter  limitation  did  not  and  could  not  exist 
in  the  Territories. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  a  theory  founded  on  fallacies  so 
flimsy  and  leading  to  conclusions  so  paradoxical  was  advanced 
by  eminent  and  experienced  politicians,  and  accepted  by  many 
persons,  both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South — not  so  much,  per- 
haps, from  intelligent  conviction  as  under  the  delusive  hope  that 
it  would  afford  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  "  irrepressible 
conflict "  which  had  been  declared.  The  terms  "  popular  sov- 
ereignty "  and  "  non-intervention  "  were  plausible,  specious,  and 
captivating  to  the  public  ear.  Too  many  lost  sight  of  the  ele- 
mentary truth  that  political  sovereignty  does  not  reside  in  un- 


1860]  THE   RAID   INTO   VIRGINIA.  41 

organized  or  partially  organized  masses  of  individuals,  but  in 
the  people  of  regularly  and  permanently  constituted  States.  As 
to  the  "  non-intervention  "  proposed,  it  meant  merely  the  abne- 
gation by  Congress  of  its  duty  to  protect  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Territories  subject  to  its  control. 

The  raid  into  Virginia  under  John  Brown — already  notori- 
ous as  a  fanatical  partisan  leader  in  the  Kansas  troubles — oc- 
curred in  October,  1859,  a  few  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Thirty-sixth  Congress.  Insignificant  in  itself  and  in  its  imme- 
diate results,  it  afforded  a  startling  revelation  of  the  extent  to 
which  sectional  hatred  and  political  fanaticism  had  blinded  the 
conscience  of  a  class  of  persons  in  certain  States  of  the  Union ; 
forming  a  party  steadily  growing  stronger  in  numbers,  as  well 
as  in  activity.  Sympathy  with  its  purposes  or  methods  was 
earnestly  disclaimed  by  the  representatives  of  all  parties  in  Con- 
gress ;  but  it  was  charged,  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  was  only 
the  natural  outgrowth  of  doctrines  and  sentiments  which  for 
some  years  had  been  freely  avowed  on  the  floors  of  both  Houses. 
A  committee  of  the  Senate  made  a  long  and  laborious  investiga- 
tion of  the  facts,  with  no  very  important  or  satisfactory  results. 
In  their  final  report,  June  15,  1860,  accompanying  the  evidence 
obtained  and  submitted,  this  Committee  said  : 

"  It  [the  incursion]  was  simply  the  act  of  lawless  ruffians,  under 
the  sanction  of  no  public  or  political  authority,  distinguishable 
only  from  ordinary  felonies  by  the  ulterior  ends  in  contemplation 
by  them,  and  by  the  fact  that  the  money  to  maintain  the  expedi- 
tion, and  the  large  armament  they  brought  with  them,  had  been 
contributed  and  furnished  by  the  citizens  of  other  States  of  the 
Union  under  circumstances  that  must  continue  to  jeopard  the 
safety  and  peace  of  the  Southern  States,  and  against  which  Con- 
gress has  no  power  to  legislate. 

"  If  the  several  States  [adds  the  Committee],  whether  from  mo- 
tives of  policy  or  a  desire  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  Union,  if 
not  from  fraternal  feeling,  do  not  hold  it  incumbent  on  them,  after 
the  experience  of  the  country,  to  guard  in  future  by  appropriate 
legislation  against  occurrences  similar  to  the  one  here  inquired  into, 
the  Committee  can  find  no  guarantee  elsewhere  for  the  security  of 
peace  between  the  States  of  the  Union." 


42         RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

On  February  2,  1860,  the  author  submitted,  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  a  series  of  resolutions,  afterward  slightly 
modified  to  read  as  follows  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
the  States,  adopting  the  same,  acted  severally  as  free  and  indepen- 
dent sovereignties,  delegating  a  portion  of  their  powers  to  be  ex- 
ercised by  the  Federal  Government  for  the  increased  security  of 
each  against  dangers,  domestic  as  well  as  foreign  ;  and  that  any 
intermeddling  by  any  one  or  more  States,  or  by  a  combination  of 
their  citizens,  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  others,  on  any 
pretext  whatever,  political,  moral,  or  religious,  with  the  view  to 
their  disturbance  or  subversion,  is  in  violation  of  the  Constitution, 
insulting  to  the  States  so  interfered  with,  endangers  their  domes- 
tic peace  and  tranquillity — objects  for  which  the  Constitution  was 
formed — and,  by  necessary  consequence,  tends  to  weaken  and  de- 
stroy the  Union  itself. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  negro  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  fifteen  States 
of  this  Union,  composes  an  important  portion  of  their  domestic 
institutions,  inherited  from,  our  ancestors,  and  existing  at  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution,  by  which  it  is  recognized  as  constituting 
an  important  element  in  the  apportionment  of  powers  among  the 
States,  and  that  no  change  of  opinion  or  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
non-slaveholding  States  of  the  Union  in  relation  to  this  institution 
can  justify  them  or  their  citizens  in  open  or  covert  attacks  there- 
on, with  a  view  to  its  overthrow  ;  and  that  all  such  attacks  are  in 
manifest  violation  of  the  mutual  and  solemn  pledge  to  protect  and 
defend  each  other,  given  by  the  States  respectively,  on  entering 
into  the  constitutional  compact  which  formed  the  Union,  and  are 
a  manifest  breach  of  faith  and  a  violation  of  the  most  solemn  ob- 
ligations. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  the  Union  of  these  States  rests  on  the 
equality  of  rights  and  privileges  among  its  members,  and  that  it  is 
especially  the  duty  of  the  Senate,  which  represents  the  States  in 
their  sovereign  capacity,  to  resist  all  attempts  to  discriminate 
either  in  relation  to  persons  or  property  in  the  Territories,  which 
are  the  common  possessions  of  the  United  States,  so  as  to  give  ad- 
vantages to  the  citizens  of  one  State  which  are  not  equally  assured 
to  those  of  every  other  State. 

"  4.  Resolved,  That  neither  Congress  nor  a  Territorial  Legisla- 


1860]  RESOLUTIONS  SUBMITTED   TO   THE  SENATE.  43 

ture,  whether  by  direct  legislation  or  legislation  of  an  indirect  and 
unfriendly  character,  possesses  power  to  annul  or  impair  the  consti- 
tutional right  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  to  take  his  slave 
property  into  the  common  Territories,  and  there  hold  and  enjoy 
the  same  while  the  territorial  condition  remains. 

"  5.  Resolved,  That  if  experience  should  at  any  time  prove  that 
the  judiciary  and  executive  authority  do  not  possess  means  to  in- 
sure adequate  protection  to  constitutional  rights  in  a  Territory, 
and  if  the  Territorial  government  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  provide 
the  necessary  remedies  for  that  purpose,  it  will  be  the  duty  o.f 
Congress  to  supply  such  deficiency.* 

"  6.  Resolved,  That  the  inhabitants  of  a  Territory  of  the  Uni- 
ted 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  prohibited  within  their  jurisdiction  ;  and  they  shall 
be  received  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery,  as  their  Con- 
stitution may  prescribe  at  the  time  of  their  admission. 

"  7.  Resolved,  That  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  for  the 
rendition  of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor,  c  without  the  adoption 
of  which  the  Union  could  not  have  been  formed,'  and  that  the 
laws  of  1793  and  1850,  which  were  enacted  to  secure  its  execution, 
and  the  main  features  of  which,  being  similar,  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  benefits  of  our  compact  of  union  ;  and  that  all  acts 
of  individuals  or  of  State  Legislatures  to  defeat  the  purpose  or 
nullify  the  requirements  of  that  provision,  and  the  laws  made  in 
pursuance  of  it,  are  hostile  in  character,  subversive  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  revolutionary  in  their  effect."  f 

After  a  protracted  and  earnest  debate,  these  resolutions  were 
adopted  seriatim,  on  the  24th  and  25th  of  May,  by  a  decided 
majority  of  the  Senate  (varying  from  thirty-three  to  thirty-six 

*  The  words,  "  within  the  limits  of  its  constitutional  powers,"  were  subsequently 
added  to  this  resolution,  on  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  mover. 

+  The  speech  of  the  author,  delivered  on  the  7th  of  May  ensuing,  in  exposition 
of  these  resolutions,  will  be  found  in  Appendix  F. 


44         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

yeas  against  from  two  to  twenty-one  nays),  the  Democrats,  both 
Northern  and  Southern,  sustaining  them  unitedly,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  adverse  vote  (that  of  Mr.  Pugh,  of  Ohio)  on 
the  fourth  and  sixth  resolutions.  The  Republicans  all  voted 
against  them  or  refrained  from  voting  at  all,  except  that  Mr. 
Teneyck,  of  'New  Jersey,  voted  for  the  fifth  and  seventh  of 
the  series.  Mr.  Douglas,  the  leader  if  not  the  author  of  "  pop- 
ular sovereignty,"  was  absent  on  account  of  illness,  and  there 
were  a  few  other  absentees. 

The  conclusion  of  a  speech,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  a  few 
days  before  the  vote  was  taken  on  these  resolutions,  is  intro- 
duced here  as  the  best  evidence  of  the  position  of  the  author  at 
that  period  of  excitement  and  agitation : 

Conclusion  of  Reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  May  17,  1860. 

"  Mr.  President  :  I  briefly  and  reluctantly  referred,  because 
the  subject  had  been  introduced,  to  the  attitude  of  Mississippi  on 
a  former  occasion.  I  will  now  as  briefly  say  that  in  1851,  and 
in  I860,  Mississippi  was,  and  is,  ready  to  make  every  concession 
which  it  becomes  her  to  make  to  the  welfare  and  the  safety  of  the 
Union.  If,  on  a  former  occasion,  she  hoped  too  much  from  fra- 
ternity, the  responsibility  for  her  disappointment  rests  upon  those 
who  failed  to  fulfill  her  expectations.  She  still  clings  to  the  Govern- 
ment as  our  fathers  formed  it.  She  is  ready  to-day  and  to-morrow, 
as  in  her  past  and  though  brief  yet  brilliant  history,  to  maintain 
that  Government  in  all  its  power,  and  to  vindicate  its  honor  with 
all  the  means  she  possesses.  I  say  brilliant  history  ;  for  it  was  in 
the  very  morning  of  her  existence  that  her  sons,  on  the  plains  of 
New  Orleans,  were  announced,  in  general  orders,  to  have  been  the 
admiration  of  one  army  and  the  wonder  of  the  other.  That  we 
had  a  division  in  relation  to  the  measures  enacted  in  1850,  is  true  ; 
that  the  Southern  rights  men  became  the  minority  in  the  election 
which  resulted,  is  true  ;  but  no  figure  of  speech  could  warrant  the 
Senator  in  speaking  of  them  as  subdued — as  coming  to  him  or  any- 
body else  for  quarter.  I  deemed  it  offensive  when  it  was  uttered, 
and  the  scorn  with  which  I  repelled  it  at  the  instant,  time  has  only 
softened  to  contempt.  Our  flag  was  never  borne  from  the  field. 
We  had  carried  it  in  the  face  of  defeat,  with  a  knowledge  that  de- 
feat awaited  it ;  but  scarcely  had  the  smoke  of  the  battle  passed 


1860]  THE  POSITION  OF  THE  AUTHOK.  45 

away  which  proclaimed  another  victor,  before  the  general  voice 
admitted  that  the  field  again  was  ours.  I  have  not  seen  a  sagacious, 
reflecting  man,  who  was  cognizant  of  the  events  as  they  transpired 
at  the  time,  who  does  not  say  that,  within  two  weeks  after  the  elec- 
tion, our  party  was  in  a  majority  ;  and  the  next  election  which 
occurred  showed  that  we  possessed  the  State  beyond  controversy. 
How  we  have  wielded  that  power  it  is  not  for  me  to  say.  I  trust 
others  may  see  forbearance  in  our  conduct — that,  with  a  deter- 
mination to  insist  upon  our  constitutional  rights,  then  and  now, 
there  is  an  unwavering  desire  to  maintain  the  Government,  and  to 
uphold  the  Democratic  party. 

"  We  believe  now,  as  we  have  asserted  on  former  occasions, 
that  the  best  hope  for  the  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  depends 
upon  the  cooperation,  the  harmony,  the  zealous  action,  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party.  We  cling  to  that  party  from  conviction  that  its 
principles  and  its  aims  are  those  of  truth  and  the  country,  as  we 
cling  to  the  Union  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  formed.  Whenever  we  shall  be  taught  that  the  Democratic 
party  is  recreant  to  its  principles  ;  whenever  we  shall  learn  that  it 
can  not  be  relied  upon  to  maintain  the  great  measures  which  con- 
stitute its  vitality — I  for  one  shall  be  ready  to  leave  it.  And  so, 
when  we  declare  our  tenacious  adherence  to  the  Union,  it  is  the 
Union  of  the  Constitution.  If  the  compact  between  the  States  is 
to  be  trampled  into  the  dust ;  if  anarchy  is  to  be  substituted  for  the 
usurpation  and  consolidation  which  threatened  the  Government  at 
an  earlier  period  ;  if  the  Union  is  to  become  powerless  for  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  established,  and  we  are  vainly  to  appeal  to 
it  for  protection — then,  sir,  conscious  of  the  rectitude  of  our  course, 
the  justice  of  our  cause,  self-reliant,  yet  humbly,  confidingly  trust- 
ing in  the  arm  that  guided  and  protected  our  fathers,  we  look  be- 
yond the  confines  of  the  Union  for  the  maintenance  of  our  rights. 
An  habitual  reverence  and  cherished  affection  for  the  Government 
will  bind  us  to  it  longer  than  our  interests  would  suggest  or  re- 
quire ;  but  he  is  a  poor  student  of  the  world's  history  who  does 
not  understand  that  communities  at  last  must  yield  to  the  dictates 
of  their  interests.  That  the  affection,  the  mutual  desire  for  the 
mutual  good,  which  existed  among  our  fathers,  may  be  weakened 
in  succeeding  generations  by  the  denial  of  right,  and  hostile  demon- 
stration, until  the  equality  guaranteed  but  not  secured  wTithin  the 
Union  may  be  sought  for  without  it,  must  be  evident  to  even  a 


40         RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

careless  observer  of  our  race.  It  is  time  to  be  up  and  doing. 
There  is  yet  time  to  remove  the  causes  of  dissension  and  alienation 
which  are  now  distracting,  and  have  for  years  past  divided,  the 
country. 

"  If  the  Senator  correctly  described  me  as  having  at  a  former 
period,  against  my  own  preferences  and  opinions,  acquiesced  in  the 
decision  of  my  party  ;  if,  when  I  had  youth,  when  physical  vigor 
gave  promise  of  many  days,  and  the  future  was  painted  in  the 
colors  of  hope,  I  could  thus  surrender  my  own  convictions,  my  own 
prejudices,  and  cooperate  with  my  political  friends  according  to 
their  views  of  the  best  method  of  promoting  the  public  good — 
now,  when  the  years  of  my  future  can  not  be  many,  and  experi- 
ence has  sobered  the  hopeful  tints  of  youth's  gilding  ;  when,  ap- 
proaching the  evening  of  life,  the  shadows  are  reversed,  and  the 
mind  turns  retrospectively,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  I  would 
abandon  lightly,  or  idly  put  on  trial,  the  party  to  which  I  have 
steadily  adhered.  It  is  rather  to  be  assumed  that  conservatism, 
which  belongs  to  the  timidity  or  caution  of  increasing  years,  would 
lead  me  to  cling  to,  to  be  supported  by,  rather  than  to  cast  off, 
the  organization  with  which  I  have  been  so  long  connected.  If  I 
am  driven  to  consider  the  necessity  of  separating  myself  from  those 
old  and  dear  relations,  of  discarding  the  accustomed  support,  under 
circumstances  such  as  I  have  described,  might  not  my  friends  who 
differ  from  me  pause  and  inquire  whether  there  is  not  something 
involved  in  it  which  calls  for  their  careful  revision  ? 

"  I  desire  no  divided  flag  for  the  Democratic  party. 

"  Our  principles  are  national ;  they  belong  to  every  State  of 
the  Union  ;  and,  though  elections  may  be  lost  by  their  assertion, 
they  constitute  the  only  foundation  on  which  we  can  maintain 
power,  on  which  we  can  again  rise  to  the  dignity  the  Democracy 
once  possessed.  Does  not  the  Senator  from  Illinois  see  in  the  sec- 
tional character  of  the  vote  he  received,*  that  his  opinions  are  not 
acceptable  to  every  portion  of  the  country  ?  Is  not  the  fact  that 
the  resolutions  adopted  by  seventeen  States,  on  which  the  greatest 
reliance  must  be  placed  for  Democratic  support,  are  in  opposition 
to  the  dogma  to  which  he  still  clings,  a  warning  that,  if  he  per- 
sists and  succeeds  in  forcing  his  theory  upon  the  Democratic  party, 
its  days  are  numbered  ?     We  ask  only  for  the  Constitution.     We 

*  In  the  Democratic  Convention,  which  had  been  recently  held  in  Charleston. 
(See  the  ensuing  chapter.) 


1860]  OUR  FLAG  BEARS  NO   NEW  DEVICE.  47 

ask  of  the  Democracy  only  from  time  to  time  to  declare,  as  cur- 
rent exigencies  may  indicate,  what  the  Constitution  was  intended 
to  secure  and  provide.  Our  flag  bears  no  new  device.  Upon  its 
folds  our  principles  are  written  in  living  light ;  all  proclaiming 
the  constitutional  Union,  justice,  equality,  and  fraternity  of  our 
ocean-bound  domain,  for  a  limitless  future." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

A  Retrospect. — Growth  of  Sectional  Rivalry.— The  Generosity  of  Virginia. — Une- 
qual Accessions  of  Territory. — The  Tariff  and  its  Effects. — The  Republican 
Convention  of  1860,  its  Resolutions  and  its  Nominations. — The  Democratic 
Convention  at  Charleston,  its  Divisions  and  Disruption. — The  Nominations  at 
Baltimore. — The  "  Constitutional-Union  "  Party  and  its  Nominees. — An  Effort 
in  Behalf  of  Agreement  declined  by  Mr.  Douglas. — The  Election  of  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin. — Proceedings  in  the  South. — Evidences  of  Calmness  and  Deliberation. 
— Mr.  Buchanan's  Conservatism  and  the  Weakness  of  his  Position. — Republican 
Taunts.— The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  etc. 

When,  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  each  of  the 
thirteen  colonies  that  had  been  engaged  in  that  contest  was  sev- 
erally acknowledged  by  the  mother-country,  Great  Britain,  to 
be  a  free  and  independent  State,  the  confederation  of  those 
States  embraced  an  area  so  extensive,  with  climate  and  products 
so  various,  that  rivalries  and  conflicts  of  interest  soon  began  to 
be  manifested.  It  required  all  the  power  of  wisdom  and  patri- 
otism, animated  by  the  affection  engendered  by  common  suffer- 
ings and  dangers,  to  keep  these  rivalries  under  restraint,  and  to 
effect  those  compromises  which  it  was  fondly  hoped  would  in- 
sure the  harmony  and  mutual  good  offices  of  each  for  the  bene- 
fit of  all.  It  was  in  this  spirit  of  patriotism  and  confidence  in 
the  continuance  of  such  abiding  good  will  as  would  for  all  time 
preclude  hostile  aggression,  that  Virginia  ceded,  for  the  use  of 
the  confederated  States,  all  that  vast  extent  of  territory  lying 
north  of  the  Ohio  River,  out  of  which  have  since  been  formed 
five  States  and  part  of  a  sixth.  The  addition  of  these  States 
has  accrued  entirely  to  the  preponderance  of  the  Northern  sec- 
tion over  that  from  which  the  donation  proceeded,  and  to  the 


48         RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

disturbance  of  that  equilibrium  which  existed  at  the  close  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  the 
grievances  which  led  to  that  war  were  directly  inflicted  upon 
the  Northern  colonies.  Those  of  the  South  had  no  material 
cause  of  complaint ;  but,  actuated  by  sympathy  for  their  North- 
ern brethren,  and  a  devotion  to  the  principles  of  civil  liberty 
and  community  independence,  which  they  had  inherited  from 
their  Anglo-Saxon  ancestry,  and  which  were  set  forth  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  they  made  common  cause  with 
their  neighbors,  and  may,  at  least,  claim  to  have  done  their  full 
share  in  the  war  that  ensued. 

By  the  exclusion  of  the  South,  in  1820,  from  all  that  part  of 
the  Louisiana  purchase  lying  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six 
degrees  thirty  minutes,  and  not  included  in  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri ;  by  the  extension  of  that  line  of  exclusion  to  embrace  the 
territory  acquired  from  Texas ;  and  by  the  appropriation  of  all 
the  territory  obtained  from  Mexico  under  the  Treaty  of  Guada- 
lupe Hidalgo,  both  north  and  south  of  that  line,  it  may  be  stated 
with  approximate  accuracy  that  the  North  had  monopolized  to 
herself  more  than  three  fourths  of  all  that  had  been  added  to 
the  domain  of  the  United  States  since  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. This  inequality,  which  began,  as  has  been  shown, 
in  the  more  generous  than  wise  confidence  of  the  South,  was 
employed  to  obtain  for  the  North  the  lion's  share  of  what  was 
afterward  added  at  the  cost  of  the  public  treasure  and  the  blood 
of  patriots.  I  do  not  care  to  estimate  the  relative  proportion 
contributed  by  each  of  the  two  sections. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  cause  that  operated  to  disappoint  the 
reasonable  hopes  and  to  blight  the  fair  prospects  under  which 
the  original  compact  was  formed.  The  effects  of  discriminating 
duties  upon  imports  have  been  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter — 
favoripg  the  manufacturing  region,  which  was  the  North  ;  bur- 
dening the  exporting  region,  which  was  the  South  ;  and  so  im- 
posing upon  the  latter  a  double  tax  :  one,  by  the  increased  price 
of  articles  of  consumption,  which,  so  far  as  they  were  of  home 
production,  went  into  the  pockets  of  the  manufacturer ;  the 
other,  by  the  diminished  value  of  articles  of  export,  which  was 


1860]  PURELY  A  SECTIONAL  BODY.  49 

so  much  withheld  from  the  pockets  of  the  agriculturist.  In 
like  manner  the  power  of  the  majority  section  was  employed  to 
appropriate  to  itself  an  unequal  share  of  the  public  disburse- 
ments. These  combined  causes — the  possession  of  more  terri- 
tory, more  money,  and  a  wider  field  for  the  employment  of 
special  labor — all  served  to  attract  immigration ;  and,  with  in- 
creasing population,  the  greed  grew  by  what  it  fed  on. 

This  became  distinctly  manifest  when  the  so-called  "  Eepub- 
lican  "  Convention  assembled  in  Chicago,  on  May  16,  1860,  to 
nominate  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  It  was  a  purely  sec- 
tional body.  There  were  a  few  delegates  present,  representing 
an  insignificant  minority  in  the  "border  States,"  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri ;  but  not  one  from 
any  State  south  of  the  celebrated  political  line  of  thirty-six  de- 
grees thirty  minutes.  It  had  been  the  invariable  usage  with 
nominating  conventions  of  all  parties  to  select  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency,  one  from  the  North  and  the 
other  from  the  South ;  but  this  assemblage  nominated  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, of  Illinois,  for  the  first  office,  and  for  the  second,  Mr. 
Hamlin,  of  Maine — both  Northerners.  Mr.  Lincoln,  its  nomi- 
nee for  the  Presidency,  had  publicly  announced  that  the  Union 
"  could  not  permanently  endure,  half  slave  and  half  free.'-'  The 
resolutions  adopted  contained  some  carefully  worded  declara- 
tions, well  adapted  to  deceive  the  credulous  who  were  opposed 
to  hostile  aggressions  upon  the  rights  of  the  States.  In  order 
to  accomplish  this  purpose,  they  were  compelled  to  create  a  fic- 
titious issue,  in  denouncing  what  they  described  as  "  the  new 
dogma  that  the  Constitution,  of  its  own  force,  carries  slavery 
into  any  or  all  of  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  " — a  "  dog- 
ma "  which  had  never  been  held  or  declared  by  anybody,  and 
which  had  no  existence  outside  of  their  own  assertion.  There 
was  enough  in  connection  with  the  nomination  to  assure  the 
most  fanatical  foes  of  the  Constitution  that  their  ideas  would  be 
the  rule  and  guide  of  the  party. 

Meantime,  the  Democratic  party  had  held  a  convention,  com- 
posed as  usual  of  delegates  from  all  the  States.  They  met  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  April  23d,  but  an  unfortunate 
disagreement  with  regard  to  the  declaration  of  principles  to  be 
4 


50         RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

set  forth  rendered  a  nomination  impracticable.  Both  divisions 
of  the  Convention  adjourned,  and  met  again  in  Baltimore  in 
June.  Then,  having  finally  failed  to  come  to  an  agreement, 
they  separated  and  made  their  respective  nominations  apart. 
Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  was  nominated  by  the  friends  of  the 
doctrine  of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  with  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  of 
Alabama,  for  the  Yice-Presidency.  Both  these  gentlemen  at 
that  time  were  Senators  from  their  respective  States.  Mr.  Fitz- 
patrick promptly  declined  the  nomination,  and  his  place  was 
filled  with  the  name  of  Mr.  Herschel  Y.  Johnson,  a  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Georgia. 

The  Convention  representing  the  conservative,  or  State- 
Rights,  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  (the  President  of  which 
was  the  Hon.  Caleb  Cushing,  of  Massachusetts),  on  the  first 
ballot,  unanimously  made  choice  of  John  C.  Breckinridge,  of 
Kentucky,  then  Yice-President  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
first  office,  and  with  like  unanimity  selected  General  Joseph 
Lane,  then  a  Senator  from  Oregon,  for  the  second.  The  reso- 
lutions of  each  of  these  two  conventions  denounced  the  action 
and  policy  of  the  Abolition  party,  as  subversive  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  revolutionary  in  their  tendency. 

Another  convention  was  held  in  Baltimore  about  the  same 
period  *  by  those  who  still  adhered  to  the  old  Whig  party,  re- 
enforced  by  the  remains  of  the  "  American  "  organization,  and 
perhaps  some  others.  This  Convention  also  consisted  of  dele- 
gates from  all  the  States,  and,  repudiating  all  geographical  and 
sectional  issues,  and  declaring  it  to  be  "  both  the  part  of  patri- 
otism and  of  duty  to  recognize  no  political  principle  other  than 
the  Constitution  of  the  country,  the  Union  of  the  States,  and 
the  enforcement  of  the  laws,"  pledged  itself  and  its  supporters 
".  to  maintain,  protect,  and  defend,  separately  and  unitedly,  those 
great  principles  of  public  liberty  and  national  safety  against  all 
enemies  at  home  and  abroad."  Its  nominees  were  Messrs.  John 
Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  both 
of  whom  had  long  been  distinguished  members  of  the  Whig 
party. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  now  had  four  rival  tickets 

*  May  19,  1860. 


1860]  THE   CONTENDING  PARTIES.  51 

presented  to  them  by  as  many  contending  parties,  whose  respec- 
tive position  and  principles  on  the  great  and  absorbing  question 
at  issue  may  be  briefly  recapitulated  as  follows  : 

1.  The  "  Constitutional-Union  "  party,  as  it  was  now  termed, 
led  by  Messrs.  Bell  and  Everett,  which  ignored  the  territorial 
controversy  altogether,  and  contented  itself,  as  above  stated,  with 
a  simple  declaration  of  adherence  to  "  the  Constitution,  the 
Union,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws." 

2.  The  party  of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  headed  by  Douglas 
and  Johnson,  who  affirmed  the  right  of  the  people  of  the  Terri- 
tories, in  their  territorial  condition,  to  determine  their  own  or- 
ganic institutions,  independently  of  the  control  of  Congress; 
denying  the  power  or  duty  of  Congress  to  protect  the  persons  or 
property  of  individuals  or  minorities  in  such  Territories  against 
the  action  of  majorities. 

3.  The  State-Eights  party,  supporting  Breckinridge  and 
Lane,  who  held  that  the  Territories  were  open  to  citizens  of  all 
the  States,  with  their  property,  without  any  inequality  or  dis- 
crimination, and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  protect  both  persons  and  property  from  aggression  in 
the  Territories  subject  to  its  control.  At  the  same  time  they  ad- 
mitted and  asserted  the  right  of  the  people  of  a  Territory,  on 
emerging  from  their  territorial  condition  to  that  of  a  State, 
to  determine  what  should  then  be  their  domestic  institutions, 
as  well  as  all  other  questions  of  personal  or  proprietary  right, 
without  interference  by  Congress,  and  subject  only  to  the  limi- 
tations and  restrictions  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

4.  The  so-called  "  Republicans,"  presenting  the  names  of 
Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  who  held,  in  the  language  of  one  of  their 
leaders,*  that  "  slavery  can  exist  only  by  virtue  of  municipal 
law  "  ;  that  there  was  "  no  law  for  it  in  the  Territories,  and  no 
power  to  enact  one  " ;  and  that  Congress  was  "  bound  to  pro- 
hibit it  in  or  exclude  it  from  any  and  every  Federal  Territory." 
In  other  words,  they  asserted  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to 
exclude  the  citizens  of  half  the  States  of  the  Union  from  the 
territory  belonging  in  common  to  all,  unless  on  condition  of  the 

*  Horace  Greeley,  "  The  American  Conflict,"  vol.  i,  p.  322. 


52         RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

sacrifice  or  abandonment  of  their  property  recognized  by  the 
Constitution — indeed,  of  the  only  species  of  their  property  dis- 
tinctly and  specifically  recognized  as  such  by  that  instrument. 

On  the  vital  question  underlying  the  whole  controversy — 
that  is,  whether  the  Federal  Government  should  be  a  Govern- 
ment of  the  whole  for  the  benefit  of  all  its  equal  members,  or 
(if  it  should  continue  to  exist  at  all)  a  sectional  Government  for 
the  benefit  of  a  part — the  first  three  of  the  parties  above  de- 
scribed were  in  substantial  accord  as  against  the  fourth.  If  they 
could  or  would  have  acted  unitedly,  they  could  certainly  have 
carried  the  election,  and  averted  the  catastrophe  which  followed. 
!Nor  were  efforts  wanting  to  effect  such  a  union. 

Mr.  Bell,  the  Whig  candidate,  was  a  highly  respectable  and 
experienced  statesman,  who  had  filled  many  important  offices, 
both  State  and  ^Federal.  He  was  not  ambitious  to  the  extent  of 
coveting  the  Presidency,  and  he  was  profoundly  impressed  by 
the  danger  which  threatened  the  country.  Mr.  Breckinridge 
had  not  anticipated,  and  it  may  safely  be  said  did  not  eagerly 
desire,  the  nomination.  He  was  young  enough  to  wait,  and  pa- 
triotic enough  to  be  willing  to  do  so,  if  the  weal  of  the  country 
required  it.  Thus  much  I  may  confidently  assert  of  both  those 
gentlemen  ;  for  each  of  them  authorized  me  to  say  that  he  was 
willing  to  withdraw,  if  an  arrangement  could  be  effected  by 
which  the  divided  forces  of  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  could 
be  concentrated  upon  some  one  more  generally  acceptable  than 
either  of  the  three  who  had  been  presented  to  the  country. 
When  I  made  this  announcement  to  Mr.  Douglas — with  whom 
my  relations  had  always  been  such  as  to  authorize  the  assurance 
that  he  could  not  consider  it  as  made  in  an  unfriendly  spirit — 
he  replied  that  the  scheme  proposed  was  impracticable,  because 
his  friends,  mainly  Northern  Democrats,  if  he  were  withdrawn, 
would  join  in  the  support  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  rather  than  of  any 
one  that  should  supplant  Kim  (Douglas) ;  that  he  was  in  the 
hands  of  his  friends,  and  was  sure  they  would  not  accept  the 
proposition. 

It  needed  but  little  knowledge  of  the  status  of  parties  in  the 
several  States  to  foresee  a  probable  defeat  if  the  conservatives 
were  to  continue  divided  into  three  parts,  and  the  aggressives 


1860]  KESULTS  OF   THE   ELECTION.  53 

were  to  be  held  in  solid  column.  But  angry  passions,  which 
are  always  bad  counselors,  had  been  aroused,  and  hopes  were 
still  cherished,  which  proved  to  be  illusory.  The  result  was 
the  election,  by  a  minority,  of  a  President  whose  avowed  prin- 
ciples were  necessarily  fatal  to  the  harmony  of  the  Union. 

Of  303  electoral  votes,  Mr.  Lincoln  received  180,  but  of  the 
popular  suffrage  of  4,676,853  votes,  which  the  electors  repre- 
sented, he  obtained  only  1,866,352 — something  over  a  third  of 
the  votes.  This  discrepancy  was  owing  to  the  system  of  voting 
by  "  general  ticket " — that  is,  casting  the  State  votes  as  a  unit, 
whether  unanimous  or  nearly  equally  divided.  Thus,  in  New 
York,  the  total  popular  vote  was  675,156,  of  which  362,646  were 
cast  for  the  so-called  Republican  (or  Lincoln)  electors,  and  312,- 
510  against  them.  New  York  was  entitled  to  35  electoral  votes. 
Divided  on  the  basis  of  the  popular  vote,  19  of  these  would  have 
been  cast  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  16  against  him.  But  under  the 
"  general  ticket "  system  the  entire  35  votes  were  cast  for  the 
Republican  candidates,  thus  giving  them  not  only  the  full 
strength  of  the  majority  in  their  favor,  but  that  of  the  great  mi- 
nority against  them  superadded.  So  of  other  Northern  States, 
in  which  the  small  majorities  on  one  side  operated  with  the 
weight  of  entire  unanimity,  while  the  virtual  unanimity  in  the 
Southern  States,  on  the  other  side,  counted  nothing  more  than  a 
mere  majority  would  have  done. 

The  manifestations  which  followed  this  result,  in  the  South- 
ern States,  did  not  proceed,  as  has  been  unjustly  charged,  from 
chagrin  at  their  defeat  in  the  election,  or  from  any  personal  hos- 
tility to  the  President-elect,  but  from  the  fact  that  they  recog- 
nized in  him  the  representative  of  a  party  professing  principles 
destructive  to  "  their  peace,  their  prosperity,  and  their  domestic 
tranquillity. "  The  long-suppressed  fire  burst  into  frequent  flame, 
but  it  was  still  controlled  by  that  love  of  the  Union  which  the 
South  had  illustrated  in  every  battle-field,  from  Boston  to  New 
Orleans.  Still  it  was  hoped,  against  hope,  that  some  adjustment 
might  be  made  to  avert  the  calamities  of  a  practical  application 
of  the  theory  of  an  "  irrepressible  conflict."  Few,  if  any,  then 
doubted  the  right  of  a  State  to  withdraw  its  grants  delegated  to 
the  Federal  Government,  or,  in  other  words,  to  secede  from  the 


54:         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Union ;  but  in  the  South  this  was  generally  regarded  as  the 
remedy  of  last  resort,  to  be  applied  only  when  ruin  or  dishonor 
was  the  alternative.  No  rash  or  revolutionary  action  was  taken 
by  the  Southern  States,  but  the  measures  adopted  were  consid- 
erate, and  executed  advisedly  and  deliberately.  The  Presiden- 
tial election  occurred  (as  far  as  the  popular  vote,  which  deter- 
mined the  result,  was  concerned)  in  November,  1860.  Most  of 
the  State  Legislatures  convened  soon  afterward  in  regular  ses- 
sion. In  some  cases  special  sessions  were  convoked  for  the  pur- 
pose of  calling  State  Conventions — the  recognized  representatives 
of  the  sovereign  will  of  the  people — to  be  elected  expressly  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  such  action  as  should  be  considered  need- 
ful and  proper  under  the  existing  circumstances. 

These  conventions,  as  it  was  always  held  and  understood, 
possessed  all  the  power  of  the  people  assembled  in  mass ;  and 
therefore  it  was  conceded  that  they,  and  they  only,  could  take 
action  for  the  withdrawal  of  a  State  from  the  Union.  The  con- 
sent of  the  respective  States  to  the  formation  of  the  Union  had 
been  given  through  such  conventions,  and  it  was  only  by  the 
same  authority  that  it  could  properly  be  revoked.  The  time 
required  for  this  deliberate  and  formal  process  precludes  the 
idea  of  hasty  or  passionate  action,  and  none  who  admit  the  pri- 
mary power  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  can  consistently 
deny  its  validity  and  binding  obligation  upon  every  citizen  of 
the  several  States.  Not  only  was  there  ample  time  for  calm 
consideration  among  the  people  of  the  South,  but  for  due  reflec- 
tion by  the  General  Government  and  the  people  of  the  Northern 
States. 

President  Buchanan  was  in  the  last  year  of  his  administra- 
tion. His  freedom  from  sectional  asperity,  his  long  life  in  the 
public  service,  and  his  peace-loving  and  conciliatory  character, 
were  all  guarantees  against  his  precipitating  a  conflict  between 
the  Federal  Government  and  any  of  the  States ;  but  the  feeble 
power  that  he  possessed  in  the  closing  months  of  his  term 
to  mold  the  policy  of  the  future  was  painfully  evident.  Like 
all  who  had  intelligently  and  impartially  studied  the  history  of 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  he  held  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment had  no  rightful  power  to  coerce  a  State.    Like  the  sages 


1850]  HOW   CAN   THE   UNION   BE   SAVED?  55 

and  patriots  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  high  office  that  he 
tilled,  he  believed  that  "  our  Union  rests  upon  public  opinion, 
and  can  never  be  cemented  by  the  blood  of  its  citizens  shed  in 
civil  war.  If  it  can  not  live  in  the  affections  of  the  people,  it 
must  one  day  perish.  Congress  may  possess  many  meajp  of 
preserving  it  by  conciliation,  but  the  sword  was  not  placed  in 
their  hand  to  preserve  it  by  force." — (Message  of  December  3, 
1860.) 

Ten  years  before,  Mr.  Calhoun,  addressing  the  Senate  with 
all  the  earnestness  of  his  nature,  and  with  that  sincere  desire  to 
avert  the  danger  of  disunion  which  those  who  knew  him  best 
never  doubted,  had  asked  the  emphatic  question,  "  How  can 
the  Union  be  saved  % "     He  answered  his  question  thus  : 

"  There  is  but  one  way  by  which  it  can  be  [saved]  with  any 
certainty  ;  and  that  is  by  a  full  and  final  settlement,  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice,  of  all  the  questions  at  issue  between  the  sections. 
The  South  asks  for  justice — simple  justice — and  less  she  ought  not 
to  take.  She  has  no  compromise  to  offer  but  the  Constitution,  and 
no  concession  or  surrender  to  make.  .  .  . 

"  Can  this  be  done  ?  Yes,  easily  !  Not  by  the  weaker  party  ; 
for  it  can  of  itself  do  nothing — not  even  protect  itself — but  by  the 
stronger.  .  .  .  But  will  the  North  agree  to  do  this  ?  It  is  for 
her  to  answer  this  question.  But,  I  will  say,  she  can  not  refuse  if 
she  has  half  the  love  of  the  Union  which  she  professes  to  have, 
nor  without  exposing  herself  to  the  charge  that  her  love  of  power 
and  aggrandizement  is  far  greater  than  her  love  of  the  Union." 

During  the  ten  years  that  intervened  between  the  date  of 
this  speech  and  the  message  of  Mr.  Buchanan  cited  above,  the 
progress  of  sectional  discord  and  the  tendency  of  the  stronger 
section  to  unconstitutional  aggression  had  been  fearfully  rapid. 
With  very  rare  exceptions,  there  were  none  in  1850  who  claimed 
the  right  of  the  Federal  Government  to  apply  coercion  to  a  State. 
In  1860  men  had  grown  to  be  familiar  with  threats  of  driving 
the  South  into  submission  to  any  act  that  the  Government,  in 
the  hands  of  a  Northern  majority,  might  see  fit  to  perform. 
During  the  canvass  of  that  year,  demonstrations  had  been  made 
by  ^cm-military  organizations  in  various  parts  of  the  North, 


56         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

which  looked  unmistakably  to  purposes  widely  different  from 
those  enunciated  in  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution,  and  to 
the  employment  of  means  not  authorized  by  the  powers  which 
the  States  had  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government. 

Well-informed  men  still  remembered  that,  in  the  Convention 
which  framed  the  Constitution,  a  proposition  was  made  to  au- 
thorize the  employment  of  force  against  a  delinquent  State,  on 
which  Mr.  Madison  remarked  that  "  the  use  of  force  against  a 
State  would  look  more  like  a  declaration  of  war  than  an  inflic- 
tion of  punishment,  and  would  probably  be  considered  by  the 
party  attacked  as  a  dissolution  of  all  previous  compacts  by  which 
it  might  have  been  bound."  The  Convention  expressly  refused 
to  confer  the  power  proposed,  and  the  clause  was  lost.  While, 
therefore,  in  1860,  many  violent  men,  appealing  to  passion  and 
the  lust  of  power,  were  inciting  the  multitude,  and  preparing 
Northern  opinion  to  support  a  war  waged  against  the  Southern 
States  in  the  event  of  their  secession,  there  were  others  who 
took  a  different  view  of  the  case.  Notable  among  such  was  the 
"  New  York  Tribune,"  which  had  been  the  organ  of  the  abo- 
litionists, and  which  now  declared  that,  "  if  the  cotton  States 
wished  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  they  should  be  allowed  to 
do  so  "  ;  that  "  any  attempt  to  compel  them  to  remain,  by  force, 
would  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  to  the  fundamental  ideas  upon  which  human  lib- 
erty is  based  "  ;  and  that,  "  if  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
justified  the  secession  from  the  British  Empire  of  three  millions 
of  subjects  in  1776,  it  was  not  seen  why  it  would  not  justify  the 
secession  of  five  millions  of  Southerners  from  the  Union  in 
1861."  Again,  it  was  said  by  the  same  journal  that,  "sooner 
than  compromise  with  the  South  and  abandon  the  Chicago  plat- 
form," they  would  "  let  the  Union  slide."  Taunting  expressions 
were  freely  used  —  as,  for  example,  "  If  the  Southern  people 
wish  to  leave  the  Union,  we  will  do  our  best  to  forward  their 
views." 

All  this,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  quite  consistent  with  the  oft- 
repeated  declaration  that  the  Constitution  was  a  "  covenant  with 
hell,"  which  stood  as  the  caption  of  a  leading  abolitionist  paper 
of  Boston.     That  signs  of  coming  danger  so  visible,  evidences 


1860]  LACK   OF  PREPARATION  FOR   WAR.  57 

of  hostility  so  unmistakable,  disregard  of  constitutional  obliga- 
tions so  wanton,  taunts  and  jeers  so  bitter  and  insulting,  should 
serve  to  increase  excitement  in  the  South,  was  a  consequence 
flowing  as  much  from  reason  and  patriotism  as  from  sentiment. 
He  must  have  been  ignorant  of  human  nature  who  did  not  ex- 
pect such  a  tree  to  bear  fruits  of  discord  and  division. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Conference  with  the  Governor  of  Mississippi. — The  Author  censured  as  "  too  slow." 
— Summons  to  Washington. — Interview  with  the  President. — His  Message. — 
Movements  in  Congress. — The  Triumphant  Majority. — The  Crittenden  Proposi- 
tion.— Speech  of  the  Author  on  Mr.  Green's  Resolution. — The  Committee  of 
Thirteen. — Failure  to  agree.— The  "  Republicans  "  responsible  for  the  Failure. 
— Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Representatives. — Futility  of  Efforts  for  an  Ad- 
justment.— The  Old  Year  closes  in  Clouds. 

In  November,  1860,  after  the  result  of  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion was  known,  the  Governor  of  Mississippi,  having  issued  his 
proclamation  convoking  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  calling  a  convention,  invited  the  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  of  the  State  in  Congress,  to  meet  him 
for  consultation  as  to  the  character  of  the  message  he  should 
send  to  the  Legislature  when  assembled. 

While  holding,  in  common  with  my  political  associates,  that 
the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  was  unquestionable,  I  differed  from 
most  of  them  as  to  the  probability  of  our  being  permitted  peace- 
ably to  exercise  the  right.  The  knowledge  acquired  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  War  Department  for  four  years,  and  by  the 
chairmanship  of  the  Military  Committee  of  the  Senate  at  two 
different  periods,  still  longer  in  combined  duration,  had  shown 
me  the  entire  lack  of  preparation  for  war  in  the  South.  The 
foundries  and  armories  were  in  the  Northern  States,  and  there 
were  stored  all  the  new  and  improved  weapons  of  war.  In  the 
arsenals  of  the  Southern  States  were  to  be  found  only  arms  of 
the  old  and  rejected  models.  The  South  had  no  manufactories 
of  powder,  and  no  navy  to  protect  our  harbors,  no  merchant- 


58         RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ships  for  foreign  commerce.  It  was  evident  to  me,  therefore, 
that,  if  we  should  be  involved  in  war,  the  odds  against  us  would 
be  far  greater  than  what  was  due  merely  to  our  inferiority  in 
population.  Believing  that  secession  would  be  the  precursor  of 
war  between  the  States,  I  was  consequently  slower  and  more 
reluctant  than  others,  who  entertained  a  different  opinion,  to 
resort  to  that  remedy. 

While  engaged  in  the  consultation  with  the  Governor  just 
referred  to,  a  telegraphic  message  was  handed  to  me  from  two 
members  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  urging  me  to  proceed  "  im- 
mediately "  to  Washington.  This  dispatch  was  laid  before  the 
Governor  and  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  State  who 
were  in  conference  with  him,  and  it  was  decided  that  I  should 
comply  with  the  summons.  I  was  afterward  informed  that  my 
associates  considered  me  "too  slow,"  and  they  were  probably 
correct  in  the  belief  that  I  was  behind  the  general  opinion  of 
the  people  of  the  State  as  to  the  propriety  of  prompt  secession.* 

*  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Hon.  0.  R.  Singleton,  then  a  Repre- 
sentative of  Mississippi  in  the  United  States  Congress,  in  regard  to  the  subject 

treated,  is  herewith  annexed : 

u  Canton,  Mississippi,  July  14, 187T. 

"In  1860,  about  the  time  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  passed  by  the  South 
Carolina  Convention,  and  while  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  other  Southern  States 
were  making  active  preparations  to  follow  her  example,  a  conference  of  the  Missis- 
sippi delegation  in  Congress,  Senators  and  Representatives,  was  asked  for  by  Gov- 
ernor J.  J.  Pettus,  for  consultation  as  to  the  course  Mississippi  ought  to  take  in  the 
premises. 

"The  meeting  took  place  in  the  fall  of  1860,  at  Jackson,  the  capital,  the  whole 
delegation  being  present,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  one  Representative. 

"  The  main  question  for  consideration  was :  c  Shall  Mississippi,  as  soon  as  her 
Convention  can  meet,  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession,  thus  placing  herself  by  the 
side  of  South  Carolina,  regardless  of  the  action  of  other  States ;  or  shall  she  endeavor 
to  hold  South  Carolina  in  check,  and  delay  action  herself,  until  other  States  can  get 
ready,  through  their  conventions,  to  unite  with  them,  and  then,  on  a  given  day  and 
at  a  given  hour,  by  concert  of  action,  all  the  States  willing  to  do  so,  secede  in  a 
body  ? ' 

"  Upon  the  one  side,  it  was  argued  that  South  Carolina  could  not  be  induced  to 
delay  action  a  single  moment  beyond  the  meeting  of  her  Convention,  and  that  our 
fate  should  be  hers,  and  to  delay  action  would  be  to  have  her  crushed  by  the  Federal 
Government ;  whereas,  by  the  earliest  action  possible,  we  might  be  able  to  avert  this 
calamity.  On  the  other  side,  it  was  contended  that  delay  might  bring  the  Federal 
Government  to  consider  the  emergency  of  the  case,  and  perhaps  a  compromise  could 


1861]  MR.  BUCHANAN'S  MESSAGE.  59 

On  arrival  at  Washington,  I  found,  as  had  been  anticipated, 
that  my  presence  there  was  desired  on  account  of  the  influence 
which  it  was  supposed  I  might  exercise  with  the  President  (Mr. 
Buchanan)  in  relation  to  his  forthcoming  message  to  Congress. 
On  paying  my  respects  to  the  President,  he  told  me  that  he  had 
finished  the  rough  draft  of  his  message,  but  that  it  was  still  open 
to  revision  and  amendment;  and  that  he  would  like  to  read  it  to 
me.  He  did  so,  and  very  kindly  accepted  all  the  modifications 
which  I  suggested.  The  message  was,  however,  afterward  some- 
what changed,  and,  with  great  deference  to  the  wisdom  and 
statesmanship  of  its  author,  I  must  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  the 
last  alterations  were  unfortunate — so  much  so  that,  when  it  was 
read  in  the  Senate,  I  was  reluctantly  constrained  to  criticise  it. 
Compared,  however,  with  documents  of  the  same  class  which 
have  since  been  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
the  reader  of  Presidential  messages  must  regret  that  it  was  not 
accepted  by  Mr.  Buchanan's  successors  as  a  model,  and  that  his 
views  of  the  Constitution  had  not  been  adopted  as  a  guide  in 
the  subsequent  action  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  popular  movement  in  the  South  was  tending  steadily 

be  effected ;  but,  if  not,  then  the  proposed  concert  of  action  would  at  least  give 
dignity  to  the  movement,  and  present  an  undivided  Southern  front. 

"  The  debate  lasted  many  hours,  and  Mr.  Davis,  with  perhaps  one  other  gentle- 
man in  that  conference,  opposed  immediate  and  separate  State  action,  declaring 
himself  opposed  to  secession  as  long  as  the  hope  of  a  peaceable  remedy  remained. 
He  did  not  believe  we  ought  to  precipitate  the  issue,  as  he  felt  certain  from  his 
knowledge  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  that,  once  there  was  a  clash  of  arms,  the 
contest  would  be  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  the  world  had  ever  witnessed. 

"  A  majority  of  the  meeting  decided  that  no  delay  should  be  interposed  to  sepa- 
rate State  action,  Mr.  Davis  being  on  the  other  side ;  but,  after  the  vote  was  taken 
and  the  question  decided,  Mr.  Davis  declared  he  would  stand  by  whatever  action  the 
Convention  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  might  think 
proper  to  take. 

"  After  the  conference  was  ended,  several  of  its  members  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  course  of  Mr.  Davis,  believing  that  he  was  entirely  opposed  to  secession,  and  was 
seeking  to  delay  action  upon  the  part  of  Mississippi,  with  the  hope  that  it  might  be 
entirely  averted. 

"  In  some  unimportant  respects  my  memory  may  be  at  fault,  and  possibly  some 
of  the  inferences  drawn  may  be  incorrect ;  but  every  material  statement  made,  I  am 
sure,  is  true,  and  if  need,  be  can  be,  easily  substantiated  by  other  persons. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  "O.K.  Singleton. 


60         RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

and  rapidly  toward  the  secession  of  those  known  as  "  planting 
States  "  ;  yet,  when  Congress  assembled  on  December  3,  1860 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  all  those  States  took  their 
seats  in  the  House,  and  they  were  all  represented  in  the  Senate, 
except  South  Carolina,  whose  Senators  had  tendered  their  resig- 
nation to  the  Governor  immediately  on  the  announcement  of 
the  result  of  the  Presidential  election.  Hopes  were  still  cher- 
ished that  the  Northern  leaders  would  appreciate  the  impending 
peril,  would  cease  to  treat  the  warnings,  so  often  given,  as  idle 
threats,  would  refrain  from  the  bravado,  so  often  and  so  unwisely 
indulged,  of  ability  "  to  whip  the  South  "  in  thirty,  sixty,  or 
ninety  days,  and  would  address  themselves  to  the  more  manly 
purpose  of  devising  means  to  allay  the  indignation,  and  quiet 
the  apprehensions,  whether  well  founded  or  not,  of  their  South- 
ern brethren.  But  the  debates  of  that  session  manifest,  on  the 
contrary,  the  arrogance  of  a  triumphant  party,  and  the  deter- 
mination to  reap  to  the  uttermost  the  full  harvest  of  a  party 
victory. 

Mr.  Crittenden,  of  E^entucky,  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  most 
honored  members  of  the  Senate,*  introduced  into  that  body  a 
joint  resolution  proposing  certain  amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion— among  them  the  restoration  and  incorporation  into  the 
Constitution  of  the  geographical  line  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, with  other  provisions,  which  it  was  hoped  might  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  basis  for  an  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  rapidly 
hurrying  the  Union  to  disruption.  But  the  earnest  appeals  of 
that  venerable  statesman  were  unheeded  by  Senators  of  the  so- 
called  Kepublican  party.  Action  upon  his  proposition  was  post- 
poned from  time  to  time,  on  one  pretext  or  another,  until  the 
last  day  of  the  session— when  seven  States  had  already  with- 
drawn from  the  Union  and  established  a  confederation  of 
their  own  — and  it  was  then  defeated  by  a  majority  of  one 
vote.f 

*  Mr.  Crittenden  had  been  a  life-long  Whig.  His  first  entrance  into  the  Senate 
was  in  1817,  and  he  was  a  member  of  that  body  at  various  periods  during  the  ensu- 
ing forty-four  years.  He  was  Attorney-General  in  the  Whig  Cabinets  of  both  Gen- 
eral Harrison  and  Mr.  Fillmore,  and  supported  the  Bell  and  Everett  ticket  in  1860. 

f  The  vote  was  nineteen  yeas  to  twenty  nays  ;  total,  thirty-nine.  As  the  consent 
of  two  thirds  of  each  House  is  necessary  to  propose  an  amendment  for  action  by  the 


1861]  PROPOSITIONS  MADE   IN  THE   SENATE.  01 

Meantime,  among  other  propositions  made  in  the  Senate 
were  two  introduced  early  in  the  session,  which  it  may  be  proper 
specially  to  mention.  One  of  these  was  a  resolution  offered  by 
Mr.  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  which,  after '  some  modification  by 
amendment,  when  finally  acted  upon,  had  taken  the  following 
form  : 

"  Resolved,  That  so  much  of  the  President's  message  as  relates 
to  the  present  agitated  and  distracted  condition  of  the  country, 
and  the  grievances  between  the  slaveholding  and  the  non-slave- 
holding  States,  be  referred  to  a  special  committee  of  thirteen  mem- 
bers, and  that  said  committee  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
present  condition  of  the  country,  and  report  by  bill  or  otherwise." 

The  other  was  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Green,  of  Mis- 
souri, to  the  following  effect : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  instructed 
to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of  providing  by  law  for  establishing 
an  armed  police  force  at  all  necessary  points  along  the  line  sepa- 
rating the  slaveholding  States  from  the  non-slaveholding  States, 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  general  peace  between  those 
States,  of  preventing  the  invasion  of  one  State  by  citizens  of  an- 
other, and  also  for  the  efficient  execution  of  the  fugitive-slave  laws." 

In  the  discussion  of  these  two  resolutions  I  find,  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Senate  on  December  10th,  as  reported  in  the 
"  Congressional  Globe,"  some  remarks  of  my  own,  the  repro- 
duction of  which  will  serve  to  exhibit  my  position  at  that  period 
— a  position  which  has  since  been  often  misrepresented  : 

"  Mr.  President,*  if  the  political  firmament  seemed  to  me  dark 
before,  there  has  been  little  in  the  discussion  this  morning  to  cheer 
or  illumine  it.  When  the  proposition  of  the  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky was  presented — not  very  hopeful  of  a  good  result— I  was 
yet  willing  to  wait  and  see  what  developments  it  might  produce. 
This  morning,  for  the  first  time,  it  has  been  considered ;  and  what 
of  encouragement  have  we  received  ?  One  Senator  proposes,  as  a 
cure  for  the  public  evil  impending  over  us,  to  invest  the  Federal 

States,  twenty-six  of  the  votes  cast  in.  the  Senate  would  have  been  necessary  to  sus- 
tain the  proposition.     It  actually  failed,  therefore,  by  seven  votes,  instead  of  one. 


62         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Government  with  such  physical  power  as  properly  belongs  to  mon- 
archy alone  ;  another  announces  that  his  constituents  cling  to  the 
Federal  Government,  if  its  legislative  favors  and  its  Treasury  se- 
cure the  works  of  improvement  and  the  facilities  which  they  desire  ; 
while  another  rises  to  point  out  that  the  evils  of  the  land  are  of  a 
party  character.  Sir,  we  have  fallen  upon  evil  times  indeed,  if 
the  great  convulsion  which  now  shakes  the  body-politic  to  its  cen- 
ter is  to  be  dealt  with  by  such  nostrums  as  these.  Men  must  look 
more  deeply,  must  rise  to  a  higher  altitude  ;  like  patriots  they 
must  confront  the  danger  face  to  face,  if  they  hope  to  relieve  the 
evils  which  now  disturb  the  peace  of  the  land,  and  threaten  the 
destruction  of  our  political  existence. 

"First  of  all,  we  must  inquire  what  is  the  cause  of  the  evils 
which  beset  us  ?  The  diagnosis  of  the  disease  must  be  stated  be- 
fore we  are  prepared  to  prescribe.  Is  it  the  fault  of  our  legislation 
here  ?  If  so,  then  it  devolves  upon  us  to  correct  it,  and  we  have 
the  power.  Is  it  the  defect  of  the  Federal  organization,  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  our  Union  ?  I  hold  that  it  is  not.  Our  fathers, 
learning  wisdom  from  the  experiments  of  Rome  and  of  Greece — the 
one  a  consolidated  republic,  and  the  other  strictly  a  confederacy — 
and  taught  by  the  lessons  of  our  own  experiment  under  the  Confed- 
eration, came  together  to  form  a  Constitution  for  "  a  more  perfect 
union,"  and,  in  my  judgment,  made  the  best  government  which 
has  ever  been  instituted  by  man.  It  only  requires  that  it  should 
be  carried  out  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  made,  that  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  made  should  continue,  and  no  evil  can 
arise  under  this  Government  for  which  it  has  not  an  appropriate 
remedy.  Then  it  is  outside  of  the  Government — elsewhere  than 
to  its  Constitution  or  to  its  administration — that  we  are  to  look. 
Men  must  not  creep  in  the  dust  of  partisan  strife  and  seek  to 
make  points  against  opponents  as  the  means  of  evading  or  meeting 
the  issues  before  us.  The  fault  is  not  in  the  form  of  the  Govern- 
ment, nor  does  the  evil  spring  from  the  manner  in  which  it  has 
been  administered.  Where,  then,  is  it  ?  It  is  that  our  fathers 
formed  a  Government  for  a  Union  of  friendly  States ;  and  though 
under  it  the  people  have  been  prosperous  beyond  comparison  with 
any  other  whose  career  is  recorded  in  the  history  of  man,  still  that 
Union  of  friendly  States  has  changed  its  character,  and  sectional 
hostility  has  been  substituted  for  the  fraternity  in  which  the  Gov- 
ernment was  founded. 


1861]  THE   REMEDY  FOR   THESE   EVILS.  63 

"  I  do  not  intend  here  to  enter  into  a  statement  of  grievances  ; 
I  do  not  intend  here  to  renew  that  war  of  crimination  which  for 
years  past  has  disturbed  the  country,  and  in  which  I  have  taken  a 
part  perhaps  more  zealous  than  useful ;  but  I  call  upon  all  men 
who  have  in  their  hearts  a  love  of  the  Union,  and  whose  service 
is  not  merely  that  of  the  lip,  to  look  the  question  calmly  but  fully 
in  the  face,  that  they  may  see  the  true  cause  of  our  danger,  which, 
from  my  examination,  I  believe  to  be  that  a  sectional  hostility 
has  been  substituted  for  a  general  fraternity,  and  thus  the  Gov- 
ernment rendered  powerless  for  the  ends  for  which  it  was  insti- 
tuted. The  hearts  of  a  portion  of  the  people  have  been  per- 
verted by  that  hostility,  so  that  the  powers  delegated  by  the  com- 
pact of  union  are  regarded  not  as  means  to  secure  the  welfare  of 
all,  but  as  instruments  for  the  destruction  of  a  part — the  minority 
section.  How,  then,  have  we  to  provide  a  remedy  ?  By  strength- 
ening this  Government  ?  By  instituting  physical  force  to  overawe 
the  States,  to  coerce  the  people  living  under  them  as  members  of 
sovereign  communities  to  pass  under  the  yoke  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment ?  No,  sir  ;  I  would  have  this  Union  severed  into  thirty- 
three  fragments  sooner  than  have  that  great  evil  befall  constitu- 
tional liberty  and  representative  government.  Our  Government 
is  an  agency  of  delegated  and  strictly  limited  powers.  Its  found- 
ers did  not  look  to  its  preservation  by  force  ;  but  the  chain  they 
wove  to  bind  these  States  together  was  one  of  love  and  mutual 
good  offices.  They  had  broken  the  fetters  of  despotic  power  ;  they 
had  separated  themselves  from  the  mother-country  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  community  independence  ;,  and  their  sons  will  be  degener- 
ate indeed  if,  clinging  to  the  mere  name  and  forms  of  free  govern- 
ment, they  forge  and  rivet  upon  their  posterity  the  fetters  which 
their  ancestors  broke.  .  .  . 

"  The  remedy  for  these  evils  is  to  be  found  in  the  patriotism 
and  the  affection  of  the  people,  if  it  exists  ;  and,  if  it  does  not  ex- 
ist, it  is  far  better,  instead  of  attempting  to  preserve  a  forced  and 
therefore  fruitless  Union,  that  we  should  peacefully  part  and  each 
pursue  his  separate  course.  It  is  not  to  this  side  of  the  Chamber 
that  we  should  look  for  propositions  ;  it  is  not  here  that  we  can 
ask  for  remedies.  Complaints,  with  much  amplitude  of  specifica- 
tion, have  gone  forth  from  the  members  on  this  side  of  the  Cham- 
ber heretofore.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they  will  be  renewed, 
for  the  people  have  taken  the  subject  into  their  own  hands.    States, 


04         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

in  their  sovereign  capacity,  have  now  resolved  to  judge  of  the  in- 
fractions of  the  Federal  compact,  and  of  the  mode  and  measure  of 
redress.  All  we  can  usefully  or  properly  do  is  to  send  to  the  peo- 
ple, thus  preparing  to  act  for  themselves,  evidence  of  error,  if  error 
there  be  ;  to  transmit  to  them  the  proofs  of  kind  feeling,  if  it  ac- 
tuates the  Northern  section,  where  they  now  believe  there  is  only 
hostility.  If  we  are  mistaken  as  to  your  feelings  and  purposes, 
give  a  substantial  proof,  that  here  may  begin  that  circle  which 
hence  may  spread  out  and  cover  the  whole  land  with  proofs  of  fra- 
ternity, of  a  reaction  in  public  sentiment,  and  the  assurance  of  a 
future  career  in  conformity  with  the  principles  and  purposes  of 
the  Constitution.  All  else  is  idle.  I  would  not  give  the  parch- 
ment on  which  the  bill  would  be  written  that  is  to  secure  our  con- 
stitutional rights  within  the  limits  of  a  State,  where  the  people  are 
all  opposed  to  the  execution  of  that  law.  It  is  a  truism  in  free 
governments  that  laws  rest  upon  public  opinion,  and  fall  power- 
less before  its  determined  opposition. 

"  The  time  has  passed,  sir,  when  appeals  might  profitably  be 
made  to  sentiment.  The  time  has  come  when  men  must  of  neces- 
sity reason,  assemble  facts,  and  deal  with  current  events.  I  may 
be  permitted  in  this  to  correct  an  error  into  which  one  of  my 
friends  fell  this  morning,  when  he  impressed  on  us  the  great  value 
of  our  Union  as  measured  by  the  amount  of  time  and  money  and 
blood  which  were  spent  to  form  this  Union.  It  cost  very  little 
time,  very  little  money,  and  no  blood.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
peaceful  transactions  that  mark  the  pages  of  human  history.  Our 
fathers  fought  the  war  of  the  Revolution  to  maintain  the  rights 
asserted  in  their  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Mr.  Powell  :  "  The  Senator  from  Mississippi  will  allow  me  to 
say  that  I  spoke  of  the  Government,  not  of  the  Union.  I  said 
time  and  money  and  blood  had  been  required  to  form  the  Govern- 
ment." 

Me.  Davis  :  "  The  Government  is  the  machinery  established 
by  the  Constitution  ;  it  is  the  agency  created  by  the  States  when 
they  formed  the  Union.  Our  fathers,  I  was  proceeding  to  say, 
having  fought  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  achieved  their  inde- 
pendence— each  State  for  itself,  each  State  standing  out  an  inte- 
gral part,  each  State  separately  recognized  by  the  parent  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain — these  States  as  independent  sovereignties 
entered  into  confederate  alliance.     After  having  tried  the  Confed- 


1861]         THE  MACHINE  FOR  MAKING  THE   UNION  USEFUL.  65 

eration  and  found  it  to  be  a  failure,  they,  of  their  own  accord, 
came  peacefully  together,  and  in  a  brief  period  made  a  Constitu- 
tion, which  was  referred  to  each  State  and  voluntarily  ratified  by 
each  State  that  entered  the  Union  ;  little  time,  little  money,  and 
no  blood  being  expended  to  form  this  Government,  the  machine 
for  making  the  Union  useful  and  beneficial.  Blood,  much  and 
precious,  was  expended  to  vindicate  and  to  establish  community 
independence,  and  the  great  American  idea  that  all  governments 
rest  on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  the  people  may  at 
their  will  alter  or  abolish  their  government,  however  or  by  whom- 
soever instituted. 

"  But  our  existing  Government  is  not  the  less  sacred  to  me  be- 
cause it  was  not  sealed  with  blood.  I  honor  it  the  more  because 
it  was  the  free-will  offering  of  men  who  chose  to  live  together.  It 
rooted  in  fraternity,  and  fraternity  supported  its  trunk  and  all  its 
branches.  Every  bud  and  leaflet  depends  entirely  on  the  nurture 
it  receives  from  fraternity  as  the  root  of  the  tree.  When  that  is 
destroyed,  the  trunk  decays,  and  the  branches  wither,  and  the 
leaves  fall  ;  and  the  shade  it  was  designed  to  give  has  passed  away 
for  ever.  I  cling  not  merely  to  the  name  and  form,  but  to  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  the  Union  which  our  fathers  made.  It  was 
for  domestic  tranquillity  ;  not  to  organize  within  one  State  lawless 
bands  to  commit  raids  upon  another.  It  was  to  provide  for  the 
common  defense ;  not  to  disband  armies  and  navies,  lest  they 
should  serve  the  protection  of  one  section  of  the  country  better 
than  another.  It  was  to  bring  the  forces  of  all  the  States  together 
to  achieve  a  common  object,  upholding  each  the  other  in  amity, 
and  united  to  repel  exterior  force.  All  the  custom-house  obstruc- 
tions existing  between  the  States  were  destroyed  ;  the  power  to 
regulate  commerce  transferred  to  the  General  Government.  Every 
barrier  to  the  freest  intercourse  was  swept  away.  Under  the  Con- 
federation it  had  been  secured  as  a  right  to  each  citizen  to  have 
free  transit  over  all  the  other  States  ;  and  under  the  Union  it  was 
designed  to  make  this  more  perfect.  Is  it  enjoyed  ?  Is  it  not 
denied  ?  Do  we  not  have  mere  speculative  question  of  what  is 
property  raised  in  defiance  of  the  clear  intent  of  the  Constitution, 
offending  as  well  against  its  letter  as  against  its  whole  spirit  ? 
This  must  be  reformed,  or  the  Government  our  fathers  instituted 
is  destroyed.  I  say,  then,  shall  we  cling  to  the  mere  forms  or 
idolize  the  name  of  Union,  when  its  blessings  are  lost,  after  its 


06         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

spirit  has  fled?  Who  would  keep  a  flower,  which  had  lost  its 
beauty  and  its  fragrance,  and  in  their  stead  had  formed  a  seed- 
vessel  containing  the  deadliest  poison  ?  Or,  to  drop  the  figure, 
who  would  consent  to  remain  in  alliance  with  States  which  used 
the  power  thus  acquired  to  invade  his  tranquillity,  to  impair  his  de- 
fense, to  destroy  his  peace  and  security  ?  Any  community  would 
he  stronger  standing  in  an  isolated  position,  and  using  its  revenues 
to  maintain  its  own  physical  force,  than  if  allied  with  those  who 
would  thus  war  upon  its  prosperity  and  domestic  peace  ;  and  rea- 
son, pride,  self-interest,  and  the  apprehension  of  secret,  constant 
danger  would  impel  to  separation. 

"  I  do  not  comprehend  the  policy  of  a  Southern  Senator  who 
would  seek  to  change  the  whole  form  of  our  Government,  and  sub- 
stitute Federal  force  for  State  obligation  and  authority.  Do  we 
want  a  new  Government  that  is  to  overthrow  the  old  ?  Do  we 
wish  to  erect  a  central  Colossus,  wielding  at  discretion  the  military 
arm,  and  exercising  military  force  over  the  people  and  the  States  ? 
This  is  not  the  Union  to  which  we  were  invited  ;  and  so  carefully 
was  this  guarded  that,  when  our  fathers  provided  for  using  force 
to  put  down  insurrection,  they  required  that  the  fact  of  the  insur- 
rection should  be  communicated  by  the  authorities  of  the  State 
before  the  President  could  interpose.  When  it  was  proposed  to 
give  to  Congress  power  to  execute  the  laws  against  a  delinquent 
State,  it  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  that  would  be  making 
war  on  the  States  ;  and,  though  I  know  the  good  purpose  of  my 
honorable  friend  from  Missouri  is  only  to  give  protection  to  con- 
stitutional rights,  I  fear  his  proposition  is  to  rear  a  monster,  which 
will  break  the  feeble  chain  provided,  and  destroy  rights  it  was  in- 
tended to  guard.  That  military  Government  which  he  is  about  to 
institute,  by  passing  into  hostile  hands,  becomes  a  weapon  for  his 
destruction,  not  for  his  protection.  All  dangers  which  we  may  be 
called  upon  to  confront  as  independent  communities  are  light,  in 
my  estimation,  compared  with  that  which  would  hang  over  us  if 
this  Federal  Government  had  such  physical  force  ;  if  its  character 
was  changed  from  a  representative  agent  of  States  to  a  central 
Government,  with  a  military  power  to  be  used  at  discretion  against 
the  States.  To-day  it  may  be  the  idea  that  it  will  be  used  against 
some  State  which  nullifies  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  ;  some 
State  which  passes  laws  to  obstruct  or  repeal  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  ;  some  State  which,  in  derogation  of  our  rights  of  transit 


1861]  THE   THEORY   OF  OUR  CONSTITUTION".  67 

under  the  Constitution,  passes  laws  to  punish  a  citizen  found  there 
with  property  recognized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
but  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  that  State. 

"  But  how  long  might  it  be  before  that  same  military  force 
would  be  turned  against  the  minority  section  which  had  sought  its 
protection  ;  and  that  minority  thus  become  mere  subjugated  prov- 
inces under  the  great  military  government  that  it  had  thus  con- 
tributed to  establish  ?  The  minority,  incapable  of  aggression,  is, 
of  necessity,  always  on  the  defensive,  and  often  the  victim  of 
the  desertion  of  its  followers  and  the  faithlessness  of  its  allies.  It 
therefore  must  maintain,  not  destroy,  barriers. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  I  fully  appreciate  the  purpose  of  my  friend 
from  Missouri ;  whether,  when  he  spoke  of  establishing  military 
posts  along  the  borders  of  the  States,  and  arming  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment with  adequate  physical  power  to  enforce  constitutional 
rights  (I  suppose  he  meant  obligations),  he  meant  to  confer  upon 
this  Federal  Government  a  power  which  it  does  not  now  possess  to 
coerce  a  State.  If  he  did,  then,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Madison, 
he  is  providing,  not  for  a  union  of  States,  but  for  the  destruction 
of  States  ;  he  is  providing,  under  the  name  of  Union,  to  carry 
on  a  war  against  States  ;  and  I  care  not  whether  it  be  against 
Massachusetts  or  Missouri,  it  is  equally  objectionable  to  me  ; 
and  I  will  resist  it  alike  in  the  one  case  and  in  the  other,  as 
subversive  of  the  great  principle  on  which  our  Government  rests  ; 
as  a  heresy  to  be  confronted  at  its  first  presentation,  and  put 
down  there,  lest  it  grow  into  proportions  which  will  render  us 
powerless  before  it. 

"  The  theory  of  our  Constitution,  Mr.  President,  is  one  of  peace, 
of  equality  of  sovereign  States.  It  was  made  by  States  and  made 
for  States  ;  and  for  greater  assurance  they  passed  an  amendment, 
doing  that  which  was  necessarily  implied  by  the  nature  of  the  in- 
strument, as  it  was  a  mere  instrument  of  grants.  But,  in  the 
abundance  of  caution,  they  declared  that  everything  which  had 
not  been  delegated  was  reserved  to  the  States,  or  to  the  people — 
that  is,  to  the  State  governments  as  instituted  by  the  people  of 
each  State,  or  to  the  people  in  their  sovereign  capacity. 

"I  need  not,  then,  go  on  to  argue  from  the  history  and  nature 
of  our  Government  that  no  power  of  coercion  exists  in  it.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  demand  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  which 
confers  the  power.     If  it  is  not  there,  the  Government  does  not 


68         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

possess  it.      That  is  the  plain  construction  of  the  Constitution — 
made  plainer,  if  possible,  by  its  amendment. 

"  This  Union  is  dear  to  me  as  a  Union  of  fraternal  States.  It 
would  lose  its  value  if  I  had  to  regard  it  as  a  Union  held  together 
by  physical  force.  I  would  be  happy  to  know  that  every  State 
now  felt  that  fraternity  which  made  this  Union  possible  ;  and,  if 
that  evidence  could  go  out,  if  evidence  satisfactory  to  the  people 
of  the  South  could  be  given  that  that  feeling  existed  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Northern  people,  you  might  burn  your  statute-books  and  we 
would  cling  to  the  Union  still.  But  it  is  because  of  their  convic- 
tion that  hostility,  and  not  fraternity,  now  exists  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  that  they  are  looking  to  their  reserved  rights  and  to 
their  independent  powers  for  their  own  protection.  If  there  be  any 
good,  then,  which  we  can  do,  it  is  by  sending  evidence  to  them  of 
that  which  I  fear  does  not  exist — the  purpose  of  your  constituents 
to  fulfill  in  the  spirit  of  justice  and  fraternity  all  their  constitu- 
tional obligations.  If  you  can  submit  to  them  that  evidence,  I  feel 
confidence  that,  with  the  assurance  that  aggression  is  henceforth 
to  cease,  will  terminate  all  the  measures  for  defense.  Upon  you 
of  the  majority  section  it  depends  to  restore  peace  and  perpetuate 
the  Union  of  equal  States  ;  upon  us  of  the  minority  section  rests 
the  duty  to  maintain  our  equality  and  community  rights  ;  and  the 
means  in  one  case  or  the  other  must  be  such  as  each  can  control." 

The  resolution  of  Mr.  Powell  was  eventually  adopted  on  the 
18th  of  December,  and  on  the  20th  the  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed, consisting  of  Messrs.  Powell  and  Crittenden,  of  Ken- 
tucky; Hunter,  of  Virginia;  Toombs,  of  Georgia;  Davis,  of 
Mississippi;  Douglas,  of  Illinois;  Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania; 
Eice,  of  Minnesota ;  Collamer,  of  Vermont ;  Seward,  of  New 
York ;  Wade,  of  Ohio ;  Doolittle,  of  "Wisconsin ;  and  Grimes, 
of  Iowa.  The  first  five  of  the  list,  as  here  enumerated,  were 
Southern  men  ;  the  next  three  were  Northern  Democrats,  or 
Conservatives  ;  the  last  five,  Northern  "  Kepublicans,"  so 
called. 

The  supposition  was  that  any  measure  agreed  upon  by  the 
representatives  of  the  three  principal  divisions  of  public  opinion 
would  be  approved  by  the  Senate  and  afterward  ratified  by  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives.     The  Committee  therefore   deter- 


1861]  READINESS  TO  ACCEPT  ANY  TERMS.  69 

mined  that  a  majority  of  each  of  its  three  divisions  should  be 
required  in  order  to  the  adoption  of  any  proposition  presented. 
The  Southern  members  declared  their  readiness  to  accept  any 
terms  that  would  secure  the  honor  of  the  Southern  States  and 
guarantee  their  future  safety.  The  Northern  Democrats  and 
Mr.  Crittenden  generally  cooperated  with  the  State-Rights 
Democrats  of  the  South ;  but  the  so-called  "  Republican  "  Sena- 
tors of  the  North  rejected  every  proposition  which  it  was  hoped 
might  satisfy  the  Southern  people,  and  check  the  progress  of 
the  secession  movement.  After  fruitless  efforts,  continued  for 
some  ten  days,  the  Committee  determined  to  report  the  journal 
of  their  proceedings,  and  announce  their  inability  to  attain  any 
satisfactory  conclusion.  This  report  was  made  on  the  31st  of 
December — the  last  day  of  that  memorable  and  fateful  year, 
1860. 

Subsequently,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Douglas,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Committee,  called  upon  the  opposite 
side  to  state  what  they  were  willing  to  do.  He  referred  to  the 
fact  that  they  had  rejected  every  proposition  that  promised 
pacification;  stated  that  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  and  Davis,  of 
Mississippi,  as  members  of  the  Committee,  had  been  willing  to 
renew  the  Missouri  Compromise,  as  a  measure  of  conciliation, 
but  had  met  no  responsive  willingness  on  the  part  of  their  asso- 
ciates of  the  opposition ;  and  he  pressed  the  point  that,  as  they 
had  rejected  every  overture  made  by  the  friends  of  peace,  it 
was  now  incumbent  upon  them  to  make  a  positive  and  affirma- 
tive declaration  of  their  purposes. 

Mr.  Seward,  of  New  York,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  member 
of  that  Committee — the  man  who,  in  1858,  had  announced  the 
"  irrepressible  conflict,"  and  who,  in  the  same  year,  speaking  of 
and  for  abolitionism,  had  said  :  "  It  has  driven  you  back  in  Cali- 
fornia and  in  Kansas ;  it  will  invade  your  soil."  He  was  to  be 
the  Secretary  of  State  in  the  incoming  Administration,  and  was 
very  generally  regarded  as  the  "power  behind  the  throne," 
greater  than  the  throne  itself.  He  was  present  in  the  Senate, 
but  made  no  response  to  Mr.  Douglas's  demand  for  a  declaration 
of  policy. 

Meantime  the  efforts  for  an  adjustment  made  in  the  House 


70         RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  Representatives  had  been  equally  fruitless.  Conspicuous 
among  these  efforts  had  been  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
of  thirty-three  members — one  from  each  State  of  the  Union — 
charged  with  a  duty  similar  to  that  imposed  upon  the  Commit- 
tee of  Thirteen  in  the  Senate,  but  they  had  been  alike  unsuc- 
cessful in  coming  to  any  agreement.  It  is  true  that,  a  few  days 
afterward,  they  submitted  a  majority  and  two  minority  reports, 
and  that  the  report  of  the  majority  was  ultimately  adopted  by 
the  House;  but,  even  if  this  action  had  been  unanimous,  and 
had  been  taken  in  due  time,  it  would  have  been  practically 
futile  on  account  of  its  absolute  failure  to  provide  or  suggest  any 
solution  of  the  territorial  question,  which  was  the  vital  point  in 
controversy. 

No  wonder,  then,  that,  under  the  shadow  of  the  failure  of 
every  effort  in  Congress  to  find  any  common  ground  on  which 
the  sections  could  be  restored  to  amity,  the  close  of  the  year 
should  have  been  darkened  by  a  cloud  in  the  firmament,  which 
had  lost  even  the  silver  lining  so  long  seen,  or  thought  to  be 
seen,  by  the  hopeful. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Preparations  for  Withdrawal  from  the  Union. — Northern  Precedents. — New  England 
Secessionists. — Cabot,  Pickering,  Quincy,  etc. — On  the  Acquisition  of  Louisiana. 
— The  Hartford  Convention.— The  Massachusetts  Legislature  on  the  Annexation 
of  Texas,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Convention  of  South  Carolina  had  already  (on  the  20th 
of  December,  1860)  unanimously  adopted  an  ordinance  revoking 
her  delegated  powers  and  withdrawing  from  the  Union.  Her 
representatives,  on  the  following  day,  retired  from  their  seats  in 
Congress.  The  people  of  the  other  planting  States  had  been 
only  waiting  in  the  lingering  hope  that  some  action  might  be 
taken  by  Congress  to  avert  the  necessity  for  action  similar  to 
that  of  South  Carolina.  In  view  of  the  failure  of  all  overtures 
for  conciliation  during  the  first  month  of  the  session,  they  were 
now  making  their  final  preparations  for  secession.     This  was 


1863]  I  WILL  NOT   YET  DESPAIR.  71 

generally  admitted  to  be  an  unquestionable  right  appertaining 
to  their  sovereignty  as  States,  and  the  only  peaceable  remedy 
that  remained  for  the  evils  already  felt  and  the  dangers  appre- 
hended. 

In  the  prior  history  of  the  country,  repeated  instances  are 
found  of  the  assertion  of  this  right,  and  of  a  purpose  entertained 
at  various  times  to  put  it  in  execution.  Notably  is  this  true  of 
Massachusetts  and  other  New  England  States.  The  acquisition 
of  Louisiana,  in  1803,  had  created  much  dissatisfaction  in  those 
States,  for  the  reason,  expressed  by  an  eminent  citizen  of  Massa- 
chusetts,* that  "  the  influence  of  our  [the  Northeastern]  part  of 
the  Union  must  be  diminished  by  the  acquisition  of  more  weight 
at  the  other  extremity.5'  The  project  of  a  separation  was  freely 
discussed,  with  no  intimation,  in  the  records  of  the  period,  of 
any  idea  among  its  advocates  that  it  could  be  regarded  as  treason- 
able or  revolutionary. 

Colonel  Timothy  Pickering,  who  had  been  an  officer  of  the 
war  of  the  Eevolution,  afterward  successively  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral, Secretary  of  "War,  and  Secretary  of  State,  in  the  Cabinet  of 
General  Washington,  and,  still  later,  long  a  representative  of 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
was  one  of  the  leading  secessionists  of  his  day.  Writing  from 
Washington  to  a  friend,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1803,  he 
says: 

"  I  will  not  yet  despair.  I  will  rather  anticipate  a  new  con- 
federacy, exempt  from  the  corrupt  and  corrupting  influence  and 
oppression  of  the  aristocratic  democrats  of  the  South.  There  will 
be  (and  our  children,  at  farthest,  will  see  it)  a  separation.  The 
white  and  black  population  will  mark  the  boundary."  f 

In  another  letter,  written  a  few  weeks  afterward  (January  29, 
1804),  speaking  of  what  he  regarded  as  wrongs  and  abuses  per- 
petrated by  the  then  existing  Administration,  he  thus  expresses 
his  views  of  the  remedy  to  be  applied : 

*  George  Cabot,  who  had  been  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts  for 
several  years  during  the  Administration  of  Washington. — (See  "  Life  of  Cabot,"  by 
Lodge,  p.  334.) 

f  See  "Life  of  Cabot,"  p.  491 ;  letter  of  Pickering  to  Higginson. 


72         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"The  principles  of  our  Revolution  point  to  the  remedy — a 
separation.  That  this  can  be  accomplished,  and  without  spilling 
one  drop  of  blood,  I  have  little  doubt.  .  .  . 

"I  do  not  believe  in  the  practicability  of  a  long-continued 
Union.  A  Northern  Confederacy  would  unite  congenial  characters 
and  present  a  fairer  prospect  of  public  happiness  ;  while  the  South- 
ern States,  having  a  similarity  of  habits,  might  be  left  to  'manage 
their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way.'  If  a  separation  were  to  take 
place,  our  mutual  wants  would  render  a  friendly  and  commercial 
intercourse  inevitable.  The  Southern  States  would  require  the 
naval  protection  of  the  Northern  Union,  and  the  products  of  the 
former  would  be  important  to  the  navigation  and  commerce  of  the 
latter.  .  .  . 

"  It  [the  separation]  must  begin  in  Massachusetts.  The  propo- 
sition would  be  welcomed  in  Connecticut ;  and  could  we  doubt  of 
New  Hampshire  ?  But  New  York  must  be  associated  ;  and  how 
is  her  concurrence  to  be  obtained  ?  She  must  be  made  the  center 
of  the  Confederacy.  Vermont  and  New  Jersey  would  follow  of 
course,  and  Rhode  Island  of  necessity."  * 

Substituting  South  Carolina  for  Massachusetts ;  Virginia  for 
New  York ;  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama,  for  New  Hamp- 
shire, Vermont,  and  Rhode  Island  ;  Kentucky  for  New  Jersey, 
etc.,  etc.,  we  find  the  suggestions  of  1860-61  only  a  reproduc- 
tion of  those  thus  outlined  nearly  sixty  years  earlier. 

Mr.  Pickering  seems  to  have  had  a  correct  and  intelligent 
perception  of  the  altogether  pacific  character  of  the  secession 
which  he  proposed,  and  of  the  mutual  advantages  likely  to 
accrue  to  both  sections  from  a  peaceable  separation.  Writing 
in  February,  1804,  he  explicitly  disavows  the  idea  of  hostile 
feeling  or  action  toward  the  South,  expressing  himself  as  fol- 
lows: 

u  While  thus  contemplating  the  only  means  of  maintaining  our 
ancient  institutions  in  morals  and  religion,  and  our  equal  rights, 
we  wish  no  ill  to  the  Southern  States  and  those  naturally  con- 
nected with  them.  The  public  debts  might  be  equitably  appor- 
tioned between  the  new  confederacies,  and  a  separation  somewhere 
about  the  line  above  suggested  would  divide  the  different  charac- 

*  Pickering  to  Cabot,  "  Life  of  Cabot,"  pp.  338-340. 


1811]  VIRTUALLY  A  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION.  73 

ters  of  the  existing  Union.  The  manners  of  the  Eastern  portion 
of  the  States  would  be  sufficiently  congenial  to  form  a  Union,  and 
their  interests  are  alike  intimately  connected  with  agriculture  and 
commerce.  A  friendly  and  commercial  intercourse  would  be  main- 
tained with  the  States  in  the  Southern  Confederacy  as  at  present. 
Thus  all  the  advantages  which  have  been  for  a  few  years  depend- 
ing on  the  general  Union  would  be  continued  to  its  respective  por- 
tions, without  the  jealousies  and  enmities  which  now  afflict  both, 
and  which  peculiarly  embitter  the  condition  of  that  of  the  North. 
It  is  not  unusual  for  two  friends,  when  disagreeing  about  the  mode 
of  conducting  a  common  concern,  to  separate  and  manage,  each  in 
his  own  way,  his  separate  interest,  and  thereby  preserve  a  useful 
friendship,  which  without  such  separation  would  infallibly  be  de- 
stroyed." * 

Such  were  the  views  of  an  undoubted  patriot  who  had  par- 
ticipated in  the  formation  of  the  Union,  and  who  had  long  been 
confidentially  associated  with  Washington  in  the  administration 
of  its  Government,  looking  at  the  subject  from  a  Northern 
standpoint,  within  fifteen  years  after  the  organization  of  that 
Government  under  the  Constitution.  Whether  his  reasons  for 
advocating  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  were  valid  and  sufficient, 
or  not,  is  another  question  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss. 
His  authority  is  cited  only  as  showing  the  opinion  prevailing  in 
the  North  at  that  day  with  regard  to  the  right  of  secession  from 
the  Union,  if  deemed  advisable  by  the  ultimate  and  irreversible 
judgment  of  the  people  of  a  sovereign  State. 

In  1811,  on  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Louisiana  as  a  State 
of  the  Union,  the  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  a  member  of  Congress 
from  Massachusetts,  said  : 

"  If  this  bill  passes,  it  is  my  deliberate  opinion  that  it  is  vir- 
tually a  dissolution  of  this  Union  ;  that  it  will  free  the  States  from 
their  moral  obligation  ;  and  as  it  will  be  the  right  of  all,  so  it  will 
be  the  duty  of  some,  definitely  to  prepare  for  a  separation — ami- 
cably if  they  can,  violently  if  they  must." 

Mr.  Poindexter,  delegate  from  what  was  then  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  took  exception  to  these  expressions  of  Mr.  Quincy, 

*  Letter  to  Theodore  Lyman,  "  Life  of  Cabot,"  pp.  445,  446. 


74:        RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

and  called  him  to  order.  The  Speaker  (Mr.  Varnum,  of  Massa- 
chusetts) sustained  Mr.  Poindexter,  and  decided  that  the  sug- 
gestion of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  out  of  order.  An 
appeal  was  taken  from  this  decision,  and  it  was  reversed.  Mr. 
Quincy  proceeded  to  vindicate  the  propriety  of  his  position  in  a 
speech  of  some  length,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said  : 

"  Is  there  a  principle  of  public  law  better  settled  or  more  con- 
formable to  the  plainest  suggestions  of  reason  than  that  the  vio- 
lation of  a  contract  by  one  of  the  parties  may  be  considered  as 
exempting  the  other  from  its  obligations  ?  Suppose,  in  private 
life,  thirteen  form  a  partnership,  and  ten  of  them  undertake  to 
admit  a  new  partner  without  the  concurrence  of  the  other  three  ; 
would  it  not  be  at  their  option  to  abandon  the  partnership  after  so 
palpable  an  infringement  of  their  rights  ?  How  much  more  in  the 
political  partnership,  where  the  admission  of  new  associates,  with- 
out previous  authority,  is  so  pregnant  with  obvious  dangers  and 
evils ! " 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  these  men — Cabot,  Pickering, 
Quincy,  and  others — whose  opinions  and  expressions  have  been 
cited,  were  not  Democrats,  misled  by  extreme  theories  of  State 
rights,  but  leaders  and  expositors  of  the  highest  type  of  "Fed- 
eralism, and  of  a  strong  central  Government."  This  fact  gives 
their  support  of  the  right  of  secession  the  greater  significance. 

The  celebrated  Hartford  Convention  assembled  in  December, 
1814.  It  consisted  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  Legislatures  of 
Massachusetts,  Ehode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  with  an  irregular 
or  imperfect  representation  from  the  other  two  New  England 
States,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,*  convened  for  the  pur- 
pose of  considering  the  grievances  complained  of  by  those  States 
in  connection  with  the  war  with  Great  Britain.  They  sat  with 
closed  doors,  and  the  character  of  their  deliberations  and  dis- 
cussions has  not  been  authentically  disclosed.  It  was  generally 
understood,  however,  that  the  chief  subject  of  their  considera- 
tions was  the  question  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  States  they  rep- 
resented from  the  Union.  The  decision,  as  announced  in  their 
published  report,  was  adverse  to  the  expediency  of  such  a  mea- 

*  Maine  was  not  then  a  State. 


1814]  THE  HARTFOKD   CONVENTION.  75 

sure  at  that  time,  and  under  the  then  existing  conditions ;  but 
they  proceeded  to  indicate  the  circumstances  in  which  a  disso- 
lution of  the  Union  might  become  expedient,  and  the  mode  in 
which  it  should  be  effected  ;  and  their  theoretical  plan  of  sep- 
aration corresponds  very  nearly  with  that  actually  adopted  by 
the  Southern  States  nearly  Mtj  years  afterward.     They  say : 

"  If  the  Union  be  destined  to  dissolution  by  reason  of  the  mul- 
tiplied abuses  of  bad  administration,  it  should,  if  possible,  be  the 
work  of  peaceable  times  and  deliberate  consent.  Some  new  form, 
of  confederacy  should  be  substituted  among  those  States  which 
shall  intend  to  maintain  a  federal  relation  to  each  other.  Events 
may  prove  that  the  causes  of  our  calamities  are  deep  and  perma- 
nent. They  may  be  found  to  proceed,  not  merely  from  the  blind- 
ness of  prejudice,  pride  of  opinion,  violence  of  party  spirit,  or  the 
confusion  of  the  times  ;  but  they  may  be  traced  to  implacable 
combinations  of  individuals  or  of  States  to  monopolize  power  and 
office,  and  to  trample  without  remorse  upon  the  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  commercial  sections  of  the  Union.  Whenever  it  shall  ap- 
pear that  the  causes  are  radical  and  permanent,  a  separation  by 
equitable  arrangement  will  be  preferable  to  an  alliance  by  con- 
straint among  nominal  friends,  but  real  enemies." 

The  omission  of  the  single  word  "  commercial,"  which  does 
not  affect  the  principle  involved,  is  the  only  modification  neces- 
sary to  adapt  this  extract  exactly  to  the  condition  of  the  South- 
ern States  in  1860-'61. 

The  obloquy  which  has  attached  to  the  members  of  the 
Hartford  Convention  has  resulted  partly  from  a  want  of  exact 
knowledge  of  their  proceedings,  partly  from  the  secrecy  by 
which  they  were  veiled,  but  mainly  because  it  was  a  recognized 
effort  to  paralyze  the  arm  of  the  Federal  Government  while  en- 
gaged in  a  war  arising  from  outrages  committed  upon  American 
seamen  on  the  decks  of  American  ships.  The  indignation  felt 
was  no  doubt  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  those  ships  belonged  in 
a  great  extent  to  the  people  who  were  now  plotting  against  the 
war-measures  of  the  Government,  and  indirectly,  if  not  directly, 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  public  enemy.  Time,  which  has 
mollified  passion,  and  revealed  many  things  not  then  known, 


76        RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

has  largely  modified  the  first  judgment  passed  on  the  proceed- 
ings and  purposes  of  the  Hartford  Convention ;  and,  but  for  the 
circumstances  of  existing  war  which  surrounded  it,  they  might 
have  been  viewed  as  political  opinions  merely,  and  have  received 
justification  instead  of  censure. 

Again,  in  1844-?45  the  measures  taken  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas  evoked  remonstrances,  accompanied  by  threats  of  a  disso- 
lution of  the  Union  from  the  Northeastern  States.  The  Legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts,  in  1844,  adopted  a  resolution,  declaring, 
in  behalf  of  that  State,  that  "  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, faithful  to  the  compact  between  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  according  to  the  plain  meaning  and  intent  in  which  it 
was  understood  by  them,  is  sincerely  anxious  for  its  preserva- 
tion ;  but  that  it  is  determined,  as  it  doubts  not  the  other  States 
are,  to  submit  to  undelegated  powers  in  no  body  of  men  on 
earth "  ;  and  that  "  the  project  of  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
unless  arrested  on  the  threshold,  may  tend  to  drive  these  States 
into  a  dissolution  of  the  Union" 

Early  in  the  next  year  (February  11,  1845),  the  same  Legis- 
lature adopted  and  communicated  to  Congress  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions on  the  same  subject,  in  one  of  which  it  was  declared  that, 
"  as  the  powers  of  legislation  granted  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  to  Congress  do  not  embrace  a  case  of  the  admis- 
sion of  a  foreign  state  or  foreign  territory,  by  legislation,  into 
the  Union,  such  an  act  of  admission  would  have  no  binding 
force  whatever  on  the  people  of  Massachusetts"  —  language 
which  must  have  meant  that  the  admission  of  Texas  would  be 
a  justifiable  ground  for  secession,  unless  it  was  intended  to  an- 
nounce the  purpose  of  nullification. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  people  of  the  South,  in  the 
crisis  which  confronted  them  in  1860,  had  no  lack  either  of  pre- 
cept or  of  precedent  for  their  instruction  and  guidance  in  the 
teaching  and  the  example  of  our  brethren  of  the  North  and 
East.  The  only  practical  difference  was,  that  the  North  threat- 
ened and  the  South  acted. 


1861]  THE  EFFORTS  OF  SOUTHERN  MEN.  77 


CHAPTER   X. 

False  Statements  of  the  Grounds  for  Separation. — Slavery  not  the  Cause,  but  an 
Incident. — The  Southern  People  not  "  Propagandists  "  of  Slavery. — Early  Ac- 
cord  among  the  States  with  regard  to  African  Servitude. — Statement  of  the 
Supreme  Court. — Guarantees  of  the  Constitution. — Disregard  of  Oaths. — Fugi- 
tives from  Service  and  the  "  Personal  Liberty  Laws." — Equality  in  the  Terri- 
tories the  Paramount  Question. — The  Dred  Scott  Case. — Disregard  of  the 
Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court. — Culmination  of  Wrongs. — Despair  of  their 
Redress. — Triumph  of  Sectionalism. 

At  the  period  to  which  this  review  of  events  has  advanced, 
one  State  had  already  withdrawn  from  the  Union.  Seven  or 
eight  others  were  preparing  to  follow  her  example,  and  others 
yet  were  anxiously  and  doubtfully  contemplating  the  probably 
impending  necessity  of  taking  the  same  action.  The  efforts  of 
Southern  men  in  Congress,  aided  by  the  cooperation  of  the 
Northern  friends  of  the  Constitution,  had  failed,  by  the  stub- 
born refusal  of  a  haughty  majority,  controlled  by  "radical" 
purposes,  to  yield  anything  to  the  spirit  of  peace  and  concilia- 
tion. This  period,  coinciding,  as  it  happens,  with  the  close  of 
a  calendar  year,  affords  a  convenient  point  to  pause  for  a  brief 
recapitulation  of  the  causes  which  had  led  the  Southern  States 
into  the  attitude  they  then  held,  and  for  a  more  full  exposition 
of  the  constitutional  questions  involved. 

The  reader  of  many  of  the  treatises  on  these  events,  which 
have  been  put  forth  as  historical,  if  dependent  upon  such  alone 
for  information,  might  naturally  enough  be  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  controversies  which  arose  between  the  States,  and  the 
war  in  which  they  culminated,  were  caused  by  efforts  on  the  one 
side  to  extend  and  perpetuate  human  slavery,  and  on  the  other 
to  resist  it  and  establish  human  liberty.  The  Southern  States 
and  Southern  people  have  been  sedulously  represented  as  "  prop- 
agandists "  of  slavery,  and  the  Northern  as  the  defenders  and 
champions  of  universal  freedom,  and  this  view  has  been  so  ar- 
rogantly assumed,  so  dogmatically  asserted,  and  so  persistently 
reiterated,  that  its  authors  have,  in  many  cases,  perhaps,  sue- 


78         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ceeded  in  bringing  themselves  to  believe  it,  as  well  as  in  im- 
pressing it  widely  upon  the  world. 

The  attentive  reader  of  the  preceding  chapters — especially  if 
he  has  compared  their  statements  with  contemporaneous  records 
and  other  original  sources  of  information — will  already  have 
found  evidence  enough  to  enable  him  to  discern  the  falsehood 
of  these  representations,  and  to  perceive  that,  to  whatever  extent 
the  question  of  slavery  may  have  served  as  an  occasion,  it  was 
far  from  being  the  cause  of  the  conflict. 

I  have  not  attempted,  and  shall  not  permit  myself  to  be 
drawn  into  any  discussion  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  slavery 
as  an  ethical  or  even  as  a  political  question.  It  would  be  for- 
eign to  my  purpose,  irrelevant  to  my  subject,  and  would  only 
serve — as  it  has  invariably  served  in  the  hands  of  its  agitators — 
to  "darken  counsel"  and  divert  attention  from  the  genuine 
issues  involved. 

As  a  mere  historical  fact,  we  have  seen  that  African  servitude 
among  us — confessedly  the  mildest  and  most  humane  of  all  insti- 
tutions to  which  the  name  "  slavery  "  has  ever  been  applied — 
existed  in  all  the  original  States,  and  that  it  was  recognized 
and  protected  in  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution.  Subse- 
quently, for  climatic,  industrial,  and  economical — not  moral  or 
sentimental — reasons,  it  was  abolished  in  the  Northern,  while  it 
continued  to  exist  in  the  Southern  States.  Men  differed  in  their 
views  as  to  the  abstract  question  of  its  right  or  wrong,  but  for 
two  generations  after  the  [Revolution  there  was  no  geographical 
line  of  demarkation  for  such  differences.  The  African  slave- 
trade  was  carried  on  almost  exclusively  by  New  England  mer- 
chants and  Northern  ships.  Mr.  Jefferson — a  Southern  man, 
the  founder  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  vindicator  of 
State  rights — was  in  theory  a  consistent  enemy  to  every  form 
of  slavery.  The  Southern  States  took  the  lead  in  prohibiting 
the  slave-trade,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  them  (Georgia)  was 
the  first  State  to  incorporate  such  a  prohibition  in  her  organic 
Constitution.  Eleven  years  after  the  agitation  on  the  Missouri 
question,  when  the  subject  first  took  a  sectional  shape,  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery  was  proposed  and  earnestly  debated  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Legislature,  and  its  advocates  were  so  near  the  accomplish- 


1820]  SECTIONAL  HOSTILITY.  79 

ment  of  their  purpose,  that  a  declaration  in  its  favor  was  defeated 
only  by  a  small  majority,  and  that  on  the  ground  of  expediency. 
At  a  still  later  period,  abolitionist  lecturers  and  teachers  were 
mobbed,  assaulted,  and  threatened  with  tar  and  feathers  in  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connect- 
icut, and  other  States.  One  of  them  (Lovejoy)  was  actually 
killed  by  a  mob  in  Illinois  as  late  as  1837. 

These  facts  prove  incontestably  that  the  sectional  hostility 
which  exhibited  itself  in  1820,  on  the  application  of  Missouri 
for  admission  into  the  Union,  which  again  broke  out  on  the 
proposition  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  in  1844,  and  which 
reappeared  after  the  Mexican  war,  never  again  to  be  suppressed 
until  its  fell  results  had  been  fully  accomplished,  was  not  the 
consequence  of  any  difference  on  the  abstract  question  of  slavery. 
It  was  the  offspring  of  sectional  rivalry  and  political  ambition. 
It  would  have  manifested  itself  just  as  certainly  if  slavery  had 
existed  in  all  the  States,  or  if  there  had  not  been  a  negro  in 
America.  No  such  pretension  was  made  in  1803  or  1811,  when 
the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  afterward  the  admission  into  the 
Union  of  the  State  of  that  name,  elicited  threats  of  disunion 
from  the  representatives  of  New  England.  The  complaint  was 
not  of  slavery,  but  of  "  the  acquisition  of  more  weight  at  the 
other  extremity  "  of  the  Union.  It  was  not  slavery  that  threat- 
ened a  rupture  in  1832,  but  the  unjust  and  unequal  operation  of 
a  protective  tariff. 

It  happened,  however,  on  all  these  occasions,  that  the  line 
of  demarkation  of  sectional  interests  coincided  exactly  or  very 
nearly  with  that  dividing  the  States  in  which  negro  servitude 
existed  from  those  in  which  it  had  been  abolished.  It  corre- 
sponded with  the  prediction  of  Mr.  Pickering,  in  1803,  that,  in 
the  separation  certainly  to  come,  "  the  white  and  black  popula- 
tion would  mark  the  boundary " — a  prediction  made  without 
any  reference  to  slavery  as  a  source  of  dissension. 

Of  course,  the  diversity  of  institutions  contributed,  in  some 
minor  degree,  to  the  conflict  of  interests.  There  is  an  action 
and  reaction  of  cause  and  consequence,  which  limits  and  modifies 
any  general  statement  of  a  political  truth.  I  am  stating  general 
principles — not  defining  modifications  and  exceptions  with  the 


80         RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

precision  of  a  mathematical  proposition  or  a  bill  in  chancery. 
The  truth  remains  intact  and  incontrovertible,  that  the  existence 
of  African  servitude  was  in  no  wise  the  cause  of  the  conflict, 
but  only  an  incident.  In  the  later  controversies  that  arose, 
however,  its  effect  in  operating  as  a  lever  upon  the  passions, 
prejudices,  or  sympathies  of  mankind,  was  so  potent  that  it  has 
been  spread,  like  a  thick  cloud,  over  the  whole  horizon  of  his- 
toric truth. 

As  for  the  institution  of  negro  servitude,  it  was  a  matter 
entirely  subject  to  the  control  of  the  States.  No  power  was 
ever  given  to  the  General  Government  to  interfere  with  it,  but 
an  obligation  was  imposed  to  protect  it.  Its  existence  and  va- 
lidity were  distinctly  recognized  by  the  Constitution  in  at  least 
three  places : 

First,  in  that  part  of  the  second  section  of  the  first  article 
which  prescribes  that  "  representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included 
within  this  Union,  according  to  their  respective  members,  which 
shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  per- 
sons, including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and, 
excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons." 
"  Other  persons "  than  "free  persons "  and  those  "  bound  to 
service  for  a  term  of  years "  must,  of  course,  have  meant  those 
permanently  bound  to  service. 

Secondly,  it  was  recognized  by  the  ninth  section  of  the  same 
article,  which  provided  that  "  the  migration  or  importation  of 
such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper 
to  admit  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  Congress  prior  to  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight."  This  was  a  provision 
inserted  for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  slave-trading 
New  England  States,  forbidding  any  prohibition  of  the  trade  by 
Congress  for  twenty  years,  and  thus  virtually  giving  sanction  to 
the  legitimacy  of  the  demand  which  that  trade  was  prosecuted 
to  supply,  and  which  was  its  only  object. 

Again,  and  in  the  third  place,  it  was  specially  recognized, 
and  an  obligation  imposed  upon  every  State,  not  only  to  re- 
frain from  interfering  with  it  in  any  other  State,  but  in  certain 
cases  to  aid  in  its  enforcement,  by  that  clause,  or  paragraph, 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  FUGITIVES.  81 

of  the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article  which  provides  as 
follows : 

"No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in. one  State,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor, 
but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  ser- 
vice or  labor  may  be  due." 

The  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  every 
Senator  and  Representative  in  Congress,  the  members  of  every 
State  Legislature,  and  "  all  executive  and  judicial  officers,  both 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,"  were  required 
to  take  an  oath  (or  affirmation)  to  support  the  Constitution  con- 
taining these  provisions.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how  those 
who  considered  them  in  conflict  with  the  "  higher  law  "  of  re- 
ligion or  morality  might  refuse  to  take  such  an  oath  or  hold 
such  an  office — as  the  members  of  some  religious  sects  refuse  to 
take  any  oath  at  all  or  to  bear  arms  in  the  service  of  their  coun- 
try— but  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile  with  the  obligations  of 
honor  or  honesty  the  conduct  of  those  who,  having  taken  such 
an  oath,  made  use  of  the  powers  and  opportunities  of  the  offices 
held  under  its  sanctions  to  nullify  its  obligations  and  neutral- 
ize its  guarantees.  The  halls  of  Congress  afforded  the  vantage- 
ground  from  which  assaults  were  made  upon  these  guarantees. 
The  Legislatures  of  various  Northern  States  enacted  laws  to 
hinder  the  execution  of  the  provisions  made  for  the  rendition 
of  fugitives  from  service ;  State  officials  lent  their  aid  to  the 
work  of  thwarting  them  ;  and  city  mobs  assailed  the  officers 
engaged  in  the  duty  of  enforcing  them. 

With  regard  to  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  above 
quoted,  for  the  restoration  of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor, 
my  own  view  was,  and  is,  that  it  was  not  a  proper  subject  for 
legislation  by  the  Federal  Congress,  but  that  its  enforcement 
should  have  been  left  to  the  respective  States,  which,  as  parties 
to  the  compact  of  union,  should  have  been  held  accountable 
for  its  fulfillment.  Such  was  actually  the  case  in  the  earlier  and 
better  days  of  the  republic.  No  fugitive  slave-law  existed,  or 
was  required,  for  two  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Federal 
6 


82         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Government,  and,  when  one  was  then  passed,  it  was  merely  as  an 
incidental  appendage  to  an  act  regulating  the  mode  of  rendition 
of  fugitives  from  justice — not  from  service  or  labor.* 

In  1850  a  more  elaborate  law  was  enacted  as  part  of  the  cele- 
brated compromise  of  that  year.  But  the  very  fact  that  the 
Federal  Government  had  taken  the  matter  into  its  own  hands, 
and  provided  for  its  execution  by  its  own  officers,  afforded  a 
sort  of  pretext  to  those  States  which  had  now  become  hostile  to 
this  provision  of  the  Constitution,  not  only  to  stand  aloof,  but 
in  some  cases  to  adopt  measures  (generally  known  as  "  personal 
liberty  laws  "  )  directly  in  conflict  with  the  execution  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution. 

The  preamble  to  the  Constitution  declared  the  object  of  its 
founders  to  be,  "  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity."  Now,  however  (in  1860),  the 
people  of  a  portion  of  the  States  had  assumed  an  attitude  of 
avowed  hostility,  not  only  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
itself,  but  to  the  "  domestic  tranquillity  "  of  the  people  of  other 
States.  Long  before  the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  one  of 
the  charges  preferred  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  against 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain,  as  justifying  the  separation 
of  the  colonies  from  that  country,  was  that  of  having  "  excited 

*  "  There  was  but  little  necessity  in  those  times,  nor  long  after,  for  an  act  of 
Congress  to  authorize  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves.  The  laws  of  the  free  States 
and,  still  more,  the  force  of  public  opinion  were  the  owners'  best  safeguards.  Public 
opinion  was  against  the  abduction  of  slaves  ;  and,  if  any  one  was  seduced  from  his 
owner,  it  was  done  furtively  and  secretly,  without  show  or  force,  and  as  any  other 
moral  offense  would  be  committed.  State  laws  favored  the  owner,  and  to  a  greater 
extent  than  the  act  of  Congress  did  or  could.  In  Pennsylvania  there  was  an  act  (it 
was  passed  in  1780,  and  only  repealed  in  1847)  discriminating  between  the  traveler 
and  sojourner  and  the  permanent  resident,  allowing  the  former  to  remain  six  months 
in  the  State  before  his  slaves  would  become  subject  to  the  emancipation  laws ;  and, 
in  the  case  of  a  Federal  officer,  allowing  as  much  more  time  as  his  duties  required 
him  to  remain.  New  York  had  the  same  act,  only  varying  in  time,  which  was  nine 
months.  While  these  two  acts  were  in  force,  and  supported  by  public  opinion,  the 
traveler  and  sojourner  was  safe  with  his  slaves  in  those  States,  and  the  same  in  the 
other  free  States.  There  was  no  trouble  about  fugitive  slaves  in  those  times." — 
(Note  to  Benton's  "  Abridgment  of  Debates,"  vol.  i,  p.  417.) 


1854]  THE   "DRED   SCOTT   CASE."  83 

domestic  insurrections  among  us."  Now,  the  mails  were  bur- 
dened with  incendiary  publications,  secret  emissaries  had  been 
sent,  and  in  one  case  an  armed  invasion  of  one  of  the  States  had 
taken  place  for  the  very  purpose  of  exciting  "  domestic  insurrec- 
tion." 

It  was  not  the  passage  of  the  "  personal  liberty  laws,"  it 
was  not  the  circulation  of  incendiary  documents,  it  was  not  the 
raid  of  John  Brown,  it  was  not  the  operation  of  unjust  and  un- 
equal tariff  laws,  nor  all  combined,  that  constituted  the  intoler- 
able grievance,  but  it  was  the  systematic  and  persistent  struggle 
to  deprive  the  Southern  States  of  equality  in  the  Union — gen- 
erally to  discriminate  in  legislation  against  the  interests  of  their 
people ;  culminating  in  their  exclusion  from  the  Territories,  the 
common  property  of  the  States,  as  well  as  by  the  infraction  of 
their  compact  to  promote  domestic  tranquillity. 

The  question  with  regard  to  the  Territories  has  been  dis- 
cussed in  the  foregoing  chapters,  and  the  argument  need  not  be 
repeated.  There  was,  however,  one  feature  of  it  which  has  not 
been  specially  noticed,  although  it  occupied  a  large  share  of  pub- 
lic attention  at  the  time,  and  constituted  an  important  element 
in  the  case.  This  was  the  action  of  the  Federal  judiciary- there- 
on, and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  received. 

In  1854  a  case  (the  well-known  "Dred  Scott  case")  came 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  involving  the 
whole  question  of  the  status  of  the  African  race  and  the  rights 
of  citizens  of  the  Southern  States  to  migrate  to  the  Territories, 
temporarily  or  permanently,  with  their  slave  property,  on  a  foot- 
ing of  equality  with  the  citizens  of  other  States  with  their  prop- 
erty of  any  sort.  This  question,  as  we  have  seen,  had  already 
been  the  subject  of  long  and  energetic  discussion,  without  any 
satisfactory  conclusion.  All  parties,  however,  had  united  in 
declaring,  that  a  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  —  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  in  the  land  —  would  be 
accepted  as  final.  After  long  and  patient  consideration  of  the 
case,  in  1857,  the  decision  of  the  Court  was  pronounced  in  an 
elaborate  and  exhaustive  opinion,  delivered  by  Chief-Justice 
Taney — a  man  eminent  as  a  lawyer,  great  as  a  statesman,  and 
stainless  in  his  moral  reputation — seven  of  the  nine  judges  who 


84        RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

composed  the  Court,  concurring  in  it.     The  salient  points  es- 
tablished by  this  decision  were  : 

1.  That  persons  of  the  African  race  were  not,  and  could  not 
be,  acknowledged  as  "  part  of  the  people,"  or  citizens,  under  the. 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  ; 

2.  That  Congress  had  no  right  to  exclude  citizens  of  the 
South  from  taking  their  negro  servants,  as  any  other  property, 
into  any  part  of  the  common  territory,  and  that  they  were  en- 
titled to  claim  its  protection  therein  ; 

3.  And,  finally,  as  a  consequence  of  the  principle  just  above 
stated,  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  in  so  far  as  it 
prohibited  the  existence  of  African  servitude  north  of  a  desig- 
nated line,  was  unconstitutional  and  void.*  (It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  it  had  already  been  declared  "  inoperative  and  void '-' 
by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  of  1854.) 

Instead  of  accepting  the  decision  of  this  then  august  tribunal 

*  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  stating  (through  Chief-Justice 
Taney)  their  decision  in  the  "  Dred  Scott  case,"  in  1857,  say:  "In  that  portion  of 
the  United  States  where  the  labor  of  the  negro  race  was  found  to  be  unsuited  to  the 
climate  and  unprofitable  to  the  master,  but  few  slaves  were  held  at  the  time  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and,  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  it  had  entirely 
worn  out  in  one  of  them,  and  measures  had  been  taken  for  its  gradual  abolition  in 
several  others.  But  this  change  had  not  been  produced  by  any  change  of  opinion 
in  relation  to  this  race,  but  because  it  was  discovered  from  experience  that  slave- 
labor  was  unsuited  to  the  climate  and  productions  of  these  States  ;  for  some  of  these 
States,  when  it  had  ceased,  or  nearly  ceased,  to  exist,  were  actively  engaged  in  the 
slave-trade ;  procuring  cargoes  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  transporting  them  for 
sale  to  those  parts  of  the  Union  where  their  labor  was  found  to  be  profitable  and 
suited  to  the  climate  and  productions.  And  this  traffic  was  openly  carried  on,  and 
fortunes  accumulated  by  it,  without  reproach  from  the  people  of  the  States  where 
they  resided." 

This  statement,  it  must  be  remembered,  does  not  proceed  from  any  partisan 
source,  but  is  extracted  from  a  judicial  opinion  pronounced  by  the  highest  court  in 
the  country.  In  illustration  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  latter  part  of  it,  may  be  men- 
tioned the  fact  that  a  citizen  of  Rhode  Island  (James  D'Wolf),  long  and  largely 
concerned  in  the  slave-trade,  was  sent  from  that  State  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  as  late  as  the  year  1821.  In  1825  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and 
removed  to  Havana,  where  he  lived  for  many  years,  actively  engaged  in  the  same 
pursuit,  as  president  of  a  slave-trading  company.  The  story  is  told  of  him  that,  on 
being  informed  that  the  "  trade "  was  to  be  declared  piracy,  he  smiled  and  said, 
"  So  much  the  better  for  us — the  Yankees  will  be  the  only  people  not  scared  off  by 
such  a  declaration." 


1860]  AN  "IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT."  85 

— the  ultimate  authority  in  the  interpretation  of  constitutional 
questions — as  conclusive  of  a  controversy  that  had  so  long  dis- 
turbed the  peace  and  was  threatening  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union,  it  was  flouted,  denounced,  and  utterly  disregarded  by 
the  Northern  agitators,  and  served  only  to  stimulate  the  inten- 
sity of  their  sectional  hostility. 

What  resource  for  justice — what  assurance  of  tranquillity — 
what  guarantee  of  safety — now  remained  for  the  South  %  Still 
forbearing,  still  hoping,  still  striving  for  peace  and  union,  we 
waited  until  a  sectional  President,  nominated  by  a  sectional 
convention,  elected  by  a  sectional  vote — and  that  the  vote  of  a 
minority  of  the  people — was  about  to  be  inducted  into  office, 
under  the  warning  of  his  own  distinct  announcement  that  the 
Union  could  not  permanently  endure  "  half  slave  and  half 
free  "  ;  meaning  thereby  that  it  could  not  continue  to  exist  in 
the  condition  in  which  it  was  formed  and  its  Constitution 
adopted.  The  leader  of  his  party,  who  was  to  be  the  chief, 
of  his  Cabinet,  was  the  man  who  had  first  proclaimed  an  "  irre- 
pressible conflict "  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  who 
had  declared  that  abolitionism,  having  triumphed  in  the  Terri- 
tories, would  proceed  to  the  invasion  of  the  States.  Even  then 
the  Southern  people  did  not  finally  despair  until  the  temper  of 
the  triumphant  party  had  been  tested  in  Congress  and  found 
adverse  to  any  terms  of  reconciliation  consistent  with  the  honor 
and  safety  of  all  parties. 

No  alternative  remained  except  to  seek  the  security  out  of 
the  Union  which  they  had  vainly  tried  to  obtain  within  it.  The 
hope  of  our  people  may  be  stated  in  a  sentence.  It  was  to  es- 
cape from  injury  and  strife  in  the  Union,  to  find  prosperity  and 
peace  out  of  it.  The  mode  and  principles  of  their  action  will 
next  be  presented. 


PAET    II. 

THE    CONSTITUTION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Original  Confederation. — "  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union." — 
Their  Inadequacy  ascertained. — Commercial  Difficulties. — The  Conference  at 
Annapolis. — Kecommendation  of  a  General  Convention. — Resolution  of  Con- 
gress.— Action  of  the  Several  States. — Conclusions  drawn  therefrom. 

When  certain  American  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  each  act- 
ing for  itself,  although  in  concert  with  the  others,  determined 
to  dissolve  their  political  connection  with  the  mother-country, 
they  sent  their  representatives  to  a  general  Congress  of  those 
colonies,  and  through  them  made  a  declaration  that  the  col- 
onies were,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  "  free  and  independent 
States."  As  such  they  contracted  an  alliance  for  their  "  com- 
mon defense,"  successfully  resisted  the  effort  to  reduce  them 
to  submission,  and  secured  the  recognition  by  Great  Britain  of 
their  separate  independence  ;  each  State  being  distinctly  recog- 
nized under  its  own  name — not  as  one  of  a  group  or  nation. 
That  this  was  not  merely  a  foreign  view  is  evident  from  the 
second  of  the  "  Articles  of  Confederation  "  between  the  States, 
adopted  subsequently  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which 
is  in  these  words :  "  Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom, 
and  independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right, 
which  is  not  by  this  Confederation  expressly  delegated  to  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled." 

These  "  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union 
between  the  States,"  as  they  were  styled  in  their  title,  were 


1786]  THE   ANNAPOLIS   MEETING.  87 

adopted  by  eleven  of  the  original  States  in  1778,  and  by  the 
other  two  in  the  course  of  the  three  years  next  ensuing,  and 
continued  in  force  until  1789.  During  this  period  the  General 
Government  was  vested  in  the  Congress  alone,  in  which  each 
State,  through  its  representatives,  had  an  equal  vote  in  the  de- 
termination of  all  questions  whatever.  The  Congress  exercised 
all  the  executive  as  well  as  legislative  powers  delegated  by  the 
States.  "When  not  in  session  the  general  management  of  affairs 
was  intrusted  to  a  "  Committee  of  the  States,"  consisting  of  one 
delegate  from  each  State.  Provision  was  made  for  the  creation, 
by  the  Congress,  of  courts  having  a  certain  specified  jurisdiction 
in  admiralty  and  maritime  cases,  and  for  the  settlement  of  con- 
troversies between  two  or  more  States  in  a  mode  specifically 
prescribed. 

The  Government  thus  constituted  was  found  inadequate  for 
some  necessary  purposes,  and  it  became  requisite  to  reorganize 
it.  The  first  idea  of  such  reorganization  arose  from  the  neces- 
sity of  regulating  the  commercial  intercourse  of  the  States  with 
one  another  and  with  foreign  countries,  and  also  of  making  some 
provision  for  payment  of  the  debt  contracted  during  the  war 
for  independence.  These  exigencies  led  to  a  proposition  for 
a  meeting  of  commissioners  from  the  various  States  to  consider 
the  subject.  Such  a  meeting  was  held  at  Annapolis  in  Septem- 
ber, 1786  ;  but,  as  only  five  States  (New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia)  were  represented,  the 
Commissioners  declined  to  take  any  action  further  than  to  rec- 
ommend another  Convention,  with  a  wider  scope  for  consider- 
ation. As  they  expressed  it,  it  was  their  "  unanimous  conviction 
that  it  may  essentially  tend  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Union, 
if  the  States,  by  whom  they  have  been  respectively  delegated, 
would  themselves  concur,  and  use  their  endeavors  to  procure 
the  concurrence  of  the  other  States,  in  the  appointment  of  com- 
missioners, to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  second  Monday  in 
May  next,  to  take  into  consideration  the  situation  of  the  United 
States,  to  devise  such  further  provisions  as  shall  appear  to  them 
necessary  to  render  the  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union,  and  to  report 
such  an  act  for  that  purpose  to  the  United  States  in  Congress 


SS         RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

assembled,  as,  when  agreed  to  by  them,  and  afterward  con- 
firmed by  the  Legislatures  of  every  State,  will  effectually  pro- 
vide for  the  same." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  the  well-informed  reader 
that  the  terms,  "  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Government,"  em- 
ployed above,  and  "  Federal  Constitution,"  as  used  in  other 
proceedings  of  that  period,  do  not  mean  the  instrument  to 
which  we  now  apply  them,  and  which  was  not  then  in  exist- 
ence. They  were  applied  to  the  system  of  government  formu- 
lated in  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  This  is  in  strict  accord 
with  the  definition  of  the  word  constitution,  given  by  an  emi- 
nent lexicographer  :  *  "  The  body  of  fundamental  laws,  as  con- 
tained in  written  documents  or  prescriptive  usage,  which  con- 
stitute the  form  of  government  for  a  nation,  state,  community, 
association,  or  society."  f  Thus  we  speak  of  the  British  Consti- 
tution, which  is  an  unwritten  system  of  "  prescriptive  usage  "  ;  of 
the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  or  of  Mississippi,  which  is  the 
fundamental  or  organic  law  of  a  particular  State  embodied  in  a 
written  instrument ;  and  of  the  Federal  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  is  the  fundamental  law  of  an  association  of  States, 
at  first  as  embraced  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  after- 
ward as  revised,  amended,  enlarged,  and  embodied  in  the  instru- 
ment framed  in  1787,  and  subsequently  adopted  by  the  various 
States.  The  manner  in  which  this  revision  was  effected  was  as 
follows.  Acting  on  the  suggestion  of  the  Annapolis  Conven- 
tion, the  Congress,  on  the  21st  of  the  ensuing  February  (1787), 
adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  it  is  expedient  that, 
on  the  second  Monday  in  May  next,  a  convention  of  delegates,  who 
shall  have  been  appointed  by  the  several  States,  be  held  at  Phila- 
delphia, for  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of  revising  the  Articles 
of  Confederation,  and  reporting  to  Congress  and  the  several  Legis- 

*  Dr.  Worcester. 

f  This  definition  is  very  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  "  the  form  of  government "  is 
a  phrase  which  falls  short  of  expressing  all  that  should  be  comprehended.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say,  "which  constitute  the  form,  define  the  powers, 
and  prescribe  the  functions  of  government,"  etc.  The  words  in  italics  would  make 
the  definition  more  complete. 


178V]  THE  OBJECTS  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  89 

latures  such  alterations  and  provisions  therein  as  shall,  when  agreed 
to  in  Congress  and  confirmed  by  the  States,  render  the  Federal 
Constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  Government  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Union."  ^ 

The  language  of  this  resolution,  substantially  according  with 
that  of  the  recommendation  made  by  the  commissioners  at  An- 
napolis a  few  months  before,  very  clearly  defines  the  objects  of 
the  proposed  Convention  and  the  powers  which  it  was  thought 
advisable  that  the  States  should  confer  upon  their  delegates. 
These  were,  "  solely  and  expressly,"  as  follows  : 

1.  "  To  revise  the  Articles  of  Confederation  with  reference  to 
the  *  situation  of  the  United  States '  ; 

2.  "  To  devise  such  alterations  and  provisions  therein  as  should 
seem  to  them  requisite  in  order  to  render  ' the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion,' or  *  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Government,'  adequate  to 
'  the  exigencies  of  the  Union,'  or  *  the  exigencies  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  preservation  of  the  Union ' ; 

3.  "To  report  the  result  of  their  deliberations — that  is,  the 
' alterations  and  provisions'  which  they  should  agree  to  recom- 
mend— to  Congress  and  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States." 

Of  course,  their  action  could  be  only  advisory  until  ratified 
by  the  States.  The  "  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual 
Union,"  under  which  the  States  were  already  united,  provided 
that  no  alteration  should  be  made  in  any  of  them,  "  unless  such 
alteration  be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
afterward  confirmed  by  the  Legislatures  of  every  State." 

The  Legislatures  of  the  various  States,  with  the  exception  of 
Rhode  Island,  adopted  and  proceeded  to  act  upon  these  sugges- 
tions by  the  appointment  of  delegates — some  of  them  immedi- 
ately upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Annapolis  Commissioners 
in  advance  of  that  of  the  Congress,  and  the  others  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months  after  the  resolution  adopted  by  Congress.  The 
instructions  given  to  these  delegates  in  all  cases  conformed  to 
the  recommendations  which  have  been  quoted,  and  in  one  case 
imposed  an  additional  restriction  or  limitation.  As  this  is  a 
matter  of  much  importance,  in  order  to  a  right  understanding  of 
what  follows,  it  may  be  advisable  to  cite  in  detail  the  action  of 


90         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  several  States,  italicizing  such  passages  as  are  specially  sig- 
nificant of  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  delegates  to  the  Con- 
vention. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  after  reciting  the  recom- 
mendation made  at  Annapolis,  enacted :  "  That  seven  commis- 
sioners be  appointed  by  joint  ballot  of  both  Houses  of  Assem- 
bly, who,  or  any  three  of  them,  are  hereby  authorized,  as  depu- 
ties from  this  Commonwealth,  to  meet  such  deputies  as  may  be 
appointed  and  authorized  by  other  States,  to  assemble  in  con- 
vention at  Philadelphia,  as  above  recommended,  and  to  join 
with  them  in  devising  and  discussing  all  such  alterations  and 
further  provisions  as  may  he  necessary  to  render  the  Federal 
Constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union,  and  in 
reporting  such  an  act  for  that  purpose  to  the  United  States  mi 
Congress,  as,  when  agreed  to  by  them,  and  duly  confirmed  by 
the  several  States,  will  effectually  provide  for  the  same." 

The  Council  and  Assembly  of  New  Jersey  issued  commis- 
sions to  their  delegates  to  meet  such  commissioners  as  have 
been,  or  may  be,  appointed  by  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  at 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania, 
on  the  second  Monday  in  May  next,  for  the  purpose  of  talcing 
into  consideration  the  state  of  the  Union  as  to  trade  and  other 
important  objects,  and  of  devising  such  other  provisions  as  shall 
appear  to  be  necessary  to  render  the  Constitution  of  the  Federal 
Government  adequate  to  the  exigencies  thereof" 

The  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  consti- 
tuted and  appointed  certain  deputies,  designated  by  name, 
"with  powers  to  meet  such  deputies  as  may  be  appointed  and 
authorized  by  the  other  States,  .  .  .  and  to  join  with  them  in 
devising,  deliberating  on,  and  discussing  all  such  alterations 
and  further  provisions  as  may  be  necessary  to  render  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  fully  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union, 
and  in  reporting  such  act  or  acts  for  that  purpose,  to  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  as,  when  agreed  to  by  them  and 
duly  confirmed  by  the  several  States,  wTill  effectually  provide  for 
the  same." 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  enacted  that  com- 
missioners should  be  appointed  by  joint  ballot  of  both  Houses, 


1787]  THE   DUTIES  AND  POWERS   OF  DELEGATES.  91 

"  to  meet  and  confer  with  such  deputies  as  may  be  appointed 
by  the  other  States  for  similar  purposes,  and  with  them  to  dis- 
cuss and  decide  upon  the  most  effectual  means  to  remove  the 
defects  of  our  Federal  Union,  and  to  procure  the  enlarged  pur- 
poses which  it  was  intended  to  effect ;  and  that  they  report  such 
an  act  to  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State,  as,  when  agreed  to 
by  them,  will  effectually  provide  for  the  same."  (In  the  case 
of  this  State  alone  nothing  is  said  of  a  report  to  Congress. 
Neither  North  Carolina  nor  any  other  State,  however,  fails  to 
make  mention  of  the  necessity  of  a  submission  of  any  action 
taken  to  the  several  States  for  ratification.) 

The  commissions  issued  to  the  representatives  of  South  Caro- 
lina, by  the  Governor,  refer  to  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  that 
State  authorizing  their  appointment  "  to  meet  such  deputies  or 
commissioners  as  may  be  appointed  and  authorized  by  other  of 
the  United  States,"  at  the  time  and  place  designated,  and  to 
join  with  them  "  in  devising  and  discussing  all  such  alterations, 
clauses,  articles,  and  provisions,  as  may  be  thought  necessary  to 
render  the  Federal  Constitution  entirely  adequate  to  the  actual 
situation  and  future  good  government  of  the  Confederate  States," 
and  to  "  join  in  reporting  such  an  act  to  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  as,  when  approved  and  agreed  to  by  them, 
and  duly  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the  several  States,  will  effec- 
tually provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  Union."  In  these  com- 
missions the  expression,  "alterations,  clauses,  articles,  and  pro- 
visions," clearly  indicates  the  character  of  the  duties  which  the 
deputies  were  expected  to  discharge. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  "  ordained  "  the  appoint- 
ment of  certain  commissioners,  specified  by  name,  who  were 
"  authorized,  as  deputies  from  this  State,  to  meet  such  deputies 
as  may  be  appointed  and  authorized  by  other  States,  to  assemble 
in  convention  at  Philadelphia,  and  to  join  with  them  in  devising 
and  discussing  all  such  alterations  and  further  provisions  as 
may  be  necessary  to  render  the  Federal  Constitution  adequate 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union,  and  in  reporting  such  an  act  for 
that  purpose  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  as, 
when  agreed  to  by  them,  and  duly  confirmed  by  the  several 
States,  will  effectually  provide  for  the  same." 


92         RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

The  authority  conferred  upon  their  delegates  by  the  Assem- 
bly of  JSTew  York  and  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  was 
in  each  case  expressed  in  the  exact  words  of  the  advisory  reso- 
lution of  Congress  :  they  were  instructed  to  meet  the  delegates 
of  the  other  States  "  for  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of  revising 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  reporting  to  Congress  and  to 
the  several  Legislatures  such  alterations  and  provisions  therein 
as  shall,  when  agreed  to  in  Congress,  and  confirmed  by  the  sev- 
eral States,  render  the  Federal  Constitution  adequate  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  Union.'''' 

The  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  designated  the  dele- 
gates of  that  State  by  name,  and  empowered  them,  in  conference 
with  the  delegates  of  other  States,  "  to  discuss  upon  such  alter- 
ations and  provisions,  agreeable  to  the  general  principles  of  re- 
publican government,  as  they  shall  think  proper  to  render  the 
Federal  Constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  preservation  of  the  Union,"  and  "  to  report  such 
alterations  and  provisions  as  may  he  ag?*eed  to  by  a  majority  of 
the  United  States  in  convention,  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  and  to  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State." 

The  General  Court  of  ]STew  Hampshire  authorized  and  em- 
powered the  deputies  of  that  State,  in  conference  with  those  of 
other  States,  "  to  discuss  and  decide  upon  the  most  effectual 
means  to  remedy  the  defects  of  our  Federal  Union,  and  to  pro- 
cure and  secure  the  enlarged  purposes  which  it  was  intended  to 
effect " — language  almost  identical  with  that  of  North  Carolina, 
but,  like  the  other  States  in  general,  instructed  them  to  report 
the  result  of  their  deliberations  to  Congress  for  the  action  of 
that  body,  and  subsequent  confirmation  "  by  the  several  States." 

The  delegates  from  Maryland  were  appointed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  that  State,  and  instructed  "to  meet  such 
deputies  as  may  be  appointed  and  authorized  by  any  other  of 
the  United  States,  to  assemble  in  convention  at  Philadelphia, 
for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  Federal  system,  and  to  join 
with  them  in  considering  such  alterations  and  further  provi- 
sions," etc. — the  remainder  of  their  instructions  being  in  the 
same  words  as  those  given  to  the  Georgia  delegates. 

The  instructions  given  to  the  deputies  of  Delaware  were 


1787]  OBVIOUS   CONCLUSIONS.  93 

substantially  in  accord  with  the  others — being  almost  literally 
identical  with  those  of  Pennsylvania — but  the  following  proviso 
was  added  :  "  So,  always,  and  provided,  that  such  alterations  or 
further  provisions,  or  any  of  them,  do  not  extend  to  that  part  of 
the  fifth  article  of  the  Confederation  of  the  said  States,  finally 
ratified  on  the  first  day  of  March,  in  the  year  1781,  which  de- 
clares that,  '  in  determining  questions  in  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  each  State  shall  have  one  vote.1  " 

Ehode  Island,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  sent  no  dele- 
gates. 

From  an  examination  and  comparison  of  the  enactments  and 
instructions  above  quoted,  we  may  derive  certain  conclusions,  so 
obvious  that  they  need  only  to  be  stated  : 

1.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  clear  that  the  delegates  to  the  Con- 
vention of  1T87  represented,  not  the  people  of  the  United  States 
in  mass,  as  has  been  most  absurdly  contended  by  some  political 
writers,  but  the  people  of  the  several  States,  as  States — just  as 
in  the  Congress  of  that  period — Delaware,  with  her  sixty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  having  entire  equality  with  Pennsylvania, 
which  had  more  than  four  hundred  thousand,  or  Virginia,  with 
her  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

2.  The  object  for  which  they  were  appointed  was  not  to 
organize  a  new  Government,  but  "  solely  and  expressly "  to 
amend  the  "  Federal  Constitution  "  already  existing  ;  in  other 
words,  "to  revise  the  Articles  of  Confederation,"  and  to  sug- 
gest such  "  alterations "  or  additional  "  provisions  "  as  should 
be  deemed  necessary  to  render  them  "  adequate  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  Union." 

3.  It  is  evident  that  the  term  "  Federal  Constitution,"  or  its 
equivalent,  "  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Government,"  was  as 
freely  and  familiarly  applied  to  the  system  of  government  estab- 
lished by  the  Articles  of  Confederation — undeniably  a  league  or 
compact  between  States  expressly  retaining  their  sovereignty 
and  independence — as  to  that  amended  system  which  was  sub- 
stituted for  it  by  the  Constitution  that  superseded  those  articles. 

4.  The  functions  of  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  were, 
of  course,  only  to  devise,  deliberate,  and  discuss.  No  validity 
could  attach  to  any  action  taken,  unless  and  until  it  should  be 


94         RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

afterward  ratified  by  the  several  States.  It  is  evident,  also,  that 
what  was  contemplated  was  the  process  provided  in  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  for  their  own  amendment  —  first,  a  recom- 
mendation by  the  Congress ;  and,  afterward,  ratification  "  by 
the  Legislatures  of  every  State,"  before  the  amendment  should 
be  obligatory  upon  any.  The  departure  from  this  condition, 
which  actually  occurred,  will  presently  be  noticed. 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Convention  of  178*7. — Diversity  of  Opinion. — Luther  Martin's  Account  of  the 
Three  Parties. — The  Question  of  Representation. — Compromise  effected. — Mr. 
Randolph's  Resolutions. — The  Word  "  National "  condemned. — Plan  of  Gov- 
ernment framed. — Difficulty  with  Regard  to  Ratification,  and  its  Solution. — 
Provision  for  Secession  from  the  Union. — Views  of  Mr.  Gerry  and  Mr.  Madison. 
— False  Interpretations. — Close  of  the  Convention. 

¥hen  the  Convention  met  in  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787, 
it  soon  became  evident  that  the  work  before  it  would  take  a 
wider  range  and  involve  more  radical  changes  in  the  "  Federal 
Constitution  "  than  had  at  first  been  contemplated.  Under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  the  General  Government  was  obliged 
to  rely  upon  the  governments  of  the  several  States  for  the  exe- 
cution of  its  enactments.  Except  its  own  officers  and  employees, 
and  in  time  of  war  the  Federal  army  and  navy,  it  could  exercise 
no  control  upon  individual  citizens.  With  regard  to  the  States, 
no  compulsory  or  coercive  measures  could  be  employed  to  en- 
force its  authority,  in  case  of  opposition  or  indifference  to  its 
exercise.  This  last  was  a  feature  of  the  Confederation  which 
it  was  not  desirable  nor  possible  to  change,  and  no  objection 
was  made  to  it ;  but  it  was  generally  admitted  that  some  ma- 
chinery should  be  devised  to  enable  the  General  Government 
to  exercise  its  legitimate  functions  by  means  of  a  mandatory 
authority  operating  directly  upon  the  individual  citizens  within 
the  limits  of  its  constitutional  powers.  The  necessity  for  such 
provision  was  undisputed. 

Beyond  the  common  ground  of  a  recognition  of  this  neces- 


1787]  THE   THREE   PARTIES  IN  THE   CONVENTION.  95 

sity,  there  was  a  wide  diversity  of  opinion  among  the  members 
of  the  Convention.  Luther  Martin,  a  delegate  from  Maryland, 
in  an  account  of  its  proceedings,  afterward  given  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  that  State,  classifies  these  differences  as  constituting 
three  parties  in  the  Convention,  which  he  describes  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  One  party,  whose  object  and  wish  it  was  to  abolish  and  anni- 
hilate all  State  governments,  and  to  bring  forward  one  General 
Government  over  this  extensive  continent  of  a  monarchical  nature, 
under  certain  restrictions  and  limitations.  Those  who  openly 
avowed  this  sentiment  were,  it  is  true,  but  few  ;  yet  it  is  equally 
true  that  there  was  a  considerable  number,  who  did  not  openly 
avow  it,  who  were,  by  myself  and  many  others  of  the  Convention, 
considered  as  being  in  reality  favorers  of  that  sentiment.  .  .  . 

"  The  second  party  was  not  for  the  abolition  of  the  State  gov- 
ernments nor  for  the  introduction  of  a  monarchical  government 
under  any  form  ;  but  they  wished  to  establish  such  a  system  as 
could  give  their  own  States  undue  power  and  influence  in  the  gov- 
ernment over  the  other  States. 

"  A  third  party  was  what  I  considered  truly  federal  and  repub- 
lican. This  party  was  nearly  equal  in  number  with  the  other 
two,  and  was  composed  of  the  delegates  from  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  in  part  from  Maryland  ;  also  of 
some  individuals  from  other  representations.  This  party  were  for 
proceeding  upon  terms  of  federal  equality  :  they  were  for  taking 
our  present  federal  system  as  the  basis  of  their  proceedings,  and, 
as  far  as  experience  had  shown  that  other  powers  were  necessary 
to  the  Federal  Government,  to  give  those  powers.  They  consid- 
ered this  the  object  for  which  they  were  sent  by  their  States,  and 
what  their  States  expected  from  them." 

In  his  account  of  the  second  party  above  described,  Mr.  Mar- 
tin refers  to  those  representatives  of  the  larger  States  who  wished 
to  establish  a  numerical  basis  of  representation  in  the  Congress, 
instead  of  the  equal  representation  of  the  States  (whether  large 
or  small)  which  existed  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
There  was  naturally  much  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 
greater  States— Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  and 
Massachusetts— whose  population  at  that  period  exceeded  that 


96         RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  all  the  others  combined,  but  which,  in  the  Congress,  con- 
stituted less  than  one  third  of  the  voting  strength.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  smaller  States  were  tenacious  of  their  equality 
in  the  Union.  Of  the  very  smallest,  one,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
sent  no  representatives  to  the  Convention,  and  the  other  had 
instructed  her  delegates,  unconditionally,  to  insist  upon  the 
maintenance  of  absolute  equality  in  the  Congress.  This  dif- 
ference gave  more  trouble  than  any  other  question  that  came 
before  the  Convention,  and  for  some  time  threatened  to  prove 
irreconcilable  and  to  hinder  any  final  agreement.  It  was  ulti- 
mately settled  by  a  compromise.  Provision  was  made  for  the 
representation  of  the  people  of  the  States  in  one  branch  of  the 
Federal  Legislature  (the  House  of  Representatives)  in  propor- 
tion to  their  numbers ;  in  the  other  branch  (the  Senate),  for  the 
equal  representation  of  the  States  as  such.  The  perpetuity  of 
this  equality  was  furthermore  guaranteed  by  a  stipulation  that 
no  State  should  ever  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the 
Senate  without  its  own  consent.*  This  compromise  required 
no  sacrifice  of  principle  on  either  side,  and  no  provision  of  the 
Constitution  has  in  practice  proved  more  entirely  satisfactory. 

It  is  not  necessary,  and  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
work,  to  undertake  to  give  a  history  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Convention  of  1787.  That  may  be  obtained  from  other  sources. 
All  that  is  requisite  for  the  present  purpose  is  to  notice  a  few 
particulars  of  special  significance  or  relevancy  to  the  subject  of 
inquiry. 

Early  in  the  session  of  the  Convention  a  series  of  resolutions 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  embody- 
ing a  proposed  plan  of  government,  which  were  considered  in 
committee  of  the  whole  House,  and  formed  the  basis  of  a  pro- 
tracted discussion.  The  first  of  these  resolutions,  as  amended 
before  a  vote  was  taken,  was  in  these  words  : 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee  that  a 
national  Government  ought  to  be  established,  consisting  of  a  su- 
preme legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary." 

This  was  followed  by  other  resolutions — twenty- three  in  all, 

*  Constitution,  Article  V. 


178V]  MR.   ELLSWORTH'S   MOTION.  97 

as  adopted  and  reported  by  the  committee — in  which  the  word 
"  national "  occurred  twenty-six  times. 

The  day  after  the  report  of  the  committee  was  made,  Mr. 
Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  moved  to  strike  out  the  words  "  na- 
tional Government "  in  the  resolution  above  quoted,  and  to  in- 
sert the  words  "  Government  of  the  United  States,"  which  he 
said  was  the  proper  title.  "  He  wished  also  the  plan  to  go  forth 
as  an  amendment  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation."  *  That  is 
to  say,  he  wished  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  undertaking 
to  form  a  new  government,  instead  of  reforming  the  old  one, 
which  was  the  proper  object  of  the  Convention.  This  motion 
was  agreed  to  without  opposition,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the 
word  "  national "  was  stricken  out  wherever  it  occurred,  and  no- 
where makes  its  appearance  in  the  Constitution  finally  adopted. 
The  prompt  rejection,  after  introduction,  of  this  word  "  national," 
is  obviously  much  more  expressive  of  the  intent  and  purpose  of 
the  authors  of  the  Constitution  than  its  mere  absence  from  the 
Constitution  would  have  been.  It  is  a  clear  indication  that 
they  did  not  mean  to  give  any  countenance  to  the  idea  which, 
"  scotched,  not  killed,"  has  again  reared  its  mischievous  crest  in 
these  latter  days — that  the  government  which  they  organized 
was  a  consolidated  nationality,  instead  of  a  confederacy  of  sov- 
ereign members. 

Continuing  their  great  work  of  revision  and  reorganization, 
the  Convention  proceeded  to  construct  the  framework  of  a  gov- 
ernment for  the  Confederacy,  strictly  confined  to  certain  spe- 
cified and  limited  powers,  but  complete  in  all  its  parts,  legis- 
lative, executive,  and  judicial,  and  provided  with  the  means 
for  discharging  all  its  functions  without  interfering  with  the 
"  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence  "  of  the  constituent 
States. 

All  this  might  have  been  done  without  going  beyond  the 

*  Sec  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  v,  p.  214.  This  reference  is  taken  from  "  The 
Republic  of  Republics,"  Part  III,  chapter  vii,  p.  217.  This  learned,  exhaustive,  and 
admirable  work,  which  contains  a  wealth  of  historical  and  political  learning,  will  be 
freely  used,  by  kind  consent  of  the  author,  without  the  obligation  of  a  repetition  of 
special  acknowledgment  in  every  case.  A  like  liberty  will  be  taken  with  the  late  Dr. 
Bledsoe's  masterly  treatise  on  the  right  of  secession,  published  in  1866,  under  the 
title,  "  Is  Davis  a  Traitor  ?  or,  Was  Secession  a  Constitutional  Right  ?  " 

7 


98         RISE  AND   FALL  OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

limits  of  their  commission  "  to  revise  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration," and  to  consider  and  report  such  "  alterations  and  pro- 
visions "  as  might  seem  necessary  to  "  render  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  government  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Union."  A  serious  difficulty,  however,  was 
foreseen.  The  thirteenth  and  last  of  the  aforesaid  articles  had 
this  provision,  which  has  already  been  referred  to  :  "  The  Arti- 
cles of  this  Confederation  shall  be  inviolably  observed  by  every 
/State,  and  the  union  shall  be  perpetual  /  nor  shall .  any  alter- 
ation, at  any  time  hereafter,  be  made  in  any  of  them,  unless 
such  alteration  be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  be  afterward  confirmed  by  the  Legislatures  of  every 
State." 

It  is  obvious,  from  an  examination  of  the  records,  as  has 
already  been  shown,  that  the  original  idea  in  calling  a  Conven- 
tion was,  that  their  recommendations  should  take  the  course  pre- 
scribed by  this  article — first,  a  report  to  the  Congress,  and  then, 
if  approved  by  that  body,  a  submission  to  the  various  Legisla- 
tures for  final  action.  There  was  no  reason  to  apprehend  the 
non-concurrence  of  Congress,  in  which  a  mere  majority  would 
determine  the  question ;  but  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of 
"  every  State "  was  requisite  in  order  to  final  ratification,  and 
there  was  serious  reason  to  fear  that  this  consent  could  not  be 
obtained.  Rhode  Island,  as  we  have  seen,  had  declined  to  send 
any  representatives  to  the  Convention ;  of  the  three  delegates 
from  New  York,  two  had  withdrawn  ;  and  other  indications  of 
dissatisfaction  had  appeared.  In  case  of  the  failure  of  a  single 
Legislature  to  ratify,  the  labors  of  the  Convention  would  go  for 
naught,  under  a  strict  adherence  to  the  letter  of  the  article  above 
cited.  The  danger  of  a  total  frustration  of  their  efforts  was  im- 
minent. 

In  this  emergency  the  Convention  took  the  responsibility  of 
transcending  the  limits  of  their  instructions,  and  recommending 
a  procedure  which  was  in  direct  contravention  of  the  letter  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.  This  was  the  introduction  of  a 
provision  into  the  new  Constitution,  that  the  ratification  of  nine 
States  should  be  sufficient  for  its  establishment  among  them- 
selves.    In  order  to  validate  this  provision,  it  was  necessary  to 


1787]  THE   SOVEREIGNTY   OF  THE  PEOPLE.  99 

refer  it  to  authority  higher  than  that  of  Congress  and  the  State 
Legislatures — that  is,  to  the  People  of  the  States,  assembled,  by 
their  representatives,  in  convention.  Hence  it  was  provided,  by 
the  seventh  and  last  article  of  the  new  Constitution,  that  "  the 
ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States"  should  suffice 
for  its  establishment  "  between  the  States  so  ratifying  the 
same." 

There  was  another  reason,  of  a  more  general  and  perhaps 
more  controlling  character,  for  this  reference  to  conventions  for 
ratification,  even  if  entire  unanimity  of  the  State  Legislatures 
could  have  been  expected.  Under  the  American  theory  of  re- 
publican government,  conventions  of  the  people,  duly  elected 
and  accredited  as  such,  are  invested  with  the  plenary  power  in- 
herent in  the  people  of  an  organized  and  independent  commu- 
nity, assembled  in  mass.  In  other  words,  they  represent  and 
exercise  what  is  properly  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  State 
Legislatures,  with  restricted  powers,  do  not  possess  or  repre- 
sent sovereignty.  Still  less  does  the  Congress  of  a  union  or 
confederacy  of  States,  which  is  by  two  degrees  removed  from 
the  seat  of  sovereignty.  We  sometimes  read  or  hear  of  "  dele- 
gated sovereignty,"  "  divided  sovereignty,"  with  other,  loose 
expressions  of  the  same  sort ;  but  no  such  thing  as  a  division  or 
delegation  of  sovereignty  is  possible. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  supersede  the  restraining  article 
above  cited  and  to  give  the  highest  validity  to  the  compact 
for  the  delegation  of  important  powers  and  functions  of  gov- 
ernment to  a  common  agent,  an  authority  above  that  of  the 
State  Legislatures  was  necessary.  Mr.  Madison,  in  the  "  Fed- 
eralist," *  says :  "  It  has  been  heretofore  noted  among  the  defects 
of  the  Confederation,  that  in  many  of  the  States  it  had  received 
no  higher  sanction  than  a  mere  legislative  ratification."  This 
objection  would  of  course  have  applied  with  greater  force  to  the 
proposed  Constitution,  which  provided  for  additional  grants  of 
power  from  the  States,  and  the  conferring  of  larger  and  more 
varied  powers  upon  a  General  Government,  which  was  to  act 
upon  individuals  instead  of  States,  if  the  question  of  its  con- 
firmation had  been  submitted  merely  to  the  several  State  Legis- 

*  No.  xliii. 


100      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

latures.  Hence  the  obvious  propriety  of  referring  it  to  the 
respective  people  of  the  States  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  as 
provided  in  the  final  article  of  the  Constitution. 

In  this  article  provision  was  deliberately  made  for  the  seces- 
sion (if  necessary)  of  a  part  of  the  States  from  a  nnion  which, 
when  formed,  had  been  declared  "  perpetual,"  and  its  terms  and 
articles  to  be  "  inviolably  observed  by  every  State." 

Opposition  was  made  to  the  provision  on  this  very  gronnd — 
that  it  was  virtually  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  that  it  would 
furnish  a  precedent  for  future  secessions.  Mr.  Gerry,  a  distin- 
guished member  from  Massachusetts — afterward  Yice-President 
of  the  United  States — said,  "  If  nine  out  of  thirteen  (States)  can 
dissolve  the  compact,  six  out  of  nine  will  be  just  as  able  to  dis- 
solve the  future  one  hereafter." 

Mr.  Madison,  who  was  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Convention,  advocating  afterward,  in  the  "  Federalist,"  the  adop- 
tion of  the  new  Constitution,  asks  the  question,  "  On  what  prin- 
ciple the  Confederation,  which  stands  in  the  solemn  form  of  a 
compact  among  the  States,  can  be  superseded  without  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  parties  to  it  %  "  He  answers  this  question 
"  by  recurring  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  case ;  to  the  great 
principle  of  self-preservation  ;  to  the  transcendent  law  of  nature 
and  of  nature's  God,  which  declares  that  the  safety  and  happi- 
ness of  society  are  the  objects  at  which  all  political  institutions 
aim,  and  to  which  all  such  institutions  must  be  sacrificed."  He 
proceeds,  however,,  to  give  other  grounds  of  justification  : 

"  It  is  an  established  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  treaties,  that 
all  the  articles  are  mutually  conditions  of  each  other  ;  that  a 
breach  of  any  one  article  is  a  breach  of  the  whole  treaty  ;  and 
that  a  breach  committed  by  either  of  the  parties  absolves  the 
others,  and  authorizes  them,  if  they  please,  to  pronounce  the  com- 
pact violated  and  void.  Should  it  unhappily  be  necessary  to 
appeal  to  these  delicate  truths  for  a  justification  for  dispensing 
with  the  consent  of  particular  States  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Fed- 
eral pact,  will  not  the  complaining  parties  find  it  a  difficult  task  to 
answer  the  multiplied  and  important  infractions  with  which  they 
may  be  confronted  ?  The  time  has  been  when  it  was  incumbent 
on  us  all  to  veil  the  ideas  which  this  paragraph  exhibits.     The 


1787]  MR.   MADISON'S  IDEA.  101 

scene  is  now  changed,  and  with  it  the  part  which  the  same  motives 
dictate." 

Mr.  Madison's  idea  of  the  propriety  of  veiling  any  statement 
of  the  right  of  secession  until  the  occasion  arises  for  its  exercise, 
whether  right  or  wrong  in  itself,  is  eminently  suggestive  as  ex- 
planatory of  the  caution  exhibited  by  other  statesmen  of  that 
period,  as  well  as  himself,  with  regard  to  that  "  delicate  truth." 

The  only  possible  alternative  to  the  view  here  taken  of  the 
seventh  article  of  the  Constitution,  as  a  provision  for  the  seces- 
sion of  any  nine  States,  which  might  think  proper  to  avail  them- 
selves of  it,  from  union  with  such  as  should  refuse  to  do  so,  and 
the  formation  of  an  amended  or  "  more  perfect  union "  with 
one  another,  is  to  regard  it  as  a  provision  for  the  continuance  of 
the  old  Union,  or  Confederation,  under  altered  conditions,  by 
the  majority  which  should  accede  to  them,  with  a  recognition 
of  the  right  of  the  recusant  minority  to  withdraw,  secede,  or 
stand  aloof.  The  idea  of  compelling  any  State  or  States  to 
enter  into  or  to  continue  in  union  with  the  others  by  coercion, 
is  as  absolutely  excluded  under  the  one  supposition  as  under  the 
other — with  reference  to  one  State  or  a  minority  of  States,  as 
well  as  with  regard  to  a  majority.  The  article  declares  that 
"  the  ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  suf- 
ficient for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  " — not  between 
all,  but — "  oeimeen  the  States  so  ratifying  the  same."  It  is  sub- 
mitted whether  a  fuller  justification  of  this  right  of  the  nine 
States  to  form  a  new  Government  is  not  found  in  the  fact  of 
the  sovereignty  in  each  of  them,  making  them  "a  law  unto 
themselves,"  and  therefore  the  final  judge  of  what  the  neces- 
sities of  each  community  demand. 

Here — although,  perhaps,  in  advance  of  its  proper  place  in 
the  argument — the  attention  of  the  reader  may  be  directed  to 
the  refutation,  afforded  by  this  article  of  the  Constitution,  of 
that  astonishing  fiction,  which  has  been  put  forward  by  some 
distinguished  writers  of  later  date,  that  the  Constitution  was 
established  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  "  in  the  aggre- 
gate." If  such  had  been  the  case,  the  will  of  a  majority,  duly 
ascertained  and  expressed,  would  have  been  binding  upon  the 


102      RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

minority.  No  such  idea  existed  in  its  formation.  It  was  not 
even  established  by  the  States  in  the  aggregate,  nor  was  it  pro- 
posed that  it  should  be.  It  was  submitted  for  the  acceptance  of 
each  separately,  the  time  and  place  at  their  own  option,  so  that 
the  dates  of  ratification  did  extend  from  December  7,  1787,  to 
May  29,  1790.  The  long  period  required  for  these  ratifications 
makes  manifest  the  absurdity  of  the  assertion,  that  it  was  a  de- 
cision by  the  votes  of  one  people,  or  one  community,  in  which 
a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  determined  the  result. 

We  have  seen  that  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  of  1787 
were  chosen  by  the  several  States,  as  States — it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  add  that  they  voted  in  the  Convention,  as  in  the  Federal 
Congress,  by  States — each  State  casting  one  vote.  We  have  seen, 
also,  that  they  were  sent  for  the  "  sole  and  express  purpose  "  of 
revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  devising  means  for 
rendering  the  Federal  Constitution  "  adequate  to  the  exigencies 
of  government  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union  "  ;  that  the 
terms  "  Union,"  "  United  States,"  "  Federal  Constitution,"  and 
"  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Government,"  were  applied  to  the 
old  Confederation  in  precisely  the  same  sense  in  which  they  are 
used  under  the  new ;  that  the  proposition  to  constitute  a  "  na- 
tional "  Government  was  distinctly  rejected  by  the  Convention ; 
that  the  right  of  any  State,  or  States,  to  withdraw  from  union 
with  the  others  was  practically  exemplified,  and  that  the  idea  of 
coercion  of  a  State,  or  compulsory  measures,  was  distinctly  ex- 
cluded under  any  construction  that  can  be  put  upon  the  action 
of  the  Convention. 

To  the  original  copy  of  the  Constitution,  as  set  forth  by  its 
framers  for  the  consideration  and  final  action  of  the  people  of 
the  States,  was  attached  the  following  words  : 

"  Done  in  Convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States 
present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  twelfth.  In  witness 
whereof,  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names." 

[Followed  by  the  signatures  of  "  George  Washington,  Presi- 
dent, and  deputy  from  Virginia,"  and  the  other  delegates  who 
signed  it.] 


1787]  THE  WOKK   SCARCELY   BEGUN.  103 

This  attachment  to  the  instrument — a  mere  attestation  of  its 
authenticity,  and  of  the  fact  that  it  had  the  unanimous  consent 
of  all  the  States  then  present  by  their  deputies — not  of  all  the 
deputies,  for  some  of  them  refused  to  sign  it — has  been  strangely 
construed  by  some  commentators  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  implied  that  it  was  "  done,"  in  the  sense  of  com- 
pletion of  the  work.* 

-But  the  work  was  not  done  when  the  Convention  closed  its 
labors  and  adjourned.  It  was  scarcely  begun.  There  was  no 
validity  or  binding  force  whatever  in  what  had  been  already 
"  done."  It  was  still  to  be  submitted  to  the  States  for  approval 
or  rejection.  Even  if  a  majority  of  eight  out  of  thirteen  States 
had  ratified  it,  the  refusal  of  the  ninth  would  have  rendered  it 
null  and  void.  Mr.  Madison,  who  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  its  authors  and  signers,  writing  after  it  was  completed 
and  signed,  but  before  it  was  ratified,  said  :  "  It  is  time  now  to 
recollect  that  the  powers  [of  the  Convention]  were  merely  ad- 
visory and  recommendatory ;  that  they  were  so  meant  by  the 
States,  and  so  understood  by  the  Convention  ;  and  that  the  latter 
have  accordingly  planned  and  proposed  a  Constitution,  which  is 
to  be  of  no  more  consequence  than  the  paper  on  which  it  is 
written,  unless  it  be  stamped  with  the  approbation  of  those  to 
whom  it  is  addressed." — ("  Federalist,"  No.  XL.) 

The  mode  and  terms  in  which  this  approval  was  expressed 
will  be  considered  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  the  States. — Organization  of  the  New  Govern- 
ment.— Accession  of  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island. — Correspondence  be- 
tween General  Washington  and  the  Governor  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  amended  system  of  union,  or  confederation  (the  terms 
are  employed  indiscriminately  and  interchangeably  by  the  states- 
men of  that  period),  devised  by  the  Convention  of  1787,  and 

*  See  "  Republic  of  Republics,"  Part  II,  chapters  xiii  and  xiv. 


104      K!SE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

embodied,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Constitution  which  they 
framed  and  have  set  forth,  was  now  to  be  considered  and 
acted  on  by  the  people  of  the  several  States.  This  they  did 
in  the  highest  and  most  majestic  form  in  which  the  sanction 
of  organized  communities  could  be  given  or  withheld  —  not 
through  ambassadors,  or  Legislatures,  or  deputies  with  limited 
powers,  but  through  conventions  of  delegates  chosen  expressly 
for  the  purpose  and  clothed  with  the  plenary  authority  of  sov- 
ereign people.  The  action  of  these  conventions  was  deliberate, 
cautious,  and  careful.  There  was  much  debate,  and  no  little 
opposition  to  be  conciliated.  Eleven  States,  however,  ratified 
and  adopted  the  new  Constitution  within  the  twelve  months 
immediately  following  its  submission  to  them.  Two  of  them 
positively  rejected  it,  and,  although  they  afterward  acceded  to 
it,  remained  outside  of  the  Union  in  the  exercise  of  their  sov- 
ereign right,  which  nobody  then  denied — North  Carolina  for 
nine  months,  Rhode  Island  for  nearly  fifteen,  after  the  new 
Government  was  organized  and  went  into  operation.  In  sev- 
eral of  the  other  States  the  ratification  was  effected  only  by 
small  majorities. 

The  terms  in  which  this  action  was  expressed  by  the  several 
States  and  the  declarations  with  which  it  was  accompanied  by 
some  of  them  are  worthy  of  attention. 

Delaware  was  the  first  to  act.  Her  Convention  met  on  De- 
cember 3,  1787,  and  ratified  the  Constitution  on  the  7th.  The 
readiness  of  this  least  in  population,  and  next  to  the  least  in  ter- 
ritorial extent,  of  all  the  States,  to  accept  that  instrument,  is  a 
very  significant  fact  when  we  remember  the  jealous  care  with 
which  she  had  guarded  against  any  infringement  of  her  sov- 
ereign Statehood.  Delaware  alone  had  given  special  instructions 
to  her  deputies  in  the  Convention  not  to  consent  to  any  sacrifice 
of  the  principle  of  equal  representation  in  Congress.  The 
promptness  and  unanimity  of  her  people  in  adopting  the  new 
Constitution  prove  very  clearly,  not  only  that  they  were  satis- 
fied with  the  preservation  of  that  principle  in  the  Federal 
Senate,  but  that  they  did  not  understand  the  Constitution, 
in  any  of  its  features,  as  compromising  the  "  sovereignty,  free- 
dom, and  independence "  which  she   had  so  especially  cher- 


1787]  RATIFICATION  BY  THE  STATES.  105 

ished.     The  ratification  of  their  Convention  is  expressed  in 
these  words : 

"  We,  the  deputies  of  the  people  of  the  Delaware  State,  in 
convention  met,  having  taken  into  our  serious  consideration  the 
Federal  Constitution  proposed  and  agreed  upon  by  the  deputies 
of  the  United  States  at  a  General  Convention  held  at  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  on  the  17th  day  of  September,  a.  d.  1787,  have  ap- 
proved of,  assented  to,  and  ratified  and  confirmed,  and  by  these 
presents  do,  in  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authority  to  us  given  for 
that  purpose,  for  and  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  our  constituents, 
fully,  freely,  and  entirely,  approve  of,  assent  to,  ratify,  and  con- 
firm the  said  Constitution. 

"  Done  in  convention  at  Dover,  December  7,  1787." 

This,  and  twelve  other  like  acts,  gave  to  the  Constitution 
"  all  the  life  and  validity  it  ever  had,  or  could  have,  as  to  the 
thirteen  united  or  associated  States." 

Pennsylvania  acted  next  (December  12,  1787),  the  ratifica- 
tion not  being  finally  accomplished  without  strong  opposition, 
on  grounds  which  will  be  referred  to  hereafter.  In  announcing 
its  decision,  the  Convention  of  this  State  began  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  name  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  Be  it  known 
unto  all  men  that  we,  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Convention  assembled,"  etc., 
etc.,  concluding  with  these  words  :  "  By  these  presents,  do,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same  people,  and  for  ourselves, 
assent  to  and  ratify  the  foregoing  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America." 

In  New  Jersey  the  ratification,  which  took  place  on  the  18th 
of  December,  was  unanimous.  This  is  no  less  significant  and 
instructive  than  the  unanimity  of  Delaware,  from  the  fact  that 
the  ISTew  Jersey  delegation,  in  the  Convention  that  framed  the 
Constitution,  had  taken  the  lead  in  behalf  of  the  federal,  or 
State-rights,  idea,  in  opposition  to  that  of  nationalism,  or  con- 
solidation. William  Patterson,  a  distinguished  citizen  (after- 
ward Governor)  of  ISTew  Jersey,  had  introduced  into  that  Con- 
vention what  was  known  as  "  the  Jersey  plan,"  embodying  these 


106   RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

State-rights  principles,  as  distinguished  from  the  various  "na- 
tional "  plans  presented.  In  defending  them,  he  had  said,  after 
calling  for  the  reading  of  the  credentials  of  delegates : 

"  Can  we,  on  this  ground,  form  a  national  Government  ?  I 
fancy  not.  Our  commissions  give  a  complexion  to  the  business  ; 
and  can  we  suppose  that,  when  we  exceed  the  hounds  of  our  duty, 
the  people  will  approve  our  proceedings  ? 

"We  are  met  here  as  the  deputies  of  thirteen  independent, 
sovereign  States,  for  federal  purposes.  Can  we  consolidate  their 
sovereignty  and  form  one  nation,  and  annihilate  the  sovereignties 
of  our  States,  who  have  sent  us  here  for  other  purposes  ?  " 

Again,  on  a  subsequent  day,  after  stating  that  he  was  not 
there  to  pursue  his  own  sentiments  of  government,  but  of  those 
who  had  sent  him,  he  had  asked  : 

"  Can  we,  as  representatives  of  independent  States,  annihilate 
the  essential  powers  of  independency?  Are  not  the  votes  of  this 
Convention  taken  on  every  question  under  the  idea  of  indepen- 
dency ?  " 

The  fact  that  this  State,  which,  through  her  representatives, 
had  taken  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  maintenance  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  State  sovereignty,  ratified  the  Constitution  with  such 
readiness  and  unanimity,  is  conclusive  proof  that,  in  her  opinion, 
that  principle  was  not  compromised  thereby.  The  conclusion 
of  her  ordinance  of  ratification  is  in  these  words  : 

"Now  be  it  known  that  we,  the  delegates  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  chosen  by  the  people  thereof  for  the  purpose  aforesaid, 
having  maturely  deliberated  on  and  considered  the  aforesaid  pro- 
posed Constitution,  do  hereby,  for  and  on  behalf  of  the  people  of 
the  said  State  of  New  Jersey,  agree  to,  ratify,  and  confirm  the 
same,  and  every  part  thereof. 

"  Done  in  convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  mem- 
bers present,  this  18th  day  of  December,  a.  d.  1787." 

Georgia  next,  and  also  unanimously,  on  January  2,  1788, 
declared,  through  "  the  delegates  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  con- 
vention met,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  [act  of  the]  Legis- 
lature aforesaid,  ...  in  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authority  given 


1788]  SHARP  CONTEST  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  107 

us  [them]  by  the  people  of  the  said  State,  for  that  purpose,"  that 
the j  did  "  fully  and  entirely  assent  to,  ratify,  and  adopt  the  said 
Constitution." 

Connecticut  (on  the  9th  of  January)  declares  her  assent  with 
equal  distinctness  of  assertion  as  to  the  source  of  the  authority : 
"  In  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  we,  the 
delegates  of  the  people  of  the  said  State,  in  General  Convention 
assembled,  pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  Legislature  in  October 
last  ....  do  assent  to,  ratify,  and  adopt  the  Constitution  re- 
ported by  the  Convention  of  delegates  in  Philadelphia." 

In  Massachusetts  there  was  a  sharp  contest.  The  people  of 
that  State  were  then — as  for  a  long  time  afterward — exceedingly 
tenacious  of  their  State  independence  and  sovereignty.  The  pro- 
posed Constitution  was  subjected  to  a  close,  critical,  and  rigorous 
examination  with  reference  to  its  bearing  upon  this  very  point. 
The  Convention  was  a  large  one,  and  some  of  its  leading  mem- 
bers were  very  distrustful  of  the  instrument  under  their  con- 
sideration. It  was  ultimately  adopted  by  a  very  close  vote  (187 
to  168),  and  then  only  as  accompanied  by  certain  proposed 
amendments,  the  object  of  which  was  to  guard  more  expressly 
against  any  sacrifice  or  compromise  of  State  sovereignty,  and 
under  an  assurance,  given  by  the  advocates  of  the  Constitution, 
of  the  certainty  that  those  amendments  would  be  adopted.  The 
most  strenuously  urged  of  these  was  that  ultimately  adopted  (in 
substance)  as  the  tenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which 
was  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the  second  Article  of  Con- 
federation, as  an  emphatic  assertion  of  the  continued  freedom, 
sovereignty,  and  independence  of  the  States.  This  will  be  con- 
sidered more  particularly  hereafter. 

In  terms  substantially  identical  with  those  employed  by  the 
other  States,  Massachusetts  thus  announced  her  ratification  : 

"  In  convention  of  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts,  1788.  The  Convention  having  impar- 
tially discussed  and  fully  considered  the  Constitution  for  the 
United  States  of  America,  reported  [etc.],  .  .  .  do,  in  the  name 
and  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 
assent  to  and  ratify  the  said  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America." 


108      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

This  was  accomplished  on  February  7,  1788. 

Maryland  followed  on  the  28th  of  April,  and  South  Carolina 
on  the  23d  of  May,  in  equivalent  expressions,  the  ratification  of 
the  former  being  made  by  "the  delegates  of  the  people  of  Mary- 
land" speaking,  as  they  declared,  for  ourselves,  and  in  the  name 
and  on  the  behalf  of  the  people  of  this  State  ;  that  of  the  latter, 
"  in  convention  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  by 
their  representatives,  ...  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  State." 

But  South  Carolina,  like  Massachusetts,  demanded  certain 
amendments,  and  for  greater  assurance  accompanied  her  ordi- 
nance of  ratification  with  the  following  distinct  assertion  of  the 
principle  afterward  embodied  in  the  tenth  amendment : 

"  This  Convention  doth  also  declare  that  no  section  or  para- 
graph of  the  said  Constitution  warrants  a  construction  that  the 
States  do  not  retain  every  poicer  not  expressly  relinquished  by 
them  and  vested  in  the  General  Government  of  the  Union." 

"  The  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire" in  convention,  on  the  21st  of  June,  "in  the  name  and 
behalf  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire"  declared 
their  approval  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  In  this  State, 
also,  the  opposition  was  formidable  (the  final  vote  being  57  to 
46),  and,  as  in  South  Carolina,  it  was  "  explicitly  declared  that 
all  powers  not  expressly  and  particularly  delegated  by  the  afore- 
said Constitution  are  reserved  to  the  several  States,  to  be  by 
them  exercised." 

The  debates  in  the  Yirginia  Convention  were  long  and 
animated.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  and  most  gifted  men 
of  that  period  took  part  in  them,  and  they  have  ever  since  been 
referred  to  for  the  exposition  which  they  afford  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Constitution  by  its  authors  and  their  contempo- 
raries. Among  the  members  were  Madison,  Mason,  and  Ran- 
dolph, who  had  also  been  members  of  the  Convention  at  Phila- 
delphia. Mr.  Madison  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  advocates  of 
the  new  Constitution,  while  Mr.  Mason  was  as  warmly  opposed 
to  its  adoption  ;  so  also  was  Patrick  Henry,  the  celebrated  ora- 
tor.    It  was  assailed  with  great  vehemence  at  every  vulnerable 


1788]  NEW  YORK  RESERVED  POWER.  109 

or  doubtful  point,  and  was  finally  ratified  June  26,  1788,  by  a 
vote  of  89  to  79 — a  majority  of  only  ten. 

This  ratification  was  expressed  in  the  same  terms  employed 
by  other  States,  by  "  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  Virginia, 
...  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Virginia"  In 
so  doing,  however,  like  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and 
South  Carolina,  Yirginia  demanded  certain  amendments  as  a 
more  explicit  guarantee  against  consolidation,  and  accompanied 
the  demand  with  the  following  declaration  : 

"  That  the  powers  granted  under  the  Constitution,  being  de- 
rived from  the  people  of  the  United  States,  may  be  resumed  by 
them,  whenever  the  same  shall  be  perverted  to  their  injury  or 
oppression,  and  that  every  power  not  granted  thereby  remains 
with  them  and  at  their  will,"  etc.,  etc. 

Whether,  in  speaking  of  a  possible  resumption  of  powers  by 
"  the  people  of  the  United  States,"  the  Convention  had  in  mind 
the  action  of  such  a  people  in  the  aggregate — a  political  commu- 
nity which  did  not  exist,  and  of  which  they  could  hardly  have 
entertained  even  an  ideal  conception — or  of  the  people  of  Yir- 
ginia, for  whom  they  were  speaking,  and  of  the  other  United 
States  then  taking  similar  action — is  a  question  which  scarcely 
admits  of  argument,  but  which  will  be  more  fully  considered  in 
the  proper  place. 

New  York,  the  eleventh  State  to  signify  her  assent,  did  so 
on  July  26,  1788,  after  an  arduous  and  protracted  discussion, 
and  then  by  a  majority  of  but  three  votes — 30  to  27.  Even 
this  small  majority  was  secured  only  by  the  recommendation 
of  certain  material  amendments,  the  adoption  of  which  by  the 
other  States  it  was  at  first  proposed  to  make  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  the  validity  of  the  ratification.  This  idea  was  aban- 
doned after  a  correspondence  between  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr. 
Madison,  and,  instead  of  conditional  ratification,  New  York  pro- 
vided for  the  resumption  of  her  grants  ;  but  the  amendments 
were  put  forth  with  a  circular  letter  to  the  other  States,  in  which 
it  was  declared  that  "  nothing  but  the  fullest  confidence  of  ob- 
taining a  revision  "  of  the  objectionable  features  of  the  Consti- 
tution, "and  an  invincible  reluctance  to  separating  from  our 


HO      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

sister  States,  could  have  prevailed  upon  a  sufficient  number  to 
ratify  it  without  stipulating  for  previous  amendments." 

The  ratification  was  expressed  in  the  usual  terms,  as  made 
u~by  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  .  .  . 
in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  the  people  "  of  the  said  State.  Ac- 
companying it  was  a  declaration  of  the  principles  in  which  the 
assent  of  New  York  was  conceded,  one  paragraph  of  which  runs 
as  follows : 

"  That  the  powers  of  government  may  be  reassumed  by  the 
people,  whensoever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness  ; 
that  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not,  by  the 
said  Constitution,  clearly  delegated  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  departments  of  the  Government  thereof,  remains  to 
the  people  of  the  several  States,  or  to  their  respective  State  gov- 
ernments, to  whom  they  may  have  granted  the  same  ;  and  that 
those  clauses  in  the  said  Constitution  which  declare  that  Congress 
shall  not  have  or  exercise  certain  powers,  do  not  imply  that  Con- 
gress is  entitled  to  any  powers  not  given  by  the  said  Constitution, 
but  such  clauses  are  to  be  construed  either  as  exceptions  to  certain 
specified  powers  or  as  inserted  for  greater  caution." 

The  acceptance  of  these  eleven  States  having  been  signified 
to  the  Congress,  provision  was  made  for  putting  the  new  Con- 
stitution in  operation.  This  was  effected  on  March  4,  1789, 
when  the  Government  was  organized,  with  George  Washington 
as  President,  and  John  Adams,  Vice-President ;  the  Senators 
and  Representatives  elected  by  the  States  which  had  acceded 
to  the  Constitution,  organizing  themselves  as  a  Congress. 

Meantime,  two  States  were  standing,  as  we  have  seen,  unques- 
tioned and  unmolested,  in  an  attitude  of  absolute  independence. 
The  Convention  of  North  Carolina,  on  August  2,  1788,  had  re- 
jected the  proposed  Constitution,  or,  more  properly  speaking, 
had  withheld  her  ratification  until  action  could  be  taken  upon 
the  subject-matter  of  the  following  resolution  adopted  by  her 
Convention  : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  declaration  of  rights,  asserting  and  securing 
from  encroachment  the  great  principles  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty, and  the  unalienable  rights  of  the  people,  together  with  amend- 


1790]  NORTH   CAROLINA  AND  RHODE  ISLAND.  HI 

ments  to  the  most  ambiguous  and  exceptionable  parts  of  the  said 
Constitution  of  government,  ought  to  be  laid  before  Congress  and 
the  Convention  of  the  States  that  shall  or  may  be  called  for  the 
purpose  of  amending  the  said  Constitution,  for  their  consideration, 
previous  to  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  aforesaid  on  the 
part  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina." 

More  than  a  year  afterward,  when  the  newly  organized  Gov- 
ernment had  been  in  operation  for  nearly  nine  months,  and 
when — although  no  convention  of  the  States  had  been  called 
to  revise  the  Constitution — North  Carolina  had  good  reason  to 
feel  assured  that  the  most  important  provisions  of  her  proposed 
amendments  and  "declaration  of  rights"  would  be  adopted,  she 
acceded  to  the  amended  compact.  On  November  21,  1789,  her 
Convention  agreed,  "in  behalf  of  the  freemen,  citizens,  and  in- 
habitants of  the  State  of  North  Carolina"  to  "  adopt  and  ratify  " 
the  Constitution. 

In  Rhode  Island  the  proposed  Constitution  was  at  first  sub- 
mitted to  a  direct  vote  of  the  people,  who  rejected  it  by  an  over- 
whelming majority.  Subsequently — that  is,  on  May  29,  1790, 
when  the  reorganized  Government  had  been  in  operation  for 
nearly  fifteen  months,  and  when  it  had  become  reasonably  cer- 
tain that  the  amendments  thought  necessary  would  be  adopted — 
a  convention  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  acceded  to  the  new 
Union,  and  ratified  the  Constitution,  though  even  then  by  a  ma- 
jority of  only  two  votes  in  sixty-six — 34  to  32.  The  ratification 
was  expressed  in  substantially  the  same  language  as  that  which 
has  now  been  so  repeatedly  cited  : 

"  We,  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  Plantations,  duly  elected  and  met  in  convention, 
...  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  do,  by  these  presents,  assent  to  and  ratify 
the  said  Constitution." 

It  is  particularly  to  be  noted  that,  during  the  intervals  be- 
tween the  organization  of  the  Federal  Government  under  the 
new  Constitution  and  the  ratification  of  that  Constitution  by 
North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  respectively,  those  States 


112      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

were  absolutely  independent  and  unconnected  with  any  other 
political  community,  unless  they  be  considered  as  still  repre- 
senting the  "  United  States  of  America,"  which  by  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation  had  been  declared  a  "  perpetual  union." 
The  other  States  had  seceded  from  the  former  union — not  in  a 
body,  but  separately,  each  for  itself — and  had  formed  a  new 
association,  leaving  these  two  States  in  the  attitude  of  foreign 
though  friendly  powers.  There  was  no  claim  of  any  right  to 
control  their  action,  as  if  they  had  been  mere  geographical 
or  political  divisions  of  one  great  consolidated  community  or 
"  nation."  Their  accession  to  the  Union  was  desired,  but  their 
freedom  of  choice  in  the  matter  was  never  questioned.  And 
then  it  is  to  be  noted,  on  their  part,  that,  like  the  house  of 
Judah,  they  refrained  from  any  attempt  to  force  the  seceding 
sisters  to  return. 

As  illustrative  of  the  relations  existing  during  this  period 
between  the  United  States  and  Rhode  Island,  it  may  not  be 
uninstructive  to  refer  to  a  letter  sent  by  the  government  of 
the  latter  to  the  President  and  Congress,  and  transmitted  by 
the  President  to  the  Senate,  with  the  following  note  : 

"  United  States,  September  26, 1789. 
"  Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  :  Having  yesterday  received  a 
letter  written  in  this  month  by  the  Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  at 
the  request  and  in  behalf  of  the  General  Assembly  of  that  State, 
addressed  to  the  President,  the  Senate,  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  eleven  United  States  of  America  in  Congress 
assembled,  I  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  laying  a  copy  of  it 
before  you. 

"  George  Washington." 

Some  extracts  from  the  communication  referred  to  are  an- 
nexed : 

"  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations, 
In  General  Assembly,  September  Session,  1789. 

"  To  the  President,  the  Senate,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
eleven  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled  : 

"  The  critical  situation  in  which  the  people  of  this  State  are 

placed  engages  us  to  make  these  assurances,  on  their  behalf,  of 

their  attachment  and  friendship  to  their  sister  States,  and  of  their 


1789]  RHODE  ISLAND  TO  UNITED  STATES  CONGRESS.  H3 

disposition  to  cultivate  mutual  harmony  and  friendly  intercourse. 
They  know  themselves  to  be  a  handful,  comparatively  viewed, 
and,  although  they  now  stand  as  it  were  alone,  they  have  not  sep- 
arated themselves  or  departed  from  the  principles  of  that  Confed- 
eration, which  was  formed  by  the  sister  States  in  their  struggle 
for  freedom  and  in  the  hour  of  danger.  .  .  . 

"  Our  not  having  acceded  to  or  adopted  the  new  system  of  gov- 
ernment formed  and  adopted  by  most  of  our  sister  States,  we  doubt 
not,  has  given  uneasiness  to  them.  That  we  have  not  seen  our  way 
clear  to  it,  consistently  with  our  idea  of  the  principles  upon  which 
we  all  embarked  together,  has  also  given  pain  to  us.  We  have  not 
doubted  that  we  might  thereby  avoid  present  difficulties,  but  we 
have  apprehended  future  mischief.  .  .  . 

"  Can  it  be  thought  strange  that,  with  these  impressions,  they 
[the  people  of  this  State]  should  wait  to  see  the  proposed  system 
organized  and  in  operation  ? — to  see  what  further  checks  and  secu- 
rities would  be  agreed  to  and  established  by  way  of  amendments, 
before  they  could  adopt  it  as  a  Constitution  of  government  for 
themselves  and  their  posterity  ?  .  .  . 

"  We  are  induced  to  hope  that  we  shall  not  be  altogether  con- 
sidered as  foreigners  having  no  particular  affinity  or  connection 
with  the  United  States  ;  but  that  trade  and  commerce,  upon  which 
the  prosperity  of  this  State  much  depends,  will  be  preserved  as 
free  and  open  between  this  State  and  the  United  States,  as  our 
different  situations  at  present  can  possibly  admit.  .  .  . 

"  We  feel  ourselves  attached  by  the  strongest  ties  of  friend- 
ship, kindred,  and  interest,  to  our  sister  States  ;  and  we  can  not, 
without  the  greatest  reluctance,  look  to  any  other  quarter  for  those 
advantages  of  commercial  intercourse  which  we  conceive  to  be 
more  natural  and  reciprocal  between  them  and  us. 

"  I  am,  at  the  request  and  in  behalf  of  the  General  Assembly, 
your  most  obedient,  humble  servant. 

"  John"  Collins,  Governor. 

"  His  Excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States.'''' 

[American  State  Papers,  Vol.  I,  Miscellaneous.] 

8 


114      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

The  Constitution  not  adopted  by  one  People  "  in  the  Aggregate." — A  Great  Fallacy 
exposed. — Mistake  of  Judge  Story. — Colonial  Kelations. — The  United  Colonies 
of  New  England. — Other  Associations. — Independence  of  Communities  traced 
from  Germany  to  Great  Britain,  and  from  Great  Britain  to  America. — Mr. 
Everett's  "  Provincial  People." — Origin  and  Continuance  of  the  Title  "  United 
States." — No  such  Political  Community  as  the  "  People  of  the  United  States." 

The  historical  retrospect  of  the  last  three  chapters  and  the 
extracts  from  the  records  of  a  generation  now  departed  have 
been  presented  as  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  of  the 
nature  and  principles  of  the  compact  of  1787,  on  which  de- 
pended the  questions  at  issue  in  the  secession  of  1861  and  the 
contest  that  ensued  between  the  States. 

"We  have  seen  that  the  united  colonies,  when  they  declared 
their  independence,  formed  a  league  or  alliance  with  one  another 
as  "  United  States."  This  title  antedated  the  adoption  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  It  was  assumed  immediately  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  was  continued  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation ;  the  first  of  which  declared  that 
u  the  style  of  this  confederacy  shall  be  '  The  United  States 
of  America '  "  ;  and  this  style  was  retained — without  question 
— in  the  formation  of  the  present  Constitution.  The  name  was 
not  adopted  as  antithetical  to,  or  distinctive  from,  "confed- 
erate," as  some  seem  to  have  imagined.  If  it  has  any  signifi- 
cance now,  it  must  have  had  the  same  under  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  or  even  before  they  were  adopted. 

It  has  been  fully  shown  that  the  States  which  thus  became 
and  continued  to  be  "  united,"  whatever  form  their  union  as- 
sumed, acted  and  continued  to  act  as  distinct  and  sovereign 
political  communities.  The  monstrous  fiction  that  they  acted 
as  one  people  "  in  their  aggregate  capacity  "  has  not  an  atom  of 
fact  to  serve  as  a  basis. 

To  go  back  to  the  very  beginning,  the  British  colonies  never 
constituted  one  people.  Judge  Story,  in  his  "  Commentaries  "  on 
the  Constitution,  seems  to  imply  the  contrary,  though  he  shrinks 
from  a  direct  assertion  of  it,  and  clouds  the  subject  by  a  con- 


1643]  UNITED  COLONIES  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  115 

fusion  of  terms.  He  says  :  "  Now,  it  is  apparent  that  none  of 
the  colonies  before  the  Revolution  were,  in  the  most  large  and 
general  sense,  independent  or  sovereign  communities.  They 
were  all  originally  settled  under  and  subjected  to  the  British 
Crown."  And  then  he  proceeds  to  show  that  they  were,  in 
their  colonial  condition,  not  sovereign — a  proposition  which  no- 
body disputed.  As  colonies,  they  had  no  claim,  and  made  no 
pretension,  to  sovereignty.  They  were  subject  to  the  British 
Crown,  unless,  like  the  Plymouth  colony,  "  a  law  unto  them- 
selves," but  they  were  independent  of  each  other — the  only 
point  which  has  any  bearing  upon  their  subsequent  relations. 
There  was  no  other  bond  between  them  than  that  of  their  com- 
mon allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  mother-country.  As 
an  illustration  of  this  may  be  cited  the  historical  fact  that,  when 
John  Stark,  of  Bennington  memory,  was  before  the  Revolution 
engaged  in  a  hunting  expedition  in  the  Indian  country,  he  was 
captured  by  the  savages  and  brought  to  Albany,  in  the  colony 
of  New  York,  for  a  ransom  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  he  belonged  to 
New  Hampshire,  the  government  of  New  York  took  no  action 
for  his  release.  There  was  not  even  enough  community  of 
feeling  to  induce  individual  citizens  to  provide  money  for  the 
purpose. 

There  were,  however,  local  and  partial  confederacies  among 
the  New  England  colonies,  long  before  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. As  early  as  the  year  1643  a  Congress  had  been 
organized  of  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  New 
Haven,  and  Connecticut,  under  the  style  of  "  The  United  Col- 
onies of  New  England."  The  objects  of  this  confederacy,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Bancroft,  were  "  protection  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Dutch  and  French,  security  against  the  tribes  of 
savages,  the  liberties  of  the  gospel  in  purity  and  in  peace."  * 
The  general  affairs  of  the  company  were  intrusted  to  commis- 
sions, two  from  each  colony ;  but  the  same  historian  tells  us  that 
"  to  each  its  respective  local  jurisdiction  was  carefully  reserved," 
and  he  refers  to  this  as  evidence  that  the  germ-principle  of  State- 
rights  was  even  then  in  existence.  "  Thus  remarkable  for  un- 
mixed simplicity"  (he  proceeds)  "was  the  form  of  the  first  con- 

*  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i,  chap.  ix. 


116      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

federated  government  in  America.  .  .  .  There  was  no  president, 
except  as  a  moderator  of  its  meetings,  and  the  larger  State  [sic], 
Massachusetts,  superior  to  all  the  rest  in  territory,  wealth,  and 
population,  had  no  greater  number  of  votes  than  New  Haven. 
But  the  commissioners  were  in  reality  little  more  than  a  delib- 
erative body;  they  possessed  no  executive  power,  and,  while 
they  could  decree  a  war  and  a  levy  of  troops,  it  remained  for 
the  States  to  carry  their  votes  into  effect."  * 

This  confederacy  continued  in  existence  for  nearly  fifty  years. 
Between  that  period  and  the  year  1774,  when  the  first  Con- 
tinental Congress  met  in  Philadelphia,  several  other  temporary 
and  provisional  associations  of  colonies  had  been  formed,  and 
the  people  had  been  taught  the  advantages  of  union  for  a  com- 
mon purpose ;  but  they  had  never  abandoned  or  compromised 
the  great  principle  of  community  independence.  That  form  of 
self-government,  generated  in  the  German  forests  before  the 
days  of  the  Csesars,  had  given  to  that  rude  people  a  self-reliance 
and  patriotism  which  first  checked  the  flight  of  the  Roman 
eagles,  which  elsewhere  had  been  the  emblem  of  their  dominion 
over  the  known  world.  This  principle — the  great  preserver 
of  all  communal  freedom  and  of  mutual  harmony — was  trans- 
planted by  the  Saxons  into  England,  and  there  sustained  those 
personal  rights  which,  after  the  fall  of  the  Heptarchy,  were 
almost  obliterated  by  the  encroachments  of  Norman  despotism  ; 
but,  having  the  strength  and  perpetuity  of  truth  and  right,  were 
reasserted  by  the  mailed  hands  of  the  barons  at  Runnymede  for 
their  own  benefit  and  that  of  their  posterity.  Englishmen,  the 
early  settlers,  brought  this  idea  to  the  wilds  of  America,  and  it 
found  expression  in  many  forms  among  the  infant  colonies. 

Mr.  Edward  Everett,  in  his  Fourth-of-July  address,  delivered 
in  New  York  in  1861,  following  the  lead  of  Judge  Story,  and 
with  even  less  caution,  boldly  declares  that,  "before  their  inde- 
pendence of  England  was  asserted,  they  [the  colonies]  consti- 
tuted a  provincial  people."  To  sustain  this  position — utterly 
contrary  to  all  history  as  it  is — he  is  unable  to  adduce  any  valid 
American  authority,  but  relies  almost  exclusively  upon  loose  ex- 
pressions employed  in  debate  in  the  British  Parliament  about 
*  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i,  chap.  ix. 


1114]  USE  OF   THE   WORD  "PEOPLE."  ;Q7 

» 

the  period  of  the  American  Revolution — such  as  "  that  people," 
"  that  loyal  and  respectable  people,"  "  this  enlightened  and  spir- 
ited people,"  etc.,  etc.  The  speakers  who  made  use  of  this  col- 
loquial phraseology  concerning  the  inhabitants  of  a  distant 
continent,  in  the  freedom  of  extemporaneous  debate,  were  not 
framing  their  ideas  with  the  exactitude  of  a  didactic  treatise, 
and  could  little  have  foreseen  the  extraordinary  use  to  be  made 
of  their  expressions  nearly  a  century  afterward,  in  sustaining  a 
theory  contradictory  to  history  as  well  as  to  common  sense.  It 
is  as  if  the  familiar  expressions  often  employed  in  our  own  time, 
such  as  "  the  people  of  Africa,"  or  "  the  people  of  South  Amer- 
ica," should  be  cited,  by  some  ingenious  theorist  of  a  future  gen- 
eration, as  evidence  that  the  subjects  of  the  Khedive  and  those 
of  the  King  of  Dahomey  were  but  "  one  people,"  or  that  the 
Peruvians  and  the  Patagonians  belonged  to  the  same  political 
community. 

Mr.  Everett,  it  is  true,  quotes  two  expressions  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  to  sustain  his  remarkable  proposition  that  the 
colonies  were  "  a  people."  One  of  these  is  found  in  a  letter 
addressed  by  the  Congress  to  General  Gage  in  October,  1774, 
remonstrating  against  the  erection  of  fortifications  in  Boston,  in 
which  they  say,  "  We  entreat  your  Excellency  to  consider  what 
a  tendency  this  conduct  must  have  to  irritate  and  force  a  free 
people,  hitherto  well  disposed  to  peaceable  measures,  into  hos- 
tilities." From  this  expression  Mr.  Everett  argues  that  the  Con- 
gress considered  themselves  the  representatives  of  "  a  people." 
But,  by  reference  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress,  he  might 
readily  have  ascertained  that  the  letter  to  General  Gage  was 
written  in  behalf  of  "  the  town  of  Boston  and  Province  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay"  the  people  of  which  were  " considered  by  all 
America  as  suffering  in  the  common  cause  for  their  noble  and 
spirited  opposition  to  oppressive  acts  of  Parliament."  The 
avowed  object  was  "  to  entreat  his  Excellency,  from  the  assur- 
ance we  have  of  the  peaceable  disposition  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town  of  Boston  and  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
to  discontinue  his  fortifications."  *  These  were  the  "  people  " 
referred  to  by  the  Congress ;  and  the  children  of  the  Pilgrims, 

*  "  American  Archives,"  fourth  series,  vol.  i,  p.  908. 


118      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

who  occupied  at  that  period  the  town  of  Boston  and  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  would  have  been  not  a  little  astonished 
to  be  reckoned  as  "  one  people,"  in  any  other  respect  than  that 
of  the  "  common  cause,"  with  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Maryland, 
the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania,  or 
the  Baptists  of  Phode  Island. 

The  other  citation  of  Mr.  Everett  is  from  the  first  sentence 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  :  "  When  in  the  course  of 
human  events  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the 
political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,"  etc., 
etc.  This,  he  says,  characterizes  "  the  good  people  "  of  the  col- 
onies as  "  one  people." 

Plainly,  it  does  no  such  thing.  The  misconception  is  so 
palpable  as  scarcely  to  admit  of  serious  answer.  The  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  opens  with  a  general  proposition.  "  One 
people"  is  equivalent  to  saying  "any  people."  The  use  of  the 
correlatives  "one"  and  "another"  was  the  simple  and  natural 
way  of  stating  this  general  proposition.  "  One  people  "  applies, 
and  was  obviously  intended  to  apply,  to  all  cases  of  the  same 
category — to  that  of  New  Hampshire,  or  Delaware,  or  South 
Carolina,  or  of  any  other  people  existing  or  to  exist,  and  whether 
acting  separately  or  in  concert.  It  applies  to  any  case,  and  all 
cases,  of  dissolution  of  political  bands,  as  well  as  to  the  case  of 
the  British  colonies.  It  does  not,  either  directly  or  by  implica- 
tion, assert  their  unification,  and  has  no  bearing  whatever  upon 
the  question. 

When  the  colonies  united  in  sending  representatives  to  a 
Congress  in  Philadelphia,  there  was  no  purpose — no  suggestion 
of  a  purpose  —  to  merge  their  separate  individuality  in  one 
consolidated  mass.  No  such  idea  existed,  or  with  their  known 
opinions  could  have  existed.  They  did  not  assume  to  become  a 
united  colony  or  province,  but  styled  themselves  "  united  colo- 
nies " — colonies  united  for  purposes  of  mutual  counsel  and  de- 
fense, as  the  New  England  colonies  had  been  united  more  than 
a  hundred  years  before.  It  was  as  "  United  States" — not  as  a 
state,  or  united  people — that  these  colonies — still  distinct  and 
politically  independent  of  each  other — asserted  and  achieved 
their  independence  of  the  mother-country.    As  "  United  States  " 


1789]  THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  UNION.  119 

they  adopted  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  in  which  the  separate 
sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence  of  each  was  distinctly 
asserted.  They  were  "  united  States  "  when  Great  Britain  ac- 
knowledged the  absolute  freedom  and  independence  of  each, 
distinctly  and  separately  recognized  by  name.  France  and 
Spain  were  parties  to  the  same  treaty,  and  the  French  and 
Spanish  idioms  still  express  and  perpetuate,  more  exactly  than 
the  English,  the  true  idea  intended  to  be  embodied  in  the 
title — les  Mats  Unis,  or  los  Estados  Unidos  —  the  States 
united. 

It  was  without  any  change  of  title — still  as  " United  States" 
— without  any  sacrifice  of  individuality — without  any  compro- 
mise of  sovereignty — that  the  same  parties  entered  into  a  new 
and  amended  compact  with  one  another  under  the  present  Con- 
stitution. Larger  and  more  varied  powers  were  conferred  upon 
the  common  Government  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  "  a  more 
perfect  union  " — not  for  that  of  destroying  or  impairing  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  contracting  members. 

The  point  which  now  specially  concerns  the  argument  is  the 
historical  fact  that,  in  all  these  changes  of  circumstances  and  of 
government,  there  has  never  been  one  single  instance  of  .action 
by  the  "  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate,"  or  as  one 
body.  Before  the  era  of  independence,  whatever  was  done  by 
the  people  of  the  colonies  was  done  by  the  people  of  each  colony 
separately  and  independently  of  each  other,  although  in  union  by 
their  delegates  for  certain  specified  purposes.  Since  the  asser- 
tion of  their  independence,  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
never  acted  otherwise  than  as  the  people  of  each  State,  severally 
and  separately.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  established 
and  ratified  by  the  several  States,  either  through  conventions  of 
their  people  or  through  the  State  Legislatures.  The  Constitution 
which  superseded  those  articles  was  framed,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  delegates  chosen  and  empowered  by  the  several  States,  and 
was  ratified  by  conventions  of  the  people  of  the  same  States — 
all  acting  in  entire  independence  of  one  another.  This  ratifica- 
tion alone  gave  it  force  and  validity.  Without  the  approval  and 
ratification  of  the  people  of  the  States,  it  would  have  been,  as 
Mr.  Madison  expressed  it,  "  of  no  more  consequence  than  the 


120   RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

paper  on  which  it  was  written."  It  was  never  submitted  to 
"the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate,"  or  as  a  peo- 
ple. Indeed,  no  such  political  community  as  the  people  of  the 
United  States  in  the  aggregate  exists  at  this  day  or  ever  did 
exist.  Senators  in  Congress  confessedly  represent  the  States  as 
equal  units.  The  House  of  Representatives  is  not  a  body  of 
representatives  of  "  the  people  of  the  United  States,"  as  often 
erroneously  asserted ;  but  the  Constitution,  in  the  second  sec- 
tion of  its  first  article,  expressly  declares  that  it  "shall  be 
composed  of  members  chosen  by  the  people  of  the  several 
States" 

Nor  is  it  true  that  the  President  and  Vice-President  are 
elected,  as  it  is  sometimes  vaguely  stated,  by  vote  of  the  "  whole 
people  "  of  the  Union.  Their  election  is  even  more  unlike  what 
such  a  vote  would  be  than  that  of  the  representatives,  who  in 
numbers  at  least  represent  the  strength  of  their  respective  States. 
In  the  election  of  President  and  Yice-President  the  Constitution 
(Article  II)  prescribes  that  "  each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such 
manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  elec- 
tors "  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a  President  and  Yice-President. 
The  number  of  these  electors  is  based  partly  upon  the  equal  sov- 
ereignty, partly  upon  the  unequal  population  of  the  respective 
States. 

It  is,  then,  absolutely  true  that  there  has  never  been  any 
such  thing  as  a  vote  of  "  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the 
aggregate  "  ;  no  such  people  is  recognized  by  the  Constitution ; 
and  no  such  political  community  has  ever  existed.  It  is  equally 
true  that  no  officer  or  department  of  the  General  Government 
formed  by  the  Constitution  derives  authority  from  a  majority  of 
the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  or  has  ever  been  chosen 
by  such  majority.  As  little  as  any  other  is  the  United  States 
Government  a  government  of  a  majority  of  the  mass. 


1787]  THE   CONSTITUTION  WRITTEN.  121 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Preamble  to  the  Constitution. — "  We,  the  People." 

The  preamble  to  the  Constitution  proposed  by  the  Conven- 
tion of  1787  is  in  these  words : 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare, 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity, 
do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America." 

The  phraseology  of  this  preamble  has  been  generally  re- 
garded as  the  stronghold  of  the  advocates  of  consolidation.  It 
has  been  interpreted  as  meaning  that  "  we,  the  people  of  the 
United  States,"  as  a  collective  body,  or  as  a  "nation,"  in  onr 
aggregate  capacity,  had  "  ordained  and  established  "  the  Consti- 
tution over  the  States. 

This  interpretation  constituted,  in  the  beginning,  the  most 
serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  ratification  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. It  was  probably  this  to  which  that  sturdy  patriot,  Sam- 
uel Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  alluded,  when  he  wrote  to  Hich- 
ard  Henry  Lee,  "  I  stumble  at  the  threshold."  Patrick  Henry, 
in  the  Yirginia  Convention,  on  the  third  day  of  the  session, 
and  in  the  very  opening  of  the  debate,  attacked  it  vehemently. 
He  said,  speaking  of  the  system  of  government  set  forth  in  the 
proposed  Constitution  : 

"  That  this  is  a  consolidated  government  is  demonstrably 
clear  ;  and  the  danger  of  such  a  government  is,  to  my  mind,  very 
striking.  I  have  the  highest  veneration  for  those  gentlemen  [its 
authors]  ;  but,  sir,  give  me  leave  to  demand,  What  right  had  they 
to  say,  We,  the  people  f  My  political  curiosity,  exclusive  of  my 
anxious  solicitude  for  the  public  welfare,  leads  me  to  ask,  Who 
authorized  them  to  speak  the  language  of  '  We,  the  people?  in- 
stead of  We,  the  States  f  States  are  the  characteristics  and  the 
soul  of  a  confederation.     If  the  States  be  not  the  agents  of  this 


122      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

compact,  it  must  be  one  great  consolidated  national  government 
of  the  people  of  all  the  States."  * 

Again,  on  the  next  day,  with  reference  to  the  same  subject, 
he  said  :  "  When  I  asked  that  question,  I  thought  the  meaning 
of  my  interrogation  was  obvious.  The  fate  of  this  question 
and  of  America  may  depend  on  this.  Have  they  said,  "We,  the 
States  ?  Have  they  made  a  proposal  of  a  compact  between 
States?  If  they  had,  this  would  be  a  confederation  :  it  is  oth- 
erwise most  clearly  a  consolidated  government.  The  question 
turns,  sir,  on  that  poor  little  thing — the  expression,  'We,  the 
people,'  instead  of  the  States  of  America."  f 

The  same  difficulty  arose  in  other  minds  and  in  other  con- 
ventions. 

The  scruples  of  Mr.  Adams  were  removed  by  the  explana- 
tions of  others,  and  by  the  assurance  of  the  adoption  of  the 
amendments  thought  necessary — especially  of  that  declaratory 
safeguard  afterward  embodied  in  the  tenth  amendment — to  be 
referred  to  hereafter. 

Mr.  Henry's  objection  was  thus  answered  by  Mr.  Madison : 

"  Who  are  parties  to  it  [the  Constitution]  ?  The  people — but 
not  the  people  as  composing  one  great  body  /  but  the  people  as 
composing  thirteen  sovereignties :  were  it,  as  the  gentleman  [Mr. 
Henry]  asserts,  a  consolidated  government,  the  assent  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  people  would  be  sufficient  for  its  establishment,  and 
as  a  majority  have  adopted  it  already,  the  remaining  States  would 
be  bound  by  the  act  of  the  majority,  even  if  they  unanimously 
reprobated  it :  were  it  such  a  government  as  is  suggested,  it 
would  be  now  binding  on  the  people  of  this  State,  without  hav- 
ing had  the  privilege  of  deliberating  upon  it ;  but,  sir,  no  State  is 
bound  by  it,  as  it  is,  without  its  own  consent.  Should  all  the 
States  adopt  it,  it  will  be  then  a  government  established  by  the 
thirteen  States  of  America,  not  through  the  intervention  of  the 
Legislatures,  but  by  the  people  at  large.  In  this  particular  respect 
the  distinction  between  the  existing  and  proposed  governments 
is  very  material.  The  existing  system  has  been  derived  from 
the  dependent,  derivative  authority  of   the  Legislatures   of   the 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates  "  (Washington  edition,  1836),  vol.  iii,  p.  54.     \  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


1788]  STATE   CONVENTIONS.  123 

States,  whereas  this  is  derived  from  the  superior  power  of  the 
people."  * 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  was  spoken  by  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Consti- 
tution, within  a  few  months  after  that  instrument  was  drawn 
up.  Mr.  Madison's  hearers  could  readily  appreciate  his  clear 
answer  to  the  objection  made.  The  "  people  "  intended  were 
those  of  the  respective  States — the  only  organized  communities 
of  people  exercising  sovereign  powers  of  government ;  and  the 
idea  intended  was  the  ratification  and  "  establishment "  of  the 
Constitution  by  direct  act  of  the  people  in  their  conventions, 
instead  of  by  act  of  their  Legislatures,  as  in  the  adoption  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  The  explanation  seems  to  have 
been  as  satisfactory  as  it  was  simple  and  intelligible.  Mr.Henry, 
although  he  fought  to  the  last  against  the  ratification  of  the 
Constitution,  did  not  again  bring  forward  this  objection,  for  the 
reason,  no  doubt,  that  it  had  been  fully  answered.  Indeed,  we 
hear  no  more  of  the  interpretation  which  suggested  it,  from  that 
period,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  wrhen  it  was  revived,  and  has 
since  been  employed,  to  sustain  that  theory  of  a  "  great  consoli- 
dated national  government "  which  Mr.  Madison  so  distinctly 
repudiated. 

But  we  have  access  to  sources  of  information,  not  then  avail- 
able, which  make  the  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Constitution 
still  plainer.  When  Mr.  Henry  made  his  objection,  and  Mr. 
Madison  answered  it,  the  journal  of  the  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion had  not  been  published.  That  body  had  sat  with  closed 
doors,  and  among  its  rules  had  been  the  following : 

"  That  no  copy  be  taken  of  any  entry  on  the  journal  during  the 
sitting  of  the  House,  without  the  leave  of  the  House. 

"  That  members  only  be  permitted  to  inspect  the  journal. 

"  That  nothing  spoken  in  the  House  be  printed,  or  otherwise 
published  or  communicated,  without  leave."  f 

We  can  understand,  by  reference  to  these  rules,  how  Mr. 
Madison  should  have  felt  precluded  from  making  allusion  to 

*  Elliott's  "Debates"  (Washington  edition,  1836),  vol.  iii,  pp.  114,  115. 
f  Journal  of  the  Federal  Convention,  May  29,  1787,  1  Elliott's  "Debates." 


124      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

anything  that  had  occurred  during  the  proceedings  of  the  Con- 
vention. But  the  secrecy  then  covering  those  proceedings  has 
long  since  been  removed.  The  manuscript  journal,  which  was 
intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  General  Washington,  President  of 
the  Convention,  was  deposited  by  him,  nine  years  afterward, 
among  the  archives  of  the  State  Department.  It  has  since  been 
published,  and  we  can  trace  for  ourselves  the  origin,  and  ascer- 
tain the  exact  significance,  of  that  expression,  "  We,  the  people," 
on  which  Patrick  Henry  thought  the  fate  of  America  might 
depend,  and  which  has  been  so  grossly  perverted  in  later  years 
from  its  true  intent. 

The  original  language  of  the  preamble,  reported  to  the  Con- 
vention by  a  committee  of  five  appointed  to  prepare  the  Con- 
stitution, as  we  find  it  in  the  proceedings  of  August  6, 1787, 
was  as  follows : 

"  We,  the  people  of  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  do  ordain,  declare, 
and  establish,  the  following  Constitution  for  the  government  of 
ourselves  and  our  posterity." 

There  can  be  no  question  here  what  was  meant :  it  was  "  the 
people  of  the  States"  designated  by  name,  that  were  to  "  ordain, 
declare,  and  establish  "  the  compact  of  union  for  themselves  and 
their  posterity.  There  is  no  ambiguity  nor  uncertainty  in  the 
language  ;  nor  was  there  any  difference  in  the  Convention  as  to 
the  use  of  it.  The  preamble,  as  perfected,  was  submitted  to 
vote  on  the  next  day,  and,  as  the  journal  informs  us,  "  it  passed 
unanimously  in  the  affirmative." 

There  was  no  subsequent  change  of  opinion  on  the  subject. 
The  reason  for  the  modification  afterward  made  in  the  language 
is  obvious.  It  was  found  that  unanimous  ratification  of  all  the 
States  could  not  be  expected,  and  it  was  determined,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  that  the  consent  of  nine  States  should  suffice  for 
the  establishment  of  the  new  compact  "  between  the  States  so 
ratifying  the  same."  Any  nine  would  be  sufficient  to  put  the 
proposed  government  in  operation  as  to  them,  thus  leaving  the 


1181]  THE   WORD   "PEOPLE."  125 

remainder  of  the  thirteen  to  pursue  such  course  as  might  be  to 
each  preferable.  When  this  conclusion  was  reached,  it  became 
manifestly  impracticable  to  designate  beforehand  the  consenting 
States  by  name.  Hence,  in  the  final  revision,  the  specific  enu- 
meration of  the  thirteen  States  was  omitted,  and  the  equivalent 
phrase  "  people  of  the  United  States  "  inserted  in  its  place — 
plainly  meaning  the  people  of  such  States  as  should  agree  to 
unite  on  the  terms  proposed.  The  imposing  fabric  of  political 
delusion,  which  has  been  erected  on  the  basis  of  this  simple 
transaction,  disappears  before  the  light  of  historical  record. 

Could  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  have  foreseen  the  per- 
version to  be  made  of  their  obvious  meaning,  it  might  have 
been  prevented  by  an  easy  periphrasis — such  as,  "  We,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  States  hereby  united,"  or  something  to  the  same  effect. 
The  word  "people  "  in  1787,  as  in  1880,  was,  as  it  is,  a  collective 
noun,  employed  indiscriminately,  either  as  a  unit  in  such  ex- 
pressions as  "this  people,"  "a  free  people,"  etc.,  or  in  a  dis- 
tributive sense,  as  applied  to  the  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  one 
state  or  country  or  a  number  of  states  or  countries.  When  the 
Convention  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  in  1774,  instructed  their 
delegates  to  the  Congress  that  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia,  "  to 
obtain  a  redress  of  those  grievances,  without  which  the  people 
of  America  can  neither  be  safe,  free,  nor  happy,"  it  was  cer- 
tainly not  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  people  of  the 
American  Continent,  or  even  of  the  British  colonies  in  America, 
constituted  one  political  community.  Nor  did  Edmund  Burke 
have  any  such  meaning  when  he  said,  in  his  celebrated  speech 
in  Parliament,  in  1775,  "The  people  of  the  colonies  are  de- 
scendants of  Englishmen." 

We  need  go  no  further  than  to  the  familiar  language  of 
King  James's  translation  of  the  Bible  for  multiplied  illustrations 
of  this  indiscriminate  use  of  the  term,  both  in  its  collective  and 
distributive  senses.  For  example,  King  Solomon  prays  at  the 
dedication  of  the  temple  : 

"  That  thine  eyes  may  be  open  unto  the  supplication  .... 
of  thy  people  Israel,  to  hearken  unto  them  in  all  that  they  call 
for  unto  thee.  For  thou  didst  separate  them  from  among  all  the 
people  of  the  earth,  to  be  thine  inheritance."  (1  Kings  viii,  52, 53.) 


126      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Here  we  have  both  the  singular  and  plural  senses  of  the 
same  word — one  people,  Israel,  and  all  the  people  of  the  earth — 
in  two  consecutive  sentences.  In  uthe  people  of  the  earth," 
the  word  people  is  used  precisely  as  it  is  in  the  expression  "  the 
people  of  the  United  States  "  in  the  preamble  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  has  exactly  the  same  force  and  effect.  If  in  the  latter 
case  it  implies  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts  and  those  of 
Yirginia  were  mere  fractional  parts  of  one  political  community, 
it  must  in  the  former  imply  a  like  unity  among  the  Philistines, 
the  Egyptians,  the  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  Persians,  and 
all  other  "  people  of  the  earth,"  except  the  Israelites.  Scores 
of  examples  of  the  same  sort  might  be  cited  if  it  were  neces- 
sary.* 

In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we  find  precisely  analo- 
gous instances  of  the  employment  of  the  singular  form  for  both 
singular  and  plural  senses — "  one  people,"  "  a  free  people,"  in 
the  former,  and  "  the  good  people  of  these  colonies "  in  the 
latter.  Judge  Story,  in  the  excess  of  his  zeal  in  behalf  of  a  the- 
ory of  consolidation,  bases  upon  this  last  expression  the  con- 
clusion that  the  assertion  of  independence  was  the  act  of  "  the 
whole  people  of  the  united  colonies  "  as  a  unit ;  overlooking  or 
suppressing  the  fact  that,  in  the  very  same  sentence,  the  colo- 
nies declare  themselves  "  free  and  independent  States " — not  a 
free  and  independent  state — repeating  the  words  "  independent 
States  "  three  times. 

If,  however,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  constituted 
one  "whole  people"  of  the  colonies,  then  that  geographical 
section  of  it,  formerly  known  as  the  colony  of  Maryland,  was  in 
a  state  of  revolt  or  "  rebellion  "  against  the  others,  as  well  as 
against  Great  Britain,  from  1778  to  1781,  during  which  period 
Maryland  refused  to  ratify  or  be  bound  by  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation, which,  according  to  this  theory,  was  binding  upon 
her,  as  a  majority  of  the  "  whole  people  "  had  adopted  it.  A 
fortiori,  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island  were  in  a  state  of 
rebellion  in  1789-'90,  while  they  declined  to  ratify  and  recog- 
nize the  Constitution  adopted  by  the  other  eleven  fractions  of 
this  united  people.     Yet  no  hint  of  any  such  pretension — of 

*  For  a  very  striking  illustration,  see  Deuteronomy  vii,  6,  1. 


178V]  THE   CORNER-STONE   OF  THE  STRUCTURE.  127 

any  claim  of  authority  over  them  by  the  majority — of  any  asser- 
tion of  "  the  supremacy  of  the  Union  " — is  to  be  found  in  any 
of  the  records  of  that  period. 

It  might  have  been  unnecessary  to  bestow  so  much  time  and 
attention  in  exposing  the  absurdity  of  the  deductions  from  a 
theory  so  false,  but  for  the  fact  that  it  has  been  specious  enough 
to  secure  the  countenance  of  men  of  such  distinction  as  Web- 
ster, Story,  and  Everett ;  and  that  it  has  been  made  the  plea  to 
justify  a  bloody  war  against  that  principle  of  State  sovereignty 
and  independence,  which  was  regarded  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Union  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  structure  and  the  basis  of  the 
hope  for  its  perpetuity. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Preamble  to  the  Constitution — subject  continued. — Growth  of  the  Federal 
Government  and  Accretions  of  Power. — Revival  of  Old  Errors. — Mistakes  and 
Misstatements. — Webster,  Story,  and  Everett. — Who  "  ordained  and  established  " 
the  Constitution  ? 

In  the  progressive  growth  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  in  power,  splendor,  patronage,  and  consideration  abroad, 
men  have  been  led  to  exalt  the  place  of  the  Government  above 
that  of  the  States  which  created  it.  Those  who  would  under- 
stand the  true  principles  of  the  Constitution  can  not  afford  to 
lose  sight  of  the  essential  plurality  of  idea  invariably  implied 
in  the  term  "  United  States,"  wherever  it  is  used  in  that  instru- 
ment. No  such  unit  as  the  United  States  is  ever  mentioned 
therein.  We  read  that  "no  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted 
by  the  United  States,  and  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit 
or  trust  under  them  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  ac- 
cept," etc.*  "  The  President  .  .  .  shall  not  receive,  within  that 
period,  any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them"  f  " The  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made  or 
which  shall  be  made  under  their  authority,"  etc.  J     "  Treason 

*  Article  I,  section  9,  clause  8.  f  Article  II,  section  1,  clause  6. 

%  Article  III,  section  2. 


128      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war 
against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies."  *  The  Federal 
character  of  the  Union  is  expressed  by  this  very  phraseology, 
which  recognizes  the  distinct  integrity  of  its  members,  not  as  frac- 
tional parts  of  one  great  unit,  but  as  component  units  of  an  asso- 
ciation. So  clear  was  this  to  contemporaries,  that  it  needed  only 
to  be  pointed  out  to  satisfy  their  scruples.  We  have  seen  how 
effectual  was  the  answer  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  objections 
raised  by  Patrick  Henry.  Mr.  Tench  Coxe,  of  Pennsylvania, 
one  of  the  ablest  political  writers  of  his  generation,  in  answer- 
ing a  similar  objection,  said  :  "  If  the  Federal  Convention  had 
meant  to  exclude  the  idea  of  '  union ' — that  is,  of  several  and 
separate  sovereignties  joining  in  a  confederacy — they  would 
have  said,  '  We,  the  people  of  America ' ;  for  union  necessarily 
involves  the  idea  of  competent  States,  which  complete  consoli- 
dation excludes."  f 

More  than  forty  years  afterward,  when  the  gradual  accre- 
tions to  the  ipower, prestige,  and  influence  of  the  central  Govern- 
ment had  grown  to  such  extent  as  to  begin  to  hide  from  view  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  founded,  those  very  objections,  which 
in  the  beginning  had  been  answered,  abandoned,  and  thrown 
aside,  were  brought  to  light  again,  and  presented  to  the  country 
as  expositions  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  Constitution.  Mr. 
Webster,  one  of  the  first  to  revive  some  of  those  early  miscon- 
ceptions so  long  ago  refuted  as  to  be  almost  forgotten,  and  to 
breathe  into  them  such  renewed  vitality  as  his  commanding 
genius  could  impart,  in  the  course  of  his  well-known  debate  in 
the  Senate  with  Mr.  Hayne,  in  1830,  said: 

"It  can  not  be  shown  that  the  Constitution  is  a  compact  be- 
tween State  governments.  The  Constitution  itself,  in  its  very 
front,  refutes  that  proposition  :  it  declares  that  it  is  ordained  and 
established  by  the  people  of  the  United  States.  So  far  from  say- 
ing that  it  is  established  by  the  governments  of  the  several  States, 
it  does  not  even  say  that  it  is  established  by  the  people  of  the 
several  States  ;  but  it  pronounces  that  it  is  established  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate."  J 

*  Article  III,  section  3.  f  "American  Museum,"  February,  1788. 

X  Benton's  "  Abridgment,"  vol.  x,  p.  448. 


1861]  THE   "ONE  PEOPLE"  THEORY.  129 

Judge  Story  about  the  same  time  began  to  advance  the  same 
theory,  but  more  guardedly  and  with  less  rashness  of  statement. 
It  was  not  until  thirty  years  after  that  it  attained  its  full  devel- 
opment in  the  annunciations  of  sectionists  rather  than  states- 
men.    Two  such  may  suffice  as  specimens  :    • 

Mr.  Edward  Everett,  in  his  address  delivered  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1861,  and  already  referred  to,  says  of  the  Constitution : 
"  That  instrument  does  not  purport  to  be  a  '  compact,'  but  a 
constitution  of  government.  It  appears,  in  its  first  sentence,  not 
to  have  been  entered  into  by  the  States,  but  to  have  been  or- 
dained and  established  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  for 
themselves  and  their  '  posterity.'  The  States  are  not  named  in  it ; 
nearly  all  the  characteristic  powers  of  sovereignty  are  expressly 
granted  to  the  General  Government  and  expressly  prohibited  to 
the  States."  *  Mr.  Everett  afterward  repeats  the  assertion  that 
"  the  States  are  not  named  in  it."  f 

But  a  yet  more  extraordinary  statement  of  the  "  one  people  " 
theory  is  found  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  London  "  Times,"  in 
the  same  year,  1861,  on  the  "  Causes  of  the  Civil  "War,"  by  Mr. 
John  Lothrop  Motley,  afterward  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James.  In  this  letter  Mr.  Motley  says  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States : 

"  It  was  not  a  compact.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  compact  to 
which  there  were  no  parties  ?  or  who  ever  heard  of  a  compact 
made  by  a  single  party  with  himself  ?  Yet  the  name  of  no  State 
is  mentioned  in  the  whole  document ;  the  States  themselves  are 
only  mentioned  to  receive  commands  or  prohibitions  ;  and  the 
'  people  of  the  United  States  '  is  the  single  party  by  whom  alone 
the  instrument  is  executed. 

"  The  Constitution  was  not  drawn  up  by  the  States,  it  was  not 
promulgated  in  the  name  of  the  States,  it  was  not  ratified  by  the 
States.  The  States  never  acceded  to  it,  and  possess  no  power  to 
secede  from  it.  It  was  *  ordained  and  established '  over  the  States 
by  a  power  superior  to  the  States  ;  by  the  people  of  the  whole 
land  in  their  aggregate  capacity,"  etc. 

It  would  be  very  hard  to  condense  a  more  amazing  amount 

*  See  address  by  Edward  Everett  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  New  York,  July  4, 
1861.  f  Ibid. 

9 


130      RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  audacious  and  reckless  falsehood  in  the  same  space.  In  all 
Mr.  Motley's  array  of  bold  assertions,  there  is  not  one  single 
truth — unless  it  be,  perhaps,  that  "the  Constitution  was  not 
drawn  up  by  the  States."  Yet  it  was  drawn  up  by  their  dele- 
gates, and  it  is  of  such  material  as  this,  derived  from  writers 
whose  reputation  gives  a  semblance  of  authenticity  to  their  state- 
ments, that  history  is  constructed  and  transmitted. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  —  though,  perhaps,  the  least 
important — of  these  misstatements  is  that  which  is  also  twice 
repeated  by  Mr.  Everett — that  the  name  of  no  State  is  men- 
tioned in  the  whole  document,  or,  as  he  puts  it,  "  the  States  are 
not  named  in  it."  Yery  little  careful  examination  would  have 
sufficed  to  find,  in  the  second  section  of  the  very  first  article 
of  the  Constitution,  the  names  of  every  one  of  the  thirteen 
then  existent  States  distinctly  mentioned,  with  the  number  of 
representatives  to  which  each  would  be  entitled,  in  case  of 
acceding  to  the  Constitution,  until  a  census  of  their  population 
could  be  taken.  The  mention  there  made  of  the  States  by 
name  is  of  no  special  significance ;  it  has  no  bearing  upon  any 
question  of  principle ;  and  the  denial  of  it  is  a  purely  gratu- 
itous illustration  of  the  recklessness  of  those  from  whom  it 
proceeds,  and  the  low  estimate  put  on  the  intelligence  of  those 
addressed.  It  serves,  however,  to  show  how  much  credence  is 
to  be  given  to  their  authority  as  interpreters  and  expounders. 

The  reason  why  the  names  of  the  ratifying  States  were  not 
mentioned  has  already  been  given  :  it  was  simply  because  it 
was  not  known  which  States  would  ratify.  But,  as  regards 
mention  of  "  the  several  States,"  "  each  State,"  "  any  State," 
"  particular  States,"  and  the  like,  the  Constitution  is  full  of  it. 
I  am  informed,  by  one  who  has  taken  the  pains  to  examine  care- 
fully that  document  with  reference  to  this  very  point,  that— 
without  including  any  mention  of  "  the  United  States "  or  of 
"foreign  states,"  and  excluding  also  the  amendments  —  the 
Constitution,  in  its  original  draft,  makes  mention  of  the  States, 
as  States,  no  less  than  severity  times  ;  and  of  these  seventy  times, 
only  three  times  in  the  way  of  prohibition  of  the  exercise  of  a 
power.  In  fact,  it  is  full  of  statehood.  Leave  out  all  mention 
of  the  States — I  make  no  mere  verbal  point  or  quibble,  but 


1861]  THE  VITAL  AND  ESSENTIAL  POINT   OF  INQUIRY.  131 

mean  the  States  in  their  separate,  several,  distinct  capacity — 
and  what  would  remain  would  be  of  less  account  than  the  play 
of  the  Prince  of  Denmark  with  the  part  of  Hamlet  omitted. 

But,  leaving  out  of  consideration  for  the  moment  all  minor 
questions,  the  vital  and  essential  point  of  inquiry  now  is,  by 
what  authority  the  Constitution  was  "  ordained  and  established." 
Mr.  Webster  says  it  was  done  "  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  aggregate  "  ;  Mr.  Everett  repeats  substantially  the 
same  thing  ;  and  Mr.  Motley,  taking  a  step  further,  says  that 
"  it  was  '  ordained  and  established  '  by  a  power  superior  to  the 
States — by  the  people  of  the  whole  land  in  their  aggregate  ca- 
pacity." 

The  advocates  of  this  mischievous  dogma  assume  the  exist- 
ence of  an  unauthorized,  undefined  power  of  a"  whole  people," 
or  "  people  of  the  whole  land,"  operating  through  the  agency 
of  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  to  impose  its  decrees  upon  the 
States.  They  forget,  in  the  first  place,  that  this  Convention 
was  composed  of  delegates,  not  of  any  one  people,  but  of  dis- 
tinct States  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  their  action  had  no 
force  or  validity  whatever — in  the  words  of  Mr.  Madison,  that 
it  was  of  no  more  consequence  than  the  paper  on  which  it  was 
written — until  approved  and  ratified  by  a  sufficient  number 
of  States.  The  meaning  of  the  preamble,  "  We,  the  people 
of  the  United  States  ....  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Consti- 
tution," is  ascertained,  fixed,  and-  defined  by  the  final  article : 
"  The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nme  States  shall  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  same."  If  it  was  already  established, 
what  need  was  there  of  further  establishment  ?  It  was  not  or- 
dained or  established  at  all,  until  ratified  by  the  requisite  num- 
ber of  States.  The  announcement  in  the  preamble  of  course 
had  reference  to  that  expected  ratification,  without  which  the 
preamble  would  have  been  as  void  as  the  body  of  the  instru- 
ment. The  assertion  that  "  it  was  not  ratified  by  the  States  " 
is  so  plainly  and  positively  contrary  to  well-known  fact— so  in- 
consistent with  the  language  of  the  Constitution  itself — that  it 
is  hard  to  imagine  what  was  intended  by  it,  unless  it  was  to 
take  advantage  of  the  presumed  ignorance  of  the  subject  among 


132       RISE    AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  readers  of  an  English  journal,  to  impose  upon  them  a  pre- 
posterous fiction.  It  was  State  ratification  alone — the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  people  of  each  State,  independently  of  all  other  peo- 
ple—that gave  force,  vitality,  and  validity  to  the  Constitution. 

Judge  Story,  referring  to  the  fact  that  the  voters  assembled 
in  the  several  States,  asks  where  else  they  could  have  assembled 
—a  pertinent  question  on  our  theory,  but  the  idea  he  evidently 
intended  to  convey  was  that  the  voting  of  "  the  people  "  by 
States  was  a  mere  matter  of  geographical  necessity,  or  local  con- 
venience ;  just  as  the  people  of  a  State  vote  by  counties ;  the 
people  of  a  county  by  towns,  "  beats,"  or  "  precincts  "  ;  and  the 
people  of  a  city  by  wards.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that, 
in  all  organized  republican  communities,  majorities  govern. 
When  we  speak  of  the  will  of  the  people  of  a  community,  we 
mean  the  will  of  a  majority,  which,  when  constitutionally  ex- 
pressed, is  binding  on  any  minority  of  the  same  community. 

If,  then,  we  can  conceive,  and  admit  for  a  moment,  the  pos- 
sibility that,  when  the  Constitution  was  under  consideration, 
the  people  of  the  United  States  were  politically  "  one  people  " — 
a  collective  unit — two  deductions  are  clearly  inevitable  :  In  the 
first  place,  each  geographical  division  of  this  great  community 
would  have  been  entitled  to  vote  according  to  its  relative  popu- 
lation ;  and,  in  the  second,  the  expressed  will  of  the  legal  ma- 
jority would  have  been  binding  upon  the  whole.  A  denial  of 
the  first  proposition  would  be  a  denial  of  common  justice  and 
equal  rights ;  a  denial  of  the  second  would  be  to  destroy  all 
government  and  establish  mere  anarchy. 

Now,  neither  of  these  principles  was  practiced  or  proposed 
or  even  imagined  in  the  case  of  the  action  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  (if  they  were  one  political  community)  upon  the 
proposed  Constitution.  On  the  contrary,  seventy  thousand 
people  in  the  State  of  Delaware  had  precisely  the  same  weight 
— one  vote — in  its  ratification,  as  seven  hundred  thousand  (and 
more)  in  Virginia,  or  four  hundred  thousand  in  Pennsylvania. 
Would  not  this  have  been  an  intolerable  grievance  and  wrong 
— would  no  protest  have  been  uttered  against  it — if  these  had 
been  fractional  parts  of  one  community  of  people  ? 

Again,  while  the  will  of  the  consenting  majority  within  any 


A  FEDERAL  AND  NOT  A  NATIONAL  ACT.  133 

State  was  binding  on  the  opposing  minority  in  the  same,  no 
majority,  or  majorities,  of  States  or  people  had'  any  control 
whatever  upon  the  people  of  another  State.  The  Constitution 
was  established,  not  "  over  the  States,"  as  asserted  by  Motley, 
but  "  between  the  States,"  and  only  "  between  the  States  so  rati- 
fying the  same."  Little  Rhode  Island,  with  her  seventy  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  was  not  a  mere  fractional  part  of  "  the  people 
of  the  whole  land,"  during  the  period  for  which  she  held  aloof, 
but  was  as  free,  independent,  and  unmolested,  as  any  other  sov- 
ereign power,  notwithstanding  the  majority  of  more  than  three 
millions  of  "  the  whole  people  "  on  the  other  side  of  the  question. 
Before  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution — when  there  was 
some  excuse  for  an  imperfect  understanding  or  misconception 
of  the  terms  proposed — Mr.  Madison  thus  answered,  in  advance, 
the  objections  made  on  the  ground  of  this  misconception,  and 
demonstrated  its  fallacy.     He  wrote  : 

"That  it  will  be  a  federal  and  not  a  national  act,  as  these 
terms  are  understood  by  objectors — the  act  of  the  people,  as  form- 
ing so  many  independent  States,  not  as  forming  one  aggregate  na- 
tion— is  obvious  from  this  single  consideration,  that  it  is  to  result 
neither  from  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  Union 
nor  from  that  of  a  majority  of  the  States.  It  must  result  from  the 
unanimous  assent  of  the  several  States  that  are  parties  to  it,  differ- 
ing no  otherwise  from  their  ordinary  assent  than  in  its  being  ex- 
pressed, not  by  the  legislative  authority,  but  by  that  of  the  people 
themselves.  Were  the  people  regarded  in  this  transaction  as  form- 
ing one  nation,  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  would  bind  the  minority,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  majority  in  each  State  must  bind  the  minority  ;  and  the  will 
of  the  majority  must  be  determined  either  by  a  comparison  of  the 
individual  votes  or  by  considering  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the 
States  as  evidence  of  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Neither  of  these  has  been  adopted.  Each  State, 
in  ratifying  the  Constitution,  is  considered  as  a  sovereign  body, 
independent  of  all  others,  and  only  to  be  bound  by  its  own  volun- 
tary act."  * 

It  is  a  tedious  task  to  have  to  expose  the  misstatements,  both 

*  "  Federalist,"  No.  xxxix. 


134:      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  fact  and  of  principle,  which  have  occupied  so  much  atten- 
tion, but  it  is  rendered  necessary  by  the  extent  to  which  they 
have  been  imposed  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  public,  through 
reckless  assertion  and  confident  and  incessant  repetition. 

" '  I  remember,'  says  Mr.  Webster,  '  to  have  heard  Chief- Jus- 
tice Marshall  ask  counsel,  who  was  insisting  upon  the  authority  of 
an  act  of  legislation,  if  he  thought  an  act  of  legislation  could  cre- 
ate or  destroy  a  fact,  or  change  the  truth  of history  ?  "Would  it 
alter  the  fact,"  said  he,  "  if  a  Legislature  should  solemnly  enact  that 
Mr.  Hume  never  wrote  the  History  of  England  ?  "  A  Legislature 
may  alter  the  law,'  continues  Mr.  Webster,  *  but  no  power  can  re- 
verse a  fact.'  Hence,  if  the  Convention  of  1787  had  expressly  de- 
clared that  the  Constitution  was  [to  be]  ordained  by  '  the  people 
of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate]  or  by  the  people  of  America 
as  one  nation,  this  would  not  have  destroyed  the  fact  that  it  was 
ratified  by  each  State  for  itself,  and  that  each  State  was  bound  only 
by  'its  own  voluntary  act.' "     (Bledsoe.) 

But  the  Convention,  as  we  have  seen,  said  no  such  thing. 
No  such  community  as  "  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the 
aggregate  "  is  known  to  it,  or  ever  acted  on  it.  It  was  ordained, 
established,  and  ratified  by  the  people  of  the  several  States ;  and 
no  theories  or  assertions  of  a  later  generation  can  change  or  con- 
ceal this  fixed  fact,  as  it  stands  revealed  in  the  light  of  contem- 
poraneous records. 


CHAPTER    YII. 

Verbal  Cavils  and  Criticisms. — "Compact,"  "Confederacy,"  "Accession,"  etc. — 
The  "  New  Vocabulary." — The  Federal  Constitution  a  Compact,  and  the  States 
acceded  to  it. — Evidence  of  the  Constitution  itself  and  of  Contemporary  Rec- 
ords. 

I  have  habitually  spoken  of  the  Federal  Constitution  as  a 
compact,  and  of  the  parties  to  it  as  sovereign  States.  These 
terms  should  not,  and  in  earlier  times  would  not,  have  required 
explanation  or  vindication.  But  they  have  been  called  in  ques- 
tion by  the  modern  school  of  consolidation.     These  gentlemen 


1830]  DOES  IT  CALL  ITSELF  A  COMPACT?  135 

admit  that  the  Government  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
was  a  compact.  Mr.  Webster,  in  his  rejoinder  to  Mr.  Hayne, 
on  the  27th  of  January,  1830,  said  : 

"  When  the  gentleman  says  the  Constitution  is  a  compact  be- 
tween the  States,  he  uses  language  exactly  applicable  to  the  old 
Confederation.  He  speaks  as  if  he  were  in  Congress  before  1789. 
He  describes  fully  that  old  state  of  things  then  existing.  The 
Confederation  was,  in  strictness,  a  compact  ;  the  States,  as  States, 
were  parties  to  it.  We  had  no  other  General  Government.  But 
that  was  found  insufficient  and  inadequate  to  the  public  exigen- 
cies. The  people  were  not  satisfied  with  it,  and  undertook  to  es- 
tablish a  better.  They  undertook  to  form  a  General  Government, 
which  should  stand  on  a  new  basis — not  a  confederacy,  not  a  league, 
not  a  compact  between  States,  but  a  Constitution."  * 

Again,  in  his  discussion  with  Mr.  Calhoun,  three  years  after- 
ward, he  vehemently  reiterates  the  same  denial.  Of  the  Con- 
stitution, he  says :  "  Does  it  call  itself  a  compact  ?  Certainly 
not.  It  uses  the  word  '  compact '  but  once,  and  that  when  it 
declares  that  the  States  shall  enter  into  no  compact.f  Does  it 
call  itself  a  league,  a  confederacy,  a  subsisting  treaty  between 
the  States  ?  Certainly  not.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  such  lan- 
guage in  all  its  pages."  $ 

The  artist,  who  wrote  under  his  picture  the  legend  "  This 
is  a  horse,"  made  effectual  provision  against  any  such  cavil  as 
that  preferred  by  Mr.  Webster  and  his  followers,  that  the  Con- 
stitution is  not  a  compact,  because  it  is  not  "  so  nominated  in  the 
bond."  As  well  as  I  can  recollect,  there  is  no  passage  in  the 
"  Iliad  "  or  the  "  JEneid  "  in  which  either  of  those  great  works 
"  calls  itself,"  or  is  called  by  its  author,  an  epic  poem,  yet  this 
would  scarcely  be  accepted  as  evidence  that  they  are  not  epic 
poems.  In  an  examination  of  Mr.  Webster's  remarks,  I  do  not 
find  that  he  announces  them  to  be  either  a  speech  or  an  argu- 
ment ;  yet  their  claim  to  both  these  titles  will  hardly  be  disputed 

*  Gales  and  Seaton's  "  Register  of  Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  vi,  Part  I,  p.  93. 
f  The  words  "  with  another  State  or  with  a  foreign  power  "  should  have  been 
added  to  make  this  statement  accurate. 

\  "Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  ix,  Part  I,  p.  563. 


136      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

— notwithstanding  the  verbal  criticism  on  the  Constitution  just 
quoted. 

The  distinction  attempted  to  be  drawn  between  the  language 
proper  to  a  confederation  and  that  belonging  to  a  constitution, 
as  indicating  two  different  ideas,  will  not  bear  the  test  of  ex- 
amination and  application  to  the  case  of  the  United  States.  It 
has  been  fully  shown,  in  previous  chapters,  that  the  terms 
"  Union,"  "  Federal  Union,"  "  Federal  Constitution,"  "  Consti- 
tution of  the  Federal  Government,"  and  the  like,  were  used — 
not  merely  in  colloquial,  informal  speech,  but  in  public  proceed- 
ings and  official  documents — with  reference  to  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  as  freely  as  they  have  since  been  employed  under 
the  present  Constitution.  The  former  Union  was — as  Mr.  Web- 
ster expressly  admits — as  nobody  denies — a  compact  between 
States,  yet  it  nowhere  "  calls  itself  "  "  a  compact " ;  the  word  does 
not  occur  in  it  even  the  one  time  that  it  occurs  in  the  present 
Constitution,  although  the  contracting  States  are  in  both  prohib- 
ited from  entering  into  any  "  treaty,  confederation,  or  alliance  " 
with  one  another,  or  with  any  foreign  power,  without  the  con- 
sent of  Congress ;  and  the  contracting  or  constituent  parties  are 
termed  "  United  States  "  in  the  one  just  as  in  the  other. 

Mr.  Webster  is  particularly  unfortunate  in  his  criticisms 
upon  what  he  terms  the  "  new  vocabulary,"  in  which  the  Con- 
stitution is  styled  a  compact,  and  the  States  which  ratified  it  are 
spoken  of  as  having  "  acceded  "  to  it.  In  the  same  speech,  last 
quoted,  he  says : 

"  This  word  *  accede,'  not  found  either  in  the  Constitution  it- 
self or  in  the  ratification  of  it  by  any  one  of  the  States,  has  been 
chosen  for  use  here,  doubtless  not  without  a  well-considered  pur- 
pose. The  natural  converse  of  accession  is  secession  ;  and  therefore, 
when  it  is  stated  that  the  people  of  the  States  acceded  to  the  Union, 
it  may  be  more  plausibly  argued  that  they  may  secede  from  it.  If, 
in  adopting  the  Constitution,  nothing  was  done  but  acceding  to  a 
compact,  nothing  would  seem  necessary,  in  order  to  break  it  up, 
but  to  secede  from  the  same  compact.  But  the  term  is  wholly  out 
of  place.  Accession,  as  a  word  applied  to  political  associations, 
implies  coming  into  a  league,  treaty,  or  confederacy,  by  one  hith- 
erto a  stranger  to  it ;  and  secession  implies  departing  from  such 


1830]  RIGHT   TO  SECEDE  FROM   THE  UNION.  137 

league  or  confederacy.  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  used 
no  such  form  of  expression  in  establishing  the  present  Govern- 
ment." * 

Repeating  and  reiterating  in  many  forms  what  is  substan- 
tially the  same  idea,  and  attributing  the  use  of  the  terms  which 
he  attacks  to  an  ulterior  purpose,  Mr.  Webster  says  : 

"  This  is  the  reason,  sir,  which  makes  it  necessary  to  abandon 
the  use  of  constitutional  language  for  a  new  vocabulary,  and  to 
substitute,  in  the  place  of  plain,  historical  facts,  a  series  of  as- 
sumptions. This  is  the  reason  why  it  is  necessary  to  give  new 
names  to  things  ;  to  speak  of  the  Constitution,  not  as  a  constitu- 
tion, but  as  a  compact ;  and  of  the  ratifications  by  the  people,  not 
as  ratifications,  but  as  acts  of  accession."  f 

In  these  and  similar  passages,  Mr.  Webster  virtually  con- 
cedes that,  if  the  Constitution  were  a  compact ;  if  the  Union 
were  a  confederacy ;  if  the  States  had,  as  States,  severally  ac- 
ceded to  it — all  which  propositions  he  denies — then  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  States  and  their  right  to  secede  from  the  Union 
would  be  deducible. 

Now,  it  happens  that  these  very  terms — "  compact,"  "  con- 
federacy," "  accede,"  and  the  like — were  the  terms  in  familiar  use 
by  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  and  their  associates  with  ref- 
erence to  that  instrument  and  its  ratification.  Other  writers, 
who  have  examined  the  subject  since  the  late  war  gave  it  an  in- 
terest which  it  had  never  commanded  before,  have  collected 
such  an  array  of  evidence  in  this  behalf  that  it  is  necessary  only 
to  cite  a  few  examples. 

The  following  language  of  Mr.  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  in 
the  Convention  of  1787,  has  already  been  referred  to  :  "  If  nine 
out  of  thirteen  States  can  dissolve  the  compact,  six  out  of  nine 
will  be  just  as  able  to  dissolve  the  new  one  hereafter." 

Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  one  of  the  most  pronounced  advocates 
of  a  strong  central  government,  in  the  Convention,  said :  "  He 
came  here  to  form  a  compact  for  the  good  of  Americans.  He 
was  ready  to  do  so  with  all  the  States.     He  hoped  and  believed 

*  "  Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  ix,  Part  I,  p.  556.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  557,  558. 


138       RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

they  all  would  enter  into  such  a  compact.  If  they  would  not,  he 
would  be  ready  to  join  with  any  States  that  would.  But,  as  the 
com/pact  was  to  be  voluntary,  it  is  in  vain  for  the  Eastern  States 
to  insist  on  what  the  Southern  States  will  never  agree  to."  * 

Mr.  Madison,  while  inclining  to  a  strong  government,  said  : 
"  In  the  case  of  a  union  of  people  under  one  Constitution,  the 
nature  of  the  pact  has  always  been  understood,"  etc.f 

Mr.  Hamilton,  in  the  "  Federalist,"  repeatedly  speaks  of  the 
new  government  as  a  "confederate  republic''''  and  a  "confed- 
eracy" and  calls  the  Constitution  a  "  compact."  (See  especially 
Nos.  IX.  and  LXXXY.) 

General  Washington — who  was  not  only  the  first  President 
under  the  new  Constitution,  but  who  had  presided  over  the  Con- 
vention that  drew  it  up — in  letters  written  soon  after  the  ad- 
journment of  that  body  to  friends  in  various  States,  referred  to 
the  Constitution  as  a  compact  or  treaty,  and  repeatedly  uses  the 
terms  "  accede"  and  "  accession,"  and  once  the  term  "  secession." 

He  asks  what  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution  in  Virginia 
would  do,  "  if  nine  other  States  should  accede  to  the  Constitu- 
tion." 

Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland,  informs  us  that,  in  a  committee 
of  the  General  Convention  of  1787,  protesting  against  the  pro- 
posed violation  of  the  principles  of  the  "  perpetual  union "  al- 
ready formed  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  he  made  use 
of  such  language  as  this  : 

"  Will  you  tell  us  we  ought  to  trust  you  because  you  now  enter 
into  a  solemn  compact  with  us  ?  This  you  have  done  before,  and 
now  treat  with  the  utmost  contempt.  Will  you  now  make  an  ap- 
peal to  the  Supreme  Being,  and  call  on  Him  to  guarantee  your  ob- 
servance of  this  compact  f  The  same  you  have  formerly  done  for 
your  observance  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  you  are 
now  violating  in  the  most  wanton  manner."  \ 

It  is  needless  to  multiply  the  proofs  that  abound  in  the 
writings  of  the  "  fathers  "  to  show  that  Mr.  Webster's  "  new  vo- 

*  "Madison  Papers,"  pp.  1081,  1082.  f  Ibid.,  p.  1184. 

\  Luther  Martin's  "Genuine  Information,"  in  Wilbur  Curtiss's  "Secret  Proceed- 
ings and  Debates  of  the  Convention,"  p.  29. 


1783]  ORDINANCES   OF   RATIFICATION.  139 

cabulary "  was  the  very  language  they  familiarly  used.  Let 
two  more  examples  suffice,  from  authority  higher  than  that  of 
any  individual  speaker  or  writer,  however  eminent — from  au- 
thority second  only,  if  at  all  inferior,  to  that  of  the  text  of  the 
Constitution  itself — that  is,  from  the  acts  or  ordinances  of  rati- 
fication by  the  States.  They  certainly  ought  to  have  been  con- 
clusive, and  should  not  have  been  unknown  to  Mr.  Webster,  for 
they  are  the  language  of  Massachusetts,  the  State  which  he  rep- 
resented in  the  Senate,  and  of  New  Hampshire,  the  State  of  his 
nativity. 

The  ratification  of  Massachusetts  is  expressed  in  the  follow- 
ing terms : 

"COMMONWEALTH    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

"The  Convention,  having  impartially  discussed  and  fully  con- 
sidered a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America,  reported 
to  Congress  by  the  convention  of  delegates  from  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  submitted  to  us  by  a  resolution  of  the  General 
Court  of  the  said  Commonwealth,  passed  the  25th  day  of  October 
last  past,  and  acknowledging  with  grateful  hearts  the  goodness  of 
the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  in  affording  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  course  of  his  Providence,  an  opportunity, 
deliberately  and  peaceably,  without  fraud  or  surprise,  of  entering 
into  an  explicit  and  solemn  COMPACT  with  each  other,  hj  assent- 
ing to  and  ratifying  a  new  Constitution,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  se- 
cure the  blessings  of  liberty  to  themselves  and  their  posterity — do, 
in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  assent  to  and  ratify  the  said  Constitution  for  the 
United  States  of  America." 

The  ratification  of  New  Hampshire  is  expressed  in  precisely 
the  same  words,  save  only  the  difference  of  date  of  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  Legislature  (or  "  General  Court ")  referred  to,  and 
also  the  use  of  the  word  "State"  instead  of  "Commonwealth." 
Both  distinctly  accept  it  as  a  compact  of  the  States  "  with  each 
other" — which  Mr.  Webster,  a  son  of  New  Hampshire  and  a 
Senator  from  Massachusetts,  declared  it  was  not ;  and  not  only 


140      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

so,  but  lie  repudiated  the  very  "  vocabulary  "  from  which  the 
words  expressing  the  doctrine  were  taken. 

It  would  not  need,  however,  this  abounding  wealth  of  con- 
temporaneous exposition — it  does  not  require  the  employment 
of  any  particular  words  in  the  Constitution — to  prove  that  it 
was  drawn  up  as  a  compact  between  sovereign  States  entering 
into  a  confederacy  with  each  other,  and  that  they  ratified  and 
acceded  to  it  separately,  severally,  and  independently.  The 
very  structure  of  the  whole  instrument  and  the  facts  attending 
its  preparation  and  ratification  would  suffice.  The  language  of 
the  final  article  would  have  been  quite  enough  :  "  The  ratifica- 
tion of  the  conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for  the 
establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratify- 
ing the  same."  This  is  not  the  "  language  "  of  a  superior  im- 
posing a  mandate  upon  subordinates.  The  consent  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  is  necessary  to  its  validity,  and  then  it  becomes 
not  the  acceptance  and  recognition  of  an  authority  "  over  "  them 
— as  Mr.  Motley  represents — but  of  a  compact  between  them. 
The  simple  word  "  between "  is  incompatible  with  any  other 
idea  than  that  of  a  compact  by  independent  parties. 

If  it  were  possible  that  any  doubt  could  still  exist,  there  is 
one  provision  in  the  Constitution  which  stamps  its  character  as 
a  compact  too  plainly  for  cavil  or  question.  The  Constitution, 
which  had  already  provided  for  the  representation  of  the  States 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  thereby  bringing  the  matter  of 
representation  within  the  power  of  amendment,  in  its  fifth  ar- 
ticle contains  a  stipulation  that  uno  State,  without  its  [own] 
consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate." 
If  this  is  not  a  compact  between  the  States,  the  smaller  States 
have  no  guarantee  for  the  preservation  of  their  equality  of  rep- 
resentation in  the  United  States  Senate.  If  the  obligation  of  a 
contract  does  not  secure  it,  the  guarantee  itself  is  liable  to 
amendment,  and  may  be  swept  away  at  the  will  of  three  fourths 
of  the  States,  without  wrong  to  any  party — for,  according  to  this 
theory,  there  is  no  party  of  the  second  part. 


1860]  THEORY  OF  AMERICAN  REPUBLICANISM.  141 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

SOVEREIGNTY. 

"  The  term  c  sovereign '  or  '  sovereignty/  "  says  Judge  Story, 
"  is  used  in  different  senses,  which  often  leads  to  a  confusion  of 
ideas,  and  sometimes  to  very  mischievous  and  unfounded  con- 
clusions." Without  any  disrespect  for  Judge  Story,  or  any  dis- 
paragement of  his  great  learning  and  ability,  it  may  safely  be 
added  that  he  and  his  disciples  have  contributed  not  a  little  to 
the  increase  of  this  confusion  of  ideas  and  the  spread  of  these 
mischievous  and  unfounded  conclusions.  There  is  no  good  rea- 
son whatever  why  it  should  be  used  in  different  senses,  or  why 
there  should  be  any  confusion  of  ideas  as  to  its  meaning.  Of  all 
the  terms  employed  in  political  science,  it  is  one  of  the  most 
definite  and  intelligible.  The  definition  of  it  given  by  that 
accurate  and  lucid  publicist,  Burlamaqui,  is  simple  and  satisfac- 
tory— that  "  sovereignty  is  a  right  of  commanding  in  the  last 
resort  in  civil  society."  *  The  original  seat  of  this  sovereignty 
he  also  declares  to  be  in  the  people.  "  But,"  he  adds,  "  when 
once  the  people  have  transferred  their  right  to  a  sovereign  [i.  e., 
a  monarch],  they  can  not,  without  contradiction,  be  supposed  to 
continue  still  masters  of  it."  f  This  is  in  strict  accord  with  the 
theory  of  American  republicanism,  the  peculiarity  of  which  is 
that  the  people  never  do  transfer  their  right  of  sovereignty, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part.  They  only  delegate  to  their  govern- 
ments the  exercise  of  such  of  its  functions  as  may  be  necessary, 
subject  always  to  their  own  control,  and  to  reassumption  when- 
ever such  government  fails  to  fulfill  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  instituted. 

I  think  it  has  already  been  demonstrated  that,  in  this  coun- 
try, the  only  political  community — the  only  independent  corpo- 
rate unit — through  which  the  people  can  exercise  their  sover- 
eignty, is  the  State.  Minor  communities — as  those  of  coun- 
ties, cities,  and  towns — are  merely  fractional  subdivisions  of  the 

*  "  Principes  du  Droit  Politique,"  chap,  v,  section  1 ;  also,  chap,  vii,  section  1. 
f  Ibid.,  chap,  vii,  section  12. 


142      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

State;  and  these  do  not  affect  the  evidence  that  there  was 
not  such  a  political  community  as  the  "  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  aggregate." 

That  the  States  were  severally  sovereign  and  independent 
when  they  were  united  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  is 
distinctly  asserted  in  those  articles,  and  is  admitted  even  by 
the  extreme  partisans  of  consolidation.  Of  right,  they  are  still 
sovereign,  unless  they  have  surrendered  or  been  divested  of 
their  sovereignty;  and  those  who  deny  the  proposition  have 
been  vainly  called  upon  to  point  out  the  process  by  which  they 
have  divested  themselves,  or  have  been  divested  of  it,  otherwise 
than  by  usurpation. 

Since  Webster  spoke  and  Story  wrote  upon  the  subject, 
however,  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  has  been  vehemently 
denied,  or  explained  away  as  only  a  partial,  imperfect,  muti- 
lated sovereignty.  Paradoxical  theories  of  "  divided  sovereign- 
ty" and  "delegated  sovereignty"  have  arisen,  to  create  that 
"  confusion  of  ideas  "  and  engender  those  "  mischievous  and 
unfounded  conclusions,"  of  which  Judge  Story  speaks.  Con- 
founding the  sovereign  authority  of  the  people  with  the  dele- 
gated powers  conferred  by  them  upon  their  governments,  we 
hear  of  a  Government  of  the  United  States  "  sovereign  within 
its  sphere,"  and  of  State  governments  "  sovereign  in  their 
sphere "  ;  of  the  surrender  by  the  States  of  part  of  their  sov- 
ereignty to  the  United  States,  and  the  like.  Now,  if  there  be 
any  one  great  principle  pervading  the  Federal  Constitution,  the 
State  Constitutions,  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  the  whole 
American  system,  as  clearly  as  the  sunlight  pervades  the  solar 
system,  it  is  that  no  government  is  sovereign — that  all  govern- 
ments derive  their  powers  from  the  people,  and  exercise  them 
in  subjection  to  the  will  of  the  people — not  a  will  expressed  in 
any  irregular,  lawless,  tumultuary  manner,  but  the  will  of  the 
organized  political  community,  expressed  through  authorized 
and  legitimate  channels.  The  founders  of  the  American  repub- 
lics never  conferred,  nor  intended  to  confer,  sovereignty  upon 
either  their  State  or  Federal  Governments. 

If,  then,  the  people  of  the  States,  in  forming  a  Federal 
Union,  surrendered — or,  to  use  Burlamaqui's  term,  transferred — 


1792]  SOVEREIGNTY  UNDIVIDED   AND   INDIVISIBLE.  143 

or  if  they  meant  to  surrender  or  transfer — -part  of  their  sov- 
ereignty, to  whom  was  the  transfer  made  ?  Not  to  "  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate  "  ;  for  there  was  no 
such  people  in  existence,  and  they  did  not  create  or  constitute 
such  a  people  by  merger  of  themselves.  Not  to  the  Federal 
Government ;  for  they  disclaimed,  as  a  fundamental  principle, 
the  sovereignty  of  any  government.  There  was  no  such  sur- 
render, no  such  transfer,  in  whole  or  in  part,  expressed  or  im- 
plied. They  retained,  and  intended  to  retain,  their  sovereignty 
in  its  integrity — undivided  and  indivisible. 

"  But,  indeed,"  says  Mr.  Motley,  "  the  words  '  sovereign ' 
and  '  sovereignty  '  are  purely  inapplicable  to  the  American  sys- 
tem. In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  provinces  declare 
themselves  '  free  and  independent  States,'  but  the  men  of  those 
days  knew  .that  the  word  '  sovereign '  was  a  term  of  feudal  ori- 
gin. When  their  connection  with  a  time-honored  feudal  mon- 
archy was  abruptly  severed,  the  word  c  sovereign '  had  no  mean- 
ing for  us."  * 

If  this  be  true,  "  the  men  of  those  days  "  had  a  very  extraor- 
dinary way  of  expressing  their  conviction  that  the  word  "  had 
no  meaning  for  us."  We  have  seen  that,  in  the  very  front  of 
their  Articles  of  Confederation,  they  set  forth  the  conspicuous 
declaration  that  each  State  retained  "  its  sovereignty,  freedom, 
and  independence." 

Massachusetts — the  State,  I  believe,  of  Mr.  Motley's  nativity 
and  citizenship — in  her  original  Constitution,  drawn  up  by  "  men 
of  those  days,"  made  this  declaration  : 

"  The  people  inhabiting  the  territory  formerly  called  the  Prov- 
ince of  Massachusetts  Bay  do  hereby  solemnly  and  mutually  agree 
with  each  other  to  form  themselves  into  a  free,  sovereign,  and 
independent  body  politic,  or  State,  by  the  name  of  The  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts" 

New  Hampshire,  in  her  Constitution,  as  revised  in  1792,  had 
identically  the  same  declaration,  except  as  regards  the  name  of 
the  State  and  the  word  "State"  instead  of  "  Commonwealth." 

Mr.  Madison,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  men  of 

*  "Rebellion  Record,"  vol.  i,  Documents,  p.  211. 


144      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

that  day  and  of  the  advocates  of  the  Constitution,  in  a  speech 
already  once  referred  to,  in  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1788, 
explained  that  "  We,  the  people,"  who  were  to  establish  the 
Constitution,  were  the  people  of  "thirteen  sovereignties."* 

In  the  "  Federalist,"  he  repeatedly  employs  the  term — as,  for 
example,  when  he  says :  "Do  they  [the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Confederation]  require  that,  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Constitution,  the  States  should  be  regarded  as  distinct  and  inde- 
pendent sovereigns  %  They  are  so  regarded  by  the  Constitu- 
tion proposed."  f 

Alexander  Hamilton — another  contemporary  authority,  no 
less  illustrious — says,  in  the  "  Federalist"  : 

"  It  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  sovereignty,  not  to  be  ame- 
nable to  the  suit  of  an  individual  without  its  consent.  This  is  the 
general  sense  and  the  general  practice  of  mankind  ;  and  the  ex- 
emption, as  one  of  the  attributes  of  sovereignty,  is  now  enjoyed 
by  the  government  of  every  State  in  the  Union."  J 

In  the  same  paragraph  he  uses  these  terms,  "  sovereign  "  and 
"  sovereignty,"  repeatedly — always  with  reference  to  the  States, 
respectively  and  severally. 

Benjamin  Franklin  advocated  equality  of  suffrage  in  the 
Senate  as  a  means  of  securing  "  the  sovereignties  of  the  individ- 
ual States."  §  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  said  sovereign- 
ty "  is  in  the  people  before  they  make  a  Constitution,  and  re- 
mains in  them,"  and  described  the  people  as  being  "  thirteen 
independent  sovereignties."  [  Gouverneur  Morris,  who  was,  as 
well  as  Wilson,  one  of  the  warmest  advocates  in  the  Convention 
of  a  strong  central  government,  spoke  of  the  Constitution  as  "  a 
compact"  and  of  the  parties  to  it  as  "'each  enjoying  sovereign 
power."  1"  Roger  Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  declared  that  the 
Government "  was  instituted  by  a  number  of  sovereign  States."  ** 

*  Elliott's  "Debates,"  vol.  iii,  p.  114,  edition  of  1836. 
f  "  Federalist,"  No.  xl. 
%  Ibid,  No.  lxxxi. 

§  See  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  v,  p.  266. 
|  Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  443. 

If  See  "Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris,"  vol.  iii,  p.  193. 
**  See  "  Writings  of  John  Adams,"  vol.  vii,  letter  of  Roger  Sherman. 


1787]  THE   NEW  LIGHTS  OF  OUR  DAY.  145 

Oliver  Ellsworth,  of  the  same  State,  spoke  of  the  States  as  "  sov- 
ereign bodies."  *  These  were  all  eminent  members  of  the  Con- 
vention which  formed  the  Constitution. 

There  was  scarcely  a  statesman  of  that  period  who  did  not 
leave  on  record  expressions  of  the  same  sort.  But  why  multi- 
ply citations?  It  is  very  evident  that  the  "  men  of  those  days  " 
entertained  very  different  views  of  sovereignty  from  those  set 
forth  by  the  "  new  lights  "  of  our  day.  Far  from  considering 
it  a  term  of  feudal  origin,  "  purely  inapplicable  to  the  American 
system,"  they  seem  to  have  regarded  it  as  a  very  vital  principle 
in  that  system,  and  of  necessity  belonging  to  the  several  States 
— and  I  do  not  find  a  single  instance  in  which  they  applied  it  to 
any  political  organization,  except  the  States. 

Their  ideas  were  in  entire  accord  with  those  of  Yattel,  who, 
in  his  chapter  "  Of  Nations  or  Sovereign  States,"  writes,  "  Ev- 
ery nation  that  governs  itself,  under  what  form  soever,  without 
any  dependence  on  foreign  power,  is  a  sovereign  state."  f 

In  another  part  of  the  same  chapter  he  gives  a  lucid  state- 
ment of  the  nature  of  a  confederate  republic,  such  as  ours  was 
designed  to  be.     He  says : 

"  Several  sovereign  and  independent  states  may  unite  them- 
selves together  by  a  perpetual  confederacy,  without  each  in  par- 
ticular ceasing  to  be  a  perfect  state.  They  will  form  together  a 
federal  republic  :  the  deliberations  in  common  will  offer  no  vio- 
lence to  the  sovereignty  of  each  member,  though  they  may,  in  cer- 
tain respects,  put  some  restraint  on  the  exercise  of  it,  in  virtue  of 
voluntary  engagements.  A  person  does  not  cease  to  be  free  and 
independent,  when  he  is  obliged  to  fulfill  the  engagements  into 
which  he  has  very  willingly  entered."  J 

What  this  celebrated  author  means  here  by  a  person,  is  ex- 
plained by  a  subsequent  passage :  "  The  law  of  nations  is  the 
law  of  sovereigns ;  states  free  and  independent  are  moral  per- 


sons." 


*  See  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  ii,  p.  197. 

f  "Law  of  Nations,"  Book  I,  chap,  i,  section  4. 

%  Ibid.,  section  10.  §  Ibid.,  section  12. 

10 


146      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  same  Subject  continued. — The  Tenth  Amendment. — Fallacies  exposed. — "  Con- 
stitution," "  Government,"  and  "People"  distinguished  from  each  other.— 
Theories  refuted  by  Facts. — Characteristics  of  Sovereignty. — Sovereignty  iden- 
tified.— Never  thrown  away. 

If  any  lingering  doubt  could  have  existed  as  to  the  reserva- 
tion of  their  entire  sovereignty  by  the  people  of  the  respective 
States,  when  they  organized  the  Federal  Union,  it  would  have 
been  removed  by  the  adoption  of  the  tenth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution,  which  was  not  only  one  of  the  amendments  pro- 
posed by  various  States  when  ratifying  that  instrument,  but  the 
particular  one  in  which  they  substantially  agreed,  and  upon  which 
they  most  urgently  insisted.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the 
Constitution  would  never  have  received  the  assent  and  ratifica- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  perhaps  other  States,  but  for  a  well-grounded  assur- 
ance that  the  substance  of  this  amendment  would  be  adopted 
as  soon  as  the  requisite  formalities  could  be  complied  with. 
That  amendment  is  in  these  words : 

"  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Con- 
stitution nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States  are  reserved  to  the 
States  respectively,  or  to  the  people." 

The  full  meaning  of  this  article  may  not  be  as  clear  to  us  as 
it  was  to  the  men  of  that  period,  on  account  of  the  confusion 
of  ideas  by  which  the  term  "  people  " — plain  enough  to  them — 
has  since  been  obscured,  and  also  the  ambiguity  attendant  upon 
the  use  of  the  little  conjunction  or,  which  has  been  said  to  be 
the  most  equivocal  word  in  our  language,  and  for  that  reason 
has  been  excluded  from  indictments  in  the  English  courts.  The 
true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  provision,  however,  may  be  as- 
certained from  an  examination  and  comparison  of  the  terms  in 
which  it  was  expressed  by  the  various  States  which  proposed  it, 
and  whose  ideas  it  was  intended  to  embody. 

Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  in  their  ordinances  of 


1787]  POWERS  RESERVED   TO  THE  STATES.  147 

ratification,  expressing  the  opinion  "that  certain  amendments 
and  alterations  in  the  said  Constitution  would  remove  the  fears 
and  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  many  of  the  good  people  of 
this  Commonwealth  [State  (New  Hampshire)],  and  more  effect- 
ually guard  against  an  undue  administration  of  the  Federal 
Government,"  each  recommended  several  such  amendments, 
putting  this  at  the  head  in  the  following  form : 

"  That  it  be  explicitly  declared  that  all  powers  not  expressly 
delegated  by  the  aforesaid  Constitution  are  reserved  to  the  several 
States,  to  be  by  them  exercised." 

Of  course,  those  stanch  republican  communities  meant  the 
people  of  the  States — not  their  governments,  as  something  dis- 
tinct from  their  people. 

New  York  expressed  herself  as  follows : 

"  That  the  powers  of  government  may  be  reassumed  by  the 
people  whenever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness  ; 
that  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  the  said 
Constitution  clearly  delegated  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  departments  of  the  Government  thereof,  remains  to 
the  people  of  the  several  States,  or  to  their  respective  State  govern- 
ments, to  whom  they  may  have  granted  the  same  /  and  that  those 
clauses  in  the  said  Constitution,  which  declare  that  Congress  shall 
not  have  or  exercise  certain  powers,  do  not  imply  that  Congress  is 
entitled  to  any  powers  not  given  by  the  said  Constitution ;  but 
such  clauses  are  to  be  construed  either  as  exceptions  to  certain 
specified  powers  or  as  inserted  merely  for  greater  caution." 

South  Carolina  expressed  the  idea  thus : 

"  This  Convention  doth  also  declare  that  no  section  or  para- 
graph of  the  said  Constitution  warrants  a  construction  that  the 
States  do  not  retain  every  power  not  expressly  relinquished  by 
them  and  vested  in  the  General  Government  of  the  Union." 

North  Carolina  proposed  it  in  these  terms : 

"  Each  State  in  the  Union  shall  respectively  retain  every  power, 
jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  this  Constitution  delegated 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  or  to  the  departments  of  the 
General  Government." 


148      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Rhode  Island  gave  in  her  long-withheld  assent  to  the  Con- 
stitution, "  in  full  confidence  "  that  certain  proposed  amend- 
ments would  be  adopted,  the  first  of  which  was  expressed  in 
these  words : 

"  That  Congress  shall  guarantee  to  each  State  its  sovereignty, 
freedom,  and  independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and 
right,  which  is  not  by  this  Constitution  expressly  delegated  to  the 
United  States." 

This  was  in  May,  1790,  when  nearly  three  years  had  been 
given  to  discussion  and  explanation  of  the  new  Government  by 
its  founders  and  others,  when  it  had  been  in  actual  operation 
for  more  than  a  year,  and  when  there  was  every  advantage  for 
a  clear  understanding  of  its  nature  and  principles.  Under  such 
circumstances,  and  in  the  "  full  confidence  "  that  this  language 
expressed  its  meaning  and  intent,  the  people  of  Rhode  Island 
signified  their  "  accession  "  to  the  "  Confederate  Republic  "  of 
the  States  already  united. 

ISTo  objection  was  made  from  any  quarter  to  the  principle 
asserted  in  these  various  forms;  or  to  the  amendment  in  which 
it  was  finally  expressed,  although  many  thought  it  unnecessary, 
as  being  merely  declaratory  of  what  would  have  been  sufficiently 
obvious  without  it — that  the  functions  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  were  strictly  limited  to  the  exercise  of  such 
powers  as  were  expressly  delegated,  and  that  the  people  of  the 
several  States  retained  all  others. 

Is  it  compatible  with  reason  to  suppose  that  people  so  chary 
of  the  delegation  of  specific  powers  or  functions  could  have 
meant  to  surrender  or  transfer  the  very  basis  and  origin  of  all 
power — their  inherent  sovereignty — and  this,  not  by  express 
grant,  but  by  implication  ? 

Mr.  Everett,  following,  whether  consciously  or  not,  in  the 
line  of  Mr.  Webster's  ill-considered  objection  to  the  'term  "  com- 
pact," takes  exception  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  on 
the  ground  that  "  the  word  i  sovereignty '  does  not  occur  "  in 
the  Constitution.  lie  admits  that  the  States  were  sovereign 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  How  could  they  relin- 
quish or  be  deprived  of  their  sovereignty  without  even  a  men- 


1181]  CERTAIN  FUNCTIONS   OF  SOVEREIGNTY.  149 

tion  of  it — when  the  tenth  amendment  confronts  us  with  the 
declaration  that  nothing  was  surrendered  by  implication — that 
everything  was  reserved  unless  expressly  delegated  to  the  United 
States  or  prohibited  to  the  States  ?  Here  is  an  attribute  which 
they  certainly  possessed — which  nobody  denies,  or  can  deny, 
that  they  did  possess — and  of  which  Mr.  Everett  says  no  men- 
tion is  made  in  the  Constitution.  In  what  conceivable  way, 
then,  was  it  lost  or  alienated  ? 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  "  prohibition  "  of  the  exercise  by 
the  States  of  certain  functions  of  sovereignty ;  such  as,  making 
treaties,  declaring  war,  coining  money,  etc.  This  is  only  a  part 
of  the  general  compact,  by  which  the  contracting  parties  cove- 
nant, one  with  another,  to  abstain  from  the  separate  exercise 
of  certain  powers,  which  they  agree  to  intrust  to  the  manage- 
ment and  control  of  the  union  or  general  agency  of  the  parties 
associated.  It  is  not  a  prohibition  imposed  upon  them  from 
without,  or  from  above,  by  any  external  or  superior  power,  but 
is  self-imposed  by  their  free  consent.  The  case  is  strictly  analo- 
gous to  that  of  individuals  forming  a  mercantile  or  manufac- 
turing copartnership,  who  voluntarily  agree  to  refrain,  as  indi- 
viduals, from  engaging  in  other  pursuits  or  speculations,  from 
lending  their  individual  credit,  or  from  the  exercise  of  any 
other  right  of  a  citizen,  which  they  may  think  proper  to  subject 
to  the  consent,  or  intrust  to  the  management  of  the  firm. 

The  prohibitory  clauses  of  the  Constitution  referred  to  are  not 
at  all  a  denial  of  the  full  sovereignty  of  the  States,  but  are  merely 
an  agreement  among  them  to  exercise  certain  powers  of  sover- 
eignty in  concert,  and  not  separately  and  apart. 

There  is  one  other  provision  of  the  Constitution,  which  is 
generally  adduced  by  the  friends  of  centralism  as  antagonistic 
to  State  sovereignty.  This  is  found  in  the  second  clause  of 
the  sixth  article,  as  follows  : 

"  This  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  law  of  the  land  ;  and  the  judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or 
laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 


150      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Tins  enunciation  of  a  principle,  which,  even  if  it  had  not 
been  expressly  declared,  would  have  been  a  necessary  deduction 
from  the  acceptance  of  the  Constitution  itself,  has  been  magnified 
and  perverted  into  a  meaning  and  purpose  entirely  foreign  to 
that  which  plain  interpretation  is  sufficient  to  discern.  Mr. 
Motley  thus  dilates  on  the  subject : 

"  Could  language  be  more  imperial  ?  Could  the  claim  to  State 
*  sovereignty '  be  more  completely  disposed  of  at  a  word  ?  How 
can  that  be  sovereign,  acknowledging  no  superior,  supreme,  which 
has  voluntarily  accepted  a  supreme  law  from  something  which  it 
acknowledges  as  superior  ?  "  * 

The  mistake  which  Mr.  Motley — like  other  writers  of  the 
same  school — makes  is  one  which  is  disposed  of  by  a  very  sim- 
ple correction.  The  States,  which  ordained  and  established  the 
Constitution,  accepted  nothing  besides  what  they  themselves 
prescribed.  They  acknowledged  no  superior.  The  supremacy 
was  both  in  degree  and  extent  only  that  which  was  delegated 
by  the  States  to  their  common  agent. 

There  are  some  other  considerations  which  may  conduce  to 
a  clearer  understanding  of  this  supremacy  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof  : 

1.  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  remembered  that,  when  the 
Federal  Constitution  was  formed,  each  then  existing  State  al- 
ready had  its  own  Constitution  and  code  of  statute  laws.  It 
was,  no  doubt,  primarily  with  reference  to  these  that  the  pro- 
vision was  inserted,  and  not  in  the  expectation  of  future  con- 
flicts or  discrepancies.  It  is  in  this  light  alone  that  Mr.  Madi- 
son considers  it  in  explaining  and  vindicating  it  in  the  "  Fed- 
eralist." f 

2.  Again,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  supremacy  accorded 
to  the 'general  laws  of  the  United  States  is  expressly  limited  to 
those  enacted  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution,  or,  to  use  the 
exact  language,  "  made  in  pursuance  thereof."  Mr.  Hamilton, 
in  another  chapter  of  the  "  Federalist,"  calls  particular  attention 
to  this,  saying  (and  the  italics  are  all  his  own)  "  that  the  laws 
of  the  Confederacy,  as  to  the  enumerated  and  legitimate  objects 

*  "  Rebellion  Record,"  vol.  i,  Documents,  p.  213.       f  "Federalist,"  No.  xliv. 


1787]  CORRECTION  OF  A  GRAVE  ERROR.  151 

of  its  jurisdiction,  will  become  the  supreme  law  of  the  land," 
and  that  the  State  functionaries  will  cooperate  in  their  ob- 
servance and  enforcement  with  the  General  Government,  "as 
far  as  its  just  and  constitutional  authority  extends"  * 

3.  In  the  third  place,  it  is  not  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  that  is  declared  to  be  supreme,  but  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  laws  and  treaties  made  in  accordance  with  it.  The 
proposition  was  made  in  the  Convention  to  organize  a  govern- 
ment consisting  of  "  supreme  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
powers,"  but  it  was  not  adopted.  Its  deliberate  rejection  is  much 
more  significant  and  conclusive  than  if  it  had  never  been  pro- 
posed. Correction  of  so  gross  an  error  as  that  of  confounding 
the  Government  with  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  superfluous, 
but  so  crude  and  confused  are  the  ideas  which  have  been  propa- 
gated on  the  subject,  that  no  misconception  seems  to  be  too  ab- 
surd to  be  possible.  Thus,  it  has  not  been  uncommon,  of  late 
years,  to  hear,  even  in  the  highest  places,  the  oath  to  support  the 
Constitution,  which  is  taken  by  both  State  and  Federal  officers, 
spoken  of  as  an  oath  ato  support  the  Government"' — an  obli- 
gation never  imposed  upon  any  one  in  this  country,  and  which 
the  men  who  made  the  Constitution,  with  their  recent  reminis- 
cences of  the  Eevolution,  the  battles  of  which  they  had  fought 
with  halters  around  their  necks,  would  have  been  the  last  to 
prescribe.  Could  any  assertion  be  less  credible  than  that  they 
proceeded  to  institute  another  supreme  government  which  it 
would  be  treason  to  resist  ? 

This  confusion  of  ideas  pervades  the  treatment  of  the  whole 
subject  of  sovereignty.  Mr.  Webster  has  said,  and  very  justly 
so  far  as  these  United  States  are  concerned  :  "  The  sovereignty 
of  government  is  an  idea  belonging  to  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  No  such  thing  is  known  in  North  America.  Our 
governments  are  all  limited.  In  Europe  sovereignty  is  of  feu- 
dal origin,  and  imports  no  more  than  the  state  of  the  sovereign. 
It  comprises  his  rights,  duties,  exemptions,  prerogatives,  and 
powers.  But  with  us  all  power  is  with  the  people.  They  alone 
are  sovereign,  and  they  erect  what  governments  they  please, 
and  confer  on  them  such  powers  as  they  please.     None  of  these 

*  "Federalist,"  No.  xxvii. 


152      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

governments  are  sovereign,  in  the  European  sense  of  the  word, 
all  being  restrained  by  written  constitutions."  * 

But  the  same  intellect,  which  can  so  clearly  discern  and  so 
lucidly  define  the  general  proposition,  seems  to  be  covered  by 
a  cloud  of  thick  darkness  when  it  comes  to  apply  it  to  the  par- 
ticular case  in  issue.  Thus,  a  little  afterward,  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  There  is  no  language  in  the  whole  Constitution  applicable  to 
a  confederation  of  States.  If  the  States  be  parties,  as  States, 
what  are  their  rights,  and  what  their  respective  covenants  and 
stipulations  ?  and  where  are  their  rights,  covenants,  and  stipula- 
tions expressed  ?  In  the  Articles  of  Confederation  they  did  make 
promises,  and  did  enter  into  engagements,  and  did  plight  the  faith 
of  each  State  for  their  fulfillment ;  but  in  the  Constitution  there  is 
nothing  of  that  kind.  The  reason  is  that,  in  the  Constitution,  it  is 
the  people  who  speak  and  not  the  States.  The  people  ordain  the 
Constitution,  and  therein  address  themselves  to  the  States  and  to 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States  in  the  language  of  injunction  and 
prohibition."  f 

It  is  surprising  that  such  inconsistent  ideas  should  proceed 
from  a  source  so  eminent.  Its  author  falls  into  the  very  error 
which  he  had  just  before  so  distinctly  pointed  out,  in  confound- 
ing the  people  of  the  States  with  their  governments.  In  the 
vehemence  of  his  hostility  to  State  sovereignty,  he  seems — as  all 
of  his  disciples  seem — unable  even  to  comprehend  that  it  means 
the  sovereignty,  not  of  State  governments,  but  of  people  who 
make  them.  With  minds  preoccupied  by  the  unreal  idea  of 
one  great  people  of  a  consolidated  nation,  these  gentlemen  are 
blinded  to  the  plain  and  primary  truth  that  the  only  way  in 
which  the  people  ordained  the  Constitution  was  as  the  people 
of  States.  When  Mr.  Webster  says  that  "  in  the  Constitution 
it  is  the  people  who  speak,  and  not  the  States,"  he  says  what  is 
untenable.  The  States  are  the  people.  The  people  do  not 
speak,  never  have  spoken,  and  never  can  speak,  in  their  sover- 
eign capacity  (without  a  subversion  of  our  whole  system),  oth- 
erwise than  as  the  people  of  States. 

*  "  Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  ix,  Part  I,  p.  565.  \  Ibid.,  p.  566. 


1788]  THE  AMERICAN   TIIEORY.  153 

There  are  but  two  modes  of  expressing  their  sovereign  will 
known  to  the  people  of  this  country.  One  is  by  direct  vote — 
the  mode  adopted  by  Rhode  Island  in  1788,  when  she  rejected 
the  Constitution.  The  other  is  the  method,  more  generally  pur- 
sued, of  acting  by  means  of  conventions  of  delegates  elected 
expressly  as  representatives  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
Now,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  opinion  or  theory  or  speculation,  but 
a  plain,  undeniable,  historical  fact,  that  there  never  has  been 
any  act  or  expression  of  sovereignty  in  either  of  these  modes 
by  that  imaginary  community,  "  the  people  of  the  United  States 
in  the  aggregate."  Usurpations  of  power  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  there  may  have  been,  and  may  be  again, 
but  there  has  never  been  either  a  sovereign  convention  or  a 
direct  vote  of  the  "  whole  people  "  of  the  United  States  to  de- 
monstrate its  existence  as  a  corporate  unit.  Every  exercise  of 
sovereignty  by  any  of  the  people  of  this  country  that  has  ac- 
tually taken  place  has  been  by  the  people  of  States  as  States. 
In  the  face  of  this  fact,  is  it  not  the  merest  self -stultification  to 
admit  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  deny  it  to  the  States,  in 
which  alone  they  have  community  existence  ? 

This  subject  is  one  of  such  vital  importance  to  a  right  un- 
derstanding of  the  events  which  this  work  is  designed  to  record 
and  explain,  that  it  can  not  be  dismissed  without  an  effort  in 
the  way  of  recapitulation  and  conclusion,  to  make  it  clear  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  misconception. 

According  to  the  American  theory,  every  individual  is  en- 
dowed with  certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  "  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  He  is  entitled  to  all 
the  freedom,  in  these  and  in  other  respects,  that  is  consistent 
with  the  safety  and  the  rights  of  others  and  the  weal  of  the 
community,  but  political  sovereignty,  which  is  the  source  and 
origin  of  all  the  powers  of  government — legislative,  executive, 
and  judicial — belongs  to,  and  inheres  in,  the  people  of  an 
organized  political  community.  It  is  an  attribute  of  the  whole 
people  of  such  a  community.  It  includes  the  power  and  necessa- 
rily the  duty  of  protecting  the  rights  and  redressing  the  wrongs 
of  individuals,  of  punishing  crimes,  enforcing  contracts,  pre- 
scribing rules  for  the  transfer  of  property  and  the  succession 


154      RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  estates,  making  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  levying  taxes, 
etc.  The  enumeration  of  particulars  might  be  extended,  but 
these  will  suffice  as  illustrations. 

These  powers  are  of  course  exercised  through  the  agency  of 
governments,  but  the  governments  are  only  agents  of  the  sov- 
ereign— responsible  to  it,  and  subject  to  its  control.  This  sov- 
ereign— the  people,  in  the  aggregate,  of  each  political  commu- 
nity— delegates  to  the  government  the  exercise  of  such  powers, 
or  functions,  as  it  thinks  proper,  but  in  an  American  republic 
never  transfers  or  surrenders  sovereignty.  That  remains,  un- 
alienated and  unimpaired.  It  is  by  virtue  of  this  sovereignty 
alone  that  the  Government,  its  authorized  agent,  commands 
the  obedience  of  the  individual  citizen,  to  the  extent  of  its  de- 
rivative, dependent,  and  delegated  authority.  The  allegiance 
of  the  citizen  is  due  to  the  sovereign  alone. 

Thus  far,  I  think,  all  will  agree.  No  American  statesman 
or  publicist  would  venture  to  dispute  it.  Notwithstanding 
the  inconsiderate  or  ill-considered  expressions  thrown  out  by 
some  persons  about  the  unity  of  the  American  people  from  the 
beginning,  no  respectable  authority  has  ever  had  the  hardihood 
to  deny  that,  before  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
the  only  sovereign  political  community  was  the  people  of  the 
State — the  people  of  each  State.  The  ordinary  exercise  of 
what  are  generally  termed  the  powers  of  sovereignty  was  by  and 
through  their  respective  governments ;  and,  when  they  formed 
a  confederation,  a  portion  of  those  powers  was  intrusted  to  the 
General  Government,  or  agency.  Under  the  Confederation,  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  represented  the  collective  power 
of  the  States  ;  but  the  people  of  each  State  alone  possessed  sov- 
ereignty, and  consequently  were  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  the 
citizen. 

"When  the  Articles  of  Confederation  were  amended,  when 
the  new  Constitution  was  substituted  in  their  place  and  the 
General  Government  reorganized,  its  structure  was  changed, 
additional  powers  were  conferred  upon  it,  and  thereby  subtracted 
from  the  powers  theretofore  exercised  by  the  State  govern- 
ments ;  but  the  seat  of  sovereignty — the  source  of  all  those  dele- 
gated and  dependent  powers — was  not  disturbed.     There  was 


1787]  NO  NEW  PEOPLE  WAS  CREATED.  155 

a  new  Government  or  an  amended  Government — it  is  entirely 
immaterial  in  which  of  these  lights  we  consider  it — but  no  new 
people  was  created  or  constituted.  The  people,  in  whom 
alone  sovereignty  inheres,  remained  just  as  they  had  been  be- 
fore. The  only  change  was  in  the  form,  structure,  and  relations 
of  their  governmental  agencies. 

JSTo  doubt,  the  States — the  people  of  the  States — if  they  had 
been  so  disposed,  might  have  merged  themselves  into  one  great 
consolidated  State,  retaining  their  geographical  boundaries 
merely  as  matters  of  convenience.  But  such  a  merger  must 
have  been  distinctly  and  formally  stated,  not  left  to  deduction 
or  implication. 

Men  do  not  alienate  even  an  estate,  without  positive  and 
express  terms  and  stipulations.  But  in  this  case  not  only  was 
there  no  express  transfer — no  formal  surrender — of  the  preex- 
isting sovereignty,  but  it  was  expressly  provided  that  nothing 
should  be  understood  as  even  delegated — that  everything  was 
reserved,  unless  granted  in  express  terms.  The  monstrous  con- 
ception of  the  creation  of  a  new  people,  invested  with  the  whole 
or  a  great  part  of  the  sovereignty  which  had  previously  belonged 
to  the  people  of  each  State,  has  not  a  syllable  to  sustain  it  in  the 
Constitution,  but  is  built  up  entirely  upon  the  palpable  miscon- 
struction of  a  single  expression  in  the  preamble. 

In  denying  that  there  is  any  such  collective  unit  as  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  in  the  aggregate,  of  course  I  am  not  to 
be  understood  as  denying  that  there  is  such  a  political  organiza- 
tion as  the  United  States,  or  that  there  exists,  with  large  and 
distinct  powers,  a  Government  of  the  United  States ;  but  it  is 
claimed  that  the  Union,  as  its  name  implies,  is  constituted  of 
States.  As  a  British  author,*  referring  to  the  old  Teutonic  sys- 
tem, has  expressed  the  same  idea,  the  States  are  the  integers, 
the  United  States  the  multiple  which  results  from  them.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  derives  its  existence  from  the 
same  source,  and  exercises  its  functions  by  the  will  of  the  same 
sovereignty  that  creates  and  confers  authority  upon  the  State 
governments.     The  people  of  each  State  are,  in  either  case,  the 

*  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  quoted  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  "  Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  ix, 
Part  I,  p.  541. 


156      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

source.  The  only  difference  is  that,  in  the  creation  of  the  State 
governments,  each  sovereign  acted  alone ;  in  that  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  they  acted  in  cooperation  with  the  others. 
Neither  the  whole  nor  any  part  of  their  sovereignty  has  been 
surrendered  to  either  Government. 

To  whom,  in  fine,  could  the  States  have  surrendered  their 
sovereignty  ?  Not  to  the  mass  of  the  people  inhabiting  the 
territory  possessed  by  all  the  States,  for  there  was  no  such 
community  in  existence,  and  they  took  no  measures  for  the 
organization  of  such  a  community.  If  they  had  intended  to 
do  so,  the  very  style,  "  United  States,"  would  have  been  a  pal- 
pable misnomer,  nor  would  treason  have  been  defined  as  levying 
war  against  them.  Could  it  have  been  transferred  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Union  %  Clearly  not,  in  accordance  with  the 
ideas  and  principles  of  those  who  made  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, adopted  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  established 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  for  in  each  and  all  of 
these  the  corner-stone  is  the  inherent  and  inalienable  sovereignty 
of  the  people.  To  have  transferred  sovereignty  from  the  peo- 
ple to  a  Government  would  have  been  to  have  fought  the  bat- 
tles of  the  Revolution  in  vain — not  for  the  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  States,  but  for  a  mere  change  of  masters.  Such 
a  thought  or  purpose  could  not  have  been  in  the  heads  or  hearts 
of  those  who  molded  the  Union,  and  could  have  found  lodgment 
only  when  the  ebbing  tide  of  patriotism  and  fraternity  had  swept 
away  the  landmarks  which  they  erected  who  sought  by  the 
compact  of  union  to  secure  and  perpetuate  the  liberties  then 
possessed.  The  men  who  had  won  at  great  cost  the  indepen- 
dence of  their  respective  States  were  deeply  impressed  with 
the  value  of  union,  but  they  could  never  have  consented,  like 
"  the  base  Judean,"  to  fling  away  the  priceless  pearl  of  State 
sovereignty  for  any  possible  alliance. 


1880]  PROPOSITIONS  ESTABLISHED.  157 


CHAPTER    X. 

A  Recapitulation. — Remarkable  Propositions  of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  in  the  Con- 
vention of  1787,  and  their  Pate. — Further  Testimony. — Hamilton,  Madison, 
Washington,  Marshall,  etc. — Later  Theories. — Mr.  Webster :  his  Views  at 
Various  Periods. — Speech  at  Capon  Springs. — State  Rights  not  a  Sectional 
Theory. 

Looking  back  for  a  moment  at  the  ground  over  which  we 
have  gone,  I  think  it  may  be  fairly  asserted  that  the  following 
propositions  have  been  clearly  and  fully  established : 

1.  That  the  States  of  which  the  American  Union  was  formed, 
from  the  moment  when  they  emerged  from  their  colonial  or  pro- 
vincial condition,  became  severally  sovereign,  free,  and  indepen- 
dent States — not  one  State,  or  nation. 

2.  That  the  union  formed  under  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration was  a  compact  between  the  States,  in  which  these  attri- 
butes of  "  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence,"  were  ex- 
pressly asserted  and  guaranteed. 

3.  That,  in  forming  the  "  more  perfect  union  "  of  the  Consti- 
tution, afterward  adopted,  the  same  contracting  powers  formed 
an  amended  compact,  without  any  surrender  of  these  attributes 
of  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence,  either  expressed  or 
implied :  on  the  contrary,  that,  by  the  tenth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution,  limiting  the  power  of  the  Government  to  its  ex- 
press grants,  they  distinctly  guarded  against  the  presumption  of 
a  surrender  of  anything  by  implication. 

4.  That  political  sovereignty  resides,  neither  in  individual 
citizens,  nor  in  unorganized  masses,  nor  in  fractional  subdivisions 
of  a  community,  but  in  the  people  of  an  organized  political  body. 

5.  That  no  "  republican  form  of  government,"  in  the  sense 
in  which  that  expression  is  used  in  the  Constitution,  and  was 
generally  understood  by  the  founders  of  the  Union — whether  it 
be  the  government  of  a  State  or  of  a  confederation  of  States — 
is  possessed  of  any  sovereignty  whatever,  but  merely  exercises 
certain  powers  delegated  by  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  subject  to  recall  and  reassumption  by  the  same  author- 
ity that  conferred  them. 


158      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

6.  That  the  "  people  "  who  organized  the  first  confederation, 
the  people  who  dissolved  it,  the  people  who  ordained  and  es- 
tablished the  Constitution  which  succeeded  it,  the  only  people, 
in  fine,  known  or  referred  to  in  the  phraseology  of  that  period 
— whether  the  term  was  used  collectively  or  distributively — 
were  the  people  of  the  respective  States,  each  acting  separately 
and  with  absolute  independence  of  the  others. 

7.  That,  in  forming  and  adopting  the  Constitution,  the  States, 
or  the  people  of  the  States — terms  which,  when  used  with  ref- 
erence to  acts  performed  in  a  sovereign  capacity,  are  precisely 
equivalent  to  each  other — formed  a  new  Government,  but  no 
new  people  /  and  that,  consequently,  no  new  sovereignty  was 
created — for  sovereignty  in  an  American  republic  can  belong 
only  to  a  people,  never  to  a  government — and  that  the  Federal 
Government  is  entitled  to  exercise  only  the  powers  delegated  to 
it  by  the  people  of  the  respective  States. 

8.  That  the  term  "  people,"  in  the  preamble  to  the  Consti- 
tution and  in  the  tenth  amendment,  is  used  distributively; 
that  the  only  " people  of  the  United  States"  known  to  the  Con- 
stitution are  the  people  of  each  State  in  the  Union ;  that  no 
such  political  community  or  corporate  unit  as  one  people  of 
the  United  States  then  existed,  has  ever  been  organized,  or  yet 
exists ;  and  that  no  political  action  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  aggregate  has  ever  taken  place,  or  ever  can  take 
place,  under  the  Constitution. 

The  fictitious  idea  of  one  people  of  the  United  States,  con- 
tradicted in  the  last  paragraph,  has  been  so  impressed  upon  the 
popular  mind  by  false  teaching,  by  careless  and  vicious  phrase- 
ology, and  by  the  ever-present  spectacle  of  a  great  Government, 
with  its  army  and  navy,  its  custom-houses  and  post-offices,  its 
multitude  of  office-holders,  and  the  splendid  prizes  which  it 
offers  to  political  ambition,  that  the  tearing  away  of  these  illu- 
sions and  presentation  of  the  original  fabric,  which  they  have 
overgrown  and  hidden  from  view,  have  no  doubt  been  unwel- 
come, distasteful,  and  even  repellent  to  some  of  my  readers. 
The  artificial  splendor  which  makes  the  deception  attractive  is 
even  employed  as  an  argument  to  prove  its  reality. 

The  glitter  of  the  powers  delegated  to  the  agent  serves  to 


1787]  WORDS  STRICKEN   OUT.  159 

obscure  the  perception  of  the  sovereign  power  of  the  principal 
by  whom  they  are  conferred,  as,  by  the  unpracticed  eye,  the 
showy  costume  and  conspicuous  functions  of  the  drum-major 
are  mistaken  for  emblems  of  chieftaincy — while  the  misuse  or 
ambiguous  use  of  the  term  "  Union "  and  its  congeners  con- 
tributes to  increase  the  confusion. 

So  much  the  more  need  for  insisting  upon  the  elementary 
truths  which  have  been  obscured  by  these  specious  sophistries. 
The  reader  really  desirous  of  ascertaining  truth  is,  therefore, 
again  cautioned  against  confounding  two  ideas  so  essentially 
distinct  as  that  of  government,  which  is  derivative,  dependent, 
and  subordinate,  with  that  of  the  people,  as  an  organized  politi- 
cal community,  which  is  sovereign,  without  any  other  than  self- 
imposed  limitations,  and  such  as  proceed  from  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  the  personal  rights  of  man. 

It  has  been  said,  in  a  foregoing  chapter,  that  the  authors 
of  the  Constitution  could  scarcely  have  anticipated  the  idea  of 
such  a  community  as  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  one 
mass.  Perhaps  this  expression  needs  some  little  qualification, 
for  there  is  rarely  a  fallacy,  however  stupendous,  that  is  wholly 
original.  A  careful  examination  of  the  records  of  the  Conven- 
tion of  1787  exhibits  one  or  perhaps  two  instances  of  such  a 
suggestion — both  by  the  same  person — and  the  result  in  each 
case  is  strikingly  significant. 

The  original  proposition  made  concerning  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  contemplated  his  election  by  the  Con- 
gress, or,  as  it  was  termed  by  the  proposer,  "  the  national  Legis- 
lature." On  the  17th  of  July,  this  proposition  being  under 
consideration,  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  moved  that  the  words 
"  national  Legislature  "  be  stricken  out,  and  "  citizens  of  the 
United  States"  inserted.  The  proposition  was  supported  by 
Mr.  James  Wilson — both  of  these  gentlemen  being  delegates 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  both  among  the  most  earnest  advocates 
of  centralism  in  the  Convention. 

JSTow,  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  Mr.  Morris  had  in  view  an 
election  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  "  in  the  aggregate," 
voting  as  one  people.  The  language  of  his  proposition  is  entirely 
consistent  with  the  idea  of  an  election  by  the  citizens  of  each 


1G0      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

State,  voting  separately  and  independently,  though  it  is  ambigu- 
ous, and  may  admit  of  the  other  construction.  But  this  is  im- 
material. The  proposition  was  submitted  to  a  vote,  and  received 
the  approval  of  only  one  State — Pennsylvania,  of  which  Mr. 
Morris  and  Mr.  Wilson  were  both  representatives.  Nine  States 
voted  against  it.* 

Six  days  afterward  (July  23d),  in  a  discussion  of  the  pro- 
posed ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  Conventions  of  the 
people  of  each  State,  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris — as  we  learn  from 
Mr.  Madison — "  moved  that  the  reference  of  the  plan  [i.  e.,  of 
the  proposed  Constitution]  be  made  to  one  General  Convention, 
chosen  and  authorized  by  the  people,  to  consider,  amend,  and 
establish  the  same."f 

Here  the  issue  seems  to  have  been  more  distinctly  made  be- 
tween the  two  ideas  of  people  of  the  States  and  one  people  in 
the  aggregate.  The  fate  of  the  latter  is  briefly  recorded  in  the 
two  words,  "not  seconded."  Mr.  Morris  was  a  man  of  distin- 
guished ability,  great  personal  influence,  and  undoubted  patriot- 
ism, but,  out  of  all  that  assemblage — comprising,  as  it  did,  such 
admitted  friends  of  centralism  as  Hamilton,  King,  Wilson,  Ran- 
dolph, Pinckney,  and  others — there  was  not  one  to  sustain  him 
in  the  proposition  to  incorporate  into  the  Constitution  that 
theory  which  now  predominates,  the  theory  on  which  was 
waged  the  late  bloody  war,  which  was  called  a  "  war  for  the 
Union."  It  failed  for  want  of  a  second,  and  does  not  even  ap- 
pear in  the  official  journal  of  the  Convention.  The  very  fact 
that  such  a  suggestion  was  made  would  be  unknown  to  us  but 
for  the  record  kept  by  Mr.  Madison. 

The  extracts  which  have  been  given,  in  treating  of  special 
branches  of  the  subject,  from  the  writings  and  speeches  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  and  other  statesmen  of  that  period, 
afford  ample  proof  of  their  entire  and  almost  unanimous  accord 
with  the  principles  which  have  been  established  on  the  author- 
ity of  the  Constitution  itself,  the  acts  of  ratification  by  the  sev- 
eral States,  and  other  attestations  of  the  highest  authority  and 
validity.      I  am  well  aware  that  isolated  expressions  may  be 

*  Elliott's  "Debates,"  vol.  i,  p.  239 ;  "Madison  Papers,"  pp.  1119-1124. 
f  "Madison  Papers,"  p.  1184. 


1787]  FEATURES   OF  CENTRALISM  AND  NATIONALISM.  161 

found  in  the  reports  of  debates  on  the  General  and  State  Con- 
ventions and  other  public  bodies,  indicating  the  existence  of 
individual  opinions  seemingly  inconsistent  with  these  principles  ; 
that  loose  and  confused  ideas  were  sometimes  expressed  with 
regard  to  sovereignty,  the  relations  between  governments  and 
people,  and  kindred  subjects;  and  that,  while  the  plan  of  the 
Constitution  was  under  discussion,  and  before  it  was  definitely 
reduced  to  its  present  shape,  there  were  earnest  advocates  in  the 
Convention  of  a  more  consolidated  system,  with  a  stronger  cen- 
tral government.  But  these  expressions  of  individual  opinion 
only  prove  the  existence  of  a  small  minority  of  dissentients  from 
the  principles  generally  entertained,  and  which  finally  prevailed 
in  the  formation  of  the  Constitution.  None  of  these  ever 
avowed  such  extravagances  of  doctrine  as  are  promulgated  in 
this  generation.  No  statesman  of  that  day  would  have  ven- 
tured to  risk  his  reputation  by  construing  an  obligation  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  as  an  obligation  to  adhere  to  the  Federal 
Government — a  construction  which  would  have  insured  the 
sweeping  away  of  any  plan  of  union  embodying  it,  by  a  tem- 
pest of  popular  indignation  from  every  quarter  of  the  country. 
None  of  them  suggested  such  an  idea  as  that  of  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  States  into  one  consolidated  mass — 
unless  it  was  suggested  by  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  in  the  prop- 
osition above  referred  to,  in  which  he  stood  alone  among  the 
delegates  of  twelve  sovereign  States  assembled  in  convention. 

As  to  the  features  of  centralism,  or  nationalism,  which  they 
did  advocate,  all  the  ability  of  this  little  minority  of  really  gifted 
men  failed  to  secure  the  incorporation  of  any  one  of  them  into 
the  Constitution,  or  to  obtain  their  recognition  by  any  of  the 
ratifying  States.  On  the  contrary,  the  very  men  who  had  been 
the  leading  advocates  of  such  theories,  on  failing  to  secure  their 
adoption,  loyally  accepted  the  result,  and  became  the  ablest  and 
most  efficient  supporters  of  the  principles  which  had  prevailed. 
Thus,  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  had  favored  the  plan  of  a  Presi- 
dent and  Senate,  both  elected  to  hold  office  for  life  (or  during 
good  behavior),  with  a  veto  power  in  Congress  on  the  action  of 
the  State  Legislatures,  became,  through  the  "  Federalist,"  in  con- 
junction with  his  associates,  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Jay,  the  most 
11 


162      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

distinguished  expounder  and  advocate  of  the  Constitution,  as 
then  proposed  and  afterward  ratified,  with  all  its  Federal  and 
State-rights  features.  In  the  ninth  number  of  that  remarkable 
series  of  political  essays,  he  quotes,  adopts,  and  applies  to  the 
then  proposed  Constitution,  Montesquieu's  description  of  a 
"confederate  republic,"  a  term  which  he  (Hamilton)  re- 
peatedly employs. 

In  the  eighty-first  number  of  the  same  series,  replying  to 
apprehensions  expressed  by  some  that  a  State  might  be  brought 
before  the  Federal  courts  to  answer  as  defendant  in  suits  insti- 
tuted against  her,  he  repels  the  idea  in  these  plain  and  conclu- 
sive terms.     The  italics  are  my  own  : 

"  It  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  sovereignty  not  to  be  amena- 
ble to  the  suit  of  any  individual  without  its  consent.  This  is  the 
general  sense  and  the  general  practice  of  mankind  ;  and  the  ex- 
emption, as  one  of  the  attributes  of  sovereignty ,  is  now  enjoyed  by 
the  government  of  every  State  in  the  Union.  Unless,  therefore, 
there  is  a  surrender  of  this  immunity  in  the  plan  of  the  Conven- 
tion, it  will  remain  with  the  States,  and  the  danger  intimated 
must  be  merely  ideal.  .  .  .  The  contracts  between  a  nation  and 
individuals  are  only  binding  on  the  conscience  of  the  sovereign, 
and  have  no  pretensions  to  a  compulsive  force.  They  confer  no 
right  of  action,  independent  of  the  sovereign  will.  To  what  pur- 
pose would  it  be  to  authorize  suits  against  States  for  the  debts 
they  owe  ?  How  could  recoveries  be  enforced  ?  It  is  evident  that 
it  could  not  be  done  without  waging  war  against  the  contracting 
State  ;  and  to  ascribe  to  the  Federal  courts,  by  mere  implication, 
and  in  destruction  of  a  preexisting  right  of  the  State  governments, 
a  power  which  would  involve  such  a  consequence,  would  be  alto- 
gether forced  and  unwarranted."  * 

This  extract  is  very  significant,  clearly  showing  that  Mr. 
Hamilton  assumed  as  undisputed  propositions,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  State  was  the  "sovereign";  secondly,  that  this  sov- 
ereignty could  not  be  alienated,  unless  by  express  surrender ; 
thirdly,  that  no  such  surrender  had  been  made ;  and,  fourthly, 
that  the  idea  of  applying  coercion  to  a  State,  even  to  enforce 

*  "  Federalist,"  No.  lsxxL 


1787]  THE   GRANTS  ARE   SURRENDERED.  163 

the  fulfillment  of  a  duty,  would  be  equivalent  to  waging  war 
against  a  State — it  was  "  altogether  forced  and  unwarrantable." 

In  a  subsequent  number,  Mr.  Hamilton,  replying  to  the 
objection  that  the  Constitution  contains  no  bill  or  declaration  of 
rights,  argues  that  it  was  entirely  unnecessary,  because  in  reality 
the  people — that  is,  of  course,  the  people,  respectively,  of  the 
several  States,  who  were  the  only  people  known  to  the  Consti- 
tution or  to  the  country — had  surrendered  nothing  of  their  inher- 
ent sovereignty,  but  retained  it  unimpaired.  He  says  :  "  Here, 
in  strictness,  the  people  surrender  nothing  /  and,  as  they  retain 
everything,  they  have  no  need  of  particular  reservations."  And 
again  :  "  I  go  further,  and  affirm  that  bills  of  rights,  in  the  sense 
and  to  the  extent  they  are  contended  for,  are  not  only  unneces- 
sary in  the  proposed  Constitution,  but  would  be  absolutely  dan- 
gerous. They  would  contain  various  exceptions  to  powers  not 
granted,  and  on  this  very  account  would  afford  a  colorable  pre- 
text to  claim  more  than  were  granted.  For  why  declare  that 
things  shall  not  be  done,  which  there  is  no  power  to  do  ? "  * 
Could  language  be  more  clear  or  more  complete  in  vindication 
of  the  principles  laid  down  in  this  work  ?  Mr.  Hamilton  de- 
clares, in  effect,  that  the  grants  to  the  Federal  Government 
in  the  Constitution  are  not  surrenders,  but  delegations  of  power 
by  the  people  of  the  States ;  that  sovereignty  remains  intact 
where  it  was  before ;  and  that  the  delegations  of  power  were 
strictly  limited  to  those  expressly  granted — in  this,  merely  antici- 
pating the  tenth  amendment,  afterward  adopted. 

Finally,  in  the  concluding  article  of  the  "  Federalist,"  he  bears 
emphatic  testimony  to  the  same  principles,  in  the  remark  that 
"  every  Constitution  for  the  United  States  must  inevitably  con- 
sist of  a  great  variety  of  particulars,  in  which  thirteen  indepen- 
dent States  are  to  be  accommodated  in  their  interests  or  opin- 
ions of  interest.  .  .  .  Hence  the  necessity  of  molding  and 
arranging  all  the  particulars,  which  are  to  compose  the  whole, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  satisfy  all  the  parties  to  the  compact."  f 
There  is  no  intimation  here,  or  anywhere  else,  of  the  existence 
of  any  such  idea  as  that  of  the  aggregated  people  of  one  great 
consolidated  state.     It  is  an  incidental  enunciation  of  the  same 


*  a 


Federalist,"  No.  lxxxiv.  f  Ibid.,  No.  lxxxv. 


164      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

truth  soon  afterward  asserted  by  Madison  in  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention— that  the  people  who  ordained  and  established  the  Con- 
stitution were  "hot  the  people  as  composing  one  great  body, 
but  the  people  as  composing  thirteen  sovereignties." 

Mr.  Madison,  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  had  at  first 
held  views  of  the  sort  of  government  which  it  was  desirable  to 
organize,  similar  to  those  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  though  more  mod- 
erate in  extent.  He,  too,  however,  cordially  conformed  to  the 
modifications  in  them  made  by  his  colleagues,  and  was  no  less 
zealous  and  eminent  in  defending  and  expounding  the  Constitu- 
tion as  finally  adopted.  His  interpretation  of  its  fundamental 
principles  is  so  fully  shown  in  the  extracts  which  have  already 
been  given  from  his  contributions  to  the  "Federalist"  and 
speeches  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  that  it  would  be  superflu- 
ous to  make  any  additional  citation  from  them. 

The  evidence  of  Hamilton  and  Madison — two  of  the  most 
eminent  of  the  authors  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  two  pre- 
eminent contemporary  expounders  of  its  meaning — is  the  most 
valuable  that  could  be  offered  for  its  interpretation.  That  of 
all  the  other  statesmen  of  the  period  only  tends  to  confirm  the 
same  conclusions.  The  illustrious  Washington,  who  presided 
over  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  in  his  correspondence,  re- 
peatedly refers  to  the  proposed  Union  as  a  "  Confederacy  "  of 
States,  or  a  "confederated  Government,"  and  to  the  several 
States  as  "  acceding,"  or  signifying  their  "  accession,"  to  it,  in 
ratifying  the  Constitution.  He  refers  to  the  Constitution  itself 
as  "  a  compact  or  treaty,"  and  classifies  it  among  compacts  or 
treaties  between  "  men,  bodies  of  men,  or  countries."  Writing 
to  Count  Pochambeau,  on  January  8,  1788,  he  says  that  the 
proposed  Constitution  "  is  to  be  submitted  to  conventions  chosen 
by  the  jpeojple  in  the  several  States,  and  by  them  approved  or 
rejected" — showing  what  he  understood  by  "  the  people  of  the 
United  States,"  who  were  to  ordain  and  establish  it.  These 
same  people — that  is,  "  the  people  of  the  several  States  " — he 
says,  in  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  April  28,  1788,  "  retain  every- 
thing they  do  not,,  by  express  terms,  give  up."  In  a  letter  writ- 
ten to  Benjamin  Lincoln,  October  26,  1788,  he  refers  to  the 
expectation  that  North  Carolina  will  accede  to  the  Union,  and 


1788]        CHIEF-JUSTICE  MARSHALL  ON  RESERVED  POWERS.  165 

adds,  "  Whoever  shall  be  found  to  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the 
States  so  far  as  to  be  elected  Vice-President,"  etc. — showing 
that  in  the  "confederated  Government,"  as  he  termed  it,  the 
States  were  still  to  act  independently,  even  in  the  selection  of 
officers  of  the  General  Government.  He  wrote  to  General 
Knox,  June  17,  1788,  "  I  can  not  but  hope  that  the  States  which 
may  be  disposed  to  make  a  secession  will  think  often  and  seri- 
ously on  the  consequences."  June  28,  1788,  he  wrote  to  Gen- 
eral Pinckney  that  New  Hampshire  "  had  acceded  to  the  new 
Confederacy,"  and,  in  reference  to  North  Carolina,  "  I  should  be 
astonished  if  that  State  should  withdraw  from  the  Union." 

I  shall  add  but  two  other  citations.  They  are  from  speeches 
of  John  Marshall,  afterward  the  most  distinguished  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  United  States — who  has  certainly  never  been  regard- 
ed as  holding  high  views  of  State  rights — in  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention of  1788.  In  the  first  case,  he  was  speaking  of  the  power 
of  the  States  over  the  militia,  and  is  thus  reported  : 

"  The  State  governments  did  not  derive  their  powers  from  the 
General  Government  ;  but  each  government  derived  its  powers 
from  the  people,  and  each  was  to  act  according  to  the  powers  given 
it.  Would  any  gentleman  deny  this?  .  .  .  Could  any  man  say 
that  this  power  was  not  retained  by  the  States,  as  they  had  not 
given  it  away  ?  For  (says  he)  does  not  a  power  remain  till  it  is 
given  away  ?  The  State  Legislatures  had  power  to  command  and 
govern  their  militia  before,  and  have  it  still,  undeniably,  unless 
there  be  something  in  this  Constitution  that  takes  it  away.  .  .  . 

"  He  concluded  by  observing  that  the  power  of  governing  the 
militia  was  not  vested  in  the  States  by  implication,  because,  being 
possessed  of  it  antecedently  to  the  adoption  of  the  Government, 
and  not  being  divested  of  it  by  any  grant  or  restriction  in  the  Con- 
stitution, they  must  necessarily  be  as  fully  possessed  of  it  as  ever 
they  had  been,  and  it  could  not  be  said  that  the  States  derived 
any  powers  from  that  system,  but  retained  them,  though  not  ac- 
knowledged in  any  part  of  it."  * 

In  the  other  case,  the  special  subject  was  the  power  of  the 
Federal  judiciary.     Mr.  Marshall  said,  with  regard  to  this :  "  I 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  iii,  pp.  389-391. 


166      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

hope  that  no  gentleman  will  think  that  a  State  can  be  called  at 
the  bar  of  the  Federal  court.  Is  there  no  such  case  at  present  % 
Are  there  not  many  cases,  in  which  the  Legislature  of  Virginia 
is  a  party,  and  yet  the  State  is  not  sued?  Is  it  rational  to 
suppose  that  the  sovereign  power  shall  be  dragged  before  a 
court  ? "  * 

Authorities  to  the  same  effect  might  be  multiplied  indefi- 
nitely by  quotation  from  nearly  all  the  most  eminent  statesmen 
and  patriots  of  that  brilliant  period.  My  limits,  however,  permit 
me  only  to  refer  those  in  quest  of  more  exhaustive  information 
to  the  original  records,  or  to  the  "  Republic  of  Republics,"  in 
which  will  be  found  a  most  valuable  collection  and  condensation 
of  the  teaching  of  the  fathers  on  the  subject.  There  was  no  dis- 
sent, at  that  period,  from  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
which  I  have  set  forth,  as  given  by  its  authors,  except  in  the 
objections  made  by  its  adversaries.  Those  objections  were  re- 
futed and  silenced,  until  revived,  long  afterward,  and  presented 
as  the  true  interpretation,  by  the  school  of  which  Judge  Story 
was  the  most  effective  founder. 

At  an  earlier  period — but  when  he  had  already  served  for 
several  years  in  Congress,  and  had  attained  the  full  maturity  of 
his  powers — Mr.  Webster  held  the  views  which  were  presented 
in  a  memorial  to  Congress  of  citizens  of  Boston,  December  15, 
1819,  relative  to  the  admission  of  Missouri,  drawn  up  and 
signed  by  a  committee  of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  which 
also  included  among  its  members  Mr.  Josiah  Quincy.  He 
speaks  of  the  States  as  enjoying  "  the  exclusive  possession  of 
sovereignty"  over  their  own  territory,  calls  the  United  States 
"  the  American  Confederacy,"  and  says,  "  The  only  parties  to 
the  Constitution,  contemplated  by  it  originally,  were  the  thir- 
teen confederated  States."  And  again  :  "  As  between  the  origi- 
nal States,  the  representation  rests  on  compact  and  plighted 
faith  ;  and  your  memorialists  have  no  wish  that  that  compact 
should  be  disturbed,  or  that  plighted  faith  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree violated." 

It  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  in  the  closing  year  of  his  life, 
when  looking  retrospectively,  with  judgment  undisturbed  by 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  iii,  p.  503. 


1851]  PRINCIPLES  NOT   SECTIONAL.  167 

any  extraneous  influence,  he  uttered  views  of  the  Government 
which  must  stand  the  test  of  severest  scrutiny  and  defy  the 
storms  of  agitation,  for  they  are  founded  on  the  rock  of  truth. 
In  letters  written  and  addresses  delivered  during  the  Adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Fillmore,  he  repeatedly  applies  to  the  Constitution 
the  term  "  compact,"  which,  in  1833,  he  had  so  vehemently 
repudiated.  In  his  speech  at  Capon  Springs,  Virginia,  in  1851, 
he  says  : 

"  If  the  South  were  to  violate  any  part  of  the  Constitution  in- 
tentionally and  systematically,  and  persist  in  so  doing  year  after 
year,  and  no  remedy  could  be  had,  would  the  North  be  any  longer 
bound  by  the  rest  of  it  ?  And  if  the  North  were,  deliberately, 
habitually,  and  of  fixed  purpose,  to  disregard  one  part  of  it, 
would  the  South  be  bound  any  longer  to  observe  its  other  obli- 
gations ?  .  .  . 

"  How  absurd  it  is  to  suppose  that,  when  different  parties  en- 
ter into  a  compact  for  certain  purposes,  either  can  disregard  any 
one  provision,  and  expect,  nevertheless,  the  other  to  observe  the 
rest  !  .  .  . 

"  I  have  not  hesitated  to  say,  and  I  repeat,  that,  if  the  North- 
ern States  refuse,  willfully  and  deliberately,  to  carry  into  effect 
that  part  of  the  Constitution  which  respects  the  restoration  of 
fugitive  slaves,  and  Congress  provide  no  remedy,  the  South  would 
no  longer  be  bound  to  observe  the  compact.  A  bargain  can  not 
be  broken  on  one  side,  and  still  bind  the  other  side."  * 

The  principles  which  have  been  set  forth  in  the  foregoing 
chapters,  although  they  had  come  to  be  considered  as  peculiarly 
Southern,  were  not  sectional  in  their  origin.  In  the  beginning 
and  earlier  years  of  our  history  they  were  cherished  as  faithfully 
and  guarded  as  jealously  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
as  in  Yirginia  or  South  Carolina.  It  was  in  these  principles 
that  I  was  nurtured.  I  have  frankly  proclaimed  them  during 
my  whole  life,  always  contending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  against  what  I  believed  to  be  the  mistaken  construction 
of  the  Constitution  taught  by  Mr.  Webster  and  his  adherents. 
While  I  honored  the  genius  of  that  great  man,  and  held  friendly 

*  Curtis's  "  Life  of  Webster,"  chap,  xxxvii,  vol.  ii,  pp.  518,  519. 


168      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

personal  relations  with  him,  I  considered  his  doctrines  on  these 
points — or  rather  the  doctrines  advocated  by  him  during  the 
most  conspicuous  and  influential  portions  of  his  public  career — 
to  be  mischievous,  and  the  more  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  the 
country  and  the  liberties  of  mankind  on  account  of  the  signal 
ability  and  magnificent  eloquence  with  which  they  were  argued. 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

The  Right  of  Secession. — The  Law  of  Unlimited  Partnerships. — The  "  Perpetual 
Union "  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  "  More  Perfect  Union "  of 
the  Constitution. — The  Important  Powers  conferred  upon  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  the  Compact  the  same  in  both  Sys- 
tems.— The  Right  to  resume  Grants,  when  failing  to  fulfill  their  Purposes,  ex- 
pressly and  distinctly  asserted  in  the  Adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

The  Right  of  Secession — that  subject  which,  beyond  all 
others,  ignorance,  prejudice,  arid  political  rancor  have  combined 
to  cloud  with  misstatements  and  misapprehensions — is  a  ques- 
tion easily  to  be  determined  in  the  light  of  what  has  already 
been  established  with  regard  to  the  history  and  principles  of  the 
Constitution.  It  is  not  something  standing  apart  by  itself — a 
factious  creation,  outside  of  and  antagonistic  to  the  Constitution 
— as  might  be  imagined  by  one  deriving  his  ideas  from  the  po- 
litical literature  most  current  of  late  years.  So  far  from  being 
against  the  Constitution  or  incompatible  with  it,  we  contend 
that,  if  the  right  to  secede  is  not  prohibited  to  the  States,  and  no 
power  to  prevent  it  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
it  remains  as  reserved  to  the  States  or  the  people,  from  whom 
all  the  powers  of  the  General  Government  were  derived. 

The  compact  between  the  States  which  formed  the  Union 
was  in  the  nature  of  a  partnership  between  individuals  without 
limitation  of  time,  and  the  recognized  law  of  such  partnerships 
is  thus  stated  by  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Massachusetts  in  a  work 
intended  for  popular  use  : 

"  If  the  articles  between  the  partners  do  not  contain  an  agree- 
ment that  the  partnership  shall  continue  for  a  specified  time,  it 


1788]  WITHOUT   ANY  QUESTION   OF  THEIR  RIGHT.  169 

may  be  dissolved  at  the  pleasure  of  either  partner.  But  no  partner 
can  exercise  this  power  wantonly  and  injuriously  to  the  other  part- 
ners, without  making  himself  responsible  for  the  damage  he  thus 
causes.  If  there  be  a  provision  that  the  partnership  shall  continue 
a  certain  time,  this  is  binding."  * 

We  have  seen  that  a  number  of  "  sovereign,  free,  and  inde- 
pendent "  States,  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  entered  into 
a  partnership  with  one  another,  which  was  not  only  unlimited 
in  duration,  but  expressly  declared  to  be  a  "  perpetual  union." 
Yet,  when  that  Union  failed  to  accomplish  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  formed,  the  parties  withdrew,  separately  and  in- 
dependently, one  after  another,  without  any  question  made  of 
their  right  to  do  so,  and  formed  a  new  association.  One  of  the 
declared  objects  of  this  new  partnership  was  to  form  "  a  more 
perfect  union."  This  certainly  did  not  mean  more  perfect  in 
respect  of  duration ;  for  the  former  union  had  been  declared 
perpetual,  and  perpetuity  admits  of  no  addition.  It  did  not 
mean  that  it  was  to  be  more  indissoluble  ;  for  the  delegates  of 
the  States,  in  ratifying  the  former  compact  of  union,  had  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  terms  that  could  scarcely  be  made  more 
stringent.     They  then  said  : 

"  And  we  do  further  solem?ily  plight  and  engage  the  faith  of 
our  respective  constituents,  that  they  shall  abide  by  the  determina- 
tions of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions 
which,  by  the  said  confederation,  are  submitted  to  them ;  and 
that  the  articles  thereof  shall  be  inviolably  observed  by  the  States 
we  respectively  represent  ;  and  that  the  Union  shall  be  per- 
petual.^ f 

The  formation  of  a"  more  perfect  union  "  was  accomplished 
by  the  organization  of  a  government  more  complete  in  its  va- 
rious branches,  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial,  and  by  the 
delegation  to  this  Government  of  certain  additional  powers  or 
functions  which  had  previously  been  exercised  by  the  Govern- 
ments  of  the  respective   States — especially  in   providing  the 

*  Parsons,  "  Rights  of  a  Citizen,"  chap,  xx,  section  3. 

f  Ratification  appended  to  Articles  of  Confederation.  (See  Elliott's  "  Debates," 
vol.  i,  p.  113.) 


170      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

means  of  operating  directly  upon  individuals  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  its  legitimately  delegated  authority.  There  was  no 
abandonment  nor  modification  of  the  essential  principle  of  a 
compact  between  sovereigns,  which  applied  to  the  one  case  as 
fully  as  to  the  other.  There  was  not  the  slightest  intimation 
of  so  radical  a  revolution  as  the  surrender  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  contracting  parties  would  have  been.  The  additional 
powers  conferred  upon  the  Federal  Government  by  the  Consti- 
tution were  merely  transfers  of  some  of  those  possessed  by  the 
State  governments — not  subtractions  from  the  reserved  and 
inalienable  sovereignty  of  the  political  communities  which  con- 
ferred them.  It  was  merely  the  institution  of  a  new  agent 
who,  however  enlarged  his  powers  might  be,  would  still  remain 
subordinate  and  responsible  to  the  source  from  which  they  were 
derived — that  of  the  sovereign  people  of  each  State.  It  was  an 
amended  Union,  not  a  consolidation. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  very  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government  and  prohibitions  to  the  States,  which  are  most  re- 
lied upon  by  the  advocates  of  centralism  as  incompatible  with 
State  sovereignty,  were  in  force  under  the  old  Confederation 
when  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  was  expressly  recognized. 
The  General  Government  had  then,  as  now,  the  exclusive  right 
and  power  of  determining  on  peace  and  war,  making  treaties 
and  alliances,  maintaining  an  army  and  navy,  granting  letters 
of  marque  and  reprisal,  regulating  coinage,  establishing  and  con- 
trolling the  postal  service — indeed,  nearly  all  the  so-called  "  char- 
acteristic powers  of  sovereignty  "  exercised  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment under  the  existing  Constitution,  except  the  regulation 
of  commerce,  and  of  levying  and  collecting  its  revenues  directly, 
instead  of  through  the  interposition  of  the  State  authorities.  The 
exercise  of  these  first-named  powers  was  prohibited  to  the 
States  under  the  old  compact,  "without  the  consent  of  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,"  but  no  one  has  claimed 
that  the  Confederation  had  thereby  acquired  sovereignty. 

Entirely  in  accord  with  these  truths  are  the  arguments  of 
Mr.  Madison  in  the  "  Federalist,"  to  show  that  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.     He  says  : 


1788]  WHAT  ARE   THESE  PRINCIPLES?  171 

"  I  ask,  What  are  these  principles  ?  Do  they  require  that,  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Constitution,  the  States  should  be  re- 
garded as  distinct  and  independent  sovereigns?  They  are  so 
regarded  by  the  Constitution  proposed.  .  .  .  Do  these  principles, 
in  fine,  require  that  the  powers  of  the  General  Government  should 
be  limited,  and  that,  beyond  this  limit,  the  States  should  be  left 
in  possession  of  their  sovereignty  and  independence  ?  We  have 
seen  that,  in  the  new  Government  as  in  the  old,  the  general  pow- 
ers are  limited  ;  and  that  the  States,  in  all  unenumerated  cases, 
are  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  sovereign  and  independent  juris- 
diction." 

"  The  truth  is,"  he  adds,  "  that  the  great  principles  of  the 
Constitution  proposed  by  the  Convention  may  be  considered 
less  as  absolutely  new,  than  as  the  expansion  of  principles  which 
are  found  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation."  * 

In  the  papers  immediately  following,  he  establishes  this  posi- 
tion in  detail  by  an  analysis  of  the  principal  powers  delegated 
to  the  Federal  Government,  showing  that  the  spirit  of  the  origi- 
nal instructions  to  the  Convention  had  been  followed  in  revising 
"  the  Federal  Constitution  "  and  rendering  it  "  adequate  to  the 
exigencies  of  government  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union."  f 

The  present  Union  owes  its  very  existence  to  the  dissolution, 
by  separate  secession  of  its  members,  of  the  former  Union,  which, 
as  we  have  thus  seen,  as  to  its  organic  principles,  rested  upon 
precisely  the  same  foundation.  The  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  association  results,  in  either  case,  from  the  same  principles — 
principles  which,  I  think,  have  been  established  on  an  impreg- 
nable basis  of  history,  reason,  law,  and  precedent. 

It  is  not  contended  that  this  right  should  be  resorted  to  for 
insufficient  cause,  or,  as  the  writer  already  quoted  on  the  law  of 
partnership  says,  "  wantonly  and  injuriously  to  the  other  part- 
ners," without  responsibility  of  the  seceding  party  for  any  dam- 
age thus  done.  No  association  can  be  dissolved  without  a  like- 
lihood of  the  occurrence  of  incidental  questions  concerning 
common  property  and  mutual  obligations — questions  sometimes 
of  a  complex  and  intricate  sort.  If  a  wrong  be  perpetrated,  in 
such  case,  it  is  a  matter  for  determination  by  the  means  usually 

*  "  Federalist,"  No.  xl.  f  Ibid.,  Nos.  xli-xliv. 


172      KISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

employed  among  independent  and  sovereign  powers — negotia- 
tion, arbitration,  or,  in  the  failure  of  these,  by  war,  with  which, 
unfortunately,  Christianity  and  civilization  have  not  yet  been 
able  entirely  to  dispense.  But  the  suggestion  of  possible  evils 
does  not  at  all  affect  the  question  of  right.  There  is  no  great 
principle  in  the  affairs  either  of  individuals  or  of  nations  that  is 
not  liable  to  such  difficulties  in  its  practical  application. 

But,  wre  are  told,  there  is  no  mention  made  of  secession  in 
the  Constitution.  Mr.  Everett  says  :  "  The  States  are  not  named 
in  it ;  the  word  sovereignty  does  not  occur  in  it ;  the  right  of 
secession  is  as  much  ignored  in  it  as  the  procession  of  the  equi- 
noxes." We  have  seen  how  very  untenable  is  the  assertion 
that  the  States  are  not  named  in  it,  and  how  much  perti- 
nency or  significance  in  the  omission  of  the  word  "sover- 
eignty." The  pertinent  question  that  occurs  is,  "Why  was  so 
obvious  an  attribute  of  sovereignty  not  expressly  renounced  if 
it  was  intended  to  surrender  it  %  It  certainly  existed ;  it  was  not 
surrendered ;  therefore  it  still  exists.  This  would  be  a  more 
natural  and  rational  conclusion  than  that  it  has  ceased  to  exist 
because  it  is  not  mentioned. 

The  simple  truth  is,  that  it  would  have  been  a  very  extraor- 
dinary thing  to  incorporate  into  the  Constitution  any  express 
provision  for  the  secession  of  the  States  and  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  Its  founders  undoubtedly  desired  and  hoped  that  it 
would  be  perpetual ;  against  the  proposition  for  power  to  coerce 
a  State,  the  argument  was  that  it  would  be  a  means,  not  of  pre- 
serving, but  of  destroying,  the  Union.  It  was  not  for  them  to 
make  arrangements  for  its  termination — a  calamity  which  there 
was  no  occasion  to  provide  for  in  advance.  Sufficient  for  their 
day  was  the  evil  thereof.  It  is  not  usual,  either  in  partnerships 
between  men  or  in  treaties  between  governments,  to  make  pro- 
vision for  a  dissolution  of  the  partnership  or  a  termination  of 
the  treaty,  unless  there  be  some  special  reason  for  a  limitation  of 
time.  Indeed,  in  treaties,  the  usual  formula  includes  a  declara- 
tion of  their  perpetuity  ;  but  in  either  case  the  power  of  the 
contracting  parties,  or  of  any  of  them,  to  dissolve  the  compact, 
on  terms  not  damaging  to  the  rights  of  the  other  parties,  is  not 
the  less  clearly  understood.     It  was  not  necessary  in  the  Consti- 


1788]        THE  RIGHT  TO  EESUME  THE  POWERS  DELEGATED.  173 

tution  to  affirm  the  right  of  secession,  because  it  was  an  attribute 
of  sovereignty,  and  the  States  had  reserved  all  which  they  had 
not  delegated. 

The  right  of  the  people  of  the  several  States  to  resume  the 
powers  delegated  by  them  to  the  common  agency,  was  not  left 
without  positive  and  ample  assertion,  even  at  a  period  when  it 
had  never  been  denied.  The  ratification  of  the  Constitution  by 
Yirginia  has  already  been  quoted,  in  which  the  people  of  that 
State,  through  their  Convention,  did  expressly  "  declare  and 
make  known  that  the  powers  granted  under  the  Constitution, 
being  derived  from  the  people  of  the  United  States,  may  he  re- 
sumed hy  them,  whensoever  the  same  shall  be  perverted  to  their 
injury  or  oppression,  and  that  every  power  not  granted  thereby 
remains  with  them  and  at  their  will."  *■ 

New  York  and  Rhode  Island  were  no  less  explicit,  both  de- 
claring that  "the  powers  of  government  may  he  reassumed  hy 
the  people  whenever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happi- 
ness." f 

These  expressions  are  not  mere  ohiter  dicta,  thrown  out  in- 
cidentally, and  entitled  only  to  be  regarded  as  an  expression  of 
opinion  by  their  authors.  Even  if  only  such,  they  would  carry 
great  weight  as  the  deliberately  expressed  judgment  of  enlight- 
ened contemporaries,  but  they  are  more :  they  are  parts  of  the 
very  acts  or  ordinances  by  which  these  States  ratified  the  Con- 
stitution and  acceded  to  the  Union,  and  can  not  be  detached 
from  them.  If  they  are  invalid,  the  ratification  itself  was  in- 
valid, for  they  are  inseparable.  By  inserting  these  declarations 
in  their  ordinances,  Yirginia,  New  York,  and  Rhode  Island,  for- 
mally, officially,  and  permanently,  declared  their  interpretation 
of  the  Constitution  as  recognizing  the  right  of  secession  by  the 
resumption  of  their  grants.  By  accepting  the  ratifications  with 
this  declaration  incorporated,  the  other  States  as  formally  ac- 
cepted the  principle  which  it  asserted. 

I  am  well  aware  that  it  has  been  attempted  to  construe  these 
declarations  concerning  the  right  of  the  people  to  reassume  their 
delegations  of  power — especially  in  the  terms  employed  by  Yir- 
ginia, "  people  of  the  United  States  " — as  having  reference  to 

*  See  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  i,  p.  360.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  361,  369. 


174      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  idea  of  one  people,  in  mass,  or  "in  the  aggregate."  But  it 
can  scarcely  be  possible  that  any  candid  and  intelligent  reader, 
who  has  carefully  considered  the  evidence  already  brought  to 
bear  on  the  subject,  can  need  further  argument  to  disabuse  his 
mind  of  that  political  fiction.  The  "people  of  the  United 
States,"  from  whom  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government 
were  "  derived,"  could  have  been  no  other  than  the  people  who 
ordained  and  ratified  the  Constitution;  and  this,  it  has  been 
shown  beyond  the  power  of  denial,  was  done  by  the  people  of 
each  State,  severally  and  independently.  No  other  people  were 
known  to  the  authors  of  the  declarations  above  quoted.  Mr. 
Madison  was  a  leading  member  of  the  Yirginia  Convention, 
which  made  that  declaration,  as  well  as  of  the  general  Conven- 
tion that  drew  up  the  Constitution.  We  have  seen  what  his 
idea  of  "  the  people  of  the  United  States  "  was — "  not  the  peo- 
ple as  composing  one  great  body,  but  the  people  as  composing 
thirteen  sovereignties."  *  Mr.  Lee,  of  Westmoreland  ("  Light- 
Horse  Harry  "),  in  the  same  Convention,  answering  Mr.  Henry's 
objection  to  the  expression,  "  "We,  the  people,"  said  :  "  It  [the 
Constitution]  is  now  submitted  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  If 
we  do  not  adopt  it,  it  will  be  always  null  and  void  as  to  us. 
Suppose  it  was  found  proper  for  our  adoption,  and  becoming 
the  government  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  by  what  style  should 
it  be  done  ?  Ought  we  not  to  make  use  of  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple ?  No  other  style  would  be  proper."  f  It  would  certainly 
be  superfluous,  after  all  that  has  been  presented  heretofore,  to 
add  any  further  evidence  of  the  meaning  that  was  attached  to 
these  expressions  by  their  authors.  "  The  people  of  the  United 
States "  were  in  their  minds  the  people  of  Yirginia,  the  peo- 
ple of  Massachusetts,  and  the  people  of  every  other  State  that 
should  agree  to  unite.  They  could  have  meant  only  that  the 
people  of  their  respective  States  who  had  delegated  certain 
powers  to  the  Federal  Government,  in  ratifying  the  Constitu- 
tion and  acceding  to  the  Union,  reserved  to  themselves  the 
right,  in  event  of  the  failure  of  their  purposes,  to  "  resume " 
( or  "  reassume " )  those  powers  by  seceding  from  the  same 
Union. 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  iii,  p.  114.  f  Ibid.,  p.  VI. 


1788]  SOVEREIGNTY  NECESSARILY  RESERVED.  175 

Finally,  the  absurdity  of  the  construction  attempted  to  be 
put  upon  these  expressions  will  be  evident  from  a  very  brief 
analysis.  If  the  assertion  of  the  right  of  reassumption  of  their 
powers  was  meant  for  the  protection  of  the  whole  people — the 
people  in  mass — the  people  "  in  the  aggregate  " — of  a  consoli- 
dated republic — against  whom  or  what  was  it  to  protect  them  ? 
By  whom  were  the  powers  granted  to  be  perverted  to  the  injury 
or  oppression  of  the  whole  people  ?  By  themselves  or  by  some 
of  the  States,  all  of  whom,  according  to  this  hypothesis,  had 
been  consolidated  into  one  ?  As  no  danger  could  have  been 
apprehended  from  either  of  these,  it  must  have  been  against  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  provision  was  made ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  whole  people  of  a  republic  make  this  declara- 
tion against  a  Government  established  by  themselves  and  entirely 
subject  to  their  own  control,  under  a  Constitution  which  con- 
tains provision  for  its  own  amendment  by  this  very  same  "  whole 
people,"  whenever  they  may  think  proper !  Is  it  not  a  libel 
upon  the  statesmen  of  that  generation  to  attribute  to  their 
grave  and  solemn  declarations  a  meaning  so  vapid  and  absurd  ? 

To  those  who  argue  that  the  grants  of  the  Constitution  are 
fatal  to  the  reservation  of  sovereignty  by  the  States,  the  Consti- 
tution furnishes  a  conclusive  answer  in  the  amendment  which 
was  coeval  with  the  adoption  of  the  instrument,  and  which  de- 
clares that  all  powers  not  delegated  to  the  Government  of  the 
Union  were  reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people.  As  sov- 
ereignty was  not  delegated  by  the  States,  it  was  necessarily  re- 
served. It  would  be  superfluous  to  answer  arguments  against 
implied  powers  of  the  States ;  none  are  claimed  by  implication, 
because  all  not  delegated  by  the  States  remained  with  them, 
and  it  was  only  in  an  abundance  of  caution  that  they  expressed 
the  right  to  resume  such  parts  of  their  unlimited  power  as  was 
delegated  for  the  purposes  enumerated.  As  there  be  those  who 
see  danger  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  in  the  possession  of 
such  power  by  the  States,  and  insist  that  our  fathers  did  not 
intend  to  bind  the  States  together  by  a  compact  no  better  than 
"a  rope  of  sand,"  it  may  be  well  to  examine  their  position. 
From  what  have  dangers  to  the  Union  arisen?  Have  they 
sprung  from  too  great  restriction  on  the  exercise  of  the  granted 


176      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

powers,  or  from  the  assumption  by  the  General  Government 
of  power  claimed  by  implication?  The  whole  record  of  our 
Union  answers,  from  the  latter  only. 

Was  this  tendency  to  usurpation  caused  by  the  presumption 
of  paramount  authority  in  the  General  Government,  or  by  the 
assertion  of  the  right  of  a  State  to  resume  the  powers  it  had  del- 
egated ?  Reasonably  and  honestly  it  can  not  be  assigned  to  the 
latter.  Let  it  be  supposed  that  the  "whole  people  "  had  recognized 
the  right  of  a  State  of  the  Union,  peaceably  and  independently, 
to  resume  the  powers  which,  peaceably  and  independently,  she 
had  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  would  not  this  have 
been  potent  to  restrain  the  General  Government  from  exercising 
its  functions  to  the  injury  and  oppression  of  such  State  ?  To 
deny  that  effect  would  be  to  suppose  that  a  dominant  majority 
would  be  willing  to  drive  a  State  from  the  Union.  "Would  the 
admission  of  the  right  of  a  State  to  resume  the  grants  it  had 
made,  have  led  to  the  exercise  of  that  right  for  light  and  trivial 
causes?  Surely  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  nations,  both 
ancient  and  modern,  refutes  the  supposition.  In  the  language 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  "All  experience  hath 
shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are 
sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to 
which  they  are  accustomed."  Would  not  real  grievances  be 
rendered  more  tolerable  by  the  consciousness  of  power  to  re- 
move them  ;  and  would  not  even  imaginary  wrongs  be  embit- 
tered by  the  manifestation  of  a  purpose  to  make  them  perpet- 
ual ?     To  ask  these  questions  is  to  answer  them. 

The  wise  and  brave  men  who  had,  at  much  peril  and  great 
sacrifice,  secured  the  independence  of  the  States,  were  as  little 
disposed  to  surrender  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  as  they  were 
anxious  to  organize  a  General  Government  with  adequate  pow- 
ers to  remedy  the  defects  of  the  Confederation.  The  Union 
they  formed  was  not  to  destroy  the  States,  but  to  "  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity." 


1788]  USE  OF  FORCE  AGAINST  A  STATE.  177 


CHAPTEE    XII. 

Coercion  the  Alternative  to  Secession. — Repudiation  of  it  by  the  Constitution  and 
the  Fathers  of  the  Constitutional  Era. — Difference  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr. 
Hamilton. 

The  alternative  to  secession  is  coercion.  That  is  to  say,  if 
no  such  right  as  that  of  secession  exists — if  it  is  forbidden  or  pre- 
cluded by  the  Constitution — then  it  is  a  wrong ;  and,  by  a  well 
settled  principle  of  public  law,  for  every  wrong  there  must  be 
a  remedy,  which  in  this  case  must  be  the  application  of  force 
to  the  State  attempting  to  withdraw  from  the  Union. 

Early  in  the  session  of  the  Convention  which  formed  the 
Constitution,  it  was  proposed  to  confer  upon  Congress  the  pow- 
er "to  call  forth  the  force  of  the  Union  against  any  member  of 
the  Union  failing  to  fulfill  its  duty  under  the  articles  thereof." 
When  this  proposition  came  to  be  considered,  Mr.  Madison  ob- 
served that  "  a  union  of  the  States  containing  such  an  ingredient 
seemed  to  provide  for  its  own  destruction.  The  use  of  force 
against  a  State  would  look  more  like  a  declaration  of  war  than 
an  infliction  of  punishment,  and  would  probably  be  considered 
by  the  party  attacked  as  a  dissolution  of  all  previous  compacts 
by  which  it  might  be  bound.  He  hoped  that  such  a  system 
would  be  framed  as  might  render  this  recourse  unnecessary, 
and  moved  that  the  clause  be  postponed."  This  motion  was 
adopted  nem.  con.,  and  the  proposition  was  never  again  re- 
vived.* Again,  on  a  subsequent  occasion,  speaking  of  an  ap- 
peal to  force,  Mr.  Madison  said :  "  Was  such  a  remedy  eligi- 
ble %  Was  it  practicable  ?  .  .  .  Any  government  for  the  United 
States,  formed  on  the  supposed  practicability  of  using  force 
against  the  unconstitutional  proceedings  of  the  States,  would 
prove  as  visionary  and  fallacious  as  the  government  of  Con- 
gress." f  Every  proposition  looking  in  any  way  to  the  same 
or  a  similar  object  was  promptly  rejected  by  the  convention. 
George  Mason,  of  Virginia,  said  of  such  a  proposition  :  "  Will 
not  the  citizens  of  the  invaded  State  assist  one  another,  until 
they  rise  as  one  man  and  shake  off  the  Union  altogether  ?  "  % 

*  "Madison  Papers,"  pp.  732,  761.  f  Ibid.,  p.  822.  %  Ibid.,  p.  914. 

12 


178       RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Oliver  Ellsworth,  in  the  ratifying  Convention  of  Connecti- 
cut, said  :  "  This  Constitution  does  not  attempt  to  coerce  sover- 
eign bodies,  /States,  in  their  political  capacity.  ~No  coercion  is 
applicable  to  such  bodies  but  that  of  an  armed  force.  If  we 
should  attempt  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union  by  sending  an 
armed  force  against  a  delinquent  State,  it  would  involve  the 
good  and  bad,  the  innocent  and  guilty,  in  the  same  calamity."  * 

Mr.  Hamilton,  in  the  Convention  of  New  York,  said :  "  To 
coerce  the  States  is  one  of  the  maddest  projects  that  was  ever 
devised.  .  .  .  What  picture  does  this  idea  present  to  our  view  ? 
A  complying  State  at  war  with  a  non-complying  State :  Con- 
gress marching  the  troops  of  one  State  into  the  bosom  of  an- 
other :  .  .  .  Here  is  a  nation  at  war  with  itself.  Can  any  rea- 
sonable man  be  well  disposed  toward  a  government  which  makes 
war  and  carnage  the  only  means  of  supporting  itself — a  govern- 
ment that  can  exist  only  by  the  sword  ?  .  .  .  But  can  we  be- 
lieve that  one  State  will  ever  suffer  itself  to  be  used  as  an  instru- 
ment of  coercion  %     The  thing  is  a  dream — it  is  impossible."  f 

Unhappily,  our  generation  has  seen  that,  in  the  decay  of  the 
principles  and  feelings  which  animated  the  hearts  of  all  patriots 
in  that  day,  this  thing,  like  many  others  then  regarded  as  im- 
possible dreams,  has  been  only  too  feasible,  and  that  States  have 
permitted  themselves  to  be  used  as  instruments,  not  merely  for 
the  coercion,  but  for  the  destruction  of  the  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence of  their  sister  States. 

Edmund  Randolph,  Governor  of  Virginia,  although  the 
mover  of  the  original  proposition  to  authorize  the  employment 
of  the  forces  of  the  Union  against  a  delinquent  member,  which 
had  been  so  signally  defeated  in  the  Federal  Convention,  after- 
ward, in  the  Yirginia  Convention,  made  an  eloquent  protest 
against  the  idea  of  the  employment  of  force  against  a  State. 
"  What  species  of  military  coercion,"  said  he,  "  could  the  Gen- 
eral Government  adopt  for  the  enforcement  of  obedience  to 
its  demands  ?  Either  an  army  sent  into  the  heart  of  a  delin- 
quent State,  or  blocking  up  its  ports.  Have  we  lived  to  this, 
then,  that,  in  order  to  suppress  and  exclude  tyranny,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  render  the  most  affectionate  friends   the   most  bitter 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  ii,  p.  199.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  232,  233. 


1833]  THE  INVENTION  OF  AN  ELECTORAL   COMMISSION.  179 

enemies,  set  the  father  against  the  son,  and  make  the  brother 
slay  the  brother  ?  Is  this  the  happy  expedient  that  is  to  pre- 
serve liberty  \  Will  it  not  destroy  it  ?  ■  If  an  army  be  once 
introduced  to  force  us,  if  once  marched  into  Virginia,  figure 
to  yourselves  what  the  dreadful  consequence  will  be :  the  most 
lamentable  civil  war  must  ensue."  * 

We  have  seen  already  how  vehemently  the  idea  of  even 
judicial  coercion  was  repudiated  by  Plamilton,  Marshall,  and 
others.  The  suggestion  of  military  coercion  was  uniformly 
treated,  as  in  the  above  extracts,  with  still  more  abhorrence. 
No  principle  was  more  fully  and  firmly  settled  on  the  highest 
authority  than  that,  under  our  system,  there  could  be  no  coer- 
cion of  a  State. 

Mr.  Webster,  in  his  elaborate  speech  of  February  16, 1833, 
arguing  throughout  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  and 
in  the  course  of  his  argument  sadly  confounding  the  ideas  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  and  the  Federal  Government,  as  he  con- 
founds the  sovereign  people  of  the  States  with  the  State  gov- 
ernments, says  :  "  The  States  can  not  omit  to  appoint  Senators 
and  electors.  It  is  not  a  matter  resting  in  State  discretion  or 
State  pleasure.  .  .  .  JSTo  member  of  a  State  Legislature  can 
refuse  to  proceed,  at  the  proper  time,  to  elect  Senators  to  Con- 
gress, or  to  provide  for  the  choice  of  electors  of  President  and 
Vice-President,  any  more  than  the  members  can  refuse,  when 
the  appointed  day  arrives,  to  meet  the  members  of  the  other 
House,  to  count  the  votes  for  those  officers  and  ascertain  who 
are  chosen."  f  This  was  before  the  invention  in  1877  of  an  elec- 
toral commission  to  relieve  Congress  of  its  constitutional  duty  to 
count  the  vote.  Mr.  Hamilton,  on  the  contrary,  fresh  from  the 
work  of  forming  the  Constitution,  and  familiar  with  its  prin- 
ciples and  purposes,  said :  "  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  State 
Legislatures,  by  forbearing  the  appointment  of  Senators,  may 
destroy  the  national  Government."  $ 

It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  particular  question  on  which 
these  two  great  authorities  are  thus  directly  at  issue.  I  do  not 
contend  that  the  State  Legislatures,  of  their  own  will,  have  a 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  iii,  p.  117. 

f  "  Congressional  Debates,"  vol.  ix,  Part  I,  p.  566.  %  "  Federalist,"  No.  lix. 


180      RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

right  to  forego  the  performance  of  any  Federal  duty  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  Constitution.  But  there  is  a  power  beyond 
and  above  that  of  either  the  Federal  or  State  governments — the 
power  of  the  people  of  the  State,  who  ordained  and  established 
the  Constitution,  as  far  as  it  applies  to  themselves,  reserving,  as 
I  think  has  been  demonstrated,  the  right  to  reassume  the  grants 
of  power  therein  made,  when  they  deem  it  necessary  for  their 
safety  or  welfare  to  do  so.  At  the  behest  of  this  power,  it  cer- 
tainly becomes  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of  their  State 
Legislature  to  refrain  from  any  action  implying  adherence  to 
the  Union,  or  partnership,  from  which  the  sovereign  has  with- 
drawn. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Some  Objections  considered. — The  New  States. — Acquired  Territory. — Allegiance, 
false  and  true. — Difference  between  Nullification  and  Secession. — Secession  a 
Peaceable  Remedy. — No  Appeal  to  Arms. — Two  Conditions  noted. 

It  would  be  only  adding  to  a  superabundance  of  testimony 
to  quote  further  from  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  in  sup- 
port of  the  principle,  unquestioned  in  that  generation,  that  the 
people  who  granted — that  is  to  say,  of  course,  the  people  of  the 
several  States — might  resume  their  grants.  It  will  require  but 
few  words  to  dispose  of  some  superficial  objections  that  have 
been  made  to  the  application  of  this  doctrine  in  a  special  case. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that,  whatever  weight  may  attach  to 
principles  founded  on  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  the 
original  thirteen  States,  they  can  not  apply  to  the  States  of  more 
recent  origin — constituting  now  a  majority  of  the  members  of 
the  Union — because  these  are  but  the  offspring  or  creatures  of 
the  Union,  and  must  of  course  be  subordinate  and  dependent. 

This  objection  would  scarcely  occur  to  any  instructed  mind, 
though  it  may  possess  a  certain  degree  of  specious  plausibility 
for  the  untaught.  It  is  enough  to  answer  that  the  entire 
equality  of  the  States,  in  every  particular,  is  a  vital  condition  of 
their  union.     Every  new  member  that  has  been  admitted  into 


1788]  THE  BOSTON  MEMORIAL.  181 

the  partnership  of  States  came  in,  as  is  expressly  declared  in  the 
acts  for  their  admission,  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  in  every 
respect  with  the  original  members.  This  equality  is  as  com- 
plete as  the  equality,  before  the  laws,  of  the  son  with  the  father, 
immediately  on  the  attainment  by  the  former  of  his  legal  ma- 
jority, without  regard  to  the  prior  condition  of  dependence  and 
tutelage.  The  relations  of  the  original  States  to  one  another 
and  to  the  Union  can  not  be  affected  by  any  subsequent  acces- 
sions of  new  members,  as  the  Constitution  fixes  those  relations 
permanently,  and  furnishes  the  normal  standard  which  is  ap- 
plicable to  all.  The  Boston  memorial  to  Congress,  referred  to 
in  a  foregoing  chapter,  as  prepared  by  a  committee  with  Mr. 
Webster  at  its  head,  says  that  the  new  States  "  are  universally 
considered  as  admitted  into  the  Union  upon  the  same  footing  as 
the  original  States,  and  as  possessing,  in  respect  to  the  Union, 
the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence,  as 
the  other  States." 

But,  with  regard  to  States  formed  of  territory  acquired  by 
purchase  from  France,  Spain,  and  Mexico,  it  is  claimed  that,  as 
they  were  bought  by  the  United  States,  they  belong  to  the  same, 
and  have  no  right  to  withdraw  at  will  from  an  association  the 
property  which  had  been  purchased  by  the  other  partie's. 

Happy  would  it  have  been  if  the  equal  rights  of  the  people 
of  all  the  States  to  the  enjoyment  of  territory  acquired  by  the 
common  treasure  could  have  been  recognized  at  the  proper 
time  !     There  would  then  have  been  no  secession  and  no  war. 

As  for  the  sordid  claim  of  ownership  of  States,  on  account 
of  the  money  spent  for  the  land  which  they  contain — I  can  un- 
derstand the  ground  of  a  claim  to  some  interest  in  the  soil,  so 
long  as  it  continues  to  be  public  property,  but  have  yet  to  learn 
in  what  way  the  United  States  ever  became  purchaser  of  the 
inhabitants  or  of  their  political  rights. 

Any  question  in  regard  to  property  has  always  been  admit- 
ted to  be  matter  for  fair  and  equitable  settlement,  in  case  of  the 
withdrawal  of  a  State. 

The  treaty  by  which  the  Louisiana  territory  was  ceded  to 
the  United  States  expressly  provided  that  the  inhabitants  thereof 
should  be  "  admitted,  as  soon  as  possible,  according  to  the  prin- 


182      RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ciples  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights,  advantages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States."  *  In  all  other  acquisitions  of  territory  the  same  stipu- 
lation is  either  expressed  or  implied.  Indeed,  the  denial  of  the 
right  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  American 
political  institutions. 

Another  objection  made  to  the  right  of  secession  is  based 
upon  obscure,  indefinite,  and  inconsistent  ideas  with  regard  to 
allegiance.  It  assumes  various  shapes,  and  is  therefore  some- 
what difficult  to  meet,  but,  as  most  frequently  presented,  may  be 
stated  thus :  that  the  citizen  owes  a  double  allegiance,  or  a  di- 
vided allegiance — partly  to  his  State,  partly  to  the  United 
States :  that  it  is  not  possible  for  either  of  these  powers  to 
release  him  from  the  allegiance  due  to  the  other:  that  the 
State  can  no  more  release  him  from  his  obligations  to  the  Union 
than  the  United  States  can  absolve  him  from  his  duties  to  his 
State.  This  is  the  most  moderate  way  in  which,  the  objection  is 
put.  The  extreme  centralizers  go  further,  and  claim  that  alle- 
giance to  the  Union,  or,  as  they  generally  express  it,  to  the  Gov- 
ernment— meaning  thereby  the  Federal  Government — is  para- 
mount, and  the  obligation  to  the  State  only  subsidiary — if,  in- 
deed, it  exists  at  all. 

This  latter  view,  if  the  more  monstrous,  is  at  least  the  more 
consistent  of  the  two,  for  it  does  not  involve  the  difficulty  of  a 
divided  allegiance,  nor  the  paradoxical  position  in  which  the 
other  places  the  citizen,  in  case  of  a  conflict  between  his  State 
and  the  other  members  of  the  Union,  of  being  necessarily  a 
rebel  against  the  General  Government  or  a  traitor  to  the  State 
of  which  he  is  a  citizen. 

As  to  true  allegiance,  in  the  light  of  the  principles  which 
have  been  established,  there  can  be  no  doubt  with  regard  to  it. 
The  primary,  paramount  allegiance  of  the  citizen  is  due  to  the 
sovereign  only.  That  sovereign,  under  our  system,  is  the  peo- 
ple— the  people  of  the  State  to  which  he  belongs — the  people 
who  constituted  the  State  government  which  he  obeys,  and 
which  protects  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  personal  rights — the 
people  who  alone  (as  far  as  he  is  concerned)  ordained  and  estab- 

*  Ray's  "  Louisiana  Digest,"  vol.  i,  p.  24. 


1Y88]  REBELLION  IS   TREASON.  183 

lished  the  Federal  Constitution  and  Federal  Government — the 
people  who  have  reserved  to  themselves  sovereignty,  which  in- 
volves the  power  to  revoke  all  agencies  created  by  them.  The 
obligation  to  support  the  State  or  Federal  Constitution  and 
the  obedience  due  to  either  State  or  Federal  Government  are 
alike  derived  from  and  dependent  on  the  allegiance  due  to 
this  sovereign.  If  the  sovereign  abolishes  the  State  govern- 
ment and  ordains  and  establishes  a  new  one,  the  obligation  of 
allegiance  requires  him  to  transfer  his  obedience  accordingly. 
If  the  sovereign  withdraws  from  association  with  its  confeder- 
ates in  the  Union,  the  allegiance  of  the  citizen  requires  him  to 
follow  the  sovereign.  Any  other  course  is  rebellion  or  treason 
— words  which,  in  the  cant  of  the  day,  have  been  so  grossly  mis- 
applied and  perverted  as  to  be  made  worse  than  unmeaning. 
His  relation  to  the  Union  arose  from  the  membership  of  the 
State  of  which  he  was  a  citizen,  and  ceased  whenever  his  State 
withdrew  from  it.  He  can  not  owe  obedience — much  less  alle- 
giance— to  an  association  from  -which  his  sovereign  has  sepa- 
rated, and  thereby  withdrawn  him. 

Every  officer  of  both  Federal  and  State  governments  is  re- 
quired to  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  a  compact 
the  binding  force  of  which  is  based  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States — a  sovereignty  necessarily  carrying  with  it  the  principles 
just  stated  with  regard  to  allegiance.  Every  such  officer  is, 
therefore,  virtually  sworn  to  maintain  and  support  the  sover- 
eignty of  all  the  States. 

Military  and  naval  officers  take,  in  addition,  an  oath  to  obey 
the  lawful  orders  of  their  superiors.  Such  an  oath  has  never 
been  understood  to  be  eternal  in  its  obligations.  It  is  dissolved 
by  the  death,  dismissal,  or  resignation  of  the  officer  who  takes 
it ;  and  such  resignation  is  not  a  mere  optional  right,  but  be- 
comes an  imperative  duty  when  continuance  in  the  service 
comes  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  ultimate  allegiance  due  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  State  to  which  he  belongs. 

A  little  consideration  of  these  plain  and  irrefutable  truths 
would  show  how  utterly  unworthy  and  false  are  the  vulgar 
taunts  which  attribute  "treason"  to  those  who,  in  the  late 
secession  of  the  Southern  States,  were  loyal  to  the  only  sover- 


184      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

eign  entitled  to  their  allegiance,  and  which  still  more  absurdly 
prate  of  the  violation  of  oaths  to  support  " the  Government" 
an  oath  which  nobody  ever  could  have  been  legally  required  to 
take,  and  which  must  have  been  ignorantly  confounded  with 
the  prescribed  oath  to  support  the  Constitution. 

Nullification  and  secession  are  often  erroneously  treated  as 
if  they  were  one  and  the  same  thing.  It  is  true  that  both  ideas 
spring  from  the  sovereign  right  of  a  State  to  interpose  for  the 
protection  of  its  own  people,  but  they  are  altogether  unlike  as 
to  both  their  extent  and  the  character  of  the  means  to  be 
employed.  The  first  was  a  temporary  expedient,  intended  to 
restrain  action  until  the  question  at  issue  could  be  submitted  to 
a  convention  of  the  States.  It  was  a  remedy  which  its  sup- 
porters sought  to  apply  within  the  Union ;  a  means  to  avoid 
the  last  resort — separation.  If  the  application  for  a  convention 
should  fail,  or  if  the  State  making  it  should  suffer  an  adverse 
decision,  the  advocates  of  that  remedy  have  not  revealed  what 
they  proposed  as  the  next  step — supposing  the  infraction  of  the 
compact  to  have  been  of  that  character  which,  according  to  Mr. 
Webster,  dissolved  it. 

Secession,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  assertion  of  the  inal- 
ienable right  of  a  people  to  change  their  government,  when- 
ever it  ceased  to  fulfill  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  ordained 
and  established.  Under  our  form  of  government,  and  the  car- 
dinal principles  upon  which  it  was  founded,  it  should  have  been 
a  peaceful  remedy.  The  withdrawal  of  a  State  from  a  league 
has  no  revolutionary  or  insurrectionary  characteristic.  The 
government  of  the  State  remains  unchanged  as  to  all  internal 
affairs.  It  is  only  its  external  or  confederate  relations  that  are 
altered.  To  term  this  action  of  a  sovereign  a  "  rebellion,"  is 
a  gross  abuse  of  language.  So  is  the  flippant  phrase  which 
speaks  of  it  as  an  appeal  to  the  "  arbitrament  of  the  sword." 
In  the  late  contest,  in  particular,  there  was  no  appeal  by  the 
seceding  States  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms.  There  was  on  their 
part  no  invitation  nor  provocation  to  war.  They  stood  in  an 
attitude  of  self-defense,  and  were  attacked  for  merely  exercising 
a  right  guaranteed  by  the  original  terms  of  the  compact.  They 
neither  tendered  nor  accepted  any  challenge  to  the  wager  of 


1787]  CONFLICTING  INTERESTS  OF  SECTIONS.  185 

battle.  The  man  who  defends  his  house  against  attack  can  not 
with  any  propriety  be  said  to  have  submitted  the  question  of 
his  right  to  it  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms. 

Two  moral  obligations  or  restrictions  upon  a  seceding  State 
certainly  exist :  in  the  first  place,  not  to  break  up  the  partner- 
ship without  good  and  sufficient  cause ;  and,  in  the  second,  to 
make  an  equitable  settlement  with  former  associates,  and,  as  far 
as  may  be,  to  avoid  the  infliction  of  loss  or  damage  upon  any  of 
them.  Neither  of  these  obligations  was  violated  or  neglected 
by  the  Southern  States  in  their  secession. 


CHAPTER    XIY. 

Early  Foreshadowings. — Opinions  of  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Rufus  King. — Safeguards 
provided. — Their  Failure. — State  Interposition. — The  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
Resolutions. — Their  Endorsement  by  the  People  in  the  Presidential  Elections  of 
1800  and  Ensuing  Terms. — South  Carolina  and  Mr.  Calhoun. — The  Compromise 
of  1833. — Action  of  Massachusetts  in  1843-45. — Opinions  of  John  Quincy 
Adams. — Necessity  for  Secession. 

From  the  earliest  period,  it  was  foreseen  by  the  wisest  of  our 
statesmen  that  a  danger  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  would 
arise  from  the  conflicting  interests  of  different  sections,  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  secure  each  of  these  classes  of  interests 
against  aggression  by  the  other.  As  a  proof  of  this,  may  be 
cited  the  following  extract  from  Mr.  Madison's  report  of  a  speech 
made  by  himself  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention  on  the  30th  of 
June,  1787 : 

"  He  admitted  that  every  peculiar  interest,  whether  in  any 
class  of  citizens  or  any  description  of  States,  ought  to  be  secured 
as  far  as  possible.  Wherever  there  is  danger  of  attack,  there 
ought  to  be  given  a  constitutional  power  of  defense.  But  he 
contended  that  the  States  were  divided  into  different  interests, 
not  by  their  difference  of  size,  but  by  other  circumstances  ;  the 
most  material  of  which  resulted  from  climate,  but  principally 
from  the  effects  of  their  having  or  not  having  slaves.  These  two 
causes  concurred  in  forming  the  great  division  of  interests  in  the 


186      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

United  States.  It  did  not  lie  between  the  large  and  small  States  ; 
it  lay  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  ;  and,  if  any  defensive 
power  were  necessary,  it  ought  to  be  mutually  given  to  these  two 
interests."  * 

Mr.  Rufus  King,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Convention 
from  Massachusetts,  a  few  days  afterward,  said,  to  the  same 
effect :  "  He  was  fully  convinced  that  the  question  concerning  a 
difference  of  interests  did  not  lie  where  it  had  hitherto  been 
discussed,  between  the  great  and  small  States,  but  between  the 
Southern  and  Eastern.  For  this  reason  he  had  been  ready  to 
yield  something,  in  the  proportion  of  representatives,  for  the 
security  of  the  Southern.  .  .  .  He  was  not  averse  to  giving 
them  a  still  greater  security,  but  did  not  see  how  it  could  be 
done."  f 

The  wise  men  who  formed  the  Constitution  were  not  seeking 
to  bind  the  States  together  by  the  material  power  of  a  majority  ; 
nor  were  they  so  blind  to  the  influences  of  passion  and  interest 
as  to  believe  that  paper  barriers  would  suffice  to  restrain  a 
majority  actuated  by  either  or  both  of  these  motives.  They  en- 
deavored, therefore,  to  prevent  the  conflicts  inevitable  from  the 
ascendancy  of  a  sectional  or  party  majority,  by  so  distributing 
the  powers  of  government  that  each  interest  might  hold  a  check 
upon  the  other.  It  was  believed  that  the  compromises  made 
with  regard  to  representation — securing  to  each  State  an  equal 
vote  in  the  Senate,  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  giving 
the  States  a  weight  in  proportion  to  their  respective  population, 
estimating  the  negroes  as  equivalent  to  three  fifths  of  the  same 
number  of  free  whites — would  have  the  effect  of  giving  at  an 
early  period  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  the 
South,  while  the  North  would  retain  the  ascendancy  in  the  Sen- 
ate. Thus  it  was  supposed  that  the  two  great  sectional  inter- 
ests would  be  enabled  to  restrain  each  other  within  the  limits 
of  purposes  and  action  beneficial  to  both. 

The  failure  of  these  expectations  need  not  affect  our  reverence 
for  the  intentions  of  the  fathers,  or  our  respect  for  the  means 
which  they  devised  to  carry  them  into  effect.     That  they  were 

*  "  Madison  Papers,"  p.  1006.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  .1057,  1058. 


1787]  NO  ELEMENT   OF  DISINTEGRATION.  187 

mistaken,  both  as  to  the  maintenance  of  the  balance  of  sectional 
power  and  as  to  the  fidelity  and  integrity  with  which  the  Con- 
gress was  expected  to  conform  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  its 
delegated  authority,  is  perhaps  to  be  ascribed  less  to  lack  of  pro- 
phetic foresight,  than  to  that  over-sanguine  confidence  which  is 
the  weakness  of  honest  minds,  and  which  was  naturally  strength- 
ened by  the  patriotic  and  fraternal  feelings  resulting  from  the 
great  struggle  through  which  they  had  then  but  recently  passed. 
They  saw,  in  the  sufficiency  of  the  authority  delegated  to  the 
Federal  Government  and  in  the  fullness  of  the  sovereignty  re- 
tained by  the  States,  a  system  the  strict  construction  of  which 
was  so  eminently  adapted  to  indefinite  expansion  of  the  confed- 
eracy as  to  embrace  every  variety  of  production  and  consequent 
diversity  of  pursuit.  Carried  out  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was 
devised,  there  was  in  this  system  no  element  of  disintegration,  but 
every  facility  for  an  enlargement  of  the  circle  of  the  family  of 
States  (or  nations),  so  that  it  scarcely  seemed  unreasonable  to 
look  forward  to  a  fulfillment  of  the  aspiration  of  Mr.  Hamilton, 
that  it  might  extend  over  North  America,  perhaps  over  the 
whole  continent. 

Not  at  all  incompatible  with  these  views  and  purposes  was 
the  recognition  of  the  right  of  the  States  to  reassume,'if  occa- 
sion should  require  it,  the  powers  which  they  had  delegated. 
On  the  contrary,  the  maintenance  of  this  right  was  the  surest 
guarantee  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  and  the  denial  of  it 
sounded  the  first  serious  note  of  its  dissolution.  The  conserv- 
ative efficiency  of  " State  interposition"  for  maintenance  of  the 
essential  principles  of  the  Union  against  aggression  or  decadence, 
is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  features  in  the  debates  of  the 
various  State  Conventions  by  which  the  Constitution  was  rati- 
fied. Perhaps  their  ideas  of  the  particular  form  in  which  this 
interposition  was  to  be  made  may  have  been  somewhat  indefi- 
nite, and  left  to  be  reduced  to  shape  by  the  circumstances  when 
they  should  arise,  but  the  principle  itself  was  assumed  and  as- 
serted as  fundamental.  But  for  a  firm  reliance  upon  it,  as  a 
sure  resort  in  case  of  need,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  the  Union 
would  never  have  been  formed.  It  would  be  unjust  to  the  wis- 
dom and  sagacity  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  to  suppose 


188      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

that  they  entirely  relied  on  paper  barriers  for  the  protection  of 
the  rights  of  minorities.  Fresh  from  the  defense  of  violated 
charters  and  faithless  aggression  on  inalienable  rights,  it  might, 
a  priori,  be  assumed  that  they  would  require  something  more 
potential  than  mere  promises  to  protect  them  from  human  de- 
pravity and  human  ambition.  That  they  did  so  is  to  be  found 
in  the  debates  both  of  the  General  and  the  State  Conventions, 
where  State  interposition  was  often  declared  to  be  the  bulwark 
against  usurpation. 

At  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia  found  reason  to  re- 
assert this  right  of  State  interposition.  In  the  first  of  the  fa- 
mous resolutions  drawn  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1798,  and  with 
some  modification  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  in 
November  of  that  year,  it  is  declared  that,  u  whensoever  the 
General  Government  assumes  undelegated  powers,  its  acts  are 
unauthoritative,  void,  and  of  no  force ;  that  to  this  compact 
each  State  acceded  as  a  State,  and  is  an  integral  party ;  that  this 
Government,  created  by  this  compact,  was  not  made  the  exclu- 
sive or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to 
itself ;  since  that  would  have  made  its  discretion,  and  not  the 
Constitution,  the  measure  of  its  powers;  but  that,  as  in  all 
other  cases  of  compact  among  parties  having  no  common 
judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as 
well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress." 

In  the  Virginia  resolutions,  drawn  by  Mr.  Madison,  adopted 
on  the  24th  of  December,  1798,  and  reaffirmed  in  1799,  the 
General  Assembly  of  that  State  declares  that  "  it  views  the 
powers  of  the  Federal  Government  as  resulting  from  the  com- 
pact, to  which  the  States  are  parties,  as  limited  by  the  plain 
sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument  constituting  that  com- 
pact, as  no  further  valid  than  they  are  authorized  by  the  grants 
enumerated  in  that  compact ;  and  that,  in  case  of  a  deliberate, 
palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers,  not  granted 
by  the  said  compact,  the  States,  who  are  parties  thereto,  have 
the  right,  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to  interpose,  for  arresting  the 
progress  of  the  evil,  and  for  maintaining  within  their  respec- 
tive limits  the  authorities,  rights,  and  liberties,  appertaining  to 


1798]  RESOLUTIONS  OF   1798.  189 

them."  Another  of  the  same  series  of  resolutions  denounces 
the  indications  of  a  design  "  to  consolidate  the  States  by  degrees 
into  one  sovereignty." 

These,  it  is  true,  were  only  the  resolves  of  two  States,  and 
they  were  dissented  from  by  several  other  State  Legislatures — 
not  so  much  on  the  ground  of  opposition  to  the  general  prin- 
ciples asserted  as  on  that  of  their  being  unnecessary  in  their 
application  to  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  which  were  the  imme- 
diate occasion  of  their  utterance.  Nevertheless,  they  were  the 
basis  of  the  contest  for  the  Presidency  in  1800,  which  resulted 
in  their  approval  by  the  people  in  the  triumphant  election  of 
Mr.  Jefferson.  They  became  part  of  the  accepted  creed  of  the 
Republican,  Democratic,  State-Pights,  or  Conservative  party,  as 
it  has  been  variously  termed  at  different  periods,  and  as  such 
they  were  ratified  by  the  people  in  every  Presidential  election 
that  took  place  for  sixty  years,  with  two  exceptions.  The  last 
victory  obtained  under  them,  and  when  they  were  emphasized 
by  adding  the  construction  of  them  contained  in  the  report  of 
Mr.  Madison  to  the  Yirginia  Legislature  in  1799,  was  at  the 
election  of  Mr.  Buchanan — the  last  President  chosen  by  vote  of 
a  party  that  could  with  any  propriety  be  styled  "  national,"  in 
contradistinction  to  sectional. 

At  a  critical  and  memorable  period,  that  pure  spirit,  lumi- 
nous intellect,  and  devoted  adherent  of  the  Constitution,  the 
great  statesman  of  South  Carolina,  invoked  this  remedy  of  State 
interposition  against  the  Tariff  Act  of  1828,  which  was  deemed 
injurious  and  oppressive  to  his  State.  No  purpose  was  then 
declared  to  coerce  the  State,  as  such,  but  measures  were  taken 
to  break  the  protective  shield  of  her  authority  and  enforce  the 
laws  of  Congress  upon  her  citizens,  by  compelling  them  to  pay 
outside  of  her  ports  the  duties  on  imports,  which  the  State  had 
declared  unconstitutional,  and  had  forbidden  to  be  collected  in 
her  ports. 

There  remained  at  that  day  enough  of  the  spirit  in  which 
the  Union  had  been .  founded — enough  of  respect  for  the  sov- 
ereignty of  States  and  of  regard  for  the  limitations  of  the 
Constitution — to  prevent  a  conflict  of  arms.  The  compromise 
of  1833  was  adopted,  which  South  Carolina  agreed  to  accept, 


190      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the   principle   for  which   she   contended   being  virtually  con- 
ceded. 

Meantime  there  had  been  no  lack,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
of  assertions  of  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  States  from  other 
quarters.  The  declaration  of  these  rights  by  the  New  England 
States  and  their  representatives,  on  the  acquisition  of  Louisi- 
ana in  1803,  on  the  admission  of  the  State  of  that  name  in 
1811-?12,  and  on  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  in 
1843-'45,  have  been  referred  to  in  another  place.  Among  the 
resolutions  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  in  relation  to  the 
proposed  annexation  of  Texas,  adopted  in  February,  1845,  were 
the  following : 

"2.  Resolved,  That  there  has  hitherto  been  no  precedent  of 
the  admission  of  a  foreign  state  or  foreign  territory  into  the 
Union  by  legislation.  And  as  the  powers  of  legislation,  granted 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  Congress,  do  not 
embrace  a  case  of  the  admission  of  a  foreign  state  or  foreign  ter- 
ritory, by  legislation,  into  the  Union,  such  an  act  of  admission 
would  have  no  binding  force  whatever  on  the  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  the  power,  never  having  been  granted  by 
the  people  of  Massachusetts,  to  admit  into  the  Union  States  and 
Territories  not  within  the  same  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted, 
remains  with  the  people,  and  can  only  be  exercised  in  such  way 
and  manner  as  the  people  shall  hereafter  designate  and  appoint."  * 

To  these  stanch  declarations  of  principles — with  regard  to 
which  (leaving  out  of  consideration  the  particular  occasion  that 
called  them  forth)  my  only  doubt  would  be  whether  they  do 
not  express  too  decided  a  doctrine  of  nullification — may  be 
added  the  avowal  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  sons  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, John  Quincy  Adams,  in  his  discourse  before  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  in  1839  : 

"Nations"  (says  Mr.  Adams)  "acknowledge  no  judge  between 
them  upon  earth  ;  and  their  governments,  from  necessity,  must, 
in  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  decide  when  the   failure  of 

*  "  Congressional  Globe,"  vol.  xiv,  p.  299. 


1839]  THE   INDISSOLUBLE   LINK  OF   UNION.  191 

one  party  to  a  contract  to  perform  its  obligations  absolves  the 
other  from  the  reciprocal  fulfillment  of  its  own.  But  this  last  of 
earthly  powers  is  not  necessary  to  the  freedom  or  independence 
of  States  connected  together  by  the  immediate  action  of  the  peo- 
ple of  whom  they  consist.  To  the  people  alone  is  there  reserved 
as  well  the  dissolving  as  the  constituent  power,  and  that  power 
can  be  exercised  by  them  only  under  the  tie  of  conscience,  binding 
them  to  the  retributive  justice  of  Heaven. 

"  With  these  qualifications,  we  may  admit  the  same  right  as 
vested  in  the  people  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  with  reference  to 
the  General  Government,  which  was  exercised  .by  the  people  of 
the  united  colonies  with  reference  to  the  supreme  head  of  the 
British  Empire,  of  which  they  formed  a  part  ;  and  under  these 
limitations  have  the  people  of  each  State  in  the  Union  a  right  to 
secede  from  the  confederated  Union  itself. 

"  Thus  stands  the  eight.  But  the  indissoluble  link  of  union 
between  the  people  of  the  several  States  of  this  confederated  na- 
tion is,  after  all,  not  in  the  eight,  but  in  the  heart.  If  the  day 
should  ever  come  (may  Heaven  avert  it  !)  when  the  affections  of 
the  people  of  these  States  shall  be  alienated  from  each  other,  when 
the  fraternal  spirit  shall  give  way  to  cold  indifference,  or  collision 
of  interests  shall  fester  into  hatred,  the  bonds  of  political  associa- 
tion will  not  long  hold  together  parties  no  longer  attracted  by  the 
magnetism  of  conciliated  interests  and  kindly  sympathies  ;  and 
far  better  will  it  be  for  the  people  of  the  disunited  States  to  part 
in  friendship  with  each  other  than  to  be  held  together  by  con- 
straint. Then  will  be  the  time  for  reverting  to  the  precedents 
which  occurred  at  the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
to  form  again  a  more  perfect  Union,  by  dissolving  that  which 
could  7io  longer  bind,  and  to  leave  the  separated  parts  to  be  re- 
united by  the  law  of  political  gravitation  to  the  center." 

Perhaps  it  is  unfortunate  that,  in  earlier  and  better  times, 
when  the  prospect  of  serious  difficulties  first  arose,  a  convention 
of  the  States  was  not  assembled  to  consider  the  relations  of  the 
various  States  and  the  Government  of  the  Union.  As  time 
rolled  on,  the  General  Government,  gathering  with  both  hands 
a  mass  of  undelegated  powers,  reached  that  position  which  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  pointed  out  as  an  intolerable  evil — the  claim  of 
a  right  to  judge  of  the  extent  of  its  own  authority.     Of  those 


192      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

then  participating  in  public  affairs,  it  was  apparently  useless  to 
ask  that  the  question  should  be  submitted  for  decision  to  the 
parties  to  the  compact,  under  the  same  conditions  as  those  which 
controlled  the  formation  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution ; 
otherwise,  a  convention  would  have  been  utterly  fruitless,  for 
at  that  period,  when  aggression  for  sectional  aggrandizement 
had  made  such  rapid  advances,  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that 
more  than  a  fourth,  if  not  a  majority  of  States,  would  have 
adhered  to  that  policy  which  had  been  manifested  for.  years  in 
the  legislation  of  many  States,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Federal 
Government.  What  course  would  then  have  remained  to  the 
Southern  States  %  Nothing,  except  either  to  submit  to  a  con- 
tinuation of  what  they  believed  and  felt  to  be  violations  of  the 
compact  of  union,  breaches  of  faith,  injurious  and  oppressive 
usurpation,  or  else  to  assert  the  sovereign  right  to  reassume  the 
grants  they  had  made,  since  those  grants  had  been  perverted 
from  their  original  and  proper  purposes. 

Surely  the  right  to  resume  the  powers  delegated  and  to 
judge  of  the  propriety  and  sufficiency  of  the  causes  for  doing 
so  are  alike  inseparable  from  the  possession  of  sovereignty. 
Over  sovereigns  there  is  no  common  judge,  and  between  them 
can  be  no  umpire,  except  by  their  own  agreement  and  consent. 
The  necessity  or  propriety  of  exercising  the  right  to  withdraw 
from  a  confederacy  or  union  must  be  determined  by  each  mem- 
ber for  itself.  Once  determined  in  favor  of  withdrawal,  all  that 
remains  for  consideration  is  the  obligation  to  see  that  no  wanton 
damage  is  done  to  former  associates,  and  to  make  such  fair  set- 
tlement of  common  interests  as  the  equity  of  the  case  may 
require. 


1W8]  FORMATION  OF  A  NEW  PLAN.  193 


CHAPTER    XV. 

A  Bond  of  Union  necessary  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence. — Articles  of  Con- 
federation.— The  Constitution  of  the  United  States. — The  Same  Principle  for  ob- 
taining Grants  of  Power  in  both. — The  Constitution  an  Instrument  enumerating 
the  Powers  delegated. — The  Power  of  Amendment  merely  a  Power  to  amend 
the  Delegated  Grants. — A  Smaller  Power  was  required  for  Amendment  than 
for  a  Grant. — The  Power  of  Amendment  is  confined  to  Grants  of  the  Constitu- 
tion.— Limitations  on  the  Power  of  Amendment. 

In  July,  1776,  the  Congress  of  the  thirteen  united  colonies 
declared  that  "  these  united  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to 
be,  free  and  independent  States."  The  denial  of  this  asserted 
right  and  the  attempted  coercion  made  it  manifest  that  a  bond 
of  union  was  necessary,  for  the  common  defense. 

In  November  of  the  next  year,  viz.,  1777,  articles  of  con- 
federation and  perpetual  union  were  entered  into  by  the  thir- 
teen States  under  the  style  of  "  The  United  States  of  America." 
The  government  instituted  was  to  be  administered  by  a  congress 
of  delegates  from  the  several  States,  and  each  State  to  have  an 
equal  voice  in  legislation.  The  Government  so  formed- was  to 
act  through  and  by  the  States,  and,  having  no  power  to  enforce 
its  requisitions  upon  the  States,  embarrassment  was  early  realized 
in  its  efforts  to  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  war.  After  the 
treaty  of  peace  and  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  States, 
the  difficulty  of  raising  revenue  and  regulating  commerce  was 
so  great  as  to  lead  to  repeated  efforts  to  obtain  from  the  States 
additional  grants  of  power.  Under  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
no  amendment  of  them  could  be  made  except  by  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  States,  and  this  it  had  not  been  found  possible 
to  obtain  for  the  powers  requisite  to  the  efficient  discharge  of 
the  functions  intrusted  to  the  Congress.  Hence  arose  the  pro- 
ceedings for  a  convention  to  amend  the  articles  of  confed- 
eration. The  result  was  the  formation  of  a  new  plan  of  gov- 
ernment, entitled  "  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of 
America." 

This  was  submitted  to  the  Congress,  in  order  that,  if  ap- 
proved by  them,  it  might  be  referred  to  the  States  for  adoption 
13 


194      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

or  rejection  by  the  several  conventions  thereof,  and,  if  adopted 
by  nine  of  the  States,  it  was  to  be  the  compact  of  union  between 
the  States  so  ratifying  the  same. 

The  new  form  of  government  differed  in  many  essential 
particulars  from  the  old  one.  The  delegates,  intent  on  the 
purpose  to  give  greater  efficiency  to  the  government  of  the 
Union,  proposed  greatly  to  enlarge  its  powers,  so  much  so  that 
it  was  not  deemed  safe  to  confide  them  to  a  single  body,  and 
they  were  consequently  distributed  between  three  independent 
departments  of  government,  which  might  be  a  check  upon  one 
another.  The  Constitution  did  not,  like  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration, declare  that  the  States  had  agreed  to  a  perpetual  union, 
but  distinctly  indicated  the  hope  of  its  perpetuity  by  the  expres- 
sion in  the  preamble  of  the  purpose  to  "  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity."  The  circumstances 
under  which  the  Union  of  the  Constitution  was  formed  justi- 
fied the  hope  of  its  perpetuity,  but  the  brief  existence  of  the 
Confederation  may  have  been  a  warning  against  the  renewal  of 
the  assertion  that  the  compact  should  be  perpetual. 

A  remedy  for  the  embarrassment  which  had  been  realized, 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  in  obtaining  amendments 
to  correct  any  defects  in  grants  of  power,  so  as  to  render  them 
effective  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  given,  was  pro- 
vided by  its  fifth  article.  It  is  here  to  be  specially  noted  that 
new  grants  of  power,  as  asked  for  by  the  Convention,  were  un- 
der the  Articles  of  Confederation  only  to  be  obtained  from  the 
unanimous  assent  of  the  States.  Therefore  it  followed  that  two 
of  the  States  which  did  not  ratify  the  Constitution  were,  so  long 
as  they  retained  that  attitude,  free  from  its  obligations.  Thus 
it  is  seen  that  the  same  principle  in  regard  to  obtaining  grants 
of  additional  power  for  the  Federal  Government  formed  the 
rule  for  the  Union  as  it  had  done  for  the  Confederation ;  that 
is,  that  the  consent  of  each  and  every  State  was  a  prerequisite. 
The  apprehension  which  justly  existed  that  several  of  the  States 
might  reject  the  Constitution,  and  under  the  rule  of  unanimity 
defeat  it,  led  to  the  seventh  article  of  the  Constitution,  which 
provided  that  the  ratification  by  the  conventions  of  nine  States 
should  be  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  the  Constitution 


1787]  THE  POWERS  OF  AMENDMENT.  195 

between  the  States  ratifying  it,  which  of  course  contemplated 
leaving  the  others,  more  or  less  in  number,  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  the  nine  States  forming  a  new  government.  Thus 
was  the  Union  to  be  a  voluntary  compact,  and  all  the  powers  of 
its  government  to  be  derived  from  the  assent  of  each  of  its 
members. 

These  powers  as  proposed  by  the  Constitution  were  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  create  alarm  and  opposition  by  some  of  the  most 
influential  men  in  many  of  the  States.  It  is  known  that  the 
objection  of  the  patriot  Samuel  Adams  was  only  overcome  by 
an  assurance  that  such  an  amendment  as  the  tenth  would  be 
adopted.  Like  opposition  was  by  like  assurance  elsewhere  over- 
come. That  article  is  in  these  words :  "  The  powers  not  dele- 
gated, to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited 
by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to 
the  people." 

Amendment,  however,  of  the  delegated  powers  was  made 
more  easy  than  it  had  been  under  the  Confederation.  Ratifi- 
cation by  three  fourths  of  the  States  was  sufficient  under  the 
Constitution  for  the  adoption  of  an  amendment  to  it.  As  this 
power  of  amendment  threatens  to  be  the  Aaron's  rod  which 
will  swallow  up  the  rest,  I  propose  to  give  it  special  examina- 
tion. "What  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States?  The 
whole  body  of  the  instrument,  the  history  of  its  formation  and 
adoption,  as  well  as  the  tenth  amendment,  added  in  an  abun- 
dance of  caution,  clearly  show  it  to  be  an  instrument  enumerat- 
ing the  powers  delegated  by  the  States  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, their  common  agent.  It  is  specifically  declared  that  all 
which  was  not  so  delegated  was  reserved.  On  this  mass  of  re- 
served powers,  those  which  the  States  declined  to  grant,  the 
Federal  Government  was  expressly  forbidden  to  intrude.  Of 
what  value  would  this  prohibition  have  been,  if  three  fourths 
of  the  States  could,  without  the  assent  of  a  particular  State, 
invade  the  domain  which  that  State  had  reserved  for  its  own 
exclusive  use  and  control  ? 

It  has  heretofore,  I  hope,  been  satisfactorily  demonstrated 
that  the  States  were  sovereigns  before  they  formed  the  Union, 
and  that  they  have  never  surrendered  their  sovereignty,  but 


196      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

have  only  intrusted  to  their  common  agent  certain  functions  of 
sovereignty  to  be  used  for  their  common  welfare. 

Among  the  powers  delegated  was  one  to  amend  the  Consti- 
tution, which,  it  is  submitted,  was  merely  the  power  to  amend 
the  delegated  grants,  and  these  were  obtained  by  the  separate 
and  independent  action  of  each  State  acceding  to  the  Union. 
When  we  consider  how  carefully  each  clause  was  discussed  in 
the  General  Convention,  and  how  closely  each  was  scrutinized 
in  the  conventions  of  the  several  States,  the  conclusion  can  not 
be  avoided  that  all  was  specified  which  it  was  intended  to  be- 
stow, and  not  a  few  of  the  wisest  in  that  day  held  that  too  much 
power  had  been  conferred. 

Aware  of  the  imperfection  of  everything  devised  by  man, 
it  was  foreseen  that,  in  the  exercise  of  the  functions  intrusted 
to  the  General  Government,  experience  might  reveal  the  neces- 
sity of  modification — i.  e.,  amendment — and  power  was  therefore 
given  to  amend,  in  a  certain  manner,  the  delegated  trusts  so  as 
to  make  them  efficient  for  the  purposes  designed,  or  to  prevent 
their  misconstruction  or  abuse  to  the  injury  or  oppression  of  any 
of  the  people.  In  support  of  this  view  I  refer  to  the  historical 
fact  that  the  first  ten  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  nearly 
coeval  with  it,  all  refer  either  to  the  powers  delegated,  or  are 
directed  to  the  greater  security  of  the  rights  which  were  guarded 
by  express  limitations. 

The  distinction  in  the  mind  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion between  amendment  and  delegation  of  power  seems  to  me 
clearly  drawn  by  the  fact  that  the  Constitution  itself,  which 
was  a  proposition  to  the  States  to  grant  enumerated  powers, 
was  only  to  have  effect  between  the  ratifying  States ;  but  the 
fifth  article  provided  that  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
might  be  adopted  by  three  fourths  of  the  States,  and  thereby 
be  valid  as  part  of  the  Constitution.  It  thus  appears  that  a 
smaller  power  was  required  for  an  amendment  than  for  a  grant? 
and  the  natural  if  not  necessary  conclusion  is,  that  it  was  be- 
cause an  amendment  must  belong  to,  and  grow  out  of,  a  grant 
previously  made.  If  a  so-called  amendment  could  have  been 
the  means  of  obtaining  a  new  power,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that 
those  watchful  guardians  of  community  independence,  for  which 


1787]  LIMITATIONS  ON  THE  POWER   OF  AMENDMENT.  197 

the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  been  fought,  would  have  been 
reconciled  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  by  the  declara- 
tion that  the  powers  not  delegated  are  reserved  to  the  States  ? 
Unless  the  power  of  amendment  be  confined  to  the  grants  of 
the  Constitution,  there  can  be  no  security  to  the  reserved  rights 
of  a  minority  less  than  a  fourth  of  the  States.  I  submit  that 
the  word  "  amendment "  necessarily  implies  an  improvement 
upon  something  which  is  possessed,  and  can  have  no  proper 
application  to  that  which  did  not  previously  exist. 

The  apprehension  that  was  felt  of  this  power  of  amendment 
by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  is  shown  by  the  restrictions 
placed  upon  the  exercise  of  several  of  the  delegated  powers. 
For  example :  power  was  given  to  admit  new  States,  but  no 
new  State  should  be  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other 
State,  nor  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or 
parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  those 
States ;  and  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  was  limited  by 
the  prohibition  of  an  amendment  affecting,  for  a  certain  time, 
the  migration  or  importation  of  persons  whom  any  of  the  exist- 
ing States  should  think  proper  to  admit ;  and  by  the  very  im- 
portant provision  for  the  protection  of  the  smaller  States  and 
the  preservation  of  their  equality  in  the  Union,  that  the  com- 
pact in  regard  to  the  membership  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con- 
gress should  not  be  so  amended  that  any  "  State,  without  its 
consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate." 
These  limitations  and  prohibitions  on  the  power  of  amendment 
all  refer  to  clauses  of  the  Constitution,  to  things  which  existed 
as  part  of  the  General  Government ;  they  were  not  needed,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  found  in  relation  to  the  reserved  powers  of 
the  States,  on  which  the  General  Government  was  forbidden  to 
intrude  by  the  ninth  article  of  the  amendments. 

In  view  of  the  small  territory  of  the  New  England  States, 
comparatively  to  that  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  and 
the  probability  of  the  creation  of  new  States  in  the  large  Terri- 
tory of  some  of  these  latter,  it  might  well  have  been  anticipated 
that  in  the  course  of  time  the  New  England  States  would  be- 
come less  than  one  fourth  of  the  members  of  the  Union.  No- 
thing is  less  likely  than  that  the  watchful  patriots  of  that  region 


198      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

would  have  consented  to  a  form  of  government  which  should 
give  to  a  majority  of  three  fourths  of  the  States  the  power  to 
deprive  them  of  their  dearest  rights  and  privileges.  Yet  to 
this  extremity  the  new-born  theory  of  the  power  of  amendment 
would  go.  Against  this  insidious  assault,  this  wooden  horse 
which  it  is  threatened  to  introduce  into  the  citadel  of  our  liber- 
ties, I  have  sought  to  warn  the  inheritors  of  our  free  institu- 
tions, and  earnestly  do  invoke  the  resistance  of  all  true  patriots. 


PAET   III. 

SECESSION  AND    CONFEDERATION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Opening  of  the  New  Year.— -The  People  in  Advance  of  their  Representatives. — Con- 
ciliatory Conduct  of  Southern  Members  of  Congress. — Sensational  Fictions. — 
Misstatements  of  the  Count  of  Paris. — Obligations  of  a  Senator. — The  South- 
ern Forts  and  Arsenals. — Pensacola  Bay  and  Fort  Pickens. — The  Alleged  "  Cau- 
cus" and  its  Resolutions. — Personal  Motives  and  Feelings. — The  Presidency 
not  a  Desirable  Office. — Letter  from  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Clay. 

"With  the  failure  of  the  Senate  Committee  of  Thirteen  to 
come  to  any  agreement,  the  last  reasonable  hope  of  a  pacific 
settlement  of  difficulties  within  the  Union  was  extinguished  in 
the  minds  of  those  most  reluctant  to  abandon  the  effort.  The 
year  1861  opened,  as  we  have  seen,  upon  the  spectacle  of  a 
general  belief,  among  the  people  of  the  planting  States,  in  the 
necessity  of  an  early  secession,  as  the  only  possible  alternative 
left  them. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  calmness  and  deliberation, 
with  which  the  measures  requisite  for  withdrawal  were  adopted 
and  executed,  afford  the  best  refutation  of  the  charge  that  they 
were  the  result  of  haste,  passion,  or  precipitation.  Still  more 
contrary  to  truth  is  the  assertion,  so  often  recklessly  made  and 
reiterated,  that  the  people  of  the  South  were  led  into  secession, 
against  their  will  and  their  better  judgment,  by  a  few  ambitious 
and  discontented  politicians. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  Southern  people  were  in  advance  of 
their  representatives  throughout,  and  that  these  latter  were  not 


200      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

agitators  or  leaders  in  the  popular  movement.  They  were  in 
harmony  with  its  great  principles,  but  their  influence,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  was  exerted  to  restrain  rather  than  to  accelerate 
their  application,  and  to  allay  rather  than  to  stimulate  excite- 
ment. As  sentinels  on  the  outer  wall,  the  people  had  a  right  to 
look  to  them  for  warning  of  approaching  danger ;  but,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  that  last  session  of  the  last  Congress  that  preceded 
the  disruption,  Southern  Senators,  of  the  class  generally  consid- 
ered extremists,  served  on  a  committee  of  pacification,  and  strove 
earnestly  to  promote  its  objects.  Failing  in  this,  they  still  exert- 
ed themselves  to  prevent  the  commission  of  any  act  that  might 
result  in  bloodshed. 

Invention  has  busied  itself,  to  the  exhaustion  of  its  re- 
sources, in  the  creation  of  imaginary  "  cabals,"  "  conspiracies," 
and  "  intrigues,"  among  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  the 
South  on  duty  in  Washington  at  that  time.  The  idle  gossip 
of  the  public  hotels,  the  sensational  rumors  of  the  streets,  the 
canards  of  newspaper  correspondents — whatever  was  floating 
through  the  atmosphere  of  that  anxious  period — however  lightly 
regarded  at  the  moment  by  the  more  intelligent,  has  since  been 
drawn  upon  for  materials  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of 
what  has  been  widely  accepted  as  authentic  history.  Nothing 
would  seem  to  be  too  absurd  for  such  uses.  Thus,  it  has  been 
gravely  stated  that  a  caucus  of  Southern  Senators,  held  in  the 
early  part  of  January,  "resolved  to  assume  to  themselves  the 
political  power  of  the  South  "  ;  that  they  took  entire  control  of 
all  political  and  military  operations;  that  they  issued  instruc- 
tions for  the  passage  of  ordinances  of  secession,  and  for  the  seiz- 
ure of  forts,  arsenals,  and  custom-houses ;  with  much  more  of 
the  like  groundless  fiction.  A  foreign  prince,  who  served  for 
a  time  in  the  Federal  Army,  and  has  since  undertaken  to  write 
a  history  of  "  The  Civil  War  in  America  " — a  history  the  in- 
comparable blunders  of  which  are  redeemed  from  suspicion  of 
willful  misstatement  only  by  the  writer's  ignorance  of  the  subject 
— speaks  of  the  Southern  representatives  as  having  "  kept  their 
seats  in  Congress  in  order  to  be  able  to  paralyze  its  action,  form- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  a  center  whence  they  issued  directions 
to  their  friends  in  the  South  to  complete  the  dismemberment  of 


1861]  ABSURD   STATEMENTS.  201 

the  republic."  *  And  again,  with  reference  to  the  secession  of 
several  States,  he  says  that  "  the  word  of  command  issued  by 
the  committee  at  Washington  was  promptly  obeyed."  f 

Statements  such  as  these  are  a  travesty  upon  history.  That 
the  representatives  of  the  South  held  conference  with  one  another 
and  took  counsel  together,  as  men  having  common  interests  and 
threatened  by  common  dangers,  is  true,  and  is  the  full  extent 
of  the  truth.  That  they  communicated  to  friends  at  home  in- 
formation of  what  was  passing  is  to  be  presumed,  and  would 
have  been  most  obligatory  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  published 
proceedings  rendered  such  communication  needless.  But  that 
any  such  man,  or  committee  of  men,  should  have  undertaken  to 
direct  the  mighty  movement  then  progressing  throughout  the 
South,  or  to  control,  through  the  telegraph  and  the  mails,  the 
will  and  the  judgment  of  conventions  of  the  people,  assembled 
under  the  full  consciousness  of  the  dignity  of  that  sovereignty 
which  they  represented,  would  have  been  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  folly  and  presumption. 

The  absurdity  of  the  statement  is  further  evident  from  a 
consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  movements  which  culminated 
in  the  secession  of  the  several  States  began  before  the  meeting 
of  Congress.  They  were  not  inaugurated,  prosecuted,  or  con- 
trolled by  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  but  by 
the  Governors,  Legislatures,  and  finally  by  the  delegates  of  the 
people  in  conventions  of  the  respective  States.  I  believe  I 
may  fairly  claim  to  have  possessed  a  full  share  of  the  confidence 
of  the  people  of  the  State  which  I  in  part  represented;  and 
proof  has  already  been  furnished  to  show  how  little  effect  my 
own  influence  could  have  upon  their  action,  even  in  the  nega- 
tive capacity  of  a  brake  upon  the  wheels,  by  means  of  which  it 
was  hurried  on  to  consummation. 

As  for  the  imputation  of  holding  our  seats  as  a  vantage- 
ground  in  plotting  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union — in 
connection  with  which  the  Count  of  Paris  does  me  the  honor  to 
single  out  my  name  for  special  mention — it  is  a  charge  so  dis- 
honorable, if  true,  to  its  object — so  disgraceful,  if  false,  to  its 

*  "History  of  the  Civil  War/'^by  the  Count  of  Paris;  American  translation, 
vol.  i,  p.  122.  f  Ibid.,  p.  125. 


202      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

author — as  to  be  outside  of  the  proper  limit  of  discussion.  It 
is  a  charge  which  no  accuser  ever  made  in  my  presence,  though 
I  had  in  public  debate  more  than  once  challenged  its  assertion 
and  denounced  its  falsehood.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  I  always 
held,  and  repeatedly  avowed,  the  principle  that  a  Senator  in 
Congress  occupied  the  position  of  an  ambassador  from  the  State 
which  he  represented  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
as  well  as  in  some  sense  a  member  of  the  Government ;  and 
that,  in  either  capacity,  it  would  be  dishonorable  to  use  his  pow- 
ers and  privileges  for  the  destruction  or  for  the  detriment  of 
the  Government  to  which  he  was  accredited.  Acting  on  this 
principle,  as  long  as  I  held  a  seat  in  the  Senate,  my  best  efforts 
were  directed  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution,  the  Union 
resulting  from  it,  and  to  make  the  General  Government  an  effec- 
tive agent  of  the  States  for  its  prescribed  purpose.  As  soon  as 
the  paramount  allegiance  due  to  Mississippi  forbade  a  continu- 
ance of  these  efforts,  I  withdrew  from  the  position.  To  say 
that  during  this  period  I  did  nothing  secretly,  in  conflict  with 
what  was  done  or  professed  openly,  would  be  merely  to  assert 
my  own  integrity,  which  would  be  worthless  to  those  who  may 
doubt  it,  and  superfluous  to  those  who  believe  in  it.  What  has 
been  said  on  the  subject  for  myself,  I  believe  to  be  also  true  of 
my  Southern  associates  in  Congress. 

"With  regard  to  the  forts,  arsenals,  etc.,  something  more  re- 
mains to  be  said.  The  authorities  of  the  Southern  States  im- 
mediately after,  and  in  some  cases  a  few  days  before,  their  act- 
ual secession,  took  possession  (in  every  instance  without  resist- 
ance or  bloodshed)  of  forts,  arsenals,  custom-houses,  and  other 
public  property  within  their  respective  limits.  I  do  not  pro- 
pose at  this  time  to  consider  the  question  of  their  right  to  do 
so ;  that  may  be  more  properly  done  hereafter.  But  it  may  not 
be  out  of  place  briefly  to  refer  to  the  statement,  often  made, 
that  the  absence  of  troops  from  the  military  posts  in  the  South, 
which  enabled  the  States  so  quietly  to  take  such  possession, 
was  the  result  of  collusion  and  prearrangement  between  the 
Southern  leaders  and  the  Federal  Secretary  of  War,  John  B. 
Floyd,  of  Yirginia.  It  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  allegation 
to  state  the  fact  that  the  absence  of  troops  from  these  posts,  in- 


1861]  NOT  AN  EXCEPTIONAL   CONDITION.  203 

stead  of  being  exceptional,  was,  and  still  is,  their  ordinary  con- 
dition in  time  of  peace.  At  the  very  moment  when  these  sen- 
tences are  being  written  (in  1880),  although  the  army  of  the 
United  States  is  twice  as  large  as  in  1860 ;  although  four  years 
of  internal  war  and  a  yet  longer  period  of  subsequent  military 
occupation  of  the  South  have  habituated  the  public  to  the  pres- 
ence of  troops  in  their  midst,  to  an  extent  that  would  formerly 
have  been  startling  if  not  offensive;  although  allegations  of 
continued  disaffection  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  people  have 
been  persistently  reiterated,  for  party  purposes — yet  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  forts  and  arsenals  in  the  States  of  the  Gulf  are 
in  as  defenseless  a  condition,  and  as  liable  to  quiet  seizure  (if 
any  such  purpose  existed),  as  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1861. 
Certainly,  those  within  the  range  of  my  personal  information 
are  occupied,  as  they  were  at  that  time,  only  by  ordnance- 
sergeants  or  fort-keepers. 

There  were,  however,  some  exceptions  to  this  general  rule — 
especially  in  the  defensive  works  of  the  harbor  of  Charleston, 
the  forts  at  Key  "West  and  the  Dry  Tortugas,  and  those  protect- 
ing the  entrance  of  Pensacola  Bay.  The  events  which  occurred 
in  Charleston  Harbor  will  be  more  conveniently  noticed  here- 
after. The  island  forts  near  the  extreme  southern  point  of 
Florida  were  too  isolated  and  too  remote  from  population  to  be 
disturbed  at  that  time ;  but  the  situation  long  maintained  at  the 
mouth  of  Pensacola  Bay  affords  a  signal  illustration  of  the  for- 
bearance and  conciliatory  spirit  that  animated  Southern  counsels. 
For  a  long  time,  Fort  Pickens,  on  the  island  of  Santa  Posa,  at 
the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  was  occupied  only  by  a  small  body 
of  Federal  soldiers  and  marines — less  than  one  hundred,  all  told. 
Immediately  opposite,  and  in  possession  of  the  other  two  forts 
and  the  adjacent  navy-yard,  was  a  strong  force  of  volunteer 
troops  of  Florida  and  Alabama  (which  might,  on  short  notice, 
have  been  largely  increased),  ready  and  anxious  to  attack  and 
take  possession  of  Fort  Pickens.  That  they  could  have  done  so 
is  unquestionable,  and,  if  mere  considerations  of  military  advan- 
tage had  been  consulted,  it  would  surely  have  been  done.  But 
the  love  of  peace  and  the  purpose  to  preserve  it,  together  with  a 
revulsion  from  the  thought  of  engaging  in  fraternal  strife,  were 


204      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

more  potent  than  considerations  of  probable  interest.  During 
the  anxions  period  of  uncertainty  and  apprehension  which  en- 
sued, the  efforts  of  the  Southern  Senators  in  Washington  were 
employed  to  dissuade  (they  could  not  command}  from  any  ag- 
gressive movement,  however  justifiable,  that  might  lead  to 
collision.  These  efforts  were  exerted  through  written  and  tele- 
graphic communications  to  the  Governors  of  Alabama  and 
Florida,  the  Commander  of  the  Southern  troops,  and  other  in- 
fluential persons  near  the  scene  of  operations.  The  records  of 
the  telegraph-office,  if  preserved,  will  no  doubt  show  this  to  be 
a  very  moderate  statement  of  those  efforts.  It  is  believed  that 
by  such  influence  alone  a  collision  was  averted ;  and  it  is  certain 
that  its  exercise  gave  great  dissatisfaction  at  the  time  to  some  of 
the  ardent  advocates  of  more  active  measures.  It  may  be  that 
they  were  right,  and  that  we,  who  counseled  delay  and  forbear- 
ance, were  wrong.  Certainly,  if  we  could  have  foreseen  the  ulti- 
mate failure  of  all  efforts  for  a  peaceful  settlement,  and  the  per- 
fidy that  was  afterward  to  be  practiced  in  connection  with  them, 
our  advice  would  have  been  different. 

Certain  resolutions,  said  to  have  been  adopted  in  a  meeting  of 
Senators  held  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  January,*  have  been 
magnified,  by  the  representations  of  artful  commentators  on  the 
events  of  the  period,  into  something  vastly  momentous. 

The  significance  of  these  resolutions  was  the  admission  that 
we  could  not  longer  advise  delay,  and  even  that  was  unimpor- 

*  Subjoined  are  the  resolutions  referred  to,  adopted  by  the  Senators  from  Geor- 
gia, Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  Arkansas.  Messrs.  Toombs, 
of  Georgia,  and  Sebastian,  of  Arkansas,  are  said  to  have  been  absent  from  the  meet- 
ing: 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  our  opinion,  each  of  the  States  should,  as  soon  as  may  be, 
secede  from  the  Union. 

"  Resolved,  That  provision  should  be  made  for  a  convention  to  organize  a  con- 
federacy of  the  seceding  States:  the  Convention  to  meet  not  later  than  the  15th  of 
February,  at  the  city  of  Montgomery,  in  the  State  of  Alabama. 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  view  of  the  hostile  legislation  that  is  threatened  against  the 
seceding  States,  and  which  may  be  consummated  before  the  4th  of  March,  we  ask 
instructions  whether  the  delegations  are  to  remain  in  Congress  until  that  date,  for  the 
purpose  of  defeating  such  legislation. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  and  are  hereby  appointed,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Davis,  Slidell,  and  Mallory,  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  this  meeting." 


1861]  PROMPT  WITHDRAWAL.  205 

tant  under  the  circumstances,  for  three  of  the  States  concerned 
had  taken  final  action  on  the  subject  before  the  resolutions 
could  have  been  communicated  to  them.  As  an  expression  of 
opinion,  they  merely  stated  that  of  which  we  had  all  become 
convinced  by  the  experience  of  the  previous  month — that  our 
long-cherished  hopes  had  proved  illusory — that  further  efforts 
in  Congress  would  be  unavailing,  and  that  nothing  remained, 
except  that  the  States  should  take  the  matter  into  their  own 
hands,  as  final  judges  of  their  wrongs  and  of  the  measure  of 
redress.  They  recommended  the  formation  of  a  confederacy 
among  the  seceding  States  as  early  as  possible  after  their  seces- 
sion— advice  the  expediency  of  which  could  hardly  be  ques- 
tioned, either  by  friend  or  foe.  As  to  the  "  instructions  "  asked 
for  with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  continuing  to  hold  their 
seats,  I  suppose  it  must  have  been  caused  by  some  diversity  of 
opinion  which  then  and  long  afterward  continued  to  exist ;  and 
the  practical  value  of  which  must  have  been  confined  to  Sena- 
tors of  States  which  did  not  actually  secede.  For  myself,  I  can 
only  say  that  no  advice  could  have  prevailed  on  me  to  hold  a 
seat  in  the  Senate  after  receiving  notice  that  Mississippi  had 
withdrawn  from  the  Union.  The  best  evidence  that  my  associ- 
ates thought  likewise  is  the  fact  that,  although  no  instructions 
were  given  them,  they  promptly  withdrew  on  the  receipt  of  offi- 
cial information  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  States  which  they  rep- 
resented. 

It  will  not  be  amiss  here  briefly  to  state  what  were  my  posi- 
tion and  feelings  at  the  period  now  under  consideration,  as  they 
have  been  the  subject  of  gross  and  widespread  misrepresenta- 
tion. It  is  not  only  untrue,  but  absurd,  to  attribute  to  me  mo- 
tives of  personal  ambition  to  be  gratified  by  a  dismemberment 
of  the  Union.  Much  of  my  life  had  been  spent  in  the  military 
and  civil  service  of  the  United  States.  Whatever  reputation  I 
had  acquired  was  identified  with  their  history ;  and,  if  future 
preferment  had  been  the  object,  it  would  have  led  me  to  cling 
to  the  Union  as  long  as  a  shred  of  it  should  remain.  If  any, 
judging  after  the  event,  should  assume  that  I  was  allured  by 
the  high  office  subsequently  conferred  upon  me  by  the  people 
of  the  Confederate  States,  the  answer  to  any  such  conclusion 


206      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

has  been  made  by  others,  to  whom  it  was  well  known,  before 
the  Confederacy  was  formed,  that  I  had  no  desire  to  be  its 
President.  When  the  suggestion  was  made  to  me,  I  expressed 
a  decided  objection,  and  gave  reasons  of  a  public  and  permanent 
character  against  being  placed  in  that  position. 

Furthermore,  I  then  held  the  office  of  United  States  Sena- 
tor from  Mississippi — one  which  I  preferred  to  all  others.  The 
kindness  of  the  people  had  three  times  conferred  it  upon  me, 
and  I  had  no  reason  to  fear  that  it  would  not  be  given  again,  as 
often  as  desired.  So  far  from  wishing  to  change  this  position 
for  any  other,  I  had  specially  requested  my  friends  (some  of 
whom  had  thought  of  putting  me  in  nomination  for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States  in  1860)  not  to  permit  "my  name 
to  be  used  before  the  Convention  for  any  nomination  what- 
ever." 

I  had  been  so  near  the  office  for  four  years,  while  in  the 
Cabinet  of  Mr.  Pierce,  that  I  saw  it  from  behind  the  scenes,  and 
it  was  to  me  an  office  in  no  wise  desirable.  The  responsibilities 
were  great ;  the  labor,  the  vexations,  the  disappointments,  were 
greater.  Those  who  have  intimately  known  the  official  and 
personal  life  of  our  Presidents  can  not  fail  to  remember  how 
few  have  left  the  office  as  happy  men  as  when  they  entered  it, 
how  darkly  the  shadows  gathered  around  the  setting  sun,  aud 
how  eagerly  the  multitude  would  turn  to  gaze  upon  another  orb 
just  rising  to  take  its  place  in  the  political  firmament. 

Worn  by  incessant  fatigue,  broken  in  fortune,  debarred  by 
public  opinion,  prejudice,  or  tradition,  from  future  employment, 
the  wisest  and  best  who  have  filled  that  office  have  retired  to 
private  life,  to  remember  rather  the  failure  of  their  hopes  than 
the  success  of  their  efforts.  He  must,  indeed,  be  a  self-confi- 
dent man  who  could  hope  to  fill  the  chair  of  Washington  with 
satisfaction  to  himself,  with  the  assurance  of  receiving  on  his 
retirement  the  meed  awarded  by  the  people  to  that  great  man, 
that  he  had  "  lived  enough  for  life  and  for  glory,"  or  even  of 
feeling  that  the  sacrifice  of  self  had  been  compensated  by  the 
service  rendered  to  his  country. 

The  following  facts  were  presented  in  a  letter  written  sev- 
eral years  ago  by  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Clay,  of  Alabama,  who  was 


1861]  MISSTATEMENTS  REFUTED.  207 

one  of  my  most  intimate  associates  in  the  Senate,  with  refer- 
ence to  certain  misstatements  to  which  his  attention  had  been 
called  by  one  of  my  friends  : 

"  The  import  is,  that  Mr.  Davis,  disappointed  and  chagrined  at 
not  receiving  the  nomination  of  the  Democratic  party  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  in  1860,  took  the  lead  on  the  assembling 
of  Congress  in  December,  1860,  in  a  *  conspiracy '  of  Southern  Sena- 
tors *  which  planned  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States  from  the 
Union,'  and  *  on  the  night  of  January  5,  1861,  .  .  .  framed  the 
scheme  of  revolution  which  was  implicitly  and  promptly  followed 
at  the  South.'  In  other  words,  that  Southern  Senators  (and,  chief 
among  them,  Jefferson  Davis),  then  and  there,  instigated  and  in- 
duced the  Southern  States  to  secede. 

"  I  am  quite  sure  that  Mr.  Davis  neither  expected  nor  desired 
the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  in  1860. 
He  never  evinced  any  such  aspiration,  by  word  or  sign,  to  me — 
with  whom  he  was,  I  believe,  as  intimate  and  confidential  as  with 
any  person  outside  of  his  own  family.  On  the  contrary,  he  re- 
quested the  delegation  from  Mississippi  not  to  permit  the  use  of 
his  name  before  the  Convention.  And,  after  the  nomination  of 
both  Douglas  and  Breckinridge,  he  conferred  with  them,  at  the 
instance  of  leading  Democrats,  to  persuade  them  to  withdraw, 
that  their  friends  might  unite  on  some  second  choice — an  office  he 
would  never  have  undertaken,  had  he  sought  the  nomination  or 
believed  he  was  regarded  as  an  aspirant. 

"  Mr.  Davis  did  not  take  an  active  part  in  planning  or  hasten- 
ing secession.  I  think  he  only  regretfully  consented  to  it,  as  a 
political  necessity  for  the  preservation  of  popular  and  State  rights, 
which  were  seriously  threatened  by  the  triumph  of  a  sectional 
party  who  were  pledged  to  make  war  on  them.  I  know  that  some 
leading  men,  and  even  Mississippians,  thought  him  too  moderate 
and  backward,  and  found  fault  with  him  for  not  taking  a  leading 
part  in  secession. 

"  ~No  (  plan  of  secession '  or  '  scheme  of  revolution'  was,  to  my 
knowledge,  discussed — certainly  none  matured — at  the  caucus,  5th 
of  January,  1861,  unless,  forsooth,  the  resolutions  appended  hereto 
be  so  held.  They  comprise  the  sum  and  substance  of  what  was 
said  and  done.  I  never  heard  that  the  caucus  advised  the  South 
6  to  accumulate  munitions  of  war,'  or  '  to  organize  and  equip  an 


208      RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,'  or  determined  'to  hold  on  as 
long  as  possible  to  the  Southern  seats.'  So  far  from  it,  a  majority 
of  Southern  Senators  seemed  to  think  there  would  be  no  war  ; 
that  the  dominant  party  in  the  North  desired  separation  from  the 
South,  and  would  gladly  let  their  *  erring  sisters  go  in  peace.'  I 
could  multiply  proofs  of  such  a  disposition.  As  to  holding  on 
to  their  seats,  no  Southern  Legislature  advised  it,  no  Southern  Sen- 
ator who  favored  secession  did  so  but  one,  and  none  others  wished 
to  do  so,  I  believe. 

"  The  '  plan  of  secession,'  if  any,  and  the  purpose  of  secession, 
unquestionably,  originated,  not  in  Washington  City,  or  with  the 
Senators  or  Representatives  of  the  South,  but  among  the  people 
of  the  several  States,  many  months  before  it  was  attempted.  They 
followed  no  leaders  at  Washington  or  elsewhere,  but  acted  for 
themselves,  with  an  independence  and  unanimity  unprecedented  in 
any  movement  of  such  magnitude.  Before  the  meeting  of  the 
caucus  of  January  5,  1861,  South  Carolina  had  seceded,  and  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Texas  had  taken  the 
initial  step  of  secession,  by  calling  conventions  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. Before  the  election  of  Lincoln,  all  the  Southern  States, 
excepting  one  or  two,  had  pledged  themselves  to  separate  from 
the  Union  upon  the  triumph  of  a  sectional  party  in  the  Presiden- 
tial election,  by  acts  or  resolutions  of  their  Legislatures,  resolves  of 
both  Democratic  and  Whig  State  Conventions,  and  of  primary  as- 
semblies of  the  people — in  every  way  in  which  they  could  commit 
themselves  to  any  future  act.  Their  purpose  was  proclaimed  to 
the  world  through  the  press  and  telegraph,  and  criticised  in  Con- 
gress, in  the  Northern  Legislatures,  in  press  and  pulpit,  and  on  the 
hustings,  during  many  months  before  Congress  met  in  December, 
1860. 

"Over  and  above  all  these  facts,  the  reports  of  the  United 
States  Senate  show  that,  prior  to  the  5th  of  January,  1861,  South- 
ern Senators  united  with  Northern  Democratic  Senators  in  an 
effort  to  effect  pacification  and  prevent  secession,  and  that  Jeffer- 
son Davis  was  one  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Senate  to  con- 
sider and  report  such  a  measure  ;  that  it  failed  because  the  North- 
ern Republicans  opposed  everything  that  looked  to  peace  ;  that 
Senator  Douglas  arraigned  them  as  trying  to  precipitate  secession, 
referred  to  Jefferson  Davis  as  one  who  sought  conciliation,  and 
called  upon  the  Republican  Senators  to  tell  what  they  would  do, 


1861]  ULTIMATE   OWNERSHIP   OF   THE   SOIL.  209 

if  anything,  to  restore  harmony  and  prevent  disunion.  They  did 
not  even  deign  a  response.  Thus,  by  their  sullen  silence,  they 
made  confession  (without  avoidance)  of  their  stubborn  purpose  to 
hold  up  no  hand  raised  to  maintain  the  Union.  .  .  ." 


CHAPTER    II. 

Tenure  of  Public  Property  ceded  by  the  States. — Sovereignty  and  Eminent  Domain. 
— Principles  asserted  by  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Virginia,  and  other  States. — 
The  Charleston  Forts. — South  Carolina  sends  Commissioners  to  Washington. — 
Sudden  Movement  of  Major  Anderson. — Correspondence  of  the  Commissioners 
with  the  President. — Interviews  of  the  Author  with  Mr.  Buchanan. — Major  An- 
derson,— The  Star  of  the  West. — The  President's  Special  Message. — Speech  of 
the  Author  in  the  Senate. — Further  Proceedings  and  Correspondence  relative  to 
Fort  Sumter. — Mr.  Buchanan's  Rectitude  in  Purpose  and  Vacillation  in  Action. 

The  sites  of  forts,  arsenals,  navy-yards,  and  other  public 
property  of  the  Federal  Government  were  ceded  by  the  States, 
within  whose  limits  they  were,  subject  to  the  condition,  either 
expressed  or  implied,  that  they  should  be  used  solely  and  exclu- 
sively for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  granted.  The  ulti- 
mate ownership  of  the  soil,  or  eminent  domain,  remains  with 
the  people  of  the  State  in  which,  it  lies,  by  virtue  of  their  sov- 
ereignty.    Thus,  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has  declared  that— 

"  The  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Commonwealth  ex- 
tend to  all  places  within  the  boundaries  thereof,  subject  only  to 
such  rights  of  concurrent  jurisdiction  as  have  been  or  may  be 
granted  over  any  places  ceded  by  the  Commonwealth  to  the  United 
States."  * 

In  the  acts  of  cession  of  the  respective  States,  the  terms  and 
conditions  on  which  the  grant  is  made  are  expressed  in  various 
forms  and  with  differing  degrees  of  precision.  The  act  of  New 
York,  granting  the  use  of  a  site  for  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard, 
may  serve  as  a  specimen.     It  contains  this  express  condition  : 

"  The  United  States  are  to  retain  such  use  and  jurisdiction,  so 
long  as  said  tract  shall  be  applied  to  the  defense  and  safety  of  the 

*  "  Revised  Statutes  of  Massachusetts,"  1836,  p.  56. 
14 


210      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

city  and  port  of  New  York,  and  no  longer.  .  .  .  But  the  jurisdic- 
tion hereby  ceded,  and  the  exemption  from  taxation  herein  grant- 
ed, shall  continue  in  respect  to  said  property,  and  to  each  portion 
thereof,  so  long  as  the  same  shall  remain  the  property  of  the 
United  States,  and  be  used  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  a?id  no 
longer"  The  cession  of  the  site  of  the  Watervliet  Arsenal  is  made 
in  the  same  or  equivalent  terms,  except  that,  instead  of  "  defense 
and  safety  of  the  city  and  port  of  New  York,"  etc.,  the  language 
is,  "  defense  and  safety  of  the  said  State,  and  no  longer." 

South  Carolina  in  1805,  by  legislative  enactment,  ceded  to 
the  United  States,  in  Charleston  Harbor  and  on  Beaufort  River, 
various  forts  and  fortifications,  and  sites  for  the  erection  of 

forts,  on  the  following  conditions,  viz. : 

• 

"  That,  if  the  United  States  shall  not,  within  three  years  from 
the  passing  of  this  act,  and  notification  thereof  by  the  Governor 
of  this  State  to  the  Executive  of  the  United  States,  repair  the 
fortifications  now  existing  thereon  or  build  such  other  forts  or 
fortifications  as  may  be  deemed  most  expedient  by  the  Executive 
of  the  United  States  on  the  same,  and  keep  a  garrison  or  garrisons 
therein  ;  in  such  case  this  grant  or  cession  shall  be  void  and  of  no 
effect." — ("  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,"  vol.  v,  p.  501.) 

It  will  hardly  be  contended  that  the  conditions  of  this  grant 
were  fulfilled,  and,  if  it  be  answered  that  the  State  did  not 
demand  the  restoration  of  the  forts  or  sites,  the  answer  cer- 
tainly fails  after  1860,  when  the  controversy  arose,  and  the  un- 
founded assertion  was  made  that  those  forts  and  sites  had  been 
purchased  with  the  money,  and  were  therefore  the  property,  of 
the  United  States.  The  terms  of  the  cession  sufficiently  mani- 
fest that  they  were  free-will  offerings  of  such  forts  and  sites  as 
belonged  to  the  State ;  and  public  functionaries  were  bound  to 
know  that,  by  the  United  States  law  of  March  20,  1794,  it  was 
provided  "  that  no  purchase  shall  be  made  where  such  lands 
are  the  property  of  a  State." — (Act  to  provide  for  the  defense 
of  certain  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States.) 

The  stipulations  made  by  Virginia,  in  ceding  the  ground 
for  Fortress  Monroe  and  the  Eip  Raps,  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1821,  are  as  follows  : 


1861]  REVERSION   OF  CESSIONS.  211 

u  An  Act  ceding  to  the  United  States  the  lands  on  Old  Point  Comfort,  and 
the  shoal  called  the  Rip  Raps. 

"  Whereas,  It  is  shown  to  the  present  General  Assembly  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  solicitous  that  certain 
lands  at  Old  Point  Comfort,  and  at  the  shoal  called  the  Rip  Raps, 
should  be,  with  the  right  of  property  and  entire  jurisdiction  there- 
on, vested  in  the  said  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  fortifica- 
tion and  other  objects  of  national  defense  : 

"  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  That  it  shall  be 
lawful  and  proper  for  the  Governor  of  this  Commonwealth,  by 
conveyance  or  deeds  in  writing  under  his  hand  and  the  seal  of  the 
State,  to  transfer,  assign,  and  make  over  unto  the  said  United 
States  the  right  of  property  and  title,  as  well  as  all  the  jurisdic- 
tion which  this  Commonwealth  possesses  over  the  lands  and  shoal 
at  Old  toint  Comfort  and  the  Rip  Raps  :  .  .  . 

"2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  should  the  said  United 
States  at  any  time  abandon  the  said  lands  and  shoal,  or  appro- 
priate them  to  any  other  purposes  than  those  indicated  in  the  pre- 
amble to  this  act,  that  then,  and  in  that  case,  the  same  shall  revert 
to  and  revest  in  this  Commonwealth.''''  * 

By  accepting  such  grants,  under  such  conditions,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  assented  to  their  propriety,  and 
the  principle  that  holds  good  in  any  one  case  is  of  course  appli- 
cable to  all  others  of  the  same  sort,  whether  expressly  asserted 
in  the  act  of  cession  or  not.  Indeed,  no  express  declaration 
would  be  necessary  to  establish  a  conclusion  resulting  so  directly 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  the  settled  principles  of  sov- 
ereignty and  eminent  domain. 

A  State  withdrawing  from  the  Union  would  necessarily  as- 
sume the  control  theretofore  exercised  by  the  General  Govern- 
ment over  all  public  defenses  and  other  public  property  within 
her  limits.  It  would,  however,  be  but  fair  and  proper  that  ade- 
quate compensation  should  be  made  to  the  other  members  of 
the  partnership,  or  their  common  agent,  for  the  value  of  the 
works  and  for  any  other  advantage  obtained  by  the  one  party, 
or  loss  incurred  by  the  other.  Such  equitable  settlement,  the 
seceding  States  of  the  South,  without  exception,  as  I  believe, 

*  See  "  Revised  Statutes  of  Virginia." 


212      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

were  desirous  to  make,  and  prompt  to  propose  to  the  Federal 
authorities. 

On  the  secession  of  South  Carolina,  the  condition  of  the  de- 
fenses of  Charleston  Harbor  became  a  subject  of  anxiety  with 
all  parties.  Of  the  three  forts  in  or  at  the  entrance  of  the  har- 
bor, two  were  unoccupied,  but  the  third  (Fort  Moultrie)  was  held 
bj  a  garrison  of  but  little  more  than  one  hundred  men — of 
whom  only  sixty-three  were  said  to  be  effectives — under  com- 
mand of  Major  Robert  Anderson,  of  the  First  Artillery. 

About  twelve  days  before  the  secession  of  South  Carolina, 
the  representatives  in  Congress  from  that  State  had  called  on  the 
President  to  assure  him,  in  anticipation  of  the  secession  of  the 
State,  that  no  purpose  was  entertained  by  South  Carolina  to 
attack,  or  in  any  way  molest,  the  forts  held  by  the  United  States 
in  the  harbor  of  Charleston — at  least  until  opportunity  could  be 
had  for  an  amicable  settlement  of  all  questions  that  might  arise 
with  regard  to  these  forts  and  other  public  property — provided 
that  no  reinforcements  should  be  sent,  and  the  militarv  status 
should  be  permitted  to  remain  unchanged.  The  South  Carolin- 
ians understood  Mr.  Buchanan  as  approving  of  this  suggestion, 
although  declining  to  make  any  formal  pledge. 

It  appears,  nevertheless,  from  subsequent  developments,  that 
both  before  and  after  the  secession  of  South  Carolina  prepara- 
tions were  secretly  made  for  reenforcing  Major  Anderson,  in 
case  it  should  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  Government  at 
Washington.*  On  the  11th  of  December  instructions  were 
communicated  to  him,  from  the  War  Department,  of  which  the 
following  is  the  essential  part : 

"  You  are  carefully  to  avoid  every  act  which  would  needlessly 
tend  to  provoke  aggression  ;  and  for  that  reason  you  are  not,  with- 
out evident  and  imminent  necessity,  to  take  up  any  position  which 
could  be  construed  into  the  assumption  of  a  hostile  attitude,  but 
you  are  to  hold  possession  of  the  forts  in  this  harbor,  and,  if  at- 
tacked, you  are  to  defend  yourself  to  the  last  extremity.  The 
smallness  of  your  force  will  not  permit  you,  perhaps,  to  occupy 
more  than  one  of  the  three  forts,  but  an  attack  on,  or  attempt  to 
take  possession  of  either  of  them,  will  be  regarded  as  an  act  of 

*  "Buchanan's  Administration,"  chap,  ix,  p.  1G5,  and  chap,  xi,  pp.  212-214. 


1861]  FORT   MOULTRIE  DISMANTLED.  213 

hostility,  and  you  may  then  put  your  command  into  either  of 
them  which  you  may  deem  most  proper  to  increase  its  power  of 
resistance.  You  are  also  authorized  to  take  similar  defensive 
steps,  whenever  you  have  tangible  evidence  of  a  design  to  proceed 
to  a  hostile  act."  * 

These  instructions  were  afterward  modified — as  we  are  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Buchanan — so  as,  instead  of  requiring  him  to 
defend  himself  "  to  the  last  extremity,"  to  direct  him  to  do  so 
as  long  as  any  reasonable  hope  remained  of  saving  the  fort.f 

Immediately  after  the  secession  of  the  State,  the  Convention 
of  South  Carolina  deputed  three  distinguished  citizens  of  that 
State — Messrs.  Robert  W.  Barnwell,  James  H.  Adams,  and 
James  L.  Orr — to  proceed  to  Washington,  "  to  treat  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  the  delivery  of  the  forts, 
magazines,  lighthouses,  and  other  real  estate,  with  their  appur- 
tenances, within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina,  and  also  for  an 
apportionment  of  the  public  debt,  and  for  a  division  of  all  other 
property  held  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  as  agent 
of  the  confederated  States,  of  which  South  Carolina  was  recently 
a  member ;  and  generally  to  negotiate  as  to  all  other  measures 
and  arrangements  proper  to  be  made  and  adopted  in  the  exist- 
ing relation  of  the  parties,  and  for  the  continuance  of  peace  and 
amity  between  this  Commonwealth  and  the  Government  at 
Washington." 

The  Commissioners,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  intrusted 
to  them,  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  26th  of  December. 
Before  they  could  communicate  with  the  President,  however — 
indeed,  on  the  morning  after  their  arrival — they  w^ere  startled, 
and  the  whole  country  electrified,  by  the  news  that,  during  the 
previous  night,  Major  Anderson  had  "  secretly  dismantled  Fort 
Moultrie,"  J  spiked  his  guns,  burned  his  gun-carriages,  and  re- 
moved his  command  to  Fort  Sumter,  which  occupied  a  more 
commanding  position  in  the  harbor.  This  movement  changed 
the  whole  aspect  of  affairs.  It  was  considered  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  people  of  South  Carolina  as  a  violation  of  the  implied 
pledge  of  a  maintenance  of  the  status  quo  ;  the  remaining  forts 

*  "Buchanan's  Administration,"  chap,  ix,  p.  166.  f  Ibid. 

\  Ibid.,  chap,  x,  p.  180. 


214      MSE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

and  other  public  property  were  at  once  taken  possession  of  by 
the  State  ;  and  the  condition  of  pnblic  f  eeling^became  greatly  ex- 
acerbated. An  interview  between  the  President  and  the  Com- 
missioners was  followed  by  a  sharp  correspondence,  which  was  ter- 
minated on  the  1st  of  January,  1861,  by  the  return  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  their  final  communication,  with  an  endorsement 
stating  that  it  was  of  such  a  character  that  the  President  declined 
to  receive  it.  The  negotiations  were  thus  abruptly  broken  off. 
This  correspondence  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix.* 

In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Cass,  Secretary  of  State,  had  resigned 
his  position  early  in  December,  on  the  ground  of  the  refusal  of 
the  President  to  send  reinforcements  to  Charleston.  On  the  oc- 
cupation of  Fort  Sumter  by  Major  Anderson,  Mr.  Ployd,  Secre- 
tary of  War,  taking  the  ground  that  it  was  virtually  a  violation  of 
a  pledge  given  or  implied  by  the  Government,  had  asked  that 
the  garrison  should  be  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  and,  on  the  refusal  of  the  President  to  consent  to  this, 
had  tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  promptly  accepted. f 

This  is  believed  to  be  a  correct  outline  of  the  earlier  facts 
with  regard  to  the  Charleston  forts,  and  in  giving  it  I  have  done 
so,  as  far  as  possible,  without  prejudice,  or  any  expression  of 
opinion  upon  the  motives  of  the  actors. 

The  kind  relations,  both  personal  and  political,  which  had 
long  existed  between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  myself,  had  led  him, 
occasionally,  during  his  presidency,  to  send  for  me  to  confer 
with  him  on  subjects  that  caused  him  anxiety,  and  warranted 
me  in  sometimes  calling  upon  him  to  offer  my  opinion  on  mat- 
ters of  special  interest  or  importance.  Thus  it  was  that  I  had 
communicated  with  him  freely  in  regard  to  the  threatening 
aspect  of  events  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  winter  of  1860-61. 
When  he  told  me  of  the  work  that  had  been  done,  or  was  doing, 
at  Fort  Moultrie — that  is,  the  elevation  of  its  parapet  by  crown- 
ing it  with  barrels  of  sand — I  pointed  out  to  him  the  impolicy 
as  well  as  inefficiency  of  the  measure.  It  seemed  to  me  im- 
politic to  make  ostensible  preparations  for  defense,  when  no 
attack  was  threatened  ;  and  the  means  adopted  were  inefficient, 
because  any  ordinary  field-piece  would  knock  the  barrels  off  the 

*  See  Appendix  G.  f  "  Buchanan's  Administration,"  chap,  x,  pp.  187,  188. 


1861]  DANGER  OF  COLLISION".  215 

parapet,  and  thus  to  render  them  only  hurtful  to  the  defenders. 
He  inquired  whether  the  expedient  had  not  been  successful  at 
Fort  Brown,  on  the  liio  Grande,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Mexi- 
can war,  and  was  answered  that  the  attack  on  Fort  Brown  had 
been  made  with  small-arms,  or  at  great  distance. 

After  the  removal  of  the  garrison  to  the  stronger  and  safer 
position  of  Fort  Sumter,  I  called  upon  him  again  to  represent, 
from  my  knowledge  of  the  people  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  how  productive  the  movement  would  be  of  discontent,  and 
how  likely  to  lead  to  collision.  One  of  the  vexed  questions  of 
the  day  was,  by  what  authority  the  collector  of  the  port  should 
be  appointed,  and  the  rumor  was,  that  instructions  had  been 
given  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Fort  Sumter  not  to  allow 
vessels  to  pass,  unless  under  clearance  from  the  United  States 
collector.  It  was  easy  to  understand  that,  if  a  vessel  were  fired 
upon  under  such  circumstances,  it  would  be  accepted  as  the 
beginning  of  hostilities  —  a  result  which  both  he  and  I  de- 
sired to  avert,  as  the  greatest  calamity  that  could  be  foreseen 
or  imagined.  My  opinion  was,  that  the  wisest  and  best  course 
would  be  to  withdraw  the  garrison  altogether  from  the  harbor 
of  Charleston. 

The  President's  objection  to  this  was,  that  it  was  his  boun- 
den  duty  to  preserve  and  protect  the  property  of  the  United 
States.  To  this  I  replied,  with  all  the  earnestness  the  occa- 
sion demanded,  that  I  would  pledge  my  life  that,  if  an  inventory 
were  taken  of  all  the  stores  and  munitions  in  the  fort,  and  an 
ordnance-sergeant  with  a  few  men  left  in  charge  of  them,  they 
would  not  be  disturbed.  As  a  further  guarantee,  I  offered  to 
obtain  from  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  full  assurance  that, 
in  case  any  marauders  or  lawless  combination  of  persons  should 
attempt  to  seize  or  disturb  the  property,  he  would  send  from 
the  citadel  of  Charleston  an  adequate  guard  to  protect  it  and  to 
secure  its  keepers  against  molestation. 

The  President  promised  me  to  reflect  upon  this  proposition, 
and  to  confer  with  his  Cabinet  upon  the  propriety  of  adopting 
it.  All  Cabinet  consultations  are  secret ;  which  is  equivalent  to 
saying  that  I  never  knew  what  occurred  in  that  meeting  to 
which  my  proposition  was  submitted.     The  result  was  not  com- 


216      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

municated  to  ine,  but  the  events  which  followed  proved  that  the 
suggestion  was  not  accepted. 

Major  Anderson,  who  commanded  the  garrison,  had  many 
ties  and  associations  that  bound  him  to  the  South.  He  per- 
formed his  part  like  the  true  soldier  and  man  of  the  finest  sense 
of  honor  that  he  was  ;  but  that  it  was  most  painful  to  him  to  be 
charged  with  the  duty  of  holding  the  fort  as  a  threat  to  the 
people  of  Charleston  is  a  fact  known  to  many  others  as  well  as 
to  myself.  We  had  been  cadets  together.  He  was  my  first 
acquaintance  in  that  corps,  and  the  friendship  then  formed  was 
never  interrupted.  We  had  served  together  in  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1860,  in  a  commission  of  inquiry  into  the  discipline, 
course  of  studies,  and  general  condition  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy.  At  the  close  of  our  labors  the  commission 
had  adjourned,  to  meet  again  in  Washington  about  the  end  of 
the  ensuing  November,  to  examine  the  report  and  revise  it  for 
transmission  to  Congress.  Major  Anderson's  duties  in  Charles- 
ton Harbor  hindered  him  from  attending  this  adjourned  meeting 
of  the  commission,  and  he  wrote  to  me,  its  chairman,  to  explain 
the  cause  of  his  absence.  That  letter  was  lost  when  my  library 
and  private  papers  were  "  captured  "  from  my  home  in  Missis- 
sippi. If  any  one  has  preserved  it  as  a  trophy  of  war,  its  publi- 
cation would  show  how  bright  was  the  honor,  how  broad  the  pa- 
triotism of  Major  Anderson,  and  how  fully  he  sympathized  with 
me  as  to  the  evils  which  then  lowered  over  the  country. 

In  comparing  the  past  and  the  present  among  the  mighty 
changes  which  passion  and  sectional  hostility  have  wrought,  one 
is  profoundly  and  painfully  impressed  by  the  extent  to  which 
public  opinion  has  drifted  from  the  landmarks  set  up  by  the 
sages  and  patriots  who  formed  the  constitutional  Union,  and 
observed  by  those  who  administered  its  government  down  to  the 
time  when  war  between  the  States  was  inaugurated.  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan, the  last  President  of  the  old  school,  would  as  soon  have 
thought  of  aiding  in  the  establishment  of  a  monarchy  among  us 
as  of  accepting  the  doctrine  of  coercing  the  States  into  submis- 
sion to  the  will  of  a  majority,  in  mass,  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  When  discussing  the  question  of  withdrawing  the 
troops  from  the  port  of  Charleston,  he  yielded  a  ready  assent  to 


1861]  A  POINT  EASILY  CONCEDED.  217 

the  proposition  that  the  cession  of  a  site  for  a  fort,  for  purposes 
of  public  defense,  lapses,  whenever  that  fort  should  be  employed 
by  the  grantee  against  the  State  by  which  the  cession  was  made, 
on  the  familiar  principle  that  any  grant  for  a  specific  purpose 
expires  when  it  ceases  to  be  used  for  that  purpose.  Whether 
on  this  or  any  other  ground,  if  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter  had 
been  withdrawn  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  from  which  the  power  to  apply  coer- 
cion to  a  State  was  deliberately  and  designedly  excluded,  and 
if  this  had  been  distinctly  assigned  as  a  reason  for  its  with- 
drawal, the  honor  of  the  United  States  Government  would  have 
been  maintained  intact,  and  nothing  could  have  operated  more 
powerfully  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  and  allay  the  resentment 
of  the  people  of  South  Carolina.  The  influence  which  such  a 
measure  would  have  exerted  upon  the  States  which  had  not  yet 
seceded,  but  were  then  contemplating  the  adoption  of  that  ex- 
treme remedy,  would  probably  have  induced  further  delay  ;  and 
the  mellowing  effect  of  time,  with  a  realization  of  the  dangers 
to  be  incurred,  might  have  wrought  mutual  forbearance — if, 
indeed,  anything  could  have  checked  the  madness  then  prevail- 
ing among  the  people  of  the  JSTorthern  States  in  their  thirst  for 
power  and  forgetfulness  of  the  duties  of  federation. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  concede  this  point.  The  little 
garrison  of  Fort  Sumter  served  only  as  a  menace ;  for  it  was 
utterly  incapable  of  holding  the  fort  if  attacked,  and  the  poor 
attempt  soon  afterward  made  to  reenforce  and  provision  it,  by 
such  a  vessel  as  the  Star  of  the  West,  might  by  the  unchari- 
table be  readily  construed  as  a  scheme  to  provoke  hostilities. 
Yet,  from  my  knowledge  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  he  had  no  such  wish  or  purpose.  His  abiding  hope  was 
to  avert  a  collision,  or  at  least  to  postpone  it  to  a  period  beyond 
the  close  of  his  official  term.  The  management  of  the  whole 
affair  was  what  Talleyrand  describes  as  something  worse  than  a 
crime — a  blunder.  Whatever  treatment  the  case  demanded, 
should  have  been  prompt ;  to  wait  was  fatuity. 

The  ill-advised  attempt  secretly  to  throw  reinforcements  and 
provisions  into  Fort  Sumter,  by  means  of  the  steamer  Star  of 
the  West,  resulted  in  the  repulsion  of  that  vessel  at  the  mouth 


218      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  the  harbor,  by  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  on  the 
morning  of  the  9th  of  January.  On  her  refusal  to  heave-to, 
she  was  fired  upon,  and  put  back  to  sea,  with  her  recruits  and 
supplies.  A  telegraphic  account  of  this  event  was  handed  me, 
a  few  hours  afterward,  when  stepping  into  my  carriage  to  go  to 
the  Senate-chamber.  Although  I  had  then,  for  some  time, 
ceased  to  visit  the  President,  yet,  under  the  impulse  of  this 
renewed  note  of  danger  to  the  country,  I  drove  immediately  to 
the  Executive  mansion,  and  for  the  last  time  appealed  to  him 
to  take  such  prompt  measures  as  were  evidently  necessary  to 
avert  the  impending  calamity.  The  result  was  even  more  un- 
satisfactory than  that  of  former  efforts  had  been. 

On  the  same  day  the  special  message  of  the  President  on 
the  state  of  the  Union,  dated  the  day  previous  (8th  of  Janu- 
ary), was  submitted  to  Congress.  This  message  was  accompa- 
nied by  the  first  letter  of  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners 
to  the  President,  with  his  answer,  but  of  course  not  by  their 
rejoinder,  which  he  had  declined  to  receive.  Mr.  Buchanan,  in 
his  memoirs,  complains  that,  immediately  after  the  reading  of  his 
message,  this  rejoinder  (which  he  terms  an  "insulting  letter") 
was  presented  by  me  to  the  Senate,  and  by  that  body  received 
and  entered  upon  its  journal.*  The  simple  truth  is,  that,  re- 
garding it  as  essential  to  a  complete  understanding  of  the  trans- 
action, and  its  publication  as  a  mere  act  of  justice  to  the  Com- 
missioners, I  presented  and  had  it  read  in  the  Senate.  But  its 
appearance  upon  the  journal  as  part  of  the  proceedings,  instead 
of  being  merely  a  document  introduced  as  part  of  my  remarks, 
was  the  result  of  a  discourteous  objection,  made  by  a  so-called 
"  Republican "  Senator,  to  the  reading  of  the  document  by  the 
Clerk  of  the  Senate  at  my  request.  This  will  be  made  mani- 
fest by  an  examination  of  the  debate  and  proceedings  which 
ensued. f  The  discourtesy  recoiled  upon  its  author  and  support- 
ers, and  gave  the  letter  a  vantage-ground  in  respect  of  promi- 
nence which  I  could  not  have  foreseen  or  expected. 

The  next  day  (January  10th)  the  speech  was  delivered,  the 

*  "Buchanan's  Administration,"  chap,  x,  p.  184. 

f  See  "  Congressional  Globe,"  second  session,  Thirty-fifth  Congress,  Part  I,  p. 
284,  et  scq. 


1861]  HISTORY   OF  FORT   SUMTER.  219 

greater  part  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix  * — the 
last  that  I  ever  made  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  except 
in  taking  leave,  and  by  the  sentiments  of  which  I  am  content 
that  my  career,  both  before  and  since,  should  be  judged. 

The  history  of  Fort  Sumter  during  the  remaining  period, 
until  the  organization  of  the  Confederate  Government,  may  be 
found  in  the  correspondence  given  in  the  Appendix. f  From 
this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  still 
continued  to  refrain  from  any  act  of  aggression  or  retaliation, 
under  the  provocation  of  the  secret  attempt  to  reenforce  the 
garrison,  as  they  had  previously  under  that  of  its  nocturnal 
transfer  from  one  fort  to  another. 

Another  Commissioner  (the  Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne)  was  sent  to 
Washington  by  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  to  effect,  if 
possible,  an  amicable  and  peaceful  transfer  of  the  fort,  and  set- 
tlement of  all  questions  relating  to  property.  This  Commis- 
sioner remained  for  nearly  a  month,  endeavoring  to  accomplish 
the  objects  of  his  mission,  but  was  met  only  by  evasive  and  un- 
satisfactory answers,  and  eventually  returned  without  having 
effected  anything. 

There  is  one  passage  in  the  last  letter  of  Colonel  Hayne  to 
the  President  which  presents  the  case  of  the  occupancy  of  Fort 
Sumter  by  the  United  States  troops  so  clearly  and  forcibly  that 
it  may  be  proper  to  quote  it.     He  writes  as  follows : 

"  You  say  that  the  fort  was  garrisoned  for  our  protection,  and 
is  held  for  the  same  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  ever  held  since 
its  construction.  Are  you  not  aware,  that  to  hold,  in  the  territory 
of  a  foreign  power,  a  fortress  against  her  will,  avowedly  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  her  citizens,  is  perhaps  the  highest  insult 
which  one  government  can  offer  to  another  ?  But  Fort  Sumter  was 
never  garrisoned  at  all  until  South  Carolina  had  dissolved  her  con- 
nection with  your  Government.  This  garrison  entered  it  in  the 
night,  with  every  circumstance  of  secrecy,  after  spiking  the  guns 
and  burning  the  gun-carriages  and  cutting  down  the  flag-staff  of 
an  adjacent  fort,  which  was  then  abandoned.  South  Carolina  had 
not  taken  Fort  Sumter  into  her  own  possession,  only  because  of 
her  misplaced  confidence  in  a  Government  which  deceived  her." 
*  See  Appendix  I.  •}•  Ibid. 


220      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Thus,  during  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administra- 
tion, matters  went  rapidly  from  bad  to  worse.  The  old  states- 
man, who,  with,  all  his  defects,  had  long  possessed,  and  was 
entitled  still  to  retain,  the  confidence  due  to  extensive  political 
knowledge  and  love  of  his  country  in  all  its  parts — who  had,  in 
his  earlier  career,  looked  steadily  to  the  Constitution,  as  the 
mariner  looks  to  the  compass,  for  guidance — retired  to  private 
life  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  having  effected  no- 
thing to  allay  the  storm  which  had  been  steadily  gathering  dur- 
ing his  administration. 

Timid  vacillation  was  then  succeeded  by  unscrupulous  cun- 
ning ;  and,  for  futile  efforts,  without  hostile  collision,  to  impose 
a  claim  of  authority  upon  people  who  repudiated  it,  were  sub- 
stituted measures  which  could  be  sustained  only  by  force. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

Secession  of  Mississippi  and  Other  States. — Withdrawal  of  Senators. — Address  of 
the  Author  on  taking  Leave  of  the  Senate. — Answer  to  Certain  Objections. 

Mississippi  was  the  second  State  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  her  ordinance  of  secession  being  adopted  on  the  9th  of 
January,  1861.  She  was  quickly  followed  by  Florida  on  the 
10th,  Alabama  on  the  11th,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  same 
month,  by  Georgia  on  the  18th,  and  Louisiana  on  the  26th. 
The  Conventions  of  these  States  (together  with  that  of  South 
Carolina)  agreed  in  designating  Montgomery,  Alabama,  as  the 
place,  and  the  4th  of  February  as  the  day,  for  the  assembling  of 
a  congress  of  the  seceding  States,  to  which  each  State  Conven- 
tion, acting  as  the  direct  representative  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  thereof,  appointed  delegates. 

Telegraphic  intelligence  of  the  secession  of  Mississippi  had 
reached  Washington  some  considerable  time  before  the  fact  was 
officially  communicated  to  me.  This  official  knowledge  I  con- 
sidered it  proper  to  await  before  taking  formal  leave  of  the 
Senate.     My  associates  from  Alabama  and  Florida  concurred 


1861]  NO  PURPOSE   TO  LEVY  WAR.  221 

in  this  view.  Accordingly,  having  received  notification  of  the 
secession  of  these  three  States  about  the  same  time,  on  the  21st 
of  January  Messrs.  Yulee  and  Mallory,  of  Florida,  Fitzpatrick 
and  Clay,  of  Alabama,  and  myself,  announced  the  withdrawal 
of  the  States  from  which  we  were  respectively  accredited,  and 
took  leave  of  the  Senate  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  action  which  she  then  took,  Mississippi  certainly  had 
no  purpose  to  levy  war  against  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them.  As  her  Senator,  I  endeavored  plainly  to  state  her  posi- 
tion in  the  annexed  remarks  addressed  to  the  Senate  in  taking 
leave  of  the  body  : 

"  I  rise,  Mr.  President,  for  the  purpose  of  announcing  to  the 
Senate  that  I  have  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  State  of  Missis- 
sippi, by  a  solemn  ordinance  of  her  people,  in  convention  assem- 
bled, has  declared  her  separation  from  the  United  States.  Under 
these  circumstances,  of  course,  my  functions  are  terminated  here. 
It  has  seemed  to  me  proper,  however,  that  I  should  appear  in  the 
Senate  to  announce  that  fact  to  my  associates,  and  I  will  say  but 
very  little  more.  The  occasion  does  not  invite  me  to  go  into  argu- 
ment ;  and  my  physical  condition  would  not  permit  me  to  do  so,  if 
it  were  otherwise  ;  and  yet  it  seems  to  become  me  to  say  something 
on  the  part  of  the  State  I  here  represent  on  an  occasion  so  solemn 
as  this. 

"  It  is  known  to  Senators  who  have  served  with  me  here  that  I 
have  for  many  years  advocated,  as  an  essential  attribute  of  State 
sovereignty,  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union.  There- 
fore, if  I  had  not  believed  there  was  justifiable  cause,  if  I  had 
thought  that  Mississippi  was  acting  without  sufficient  provocation, 
or  without  an  existing  necessity,  I  should  still,  under  my  theory  of 
the  Government,  because  of  my  allegiance  to  the  State  of  which  I 
am  a  citizen,  have  been  bound  by  her  action.  I,  however,  may  be 
permitted  to  say  that  I  do  think  she  has  justifiable  cause,  and  I 
approve  of  her  act.  I  conferred  with  her  people  before  that  act 
was  taken,  counseled  them  then  that,  if  the  state  of  things  which 
they  apprehended  should  exist  when  their  Convention  met,  they 
should  take  the  action  which  they  have  now  adopted. 

"  I  hope  none  who  hear  me  will  confound  this  expression  of  mine 
with  the  advocacy  of  the  right  of  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union,  and 
to  disregard  its  constitutional  obligations  by  the  nullification  of  the 


222      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

law.  Such  is  not  my  theory.  Nullifi cation  and  secession,  so  often 
confounded,  are,  indeed,  antagonistic  principles.  Nullification  is 
a  remedy  which  it  is  sought  to  apply  within  the  Union,  and 
against  the  agent  of  the  States.  It  is  only  to  be  justified  when 
the  agent  has  violated  his  constitutional  obligations,  and  a  State, 
assuming  to  judge  for  itself,  denies  the  right  of  the  agent  thus  to 
act,  and  appeals  to  the  other  States  of  the  Union  for  a  decision  ; 
but,  when  the  States  themselves  and  when  the  people  of  the  States 
have  so  acted  as  to  convince  us  that  they  will  not  regard  our  con- 
stitutional rights,  then,  and  then  for  the  first  time,  arises  the  doc- 
trine of  secession  in  its  practical  application. 

"  A  great  man  who  now  reposes  with  his  fathers,  and  who  has 
often  been  arraigned  for  a  want  of  fealty  to  the  Union,  advocated 
the  doctrine  of  nullification  because  it  preserved  the  Union.  It 
was  because  of  his  deep-seated  attachment  to  the  Union — his  de- 
termination to  find  some  remedy  for  existing  ills  short  of  a  sever- 
ance of  the  ties  which  bound  South  Carolina  to  the  other  States — 
that  Mr.  Calhoun  advocated  the  doctrine  of  nullification,  which  he 
proclaimed  to  be  peaceful,  to  be  within  the  limits  of  State  power, 
not  to  disturb  the  Union,  but  only  to  be  a  means  of  bringing  the 
agent  before  the  tribunal  of  the  States  for  their  judgment. 

"  Secession  belongs  to  a  different  class  of  remedies.  It  is  to  be 
justified  upon  the  basis  that  the  States  are  sovereign.  There  was 
a  time  when  none  denied  it.  I  hope  the  time  may  come  again 
when  a  better  comprehension  of  the  theory  of  our  Government, 
and  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  people  of  the  States,  will  prevent 
any  one  from  denying  that  each  State  is  a  sovereign,  and  thus 
may  reclaim  the  grants  which  it  has  made  to  any  agent  whomso- 
ever. 

"  I,  therefore,  say  I  concur  in  the  action  of  the  people  of  Mis- 
sissippi, believing  it  to  be  necessary  and  proper,  and  should  have 
been  bound  by  their  action  if  my  belief  had  been  otherwise  ;  and 
this  brings  me  to  the  important  point  which  I  wish,  on  this  last 
occasion,  to  present  to  the  Senate.  It  is  by  this  confounding  of 
nullification  and  secession  that  the  name  of  a  great  man  whose 
ashes  now  mingle  with  his  mother  earth  has  been  evoked  to  justify 
coercion  against  a  seceded  State.  The  phrase,  "to  execute  the 
laws,"  was  an  expression  which  General  Jackson  applied  to  the 
case  of  a  State  refusing  to  obey  the  laws  while  yet  a  member  of 
the  Union.     That  is  not  the  case  which  is  now  presented.     The 


1861]  WAR  IMPLIES  SEPARATE  NATIONALITY.  223 

laws  are  to  be  executed  over  the  United  States,  and  upon  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States.  They  have  no  relation  to  any  foreign 
country.  It  is  a  perversion  of  terms — at  least,  it  is  a  great  misap- 
prehension of  the  case — which  cites  that  expression  for  application 
to  a  State  which  has  withdrawn  from  the  Union.  You  may  make 
war  on  a  foreign  state.  If  it  be  the  purpose  of  gentlemen,  they 
may  make  war  against  a  State  which  has  withdrawn  from  the 
Union  ;  but  there  are  no  laws  of  the  United  States  to  be  executed 
within  the  limits  of  a  seceded  State.  A  State,  finding  herself  in 
the  condition  in  which  Mississippi  has  judged  she  is — in  which  her 
safety  requires  that  she  should  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  her 
rights  out  of  the  Union — surrenders  all  the  benefits  (and  they  are 
known  to  be  many),  deprives  herself  of  the  advantages  (and  they 
are  known  to  be  great),  severs  all  the  ties  of  affection  (and  they 
are  close  and  enduring),  which  have  bound  her  to  the  Union  ;  and 
thus  divesting  herself  of  every  benefit — taking  upon  herself  every 
burden — she  claims  to  be  exempt  from  any  power  to  execute  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  within  her  limits. 

"I  well  remember  an  occasion  when  Massachusetts  was  ar- 
raigned before  the  bar  of  the  Senate,  and  when  the  doctrine  of 
coercion  was  rife,  and  to  be  applied  against  her,  because  of  the 
rescue  of  a  fugitive  slave  in  Boston.  My  opinion  then  was  the 
same  that  it  is  now.  Not  in  a  spirit  of  egotism,  but  to  show  that 
I  am  not  influenced  in  my  opinions  because  the  case  is  my  own,  I 
refer  to  that  time  and  that  occasion  as  containing  the  opinion 
which ,  I  then  entertained,  and  on  which  my  present  conduct  is 
based.  I  then  said  that  if  Massachusetts — following  her  purpose 
through  a  stated  line  of  conduct — chose  to  take  the  last  step,  which 
separates  her  from  the  Union,  it  is  her  right  to  go,  and  I  will 
neither  vote  one  dollar  nor  one  man  to  coerce  her  back  ;  but  I 
will  say  to  her,  Godspeed,  in  memory  of  the  kind  associations 
which  once  existed  between  her  and  the  other  States. 

"  It  has  been  a  conviction  of  pressing  necessity — it  has  been  a 
belief  that  we  are  to  be  deprived  in  the  Union  of  the  rights 
which  our  fathers  bequeathed  to  us— which  has  brought  Missis- 
sippi to  her  present  decision.  She  has  heard  proclaimed  the  theory 
that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  this  made  the  basis  of 
an  attack  upon  her  social  institutions  ;  and  the  sacred  Declaration 
of  Independence  has  been  invoked  to  maintain  the  position  of  the 
equality  of  the  races.     That  Declaration  of  independence  is  to  be 


224      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

construed  by  the  circumstances  and  purposes  for  which  it  was 
made.  The  communities  were  declaring  their  independence  ;  the 
people  of  those  communities  were  asserting  that  no  man  was  born 
— to  use  the  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson — booted  and  spurred,  to 
ride  over  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  that  men  were  created  equal — 
meaning  the  men  of  the  political  community  ;  that  there  was  no 
divine  right  to  rule  ;  that  no  man  inherited  the  right  to  govern  ; 
that  there  were  no  classes  by  which  power  and  place  descended  to 
families  ;  but  that  all  stations  were  equally  within  the  grasp  of 
each  member  of  the  body  politic.  These  were  the  great  principles 
they  announced ;  these  were  the  purposes  for  which  they  made 
their  declaration  ;  these  were  the  ends  to  which  their  enunciation 
was  directed.  They  have  no  reference  to  the  slave  ;  else,  how 
happened  it  that  among  the  items  of  arraignment  against  George 
III  was  that  he  endeavored  to  do  just  what  the  North  has  been 
endeavoring  of  late  to  do,  to  stir  up  insurrection  among  our  slaves  ? 
Had  the  Declaration  announced  that  the  negroes  were  free  and 
equal,  how  was  the  prince  to  be  arraigned  for  raising  up  insurrec- 
tion among  them  ?  And  how  was  this  to  be  enumerated  among 
the  high  crimes  which  caused  the  colonies  to  sever  their  connection 
with  the  mother-country  ?  When  our  Constitution  was  formed, 
the  same  idea  was  rendered  more  palpable  ;  for  there  we  find  pro- 
vision made  for  that  very  class  of  persons  as  property  ;  they  were 
not  put  upon  the  footing  of  equality  with  white  men — not  even 
upon  that  of  paupers  and  convicts  ;  but,  so  far  as  representation 
was  concerned,  were  discriminated  against  as  a  lower  caste,  only 
to  be  represented  in  the  numerical  proportion  of  three  fifths.  So 
stands  the  compact  which  binds  us  together. 

"  Then,  Senators,  we  recur  to  the  principles  upon  which  our 
Government  was  founded  ;  and  when  you  deny  them,  and  when 
you  deny  to  us  the  right  to  withdraw  from  a  Government  which, 
thus  perverted,  threatens  to  be  destructive  of  our  rights,  we  but 
tread  in  the  path  of  our  fathers  when  we  proclaim  our  indepen- 
dence and  take  the  hazard.  This  is  done,  not  in  hostility  to  oth- 
ers, not  to  injure  any  section  of  the  country,  not  even  for  our  own 
pecuniary  benefit,  but  from  the  high  and  solemn  motive  of  defend- 
ing and  protecting  the  rights  we  inherited,  and  which  it  is  our 
duty  to  transmit  unshorn  to  our  children. 

"  I  find  in  myself  perhaps  a  type  of  the  general  feeling  of  my 
constituents  toward  yours.     I  am  sure  I  feel  no  hostility  toward 


1861]  OBLIGATIONS  OF  A  SENATOR.  225 

you,  Senators  from  the  North.  I  am  sure  there  is  not  one  of  you, 
whatever  sharp  discussion  there  may  have  been  between  us,  to 
whom  I  can  not  now  say,  in  the  presence  of  my  God,  I  wish  you 
well ;  and  such,  I  am  sure,  is  the  feeling  of  the  people  whom  I 
represent  toward  those  whom  you  represent.  I,  therefore,  feel 
that  I  but  express  their  desire  when  I  say  I  hope,  and  they  hope, 
for  peaceable  relations  with  you,  though  we  must  part.  They 
may  be  mutually  beneficial  to  us  in  the  future,  as  they  have  been 
in  the  past,  if  you  so  will  it.  The  reverse  may  bring  disaster  on 
every  portion  of  the  country,  and,  if  you  will  have  it  thus,  we  will 
invoke  the  God  of  our  fathers,  who  delivered  them  from  the  power 
of  the  lion,  to  protect  us  from  the  ravages  of  the  bear  ;  and  thus, 
putting  our  trust  in  God  and  in  our  firm  hearts  and  strong  arms, 
we  will  vindicate  the  right  as  best  we  may. 

"In  the  course  of  my  service  here,  associated  at  different 
times  with  a  great  variety  of  Senators,  I  see  now  around  me  some 
with  whom  I  have  served  long  ;  there  have  been  points  of  colli- 
sion, but,  whatever  of  offense  there  has  been  to  me,  I  leave  here. 
I  carry  with  me  no  hostile  remembrance.  Whatever  offense  I 
have  given  which  has  not  been  redressed,  or  for  which  satisfaction 
has  not  been  demanded,  I  have,  Senators,  in  this  hour  of  our  part- 
ing, to  offer  you  my  apology  for  any  pain  which,  in  the  heat  of 
discussion,  I  have  inflicted.  I  go  hence  unencumbered  by  the 
remembrance  of  any  injury  received,  and  having  discharged  the 
duty  of  making  the  only  reparation  in  my  power  for  any  injury 
offered. 

"Mr.  President  and  Senators,  having  made  the  announcement 
which  the  occasion  seemed  to  me  to  require,  it  only  remains  for 
me  to  bid  you  a  final  adieu." 

There  are  some  who  contend  that  we  should  have  retained 
our  seats  and  "fought  for  our  rights  in  the  Union."  Could 
anything  be  less  rational  or  less  consistent  than  that  a  Sen- 
ator, an  ambassador  from  his  State,  should  insist  upon  repre- 
senting it  in  a  confederacy  from  which  the  State  has  withdrawn  ? 
What  was  meant  by  "fighting  in  the  Union  "  I  have  never 
quite  understood.  If  it  be  to  retain  a  seat  in  Congress  for  the 
purpose  of  crippling  the  Government  and  rendering  it  unable  to 
perform  its  functions,  I  can  certainly  not  appreciate  the  idea  of 
honor  that  sanctions  the  suggestion.  Among  the  advantages 
15 


226      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

claimed  for  this  proposition  by  its  supporters  was  that  of  thwart- 
ing the  President  in  the  appointment  of  his  Cabinet  and 
other  officers  necessary  for  the  administration  of  public  affairs. 
Would  this  have  been  to  maintain  the  Union  formed  by  the 
States  ?  Would  such  have  been  the  Government  which  Wash- 
ington recommended  as  a  remedy  for  the  defects  of  the  original 
Confederation,  the  greatest  of  which  was  the  paralysis  of  the 
action  of  the  general  agent  by  the  opposition  or  indifference  of 
the  States?  Sad  as  have  been  the  consequences  of  the  war 
which  followed  secession — disastrous  in  its  moral,  material,  and 
political  relations — still  we  have  good  cause  to  feel  proud  that 
the  course  of  the  Southern  States  has  left  no  blot  nor  stain  upon 
the  honor  and  chivalry  of  their  people. 

"  And  if  our  children  must  obey, 
They  must,  but — thinking  on  our  day — 
'Twill  less  debase  them  to  submit." 


CHAPTER    IY. 

Threats  of  Arrest. — Departure  from  Washington. — Indications  of  Public  Anxiety. — 
"  Will  there  be  War  ?  " — Organization  of  the  "  Army  of  Mississippi." — Lack 
of  Preparations  for  Defense  in  the  South. — Evidences  of  the  Good  Faith  and 
Peaceable  Purposes  of  the  Southern  People. 

During  the  interval  between  the  announcement  by  telegraph 
of  the  secession  of  Mississippi  and  the  receipt  of  the  official 
notification  which  enabled  me  to  withdraw  from  the  Senate, 
rumors  were  in  circulation  of  a  purpose,  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  Government,  to  arrest  members  of  Congress 
preparing  to  leave  Washington  on  account  of  the  secession  of 
the  States  which  they  represented.  This  threat  received  little 
attention  from  those  most  concerned.  Indeed,  it  was  thought 
that  it  might  not  be  an  undesirable  mode  of  testing  the  ques- 
tion of  the  right  of  a  State  to  withdraw  from  the  Union. 

No  attempt,  however,  was  made  to  arrest  any  of  the  retiring 
members ;  and,  after  a  delay  of  a  few  days  in  necessary  prep- 


1861]  DANGER  NOW  IMMINENT.  227 

arations,  I  left  Washington  for  Mississippi,  passing  through 
southwestern  Virginia,  East  Tennessee,  a  small  part  of  Georgia, 
and  north  Alabama.  A  deep  interest  in  the  events  which  had 
recently  occurred  was  exhibited  by  the  people  of  these  States, 
and  much  anxiety  was  indicated  as  to  the  future.  Many  years 
of  agitation  had  made  them  familiar  with  the  idea  of  separa- 
tion. Nearly  two  generations  had  risen  to  manhood  since  it 
had  begun  to  be  discussed  as  a  possible  alternative.  Few,  very 
few,  of  the  Southern  people  had  ever  regarded  it  as  a  desirable 
event,  or  otherwise  than  as  a  last  resort  for  escape  from  evils 
more  intolerable.  It  was  a  calamity,  which,  however  threat- 
ened, they  had  still  hoped  might  be  averted,  or  indefinitely 
postponed,  and  they  had  regarded  with  contempt,  rather  than 
anger,  the  ravings  of  a  party  in  the  North,  which  denounced 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  persistently  defamed  their 
brethren  of  the  South. 

Now,  however,  as  well  in  Yirginia  and  Tennessee,  neither 
of  which  had  yet  seceded,  as  in  the  more  Southern  States,  which 
had  already  taken  that  step,  the  danger  so  often  prophesied  was 
perceived  to  be  at  the  door,  and  eager  inquiries  were  made  as 
to  what  would  happen  next — especially  as  to  the  probability  of 
war  between  the  States. 

The  course  which  events  were  likely  to  take  was  shrouded 
in  the  greatest  uncertainty.  In  the  minds  of  many  there  was 
the  not  unreasonable  hope  (which  had  been  expressed  by  the 
Commissioner  sent  from  Mississippi  to  Maryland)  that  the  se- 
cession of  six  Southern  States — certainly  soon  to  be  followed  by 
that  of  others — would  so  arouse  the  sober  thought  and  better 
feeling  of  the  Northern  people  as  to  compel  their  representa- 
tives to  agree  to  a  Convention  of  the  States,  and  that  such 
guarantees  would  be  given  as  would  secure  to  the  South  the 
domestic  tranquillity  and  equality  in  the  Union  which  were 
rights  assured  under  the  Federal  compact.  There  were  others, 
and  they  the  most  numerous  class,  who  considered  that  the 
separation  would  be  final,  but  peaceful.  For  my  own  part, 
while  believing  that  secession  was  a  right,  and  properly  a  peace- 
able remedy,  I  had  never  believed  that  it  would  be  permitted 
to  be  peaceably  exercised.     Yery  few  in  the  South  at  that  time 


228       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

agreed  with  me,  and  my  answers  to  queries  on  the  subject  were, 
therefore,  as  unexpected  as  they  were  unwelcome. 

On  mj  arrival  at  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mississippi,  I  found 
that  the  Convention  of  the  State  had  made  provision  for  a 
State  army,  and  had  appointed  me  to  the  command,  with  the 
rank  of  major-general.  Four  brigadier-generals,  appointed  in 
like  manner  by  the  Convention,  were  awaiting  my  arrival  for 
assignment  to  duty.  After  the  preparation  of  the  necessary 
rules  and  regulations,  the  division  of  the  State  into  districts, 
the  apportionment  among  them  of  the  troops  to  be  raised,  and 
the  appointment  of  officers  of  the  general  staff,  as  authorized 
by  the  ordinance  of  the  Convention,  such  measures  as  were 
practicable  were  taken  to  obtain  the  necessary  arms.  The  State 
had  few  serviceable  weapons,  and  no  establishment  for  their 
manufacture  or  repair.  This  fact  (which  is  true  of  other  South- 
ern States  as  of  Mississippi)  is  a  clear  proof  of  the  absence 
of  any  desire  or  expectation  of  war.  If  the  purpose  of  the 
Northern  States  to  make  war  upon  us  because  of  secession  had 
been  foreseen,  preparation  to  meet  the  consequences  would 
have  been  contemporaneous  with  the  adoption  of  a  resort  to 
that  remedy — a  remedy  the  possibility  of  which  had  for  many 
years  been  contemplated.  Had  the  Southern  States  possessed 
arsenals,  and  collected  in  them  the  requisite  supplies  of  arms 
and  munitions,  such  preparation  would  not  only  have  placed 
them  more  nearly  on  an  equality  with  the  JSTorth  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  but  might,  perhaps,  have  been  the  best  con- 
servator of  peace. 

Let  us,  the  survivors,  however,  not  fail  to  do  credit  to  the 
generous  credulity  which  could  not  understand  how,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  compact  of  Union,  a  war  could  be  waged  against  the 
States,  or  why  they  should  be  invaded  because  their  people  had 
deemed  it  necessary  to  withdraw  from  an  association  which  had 
failed  to  fulfill  the  ends  for  which  they  had  entered  into  it, 
and  which,  having  been  broken  to  their  injury  by  the  other 
parties,  had  ceased  to  be  binding  upon  them.  It  is  a  satisfac- 
tion to  know  that  the  calamities  which  have  befallen  the 
Southern  States  were  the  result  of  their  credulous  reliance  on 
the  power  of  the  Constitution,  that,  if  it  failed  to  protect  their 


1861]  THE   LUST   OF  EMPIRE.  229 

rights,  it  would  at  least  suffice  to  prevent  an  attempt  at  coer- 
cion, if,  in  the  last  resort,  they  peacefully  withdrew  from  the 
Union. 

When,  in  after  times,  the  passions  of  the  day  shall  have 
subsided,  and  all  the  evidence  shall  have  been  collected  and 
compared,  the  philosophical  inquirer,  who  asks  why  the  ma- 
jority of  the  stronger  section  invaded  the  peaceful  homes  of 
their  late  associates,  will  be  answered  by  History  :  "  The  lust 
of  empire  impelled  them  to  wage  against  their  weaker  neigh- 
bors a  war  of  subjugation." 


CHAPTER    Y. 

Meeting  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States. — Adoption  of  a  Pro- 
visional Constitution. — Election  of  President  and  Vice-President. — Notification 
to  the  Author  of  his  Election. — His  Views  with  Regard  to  it. — Journey  to  Mont- 
gomery.— Interview  with  Judge  Sharkey. — False  Reports  of  Speeches  on  the 
Way. — Inaugural  Address. — Editor's  Note. 

The  congress  of  delegates  from  the  seceding  States  con- 
vened at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  according  to  appointment,  on 
the  4th  of  February,  1861.  Their  first  work  was  to  prepare  a 
provisional  Constitution  for  the  new  Confederacy,  to  be  formed 
of  the  States  which  had  withdrawn  from  the  Union,  for  which 
the  style  "  Confederate  States  of  America"  was  adopted.  The 
powers  conferred  upon  them  were  adequate  for  the  performance 
of  this  duty,  the  immediate  necessity  for  which  was  obvious 
and  urgent.  This  Constitution  was  adopted  on  the  8th  of  Feb- 
ruary, to  continue  in  force  for  one  year,  unless  superseded  at  an 
earlier  date  by  a  permanent  organization.  It  is  printed  in  an 
appendix,  and  for  convenience  of  reference  the  permanent  Con- 
stitution, adopted  several  weeks  afterward,  is  exhibited  in  con- 
nection with  it,  and  side  by  side  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  after  which  it  was  modeled.*  The  attention  of 
the  reader  is  invited  to  these  documents  and  to  a  comparison  of 

*  See  Appendix  K. 


230      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

them,  although  a  more  particular  notice  of  the  permanent  Con- 
stitution will  be  more  appropriate  hereafter. 

On  the  next  day  (9th  of  February)  an  election  was  held  for 
the  chief  executive  offices,  resulting,  as  I  afterward  learned,  in 
my  election  to  the  Presidency,  with  the  Hon.  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  of  Georgia,  as  Yice-President.  Mr.  Stephens  was  a 
delegate  from  Georgia  to  the  congress. 

While  these  events  were  occurring,  having  completed  the 
most  urgent  of  my  duties  at  the  capital  of  Mississippi,  I  had 
gone  to  my  home,  Brierfield,  in  Warren  County,  and  had  be- 
gun, in  the  homely  but  expressive  language  of  Mr.  Clay,  "  to 
repair  my  fences."  While  thus  engaged,  notice  was  received 
of  my  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Confederate  States, 
with  an  urgent  request  to  proceed  immediately  to  Montgomery 
for  inauguration. 

As  this  had  been  suggested  as  a  probable  event,  and  what 
appeared  to  me  adequate  precautions  had  been  taken  to  prevent 
it,  I  was  surprised,  and,  still  more,  disappointed.  For  reasons 
which  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  state,  I  had  not  believed  my- 
self as  well  suited  to  the  office  as  some  others.  I  thought 
myself  better  adapted  to  command  in  the  field ;  and  Mississippi 
had  given  me  the  position  which  I  preferred  to  any  other — the 
highest  rank  in  her  army.  It  was,  therefore,  that  I  afterward 
said,  in  an  address  delivered  in  the  Capitol,  before  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State,  with  reference  to  my  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  Confederacy,  that  the  duty  to  which  I  was  thus 
called  was  temporary,  and  that  I  expected  soon  to  be  with  the 
Army  of  Mississippi  again. 

While  on  my  way  to  Montgomery,  and  waiting  in  Jackson, 
Mississippi,  for  the  railroad  train,  I  met  the  Hon.  William  L. 
Sharkey,  who  had  filled  with  great  distinction  the  office  of 
Chief -Justice  of  the  State.  He  said  he  was  looking  for  me  to 
make  an  inquiry.  He  desired  to  know  if  it  was  true,  as  he  had 
just  learned,  that  I  believed  there  would  be  war.  My  opinion 
was  freely  given,  that  there  would  be  war,  long  and  bloody,  and 
that  it  behooved  every  one  to  put  his  house  in  order.  He  ex- 
pressed much  surprise,  and  said  that  he  had  not  believed  the 
report  attributing  this  opinion  to  me.     He  asked  how  I  sup- 


1861]  MISREPRESENTATION  OF  ADDRESSES.  231 

posed  war  could  result  from  the  peaceable  withdrawal  of  a  sov- 
ereign State.  The  answer  was,  that  it  was  not  my  opinion  that 
war  should  be  occasioned  by  the  exercise  of  that  right,  but  that 
it  would  be. 

Judge  Sharkey  and  I  had  not  belonged  to  the  same  political 
party,  he  being  a  Whig,  but  we  fully  agreed  with  regard  to  the 
question  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  States.  He  had  been  an 
advocate  of  nullification  —  a  doctrine  to  which  I  had  never 
assented,  and  which  had  at  one  time  been  the  main  issue  in  Mis- 
sissippi politics.  He  had  presided  over  the  well-remembered 
Nashville  Convention  in  1849,  and  had  possessed  much  influ- 
ence in  the  State,  not  only  as  an  eminent  jurist,  but  as  a  citizen 
who  had  grown  up  with  it,  and  held  many  offices  of  honor  and 
trust. 

On  my  way  to  Montgomery,  brief  addresses  were  made  at 
various  places,  at  which  there  were  temporary  stoppages  of  the 
trains,  in  response  to  calls  from  the  crowds  assembled  at  such 
points.  Some  of  these  addresses  were  grossly  misrepresented 
in  sensational  reports  made  by  irresponsible  persons,  which 
were  published  in  Northern  newspapers,  and  were  not  consid- 
ered worthy  of  correction  under  the  pressure  of  the  momen- 
tous duties  then  devolving  upon  me.  These  false  reports,  which 
represented  me  as  invoking  war  and  threatening  devastation  of 
the  ISTorth,  have  since  been  adopted  by  partisan  writers  as  au- 
thentic history.  It  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  these  accusations  to 
refer  to  my  farewell  address  to  the  Senate,  already  given,  as 
reported  for  the  press  at  the  time,  and,  in  connection  therewith, 
to  my  inaugural  address  at  Montgomery,  on  assuming  the  office 
of  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  on  the  18th  of  Febru- 
ary. These  two  addresses,  delivered  at  an  interval  of  a  month, 
during  which  no  material  change  of  circumstances  had  occurred, 
being  one  before  and  the  other  after  the  date  of  the  sensational 
reports  referred  to,  are  sufficient  to  stamp  them  as  utterly  un- 
true. The  inaugural  was  deliberately  prepared,  and  uttered  as 
written,  and,  in  connection  with  the  farewell  speech  to  the  Sen- 
ate, presents  a  clear  and  authentic  statement  of  the  principles 
and  purposes  which  actuated  me  on  assuming  the  duties  of  the 
high  office  to  which  I  had  been  called. 


232      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  Friends, 
and  Fellow-  Citizens : 

"  Called  to  the  difficult  and  responsible  station  of  Chief  Magis- 
trate of  the  Provisional  Government  which  you  have  instituted, 
I  approach  the  discharge  of  the  duties  assigned  to  me  with  hum- 
ble distrust  of  my  abilities,  but  with  a  sustaining  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  of  those  who  are  to  guide  and  aid  me  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs,  and  an  abiding  faith  in  the  virtue  and 
patriotism  of  the  people.  Looking  forward  to  the  speedy  estab- 
lishment of  a  permanent  government  to  take  the  place  of  this, 
which  by  its  greater  moral  and  physical  power  will  be  better  able 
to  combat  with  many  difficulties  that  arise  from  the  conflicting 
interests  of  separate  nations,  I  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  office 
to  which  I  have  been  chosen  with  the  hope  that  the  beginning  of 
our  career,  as  a  Confederacy,  may  not  be  obstructed  by  hostile 
opposition  to  our  enjoyment  of  the  separate  existence  and  inde- 
pendence we  have  asserted,  and  which,  with  the  blessing  of  Provi- 
dence, we  intend  to  maintain. 

"  Our  present  political  position  has  been  achieved  in  a  manner 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  nations.  It  illustrates  the  Ameri- 
can idea  that  governments  rest  on  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
and  that  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  them  at 
will  whenever  they  become  destructive  of  the  ends  for  which  they 
were  established.  The  declared  purpose  of  the  compact  of  the 
Union  from  which  we  have  withdrawn  was  to  '  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 '  ;  and  when,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  sovereign  States  composing  this  Confederacy,  it  has  been  per- 
verted from  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  ordained,  and  ceased 
to  answer  the  ends  for  which  it  was  established,  a  peaceful  appeal 
to  the  ballot-box  declared  that,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  the 
Government  created  by  that  compact  should  cease  to  exist.  In 
this  they  merely  asserted  the  right  which  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence of  July  4,  1776,  defined  to  be  'inalienable.'  Of  the 
time  and  occasion  of  its  exercise  they  as  sovereigns  were  the  final 
judges,  each  for  itself.  The  impartial  and  enlightened  verdict  of 
mankind  will   vindicate  the  rectitude  of   our  conduct ;  and  He 


1861]  A  EIGHT  SOLEMNLY   PROCLAIMED.  233 

who  knows  the  hearts  of  men  will  judge  of  the  sincerity  with 
which  we  have  labored  to  preserve  the  Government  of  our  fathers 
in  its  spirit. 

"The  right  solemnly  proclaimed  at  the  birth  of  the  United 
States,  and  which  has  been  solemnly  affirmed  and  reaffirmed  in 
the  Bills  of  Rights  of  the  States  subsequently  admitted  into  the 
Union  of  1789,  undeniably  recognizes  in  the  people  the  power  to 
resume  the  authority  delegated  for  the  purposes  of  government. 
Thus  the  sovereign  States  here  represented  have  proceeded  to 
form  this  Confederacy  ;  and  it  is  by  abuse  of  language  that  their 
act  has  been  denominated  a  revolution.  They  formed  a  new 
alliance,  but  within  each  State  its  government  has  remained  ;  so 
that  the  rights  of  person  and  property  have  not  been  disturbed. 
The  agent  through  which  they  communicated  with  foreign  nations 
is  changed,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  interrupt  their  interna- 
tional relations.  Sustained  by  the  consciousness  that  the  transi- 
tion from  the  former  Union  to  the  present  Confederacy  has  not 
proceeded  from  a  disregard  on  our  part  of  just  obligations,  or  any 
failure  to  perform  every  constitutional  duty,  moved  by  no  interest 
or  passion  to  invade  the  rights  of  others,  anxious  to  cultivate 
peace  and  commerce  with  all  nations,  if  we  may  not  hope  to  avoid 
war,  we  may  at  least  expect  that  posterity  will  acquit  us  of  having 
needlessly  engaged  in  it.  Doubly  justified  by  the  absence  of 
wrong  on  our  part,  and  by  wanton  aggression  on  the  part  of 
others,  there  can  be  no  cause  to  doubt  that  the  courage  and  patri- 
otism of  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  will  be  found  equal 
to  any  measure  of  defense  which  their  honor  and  security  may 
require. 

"  An  agricultural  people,  whose  chief  interest  is  the  export  of 
commodities  required  in  every  manufacturing  country,  our  true 
policy  is  peace,  and  the  freest  trade  which  our  necessities  will  per- 
mit. It  is  alike  our  interest  and  that  of  all  those  to  whom  we 
would  sell,  and  from  whom  we  would  buy,  that  there  should  be 
the  fewest  practicable  restrictions  upon  the  interchange  of  these 
commodities.  There  can,  however,  be  but  little  rivalry  between 
ours  and  any  manufacturing  or  navigating  community,  such  as 
the  Northeastern  States  of  the  American  Union.  It  must  follow, 
therefore,  that  mutual  interest  will  invite  to  good-will  and  kind 
offices  on  both  parts.  If,  however,  passion  or  lust  of  dominion 
should  cloud  the  judgment  or  inflame  the  ambition  of  those  States, 


234      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

we  must  prepare  to  meet  the  emergency  and  maintain,  by  the  final 
arbitrament  of  the  sword,  the  position  which  we  have  assumed 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"We  have  entered  upon  the  career  of  independence,  and  it 
must  be  inflexibly  pursued.  Through  many  years  of  controversy 
with  our  late  associates  of  the  Northern  States,  we  have  vainly 
endeavored  to  secure  tranquillity  and  obtain  respect  for  the  rights 
to  which  we  were  entitled.  As  a  necessity,  not  a  choice,  we  have 
resorted  to  the  remedy  of  separation,  and  henceforth  our  energies 
must  be  directed  to  the  conduct  of  our  own  affairs,  and  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Confederacy  which  we  have  formed.  If  a  just  per- 
ception of  mutual  interest  shall  permit  us  peaceably  to  pursue  our 
separate  political  career,  my  most  earnest  desire  will  have  been 
fulfilled.  But  if  this  be  denied  to  us,  and  the  integrity  of  our 
territory  and  jurisdiction  be  assailed,  it  will  but  remain  for  us 
with  firm  resolve  to  appeal  to  arms  and  invoke  the  blessing  of 
Providence  on  a  just  cause. 

"As  a  consequence  of  our  new  condition  and  relations,  and 
with  a  view  to  meet  anticipated  wants,  it  will  be  necessary  to  pro- 
vide for  the  speedy  and  efficient  organization  of  branches  of  the 
Executive  department  having  special  charge  of  foreign  inter- 
course, finance,  military  affairs,  and  the  postal  service.  For  pur- 
poses of  defense,  the  Confederate  States  may,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  rely  mainly  upon  the  militia ;  but  it  is  deemed 
advisable,  in  the  present  condition  of  affairs,  that  there  should  be 
a  well-instructed  and  disciplined  army,  more  numerous  than  would 
usually  be  required  on  a  peace  establishment.  I  also  suggest  that, 
for  the  protection  of  our  harbors  and  commerce  on  the  high  seas, 
a  navy  adapted  to  those  objects  will  be  required.  But  this,  as 
well  as  other  subjects  appropriate  to  our  necessities,  have  doubt- 
less engaged  the  attention  of  Congress. 

"  With  a  Constitution  differing  only  from  that  of  our  fathers 
in  so  far  as  it  is  explanatory  of  their  well-known  intent,  freed 
from  sectional  conflicts,  which  have  interfered  with  the  pursuit  of 
the  general  welfare,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect  that  States 
from  which  we  have  recently  parted  may  seek  to  unite  their  for- 
tunes to  ours  under  the  Government  which  we  have  instituted. 
For  this  your  Constitution  makes  adequate  provision  ;  but  beyond 
this,  if  I  mistake  not  the  judgment  and  will  of  the  people,  a  re- 
union with  the  States  from  which  we  have  separated  is  neither 


1861]  SOLE   DESIRE,  PRESERVATION   OF  RIGHTS.  235 

practicable  nor  desirable.  To  increase  the  power,  develop  the 
resources,  and  promote  the  happiness  of  the  Confederacy,  it  is 
requisite  that  there  should  be  so  much  of  homogeneity  that  the 
welfare  of  every  portion  shall  be  the  aim  of  the  whole.  When 
this  does  not  exist,  antagonisms  are  engendered  which  must  and 
should  result  in  separation. 

"  Actuated  solely  by  the  desire  to  preserve  our  own  rights, 
and  promote  our  own  welfare,  the  separation  by  the  Confederate 
States  has  been  marked  by  no  aggression  upon  others,  and  fol- 
lowed by  no  domestic  convulsion.  Our  industrial  pursuits  have 
received  no  check,  the  cultivation  of  our  fields  has  progressed 
as  heretofore,  and,  even  should  we  be  involved  in  war,  there 
would  be  no  considerable  diminution  in  the  production  of  the  sta- 
ples which  have  constituted  our  exports,  and  in  which  the  com- 
mercial world  has  an  interest  scarcely  less  than  our  own.  This 
common  interest  of  the  producer  and  consumer  can  only  be  inter- 
rupted by  exterior  force  which  would  obstruct  the  transmission  of 
our  staples  to  foreign  markets — a  course  of  conduct  which  would 
be  as  unjust,  as  it  would  be  detrimental,  to  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  abroad. 

"  Should  reason  guide  the  action  of  the  Government  from 
which  we  have  separated,  a  policy  so  detrimental  to  the  civilized 
world,  the  Northern  States  included,  could  not  be  dictated  by 
even  the  strongest  desire  to  inflict  injury  upon  us  ;  but,  if  the  con- 
trary should  prove  true,  a  terrible  responsibility  will  rest  upon  it, 
and  the  suffering  of  millions  will  bear  testimony  to  the  folly  and 
wickedness  of  our  aggressors.  In  the  mean  time  there  will  remain 
to  us,  besides  the  ordinary  means  before  suggested,  the  well-known 
resources  for  retaliation  upon  the  commerce  of  an  enemy. 

"Experience  in  public  stations,  of  subordinate  grade  to  this 
which  your  kindness  has  conferred,  has  taught  me  that  toil  and 
care  and  disappointment  are  the  price  of  official  elevation.  You 
will  see  many  errors  to  forgive,  many  deficiencies  to  tolerate  ;  but 
you  shall  not  find  in  me  either  want  of  zeal  or  fidelity  to  the  cause 
that  is  to  me  the  highest  in  hope,  and  of  most  enduring  affection. 
Your  generosity  has  bestowed  upon  me  an  undeserved  distinction, 
one  which  I  neither  sought  nor  desired.  Upon  the  continuance 
of  that  sentiment,  and  upon  your  wisdom  and  patriotism,  I  rely  to 
direct  and  support  me  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  required 
at  my  hands. 


236      RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  We  have  changed  the  constituent  parts,  but  not  the  system 
of  government.  The  Constitution  framed  by  our  fathers  is  that 
of  these  Confederate  States.  In  their  exposition  of  it,  and  in  the 
judicial  construction  it  has  received,  we  have  a  light  which  reveals 
its  true  meaning. 

"  Thus  instructed  as  to  the  true  meaning  and  just  interpreta- 
tion of  that  instrument,  and  ever  remembering  that  all  offices  are 
but  trusts  held  for  the  people,  and  that  powers  delegated  are  to 
be  strictly  construed,  I  will  hope  by  due  diligence  in  the  perform- 
ance of  my  duties,  though  I  may  disappoint  your  expectations, 
yet  to  retain?  when  retiring,  something  of  the  good-will  and  confi- 
dence which  welcome  my  entrance  into  office. 

"  It  is  joyous  in  the  midst  of  perilous  times  to  look  around 
upon  a  people  united  in  heart,  where  one  purpose  of  high  resolve 
animates  and  actuates  the  whole  ;  where  the  sacrifices  to  be  made 
are  not  weighed  in  the  balance  against  honor  and  right  and  lib- 
erty and  equality.  Obstacles  may  retard,  but  they  can  not  long 
prevent,  the  progress  of  a  movement  sanctified  by  its  justice  and 
sustained  by  a  virtuous  people.  Reverently  let  us  invoke  the  God 
of  our  Fathers  to  guide  and  protect  us  in  our  efforts  to  perpetuate 
the  principles  which  by  his  blessing  they  were  able  to  vindicate, 
establish,  and  transmit  to  their  posterity.  With  the  continuance 
of  his  favor  ever  gratefully  acknowledged,  we  may  hopefully 
look  forward  to  success,  to  peace,  and  to  prosperity." 

Note,  relative  to  the  Election  of  President  of  the  Confederate  States  under 
the  Provisional  Constitution,  and  some  Other  Subjects  referred  to  in  the 
Foregoing  Chapters. 

Statements  having  been  made,  seeming  to  imply  that  I  was  a 
candidate  "  for  the  Presidency  of  the  Confederate  States  ;  that  my 
election  was  the  result  of  a  misunderstanding,  or  of  accidental 
complications  "  ;  and  also  that  I  held  "  extreme  views,"  and  enter- 
tained at  that  period  an  inadequate  conception  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  war  probably  to  be  waged,  information  on  the  subject  has 
been  contributed  by  several  distinguished  members  of  the  Provi- 
sional Congress,  who  still  survive.  From  a  number  of  their  letters 
which  have  been  published,  the  annexed  extracts  are  given,  parts 
being  omitted  which  refer  to  matters  not  of  historical  interest. 

From  a  communication  of  the  Hon.  Alexander  M.  Clayton, 
of  Mississippi,  to  the  Memphis  "  Appeal "  of  June  21,  1870  : 


1861]  PRESIDENCY  NOT  DESIRED.  237 

" ....  I  was  at  the  time  a  member  of  tlie  Provisional  Congress 
from  Mississippi.  Believing  that  Mr.  Davis  was  the  choice  of  the 
South  for  the  position  of  President,  before  repairing  to  Montgom- 
ery I  addressed  him  a  letter  to  ascertain  if  he  would  accept  it.  He 
replied  that  it  was  not  the  place  he  desired  ;  that,  if  he  could  have 
his  choice,  he  would  greatly  prefer  to  be  in  active  service  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  army,  but  that  he  would  give  himself  to 
the  cause  in  any  capacity  whatever.  That  was  the  only  letter  of 
which  I  have  any  knowledge  that  he  wrote  on  the  subject,  and 
that  was  shown  to  only  a  very  few  persons,  and  only  when  I  was 
asked  if  Mr.  Davis  would  accept  the  presidency.  .  .  . 

"  There  was  no  electioneering,  no  management,  on  the  part  of 
any  one.  Each  voter  was  left  to  determine  for  himself  in  whose 
hands  the  destinies  of  the  infant  Confederacy  should  be  placed. 
By  a  law  as  fixed  as  gravitation  itself,  and  as  little  disturbed 
by  outside  influences,  the  minds  of  members  centered  upon  Mr. 
Davis. 

"  After  a  few  days  of  anxious,  intense  labor,  the  Provisional 
Constitution  was  framed,  and  it  became  necessary  to  give  it  vital- 
ity by  putting  some  one  at  the  head  of  the  new  Government.  .  .  . 

"  Without  any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  either 
[Messrs.  Davis  or  Stephens],  the  election  was  made  without  the 
slightest  dissent.  Of  the  accidental  complications  referred  to,  I 
have  not  the  least  knowledge,  and  always  thought  that  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Davis  arose  from  the  spontaneous  conviction  of  his 
peculiar  fitness.  I  have  consulted  no  one  on  the  subject,  and  have 
appended  my  name  only  to  avoid  resting  an  important  fact  upon 
anonymous  authority.     Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  Alexander  M.  Clayton." 

From  the  Hon.  J.  A.  P.  Campbell,  of  Mississippi,  now  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State  : 

" ....  If  there  was  a  delegate  from  Mississippi,  or  any  other 
State,  who  was  opposed  to  the  election  of  Jefferson  Davis  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Confederate  States,  I  never  heard  of  the  fact.  I  had 
the  idea  that  Mr.  Davis  did  not  desire  to  be  President,  and  pre- 
ferred to  be  in  the  military  service,  but  no  other  man  was  spoken 
of  for  President  within  my  hearing.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  within  my  personal  knowledge  that  the  statement  of  the 
interview,  that  Mr.  Davis  did  not  have  a  just  appreciation  of  the 


238      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

serious  character  of  the  contest  between  the  seceding  States  and 
the  Union,  is  wholly  untrue.  Mr.  Davis,  more  than  any  man  I 
ever  heard  talk  on  the  subject,  had  a  correct  apprehension  of  the 
consequences  of  secession  and  of  the  magnitude  of  the  war  to  be 
waged  to  coerce  the  seceding  States.  While  at  Montgomery,  he 
expressed  the  belief  that  heavy  fighting  must  occur,  and  that  Vir- 
ginia was  to  be  the  chief  battle-ground.  Years  prior  to  secession, 
in  his  address  before  the  Legislature  and  people  of  Mississippi, 
Mr.  Davis  had  earnestly  advised  extensive  preparation  for  the  pos- 
sible contingency  of  secession. 

"  After  the  formation  of  the  Confederate  States,  he  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  and  the  Provisional  Con- 
gress, and,  as  I  believe,  of  any  man  in  it,  in  his  views  of  the  grav- 
ity of  the  situation  and  the  probable  extent  and  duration  of  the 
war,  and  of  the  provision  which  should  be  made  for  the  defense 
of  the  seceding  States.  Before  secession,  Mr.  Davis  thought  war 
would  result  from  it ;  and,  after  secession,  he  expressed  the  view 
that  the  war  commenced  would  be  an  extensive  one.  What  he 
may  have  thought  at  a  later  day  than  the  early  part  of  1862,  I  do 
not  know ;  but  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  '  interview '  can  be 
correct  as  to  that. 

"  The  idea  that  Mr.  Davis  was  so  '  extreme '  in  his  views  is  a 
new  one.  He  was  extremely  conservative  on  the  subject  of  seces- 
sion. 

"  The  suggestion  that  Mississippi  would  have  preferred  Gen- 
eral Toombs  or  Mr.  Cobb  for  President  has  no  foundation  in  fact. 
My  opinion  is,  that  no  man  could  have  obtained  a  single  vote  in 
the  Mississippi  delegation  against  Mr.  Davis,  who  was  then,  as  he 
is  now,  the  most  eminent  and  popular  of  all  the  citizens  of  Missis- 
sippi. .  .  .  Very  respectfully, 

"  J.  A.  P.  Campbell." 

From  the  Hon.  Duncan  F.  Kenner,  of  Louisiana  : 
"..'..  My  recollections  of  what  transpired  at  the  time  are  very 
vivid  and  positive.  .  .  . 

"  Who  should  be  President,  was  the  absorbing  question  of  the 
day.  It  engaged  the  attention  of  all  present,  and  elicited  many 
letters  from  our  respective  constituencies.  The  general  inclina- 
tion was  strongly  in  favor  of  Mr.  Davis.  In  fact,  no  other  name 
was  so  prominently  or  so  generally  mentioned.     The  name  of  Mr. 


1861]  PROVISIONAL  PRESIDENT   CHOSEN.  239 

Rhett,  of  South  Carolina,  was  probably  more  frequently  mentioned 
than  that  of  any  other  person,  next  to  Mr.  Davis. 

"  The  rule  adopted  at  our  election  was  that  each  State  should 
have  one  vote,  to  be  delivered  in  open  session,  viva  voce,  by  one 
of  the  delegates  as  spokesman  for  his  colleagues.  The  delegates 
of  the  different  States  met  in  secret  session  to  select  their  candi- 
date and  spokesman. 

"  Of  what  occurred  in  these  various  meetings  I  can  not  speak 
authoritatively  as  to  other  States,  as  their  proceedings  were  con- 
sidered secret.  I  can  speak  positively,  however,  of  what  took 
place  at  a  meeting  of  the  delegates  from  Louisiana.  We,  the 
Louisiana  delegates,  without  hesitation,  and  unanimously,  after  a 
very  short  session,  decided  in  favor  of  Mr.  Davis.  No  other  name 
was  mentioned  ;  the  claims  of  no  one  else  were  considered,  or  even 
alluded  to.  There  was  not  the  slightest  opposition  to  Mr.  Davis 
on  the  part  of  any  of  our  delegation  ;  certainly  none  was  ex- 
pressed ;  all  appeared  enthusiastic  in  his  favor,  and,  I  have  no  rea- 
son to  doubt,  felt  so.  Nor  was  the  feeling  induced  by  any  solici- 
tation on  the  part  of  Mr.  Davis  or  his  friends.  Mr.  Davis  was  not 
in  or  near  Montgomery  at  the  time.  He  was  never  heard  from  on 
this  subject,  so  far  as  I  knew.  He  was  never  announced  as  a  can- 
didate. We  were  seeking  the  best  man  to  fill  the  position,  and 
the  conviction  at  the  time,  in  the  minds  of  a  large  majority  of  the 
delegates,  that  Mr.  Davis  was  the  best  qualified,  from  both  his 
civil  and  military  knowledge  and  experience,  induced  many  to  look 
upon  Mr.  Davis  as  the  best  selection  that  could  be  made. 

"  This  conviction,  coupled  with  his  well-recognized  conserva- 
tive views — for  in  no  sense  did  we  consider  Mr.  Davis  extreme, 
either  in  his  views  or  purposes — was  the  deciding  consideration 
which  controlled  the  votes  of  the  Louisiana  delegation.  Of  this 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt.  I  remain,  respectfully,  very  truly 
yours,  etc. 

"Duncan  F.  Kenner." 

From  the  Hon.  James  Chesimt,  of  South  Carolina  : 
" .  .  .  .  Before  leaving  home  I  had  made  up  my  mind  as  to 
who  was  the  fittest  man  to  be  President,  and  who  to  be  Vice- 
President  ;  Mr.  Davis  for  the  first,  and  Mr.  Stephens  for  the  second. 
And  this  was  known  to  all  my  friends  as  well  as  to  my  colleagues. 
"  Mr.  Davis,  then  conspicuous  for  ability,  had  long  experience 


24:0      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

in  civil  service,  was  reputed  a  most  successful  organizer  and  ad- 
ministrator of  the  military  department  of  the  United  States  when 
he  was  Secretary  of  War,  and  came  out  of  the  Mexican  war  with 
much  bclat  as  a  soldier.  Possessing  a  combination  of  these  high 
and  needful  qualities,  he  was  regarded  by  nearly  the  whole  South 
as  the  fittest  man  for  the  position.  I  certainly  so  regarded  him, 
and  did  not  change  my  mind  on  the  way  to  Montgomery.  .  .  . 

"  Georgia  was  a  great  State — great  in  numbers,  comparatively 
great  in  wealth,  and  great  in  the  intellectual  gifts  and  experiences 
of  many  of  her  sons.  Conspicuous  among  them  were  Stephens, 
Toombs,  and  Cobb.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  was  thought  by  all 
of  us  expedient — nay,  more,  positively  right  and  just — that  Georgia 
should  have  a  corresponding  weight  in  the  counsels  and  conduct 
of  the  new  Government. 

"  Mr.  Stephens  was  also  a  man  of  conceded  ability,  of  high 
character,  conservative,  devoted  to  the  rights  of  the  States,  and 
known  to  be  a  power  in  his  own  State  ;  hence  all  eyes  turned  to 
him  to  fill  the  second  place. 

"  Howell  Cobb  became  President  of  the  Convention,  and  Gen- 
eral Toombs  Secretary  of  State.  These  two  gifted  Georgians 
were  called  to  these  respective  positions  because  of  their  expe- 
rience, ability,  and  ardent  patriotism.   .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Rhett  was  a  very  bold  and  frank  man.  So  was  Colonel 
Keitt  ;  and  they,  as  always,  avowed  their  opinions  and  acted  upon 
them  with  energy.  Nevertheless,  the  vote  of  the  delegation  was 
cast  for  Mr.  Davis.  .  .  . 

"James  Chesnut." 

From  the  Hon.  W.  Porcher  Miles,  of  Virginia,  formerly  of 
South  Carolina,   and  a  member  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of 

1861  : 

"  Oak  Ridge,  January  27,  1880. 

" ....  To  the  best  of  my  recollection  there  was  entire  una- 
nimity in  the  South  Carolina  delegation  at  Montgomery  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  choice  of  a  President.  I  think  it  very  likely  that  Keitt, 
from  his  warm  personal  friendship  for  Mr.  Toombs,  may  at  first 
have  preferred  him.  I  have  no  recollections  of  Chesnut's  predilec- 
tions. I  think  there  was  no  question  that  Mr.  Davis  was  the  choice 
of  our  delegation  and  of  the  whole  people  of  South  Carolina.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  think  Mr.  Rhett  ever  attempted  to  influence  the  course 


1861]  FORMATION  OF  THE   CABINET,  241 

of  his  colleagues,  either  in  this  or  in  matters  generally  before  the 
Congress.  Nor  do  I  think  his  personal  influence  in  the  delegation 
was  as  great  as  that  of  some  other  members  of  it.  If  I  were  to 
select  any  one  as  having  a  special  influence  with  us,  I  would  con- 
sider Mr.  Robert  Barnwell  as  the  one.  His  singularly  pure  and 
elevated  character,  entire  freedom  from  all  personal  ambition  or 
desire  for  place  or  position  (he  declined  Mr.  Davis's  offer  of  a  seat 
in  the  Cabinet),  as  well  as  his  long  experience  in  public  life  and 
admirably  calm  and  well-balanced  mind,  all  combined  to  make  his 
influence  with  his  colleagues  very  great.  But  neither  could  he  be 
said  "  to  lead  "  the  delegation.  He  had  no  desire,  and  never  made 
any  attempt  to  do  so.  I  think  there  was  no  delegation  in  the  Con- 
gress, the  individual  members  of  which  were  more  independent 
in  coming  to  their  own  conclusions  of  what  was  right  and  expe- 
dient to  be  done.  There  was  always  the  frankest  and  freest  inter- 
change of  opinions  among  them,  but  every  one  determined  his 
own  course  for  himself." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    CONFEDERATE    CABINET. 

After  being  inaugurated,  I  proceeded  to  the  formation  of 
my  Cabinet,  that  is,  the  heads  of  the  executive  departments 
authorized  by  the  laws  of  the  Provisional  Congress.  The  una- 
nimity existing  among  our  people  made  this  a  much  easier  and 
more  agreeable  task  than  where  the  rivalries  in  the  party  of  an 
executive  have  to  be  consulted  and  accommodated,  often  at  the 
expense  of  the  highest  capacity  and  fitness.  Unencumbered 
by  any  otber  consideration  than  the  public  welfare,  having  no 
friends  to  reward  or  enemies  to  punish,  it  resulted  that  not 
one  of  those  who  formed  my  first  Cabinet  had  borne  to  me  the 
relation  of  close  personal  friendship,  or  had  political  claims 
upon  me  ;  indeed,  with  two  of  them  I  had  no  previous  acquaint- 
ance. 

It  was  my  wish  that  the  Hon.  Robert  "W.  Barnwell,  of 
South  Carolina,  should  be  Secretary  of  State.  I  had  known 
him  intimately  during  a  trying  period  of  our  joint  service  in 
16 


242      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  United  States  Senate,  and  lie  had  won  alike  my  esteem  and 
regard.  Before  making  known  to  him  my  wish  in  this  connec- 
tion, the  delegation  of  South  Carolina,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, had  resolved  to  recommend  one  of  their  number  to  be  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  and  Mr.  Barnwell,  with  characteristic 
delicacy,  declined  to  accept  my  offer  to  him. 

I  had  intended  to  offer  the  Treasury  Department  to  Mr. 
Toombs,  of  Georgia,  whose  knowledge  on  subjects  of  finance 
had  particularly  attracted  my  notice  when  we  served  together 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  Mr.  Barnwell  having  declined 
the  State  Department,  and  a  colleague  of  his,  said  to  be  pecu- 
liarly qualified  for  the  Treasury  Department,  having  been  recom- 
mended for  it,  Mr.  Toombs  was  offered  the  State  Department, 
for  which  others  believed  him  to  be  well  qualified. 

Mr.  Mallory,  of  Florida,  had  been  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  JSTaval  Affairs  in  the  United  States  Senate,  was  exten- 
sively acquainted  with  the  officers  of  the  navy,  and  for  a  lands- 
man had  much  knowledge  of  nautical  affairs ;  therefore  he  was 
selected  for  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

Mr.  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  had  a  very  high  reputation  as 
a  lawyer,  and  my  acquaintance  with  him  in  the  Senate  had  im- 
pressed me  with  the  lucidity  of  his  intellect,  his  systematic 
habits  and  capacity  for  labor.  He  was  therefore  invited  to  the 
post  of  Attorney- General. 

Mr.  Reagan,  of  Texas,  I  had  known  for  a  sturdy,  honest 
Representative  in  the  United  States  Congress,  and  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  territory  included  in  the  Confederate  States  was 
both  extensive  and  accurate.  These,  together  with  his  industry 
and  ability  to  labor,  indicated  him  as  peculiarly  fit  for  the  office 
of  Postmaster-General. 

Mr.  Memminger,  of  South  Carolina,  had  a  high  reputation 
for  knowledge  of  finance.  He  bore  an  unimpeachable  character 
for  integrity  and  close  attention  to  duties,  and,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  delegation  from  South  Carolina,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  proved  himself  entirely 
worthy  of  the  trust. 

Mr.  Walker,  of  Alabama,  was  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  bar  of  north  Alabama,  and  was  eminent  among  the  politi- 


'...    ,0? 


J? 


<.Sy/l&  <j7/>ljy/'  ty/pwjC&Osefazde'  ~0/z^Hyn^Z/. 


1861]  TEMPER  AND  SPIRIT  WHICH  PREVAILED.  213 

cians  of  that  section.  He  was  earnestly  recommended  by  gen- 
tlemen intimately  and  favorably  known  to  me,  and  was  there- 
fore selected  for  the  War  Department.  His  was  the  only  name 
presented  from  Alabama. 

The  executive  departments  having  been  organized^  my  at- 
tention was  first  directed  to  preparation  for  military  defense, 
for,  though  I,  in  common  with  others,  desired  to  have  a  peaceful 
separation,  and  sent  commissioners  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment to  effect,  if  possible,  negotiations  to  that  end,  I  did  not 
hold  the  common  opinion  that  we  would  be  allowed  to  depart 
in  peace,  and  therefore  regarded  it  as  an  imperative  duty  to 
make  all  possible  preparation  for  the  contingency  of  war. 


CHAPTEK   VII. 

Early  Acts  of  the  Confederate  Congress. — Laws  of  the  United  States  continued  in 
Force. — Officers  of  Customs  and  Revenue  continued  in  Office. — Commission  to 
the  United  States. — Navigation  of  the  Mississippi. — Restrictions  on  the  Coast- 
ing-Trade removed. — Appointment  of  Commissioners  to  Washington. 

The  legislation  of  the  Confederate  Congress  furnishes  the 
best  evidence  of  the  temper  and  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the 
organization  of  the  Confederate  Government.  The  very  first 
enactment,  made  on  the  9th  of  February,  1861 — the  day  after 
the  adoption  of  the  Provisional  Constitution — was  this  : 

"  That  all  the  laws  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  force 
and  in  use  in  the  Confederate  States  of  America  on  the  first  day 
of  November  last,  and  not  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  of 
the  Confederate  States,  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  continued  in 
force  until  altered  or  repealed  by  the  Congress."  * 

The  next  act,  adopted  on  the  14th  of  February,  was  one 
continuing  in  office  until  the  1st  of  April  next  ensuing  all  offi- 
cers connected  with  the  collection  of  customs  and  the  assistant 
treasurers  intrusted  with  the  keeping  of  the  moneys  arising 

*  Statutes  at  Large,  Provisional  Government,  Confederate  States  of  America, 
p.  27. 


2J4      RISE  AND  FALL   0F  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

therefrom,  who  were  engaged  in  the  performance  of  such  duties 
within  any  of  the  Confederate  States,  with  the  same  powers  and 
functions  which  they  had  been  exercising  under  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States.* 

The  Provisional  Constitution  itself,  in  the  second  section  of 
its  sixth  article,  had  ordained  as  follows  : 

"  The  Government  hereby  instituted  shall  take  immediate 
steps  for  the  settlement  of  all  matters  between  the  States  forming 
it  and  their  other  late  confederates  of  the  United  States,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  public  property  and  public  debt  at  the  time  of  their 
withdrawal  from  them  ;  these  States  hereby  declaring  it  to  be 
their  wish  and  earnest  desire  to  adjust  everything  pertaining  to 
the  common  property,  common  liabilities,  and  common  obligations 
of  that  Union,  upon  the  principles  of  right,  justice,  equity,  and 
good  faith."  f 

In  accordance  with  this  requirement  of  the  Constitution,  the 
Congress,  on  the  15th  of  February — before  my  arrival  at  Mont- 
gomery— passed  a  resolution  declaring  "  that  it  is  the  sense  of 
this  Congress  that  a  commission  of  three  persons  be  appointed 
by  the  President-elect,  as  early  as  may  be  convenient  sdter  his 
inauguration,  and  sent  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  friendly  relations 
between  that  Government  and  the  Confederate  States  of  Amer- 
ica, and  for  the  settlement  of  all  questions  of  disagreement 
between  the  two  Governments,  upon  principles  of  right,  justice, 
equity,  and  good  faith."  J 

Persistent  and  to  a  great  extent  successful  efforts  were  made 
to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  Northwestern  States 
by  representing  to  them  that,  in  consequence  of  the  separation 
of  the  States,  they  would  lose  the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Eiver.  At  that  early  period  in  the  life  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, the  intercourse  between  the  North  and  South  had  been 
so  little  interrupted,  that  the  agitators,  whose  vocation  it  was 

*  Statutes  at  Large,  Provisional  Government,  Confederate  States  of  America, 
pp.  27,  28. 

f  See  Provisional  Constitution,  Appendix  K,  in  loco. 

X  Statutes  at  Large,  Provisional  Government,  Confederate  States  df  America, 
p.  92. 


1861]  EFFORTS   FOR  PEACE.  245 

to  deceive  the  masses  of  the  people,  could  not,  or  should  not, 
have  been  ignorant  that,  as  early  as  the  25th  of  February,  1861, 
an  act  was  passed  by  the  Confederate  Congress,  and  approved 
by  the  President,  "  to  declare  and  establish  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  River."  That  act  began  with  the  announce- 
ment that  "  the  peaceful  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River  is 
hereby  declared  free  to  the  citizens  of  any  of  the  States  upon 
its  borders,  or  upon  the  borders  of  its  navigable  tributaries," 
and  its  provisions  secure  that  freedom  for  "  all  ships,  boats,  or 
vessels,"  with  their  cargoes,  "  without  any  duty  or  hindrance, 
except  light-money,  pilotage,  and  other  like  charges."  * 

By  an  act  approved  on  the  26th  of  February,  all  laws  which 
forbade  the  employment  in  the  coasting-trade  of  vessels  not 
enrolled  or  licensed,  and  all  laws  imposing  discriminating  duties 
on  foreign  vessels  or  goods  imported  in  them,  were  repealed. f 
These  acts  and  all  other  indications  manifest  the  well-known 
wish  of  the  people  of  the  Confederacy  to  preserve  the  peace 
and  encourage  the  most  unrestricted  commerce  with  all  nations, 
surely  not  least  with  their  late  associates,  the  Northern  States. 
Thus  far,  the  hope  that  peace  might  be  maintained  was  predomi- 
nant ;  perhaps,  the  wish  was  father  to  the  thought  that  there 
would  be  no  war  between  the  States  lately  united.  Indeed,  all 
the  laws  enacted  during  the  first  session  of  the  Provisional  Con- 
gress show  how  consistent  were  the  purposes  and  actions  of  its 
members  with  their  original  avowal  of  a  desire  peacefully  to 
separate  from  those  with  whom  they  could  not  live  in  tranquil- 
lity, albeit  the  Government  had  been  established  to  promote 
the  common  welfare.  Under  this  state  of  feeling  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Confederacy  was  instituted. 

My  own  views  and  inclinations,  as  has  already  been  fully 
shown,  were  in  entire  accord  with  the  disposition  manifested  by 
the  requirement  of  the  Provisional  Constitution  and  the  resolution 
of  the  Congress  above  recited,  for  the  appointment  of  a  commis- 
sion to  negotiate  friendly  relations  with  the  United  States  and  an 
equitable  and  peaceable  settlement  of  all  questions  which  would 
necessarily  arise  under  the  new  relations  of  the  States  toward 

*  Statutes  at  Large,  Provisional  Government,  Confederate  States  of  America, 
pp.  36-38.  f  Ibid.,  p.  38. 


24:6      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

one  another.  Next  to  the  organization  of  a  Cabinet,  that  of 
such  a  commission  was  accordingly  one  of  the  very  first  objects 
of  attention.  Three  discreet,  well-informed,  and  distinguished 
citizens  were  selected  as  said  Commissioners,  and  accredited  to 
the  President  of  the  Northern  States,  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  the  end 
that  by  negotiation  all  questions  between  the  two  Governments 
might  be  so  adjusted  as  to  avoid  war,  and  perpetuate  the  kind 
relations  which  had  been  cemented  by  the  common  trials,  sacri- 
fices, and  glories  of  the  people  of  all  the  States.  If  sectional 
hostility  had  been  engendered  by  dissimilarity  of  institutions, 
and  by  a  mistaken  idea  of  moral  responsibilities,  and  by  irrec- 
oncilable creeds — if  the  family  could  no  longer  live  and  grow 
harmoniously  together — by  patriarchal  teaching  older  than  Chris- 
tianity, it  might  have  been  learned  that  it  was  better  to  part, 
to  part  peaceably,  and  to  continue,  from  one  to  another,  the 
good  offices  of  neighbors  who  by  sacred  memories  were  forbid- 
den ever  to  be  foes.  The  nomination  of  the  members  of  the 
commission  was  made  on  the  25th  of  February — within  a  week 
after  my  inauguration — and  confirmed  by  Congress  on  the  same 
day.  The  Commissioners  appointed  were  Messrs.  A.  B.  Koman, 
of  Louisiana ;  Martin  J.  Crawford,  of  Georgia ;  and  John  For- 
syth, of  Alabama.  Mr.  Eoman  was  an  honored  citizen,  and 
had  been  Governor  of  his  native  State.  Mr.  Crawford  had 
served  with  distinction  in  Congress  for  several  years.  Mr.  For- 
syth was  an  influential  journalist,  and  had  been  Minister  to 
Mexico  under  appointment  of  Mr.  Pierce  near  the  close  of  his 
term,  and  continued  so  under  that  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  These  gen- 
tlemen, moreover,  represented  the  three  great  parties  which  had 
ineffectually  opposed  the  sectionalism  of  the  so-called  "  Kepub- 
licans."  Ex-Governor  Eoman  had  been  a  "Whig  in  former 
years,  and  one  of  the  "Constitutional  Union,"  or  Bell-and- 
Everett,  party  in  the  canvass  of  1860.  Mr.  Crawford,  as  a 
State-rights  Democrat,  had  supported  Mr.  Breckinridge;  and 
Mr.  Forsyth  had  been  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  claims  of  Mr. 
Douglas.  The  composition  of  the  commission  was  therefore 
such  as  should  have  conciliated  the  sympathy  and  cooperation 
of  every  element  of  conservatism  with  which  they  might  have 
occasion  to  deal.     Their  commissions  authorized  and  empow- 


1861]  TREATMENT   OF   COMMISSIONERS.  217 

ered  them,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Confederate  States,  to  meet 
and  confer  with  any  person  or  persons  duly  authorized  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  being  furnished  with  like 
power  and  authority,  and  with  him  or  them  to  agree,  treat,  con- 
sult, and  negotiate  "  concerning  all  matters  in  which  the  parties 
were  both  interested.  No  secret  instructions  were  given  them, 
for  there  was  nothing  to  conceal.  The  objects  of  their  mission 
were  open  and  avowed,  and  its  inception  and  conduct  through- 
out were  characterized  by  frankness  and  good  faith.  How  this 
effort  was  received,  how  the  Commissioners  were  kept  waiting, 
and,  while  fair  promises  were  held  to  the  ear,  how  military 
preparations  were  pushed  forward  for  the  unconstitutional, 
criminal  purpose  of  coercing  States,  let  the  shameful  record  of 
that  transaction  attest. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Peace  Conference. — Demand  for  "  a  Little  Bloodletting." — Plan  proposed  by 
the  Conference. — Its  Contemptuous  Reception  and  Treatment  in  the  United 
States  Congress. — Failure  of  Last  Efforts  at  Reconciliation  and  Reunion. — Note. 
— Speech  of  General  Lane,  of  Oregon. 

While  the  events  which  have  just  been  occupying  our  at- 
tention were  occurring,  the  last  conspicuous  effort  was  made 
within  the  Union  to  stay  the  tide  of  usurpation  which  was 
driving  the  Southern  States  into  secession.  This  effort  was  set 
on  foot  by  Virginia,  the  General  Assembly  of  which  State,  on 
the  19th  of  January,  1861,  adopted  a  preamble  and  resolutions, 
deprecating  disunion,  and  inviting  all  such  States  as  were  will- 
ing to  unite  in  an  earnest  endeavor  to  avert  it  by  an  adjustment 
of  the  then  existing  controversies  to  appoint  commissioners  to 
meet  in  Washington,  on  the  4th  of  February,  "  to  consider, 
and,  if  practicable,  agree  upon  some  suitable  adjustment."  Ex- 
President  John  Tyler,  and  Messrs.  William  C.  Kives,  John  W. 
Brockenbrugh,  George  W.  Summers,  and  James  A.  Seddon — 
five  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  State — were  ap- 
pointed to  represent  Virginia  in  the  proposed  conference.     If 


248      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

they  could  agree  with  the  Commissioners  of  other  States  upon 
any  plan  of  settlement  requiring  amendments  to  the  Federal 
Constitution,  they  were  instructed  to  communicate  them  to 
Congress,  with  a  view  to  their  submission  to  the  several  States 
for  ratification. 

The  "  border  States  "  in  general  promptly  acceded  to  this 
proposition  of  Yirginia,  and  others  followed,  so  that  in  the 
"Peace  Congress,"  or  conference,  which  assembled,  according 
to  appointment,  on  the  4th,  and  adjourned  on  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary, twenty-one  States  were  eventually  represented,  of  which 
fourteen  were  Northern,  or  "  non-slaveholding,"  and  seven  slave- 
holding  States.  The  six  States  which  had  already  seceded  were 
of  course  not  of  the  number  represented ;  nor  were  Texas  and 
Arkansas,  the  secession  of  which,  although  not  consummated, 
was  obviously  inevitable.  Three  of  the  Northwestern  States — 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota — and  the  two  Pacific 
States — Oregon  and  California — also  held  aloof  from  the  con- 
ference. In  the  case  of  these  last  two,  distance  and  lack  of  time 
perhaps  hindered  action.  With  regard  to  the  other  three,  their 
reasons  for  declining  to  participate  in  the  movement  were  not 
officially  assigned,  and  are  therefore  only  subjects  for  conjec- 
ture. Some  remarkable  revelations  were  afterward  made,  how- 
ever, with  regard  to  the  action  of  one  of  them.  It  appears, 
from  correspondence  read  in  the  Senate  on  the  27th  of  Febru- 
ary, that  the  two  Senators  from  Michigan  had  at  first  opposed 
the  participation  of  that  State  in  the  conference,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was,  as  one  of  them  expressed  it,  "  a  step  toward  obtain- 
ing that  concession  which  the  imperious  slave  power  so  insolent- 
ly demands  "  * — that  is  to  say,  in  plain  terms,  they  objected  to 
it  because  it  might  lead  to  a  compromise  and  pacification.  Find- 
ing, however,  that  most  of  the  other  Northern  States  were  rep- 
resented— some  of  them  by  men  of  moderate  and  conciliatory 
temper — that  writer  had  subsequently  changed  his  mind,  and  at 
a  late  period  of  the  session  of  the  conference  recommended  the 
sending  of  delegations  of  "  true,  unflinching  men,"  who  would 
be  "in  favor  of  the  Constitution  as  it  is  " — that  is,  who  would 

*  See  letter  of  Hon.  S.  K.  Bingham  to  Governor  Blair,  of  Michigan,  in  "  Congres- 
sional Globe,"  second  session,  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  Part  II,  p.  1247. 


1861]  "BLOODLETTING"   POLICY.  249 

oppose  any  amendment  proposed  in  the  interests  of  harmony 
and  pacification. 

The  other  Senator  exhibits  a  similar  alarm  at  the  prospect  of 
compromise  and  a  concurrent  change  of  opinion.  He  urges  the 
sending  of  "  stiff-backed  "  men,  to  thwart  the  threatened  success 
of  the  friends  of  peace,  and  concludes  with  an  expression  of  the 
humane  and  patriotic  sentiment  that  "  without  a  little  blood- 
letting "  the  Union  would  not  be  "  worth  a  rush."  *  With  such 
unworthy  levity  did  these  leaders  of  sectional  strife  express 
their  exultation  in  the  prospect  of  the  conflict,  which  was  to 
drench  the  land  with  blood  and  enshroud  thousands  of  homes 
in  mourning ! 

It  is  needless  to  follow  the  course  of  the  deliberations  of  the 
Peace  Conference.  It  included  among  its  members  many  men 
of  distinction  and  eminent  ability,  and  some  of  unquestionable 
patriotism,  from  every  part  of  the  Union.  The  venerable  John 
Tyler  presided,  and  took  an  active  and  ardent  interest  in  the 

*  See  "  Congressional  Globe,"  ut  supra.     As  this  letter,  last  referred  to,  is  brief 

and  characteristic  of  the  temper  of  the  typical  so-called  Republicans  of  the  period, 

it  may  be  inserted  entire : 

"  "Washington,  February  11, 1861. 

"  My  dear  Governor  :  Governor  Bingham  and  myself  telegraphed  you  on  Satur- 
day, at  the  request  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  to  send  delegates  to  the  Peace 
or  Compromise  Congress.  They  admit  that  we  were  right,  and  that  they  were 
wrong ;  that  no  Republican  State  should  have  sent  delegates  ;  but  they  are  here,  and 
can  not  get  away ;  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Rhode  Island  are  caving  in,  and  there  is 
danger  of  Illinois ;  and  now  they  beg  us,  for  God's  sake,  to  come  to  their  rescue, 
and  save  the  Republican  party  from  rupture.  I  hope  you  will  send  stiff-backed 
men,  or  none.  The  whole  thing  was  gotten  up  against  my  judgment  and  advice,  and 
will  end  in  thin  smoke.  Still,  I  hope,  as  a  matter  of  courtesy  to  some  of  our  erring 
brethren,  that  you  will  send  the  delegates. 

"  Truly  your  friend, 

"Z.  Chandler. 
"  His  Excellency  Austin  Blair." 

"  P.  S. — Some  of  the  manufacturing  States  think  that  a  fight  would  be  awful. 
Without  a  little  bloodletting,  this  Union  will  not,  in  my  estimation,  be  worth  a  rush." 

The  reader  should  not  fall  into  the  mistake  of  imagining  that  the  "  erring  breth- 
ren," toward  whom  a  concession  of  courtesy  is  recommended  by  the  writer  of  this 
letter,  were  the  people  of  the  seceding,  or  even  of  the  border,  States.  It  is  evident 
from  the  context  that  he  means  the  people  of  those  so-called  "  Republican  "  States 
which  had  fallen  into  the  error  of  taking  part  in  a  plan  for  peace,  which  might  have 
averted  the  bloodletting  recommended. 


250      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

efforts  made  to  effect  a  settlement  and  avert  the  impending  dis- 
asters. A  plan  was  finally  agreed  upon  by  a  majority  of  the 
States  represented,  for  certain  amendments  to  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, which  it  was  hoped  might  be  acceptable  to  all  parties 
and  put  an  end  to  further  contention.  In  its  leading  features 
this  plan  resembled  that  of  Mr.  Crittenden,  heretofore  spoken 
of,  which  was  still  pending  in  the  Senate,  though  with  some 
variations,  which  were  regarded  as  less  favorable  to  the  South. 
It  was  reported  immediately  to  both  Houses  of  the  United 
States  Congress.  In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Crittenden  promptly  ex- 
pressed his  willingness  to  accept  it  as  a  substitute  for  his  own 
proposition,  and  eloquently  urged  its  adoption.  But  the  arro- 
gance of  a  sectional  majority  inflated  by  recent  triumph  was 
too  powerful  to  be  allayed  by  the  appeals  of  patriotism  or  the 
counsels  of  wisdom.  The  plan  of  the  Peace  Conference  was 
treated  by  the  majority  with  the  contemptuous  indifference 
shown  to  every  other  movement  for  conciliation.  Its  mere  con- 
sideration was  objected  to  by  the  extreme  radicals,  and,  although 
they  failed  in  this,  it  was  defeated  on  a  vote,  as  were  the  Crit- 
tenden propositions. 

With  the  failure  of  these  efforts,  which  occurred  on  the  eve 
of  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  accession  to  power 
of  a  party  founded  on  a  basis  of  sectional  aggression,  and  now 
thoroughly  committed  to  its  prosecution  and  perpetuation,  ex- 
}3ired  the  last  hopes  of  reconciliation  and  union. 

Note. — In  the  course  of  the  debate  in  the  Senate  on  these 
grave  propositions,  a  manly  and  eloquent  speech  was  made  on  the 
2d  of  March,  1861,  by  the  Hon.  Joseph  Lane,  a  Senator  from  Or- 
egon, who  had  been  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  State-rights 
party  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States,  in  the  can- 
vass of  1860.  Some  passages  of  this  speech  seem  peculiarly  appro- 
priate for  insertion  here.  General  Lane  was  replying  to  a  speech 
of  Mr.  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  afterward  President  of  the 
United  States  : 

"Mr.  President,  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  complains  of  my 
remarks  on  his  speech.  He  complains  of  the  tone  and  temper  of 
what  I  said.  He  complains  that  I  replied  at  all,  as  I  was  a  North- 
ern Senator.     Mr.  President,  I  am  a  citizen  of  this  Union  and  a 


1861]  DECEIVING  THE  PEOPLE.  251 

Senator  of  the  United  States.  My  residence  is  in  the  North,  but 
I  have  never  seen  the  day,  and  I  never  shall,  when  I  will  refuse 
justice  as  readily  to  the  South  as  to  the  North.  I  know  nothing 
but  my  country,  the  whole  country,  the  Constitution,  and  the 
equality  of  the  States — the  equal  right  of  every  man  in  the  com- 
mon territory  of  the  whole  country  ;  and  by  that  I  shall  stand. 

"  The  Senator  complains  that  I  replied  at  all,  as  I  was  a  North- 
ern Senator,  and  a  Democrat  whom  he  had  supported  at  the  last 
election  for  a  high  office.  Now,  I  was,  as  I  stated  at  the  time, 
surprised  at  the  Senator's  speech,  because  I  understood  it  to  be 
for  coercion,  as  I  think  it  was  understood  by  almost  everybody 
else,  except,  as  we  are  now  told,  by  the  Senator  himself  ;  and  I 
still  think  it  amounted  to  a  coercion  speech,  notwithstanding  the 
soft  and  plausible  phrases  by  which  he  describes  it — a  speech  for 
the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  protection  of  the  Federal  prop- 
erty. Sir,  if  there  is,  as  I  contend,  the  right  of  secession,  then, 
whenever  a  State  exercises  that  right,  this  Government  has  no 
laws  in  that  State  to  execute,  nor  has  it  any  property  in  any  such 
State  that  can  be  protected  by  the  power  of  this  Government.  In 
attempting,  however,  to  substitute  the  smooth  phrases  l  executing 
the  laws '  and  '  protecting  public  property '  for  coercion,  for  civil 
war,  we  have  an  important  concession  :  that  is,  that  this  Govern- 
ment dare  not  go  before  the  people  with  a  plain  avowal  of  its  real 
purposes  and  of  their  consequences.  No,  sir  ;  the  policy  is  to 
inveigle  the  people  of  the  North  into  civil  war,  by  masking  the 
design  in  smooth  and  ambiguous  terms."— ("  Congressional  Globe," 
second  session,  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  p.  1347.) 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Northern  Protests  against  Coercion. — The  "  New  York  Tribune,"  Albany  "  Argus," 
and  "  New  York  Herald." — Great  Public  Meeting  in  New  York. — Speeches  of 
Mr.  Thayer,  ex-Governor  Seymour,  ex-Chancellor  Walworth,  and  Others. — The 
Press  in  February,  ]861. — Mr.  Lincoln's  Inaugural. — The  Marvelous  Change  or 
Suppression  of  Conservative  Sentiment. — Historic  Precedents. 

It  is  a  great  mistake,  or  misstatement  of  fact,  to  assume  that, 
at  the  period  under  consideration,  the  Southern  States  stood 
alone  in  the  assertion  of  the  principles  which  have  been  laid 


252      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

down  in  this  work,  with  regard  to  the  right  of  secession  and  the 
wrong  of  coercion.  Down  to  the  formation  of  the  Confederate 
Government,  the  one  was  distinctly  admitted,  the  other  still 
more  distinctly  disavowed  and  repudiated,  by  many  of  the 
leaders  of  public  opinion  in  the  North  of  both  parties — indeed, 
any  purpose  of  direct  coercion  was  disclaimed  by  nearly  all. 
If  presented  at  all,  it  was  in  the  delusive  and  ambiguous  guise 
of  "the  execution  of  the  laws"  and  "protection  of  the  public 
property." 

The  "  New  York  Tribune  " — the  leading  organ  of  the  party 
which  triumphed  in  the  election  of  1860 — had  said,  soon  after 
the  result  of  that  election  was  ascertained,  with  reference  to 
secession  :  "  We  hold,  with  Jefferson,  to  the  inalienable  right  of 
communities  to  alter  or  abolish  forms  of  government  that  have 
become  oppressive  or  injurious ;  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  revolutionary  right,  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  asserted  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  section  of  our  Union 
shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall  resist  all  coercive 
measures  designed  to  Tceep  her  in.  We  hope  never  to  live  in  a 
republic  whereof  one  section  is  pinned  to  the  residue  by  bayo- 
nets■."  * 

The  only  liberty  taken  with  this  extract  has  been  that  of 
presenting'  certain  parts  of  it  in  italics.  Nothing  that  has  ever 
been  said  by  the  author  of  this  work,  in  the  foregoing  chapters, 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  or  elsewhere,  more  distinctly  asserted 
the  right  of  secession.  Nothing  that  has  been  quoted  from 
Hamilton,  or  Madison,  or  Marshall,  or  John  Quincy  Adams, 
more  emphatically  repudiates  the  claim  of  right  to  restrain  or 
coerce  a  State  in  the  exercise  of  its  free  choice.  Nothing  that 
has  been  said  since  the  war  which   followed  could  furnish  a 

*  "New  York  Tribune"  of  November  9,  1860,  quoted  in  "The  American  Con- 
flict," vol.  i,  chap,  xxiii,  p.  359. 


1861]  THE   NORTHERN   "GODSPEED."  253 

more  striking  condemnation  of  its  origin,  prosecution,  purposes, 
and  results.  A  comparison  of  the  sentiments  above  quoted, 
with  the  subsequent  career  of  the  party,  of  which  that  journal 
was  and  long  had  been  the  recognized  organ,  would  exhibit  a 
striking  incongruity  and  inconsistency. 

The  "  Tribune "  was  far  from  being  singular  among  its 
Northern  contemporaries  in  the  entertainment  of  such  views, 
as  Mr.  Greeley,  its  chief  editor,  has  shown  by  many  citations  in 
his  book,  "  The  American  Conflict."  The  Albany  "  Argus," 
about  the  same  time,  said,  in  language  which  Mr.  Greeley  charac- 
terizes as  "  clear  and  temperate  "  :  "  We  sympathize  with  and 
justify  the  South  as  far  as  this  :  their  rights  have  been  invaded 
to  the  extreme  limit  possible  within  the  forms  of  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  and,  beyond  this  limit,  their  feelings  have  been  insulted 
and  their  interests  and  honor  assailed  by  almost  every  possible 
form  of  denunciation  and  invective ;  and,  if  we  deemed  it  cer- 
tain that  the  real  animus  of  the  Republican  party  could  be  car- 
ried into  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government,  and 
become  the  permanent  policy  of  the  nation,  we  should  think 
that  all  the  instincts  of  self-preservation  and  of  manhood  right- 
fully impelled  them  to  a  resort  to  revolution  and  a  separation 
from  the  Union,  and  we  would  applaud  them  and  wish  them 
godspeed  in  the  adoption  of  such  a  remedy." 

Again,  the  same  paper  said,  a  day  or  two  afterward :  "  If 
South  Carolina  or  any  other  State,  through  a  convention  of 
her  people,  shall  formally  separate  herself  from  the  Union,  prob- 
ably both  the  present  and  the  next  Executive  will  simply  let  her 
alone  and  quietly  allow  all  the  functions  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment within  her  limits  to  he  suspended.  Any  other  course 
would  oe  madness;  as  it  would  at  once  enlist  all  the  South- 
ern States  in  the  controversy  and  plunge  the  whole  country  into 
a  civil  war.  .  .  .  As  a  matter  of  policy  and  wisdom,  therefore, 
independent  of  the  question  of  right,  we  should  deem  resort 
to  force  most  disastrous." 

The  "  E~ew  York  Herald  " — a  journal  which  claimed  to  be 
independent  of  all  party  influences — about  the  same  period  said  : 
"Each  State  is  organized  as  a  complete  government,  holding 
the  purse  and  wielding  the  sword,  possessing  the  right  to  break 


254      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  tie  of  the  confederation  as  a  nation  might  break  a  treaty, 
and  to  repel  coercion  as  a  nation  might  repel  invasion.  .  .  . 
Coercion,  if  it  were  possible,  is  out  of  the  question." 

On  the  31st  of  January,  1861 — after  six  States  had  already 
seceded — a  great  meeting  was  held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to 
consider  the  perilous  condition  of  the  country.  At  this  meet- 
ing Mr.  James  S.  Thayer,  "  an  old-line  "Whig,"  made  a  speech, 
which  was  received  with  great  applause.  The  following  ex- 
tracts from  the  published  report  of  Mr.  Thayer's  speech  will 
show  the  character  of  the  views  which  then  commanded  the 
cordial  approval  of  that  metropolitan  audience  : 

"  We  can  at  least,  in  an  authoritative  way  and  a  practical  man- 
ner, arrive  at  the  basis  of  a  peaceable  separation.  [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  from  that  fearful  current,  which  circuitously  but  cer- 
tainly sweeps  madly  on,  through  the  narrow  gorge  of  'the  en- 
forcement of  the  laws,'  to  the  shoreless  ocean  of  civil  war ! 
[Cheers.]  Against  this,  under  all  circumstances,  in  every  place 
and  form,  we  must  now  and  at  all  times  oppose  a  resolute  and  un- 
faltering resistance.  The  public  mind  will  bear  the  avowal,  and 
let  us  make  it — that,  if  a  revolution  of  force  is  to  begin,  it  shall 
be  inaugurated  at  home.  And  if  the  incoming  Administration 
shall  attempt  to  carry  out  the  line  of  policy  that  has  been  fore- 
shadowed, we  announce  that,  when  the  hand  of  Black  Republican- 
ism turns  to  blood-red,  and  seeks  from  the  fragment  of  the  Con- 
stitution to  construct  a  scaffolding  for  coercion — another  name 
for  execution — we  will  reverse  the  order  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  save  the  blood  of  the  people  by  making  those  who  would 
inaugurate  a  reign  of  terror  the  first  victims  of  a  national  guillo- 
tine ! "     [Enthusiastic  applause.] 

And  again : 

"  It  is  announced  that  the  Republican  Administration  will  en- 
force the  laws  against  and  in  all  the  seceding  States.  A  nice  dis- 
crimination must  be  exercised  in  the  performance  of  this  duty. 
You  remember  the  story  of  William  Tell.  .  .  .  Let  an  arrow 
winged  by  the  Federal  bow  strike  the  heart  of  an  American  citi- 
zen, and  who  can  number  the  avenging  darts  that  will  cloud  the 


1861]  COERCION   REPROBATED.  255 

heavens  in  the  conflict  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  can  not  be,  what 
then  ?  Peaceable  separation.  [Applause.]  Painful  and  humiliat- 
ing 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  con- 
dition, in  friendly  relations  with  another  Confederacy."    [Cheers.] 

At  the  same  meeting  ex-Governor  Horatio  Seymour  asked 
the  question — on  which  subsequent  events  have  cast  their  own 
commentary — whether  "  successful  coercion  by  the  North  is  less 
revolutionary  than  successful  secession  by  the  South  ?  Shall 
we  prevent  revolution  [he  added]  by  being  foremost  in  over- 
throwing the  principles  of  our  Government,  and  all  that  makes 
it  valuable  to  our  people  and  distinguishes  it  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth  \  " 

The  venerable  ex-Chancellor  Walworth  thus  expressed  him- 
self : 

"  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  mas- 
sacre 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  American  Revolution.  .  .  .  Did  Lord 
Chatham  go  for  enforcing  those  laws  ?  No,  he  gloried  in  defense 
of  the  liberties  of  America.  He  made  that  memorable  declaration 
in  the  British  Parliament,  '  If  I  were  an  American  citizen,  instead 
of  being,  as  I  am,  an  Englishman,  I  never  would  submit  to  such 
laws — never,  never,  never  ! ' "     [Prolonged  applause.] 

Other  distinguished  speakers  expressed  themselves  in  simi- 
lar terms — varying  somewhat  in  their  estimate  of  the  propriety 
of  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  but  all  agreeing  in  em- 
phatic and  unqualified  reprobation  of  the  idea  of  coercion.  A 
series  of  conciliatory  resolutions  was  adopted,  one  of  which 
declares  that  "  civil  war  will  not  restore  the  Union,  but  will 
defeat  for  ever  its  reconstruction." 

At  a  still  later  period — some  time  in  the  month  of  Febni- 


256      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ary — the  "  Free  Press,"  a  leading  paper  in  Detroit,  had  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  If  there  shall  not  be  a  change  in  the  present  seeming  purpose 
to  vield  to  no  accommodation  of  the  national  difficulties,  and  if 
troops  shall  be  raised  in  the  North  to  march  agains^  the  people  of 
the  South,  afire  in  the  rear  will  be  opened  upon  such  troops,  which 
will  either  stop  their  march  altogether  or  wonderfully  acceler- 
ate it." 

The  "  Union,"  of  Bangor,  Maine,  spoke  no  less  decidedly  to 
the  same  effect : 

"  The  difficulties  between  the  North  and  the  South  must  be 
compromised,  or  the  separation  of  the  States  shall  be  peaceable. 
If  the  Republican  party  refuse  to  go  the  full  length  of  the  Crit- 
tenden amendment — which  is  the  very  least  the  South  can  or 
ought  to  take — then,  here  in  Maine,  not  a  Democrat  will  be  found 
who  will  raise  his  arm  against  his  brethren  of  the  South.  From 
one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other  let  the  cry  of  the  Democracy 
be,  Compromise  ok  Peaceable  Separation  ! " 

That  these  were  not  expressions  of  isolated  or  exceptional 
sentiment  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  they  were  copied  with 
approval  by  other  Northern  journals. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  when  delivering  his  inaugural  address,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1861,  had  not  so  far  lost  all  respect  for  the  con- 
secrated traditions  of  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  and  for 
the  majesty  of  the  principle  of  State  sovereignty  as  oj^enly  to 
enunciate  the  claim  of  coercion.  While  arguing  against  the 
right  to  secede,  and  asserting  his  intention  "  to  hold,  occupy, 
and  possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  collect  the  duties  and  imposts,"  he  says  that,  "  be- 
yond what  may  be  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no 
invasion,  no  using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people  any- 
where," and  appends  to  this  declaration  the  following  pledge : 

"  Where  hostility  to  the  United  States  shall  be  so  great  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  strict  legal  right 


1861]  DISAPPEARANCE   OF  FRATERNITY.  257 

may  exist  of  the  Government  to  enforce  the  exercise  of  these 
offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would  be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly 
impracticable  withal,  that  I  deem  it  better  to  forego  for  the  time 
the  uses  of  such  offices." 


These  extracts  will  serve  to  show  that  the  people  of  the 
South  were  not  without  grounds  for  cherishing  the  hope,  to 
which  they  so  fondly  clung,  that  the  separation  would,  indeed, 
be  as  peaceable  in  fact  as  it  was,  on  their  part,  in  purpose ; 
that  the  conservative  and  patriotic  feeling  still  existing  in  the 
North  would  control  the  elements  of  sectional  hatred  and 
bloodthirsty  fanaticism;  and  that  there  would  be  really  "no 
war." 

And  here  the  ingenuous  reader  may  very  naturally  ask, 
What  became  of  all  this  feeling?  How  was  it  that,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks,  it  had  disappeared  like  a  morning  mist  ? 
Where  was  the  host  of  men  who  had  declared  that  an  army 
marching  to  invade  the  Southern  States  should  first  pass  over 
their  dead  bodies  ?  ISTo  new  question  had  arisen — no  change  in 
the  attitude  occupied  by  the  seceding  States — no  cause  for  con- 
troversy not  already  existing  when  these  utterances  were  .made. 
And  yet  the  sentiments  which  they  expressed  were  so  entirely 
swept  away  by  the  tide  of  reckless  fury  which  soon  afterward 
impelled  an  armed  invasion  of  the  South,  that  (with  a  few 
praiseworthy  but  powerless  exceptions)  scarcely  a  vestige  of 
them  was  left.  Not  only  were  they  obliterated,  but  seemingly 
forgotten. 

I  leave  to  others  to  offer,  if  they  can,  an  explanation  of  this 
strange  phenomenon.  To  the  student  of  human  nature,  how- 
ever, it  may  not  seem  altogether  without  precedent,  when  he 
remembers  certain  other  instances  on  record  of  mutations  in 
public  sentiment  equally  sudden  and  extraordinary.  Ten  thou- 
sand swords  that  would  have  leaped  from  their  scabbards — as 
the  English  statesman  thought — to  avenge  even  a  look  of  in- 
sult to  a  lovely  queen,  hung  idly  in  their  places  when  she  was 
led  to  the  scaffold  in  the  midst  of  the  vilest  taunts  and  execra- 
tions. The  case  that  we  have  been  considering  was,  perhaps, 
only  an  illustration  of  the  general  truth  that,  in  times  of  revolu- 
17 


258      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

tionary  excitement,  the  higher  and  better  elements  are  crashed 
and  silenced  by  the  lower  and  baser — not  so  mnch  on  account 
of  their  greater  extent,  as  of  their  greater  violence. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Temper  of  the  Southern  People  indicated  by  the  Action  of  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress.— The  Permanent  Constitution. — Modeled  after  the  Federal  Constitution. 
— Variations  and  Special  Provisions. — Provisions  with  Regard  to  Slavery  and 
the  Slave-Trade. — A  False  Assertion  refuted. — Excellence  of  the  Constitution. — 
Admissions  of  Hostile  or  Impartial  Criticism. 

The  conservative  temper  of  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  was  conspicuously  exhibited  in  the  most  important  prod- 
uct of  the  early  labors  of  their  representatives  in  Congress  as- 
sembled. The  Provisional  Constitution,  although  prepared  only 
for  temporary  use,  and  necessarily  in  some  haste,  was  so  well 
adapted  for  the  purposes  which  it  was  intended  to  serve,  that 
many  thought  it  would  have  been  wise  to  continue  it  in  force 
indefinitely,  or  at  least  until  the  independency  of  the  Confed- 
eracy should  be  assured.  The  Congress,  however,  deeming  it 
best  that  the  system  of  Government  should  emanate  from  the 
people,  accordingly,  on  the  11th  of  March,  prepared  the  perma- 
nent Constitution,  which  was  submitted  to  and  ratified  by  the 
people  of  the  respective  States. 

Of  this  Constitution — which  may  be  found  in  an  appendix,* 
side  by  side  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — the 
Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  who  was  one  of  its  authors,  very 
properly  says : 

"  The  whole  document  utterly  negatives .  the  idea,  which  so 
many  have  been  active  in  endeavoring  to  put  in  the  enduring 
form  of  history,  that  the  Convention  at  Montgomery  was  nothing 
but  a  set  of  'conspirators,'  whose  object  was  the  overthrow  of  the 
principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  erec- 
tion of  a  great  '  slavery  oligarchy,'  instead  of  the  free  institutions 
thereby  secured  and  guaranteed.     This  work  of  the  Montgomery 

*  See  Appendix  K. 


1861]  MODIFICATION  OF  CONSTITUTION.  259 

Convention,  with  that  of  the  Constitution  for  a  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment, will  ever  remain,  not  only  as  a  monument  of  the  wisdom, 
forecast,  and  statesmanship  of  the  men  who  constituted  it,  but  an 
everlasting  refutation  of  the  charges  which  have  been  brought 
against  them.  These  works  together  show  clearly  that  their  only 
leading  object  was  to  sustain,  uphold,  and  perpetuate  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  * 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  the  model  fol- 
lowed throughout,  with  only  such  changes  as  experience  sug- 
gested for  better  practical  working  or  for  greater  perspicuity. 
The  preamble  to  both  instruments  is  the  same  in  substance,  and 
very  nearly  identical  in  language.  The  words  "  We,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States,"  in  one,  are  replaced  by  "  We,  the 
people  of  the  Confederate  States,"  in  the  other ;  and  the  gross 
perversion  which  has  been  made  of  the  former  expression  is 
precluded  in  the  latter  merely  by  the  addition  of  the  explana- 
tory clause,  "  each  State  acting  in  its  sovereign  and  indepen- 
dent character  " — an  explanation  which,  at  the  time  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  would  have 
been  deemed  entirely  superfluous. 

The  official  term  of  the  President  was  fixed  at  six  instead  of 
four  years,  and  it  was  provided  that  he  should  not  be  eligible 
for  reelection.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  original  draft 
of  the  Constitution  of  1787. t 

The  President  was  empowered  to  remove  officers  of  his 
Cabinet,  or  those  engaged  in  the  diplomatic  service,  at  his  dis- 
cretion, but  in  all  other  cases  removal  from  office  could  be 
made  only  for  cause,  and  the  cause  was  to  be  reported  to  the 
Senate.:]: 

Congress  was  authorized  to  provide  by  law  for  the  admis- 
sion of  "  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments" (or  Cabinet  officers)  to  a  seat  upon  the  floor  of  either 
House,  with  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in  the  discussion  of 
subjects  pertaining  to  his  department.  §  This  wise  and  judi- 
cious provision,  which  would   have   tended  to  obviate   much 

*  "  War  between  the  States,"  vol.  ii,  col.  xix,  p.  389. 

f  See  Article  II,  section  1.     \  Ibid.,  section  2,  ^  3.     §  Article  I,  section  6,  "J[  2. 


260      RISE  AND  FALL   0F  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

delay  and  misunderstanding,  was,  however,  never  put  into  exe- 
cution by  the  necessary  legislation. 

Protective  duties  for  the  benefit  of  special  branches  of 
industry,  which  had  been  so  fruitful  a  source  of  trouble  under 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  were  altogether  prohibit- 
ed.* So,  also,  were  bounties  from  the  Treasury,  f  and  extra 
compensation  for  services  rendered  by  officers,  contractors,  or 
employees,  of  any  description.  J 

A  vote  of  two  thirds  of  each  House  was  requisite  for  the 
appropriation  of  money  from  the  Treasury,  unless  asked  for  by 
the  chief  of  a  department  and  submitted  to  Congress  by  the 
President,  or  for  payment  of  the  expenses  of  Congress,  or 
of  claims  against  the  Confederacy  judicially  established  and 
declared.  §  The  President  was  also  authorized  to  approve 
any  one  appropriation  and  disapprove  any  other  in  the  same 
bill.  1 

With  regard  to  the  impeachment  of  Federal  officers,  it  was 
intrusted,  as  formerly,  to  the  discretion  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, with  the  additional  provision,  however,  that,  in  the 
case  of  any  judicial  or  other  officer  exercising  his  functions 
solely  within  the  limits  of  a  particular  State,  impeachment 
might  be  made  by  the  Legislature  of  such  State — the  trial  in 
all  cases  to  be  by  the  Senate  of  the  Confederate  States.^ 

Any  two  or  more  States  were  authorized  to  enter  into  com- 
pacts with  each  other  for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation 
of  rivers  flowing  between  or  through  them.**  A  vote  of  two 
thirds  of  each  House — the  Senate  voting  by  States — was  re- 
quired for  the  admission  of  a  new  State,  f  f 

With  regard  to  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  it  was 
made  obligatory  upon  Congress,  on  the  demand  of  any  three 
States,  concurring  in  the  proposed  amendment  or  amendments, 
to  summon  a  convention  of  all  the  Stafes  to  consider  and  act 
upon  them,  voting  by  States,  but  restricted  in  its  action  to  the 
particular  propositions  thus  submitted.     If  approved  by  such 

*  Article  I,  section  8,  %  1.  i  Ibid.,  section  7,  If  2. 

f  Ibid.  1  Ibid.,  section  2,  %  5. 

%  Ibid.,  section  9,  f  10.  **  Ibid.,  section  10,  ^  3. 

§  Ibid.,  "If. 9.  ft  Article  IV,  section  3,11. 


1861]  SLAVERY  AND   THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  261 

convention,  the  amendments  were  to  be  subject  to  final  ratifica- 
tion by  two  thirds  of  the  States.* 

Other  changes  or  modifications,  worthy  of  special  notice,  re- 
lated to  internal  improvements,  bankruptcy  laws,  duties  on  ex- 
ports, suits  in  the  Federal  courts,  and  the  government  of  the 
Territories.f 

With  regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  the  provisions 
of  this  Constitution  furnish  an  effectual  answer  to  the  asser- 
tion, so  often  made,  that  the  Confederacy  was  founded  on 
slavery,  that  slavery  was  its  "  corner-stone,"  etc.  Property  in 
slaves,  already  existing,  was  recognized  and  guaranteed,  just  as 
it  was  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  rights 
of  such  property  in  the  common  Territories  were  protected 
against  any  such  hostile  discrimination  as  had  been  attempted  in 
the  Union.  But  the  "  extension  of  slavery,"  in  the  only  prac- 
tical sense  of  that  phrase,  was  more  distinctly  and  effectually 
precluded  by  the  Confederate  than  by  the  Federal  Constitution. 
This  will  be  manifest  on  a  comparison  of  the  provisions  of  the 
two  relative  to  the  slave-trade.  These  are  found  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article  of  each  instrument. 
The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  the  following : 

"  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the 
States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  pro- 
hibited by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eight ;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such 
importations,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person." 

The  Confederate  Constitution,  on  the  other  hand,  ordained 
as  follows : 

"  1.  The  importation  of  negroes  of  the  African  race  from  any 
foreign  country,  other  than  the  slaveholding  States  or  Territories 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  is  hereby  forbidden  ;  and  Con- 
gress is  required  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  effectually  prevent  the 
same. 

"  2.  Congress  shall  also  have  the  power  to  prohibit  the  intro- 

*  Article  V. 

f  Article  I,  section  8,  ^\  1  and  4,  section  9,  \  6 ;  Article  III,  section  2,  \  1 ; 
Article  IV,  section  3,  *{  3. 


262      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT 

duction  of  slaves  from  any  State  not  a  member  of,  or  Territory 
not  belonging  to,  this  Confederacy." 

In  the  case  of  the  United  States,  the  only  prohibition  is 
against  any  interference  by  Congress  with  the  slave-trade  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  it  was  further  legitimized  by  the  authority 
given  to  impose  a  duty  upon  it.  The  term  of  years,  it  is  true, 
had  long  since  expired,  but  there  was  still  no  prohibition  of  the 
trade  by  the  Constitution ;  it  was  after  1808  entirely  within  the 
discretion  of  Congress  either  to  encourage,  tolerate,  or  prohibit  it. 

Under  the  Confederate  Constitution,  on  the  contrary,  the 
African  slave-trade  was  "  hereby  forbidden"  positively  and 
unconditionally,  from  the  beginning.  Neither  the  Confederate 
Government  nor  that  of  any  of  the  States  could  permit  it,  and 
the  Congress  was  expressly  "  required  "  to  enforce  the  prohibi- 
tion. The  only  discretion  in  the  matter  intrusted  to  the  Con- 
gress was,  whether  or  not  to  permit  the  introduction  of  slaves 
from  any  of  the  United  States  or  their  Territories. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  inaugural  address,  had  said:  "I  have 
no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have 
no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so." 
Now,  if  there  was  no  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery 
within  its  already  existing  limits — a  proposition  which  permitted 
its  propagation  within  those  limits  by  natural  increase — and 
inasmuch  as  the  Confederate  Constitution  precluded  any  other 
than  the  same  natural  increase,  we  may  plainly  perceive  the 
disingenuousness  and  absurdity  of  the  pretension  by  which  a 
factitious  sympathy  has  been  obtained  in  certain  quarters  for  the 
war  upon  the  South,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  war  in  behalf 
of  freedom  against  slavery.*  > 

*  As  late  as  the  22d  of  April,  1861,  Mr.  Seward,  United  States  Secretary  of 
State,  in  a  dispatch  to  Mr.  Dayton,  Minister  to  France,  since  made  public,  expressed 
the  views  and  purposes  of  the  United  States  Government  in  the  premises  as  fol- 
lows. It  may  be  proper  to  explain  that,  by  what  he  is  pleased  to  term  "  the  revolu- 
tion," Mr.  Seward  means  the  withdrawal  of  the  Southern  States ;  and  that  the 
words  italicized  are,  perhaps,  not  so  distinguished  in  the  original.  He  says : 
"  The   Territories  will  remain  in  all  respects   the  same,  whether  the  revolution 


1861]  COMMISSIONERS  IN  WASHINGTON.  263 

I  had  no  direct  part  in  the  preparation  of  the  Confederate 
Constitution.  ~No  consideration  of  delicacy  forbids  me,  there- 
fore, to  say,  in  closing  this  brief  review  of  that  instrument,  that 
it  was  a  model  of  wise,  temperate,  and  liberal  statesmanship. 
Intelligent  criticism,  from  hostile  as  well  as  friendly  sources,  has 
been  compelled  to  admit  its  excellences,  and  has  sustained  the 
judgment  of  a  popular  Northern  journal  which  said,  a  few  days 
after  it  was  adopted  and  published  : 

"  The  new  Constitution  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
with  various  modifications  and  some  very  important  and  most 
desirable  improvements.  We  are  free  to  say  that  the  invaluable 
reforms  enumerated  should  be  adopted  by  the  United  States,  with 
or  without  a  reunion  of  the  seceded  States,  and  as  soon  as  possible. 
But  why  not  accept  them  with  the  propositions  of  the  Confederate 
States  on  slavery  as  a  basis  of  reunion  ?  "  * 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

The  Commission  to  Washington  City. — Arrival  of  Mr.  Crawford. — Mr.  Buchanan's 
Alarm. — Note  of  the  Commissioners  to  the  New  Administration. — Mediation 
of  Justices  Nelson  and  Campbell. — The  Difficulty  about  Forts  Sumter  and  Pick- 
ens.— Mr.  Secretary  Seward's  Assurances. — Duplicity  of  the  Government  at 
Washington. — Mr.  Fox's  Visit  to  Charleston.— Secret  Preparations  for  Coer- 
cive Measures. — Visit  of  Mr.  Lamon. — Renewed  Assurances  of  Good  Faith. — 
Notification  to  Governor  Pickens. — Developments  of  Secret  History. — System- 
atic and  Complicated  Perfidy  exposed. 

The  appointment  of  Commissioners  to  proceed  to  "Washing- 
ton, for  the  purpose  of  establishing  friendly  relations  with  the 
United  States  and  effecting  an  equitable  settlement  of  all  ques- 

shall  succeed  or  shall  fail.  The  condition  of  slavery  in  the  several  States  xvill  re- 
main just  the  same,  whether  it  succeed  or  fail.  There  is  not  even  a  pretext  for  the 
complaint  that  the  disaffected  States  are  to  be  conquered  by  the  United  States  if  the 
revolution  fails;  for  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  condition  of  every  being  in 
them  will  remain  subject  to  exactly  the  same  laws  and  forms  of  administration, 
whether  the  revolution  shall  succeed  or  whether  it  shall  fail.  In  the  one  case,  the 
States  would  be  federally  connected  with  the  new  Confederacy ;  in  the  other,  they 
would,  as  now,  be  members  of  the  United  States ;  but  their  Constitutions  and  laws, 
customs,  habits,  and  institutions,  in  either  case,  will  remain  the  same" 
*  "New  York  Herald,"  March  19,  1861. 


264      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

tions  relating  to  the  common  property  of  the  States  and  the 
public  debt,  has  already  been  mentioned.  No  time  was  lost  in 
carrying  this  purpose  into  execution.  Mr.  Crawford — first  of  the 
Commissioners — left  Montgomery  on  or  about  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  arrived  in  Washington  two  or  three  days  before  the 
expiration  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  term  of  office  as  President  of  the 
United  States.  Besides  his  official  credentials,  he  bore  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  President,  of  a  personal  or  semi-official  char- 
acter, intended  to  facilitate,  if  possible,  the  speedy  accomplish- 
ment of  the  objects  of  his  mission : 

"  To  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  Sir  :  Being  animated  by  an  earnest  desire  to  unite  and  bind 
together  our  respective  countries  by  friendly  ties,  I  have  appointed 
Martin  J.  Crawford,  one  of  our  most  esteemed  and  trustworthy 
citizens,  as  special  Commissioner  of  the  Confederate  States  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ;  and  I  have  now  the  honor  to 
introduce  him  to  you,  and  to  ask  for  him  a  reception  and  treat- 
ment corresponding  to  his  station,  and  to  the  purposes  for  which 
he  is  sent. 

"  Those  purposes  he  will  more  particularly  explain  to  you. 
Hoping  that  through  his  agency  these  may  be  accomplished,  I 
avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  offer  to  you  the  assurance  of  my 
distinguished  consideration. 

"  Jefferson.  Davis. 
"  Montgomeky,  February  27,  1861" 

It  may  here  be  mentioned,  in  explanation  of  my  desire  that 
the  commission,  or  at  least  a  part  of  it,  should  reach  Washing- 
ton before  the  close  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  term,  that  I  had  received 
an  intimation  from  him,  through  a  distinguished  Senator  of  one 
of  the  border  States,*  that  he  would  be  happy  to  receive  a  Com- 
missioner or  Commissioners  from  the  Confederate  States,  and 
would  refer  to  the  Senate  any  communication  that  might  be 
made  through  such  a  commission. 

Mr.  Crawford — now  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Geor- 
gia, and  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  commission — in  a 
manuscript  account,  which  he  has  kindly  furnished,  of  his  recol- 

*  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia. 


1861]  COMMISSIONERS  IN  WASHINGTON.  265 

lections  of  events  connected  with  it,  says  that,  on  arriving  in 
Washington  at  the  early  honr  of  half -past  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  he  was  "  surprised  to  see  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  from 
the  old  National  to  Willard's  Hotel,  crowded  with  men  hurry- 
ing, some  toward  the  former,  but  most  of  the  faces  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  latter,  where  the  new  President  [Mr.  Lincoln,  Presi- 
dent-elect], the  great  political  almoner,  for  the  time  being,  had 
taken  up  his  lodgings.  At  this  point,"  continues  Judge  Craw- 
ford, "  the  crowd  swelled  to  astonishing  numbers  of  expectant 
and  hopeful  men,  awaiting  an  opportunity,  either  to  see  Mr. 
Lincoln  himself,  or  to  communicate  with  him  through  some  one 
who  might  be  so  fortunate  as  to  have  access  to  his  presence." 

Describing  his  reception  in  the  Federal  capital,  Judge  Craw- 
ford says: 

"  The  feverish  and  emotional  condition  of  affairs  soon  made 
the  presence  of  the  special  Commissioner  at  Washington  known 
throughout  the  city.  Congress  was  still,  of  course,  in  session  ; 
Senators  and  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  excepting 
those  of  the  Confederate  States,  who  had  withdrawn,  were  in  their 
seats,  and  the  manifestations  of  anxious  care  and  gloomy  forebod- 
ings were  plainly  to  be  seen  on  all  sides.  This  was  not  confined 
to  sections,  but  existed  among  the  men  of  the  North  and  West  as 
well  as  those  of  the  South.  .  .  . 

"*Mr.  Buchanan,  the  President,  was  in  a  state  of  most  thorough 
alarm,  not  only  for  his  home  at  Wheatland,  but  for  his  personal 
safety.*  In  the  very  few  days  which  had  elapsed  between  the 
time  of  his  promise  to  receive  a  Commissioner  from  the  Confeder- 
ate States  and  the  actual  arrival  of  the  Commissioner,  he  had  be- 
come so  fearfully  panic-stricken,  that  he  declined  either  to  receive 
him  or  to  send  any  message  to  the  Senate  touching  the  subject- 
matter  of  his  mission. 

"The  Commissioner  had  been  for  several  years  in  Congress 
before  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  as  well  as  during  his 
official  term,  and  had  always  been  in  close  political  and  social 

*  This  statement  is  in  accord  with  a  remark  which  Mr.  Buchanan  made  to  the 
author  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  same  session,  with  regard  to  the  violence  of  North- 
ern sentiment  then  lately  indicated,  that  he  thought  it  not  impossible  that  his  home- 
ward route  would  be  lighted  by  burning  effigies  of  himself,  and  that  on  reaching 
his  home  he  would  find  it  a  heap  of  ashes. 


266      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

relations  with  him  ;  yet  he  was  afraid  of  a  public  visit  from  him. 
He  said  that  he  had  only  three  days  of  official  life  left,  and  could 
incur  no  further  dangers  or  reproaches  than  those  he  had  already 
borne  from  the  press  and  public  speakers  of  the  North. 

"  The  intensity  of  the  prevalent  feeling  increased  as  the  vast 
crowds,  arriving  by  every  train,  added  fresh  material ;  and  hatred 
and  hostility  toward  our  new  Government  were  manifested  in 
almost  every  conceivable  manner." 

Another  of  the  Commissioners  (Mr.  Forsyth)  having  arrived 
in  Washington  on  the  12th  of  March — eight  days  after  the  in- 
auguration of  Mr.  Lincoln — the  two  Commissioners  then  pres- 
ent, Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford,  addressed  to  Mr.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  a  note  informing  him  of  their  presence, 
stating  the  friendly  and  peaceful  purposes  of  their  mission,  and 
requesting  the  appointment  of  a  day,  as  early  as  possible,  for 
the  presentation  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  their 
credentials  and  the  objects  which  they  had  in  view.  This  letter 
will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,*  with  other  correspondence 
which  ensued,  published  soon  after  the  events  to  which  it  re- 
lates. The  attention  of  the  reader  is  specially  invited  to  these 
documents,  but,  as  additional  revelations  have  been  made  since 
they  were  first  published,  it  will  be  proper,  in  order  to  a  full 
understanding  of  the  transactions  to  which  they  refer,  to  -give 
here  a  brief  statement  of  the  facts. 

No  written  answer  to  the  note  of  the  Commissioners  was 
delivered  to  them  for  twenty-seven  days  after  it  was  written. 
The  paper  of  Mr.  Seward,  in  reply,  without  signature  or  ad- 
dress, dated  March  15th,f  was  "  filed,"  as  he  states,  on  that 
day,  in  the  Department  of  State,  but  a  copy  of  it  was  not 
handed  to  the  Commissioners  until  the  8th  of  April.  But  an 
oral  answer  had  been  made  to  the  note  of  the  Commissioners 
at  a  much  earlier  date,  for  the  significance  of  which  it  will  be 
necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Charleston 
and  Pensacola. 

Fort  Sumter  was  still  occupied  by  the  garrison  under  com- 
mand of  Major  Anderson,  with  no  material  change  in  the  cir- 

*  See  Appendix  L.  f  Ibid. 


1861]  ANXIETY  ABOUT   FORT   SUMTER.  267 

cumstances  since  the  failure  of  the  attempt  made  in  January 
to  reenforce  it  by  means  of  the  Star  of  the  West.  This  stand- 
ing menace  at  the  gates  of  the  chief  harbor  of  South  Carolina 
had  been  tolerated  by  the  government  and  people  of  that  State, 
and  afterward  by  the  Confederate  authorities,  in  the  abiding 
hope  that  it  would  be  removed  without  compelling  a  collision 
of  forces.  Fort  Pickens,  on  one  side  of  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor  of  Pensacola,  was  also  occupied  by  a  garrison  of  United 
States  troops,  while  the  two  forts  (Barrancas  and  McRee)  on 
the  other  side  were  in  possession  of  the  Confederates.  Com- 
munication by  sea  was  not  entirely  precluded,  however,  in  the 
case  of  Fort  Pickens ;  the  garrison  had  been  strengthened,  and 
a  fleet  of  Federal  men-of-war  was  lying  outside  of  the  harbor. 
The  condition  of  affairs  at  these  forts — especially  at  Fort  Sum- 
ter— was  a  subject  of  anxiety  with  the  friends  of  peace,  and 
the  hope  of  settling  by  negotiation  the  questions  involved  in 
their  occupation  had  been  one  of  the  most  urgent  motives  for 
the  prompt  dispatch  of  the  Commissioners  to  "Washington. 

The  letter  of  the  Commissioners  to  Mr.  Seward  was  written, 
as  we  have  seen,  on  the  12th  of  March.  The  oral  message, 
above  mentioned,  was  obtained  and  communicated  to  the  Com- 
missioners through  the  agency  of  two  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States — Justices  Nelson,  of  New  York, 
and  Campbell,  of  Alabama.  On  the  15th  of  March,  according 
to  the  statement  of  Judge  Campbell,*  Mr.  Justice  Nelson  visited 
the  Secretaries  of  State  and  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Attorney- 
General  (Messrs.  Seward,  Chase,  and  Bates),  to  dissuade  them 
from  undertaking  to  put  in  execution  any  policy  of  coercion. 
"  During  the  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  he  had  very  carefully 
examined  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  enable  him  to  attain 
his  conclusions,  and  from  time  to  time  he  had  consulted  the 
Chief  Justice  [Taney]  upon  the  questions  which  his  examina- 
tion had  suggested.  His  conclusion  was  that,  without  very  seri- 
ous violations  of  Constitution  and  statutes,  coercion  could  not 
be  successfully  effected  by  the  executive  department.     I  had 

*  See  letter  of  Judge  Campbell  to  Colonel  George  W.  Munford  in  "  Papers  of 
the  Southern  Historical  Society,"  appended  to  "  Southern  Magazine "  for  Feb- 
ruary, 1874. 


268      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

made  [continues  Judge  Campbell]  a  similar  examination,  and 
I  concurred  in  his  conclusions  and  opinions.  As  he  was  return- 
ing from  his  visit  to  the  State  Department,  we  casually  met, 
and  he  informed  me  of  what  he  had  done.  He  said  he  had 
spoken  to  these  officers  at  large  ;  that  he  was  received  with 
respect  and  listened  to  with  attention  by  all,  with  approbation 
by  the  Attorney-General,  and  with  great  cordiality  by  the 
Secretary  of  State ;  that  the  Secretary  had  expressed  gratifica- 
tion to  find  so  many  impediments  to  the  disturbance  of  peace, 
and  only  wished  there  had  been  more.  He  stated  that  the 
Secretary  told  him  there  was  a  present  cause  of  embarrassment : 
that  the  Southern  Commissioners  had  demanded  recognition, 
and  a  refusal  would  lead  to  irritation  and  excitement  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  would  cause  a  counter-irritation  and  ex- 
citement in  the  Northern  States,  prejudicial  to  a  peaceful  ad- 
justment.   Justice  Nelson  suggested  that  I  might  be  of  service." 

The  result  of  the  interview  between  these  two  distinguished 
gentlemen,  we  are  informed,  was  another  visit,  by  both  of  them, 
to  the  State  Department,  for  the  purpose  of  urging  Mr.  Seward 
to  reply  to  the  Commissioners,  and  assure  them  of  the  desire  of 
the  United  States  Government  for  a  friendly  adjustment.  Mr. 
Seward  seems  to  have  objected  to  an  immediate  recognition  of 
the  Commissioners,  on  the  ground  that  the  state  of  public  sen- 
timent in  the  North  would  not  sustain  it,  in  connection  with 
the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  Fort  Sumter,  which  had  been 
determined  on.  "  The  evacuation  of  Sumter,"  he  said,  "  is  as 
much  as  the  Administration  can  bear." 

Judge  Campbell  adds :  "  I  concurred  in  the  conclusion  that 
the  evacuation  of  Sumter  involved  responsibility,  and  stated 
that  there  could  not  be  too  much  caution  in  the  adoption  of 
measures  so  as  not  to  shock  or  to  irritate  the  public  sentiment, 
and  that  the  evacuation  of  Sumter  was  sufficient  for  the  present 
in  that  direction.  I  stated  that  I  would  see  the  Commissioners, 
and  I  would  write  to  Mr.  Davis  to  that  effect.  I  asked  him 
what  I  should  say  as  to  Sumter  and  as  to  Pickens.  He  author- 
ized me  to  say  that,  before  that  letter  could  reach  him  [Mr. 
Davis],  he  would  learn  by  telegraph  that  the  order  for  the  evac- 
uation of  Sumter  had  been  made.     He  said  the  condition  of 


1861]  PLEDGES  GIVEN.  269 

Pickens  was  satisfactory,  and  there  would  be  no  change  made 
there."     The  italics  in  this  extract  are  my  own. 

The  letter  in  which  this  promise  was  communicated  to  me 
has  been  lost,  but  it  was  given  in  substantially  the  terms  above 
stated  as  authorized  by  Mr.  Seward — that  the  order  for  the 
evacuation  of  the  fort  would  be  issued  before  the  letter  could 
reach  me.  The  same  assurance  was  given,  on  the  same  day,  to 
the  Commissioners.  Judge  Campbell  tells  us  that  Mr.  Craw- 
ford was  slow  to  consent  to  refrain  from  pressing  the  demand 
for  recognition.  "  It  was  only  after  some  discussion  and  the 
expression  of  some  objections  that  he  consented"  to  do  so. 
This  consent  was  clearly  one  part  of  a  stipulation,  of  which  the 
other  part  was  the  pledge  that  the  fort  would  be  evacuated  in 
the  course  of  a  few  days.  Mr.  Crawford  required  the  pledge 
of  Mr.  Seward  to  be  reduced  to  writing,  with  Judge  Camp- 
bell's personal  assurance  of  its  genuineness  and  accuracy.*  This 
written  statement  was  exhibited  to  Judge  Nelson,  before  its 
delivery,  and  approved  by  him.  The  fact  that  the  pledge  had 
been  given  in  his  name  and  behalf  was  communicated  to  Mr. 
Seward  the  same  evening  by  letter.  He  was  cognizant  of,  con- 
senting to,  and  in  great  part  the  author  of,  the  whole  •  transac- 
tion. 

It  will  be  observed  that  not  onlv  the  Commissioners  in 

1/ 

Washington,  but  the  Confederate  Government  at  Montgomery 
also,  were  thus  assured  on  the  highest  authority — that  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  the  official  organ  of 
communication  of  the  views  and  purposes  of  his  Government — 
of  the  intention  of  that  Government  to  order  the  evacuation  of 
Fort  Sumter  within  a  few  days  from  the  15th  of  March,  and 
not  to  disturb  the  existing  status  at  Fort  Pickens.  Moreover, 
this  was  not  the  mere  statement  of  a  fact,  but  &  pledge,  given  as 

*  "  In  the  course  of  this  conversation  I  told  Judge  Crawford  that  it  was  fair  to 
tell  him  that  the  opinion  at  Washington  was,  the  secession  movements  were  short- 
lived ;  that  his  Government  would  wither  under  sunshine,  and  that  the  effect  of 
these  measures  might  be  as  supposed ;  that  they  might  have  a  contrary  effect,  but 
that  I  did  not  consider  the  effect.  I  wanted,  above  all  other  things,  peace.  I  was 
willing  to  accept  whatever  peace  might  bring,  whether  union  or  disunion.  I  did  not 
look  beyond  peace.  He  said  he  was  willing  to  take  all  the  risks  of  sunshine." — 
(Letter  of  Judge  Campbell  to  Colonel  Munford,  as  above.) 


270      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  consideration  of  an  appeal  to  the  Confederate  Government 
and  its  Commissioners  to  refrain  from  embarrassing  the  Federal 
Administration  by  prosecuting  any  further  claims  at  the  same 
time.  As  such  a  pledge,  it  was  accepted,  and,  while  its  fulfill- 
ment was  quietly  awaited,  the  Commissioners  forbore  to  make 
any  further  demand  for  reply  to  their  note  of  the  12th  of 
March. 

Five  days  having  elapsed  in  this  condition  of  affairs,  the 
Commissioners  in  "Washington  telegraphed  Brigadier-General 
Beauregard,  commander  of  the  Confederate  forces  at  Charles- 
ton, inquiring  whether  the  fort  had  been  evacuated,  or  any 
action  taken  by  Major  Anderson  indicating  the  probability  of 
an  evacuation.  Answer  was  made  to  this  dispatch,  that  the 
fort  had  not  been  evacuated,  that  there  were  no  indications  of 
such  a  purpose,  but  that  Major  Anderson  was  still  working  on 
its  defenses.  This  dispatch  was  taken  to  Mr.  Seward  by  Judge 
Campbell.  Two  interviews  occurred  in  relation  to  it,  at  both 
of  which  Judge  Nelson  was  also  present.  Of  the  result  of 
these  interviews,  Judge  Campbell  states :  "  The  last  was  full 
and  satisfactory.  The  Secretary  was  buoyant  and  sanguine ;  he 
spoke  of  his  ability  to  carry  through  his  policy  with  confidence. 
He  accounted  for  the  delay  as  accidental,  and  not  involving  the 
integrity  of  his  assurance  that  the  evacuation  would  take  place, 
and  that  I  should  know  whenever  any  change  was  made  in  the 
resolution  in  reference  to  Sumter  or  to  Pickens.  I  repeated  this 
assurance  in  writing  to  Judge  Crawford,  and  informed  Governor 
Seward  in  writing  what  I  had  said?  * 

It  would  be  incredible,  but  for  the  ample  proofs  which  have 
since  been  brought  to  light,  that,  during  all  this  period  of  reiter- 
ated assurances  of  a  purpose  to  withdraw  the  garrison  from  Fort 
Sumter,  and  of  excuses  for  delay  on  account  of  the  difficulties 
which  embarrassed  it,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
was  assiduously  engaged  in  devising  means  for  furnishing  sup- 
plies and  reinforcements  to  the  garrison,  with  the  view  of  retain- 
ing possession  of  the  fort ! 

Mr.  G.  Y.  Fox,  afterward  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  United 

*  Letter  to  Colonel  Munford,  above  quoted.  The  italics  are  not  in  the 
original. 


1861]  EVACUATION  PROMISED.  271 

States  Navy,  had  proposed  a  plan  for  reenf orcing  and  furnishing 
supplies  to  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter  in  February,  during  the 
Administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  In  a  letter  published  in  the 
newspapers  since  the  war,  he  gives  an  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  proposition  was  renewed  to  the  new  Administration 
and  its  reception  by  them,  as  follows : 

"  On  the  12th  of  March  I  received  a  telegram  from  Postmaster- 
General  Blair  to  come  to  Washington.  I  arrived  there  on  the 
13th.  Mr.  Blair  having  been  acquainted  with  the  proposition  I 
presented  to  General  Scott,  under  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration, 
sent  for  me  to  tender  the  same  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  informing  me  that 
Lieutenant-General  Scott  had  advised  the  President  that  the  fort 
could  not  be  relieved,  and  must  be  given  up.  Mr.  Blair  took  me 
at  once  to  the  White  House,  and  I  explained  the  plan  to  the  Presi- 
dent. Thence  we  adjourned  to  Lieutenant-General  Scott's  office, 
where  a  renewed  discussion  of  the  subject  took  place.  The  Gen- 
eral informed  the  President  that  my  plan  was  practicable  in  Feb- 
ruary, but  that  the  increased  number  of  batteries  erected  at  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor  since  that  time  rendered  it  impossible  in 
March. 

"  Finding  that  there  was  great  opposition  to  any  attempt  at 
relieving  Fort  Sumter,  and  that  Mr.  Blair  alone  sustained  the 
President  in  his  policy  of  refusing  to  yield,  I  judged  that  my  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  practicability  of  sending  in  supplies  would 
be  strengthened  by  a  visit  to  Charleston  and  the  fort.  The  Presi- 
dent readily  agreed  to  my  visit,  if  the  Secretary  of  War  and  Gen- 
eral Scott  raised  no  objection. 

"  Both  these  gentlemen  consenting,  I  left  Washington  on  the 
19th  of  March,  and,  passing  through  Richmond  and  Wilmington, 
reached  Charleston  on  the  21st." 

Thus  we  see  that,  at  the  very  moment  when  Mr.  Secretary 
Seward  was  renewing  to  the  Confederate  Government,  through 
Judge  Campbell,  his  positive  assurance  that  "the  evacuation 
would  take  place,"  this  emissary  was  on  his  way  to  Charleston 
to  obtain  information  and  devise  measures  by  means  of  which 
this  promise  might  be  broken. 

On  his  arrival  in  Charleston,  Mr.  Fox  tells  us  that  he  sought 
an  interview  with  Captain  Hartstein,  of  the  Confederate  Navy, 


272      R!SE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

and  through  this  officer  obtained  from  Governor  Pickens  per- 
mission to  visit  Fort  Sumter.  He  fails,  in  his  narrative,  to  state, 
what  we  learn  from  Governor  Pickens  himself,*  that  this  per- 
mission was  obtained  "  expressly  upon  the  pledge  of  '  pacific 
purposes.' "  Notwithstanding  this  pledge,  he  employed  the  op- 
portunity afforded  by  his  visit  to  mature  the  details  of  his  plan 
for  furnishing  supplies  and  reenf orcements  to  the  garrison.  He 
did  not,  he  says,  communicate  his  plan  or  purposes  to  Major 
Anderson,  the  commanding  officer  of  the  garrison,  having  dis- 
cernment enough,  perhaps,  to  divine  that  the  instincts  of  that 
brave  and  honest  soldier  would  have  revolted  at  and  rebuked 
the  duplicity  and  perfidy  of  the  whole  transaction.  The  result 
of  his  visit  was,  however,  reported  at  Washington,  his  plan  was 
approved  by  President  Lincoln,  and  he  was  sent  to  New  York 
to  make  arrangements  for  putting  it  in  execution. 

"  In  a  very  few  days  after  "  (says  Governor  Pickens,  in  the  mes- 
sage already  quoted  above),  "another  confidential  agent,  Colonel 
Lamon,  was  sent  by  the  President  [Mr.  Lincoln],  who  informed 
me  that  he  had  come  to  try  and  arrange  for  the  removal  of  the 
garrison,  and,  when  he  returned  from  the  fort,  asked  if  a  war- ves- 
sel could  not  be  allowed  to  remove  them.  I  replied  that  no  war- 
vessel  could  be  allowed  to  enter  the  harbor  on  any  terms.  He  said 
he  believed  Major  Anderson  preferred  an  ordinary  steamer,  and  I 
agreed  that  the  garrison  might  be  thus  removed.  He  said  he 
hoped  to  return  in  a  very  few  days  for  that  purpose." 

This,  it  will  be  remembered,  occurred  while  Mr.  Fox  was 
making  active,  though  secret,  preparations  for  his  relief  expedi- 
tion. 

Colonel,  or  Major,  Lamon,  as  he  is  variously  styled  in  the 
correspondence,  did  not  return  to  Charleston,  as  promised. 
About  the  30th  of  March  (which  was  Saturday)  a  telegram 
from  Governor  Pickens  was  received  by  the  Commissioners  in 
Washington,  making  inquiry  with  regard  to  Colonel  Lamon,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  protracted  delay  to  fulfill  the  promise  of 
evacuation.  This  was  fifteen  days  after  the  original  assurance 
of  Mr.  Seward  that  the  garrison  would  be  withdrawn   imme- 

*  Message  to  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  November,  1861. 


1861]  FAITH  AS  TO   SUMTER.  273 

diately,  and  ten  days  after  his  explanation  that  the  delay  was 
"  accidental."  The  dispatch  of  Governor  Pickens  was  taken  by 
Judge  Campbell  to  Mr.  Seward,  who  appointed  the  ensuing 
Monday  (1st  of  April)  for  an  interview  and  answer.  At  that  in- 
terview Mr.  Seward  informed  Judge  Campbell  that  "  the  Presi- 
dent was  concerned  about  the  contents  of  the  telegram—- there 
was  a  point  of  honor  involved;  that  Lamon  had  no  agency 
from  him,  nor  title  to  speak."  *  (This  late  suggestion  of  the 
point  of  honor  would  seem,  under  the  circumstances,  to  have 
been  made  in  a  spirit  of  sarcastic  pleasantry,  like  Sir  John  Fat- 
staff's  celebrated  discourse  on  the  same  subject.)  The  only  sub- 
stantial result  of  the  conversation,  however,  was  the  written 
assurance  of  Mr.  Seward,  to  be  communicated  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, that  "the  Government  will  not  undertake  to  supply 
Fort  Sumter  without  giving  notice  to  Governor  Pickens." 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  was  a  very  material  variation  from 
the  positive  pledge  previously  given,  and  reiterated,  to  the 
Commissioners,  to  Governor  Pickens,  and  to  myself  directly, 
that  the  fort  was  to  be  forthwith  evacuated.  Judge  Campbell, 
in  his  account  of  the  interview,  says :  "  I  asked  him  [Mr.  Sew- 
ard] whether  I  was  to  understand  that  there  had  been  a  change 
in  his  former  communications.     His  answer  was,  '  None.'  "  f 

About  the  close  of  the  same  week  (the  first  in  April),  the 
patience  of  the  Commissioners  having  now  been  wellnigh  ex- 
hausted, and  the  hostile  preparations  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  notwithstanding  the  secrecy  with  which  they 
were  conducted,  having  become  matter  of  general  rumor,  a 
letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Seward,  upon  the  subject,  by  Judge 
Campbell,  in  behalf  of  the  Commissioners,  again  asking  whether 
the  assurances  so  often  given  were  well  or  ill  founded.  To  this 
the  Secretary  returned  answer  in  writing  :  "  Faith  as  to  Sumter 
fully  kept.    Wait  and  see? 

This  was  on  the  7th  of  April.J  The  very  next  day  (the 
8th)  the  following  official  notification  (without  date  or  signa- 

*  Letter  to  Colonel  Munford,  above  cited.  f  Letter  to  Munford. 

%  Judge  Campbell,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Seward  of  April  13,  1861  (see  Appendix 
L),  written  a  few  days  after  the  transaction,  gives  this  date.     In  his  letter  to  Colonel 
Munford,  written  more  than  twelve  years  afterward,  he  says  "  Sunday,  April  8th." 
18 


274:      KISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ture)  was  read  to  Governor  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
General  Beauregard,  in  Charleston,  by  Mr.  Chew,  an  official  of 
the  State  Department  (Mr.  Seward's)  in  Washington,  who  said 
— as  did  a  Captain  or  Lieutenant  Talbot,  who  accompanied  him 
— that  it  was  from  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  de- 
livered by  him  to  Mr.  Chew  on  the  6th — the  day  hefore  Mr. 
Seward's  assurance  of  "faithfully  kept." 

"  I  am  directed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  notify 
you  to  expect  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  supply  Fort  Sumter 
with  provisions  only  ;  and  that,  if  such  an  attempt  be  not  resisted, 
no  effort  to  throw  in  men,  arms,  or  ammunition,  will  be  made, 
without  further  notice,  or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  the  fort."  * 

Thus  disappeared  the  last  vestige  of  the  plighted  faith  and 
pacific  pledges  of  the  Federal  Government. 

In  order  fully  to  appreciate  the  significance  of  this  commu- 
nication, and  of  the  time  and  circumstances  of  its  delivery,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  naval  expedition  which  had 
been  secretly  in  preparation  for  some  time  at  ISTew  York,  under 
direction  of  Captain  Fox,  was  now  ready  to  sail,  and  might  rea- 
sonably be  expected  to  be  at  Charleston  almost  immediately 
after  the  notification  was  delivered  to  Governor  Pickens,  and 
before  preparation  could  be  made  to  receive  it.  Owing  to  cross- 
purposes  or  misunderstandings  in  the  Washington  Cabinet,  how- 
ever, and  then  to  the  delay  caused  by  a  severe  storm  at  sea, 
this  expectation  was  disappointed,  and  the  Confederate  com- 
mander at  Charleston  had  opportunity  to  communicate  with 
Montgomery  and  receive  instructions  for  his  guidance,  before 
the  arrival  of  the  fleet,  which  had  been  intended  to  be  a  sur- 
prise. 

In  publications  made  since  the  war  by  members  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's Cabinet,  it  has  been  represented  that,  during  the  period 
of  the  disgraceful  transactions  above  detailed,  there  were  dis- 
sensions and  divisions  in  the  Cabinet — certain  members  of  it 
urging  measures  of  prompt  and  decided  coercion  ;  the  Secretary 

*  For  this  and  other  documents  quoted  relative  to  the  transactions  of  the  period, 
see  "  The  Record  of  Fort  Sumter,"  compiled  by  W.  A.  Harris,  Columbia,  South  Car- 
olina, 1862. 


1861]  COMPLICITY   DEMONSTRABLE.  275 

of  State  favoring  a  pacific  or  at  least  a  dilatory  policy ;  and  the 
President  vacillating  for  a  time  between  the  two,  but  eventually 
adopting  the  views  of  the  coercionists.  In  these  statements  it 
is  represented  that  the  assurances  and  pledges,  given  by  Mr. 
Seward  to  the  Confederate  Government  and  its  Commissioners, 
were  given  on  his  own  authority,  and  without  the  consent  or 
approval  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  absurdity 
of  any  such  attempt  to  disassociate  the  action  of  the  President 
from  that  of  his  Secretary,  and  to  relieve  the  former  of  respon- 
sibility for  the  conduct  of  the  latter,  is  too  evident  to  require 
argument  or  comment.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that,  during 
this  whole  period  of  nearly  a  month,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  ignorant 
of  the  communications  that  were  passing  between  the  Confed- 
erate Commissioners  and  Mr.  Seward,  through  the  distinguished 
member  of  the  Supreme  Court — still  holding  his  seat  as  such — 
who  was  acting  as  intermediary.  On  one  occasion,  Judge 
Campbell  informs  us  that  the  Secretary,  in  the  midst  of  an  im- 
portant interview,  excused  himself  for  the  purpose  of  conferring 
with  the  President  before  giving  a  final  answer,  and  left  his 
visitor  for  some  time,  awaiting  his  return  from  that  conference, 
when  the  answer  was  given,  avowedly  and  directly  proceeding 
from  the  President. 

If,  however,  it  were  possible  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Seward  was 
acting  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  practicing  a  deception  upon 
his  own  chief,  as  well  as  upon  the  Confederate  authorities,  in  the 
pledges  which  he  made  to  the  latter,  it  is  nevertheless  certain 
that  the  principal  facts  were  brought  to  light  within  a  few  days 
after  the  close  of  the  efforts  at  negotiation.  Yet  the  Secretary 
of  State  was  not  impeached  and  brought  to  trial  for  the  grave 
offense  of  undertaking  to  conduct  the  most  momentous  and  vital 
transactions  that  bad  been  or  could  be  brought  before  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  without  the  knowledge  and  in 
opposition  to  the  will  of  the  President,  and  for  having  involved 
the  Government  in  dishonor,  if  not  in  disaster.  He  was  not 
even  dismissed  from  office,  but  continued  to  be  the  chief  officer 
of  the  Cabinet  and  confidential  adviser  of  the  President,  as  he 
was  afterward  of  the  ensuing  Administration,  occupying  that 
station  during  two  consecutive  terms.     No  disavowal  of  his  ac- 


276      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

tion,  no  apology  nor  explanation,  was  ever  made.  Politically 
and  legally,  the  President  is  unquestionably  responsible  in  all 
cases  for  the  action  of  any  member  of  his  Cabinet,  and  in  this 
case  it  is  as  preposterous  to  attempt  to  dissever  from  him  the 
moral,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  relieve  him  of  the  legal, 
responsibility  that  rests  upon  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  for  the  systematic  series  of  frauds  perpetrated  by  its  au- 
thority. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Seward,  throughout  the  whole  nego- 
tiation, was  fully  informed  of  the  views  of  his  colleagues  in  the 
Cabinet  and  of  the  President.  Whatever  his  real  hopes  or  pur- 
poses may  have  been  in  the  beginning,  it  is  positively  certain 
that  long  before  the  end,  and  while  still  reiterating  his  assur- 
ances that  the  garrison  would  be  withdrawn,  he  knew  that  it 
had  been  determined,  and  that  active  preparations  were  in  prog- 
ress, to  strengthen  it. 

Mr.  Gideon  "Welles,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  Cabinet,  gives  the  following  account  of  one  of  the 
transactions  of  the  period  : 

"  One  evening  in  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  March,  there 
was  a  small  gathering  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  while  the  Sum- 
ter question  was  still  pending.  The  members  of  the  Cabinet  were 
soon  individually  and  quietly  invited  to  the  council-chamber, 
where,  as  soon  as  assembled,  the  President  informed  them  he  had 
just  been  advised  by  General  Scott  that  it  was  expedient  to  evac- 
uate Fort  Pickens,  as  well  as  Fort  Sumter,  which  last  was  as- 
sumed at  military  headquarters  to  be  a  determined  fact,  in  con- 
formity with  the  views  of  Secretary  Seward  and  the  General-in- 
Chief.  .  .  . 

"A  brief  silence  followed  the  announcement  of  the  amazing 
recommendation  of  General  Scott,  when  Mr.  Blair,  who  had  been 
much  annoyed  by  the  vacillating  course  of  the  General-in-Chief 
in  regard  to  Sumter,  remarked,  looking  earnestly  at  Mr.  Seward, 
that  it  was  evident  the  old  General  was  playing  politician  in  re- 
gard to  both  Sumter  and  Pickens  ;  for  it  was  not  possible,  if  there 
was  a  defense,  for  the  rebels  to  take  Pickens  ;  and  the  Administra- 
tion would  not  be  justified  if  it  listened  to  his  advice  and  evacu- 
ated either.     Very  soon  thereafter,  I  think  at  the  next  Cabinet 


1861]  CONCEALED  EXPEDITION.  277 

meeting,  the  President  announced  his  decision  that  supplies  should 
be  sent  to  Sumter,  and  issued  confidential  orders  to  that  effect. 
All  were  gratified  with  this  decision,  except  Mr.  Seward,  who  still 
remonstrated,  but  preparations  were  immediately  commenced  to  Jit 
out  an  expedition  to  forward  supplies"  * 

This  account  is  confirmed  by  a  letter  of  Mr.  Montgomery 
Blair.f  The  date  of  the  announcement  of  the  President's  final 
purpose  is  fixed  by  Mr.  Welles,  in  the  next  paragraph  to  that 
above  quoted,  as  the  28th  of  March.  This  was  four  days  before 
Mr.  Seward's  assurance  given  Judge  Campbell — after  confer- 
ence with  the  President — that  there  would  be  no  departure 
from  the  pledges  previously  given  (which  were  that  the  fort 
would  be  evacuated),  and  ten  days  before  his  written  renewal  of 
the  assurance — "Faith  as  to  Sumter  fully  kept  Wait  and 
see  !  "  This  assurance,  too,  was  given  at  the  very  moment  when 
a  messenger  from  his  own  department  was  on  the  way  to 
Charleston  to  notify  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  that  faith 
would  not  be  kept  in  the  matter. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  Commissioners  had, 
with  good  reason,  ceased  to  place  any  confidence  in  the  promises 
of  the  United  States  Government,  before  they  ceased  to  be 
made.  On  the  8th  of  April  they  sent  the  following  dispatch 
to  General  Beauregard : 

"  Washington,  April  8,  1861. 

"  Geneeal  G.  T.  Beaueegaed  :  Accounts  uncertain,  because 
of  the  constant  vacillation  of  this  Government.  "We  were  reas- 
sured yesterday  that  the  status  of  Sumter  would  not  be  changed 
without  previous  notice  to  Governor  Pickens,  but  we  have  no 
faith  in  them.     The  war  policy  prevails  in  the  Cabinet  at  this  time. 

"M.  J.  Ceawfoed." 

On  the  same  day  the  announcement  made  to  Governor 
Pickens  through  Mr.  Chew  was  made  known.  The  Commis- 
sioners immediately  applied  for  a  definitive  answer  to  their  note 
of  March  12th,  which  had  been  permitted  to  remain  in  abey- 
ance.    The  paper  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  dated  March  15th, 

*  "  Lincoln  and  Seward,"  New  York,  1874,  pp.  57,  58.     The  italics  are  not  in 
the  original.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  64-69. 


278      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

was  thereupon  delivered  to  them.  This  paper,  with  the  final 
rejoinder  of  the  Commissioners  and  Judge  Campbell's  letters 
to  the  Secretary  of  April  13th  and  April  20th,  respectively, 
will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

Negotiation  was  now  at  an  end,  and  the  Commissioners 
withdrew  from  Washington  and  returned  to  their  homes.  Their 
last  dispatch,  before  leavirig,  shows  that  they  were  still  depen- 
dent upon  public  rumor  and  the  newspapers  for  information  as 
to  the  real  purposes  and  preparations  of  the  Federal  Adminis- 
tration.  It  was  in  these  words : 

"  Washington,  April  10,  1861. 
"  General  G.  T.  Beauregard  :   The  '  Tribune '  of  to-day  de> 
clares  the  main  object  of  the  expedition  to  be  the  relief  of  Sum- 
ter, and  that  a  force  will  be  landed  which  will  overcome  all  op- 
position. Roman,  Crawford,  and  Forsyth." 

The  annexed  extracts  from  my  message  to  the  Confederate 
Congress  at  the  opening  of  its  special  session,  on  the  29th  of 
April,  will  serve  as  a  recapitulation  of  the  events  above  nar- 
rated, with  all  of  comment  that  it  was  then,  or  is  now,  con- 
sidered necessary  to  add : 

[Extracts  from  President's  Message  to  the  Confederate  Congress,  of  April 

29,  1861.] 

" .  .  .  .  Scarce  had  you  assembled  in  February  last,  when,  prior 
even  to  the  inauguration  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  you  had  elected, 
you  expressed  your  desire  for  the  appointment  of  Commissioners, 
and  for  the  settlement  of  all  questions  of  disagreement  between 
the  two  Governments  upon  principles  of  right,  justice,  equity,  and 
good  faith. 

"  It  was  my  pleasure,  as  well  as  my  duty,  to  cooperate  with 
you  in  this  work  of  peace.  Indeed,  in  my  address  to  you,  on 
taking  the  oath  of  office,  and  before  receiving  from  you  the  com- 
munication of  this  resolution,  I  had  said  that,  as  a  necessity,  not 
as  a  choice,  we  have  resorted  to  the  remedy  of  separating,  and 
henceforth  our  energies  must  be  directed  to  the  conduct  of  our 
own  affairs,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Confederacy  which  we  have 
formed.  If  a  just  perception  of  mutual  interest  shall  permit  us 
to  peaceably  pursue  our  separate  political  career,  my  most  earnest 
desire  will  then  have  been  fulfilled. 


1861]  EFFORTS  FOR  PEACEFUL  SOLUTION.  279 

"It  was  in  furtherance  of  these  accordant  views  of  the  Con- 
gress and  the  Executive,  that  I  made  choice  of  three  discreet,  able, 
and  distinguished  citizens,  who  repaired  to  Washington.  Aided 
by  their  cordial  cooperation  and  that  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
every  effort  compatible  with  self-respect  and  the  dignity  of  the 
Confederacy  was  exhausted,  before  I  allowed  myself  to  yield  to 
the  conviction  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was 
determined  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  this  people,  and  that  our 
cherished  hopes  of  peace  were  unobtainable. 

"  On  the  arrival  of  our  Commissioners  in  Washington  on  the 
5th  of  March,*  they  postponed,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  friendly  inter- 
mediator, doing  more  than  giving  informal  notice  of  their  arrival. 
This  was  done  with  a  view  to  afford  time  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  who  had  just  been  inaugurated,  for  the  discharge 
of  other  pressing  official  duties  in  the  organization  of  his  Admin- 
istration, before  engaging  his  attention  to  the  object  of  their 
mission. 

"it  was  not  until  the  12th  of  the  month  that  they  officially 
addressed  the  Secretary  of  State,  informing  him  of  the  purpose  of 
their  arrival,  and  stating  in  the  language  of  their  instructions  their 
wish  to  make  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  overtures 
for  the  opening  of  negotiations,  assuring  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  that  the  President,  Congress,  and  people  of  the  Con- 
federate States  desired  a  peaceful  solution  of  these  great  ques- 
tions ;  that  it  was  neither  their  interest  nor  their  wish  to  make 
any  demand  which  was  not  founded  on  the  strictest  principles  of 
justice,  nor  to  do  any  act  to  injure  their  late  confederates. 

"  To  this  communication,  no  formal  reply  was  received  until 
the  8th  of  April.  During  the  interval,  the  Commissioners  had  con- 
sented to  waive  all  questions  of  form,  with  the  firm  resolve  to 
avoid  war,  if  possible.  They  went  so  far  even  as  to  hold,  during 
that  long  period,  unofficial  intercourse  through  an  intermediary, 
whose  high  position  and  character  inspired  the  hope  of  success, 
and  through  whom  constant  assurances  were  received  from  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  its  peaceful  intentions — of 
its  determination  to  evacuate  Fort  Sumter  ;  and,  further,  that  no 
measure  would  be  introduced  changing  the  existing  status  preju- 
dicial to  the  Confederate  States  ;  that,  in  the  event  of  any  change 

*  Mr.  Crawford,  as  we  have  seen,  had  arrived  some  days  earlier.     The  statement 
in  the  message  refers  to  the  arrival  of  the  full  commission,  or  a  majority  of  it. 


280      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

in  regard  to  Fort  Pickens,  notice  would  be  given  to  the  Commis- 
sioners. 

"  The  crooked  path  of  diplomacy  can  scarcely  furnish  an  ex- 
ample so  wanting  in  courtesy,  in  candor,  and  directness,  as  was 
the  course  of  the  United  States  Government  toward  our  Com- 
missioners in  Washington.  For  proof  of  this,  I  refer  to  the  an- 
nexed documents  marked,  [?]  taken  in  connection  with  further 
facts,  which  I  now  proceed  to  relate. 

"  Early  in  April  the  attention  of  the  whole  country  was  at- 
tracted to  extraordinary  preparations,  in  New  York  and  other 
Northern  ports,  for  an  extensive  military  and  naval  expedition. 
These  preparations  were  commenced  in  secrecy  for  an  expedition 
whose  destination  was  concealed,  and  only  became  known  when 
nearly  completed  ;  and  on  the  5th,  6th,  and  7th  of  April,  transports 
and  vessels  of  war,  with  troops,  munitions,  and  military  supplies, 
sailed  from  Northern  ports,  bound  southward. 

"  Alarmed  by  so  extraordinary  a  demonstration,  the  Commis- 
sioners requested  the  delivery  of  an  answer  to  their  official  com- 
munication of  the  12th  of  March,  and  the  reply,  dated  on  the  15th 
of  the  previous  month,  was  obtained,  from  which  it  appears  that, 
during  the  whole  interval,  while  the  Commissioners  were  receiv- 
ing assurances  calculated  to  inspire  hope  of  the  success  of  their 
mission,  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  President  of  the  United 
States  had  already  determined  to  hold  no  intercourse  with  them 
whatever,  to  refuse  even  to  listen  to  any  proposals  they  had  to 
make  ;  and  had  profited  by  the  delay  created  by  their  own  assur- 
ances, in  order  to  prepare  secretly  the  means  for  effective  hostile 
operations. 

"That  these  assurances  were  given,  has  been  virtually  con- 
fessed by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  by  its  act  of  send- 
ing a  messenger  to  Charleston  to  give  notice  of  its  purpose  to  use 
force,  if  opposed  in  its  intention  of  supplying  Fort  Sumter. 

"No  more  striking  proof  of  the  absence  of  good  faith  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  toward  the 
Confederacy  can  be  required,  than  is  contained  in  the  circum- 
stances which  accompanied  this  notice. 

"  According  to  the  usual  course  of  navigation,  the  vessels  com- 
posing the  expedition,  and  designed  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter, 
might  be  looked  for  in  Charleston  Harbor  on  the  9th  of  April. 
Yet  onr  Commissioners  in  Washington  were  detained  under  assur- 


1861]  PROTESTS  AGAINST  HOSTILE  POLICY.  281 

ances  that  notice  should  be  given  of  any  military  movement.  The 
notice  was  not  addressed  to  them,  but  a  messenger  was  sent  to 
Charleston  to  give  notice  to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina, 
and  the  notice  was  so  given  at  a  late  hour  on  the  8th  of  April, 
the  eve  of  the  very  day  on  which  the  fleet  might  be  expected  to 
arrive. 

"  That  this  manoeuvre  failed  in  its  purpose  was  not  the  fault 
of  those  who  controlled  it.  A  heavy  tempest  delayed  the  arrival 
of  the  expedition,  and  gave  time  to  the  commander  of  our  forces 
at  Charleston  to  ask  and  receive  instructions  of  the  Govern- 
ment." .  .  . 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Protests  against  the  Conduct  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. — Senator 
Douglas's  Proposition  to  evacuate  the  Forts,  and  Extracts  from  his  Speech  in 
Support  of  it. — General  Scott's  Advice. — Manly  Letter  of  Major  Anderson,  pro- 
testing against  the  Action  of  the  Federal  Government. — Misstatements  of  the 
Count  of  Paris. — Correspondence  relative  to  Proposed  Evacuation  of  the  Fort. — 
A  Crisis. 

The  course  pursued  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  with  regard  to  the  forts  had  not  passed  without  earnest 
remonstrance  from  the  most  intelligent  and  patriotic  of  its  own 
friends  during  the  period  of  the  events  wThich  constitute  the 
subject  of  the  preceding  chapter.  In  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  which  continued  in.  executive  session  for  several  weeks 
after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  was  the  subject  of  dis- 
cussion. Mr.  Douglas,  of  Illinois — who  was  certainly  not  sus- 
pected of  sympathy  with  secession,  or  lack  of  devotion  to  the 
Union — on  the  15th  of  March  offered  a  resolution  recommend- 
ing the  withdrawal  of  the  garrisons  from  all  forts  within  the 
limits  of  the  States  which  had  seceded,  except  those  at  Key 
West  and  the  Dry  Tortugas.  In  support  of  this  resolution  he 
said: 

"  We  certainly  can  not  justify  the  holding  of  forts  there,  much 
less  the  recapturing  of  those  which  have  been  taken,  unless  we  in- 
tend to  reduce  those  States  themselves  into  subjection.     I  take  it 


282      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

for  granted,  no  man  will  deny  the  proposition,  that  whoever  perma- 
nently holds  Charleston  and  South  Carolina  is  entitled  to  the  pos- 
session of  Fort  Sumter.  Whoever  permanently  holds  Pensacola  and 
Florida  is  entitled  to  the  possession  of  Fort  Pickens.  Whoever  holds 
the  States  in  whose  limits  those  forts  are  placed  is  entitled  to  the 
forts  themselves,  unless  there  is  something  peculiar  in  the  location 
of  some  particular  fort  that  makes  it  important  for  us  to  hold  it 
for  the  general  defense  of  the  whole  country,  its  commerce  and 
interests,  instead  of  being  useful  only  for  the  defense  of  a  particu- 
lar city  or  locality.  It  is  true  that  Forts  Taylor  and  Jefferson,  at 
Key  West  and  Tortugas,  are  so  situated  as  to  be  essentially  na- 
tional, and  therefore  important  to  us  without  reference  to  our 
relations  with  the  seceded  States.  Not  so  with  Moultrie,  Johnson, 
Castle  Pinckney,  and  Sumter,  in  Charleston  Harbor  ;  not  so  with 
Pulaski,  on  the  Savannah  River  ;  not  so  with  Morgan  and  other 
forts  in  Alabama  ;  not  so  with  those  other  forts  that  were  intended 
to  guard  the  entrance  of  a  particular  harbor  for  local  defense.  .  .  . 
"  We  can  not  deny  that  there  is  a  Southern  Confederacy,  de 
facto,  in  existence,  with  its  capital  at  Montgomery.  We  may  re- 
gret it.  I  regret  it  most  profoundly  ;  but  I  can  not  deny  the  truth 
of  the  fact,  painful  and  mortifying  as  it  is.  ...  I  proclaim  boldly 
the  policy  of  those  with  whom  I  act.     We  are  for  peace." 

Mr.  Douglas,  in  urging  the  maintenance  of  peace  as  a  motive 
for  the  evacuation  of  the  forts,  was  no  doubt  aware  of  the  full 
force  of  his  words.  He  knew  that  their  continued  occupation 
was  virtually  a  declaration  of  war. 

The  General-in-Chief  of  the  United  States  Army,  also,  it  is 
well  known,  urgently  advised  the  evacuation  of  the  forts.  But 
the  most  striking  protest  against  the  coercive  measures  finally 
adopted  was  that  of  Major  Anderson  himself.  The  letter  in 
which  his  views  were  expressed  has  been  carefully  suppressed 
in  the  partisan  narratives  of  that  period  and  wellnigh  lost  sight 
of,  although  it  does  the  highest  honor  to  his  patriotism  and  in- 
tegrity. It  was  written  on  the  same  day  on  which  the  announce- 
ment was  made  to  Governor  Pickens  of  the  purpose  of  the 
United  States  Government  to  send  supplies  to  the  fort,  and  is 
worthy  of  reproduction  here  :  * 

*  See  "The  Record  of  Fort  Sumter,"  p.  37. 


1861]  MANLY  REPUGNANCE.  283 

[Letter  of  Major  Anderson,  United  States  Army,  protesting  against  Fox's 
Plan  for  relieving  Fort  Sumter.] 

"Fort  Sumter,  S.  C,  April  8,  1861. 

"  To  Colonel  L.  Thomas,  Adjutant-  General  United  States  Army. 

"Colonel  :  .1  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the  resumption  of 
work  yesterday  (Sunday)  at  various  points  on  Morris  Island,  and 
the  vigorous  prosecution  of  it  this  morning,  apparently  strength- 
ening all  the  batteries  which  are  under  the  fire  of  our  guns,  shows 
that  they  either  have  just  received  some  news  from  Washington 
which  has  put  them  on  the  qui  vive,  or  that  they  have  received 
orders  from  Montgomery  to  commence  operations  here.  I  am  pre- 
paring, by  the  side  of  my  barbette  guns,  protection  for  our  men 
from  the  shells  which  will  be  almost  continually  bursting  over  or 
in  our  work. 

"  I  had  the  honor  to  receive,  by  yesterday's  mail,  the  letter  of 
the  Honorable  Secretary  of  War,  dated  April  4th,  and  confess 
that  what  he  there  states  surprises  me  very  greatly — following,  as 
it  does,  and  contradicting  so  positively,  the  assurance  Mr.  Crawford 
telegraphed  he  was  '  authorized 5  to  make.  I  trust  that  this  mat- 
ter will  be  at  once  put  in  a  correct  light,  as  a  movement  made  now, 
when  the  South  has  been  erroneously  informed  that  none  such 
would  be  attempted,  would  produce  most  disastrous  results  through- 
out our  country.  It  is,  of  course,  now  too  late  for  me  to  give  any 
advice  in  reference  to  the  proposed  scheme  of  Captain  Fox.  I  fear 
that  its  result  can  not  fail  to  be  disastrous  to  all  concerned.  Even 
with  his  boat  at  our  walls,  the  loss  of  life  (as  I  think  I  mentioned 
to  Mr.  Fox)  in  unloading  her  will  more  than  pay  for  the  good  to 
be  accomplished  by  the  expedition,  which  keeps  us,  if  I  can  main- 
tain possession  of  this  work,'  out  of  position,  surrounded  by  strong 
works  which  must  be  carried  to  make  this  fort  of  the  least  value 
to  the  United  States  Government. 

"  We  have  not  oil  enough  to  keep  a  light  in  the  lantern  for 
one  night.  The  boats  will  have  to,  therefore,  rely  at  night  entirely 
upon  other  marks.  I  ought  to  have  been  informed  that  this  expe- 
dition was  to  come.  Colonel  Lamon's  remark  convinced  me  that 
the  idea,  merely  hinted  at  to  me  by  Captain  Fox,  would  not  be  car- 
ried out.* 

*  The  Count  of  Paris  libels  the  memory  of  Major  Anderson,  and  perverts  the 
truth  of  history  in  this,  as  he  has  done  in  other  particulars,  by  saying,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  visit  of  Captain  Fox  to  the  fort,  that,  "  having  visited  Anderson  at  Fort 


£84      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  We  shall  strive  to  do  our  duty,  though  I  frankly  say  that  my 
heart  is  not  in  this  war,  which  I  see  is  to  be  thus  commenced. 
That  God  will  still  avert  it,  and  cause  us  to  resort  to  pacific  means 
to  maintain  our  rights,  is  my  ardent  prayer  ! 
"  I  am,  Colonel,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"Robert  Anderson, 
"  Major  1st  Artillery,  commanding." 

This  frank  and  manly  letter,  although  written  with  the  re- 
serve necessarily  belonging  to  a  communication  from  an  officer 
to  his  military  superiors,  expressing  dissatisfaction  with  orders, 
fully  vindicates  Major  Anderson  from  all  suspicion  of  com- 
plicity or  sympathy  with  the  bad  faith  of  the  Government 
which  he  was  serving.  It  accords  entirely  with  the  sentiments 
expressed  in  his  private  letter  to  me,  already  mentioned  as  lost 
or  stolen,  and  exhibits  him  in  the  attitude  of  faithful  perform- 
ance of  a  duty  inconsistent  with  his  domestic  ties  and  repugnant 
to  his  patriotism. 

The  "relief  squadron,"  as  with  unconscious  irony  it  was 
termed,  was  already  under  way  for  Charleston,  consisting, 
according  to  their  own  statement,  of  eight  vessels,  carrying 
twenty-six  guns  and  about  fourteen  hundred  men,  including 
the  troops  sent  for  reenf  or  cement  of  the  garrison. 

These  facts  became  known  to  the  Confederate  Government, 
and  it  was  obvious  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  preparing  for, 
and  if  possible  anticipating  the  impending  assault.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  instructions  given  General  Beauregard  in  this  emer- 
gency may  be  inferred  from  the  ensuing  correspondence,  which 
is  here  reproduced  from  contemporary  publications  : 

"  Charleston,  April  8th. 
"  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War. 

"An  authorized  messenger   from  President  Lincoln  just  in- 

Sumter,  a  plan  had  been  agreed  upon  between  them  for  revictualing  the  garrison." — 
("  Civil  War  in  America,"  authorized  translation,  vol.  i,  chap,  iv,  p.  137.)  Fox  him- 
self says,  in  his  published  letter,  "  I  made  no  arrangements  with  Major  Anderson 
for  supplying  the  fort,  nor  did  I  inform  him  of  my  plan  "  ;  and  Major  Anderson,  in 
the  letter  above,  says  the  idea  had  been  "  merely  hinted  at  "  by  Captain  Fox,  and 
that  Colonel  Lamon  had  led  him  to  believe  that  it  had  been  abandoned. 


1861]  FORT  SUMTER  DEMANDED.  285 

formed  Governor  Pickens  and  myself  that  provisions  will  be  sent 
to  Fort  Sumter  peaceably,  or  otherwise  by  force. 

"G.  T.  Beauregard." 

"  Montgomery,  10th. 
"  General  G.  T.  Beauregard,  Charleston. 

"If  you  have  no  doubt  of  the  authorized  character  of  the 
agent  who  communicated  to  you  the  intention  of  the  Washington 
Government  to  supply  Fort  Sumter  by  force,  you  will  at  once  de- 
mand its  evacuation,  and,  if  this  is  refused,  proceed,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  you  may  determine,  to  reduce  it.     Answer. 

"  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War." 

"  Charleston,  April  10th. 
"  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War. 

"  The  demand  will  be  made  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock. 

"  G.  T.  Beauregard." 

"  Montgomery,  April  10th. 
"  General  Beauregard,  Charleston. 

"Unless  there  are  especial  reasons  connected  with  your  own 

condition,  it  is  considered  proper  that  you  should  make  the  demand 

at  an  early  hour. 

"L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War." 

"  Charleston,  April  10th. 
"L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War,  Monty  ornery. 
"  The  reasons  are  special  for  twelve  o'clock. 

"  G.  T.  Beauregard." 

"  Headquarters  Provisional  Army,  C.  S.  A., 
"  Charleston,  S.  C,  April  11,  1861,  2  p.  m. 

"  Sir  :  The  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  has  hitherto 
forborne  from  any  hostile  demonstration  against  Fort  Sumter,  in 
the  hope  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  with  a  view 
to  the  amicable  adjustment  of  all  questions  between  the  two  Gov- 
ernments, and  to  avert  the  calamities  of  war,  would  voluntarily 
evacuate  it.  There  was  reason  at  one  time  to  believe  that  such 
would  be  the  course  pursued  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  ;  and,  under  that  impression,  my  Government  has  refrained 
from  making  any  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  fort. 


286      RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"But  the  Confederate  States  can  no  longer  delay  assuming 
actual  possession  of  a  fortification  commanding  the  entrance 
of  one  of  their  harbors,  and  necessary  to  its  defense  and  se- 
curity. 

"  I  am  ordered  by  the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States 
to  demand  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter.  My  aides,  Colonel 
Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee,  are  authorized  to  make  such  demand  of 
you.  All  proper  facilities  will  be  afforded  for  the  removal  of 
yourself  and  command,  together  with  company  arms  and  property, 
and  all  private  property,  to  any  post  in  the  United  States  which 
you  may  elect.  The  flag  which  you  have  upheld  so  long  and  with 
so  much  fortitude,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  may  be 
saluted  by  you  on  taking  it  down. 

"  Colonel  Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee  will,  for  a  reasonable  time, 
await  your  answer. 

"  I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"G.  T.  Beauregard, 

"  Brigadier-  General  commanding. 
"Major  Robert  Anderson, 

"  Commanding  at  Fort  Sumter,  Charleston  Harbor ,  S.  C." 

"  Headquarters  Fort  Sumter,  S.  C,  April  11,  1861. 
"  General  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  communication  demanding  the  evacuation  of  this  fort ;  and 
to  say  in  reply  thereto  that  it  is  a  demand  with  which  I  regret 
that  my  sense  of  honor  and  of  my  obligations  to  my  Government 
prevents  my  compliance. 

"  Thanking  you  for  the  fair,  manly,  and  courteous  terms  pro- 
posed, and  for  the  high  compliment  paid  me, 

"  I  am,  General,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"Robert  Anderson, 
"Major  TT.  S.  Army,  commanding. 
"  To  Brigadier-General  G.  T.  Beauregard, 

"  Commanding  Provisional  Army,  C.  8.  A.n 

"  Montgomery,  April  llih. 
"  General  Beauregard,  Charleston. 

"We  do  not  desire  needlessly  to  bombard  Fort  Sumter,  if 
Major  Anderson  will  state  the  time  at  which,  as  indicated  by  him, 
he  will  evacuate,  and  agree  that,  in  the  mean  time,  he  will  not  use 
his  guns  against  us,  unless  ours  should  be  employed  against  Fort 


1861]  UNACCEPTABLE  CONDITIONS.  287 

Sumter.  You  are  thus  to  avoid  the  effusion  of  blood.  If  this  or 
its  equivalent  be  refused,  reduce  the  fort  as  your  judgment  decides 
to  be  most  practicable. 

"  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War." 

at 

"  Headquarters  Provisional  Army,  C.  S.  A., 
"  Charleston,  April  11,  1861,  11  p.  m. 

"  Major  :  In  consequence  of  the  verbal  observations  made  by 
you  to  my  aides,  Messrs.  Chesnut  and  Lee,  in  relation  to  the  con- 
dition of  your  supplies,  and  that  you  would  in  a  few  days  be 
starved  out  if  our  guns  did  not  batter  you  to  pieces — or  words  to 
that  effect — and  desiring  no  useless  effusion  of  blood,  I  communi- 
cated both  the  verbal  observation  and  your  written  answer  to  my 
Government. 

"  If  you  will  state  the  time  at  which  you  will  evacuate  Fort 
Sumter,  and  agree  that  in  the  mean  time  you  will  not  use  your 
guns  against  us,  unless  ours  shall  be  employed  against  Fort  Sum- 
ter, we  will  abstain  from  opening  fire  upon  you.  Colonel  Ches- 
nut and  Captain  Lee  are  authorized  by  me  to  enter  into  such  an 
agreement  with  you.  You  are  therefore  requested  to  communi- 
cate to  them  an  open  answer. 

"  I  remain,  Major,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"G.  T.  Beauregard, 

"  Brigadier-  General  commanding, 
"  Major  Robert  Anderson, 

u  Commanding  at  Fort  Sumter,  Charleston  Harbor,  8.  C." 

"  Headquarters  Fort  Sumter,  S.  C,  2.30  a.  m.,  April  12, 1861. 
"  General  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  second  communication  of  the  11th  instant,  by  Colonel  Ches- 
nut, and  to  state,  in  reply,  that,  cordially  uniting  with  you  in  the 
desire  to  avoid  the  useless  effusion  of  blood,  I  will,  if  provided 
with  the  proper  and  necessary  means  of  transportation,  evacuate 
Fort  Sumter  by  noon  on  the  15th  instant,  should  I  not  receive, 
prior  to  that  time,  controlling  instructions  from  my  Government, 
or  additional  supplies  ;  and  that  I  will  not,  in  the  mean  time,  open 
my  fire  upon  your  forces  unless  compelled  to  do  so  by  some  hostile 
act  against  this  fort,  or  the  flag  of  my  Government,  by  the  forces 
under  your  command,  or  by  some  portion  of  them,  or  by  the  per- 


288      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

petration  of  some  act  showing  a  hostile  intention  on  your  part 
against  this  fort  or  the  flag  it  bears. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  General, 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"Robert  Anderson, 
"Major  IT.  S.  Army,  commanding. 
"  To  Brigadier-General  G.  T.  Beauregard, 

"  Commanding  Provisional  Army,  C.  S.  A." 

"  Fort  Sumter,  S.  C,  April  12,  1861,  3.20  a.  m. 
"  Sir  :  By  authority  of  Brigadier-General  Beauregard,  com- 
manding the  provisional  forces  of  the  Confederate  States,  we  have 
the  honor  to  notify  you  that  he  will  open  the  fire  of  his  batteries 
on  Fort  Sumter  in  one  hour  from  this  time. 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servants, 

"James  Chesnut,  Jr., 

"  Aide-de-camp. 
"Stephen  D.  Lee, 
"  Captain  8.  C.  Army,  and  Aide-de-camp. 
"  Major  Robert  Anderson, 

"  United  States  Army,  commanding  Fort  Sumter." 

It  is  essential  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  last  two  letters 
to  give  more  than  a  superficial  attention  to  that  of  Major  Ander- 
son, bearing  in  mind  certain  important  facts  not  referred  to  in 
the  correspondence.  Major  Anderson  had  been  requested  to 
state  the  time  at  which  he  would  evacuate  the  fort,  if  unmo- 
lested, agreeing  in  the  mean  time  not  to  use  his  guns  against 
the  city  and  the  troops  defending  it  unless  Fort  Sumter  should 
be  first  attacked  by  them.  On  these  conditions  General  Beau- 
regard offered  to  refrain  from  opening  fire  upon  him.  In  his 
reply  Major  Anderson  promises  to  evacuate  the  fort  on  the  15th 
of  April,  provided  he  should  not,  before  that  time,  receive 
"controlling  instructions"  or  "additional  supplies"  from  his 
Government.  He  furthermore  offers  to  pledge  himself  not  to 
open  fire  upon  the  Confederates,  unless  in  the  mean  time  com- 
pelled to  do  so  by  some  hostile  act  against  the  fort  or  the  flag 
of  his  Government. 

Inasmuch  as  it  was  known  to  the  Confederate  commander 


7  3,B  J-3 


1861]  REINFORCEMENTS  IN  THE  OFFING.  289 

that  the  "  controlling  instructions "  were  already  issued,  and 
that  the  "  additional  supplies  "  were  momentarily  expected ;  in- 
asmuch, also,  as  any  attempt  to  introduce  the  supplies  would 
compel  the  opening  of  fire  upon  the  vessels  bearing  them  under 
the  flag  of  the  United  States — thereby  releasing  Major  Ander- 
son from  his  pledge — it  is  evident  that  his  conditions  could  not 
be  accepted.  It  would  have  been  merely,  after  the  avowal  of  a 
hostile  determination  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
to  await  an  inevitable  conflict  with  the  guns  of  Fort  Sumter 
and  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  in  combination ;  with 
no  possible  hope  of  averting  it,  unless  in  the  improbable  event 
of  a  delay  of  the  expected  fleet  for  nearly  four  days  longer. 
(In  point  of  fact,  it  arrived  off  the  harbor  on  the  same  day,  but 
was  hindered  by  a  gale  of  wind  from  entering  it.)  There  was 
obviously  no  other  course  to  be  pursued  than  that  announced 
in  the  answer  given  by  General  Beauregard. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  during  the  early  occupation 
of  Fort  Sumter  by  a  garrison  the  attitude  of  which  was  at  least 
offensive,  no  restriction  had  been  put  upon  their  privilege  of 
purchasing  in  Charleston  fresh  provisions,  or  any  delicacies  or 
comforts  not  directly  tending  to  the  supply  of  the  means  need- 
ful to  hold  the  fort  for  an  indefinite  time. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

A  Pause  and  a  Review. — Attitude  of  the  Two  Parties. — Sophistry  exposed  and  Shams 
torn  away. — Forbearance  of  the  Confederate  Government. — Who  was  the  Ag- 
gressor?— Major  Anderson's  View,  and  that  of  a  Naval  Officer. — Mr.  Horace 
Greeley  on  the  Fort  Sumter  Case. — The  Bombardment  and  Surrender. — Gallant 
Action  of  ex-Senator  Wigfall. — Mr.  Lincoln's  Statement  of  the  Case. 

Here,  in  the  brief  hour  immediately  before  the  outburst  of 
the  long-gathering  storm,  although  it  can  hardly  be  necessary 
for  the  reader  who  has  carefully  considered  what  has  already 
been  written,  we  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  contemplate  the 
attitude  of  the  parties  to  the  contest  and  the  grounds  on  which 
they  respectively  stand.  I  do  not  now  refer  to  the  original 
19 


290      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

causes  of  controversy — to  the  comparative  claims  of  Statehood 
and  Union,  or  to  the  question  of  the  right  or  the  wrong  of  seces- 
sion— but  to  the  proximate  and  immediate  causes  of  conflict. 

The  fact  that  South  Carolina  was  a  State — whatever  her 
relations  may  have  been  to  the  other  States — is  not  and  can  not 
be  denied.  It  is  equally  undeniable  that  the  ground  on  which 
Fort  Sumter  was  built  was  ceded  by  South  Carolina  to  the 
United  States  in  trust  for  the  defense  of  her  own  soil  and  her 
own  chief  harbor.  This  has  been  shown,  by  ample  evidence, 
to  have  been  the  principle  governing  all  cessions  by  the  States 
of  sites  for  military  purposes,  but  it  applies  with  special  force 
to  the  case  of  Charleston.  The  streams  flowing  into  that  har- 
bor, from  source  to  mouth,  lie  entirely  within  the  limits  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina.  No  other  State  or  combination  of 
States  could  have  any  distinct  interest  or  concern  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  fortress  at  that  point,  unless  as  a  means  of  aggression 
against  South  Carolina  herself.  The  practical  view  of  the  case 
was  correctly  stated  by  Mr.  Douglas,  when  he  said :  "I  take  it 
for  granted  that  whoever  permanently  holds  Charleston  and 
South  Carolina  is  entitled  to  the  possession  of  Fort  Sumter. 
Whoever  permanently  holds  Pensacola  and  Florida  is  entitled 
to  the  possession  of  Fort  Pickens.  Whoever  holds  the  States 
in  whose  limits  those  forts  are  placed  is  entitled  to  the  forts 
themselves,  unless  there  is  something  peculiar  in  the  location  of 
some  particular  fort  that  makes  it  important  for  us  to  hold  it 
for  the  general  defense  of  the  whole  country,  its  commerce  and 
interests,  instead  of  being  useful  only  for  the  defense  of  a  par- 
ticular city  or  locality." 

No  such  necessity  could  be  alleged  with  regard  to  Fort  Sum- 
ter. The  claim  to  hold  it  as  "  public  property  "  of  the  United 
States  was  utterly  untenable  and  unmeaning,  apart  from  a  claim 
of  coercive  control  over  the  State.  If  South  Carolina  was  a 
mere  province,  in  a  state  of  open  rebellion,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  had  a  right  to  retain  its  hold  of  any  fortified 
place  within  her  limits  which  happened  to  be  in  its  possession, 
and  it  would  have  had  an  equal  right  to  acquire  possession  of 
any  other.  It  would  have  had  the  same  right  to  send  an  army 
to  Columbia  to  batter  down  the  walls  of  the  State  Capitol.    The 


1861]  SUBJECT  PROVINCE   OR  SOVEREIGN  STATE.  291 

subject  may  at  once  be  stripped  of  the  sophistry  which  would 
make  a  distinction  between  the  two  cases.  The  one  was  as 
really  an  act  of  war  as  the  other  would  have  been.  The  right 
or  the  wrong  of  either  depended  entirely  upon  the  question  of 
the  rightful  power  of  the  Federal  Government  to  coerce  a  State 
into  submission — a  power  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  unani- 
mously rejected  in  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
and  which  was  still  unrecognized  by  many,  perhaps  by  a  major- 
ity, even  of  those  who  denied  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede. 

If  there  existed  any  hope  or  desire  for  a  peaceful  settlement 
of  the  questions  at  issue  between  the  States,  either  party  had  a 
right  to  demand  that,  pending  such  settlement,  there  should  be 
no  hostile  grasp  upon  its  throat.  This  grip  had  been  held  on 
the  throat  of  South  Carolina  for  almost  four  months  from  the 
period  of  her  secession,  and  no  forcible  resistance  to  it  had  yet 
been  made.  Remonstrances  and  patient,  persistent,  and  reiter- 
ated attempts  at  negotiation  for  its  removal  had  been  made 
with  two  successive  Administrations  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States — at  first  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  by 
the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  after  its  formation. 
These  efforts  had  been  met,  not  by  an  open  avowal  of-  coer- 
cive purposes,  but  by  evasion,  prevarication,  and  perfidy.  The 
agreement  of  one  Administration  to  maintain  the  status  quo 
at  the  time  when  the  question  arose,  was  violated  in  December 
by  the  removal  of  the  garrison  from  its  original  position  to  thev 
occupancy  of  a  stronger.  Another  attempt  was  made  to  vio-: 
late  it,  in  January,  by  the  introduction  of  troops  concealed 
below  the  deck  of  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West,*  but  this  was 
thwarted  by  the  vigilance  of  the  State  service.  The  protracted 
course  of  fraud  and  prevarication  practiced  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  Ad- 
ministration in  the  months  of  March  and  April  has  been  fully 
exhibited.  It  was  evident  that  no  confidence  whatever  could 
be  reposed  in  any  pledge  or  promise  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment as  then  administered.     Yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  no 

*  See  the  report  of  her  commander,  Captain  McGowan,  who  says  he  took  on 
board,  in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  four  officers  and  two  hundred  soldiers.  Arriving 
off  Charleston,  he  says,  uTlic  soldiers  were  now  all  put  below,  and  no  one  allowed  on 
deck  except  our  own  crew." 


292      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

resistance,  other  than  that  of  pacific  protest  and  appeals  for  an 
equitable  settlement,  was  made,  until  after  the  avowal  of  a  pur- 
pose of  coercion,  and  when  it  was  known  that  a  hostile  fleet  was 
on  the  way  to  support  and  enforce  it.  At  the  very  moment 
when  the  Confederate  commander  gave  the  final  notice  to  Major 
Anderson  of  his  purpose  to  open  fire  upon  the  fort,  that  fleet 
was  lying  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  hindered  from  en- 
tering only  by  a  gale  of  wind. 

The  forbearance  of  the  Confederate  Government,  under  the 
circumstances,  is  perhaps  unexampled  in  history.  It  was  carried 
to  the  extreme  verge,  short  of  a  disregard  of  the  safety  of  the 
people  who  had  intrusted  to  that  government  the  duty  of  their 
defense  against  their  enemies.  The  attempt  to  represent  us  as 
the  aggressors  in  the  conflict  which  ensued  is  as  unfounded  as 
the  complaint  made  by  the  wolf  against  the  lamb  in  the  famil- 
iar fable.  He  who  makes  the  assault  is  not  necessarily  he  that 
strikes  the  first  blow  or  fires  the  first  gun.  To  have  awaited 
further  strengthening  of  their  position  by  land  and  naval  forces, 
with  hostile  purpose  now  declared,  for  the  sake  of  having  them 
"  fire  the  first  gun,"  would  have  been  as  unwise  as  it  would  be 
to  hesitate  to  strike  down  the  arm  of  the  assailant,  who  levels  a 
deadly  weapon  at  one's  breast,  'Until  he  has  actually  fired.  The 
disingenuous  rant  of  demagogues  about  "firing  on  the  flag" 
might  serve  to  rouse  the  passions  of  insensate  mobs  in  times  of 
general  excitement,  but  will  be  impotent  in  impartial  history  to 
relieve  the  Federal  Government  from  the  responsibility  of  the 
assault  made  by  sending  a  hostile  fleet  against  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  to  cooperate  with  the  menacing  garrison  of  Fort 
Sumter.  After  the  assault  was  made  by  the  hostile  descent  of 
the  fleet,  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  was  a  measure  of  de- 
fense rendered  absolutely  and  immediately  necessary. 

Such  clearly  was  the  idea  of  the  commander  of  the  Pawnee, 
when  he  declined,  as  Captain  Fox  informs  us,  without  orders 
from  a  superior,  to  make  any  effort  to  enter  the  harbor,  "  there 
to  inaugurate  civil  war."  The  straightforward  simplicity  of  the 
sailor  had  not  been  perverted  by  the  shams  of  political  soph- 
istry. Even  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  with  all  his  extreme  partisan 
feeling,  is  obliged  to  admit  that,  "  whether  the  bombardment 


1861]  REDUCTION   OF  FORT  SUMTER.  293 

and  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  shall  or  shall  not  be  justified  by 
posterity,  it  is  clear  that  the  Confederacy  had  no  alternative  but 
its  owri  dissolution."  * 

According  to  the  notice  given  by  General  Beauregard,  fire 
was  opened  upon  Fort  Sumter,  from  the  various  batteries  which 
had  been  erected  around  the  harbor,  at  half-past  four  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  12th  of  April,  1861.  The  fort 
soon  responded.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  give 
minute  details  of  the  military  operation,  as  the  events  of  the 
bombardment  have  been  often  related,  and  are  generally  well 
known,  with  no  material  discrepancy  in  matters  of  fact  among 
the  statements  of  the  various  participants.  It  is  enough,  there- 
fore, to  add  that  the  bombardment  continued  for  about  thirty- 
three  or  thirty-four  hours.  The  fort  was  eventually  set  on  fire 
by  shells,  after  having  been  partly  destroyed  by  shot,  and  Major 
Anderson,  after  a  resolute  defense,  finally  surrendered  on  the 
13th — the  same  terms  being  accorded  to  him  which  had  been  of- 
fered two  days  before.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact — probably  with- 
out precedent  in  the  annals  of  war — that,  notwithstanding  the 
extent  and  magnitude  of  the  engagement,  the  number  and  cali- 
ber of  the  guns,  and  the  amount  of  damage  done  to  inanimate 
material  on  both  sides,  especially  to  Fort  Sumter,  nobody  was 
injured  on  either  side  by  the  bombardment.  The  only  casu- 
alty attendant  upon  the  affair  was  the  death  of  one  man  and  the 
wounding  of  several  others  by  the  explosion  of  a  gun  in  the 
firing  of  a  salute  to  their  flag  by  the  garrison  on  evacuating  the 
fort  the  day  after  the  surrender. 

A  striking  incident  marked  the  close  of  the  bombardment. 
Ex-Senator  Louis  T.  "Wigfall,  of  Texas— a  man  as  generous  as 
he  was  recklessly  brave — when  he  saw  the  fort  on  fire,  supposing 
the  garrison  to  be  hopelessly  struggling  for  the  honor  of  its  flag, 
voluntarily  and  without  authority,  went  under  fire  in  an  open 
boat  to  the  fort,  and  climbing  through  one  of  its  embrasures 
asked  for  Major  Anderson,  and  insisted  that  he  should  surren- 
der a  fort  which  it  was  palpably  impossible  that  he  could  hold. 
Major  Anderson  agreed  to  surrender  on  the  same  terms  and 
conditions  that  had  been  offered  him  before  his  works  were  bat- 

*  "  American  Conflict,"  vol.  i,  chap,  xxix,  p.  449. 


29-i      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

tered  in  breach,  and  the  agreement  between  them  to  that  effect 
was  promptly  ratified  by  the  Confederate  commander.  Thus 
unofficially  was  inaugurated  the  surrender  and  evacuation  of 
the  fort. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  message  of  July 
4, 1861,  to  the  Federal  Congress  convened  in  extra  session,  said : 

"  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  assault  upon  and  reduction  of  Fort 
Sumter  was  in  no  sense  a  matter  of  self-defense  on  the  part  of 
the  assailants.  They  well  knew  that  the  garrison  in  the  fort  could 
by  no  possibility  commit  aggression  upon  them.  They  knew — 
they  were  expressly  notified — that  the  giving  of  bread  to  the  few 
brave  and  hungry  men  of  the  garrison  was  all  which  would  on 
that  occasion  be  attempted,  unless  themselves,  by  resisting  so 
much,  should  provoke  more." 

Mr.  Lincoln  well  knew  that,  if  the  brave  men  of  the  garrison 
were  hungry,  they  had  only  him  and  his  trusted  advisers  to  thank 
for  it.  They  had  been  kept  for  months  in  a  place  where  they 
ought  not  to  have  been,  contrary  to  the  judgment  of  the  Gen- 
eral-in-Chief of  his  army,  contrary  to  the  counsels  of  the  wisest 
statesmen  in  his  confidence,  and  the  protests  of  the  commander 
of  the  garrison.  A  word  from  him  would  have  relieved  them 
at  any  moment  in  the  manner  most  acceptable  to  them  and  most 
promotive  of  peaceful  results. 

But,  suppose  the  Confederate  authorities  had  been  disposed 
to  yield,  and  to  consent  to  the  introduction  of  supplies  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  garrison,  what  assurance  would  they  have 
had  that  nothing  further  would  be  attempted  ?  What  reliance 
could  be  placed  in  any  assurances  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  after  the  experience  of  the  attempted  ruse  of  the 
Star  of  the  "West  and  the  deceptions  practiced  upon  the  Con- 
federate Commissioners  in  Washington  %  He  says  we  were  "  ex- 
pressly notified  "  that  nothing  more  "  would  on  that  occasion  be 
attempted  "—the  words  in  italics  themselves  constituting  a  very 
significant  though  unobtrusive  and  innocent-looking  limitation. 
But  we  had  been  just  as  expressly  notified,  long  before,  that  the 
garrison  would  be  withdrawn.  It  would  be  as  easy  to  violate 
the  one  pledge  as  it  had  been  to  break  the  other. 


1861]  THE  SO-CALLED  NOTIFICATION.  295 

Moreover,  the  so-called  notification  was  a  mere  memorandum, 
without  date,  signature,  or  authentication  of  any  kind,  sent  to 
Governor  Pickens,  not  by  an  accredited  agent,  but  by  a  sub- 
ordinate employee  of  the  State  Department.  Like  the  oral  and 
written  pledges  of  Mr.  Seward,  given  through  Judge  Campbell, 
it  seemed  to  be  carefully  and  purposely  divested  of  every  attri- 
bute that  could  make  it  binding  and  valid,  in  case  its  authors 
should  see  fit  to  repudiate  it.  It  was  as  empty  and  worthless  as 
the  complaint  against  the  Confederate  Government  based  upon 
it,  is  disingenuous. 


PAET    IV 

THE     WAR. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Failure  of  the  Peace  Congress. — Treatment  of  the  Commissioners. — Their  With- 
drawal.— Notice  of  an  Armed  Expedition. — Action  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment.— Bombardment  and  Surrender  of  Fort  Sumter. — Its  Reduction  required 
by  the  Exigency  of  the  Case. — Disguise  thrown  off. — President  Lincoln's  Call 
for  Seventy-five  Thousand  Men. — His  Fiction  of  "Combinations." — Palpable 
Violation  of  the  Constitution. — Action  of  Virginia. — Of  Citizens  of  Baltimore. — 
The  Charge  of  Precipitation  against  South  Carolina. — Action  of  the  Confederate 
Government. — The  Universal  Feeling. 

The  Congress,  initiated  by  Virginia  for  the  laudable  pur- 
pose of  endeavoring,  by  constitutional  means,  to  adjust  all  the 
issues  which  threatened  the  peace  of  the  country,  failed  to 
achieve  anything  that  would  cause  or  justify  a  reconsideration 
by  the  seceded  States  of  their  action  to  reclaim  the  grants  they 
had  made  to  the  General  Government,  and  to  maintain  for  them- 
selves a  separate  and  independent  existence. 

The  Commissioners  sent  by  the  Confederate  Government, 
after  having  been  shamefully  deceived,  as  has  been  heretofore 
fully  set  forth,  left  the  United  States  capital  to  report  the 
result  of  their  mission  to  the  Confederate  Government. 

The  notice  received,  that  an  armed  expedition  had  sailed  for 
operations  against  the  State  of  South  Carolina  in  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  induced  the  Confederate  Government  to  meet,  as 
best  it  might,  this  assault,  in  the  discharge  of  its  obligation  to 
defend  each  State  of  the  Confederacy.  To  this  end  the  bom- 
bardment of  the  formidable  work,  Fort  Sumter,  was  com- 
menced, in  anticipation  of  the  reenforcement  which  was  then 


1861]  THE  FARCE  OF  "COMBINATIONS."  297 

moving  to  unite  with  its  garrison  for  hostilities  against  South 
Carolina. 

The  bloodless  bombardment  and  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter 
occurred  on  April  13,  1861.  The  garrison  was  generously  per- 
mitted to  retire  with  the  honors  of  war.  The  evacuation  of 
that  fort,  commanding  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Charleston, 
which,  if  in  hostile  hands,  was  destructive  of  its  commerce,  had 
been  claimed  as  the  right  of  South  Carolina.  The  voluntary 
withdrawal  of  the  garrison  by  the  United  States  Government 
had  been  considered,  and  those  best  qualified  to  judge  believed 
it  had  been  promised.  Yet,  when  instead  of  the  fulfillment  of 
just  expectations,  instead  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  garrison,  a 
hostile  expedition  was  organized  and  sent  forward,  the  urgency 
of  the  case  required  its  reduction  before  it  should  be  reenf orced. 
Had  there  been  delay,  the  more  serious  conflict  between  larger 
forces,  land  and  naval,  would  scarcely  have  been  bloodless,  as 
the  bombardment  fortunately  was.  The  event,  however,  was 
seized  upon  to  inflame  the  mind  of  the  Northern  people,  and 
the  disguise  which  had  been  worn  in  the  communications  with 
the  Confederate  Commissioners  was  now  thrown  off,  and  it  was 
cunningly  attempted  to  show  that  the  South,  which  had  been 
pleading  for  peace  and  still  stood  on  the  defensive,  had  by  this 
bombardment  inaugurated  a  war  against  the  United  States. 
But  it  should  be  stated  that  the  threats  implied  in  the  declara- 
tions that  the  Union  could  not  exist  part  slave  and  part  free, 
and  that  the  Union  should  be  preserved,  and  the  denial  of  the 
right  of  a  State  peaceably  to  withdraw,  were  virtually  a  decla- 
ration of  war,  and  the  sending  of  an  army  and  navy  to  attack 
was  the  result  to  have  been  anticipated  as  the  consequence  of 
such  declaration  of  war. 

On  the  15th  day  of  the  same  month,  President  Lincoln, 
introducing  his  farce  "  of  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings," 
called  forth  the  military  of  the  several  States  to  the  number 
of  seventy-five  thousand,  and  commanded  "the  persons  compos- 
ing the  combinations  "  to  disperse,  etc.  It  can  but  surprise  any 
one  in  the  least  degree  conversant  with  the  history  of  the 
Union,  to  find  States  referred  to  as  "  persons  composing  com- 


298      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

binations,"  and  that  the  sovereign  creators  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, the  States  of  the  Union,  should  be  commanded  by 
their  agent  to  disperse.  The  levy  of  so  large  an  army  could 
only  mean  war ;  but  the  power  to  declare  war  did  not  reside  in 
the  President — it  was  delegated  to  the  Congress  only.  If,  how- 
ever, it  had  been  a  riotous  combination  or  an  insurrection,  it 
must  have  been,  according  to  the  Constitution,  against  the  State ; 
and  the  power  of  the  President  to  call  forth  the  militia  to  sup- 
press it,  was  dependent  upon  an  application  from  the  State  for 
that  purpose ;  it  could  not  precede  such  application,  and  still 
less  could  it  be  rightfully  exercised  against  the  will  of  a  State. 
The  authorities  on  this  subject  have  been  heretofore  cited,  and 
need  not  be  referred  to  again. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that,  by  section  4,  Article  IY,  of  the  Consti- 
tution, the  United  States  are  bound  to  protect  each  State  against 
invasion  and  against  domestic  violence,  whenever  application 
shall  have  been  made  by  the  Legislature,  or  by  the  Executive 
when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened ;  and  that  to  fail  to 
give  protection  against  any  invasion  whatsoever  would  be  a 
dereliction  of  duty.  To  add  that  there  could  be  no  justification 
for  the  invasion  of  a  State  by  an  army  of  the  United  States,  is 
but  to  repeat  what  has  been  said,  on  the  absence  of  any  author- 
ity in  the  General  Government  to  coerce  a  State.  In  any  pos- 
sible view  of  the  case,  therefore,  the  conclusion  must  be,  that 
the  calling  on  some  of  the  States  for  seventy-five  thousand  mi- 
Jitia  to  invade  other  States  which  were  asserted  to  be  still  in  the 
Union,  was  a  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  the 
usurpation  of  undelegated  power,  or,  in  other  words,  of  power 
reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people. 

It  might,  therefore,  have  been  anticipated  that  Virginia — 
one  of  whose  sons  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  an- 
other of  whose  sons  led  the  armies  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Re  volution  which  achieved  their  independence,  and  another  of 
whose  sons  mainly  contributed  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Union — would  not  have  been  slow,  in  the  face  of 
such  events,  to  reclaim  the  grants  she  had  made  to  the  General 
Government,  and  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  to  the  establish- 
ment of  which  she  had  so  largely  contributed. 


1861]  THE  COMMON  CAUSE  WITH  THEM.  299 

Two  days  had  elapsed  between  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter and  the  proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  calling  for  seven- 
ty-five thousand  militia  as  before  stated.  Two  other  days  elapsed, 
and  Yirginia  passed  her  ordinance  of  secession,  and  two  days 
thereafter  the  citizens  of  Baltimore  resisted  the  passage  of  troops 
through  that  city  on  their  way  to  make  war  upon  the  Southern 
States.  Thus  rapidly  did  the  current  of  events  bear  us  onward 
from  peace  to  the  desolating  war  which  was  soon  to  ensue. 

The  manly  effort  of  the  unorganized,  unarmed  citizens  of 
Baltimore  to  resist  the  progress  of  armies  for  the  invasion  of 
her  Southern  sisters,  was  worthy  of  the  fair  fame  of  Maryland  ; 
becoming  the  descendants  of  the  men  who  so  gallantly  fought 
for  the  freedom,  independence,  and  sovereignty  of  the  States. 

The  bold  stand,  then  and  thereafter  taken,  extorted  a  prom- 
ise from  the  Executive  authorities  that  no  more  troops  should 
be  sent  through  the  city  of  Baltimore,  which  promise,  however, 
was  only  observed  until,  by  artifice,  power  had  been  gained  to 
disregard  it. 

Yirginia,  as  has  been  heretofore  stated,  passed  her  ordinance 
of  secession  on  the  17th  of  April.  It  was,  however,  subject  to 
ratification  by  the  people  at  an  election  to  be  held  on  the  fourth 
Thursday  of  May.  She  was  in  the  mean  time,  like  her  South- 
ern sisters,  the  object  of  Northern  hostilities,  and,  having  a  com- 
mon cause  with  them,  properly  anticipated  the  election  of  May 
by  forming  an  alliance  with  the  Confederate  States,  which  was 
ratified  by  the  Convention  on  the  25th  of  April. 

The  Convention  for  that  alliance  set  forth  that  Yirginia, 
looking  to  a  speedy  union  with  the  Confederate  States,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  meeting  pressing  exigencies,  agreed  that  "  the 
whole  military  force  and  military  operations,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, of  said  Commonwealth,  in  the  impending  conflict  with 
the  United  States,  shall  be  under  the  chief  control  and  direction 
of  the  President  of  the  said  Confederate  States."  The  whole 
was  made  subject  to  the  approval  and  ratification  of  the  proper 
authorities  of  both  governments  respectively. 

To  those  who  criticise  South  Carolina  as  having  acted  pre- 
cipitately in  withdrawing  from  the  Union,  it  may  be  answered 
that  intervening  occurrences   show  that   her   delay  could  not 


300      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

have  changed  the  result ;  and,  further,  that  her  prompt  action 
had  enabled  her  better  to  prepare  for  the  contingency  which  it 
was  found  impossible  to  avert.  Thus  she  was  prepared  in  the 
first  necessities  of  Virginia  to  send  to  her  troops  organized  and 
equipped. 

Before  the  convention  for  cooperation  with  the  Confederate 
States  had  been  adopted  by  Virginia,  that  knightly  soldier,  Gen- 
eral Bonham,  of  South  Carolina,  went  with  his  brigade  to  Rich- 
mond ;  and,  throughout  the  Southern  States,  there  was  a  pre- 
vailing desire  to  rush  to  Virginia,  where  it  was  foreseen  that  the 
first  great  battles  of  the  war  were  to  be  fought ;  so  that,  as  early 
as  the  22d  of  April,  I  telegraphed  to  Governor  Letcher  that,  in 
addition  to  the  forces  heretofore  ordered,  requisitions  had  been 
made  for  thirteen  regiments,  eight  to  rendezvous  at  Lynchburg, 
four  at  Richmond,  and  one  at  Harper's  Ferry.  Referring  to  an 
application  that  had  been  made  to  him  from  Baltimore,  I  wrote : 
"  Sustain  Baltimore  if  practicable.  We  will  reenforce  you." 
The  universal  feeling  was  that  of  a  common  cause  and  common 
destiny.  There  was  no  selfish  desire  to  linger  around  home,  no 
narrow  purpose  to  separate  local  interests  from  the  common 
welfare.  The  object  was  to  sustain  a  principle — the  broad  prin- 
ciple of  constitutional  liberty,  the  right  of  self-government. 

The  early  demonstrations  of  the  enemy  showed  that  Vir- 
ginia was  liable  to  invasion  from  the  north,  from  the  east,  and 
from  the  west.  Though  the  larger  preparation  indicated  that 
the  most  serious  danger  to  be  apprehended  was  from  the  line  of 
the  Potomac,  the  first  conflicts  occurred  in  the  east. 

The  narrow  peninsula  between  the  James  and  York  Rivers 
had  topographical  features  well  adapted  to  defense.  It.  was  held 
by  General  John  B.  Magruder,  who  skillfully  improved  its  nat- 
ural strength  by  artificial  means,  and  there,  on  the  ground  mem- 
orable as  the  field  of  the  last  battle  of  the  Revolution,  in  which 
General  "Washington  compelled  Lord  Cornwallis  to  surrender, 
Magruder,  with  a  small  force,  held  for  a  long  time  the  superior 
forces  of  the  enemy  in  check. 


1861]  THE  SPIRIT   OF  THE  COMPACT.  301 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Supply  of  Arms  ;  of  Men. — Love  of  the  Union. — Secessionists  few. — Efforts  to 
prevent  the  Final  Step. — Views  of  the  People. — Effect  on  their  Agriculture. — 
Aid  from  African  Servitude. — Answer  to  the  Clamors  on  the  Horrors  of  Slavery. 
— Appointment  of  a  Commissary-General. — His  Character  and  Capacity. — Or- 
ganization, Instruction,  and  Equipment  of  the  Army. — Action  of  Congress. — 
The  Law. — Its  Signification. — The  Hope  of  a  Peaceful  Solution  early  enter- 
tained ;  rapidly  diminished. — Further  Action  of  Congress. — Policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment for  Peace. — Position  of  Officers  of  United  States  Army. — The  Army 
of  the  States,  not  of  the  Government. — The  Confederate  Law  observed  by  the 
Government. — Officers  retiring  from  United  States  Army. — Organization  of 
Bureaus. 

The  question  of  supplying  arms  and  munitions  of  war  was 
the  first  considered,  because  it  was  the  want  for  which  it  was 
the  most  difficult  to  provide.  Of  men  willing  to  engage  in  the 
defense  of  their  country,  there  were  many  more  than  we  could 
arm. 

Though  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  Southern  people 
was  a  cordial  attachment  to  the  Union  as  it  was  formed  by  their 
fathers,  their  love  was  for  the  spirit  of  the  compact,  for  the  lib- 
erties it  was  designed  to  secure,  for  the  self-government  and 
State  sovereignty  which  had  been  won  by  separation  from  the 
mother-country,  and  transmitted  to  them  by  their  Revolutionary 
sires  as  a  legacy  for  their  posterity  for  ever.  The  number  of 
those  who  desired  to  dissolve  the  Union,  even  though  the  Con- 
stitution should  be  faithfully  observed — those  who,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  day,  were  called  "  secessionists^?^  se  " — was  so  small 
as  not  to  be  felt  in  any  popular  decision ;  but  the  number  of 
those  who  held  that  the  States  had  surrendered  their  sovereign- 
ty, and  had  no  right  to  secede  from  the  Union,  was  so  inap- 
preciably small,  if  indeed  any  such  existed,  that  I  can  not  recall 
the  fact  of  a  single  Southern  advocate  of  that  opinion.  The 
assertion  of  the  right  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  a  readiness 
to  exercise  it.  Many  who  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  right,  looked 
upon  its  exercise  with  reluctance  amounting  to  sorrow,  and 
claimed  that  it  should  be  the  last  resort,  only  to  be  adopted  as 


302      RISE  AND  TALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  alternative  to  a  surrender  of  the  equality  in  the  Union  of 
States,  free,  sovereign,  and  independent.  Of  that  class,  forming 
a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  Mississippi,  I  may  speak  with 
the  confidence  of  one  who  belonged  to  it.  Thus,  after  the 
Legislature  of  Mississippi  had  enacted  a  law  for  a  convention 
which,  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the  State,  should  con- 
sider the  propriety  of  passing  an  ordinance  to  reassume  the 
grants  made  to  the  General  Government,  and  withdraw  from 
the  Union,  I,  as  a  United  States  Senator  of  Mississippi,  retained 
my  position  in  the  Senate,  and  sought  "by  every  practicable 
mode  to  obtain  such  measures  as  would  allay  the  excitement 
and  afford  to  the  South  such  security  as  would  prevent  the  final 
step,  the  ordinance  of  secession  from  the  Union. 

When  the  last  hope  of  preserving  the  Union  of  the  Consti- 
tution was  extinguished,  and  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  en- 
acted by  the  Convention  of  Mississippi,  which  was  the  highest 
authority  known  under  our  form  of  government,  the  question 
of  the  expediency  of  adopting  that  remedy  was  no  longer  open 
to  inquiry  by  one  who  acknowledged  his  allegiance  as  due  to 
the  State  of  which  he  was  a  citizen.  To  evade  the  responsibili- 
ties resulting  from  the  decree  of  his  sovereign,  the  people,  would 
be  craven;  to  resist  it  would  be  treason.  The  instincts  and 
affections  of  the  citizens  of  Mississippi  led  them  with  great 
unanimity  to  the  duty  of  maintaining  and  defending  their  State, 
without  pausing  to  ask  what  would  be  the  consequences  of  re- 
fusing obedience  to  its  mandate.  A  like  feeling  pervaded  all  of 
the  seceding  States,  and  it  was  not  only  for  the  military  service, 
but  for  every  service  which  would  strengthen  and  sustain  the 
Confederacy,  that  an  enthusiasm  pervading  all  classes,  sexes,  and 
ages  was  manifested. 

Though  our  agricultural  products  had  been  mainly  for  ex- 
port, insomuch  that  in  the  planting  States  the  necessary  food- 
supplies  were  to  a  considerable  extent  imported  from  the  West, 
and  it  would  require  that  the  habits  of  the  planters  should  be 
changed  from  the  cultivation  of  staples  for  export  to  the  pro- 
duction of  supplies  adequate  for  home  consumption  and  the 
support  of  armies  in  the  field,  yet,  even  under  the  embarrass- 
ments of  war,  this  was  expected,  and  for  a  long  time  the  result 


1861]  PLEA  OF  A  MILITARY   NECESSITY.  303 

justified  the  expectation,  extraordinary  as  it  must  appear  when 
viewed  by  comparison  with  other  people  who  have  been  sub- 
jected to  a  like  ordeal.  Much  of  our  success  was  due  to  the 
much-abused  institution  of  African  servitude,  for  it  enabled 
the  white  men  to  go  into  the  army,  and  leave  the  cultivation 
of  their  fields  and  the  care  of  their  flocks,  as  well  as  of  their 
wives  and  children,  to  those  who,  in  the  language  of  the  Con- 
stitution, were  "  held  to  service  or  labor."  A  passing  remark 
may  here  be  appropriate  as  to  the  answer  thus  afforded  to  the 
clamor  about  the  "  horrors  of  slavery." 

Had  these  Africans  been  a  cruelly  oppressed  people,  restless- 
ly struggling  to  be  freed  from  their  bonds,  would  their  masters 
have  dared  to  leave  them,  as  was  done,  and  would  they  have  re- 
mained as  they  did,  continuing  their  usual  duties,  or  could  the 
proclamation  of  emancipation  have  been  put  on  the  plea  of  a 
military  necessity,  if  the  fact  had  been  that  the  negroes  were 
forced  to  serve,  and  desired  only  an  opportunity  to  rise  against 
their  masters?  It  will  be  remembered  that,  when  the  proc- 
lamation was  issued,  it  was  confessed  by  President  Lincoln  to 
be  a  nullity  beyond  the  limit  within  which  it  could  be  enforced 
by  the  Federal  troops. 

To  direct  the  production,  preservation,  collection,  and  distri- 
bution of  food  for  the  army  required  a  man  of  rare  capacity  and 
character  at  the  head  of  the  subsistence  department.  It  was  our 
good  fortune  to  have  such  an  one  in  Colonel  L.  B.  Northrop,  who 
was  appointed  commissary-general  at  the  organization  of  the 
bureaus  of  the  executive  department  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment. He  had  been  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  had 
served  in  various  parts  of  the  South,  had  been  for  some  time  on 
duty  in  the  commissariat,  and,  to  the  special  and  general  knowl- 
edge thus  acquired,  added  strong  practical  sense  and  incor- 
ruptible integrity.  Of  him  and  the  operations  of  the  subsistence 
department  I  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter,  when  treating 
of  the  bureaus  of  the  Confederacy. 

Assured  of  an  army  as  large  as  the  population  of  the  Con- 
federate States  could  furnish,  and  a  sufficient  supply  of  subsist- 
ence for  such  an  army,  at  least  until  the  chances  of  war  should 
interfere   with  production  and  transportation,  the  immediate 


304      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

object  of  attention  was  the  organization,  instruction,  and  equip- 
ment of  the  army. 

As  heretofore  stated,  there  was  a  prevailing  belief  that  there 
would  be  no  war,  or,  if  any,  that  it  would  be  of  very  short  du- 
ration. Therefore  the  first  bill  which  passed  the  provisional 
Congress  provided  for  receiving  troops  for  short  periods — as  my 
memory  serves,  for  sixty  days.  The  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Military  Affairs,  the  heroic  Colonel  Bartow,  who  sealed 
his  devotion  to  the  cause  with  his  life's  blood  on  the  field  of 
Manassas,  in  deference  to  my  earnest  remonstrance  against  such 
a  policy,  returned  with  the  bill  to  the  House  (the  Congress 
then  consisted  of  but  one  House),  and  procured  a  modification 
by  which  the  term  of  service  was  extended  to  twelve  months 
unless  sooner  discharged. 

I  had  urged  upon  him,  in  our  conference,  the  adoption  of 
a  much  longer  period,  but  he  assured  me  that  one  year  was  as 
much  as  the  Congress  would  agree  to.  On  this,  as  on  other  oc- 
casions, that  Congress  showed  a  generous  desire  to  yield  their 
preconceived  opinions  to  my  objections  as  far  as  they  consist- 
ently could,  and,  there  being  but  one  House,  it  was  easier  to 
change  the  terms  of  a  bill  after  conference  with  the  Executive 
than  when,  under  the  permanent  organization,  objections  had  to 
be  formally  communicated  in  a  message  to  that  branch  of  Con- 
gress in  which  the  bill  originated,  and  when  the  whole  proceed- 
ing was  of  record. 

This  first  act  to  provide  for  the  public  defense  became  a  law 
on  the  28th  of  February,  1861,  and  its  fifth  section  so  clearly 
indicates  the  opinions  and  expectations  prevailing  when  the 
Confederation  was  formed,  that  it  is  inserted  here : 

"  That  the  President  be  further  authorized  to  receive  into  the 
service  of  this  Government  such  forces  now  in  the  service  of  said 
States  (Confederate  States)  as  may  be  tendered,  or  who  may  volun- 
teer by  consent  of  their  State,  in  such  numbers  as  he  may  require 
for  any  time  not  less  than  twelve  months  unless  sooner  discharged." 

The  supremacy  of  the  States  is  the  controlling  idea.  The 
President  was  authorized  to  receive  from  the  several  States  the 
arms  and  munitions  which  they  might  desire  to  transfer  to  the 


1861]  THE  HOPE   OF  PEACEFUL  SOLUTION.  305 

Government  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  he  was  also  author- 
ized to  receive  the  forces  which  the  States  might  tender,  or  any 
which  should  volunteer  by  the  consent  of  their  State,  for  any 
time  not  less  than  twelve  months  unless  sooner  discharged ;  and 
such  forces  were  to  be  received  with  their  officers  by  companies, 
battalions,  or  regiments,  and  the  President,  by  and  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  Congress,  was  to  appoint  sucli  general  officer 
or  officers  for  said  forces  as  might  be  necessary  for  the  service. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  arms  and  munitions  within  the  limits 
of  the  several  States  were  regarded  as  entirely  belonging  to  them ; 
that  the  forces  which  were  to  constitute  the  provisional  army 
could  only  be  drawn  from  the  several  States  by  their  consent,  and 
that  these  were  to  be  organized  under  State  authority  and  to  be 
received  with  their  officers  so  appointed ;  that  the  lowest  or- 
ganization was  to  be  that  of  a  company  and  the  highest  that  of 
a  regiment,  and  that  the  appointment  of  general  officers  to  com- 
mand these  forces  was  confided  to  the  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  should  the  assembling  of  large  bodies  of  troops 
require  organization  above  that  of  a  regiment ;  and  it  will  also 
be  observed  that  provision  was  made  for  the  discharge  of  the 
forces  so  provided  for,  before  the  term  of  service  fixed  by  the 
law.  No  one  will  fail  to  perceive  how  little  was  anticipated  a 
war  of  the  vast  proportions  and  great  duration  which  ensued, 
and  how  tenaciously  the  sovereignty  and  self-government  of  the 
States  were  adhered  to.  At  a  later  period  (March  16,  1861)  the 
Congress  adopted  resolutions  recommending  to  the  respective 
States  to  "  cede  the  forts,  arsenals,  navy-yards,  dock-yards,  and 
other  public  establishments  within  their  respective  limits  to  the 
Confederate  States,"  etc. 

The  hope  which  was  early  entertained  of  a  peaceful  solution 
of  the  issues  pending  between  the  Confederate  States  and  the 
United  States  rapidly  diminished,  so  that  we  find  on  the  6th  of 
March  that  the  Congress,  in  its  preamble  to  an  act  to  provide 
for  the  public  defense,  begins  with  the  declaration  that,  "  in  or- 
der to  provide  speedily  forces  to  repel  invasion,"  etc.,  author- 
ized the  President  to  employ  the  militia,  and  to  ask  for  and 
accept  the  services  of  any  number  of  volunteers,  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  thousand,  and  to  organize  companies  into  battal- 
20 


306      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ions,  battalions  into  regiments,  and  regiments  into  brigades  and 
divisions.  As  in  the  first  law,  the  President  was  authorized 
to  appoint  the  commanding  officer  of  such  brigades  and  divis- 
ions, the  commissions  only  to  endure  while  the  brigades  were 
in  service. 

On  the  same  day  (March  6, 1861)  was  enacted  the  law  for 
the  establishment  and  organization  of  the  Army  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  of  America,  this  being  in  contradistinction  to  the 
provisional  army,  which  was  to  be  composed  of  troops  tendered 
by  the  States,  as  in  the  first  act,  and  volunteers  received,  as 
in  the  second  act,  to  constitute  a  provisional  army.  That  the 
wish  and  policy  of  the  Government  was  peace  is  again  mani- 
fested in  this  act,  which,  in  providing  for  the  military  establish- 
ment of  the  Confederacy,  fixed  the  number  of  enlisted  men  of 
all  arms  at  nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty.  Due  care 
was  taken  to  prevent  the  appointment  of  incompetent  or  un- 
worthy persons  to  be  officers  of  the  army,  and  the  right  to  pro- 
motion up  to  and  including  the  grade  of  colonel  was  carefully 
guarded,  and  beyond  this  the  professional  character  of  the  army 
was  recognized  as  follows :  "  Appointments  to  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general, after  the  army  is  organized,  shall  be  made  by  selec- 
tion from  the  army."  There  being  no  right  of  promotion  above 
the  grade  of  colonel  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  selection 
for  appointment  to  the  rank  of  general  had  no  other  restriction 
than  the  necessity  for  confirmation  by  the  Senate.  The  provis- 
ion just  quoted  imposed  the  further  restriction  of  requiring  the 
person  nominated  by  selection  to  have  previously  been  an  offi- 
cer of  the  Army  of  the  Confederate  States. 

Kegarding  the  Army  of  the  United  States  as  belonging  nei- 
ther to  a  section  of  the  Union  nor  to  the  General  Government, 
but  to  the  States  conjointly  while  they  remained  united,  it  fol- 
lows as  a  corollary  of  the  proposition  that,  when  disintegration 
occurred,  the  undivided  personnel  composing  the  army  would 
be  left  free  to  choose  their  future  place  of  service.  Therefore, 
provision  was  made  for  securing  to  officers,  who  should  leave 
the  Army  of  the  United  States  and  join  that  of  the  Confederate 
States,  the  same  relative  rank  in  the  latter  which  they  held  in  the 
former. 


1861]    RANK   OF   OFFICERS  FROM  THE  UNITED   STATES  ARMY.       307 

"  Be  it  further  enacted  that  all  officers  who  have  resigned,  or 
who  may  within  six  months  tender  their  resignations,  from  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  and  who  have  been  or  may  be  appoint- 
ed to  original  vacancies  in  the  Army  of  the  Confederate  States, 
the  commissions  issued  shall  bear  one  and  the  same  date,  so  that 
the  relative  rank  of  officers  of  each  grade  shall  be  determined  by 
their  former  commissions  in  the  United  States  Army,  held  ante- 
rior to  the  secession  of  these  Confederate  States  from  the  United 
States." 

The  provisions  hereof  are  in  the  view  entertained  that  the 
army  was  of  the  States,  not  of  the  Government,  and  was  to  se- 
cure to  officers  adhering  to  the  Confederate  States  the  same  rel- 
ative rank  which  they  had  before  those  States  had  withdrawn 
from  the  Union.  It  was  clearly  the  intent  of  the  law  to  em- 
brace in  this  provision  only  those  officers  who  had  resigned  or 
who  should  resign  from  the  United  States  Army  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  Confederacy,  or  who,  in  other  words,  should  thus 
be  transferred  from  one  service  to  the  other.  It  is  also  to  be 
noted  that,  in  the  eleventh  section  of  the  act  to  which  this  was 
amendatory,  the  right  of  promotion  up  to  the  grade  of  colo- 
nel, in  established  regiments  and  corps,  was  absolutely  secured, 
but  that  appointments  to  the  higher  grade  should  be  by  selec- 
tion, at  first  without  restriction,  but  after  the  army  had  been 
organized  the  selection  was  confined  to  the  army,  thus  recogniz- 
ing the  profession  of  arms,  and  relieving  officers  from  the  haz- 
ard, beyond  the  limit  of  their  legal  right  to  promotion,  of  be- 
ing superseded  by  civilians  through  favoritism  or  political  in- 
fluence. 

How  well  the  Government  of  the  Confederacy  observed  both 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  law  will  be  seen  by  reference  to 
its  action  in  the  matter  of  appointments.  It  is  a  noteworthy 
fact  that  the  three  highest  officers  in  rank,  and  whose  fame 
stands  unchallenged  either  for  efficiency  or  zeal,  were  all  so 
indifferent  to  any  question  of  personal  interest,  that  they  had 
received  their  appointment  before  they  were  aware  it  was  to 
be  conferred.  Each  brought  from  the  Army  of  the  United 
States  an  enviable  reputation,  such  as  would  have  secured  to 
him,  had  he  chosen  to  remain  in  it,  after  the  war  commenced, 


308       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

any  position  his  ambition  could  have  coveted.  Therefore,  against 
considerations  of  self-interest,  and  impelled  by  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple, they  severed  the  ties,  professional  and  personal,  which  had 
bound  them  from  their  youth  up  to  the  time  when  the  Southern 
States,  asserting  the  consecrated  truth  that  all  governments  rest 
on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  decided  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union  they  had  voluntarily  entered,  and  the  Northern  States 
resolved  to  coerce  them  to  remain  in  it  against  their  will.  These 
officers  were — first,  Samuel  Cooper,  a  native  of  New  York,  a 
graduate  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  in  1815,  and 
who  served  continuously  in  the  army  until  March  7,  1861,  with 
such  distinction  as  secured  to  him  the  appointment  of  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  United  States  Army.  Second,  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  a  graduate  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  in  1826,  served  conspicuously  in  the  army 
until  1834,  then  served  in  the  army  of  the  Republic  of  Texas, 
and  then  in  the  United  States  Yolunteers  in  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico. Subsequently  he  reentered  the  United  States  Army,  and 
for  meritorious  conduct  attained  the  rank  of  brevet  brigadier- 
general.  After  the  secession  of  Texas,  his  adopted  State,  he 
resigned  his  commission  in  the  United  States  Army,  May  3, 
1861,  and  traveled  by  land  from  California  to  Richmond  to 
offer  his  services  to  the  Confederacy.  Third,  Robert  E.  Lee,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  a  graduate  of  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  in  1829,  when  he  was  appointed  in  the  Engineer  Corps 
of  the  United  States  Army,  and  served  continuously  and  with 
such  distinction  as  to  secure  for  him  in  1847  brevets  of  three 
grades  above  his  corps  commission.  He  resigned  from  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  April  25,  1861,  upon  the  secession 
of  Yirginia,  in  whose  army  he  served  until  it  was  transferred 
to  the  Confederate  States. 

Samuel  Cooper  was  the  first  of  these  to  offer  his  services  to 
the  Confederacy  at  Montgomery.  Having  known  him  most 
favorably  and  intimately  as  Adjutant-General  of  the  United 
States  Army  when  I  was  Secretary  of  War,  the  value  of  his  ser- 
vices in  the  organization  of  a  new  army  was  considered  so  great 
that  I  invited  him  to  take  the  position  of  Adjutant -General  of 
the  Confederate  Army,  which  he  accepted  without  a  question 


1861]  S.   COOPER,  A.   S.   JOHNSTON,   R.  E.   LEE.  309 

either  as  to  relative  rank  or  anything  else.  The  highest  grade 
then  authorized  by  law  was  that  of  brigadier-general,  and  that 
commission  was  bestowed  upon  him. 

When  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  reached  Richmond 
he  called  upon  me,  and  for  several  days  at  various  intervals  we 
conversed  with  the  freedom  and  confidence  belonging  to  the 
close  friendship  which  had  existed  between  us  for  many  years. 
Consequent  upon  a  remark  made  by  me,  he  asked  to  what  duty 
I  would  assign  him,  and,  when  answered,  to  serve  in  the  West, 
he  expressed  his  pleasure  at  service  in  that  section,  but  in- 
quired how  he  was  to  raise  his  command,  and  for  the  first  time 
learned  that  he  had  been  nominated  and  confirmed  as  a  general 
in  the  Army  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  third,  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  had  been  commissioned 
by  the  State  of  Yirginia  as  major-general  and  commander  of 
her  army.  When  that  army  was  transferred,  after  the  accession 
of  Yirginia  to  the  Confederate  States,  he  was  nominated  to  be 
brigadier-general  in  the  Confederate  Army,  but  was  left  for  ob- 
vious reasons  in  command  of  the  forces  in  Yirginia.  After  the 
seat  of  government  was  removed  from  Montgomery  to  Rich- 
mond, the  course  of  events  on  the  Southern  Atlantic  coast 
induced  me  to  direct  General  Lee  to  repair  thither.  Before 
leaving,  he  said  that,  while  he  was  serving  in  Yirginia,  he  had 
never  thought  it  needful  to  inquire  about  his  rank ;  but  now, 
when  about  to  go  into  other  States  and  to  meet  officers  with 
whom  he  had  not  been  previously  connected,  he  would  like  to 
be  informed  upon  that  point.  Under  recent  laws,  authorizing 
appointments  to  higher  grades  than  that  of  his  first  commission, 
he  had  been  appointed  a  full  general ;  but  so  wholly  had  his 
heart  and  his  mind  been  consecrated  to  the  public  service,  that 
he  had  not  remembered,  if  he  ever  knew,  of  his  advancement. 

In  organizing  the  bureaus,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  select, 
for  the  chief  of  each,  officers  possessing  special  knowledge  of 
the  duties  to  be  performed.  The  best  assurance  of  that  quali- 
fication was  believed  to  be  service  creditably  rendered  in  the 
several  departments  of  the  United  States  Army  before  resign- 
ing from  it.  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  A.  C.  Myers,  who  had 
held  many  important  trusts  in  the  United  States  Quartermas- 


310      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ter's  Department,  was  appointed  Quartermaster-General  of  the 
Confederacy,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 

Captain  L.  B.  Northrop,  a  gallant  officer  of  the  United  States 
Dragoons,  and  who,  by  reason  of  a  wound  disabling  him  to 
perform  regimental  duty,  had  been  employed  in  the  subsistence 
department,  was,  after  resigning  from  the  United  States  Army, 
appointed  Commissary-General  of  the  Confederate  States  Army, 
with  the  rank  of  colonel.  I  have  heretofore  alluded  to  the 
difficult  task  thus  imposed  on  him,  and  the  success  with  which 
he  performed  it,  and  would  be  pleased  here  to  enter  into  a 
fuller  recital,  but  have  not  the  needful  information  in  regard  to 
his  administration  of  that  department. 

Surgeon  L.  P.  Moore,  an  officer  of  recognized  merit  in  the 
United  States  Medical  Department,  from  which  he  had  resigned 
to  join  the  Confederacy,  was  appointed  the  Surgeon- General  of 
the  Confederate  States  Army.  As  in  the  case  of  other  depart- 
ments, there  was  in  this  a  want  of  the  stores  requisite,  as  well 
for  the  field  as  the  hospital. 

To  supply  medicines  which  were  declared  by  the  enemy  to 
be  contraband  of  war,  our  medical  department  had  to  seek  in 
the  forest  for  substitutes,  and  to  add  surgical  instruments  and 
appliances  to  the  small  stock  on  hand  as  best  they  could. 

It  would  be  quite  beyond  my  power  to  do  justice  to  the 
skill  and  knowledge  with  which  the  medical  corps  performed 
their  arduous  task,  and  regret  that  I  have  no  report  from  the 
Surgeon-General,  Moore,  which. would  enable  me  to  do  justice 
to  the  officers  of  his  corps,  as  well  in  regard  to  their  humanity 
as  to  their  professional  skill. 

In  no  branch  of  our  service  were  our  needs  so  great  and 
our  means  to  meet  them  relatively  so  small  as  in  the  matter  of 
ordnance  and  ordnance  stores.  The  Chief  of  Ordnance,  Gen- 
eral Gorgas,  had  been  an  ordnance  officer  of  the  United  States 
Army,  and  resigned  to  join  the  Confederacy.  He  has  favored 
me  with  a  succinct  though  comprehensive  statement,  which  has 
enabled  me  to  write  somewhat  fully  of  that  department ;  but, 
for  the  better  understanding  of  its  operations,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  ordnance  report  elsewhere. 


1861]  PURCHASES   OF  ARMS,   ETC.  311 


CHAPTER     III. 

Commissioners  to  purchase  Arms  and  Ammunition. — My  Letter  to  Captain  Semmes. 
— Resignations  of  Officers  of  United  States  Navy. — Our  Destitution  of  Accesso- 
ries for  the  Supply  of  Naval  Vessels. — Secretary  Mallory. — Food-Supplies. — 
The  Commissariat  Department. — The  Quartermaster's  Department. — The  Dis- 
appearance of  Delusions. — The  Supply  of  Powder. — Saltpeter. — Sulphur. — Arti- 
ficial Niter-Beds. — Services  of  General  G.  W.  Rains. — Destruction  at  Harper's 
Ferry  of  Machinery.  —  The  Master  Armorer.  —  Machinery  secured. — Want  of 
Skillful  Employees. — Difficulties  encountered  by  Every  Department  of  the  Exec- 
utive Branch  of  the  Government. 

On  the  third  day  after  my  inauguration  at  Montgomery,  an 
officer  of  extensive  information  and  high  capacity  was  sent 
to  the  North,  to  make  purchases  of  arms,  ammunition,  and 
machinery ;  and  soon  afterward  another  officer  was  sent  to  Eu- 
rope, to  buy  in  the  market  as  far  as  possible,  and,  further- 
more, to  make  contracts  for  arms  and  munitions  to  be  manufac- 
tured. Captain  (afterward  Admiral)  Semmes,  the  officer  who 
was  sent  to  the  North,  would  have  been  quite  successful  but  for 
the  intervention  of  the  civil  authorities,  preventing  the  delivery 
of  the  various  articles  contracted  for.  The  officer  who  was  sent 
to  Europe,  Major  Huse,  found  few  serviceable  arms  upon  the 
market ;  he,  however,  succeeded  in  making  contracts  for  the 
manufacture  of  large  quantities,  being  in  advance  of  the  agents 
sent  from  the  Northern  Government  for  the  same  purpose.  For 
further  and  more  detailed  information,  reference  is  made  to  the 
monograph  of  the  Chief  of  Ordnance. 

My  letter  of  instructions  to  Captain  Semmes  was  as  follows : 

"  Montgomery,  Alabama,  February  21,  1861. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  As  agent  of  the  Confederate  States,  you  are  au- 
thorized to  proceed,  as  hereinafter  set  forth,  to  make  purchases 
and  contracts  for  machinery  and  munitions,  or  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  arms  and  munitions  of  war. 

"  Of  the  proprietor  of  the Powder  Company,  in ,  you 

will  probably  be  able  to  obtain  cannon-  and  musket-powder — the 
former  to  be  of  the  coarsest  grain  ;  and  also  to  engage  with  him 
for  the  establishment  of  a  powder-mill  at  some  point  in  the  limits 
of  our  territory. 


312       RISE    AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  The  quantity  of  powder  to  be  supplied  immediately  will  ex- 
ceed his  stock  on  hand,  and  the  arrangement  for  further  supply 
should,  if  possible,  be  by  manufacture  in  our  own  territory  ;  if 
this  is  not  practicable,  means  must  be  sought  for  further  ship- 
ments from  any  and  all  sources  which  are  reliable. 

"  At  the  arsenal  at  Washington  you  will  find  an  artisan  named 

,  who  has  brought  the  cap-making  machine  to  its  present 

state  of  efficiency,  and  who  might  furnish  a  cap-machine,  and  ac- 
company it  to  direct  its  operations.  If  not  in  this,  I  hope  you 
may  in  some  other  way  be  able  to  obtain  a  cap-machine  with  little 
delay,  and  have  it  sent  to  the  Mount  Vernon  Arsenal,  Alabama. 

"  We  shall  require  a  manufactory  for  friction-primers,  and  you 
will,  if  possible,  induce  some  capable  person  to  establish  one  in 
our  country.  The  demand  of  the  Confederate  States  will  be  the 
inducement  in  this  as  in  the  case  of  the  powder-mill  proposed. 

"  A  short  time  since,  the  most  improved  machinery  for  the 
manufacture  of  rifles,  intended  for  the  Harper's  Ferry  Armory, 
was,  it  was  said,  for  sale  by  the  manufacturer.  If  it  be  so  at  this 
time,  you  will  procure  it  for  this  Government,  and  use  the  needful 

precaution  in  relation  to  its  transportation.    Mr. ,  of  the 

Harper's  Ferry  Armory,  can  give  you  all  the  information  in  that 
connection  which  you  may  require.  Mr.  Ball,  the  master  armorer 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  is  willing  to  accept  service  under  our  Govern- 
ment, and  could  probably  bring  with  him  skilled  workmen.  If 
we  get  the  machinery,  this  will  be  important. 

"Machinery  for  grooving  muskets  and  heavy  guns  is,  I  hope, 
to  be  purchased  ready  made.  If  not,  you  will  contract  for  its 
manufacture  and  delivery.  You  will  endeavor  to  obtain  the  most 
improved  shot  for  rifled  cannon,  and  persons  skilled  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  that  and  other  fixed  ammunition.  Captain  G.  W.  Smith 
and  Captain  Lovell,  late  of  the  United  States  Army,  and  now  of 
New  York  City,  may  aid  you  in  your  task  ;  and  you  will  please 
say  to  them  that  we  will  be  happy  to  have  their  services  in  our 
army. 

"  You  will  make  such  inquiries  as  your  varied  knowledge  will 
suggest  in  relation  to  the  supply  of  guns  of  different  calibers,  es- 
pecially the  largest.  I  suggest  the  advantage,  if  to  be  obtained, 
of  having  a  few  of  the  fifteen-inch  guns,  like  the  one  cast  at  Pitts- 
burg. 

"  I  have  not  sought  to  prescribe  so  as  to  limit  your  inquiries, 


1861]  ALLEGIANCE   TO   THE   STATES.  313 

either  as  to  object  or  place,  but  only  to  suggest  for  your  reflection 
and  consideration  the  points  which  have  chanced  to  come  under 
my  observation.  You  will  use  your  discretion  in  visiting  places 
where  information  of  persons  or  things  is  to  be  obtained  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  object  in  view.  Any  contracts  made  will  be 
sent  to  the  Hon.  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War,  for  his  approval  ; 
and  the  contractor  need  not  fear  that  delay  will  be  encountered  in 
the  action  of  this  Government. 

"  Yery  respectfully  yours,  etc., 
(Signed)  "  Jefferson  Davis." 

Captain  Semmes  had  also  been  directed  to  seek  for  vessels 
which  would  serve  for  naval  purposes,  and,  after  his  return, 
reported  that  he  could  not  find  any  vessels  which  in  his 
judgment  were,  or  could  be  made,  available  for  our  uses. 
The  Southern  officers  of  the  navy  who  were  in  command  of 
United  States  vessels  abroad,  under  an  idea  more  creditable  to 
their  sentiment  than  to  their  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  our 
constitutional  Union,  brought  the  vessels  they  commanded  into 
the  ports  of  the  North,  and,  having  delivered  them  to  the 
authorities  of  the  United  States  Government,  generally  ten- 
dered their  resignations,  and  repaired  to  tbe  States  from  which 
they  had  been  commissioned  in  the  navy,  to  serve  where  they 
held  their  allegiance  to  be  due.  The  theory  that  they  owed 
allegiance  to  their  respective  States  was  founded  on  tbe  fact 
that  the  Federal  Government  was  of  the  States ;  the  sequence 
was,  that  the  navy  belonged  to  the  States,  not  to  their  agent 
the  Federal  Government ;  and,  when  tbe  States  ceased  to  be 
united,  the  naval  vessels  and  armament  should  have  been  divided 
among  the  owners.  While  we  honor  the  sentiment  which  caused 
them  to  surrender  their  heart-bound  associations,  and  the  pro- 
fession to  which  they  were  bred,  on  which  they  relied  for  sub- 
sistence, to  go,  with  nothing  save  their  swords  and  faithful 
hearts,  to  fight,  to  bleed,  and  to  die  if  need  be,  in  defense  of  their 
homes  and  a  righteous  cause,  we  can  but  remember  how  much 
was  lost  by  their  view  of  what  their  honor  and  duty  demanded. 
Far,  however,  be  it  from  their  countrymen,  for  that  or  any  other 
consideration,  to  wish  that  their  fidelity  to  the  dictates  of  a  con- 


314      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

scientious  belief  should  have  yielded  to  any  temptation  of  inter- 
est. The  course  they  pursued  shows  how  impossible  it  was  that 
they  should  have  done  so,  for  what  did  they  not  sacrifice  to  their 
sense  of  right !  We  were  doubly  bereft  by  losing  our  share  of 
the  navy  we  had  contributed  to  build,  and  by  having  it  all  em- 
ployed to  assail  us.  The  application  of  the  appropriations  for 
the  Navy  of  the  United  States  had  been  such  that  the  construc- 
tion of  vessels  had  been  at  the  North,  though  much  of  the  tim- 
ber used  and  other  material  employed  was  transported  from  the 
South  to  Northern  ship-yards.  Therefore,  we  were  without  the 
accessories  needful  for  the  rapid  supply  of  naval  vessels. 

While  attempting  whatever  was  practicable  at  home,  we 
sent  a  competent,  well-deserving  officer  of  the  navy  to  England 
to  obtain  there  and  elsewhere,  by  purchase  or  by  building,  ves- 
sels which  could  be  transformed  into  ships  of  war.  These  ef- 
forts and  their  results  will  be  noticed  more  fully  hereafter. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  here  that,  if  the  anticipations 
of  our  people  were  not  realized,  it  was  not  from  any  lack  of 
the  zeal  and  ability  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Mallory. 
As  was  heretofore  stated,  his  fondness  for  and  aptitude  in  nauti- 
cal affairs  had  led  him  to  know  much  of  vessels,  their  construc- 
tion and  management,  and,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
United  States  Naval  Affairs,  he  had  superadded  to  this  a  very 
large  acquaintance  with  officers  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
which  gave  him  the  requisite  information  for  the  most  useful 
employment  of  the  instructed  officers  who  joined  our  service. 

At  the  North  many  had  been  deceived  by  the  fictions  of 
preparations  at  the  South  for  the  war  of  the  sections,  and  among 
ourselves  were  few  who  realized  how  totally  deficient  the  South- 
ern States  were  in  all  which  was  necessary  to  the  active  opera- 
tions of  an  army,  however  gallant  the  men  might  be,  and  how- 
ever able  were  the  generals  who  directed  and  led  them.  From 
these  causes,  operating  jointly,  resulted  undue  caution  at  the 
North  and  overweening  confidence  at  the  South.  The  habits 
of  our  people  in  hunting,  and  protecting  their  stock  in  fields 
from  the  ravages  of  ferocious  beasts,  caused  them  to  be  generally 
supplied  with  the  arms  used  for  such  purposes.  The  facility 
with  which  individuals  traveled  over  the  country  led  to  very 


1861]  THE   COMMISSARIAT.  315 

erroneous  ideas  as  to  the  difficulties  of  transporting  an  army. 
The  small  amount  of  ammunition  required  in  time  of  peace 
gave  no  measure  of  the  amount  requisite  for  warlike  operations* 
and  the  products  of  a  country,  which  insufficiently  supplied  food 
for  its  inhabitants  when  peaceful  pursuits  were  uninterrupted, 
would  serve  but  a  short  time  to  furnish  the  commissariat  of  a 
large  army.  It  was,  of  course,  easy  to  foresee  that,  if  war  was 
waged  against  the  seceding  States  by  all  of  those  which  re- 
mained in  the  Union,  the  large  supply  of  provisions  which  had 
been  annually  sent  from  the  Northwest  to  the  South  could  not, 
under  the  altered  circumstances,  be  relied  on.  That  our  people 
did  not  more  immediately  turn  their  attention  to  the  production 
of  food-supplies,  may  be  attributed  to  the  prevailing  delusion  that 
secession  would  not  be  followed  by  war.  To  the  able  officer 
then  at  the  head  of  the  commissariat  department,  Colonel  L.  B. 
Northrop,  much  credit  is  due  for  his  well-directed  efforts  to  pro- 
vide both  for  immediate  and  prospective  wants.  It  gives  me  the 
greater  pleasure  to  say  this,  because  those  less  informed  of  all 
he  did,  and  skillfully  tried  to  do,  have  been  profuse  of  criticism, 
and  sparing  indeed  of  the  meed  justly  his  due.  Adequate  facil- 
ities for  transportation  might  have  relieved  the  local  want  of 
supplies,  especially  in  Virginia,  where  the  largest  bodies  of  troops 
were  assembled ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  quartermaster's  depart- 
ment was  scarcely  less  provided  than  that  of  the  commissary. 
Not  only  were  the  railroads  insufficient  in  number,  but  they  were 
poorly  furnished  with  rolling  stock,  and  had  been  mainly  depend- 
ent upon  Northern  foundries  and  factories  for  their  rails  and 
equipment.  Even  the  skilled  operatives  of  the  railroads  were 
generally  Northern  men,  and  their  desertion  followed  fast  upon 
every  disaster  which  attended  the  Confederate  arms.  In  addi- 
tion to  other  causes  which  have  been  mentioned,  the  idea  that 
Cotton  was  king,  and  would  produce  foreign  intervention,  as 
well  as  a  desire  of  the  Northern  people  for  the  return  of  peace 
and  the  restoration  of  trade,  exercised  a  potent  influence  in  pre- 
venting our  agriculturists  from  directing  at  an  early  period  their 
capital  and  labor  to  the  production  of  food-supplies  rather  than 
that  of  our  staple  for  export.  As  one  after  another  the  illusions 
vanished,  and  the  material  necessities  of  a  great  war  were  rec- 


316      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ognized  by  our  people,  never  did  patriotic  devotion  exhibit 
brighter  examples  of  the  sacrifice  of  self-interest  and  the  aban- 
donment of  fixed  habits  and  opinions,  or  more  effective  and 
untiring  effort  to  meet  the  herculean  task  which  was  set  be- 
fore them.  Being  one  of  the  few  who  regarded  secession  and 
war  as  inevitably  connected,  my  early  attention  was  given  to 
the  organization  of  military  forces  and  the  procurement  and 
preparation  of  the  munitions  of  war.  If  our  people  had  not 
gone  to  war  without  counting  the  cost,  they  were,  nevertheless, 
involved  in  it  without  means  of  providing  for  its  necessities. 
It  has  been  heretofore  stated  that  we  had  no  powder-mills. 
It  would  be  needless  to  say  that  the  new-born  Government 
had  no  depots  of  powder,  but  it  may  be  well  to  add  that, 
beyond  the  small  supply  required  for  sporting  purposes,  our 
local  traders  had  no  stock  on  hand.  Having  no  manufac- 
turing industries  which  required  saltpeter,  very  little  of  that 
was  purchasable  in  our  markets.  The  same  would  have  been 
the  case  in  regard  to  sulphur,  but  for  the  fact  that  it  had 
been  recently  employed  in  the  clarification  of  sugar-cane  juice, 
and  thus  a  considerable  amount  of  it  was  found  in  New  Or- 
leans. Prompt  measures  were  taken  to  secure  a  supply  of  sul- 
phur, and  parties  were  employed  to  obtain  saltpeter  from  the 
caves,  as  well  as  from  the  earth  of  old  tobacco-houses  and  cel- 
lars ;  and  artificial  niter-beds  were  made  to  provide  for  prospec- 
tive wants.  Of  soft  wood  for  charcoal  there  was  abundance, 
and  thus  materials  were  procured  for  the  manufacture  of  gun- 
powder to  meet  the  demand  which  would  arise  when  the  lim- 
ited quantity  purchased  by  the  Confederate  Government  at  the 
North  should  be  exhausted. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  secure  the  services  of  an  able 
and  scientific  soldier,  General  G.  W.  Kains,  who,  to  a  military 
education,  added  experience  in  a  large  manufacturing  establish- 
ment, and  to  him  was  confided  the  construction  of  a  powder- 
mill,  and  the  manufacture  of  powder,  both  for  artillery  and 
small-arms.  The  appalling  contemplation  of  the  inauguration 
of  a  great  war,  without  powder  or  a  navy  to  secure  its  importa- 
tion from  abroad,  was  soon  relieved  by  the  extraordinary  efforts 
of  the  ordnance  department  and  the  well-directed  skill  of  Gen- 


1861]  DESTRUCTION  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY.  317 

eral  Bains,  to  whom  it  is  but  a  just  tribute  to  say  that,  begin- 
ning without  even  instructed  workmen,  he  had,  before  the  close 
of  the  war,  made  what,  in  the  opinion  of  competent  judges, 
has  been  pronounced  to  be  the  best  powder-mill  in  the  world, 
and  in  which  powder  of  every  variety  of  grain  was  manufac- 
tured of  materials  which  had  been  purified  from  those  qualities 
which  cause  its  deterioration  under  long  exposure  to  a  moist 
atmosphere. 

The  avowed  purpose  and  declared  obligation  of  the  Federal 
Government  was  to  occupy  and  possess  the  property  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  yet  one  of  the  first  acts  was  to  set  fire 
to  the  armory  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia,  the  only  establish- 
ment of  the  kind  in  the  Southern  States,  and  the  only  South- 
ern depository  of  the  rifles  which  the  General  Government  had 
then  on  hand. 

What  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  such  action  %  To 
avoid  attributing  a  breach  of  solemn  pledges,  it  must  be  sup- 
posed that  Yirginia  was  considered  as  out  of  the  Union,  and  a 
public  enemy,  in  whose  borders  it  was  proper  to  destroy  what- 
ever might  be  useful  to  her  of  the  common  property  of  the 
States  lately  united. 

As  soon  as  the  United  States  troops  had  evacuated  the  place, 
the  citizens  and  armorers  went  to  work  to  save  the  armory  as 
far  as  possible  from  destruction,  and  to  secure  valuable  material 
stored  in  it.  The  master  armorer,  Armistead  Ball,  so  bravely 
and  skillfully  directed  these  efforts,  that  a  large  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery and  materials  was  saved  from  the  flames.  The  subdu- 
ing of  the  fire  was  a  dangerous  and  difficult  task,  and  great  credit 
is  due  to  those  who,  under  the  orders  of  Master  Armorer  Ball, 
attempted  and  achieved  it.  When  the  fire  was  extinguished, 
the  work  was  continued  and  persevered  in  until  all  the  valuable 
machinery  and  material  had  been  collected,  boxed,  and  shipped 
to  Bichmond,  about  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1861.  The  ma- 
chinery thus  secured  was  divided  between  the  arsenals  at  Bich- 
mond, Yirginia,  and  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  and,  when  re- 
paired and  put  in  working  condition,  supplied  to  some  extent  the 
want  which  existed  in  the  South  of  means  for  the  alteration 
and  repair  of  old  or  injured  arms,  and  finally  contributed  to  in- 


318       MSE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

crease  the  very  scanty  supply  of  arms  with  which  our  country 
was  furnished  when  the  war  began.  The  practice  of  the  Federal 
Government,  which  had  kept  the  construction  and  manufacture 
of  the  material  of  war  at  the  North,  had  consequently  left  the 
South  without  the  requisite  number  of  skilled  workmen  by 
whose  labor  machinery  could  at  once  be  made  fully  effective  if 
it  were  obtained  ;  indeed,  the  want  of  such  employees  prevented 
the  small  amount  of  machinery  on  hand  from  being  worked  to 
its  full  capacity.  The  gallant  Master  Armorer  Ball,  whose  ca- 
pacity, zeal,  and  fidelity  deserve  more  than  a  passing  notice,  was 
sent  with  that  part  of  the  machinery  assigned  to  the  Fayette- 
ville  Arsenal.  The  toil,  the  anxiety,  and  responsibility  of  his 
perilous  position  at  Harper's  Ferry,  where  he  remained  long 
after  the  protecting  force  of  the  Confederate  army  retired,  had 
probably  undermined  a  constitution  so  vigorous  that,  in  the  face 
of  a  great  exigency,  no  labor  seemed  too  great  or  too  long  for 
him  to  grapple  with  and  endure.  So,  like  a  ship  which,  after 
having  weathered  the  storm,  goes  down  in  the  calm,  the  master 
armorer,  soon  after  he  took  his  quiet  post  at  Fayetteville,  was 
"  found  dead  in  his  bed." 

The  difficulties  which  on  every  side  met  the  several  depart- 
ments of  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government  one  must 
suppose  were  but  little  appreciated  by  many,  whose  opportuni- 
ties for  exact  observation  were  the  best,  as  one  often  meets  with 
self-complacent  expressions  as  to  modes  of  achieving  readily 
what  prompt,  patient,  zealous  effort  proved  to  be  insurmount- 
able. In  the  progress  of  this  work,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  presented 
not  only  the  magnitude  of  the  obstacles,  but  the  spirit  and  ca- 
pacity with  which  they  were  encountered  by  the  unseen  and 
much  undervalued  labors  of  the  officers  of  the  several  depart- 
ments, on  whom  devolved  provision  for  the  civil  service,  as 
well  as  for  the  armies  in  the  field.  Already  has  the  report 
of  General  St.  John,  Commissary-General  of  Subsistence,  of 
the  operations  of  that  department,  just  before  the  close  of 
the  war,  exposed  the  hollowness  of  many  sensational  pictures 
intended  to  fix  gross  neglect  or  utter  incapacity  on  the  Ex- 
ecutive. 

The  hoped-for  and  expected  monograms  of  other  chiefs  of 


1861]  NO   CONCESSIONS  TO  BE   MADE.  319 

bureaus  will  silence  like  criticisms  on  each,  so  far  as  they  are 
made  by  those  who  are  not  willfully  blind,  or  maliciously  intent 
on  the  circulation  of  falsehood. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Proclamation  for  Seventy-five  Thousand  Men  by  President  Lincoln  further  exam- 
ined.— The  Reasons  presented  by  him  to  Mankind  for  the  Justification  of  his 
Conduct  shown  to  be  Mere  Fictions,  having  no  Relation  to  the  Question. — What 
is  the  Value  of  Constitutional  Liberty,  of  Bills  of  Rights,  of  Limitations  of  Pow- 
ers, if  they  may  be  transgressed  at  Pleasure? — Secession  of  South  Carolina. — 
Proclamation  of  Blockade. — Session  of  Congress  at  Montgomery. — Extracts 
from  the  President's  Message. — Acts  of  Congress. — Spirit  of  the  People. — Se- 
cession of  Border  States. — Destruction  of  United  States  Property  by  Order  of 
President  Lincoln. 

If  any  further  evidence  had  been  required  to  show  that  it 
was  the  determination  of  the  ^Northern  people  not  only  to  make 
no  concessions  to  the  grievances  of  the  Southern  States,  but  to 
increase  them  to  the  last  extremity,  it  was  furnished  by  the  proc- 
lamation of  President  Lincoln,  issued  on  April  15,  1861".  This 
proclamation,  which  has  already  been  mentioned,  requires  a  fur- 
ther examination,  as  it  was  the  official  declaration,  on  the  part 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  of  the  war  which  en- 
sued. In  it  the  President  called  for  seventy-five  thousand  men 
to  suppress  "  combinations  "  .opposed  to  the  laws,  and  obstructing 
their  execution  in  seven  sovereign  States  which  had  retired  from 
the  Union.  Seventy-five  thousand  men  organized  and  equipped 
are  a  powerful  army,  and,  when  raised  to  operate  against  these 
States,  nothing  else  than  war  could  be  intended.  The  words  in 
which  he  summoned  this  force  were  these :  "  Whereas  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  have  been  for  some  time  past,  and  now  are, 
opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed,  in  the  States  of 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisi- 
ana, 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  :  Kow,  therefore,  I,  Abraham 


320      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Lincoln,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws,"  etc. 

The  power  granted  in  the  Constitution  is  thus  expressed : 
"  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  provide  for  calling  forth 
the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrec- 
tions, and  repel  invasions."  *  It  was  to  the  Congress,  not  the 
Executive,  to  whom  the  power  was  delegated,  and  thus  early 
was  commenced  a  long  series  of  usurpations  of  powers  incon- 
sistent with  the  purposes  for  which  the  Union  was  formed,  and 
destructive  of  the  fraternity  it  was  designed  to  perpetuate. 

On  November  6,  1860,  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina 
assembled  and  gave  the  vote  of  the  State  for  electors  of  a  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  On  the  next  day  an  act  was  passed 
calling  a  State  Convention  to  assemble  on  December  17th,  to 
determine  the  question  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  State  from  the 
United  States.  Candidates  for  membership  were  immediately 
nominated.  All  were  in  favor  of  secession.  The  Convention 
assembled  on  December  17th,  and  on  the  20th  passed  "  an  or- 
dinance to  dissolve  the  union  between  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  other  States  united  with  her  under  the  compact  entitled 
'  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America.' "  The  or- 
dinance began  with  these  words :  "  We,  the  people  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina,  in  convention  assembled,  do  declare  and  or- 
dain," etc.  The  State  authorities  immediately  conformed  to 
this  action  of  the  Convention,  and  the  laws  and  authority  of  the 
United  States  ceased  to  be  obeyed  within  the  limits  of  the  State. 
About  four  months  afterward,  when  the  State,  in  union  with 
others  which  had  joined  her,  had  possessed  herself  of  the  forts 
within  her  limits,  which  the  United  States  Government  had  re- 
fused to  evacuate,  President  Lincoln  issued  the  above-mentioned 
proclamation. 

The  State  of  South  Carolina  is  designated  in  the  proclama- 
tion as  a  combination  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  or- 
dinary course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the  powers  vested 
in  the  marshals  by  law.  This  designation  does  not  recognize 
the  State,  or  manifest  any  consciousness  of  its  existence,  where- 
as South  Carolina  was  one  of  the  colonies  that  had  declared  her 

*  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Article  I,  section  8. 


1861]  A  PERVERTED   USE   OF   LANGUAGE.  321 

independence,  and,  after  a  long  and  bloody  war,  she  had  been 
recognized  as  a  sovereign  State  by  Great  Britain,  the  only  pow- 
er to  which  she  had  ever  owed  allegiance.  The  fact  that  she 
had  been  one  of  the  colonies  in  the  original  Congress,  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Confederation,  and  subsequently  of  the  Union, 
strengthens,  but  surely  can  not  impair,  her  claim  to  be  a  State. 
Though  President  Lincoln  designated  her  as  a  "  combination," 
it  did  not  make  her  a  combination.  Though  he  refused  to  rec- 
ognize her  as  a  State,  it  did  not  make  her  any  less  a  State.  By 
assertion,  he  attempted  to  annihilate  seven  States ;  and  the  war 
which  followed  was  to  enforce  the  revolutionary  edict,  and  to 
establish  the  supremacy  of  the  General  Government  on  the 
ruins  of  the  blood-bought  independence  of  the  States. 

By  designating  the  State  as  a  "  combination,"  and  considering 
that  under  such  a  name  it  might  be  in  a  condition  of  insurrec- 
tion, he  assumed  to  have  authority  to  raise  a  great  military  force 
and  attack  the  State.  Yet,  even  if  the  fact  had  been  as  assumed, 
if  an  insurrection  had  existed,  the  President  could  not  lawfully 
have  derived  the  power  he  exercised  from  such  condition  of 
affairs.  The  provision  of  the  Constitution  is  as  follows :  "  The 
United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion ;  and,  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of 
the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened), 
against  domestic  violence."  *  So  the  guarantee  availed  not  at 
all  to  justify  the  act  which  it  was  presented  to  excuse — the  fact 
being  that  a  State,  and  not  an  "  unlawful  combination,"  as  as- 
serted, was  the  object  of  assault,  and  the  case  one  of  making  war. 
For  a  State  or  union  of  States  to  attack  with  military  force  an- 
other State,  is  to  make  war.  By  the  Constitution,  the  power  to 
make  war  is  given  solely  to  Congress.  "  Congress  shall  have 
power  to  declare  war,"  says  the  Constitution,  f  And,  again,  "  to 
raise  and  support  armies."  J  Thus,  under  a  perverted  use  of 
language,  the  Executive  at  Washington  did  that  which  he  un- 
deniably had  no  power  to  do,  under  a  faithful  observance  of 
the  Constitution. 

*  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Article  IV,  section  4. 
f  Article  I,  section  8.  \  Ibid. 

21 


322      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

To  justify  himself  to  Congress  and  the  people,  or,  rather, 
before  the  face  of  mankind,  for  this  evasion  of  the  Constitution 
of  his  country,  President  Lincoln,  in  his  message  to  Congress, 
of  July  4,  1861,  resorted  to  the  artifice  of  saying,  "  It  [mean- 
ing the  proceedings  of  the  Confederate  States]  presents  to  the 
whole  family  of  man  the  question  whether  a  constitutional  re- 
public or  democracy — a  government  of  the  people  by  the  same 
people — can,  or  can  not,  maintain  its  territorial  integrity  against 
its  own  domestic  foes  \  " 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  very  plain.  In  the  nature  of 
things,  no  union  can  be  formed  except  by  separate,  independent, 
and  distinct  parties.  Any  other  combination  is  not  a  union ; 
and,  upon  the  destruction  of  any  of  these  elements  in  the  par- 
ties, the  union  ipso  facto  ceases.  If  the  Government  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  union  of  States,  then  these  States  must  be  separate, 
sovereign,  and  distinct,  to  be  able  to  form  a  union,  which  is  en- 
tirely an  act  of  their  own  volition.  Such  a  government  as  ours 
had  no  power  to  maintain  its  existence  any  longer  than  the 
contracting  parties  pleased  to  cohere,  because  it  was  founded  on 
the  great  principle  of  voluntary  federation,  and  organized  "  to 
establish  justice  and  insure  domestic  tranquillity."  *  Any  de- 
parture from  this  principle  by  the  General  Government  not  only 
perverts  and  destroys  its  nature,  but  furnishes  a  just  cause  to 
the  injured  State  to  withdraw  from  the  union.  A  new  union 
might  subsequently  be  formed,  but  the  original  one  could  never 
by  coercion  be  restored.  Any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  others  to 
force  the  seceding  State  to  consent  to  come  back  is  an  attempt 
at  subjugation.  It  is  a  wrong  which  no  lapse  of  time  or  combi- 
nation of  circumstances  can  ever  make  right.  A  forced  union 
is  a  political  absurdity.  ]STo  less  absurd  is  President  Lincoln's 
effort  to  dissever  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  from  that  of  the 
State  ;  as  if  there  could  be  a  State  without  a  people,  or  a  sov- 
ereign people  without  a  State. 

But  the  question  which  Mr.  Lincoln  presents  "  to  the  whole 
family  of  man  "  deserves  a  further  notice.  The  answer  which 
he  seems  to  infer  would  be  given  "  by  the  whole  family  of  man  " 
is  that  such  a  government  as  he  supposes  "  can  maintain  its  ter- 

*  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  preamble. 


1861]  AN  ANOMALY  AMONG  GOVERNMENTS.  323 

ritorial  integrity  against  its  own  domestic  foes."  And,  there- 
fore, he  concluded  that  he  was  right  in  the  judgment  of  "  the 
whole  family  of  man "  in  commencing  hostilities  against  us. 
He  says,  "  So  viewing  the  issue,  no  choice  was  left  but  to  call 
out  the  war  power  of  the  Government."  That  is  the  power  to 
make  war  against  foreign  nations,  for  the  Government  has  no 
other  war  power.  Planting  himself  on  this  position,  he  com- 
menced the  devastation  and  bloodshed  which  followed  to  effect 
our  subjugation. 

Nothing  could  be  more  erroneous  than  such  views.  The 
supposed  case  which  he  presents  is  entirely  unlike  the  real  case. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  like  no  other  govern- 
ment. It  is  neither  a  "  constitutional  republic  or  democracy," 
nor  has  it  ever  been  thus  called.  Neither  is  it  a  "  government 
of  the  people  by  the  same  people  "  ;  but  it  is  known  and  desig- 
nated as  "the  Government  of  the  United  States."  It  is  an 
anomaly  among  governments.  Its  authority  consists  solely  of 
certain  powers  delegated  to  it,  as  a  common  agent,  by  an  asso- 
ciation of  sovereign  and  independent  States.  These  powers  are 
to  be  exercised  only  for  certain  specified  objects ;  and  the  pur- 
poses, declared  in  the  beginning  of  the  deed  or  instrument  of 
delegation,  were  "to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  jus- 
tice, insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fense, promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity." 

The  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  the  powers  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  are  to  be  found  in  that  instrument  of 
delegation.  All  its  powers  are  there  expressed,  defined,  and 
limited.  It  was  only  to  that  instrument  Mr.  Lincoln  as  Presi- 
dent should  have  gone  to  learn  his  duties.  That  was  the  chart 
which  he  had  just  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  the  country 
faithfully  to  follow.  He  soon  deviated  widely  from  it — and 
fatally  erroneous  was  his  course.  The  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  a  great  people,  at  a  most  perilous  period,  is  decided 
by  the  answer  which  it  is  assumed  "  the  whole  family  of  man  " 
would  give  to  a  supposed  condition  of  human  affairs  which  did 
not  exist  and  which  could  not  exist.  This  is  the  ground  upon 
which  the  rectitude  of  his  cause  was  placed.     He  says,  "No 


324:      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

choice  was  left  but  to  call  out  the  war  power  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  so  to  resist  force  employed  for  its  destruction  by  force 
for  its  preservation." 

"  Here,"  he  says,  "  no  choice  was  left  but  to  call  out  the  war 
power  of  the  Government."  For  what  purpose  must  he  call 
out  this  war  power  ?  He  answers,  by  saying,  "  and  so  to  resist 
force  employed  for  its  destruction  by  force  for  its  preservation." 
But  this  which  he  asserts  is  not  a  fact.  There  was  no  "  force 
employed  for  its  destruction."  Let  the  reader  turn  to  the  rec- 
ord of  the  facts  in  Part  III  of  this  work,  and  peruse  the  fruitless 
efforts  for  peace  which  were  made  by  us,  and  which  Mr.  Lin- 
coln did  not  deign  to  notice.  The  assertion  is  not  only  incor- 
rect, in  stating  that  force  was  employed  by  us,  but  also  in  de- 
claring that  it  was  for  the  destruction  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  On  the  contrary,  we  wished  to  leave  it  alone. 
Our  separation  did  not  involve  its  destruction.  To  such  fiction 
was  Mr.  Lincoln  compelled  to  resort  to  give  even  apparent  jus- 
tice to  his  cause.  He  now  goes  to  the  Constitution  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  war  power,  and  here  we  have  another  fiction. 

On  April  19th,  four  days  later,  President  Lincoln  issued  an- 
other proclamation,  announcing  a  blockade  of  the  ports  of  seven 
confederated  States,  which  was  afterward  extended  to  North 
Carolina  and  Yirginia.  It  further  declared  that  all  persons  who 
should  under  their  authority  molest  any  vessel  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  persons  or  cargo  on  board,  should  be  treated  as 
pirates.  In  their  efforts  to  subjugate  us,  the  destruction  of  our 
commerce  was  regarded  by  the  authorities  at  Washington  as  a 
most  efficient  measure.  It  was  early  seen  that,  although  acts 
of  Congress  established  ports  of  entry  where  commerce  existed, 
they  might  be  repealed,  and  the  ports  nominally  closed  or  de- 
clared to  be  closed ;  yet  such  a  declaration  would  be  of  no 
avail  unless  sustained  by  a  naval  force,  as  these  ports  were  lo- 
cated in  territory  not  subject  to  the  United  States.  An  act  was 
subsequently  passed  authorizing  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  his  discretion,  to  close  our  ports,  but  it  was  never  ex- 
ecuted. 

The  scheme  of  blockade  was  resorted  to,  and  a  falsehood 
was  asserted  on  which  to  base  it.     Mr.  Seward  writes  to  Mr. 


1861]  WAS  IT  AN  INSURRECTION.  325 

Dallas :  "  You  will  say  (to  Lord  John  Russell)  that,  by  our  own 
laws  and  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  laws  of  nations,  this  Gov- 
ernment has  a  clear  right  to  suppress  insurrection.  An  exclu- 
sion of  commerce  from  national  ports  which  have  been  seized 
by  insurgents,  in  the  equitable  form  of  blockade,  is  a  proper 
means  to  that  end."  *  This  is  the  same  doctrine  of  "  combina- 
tions "  fabricated  by  the  authorities  at  Washington  to  serve  as 
the  basis  of  a  bloody  revolution.  Under  the  laws  of  nations, 
separate  governments  when  at  war  blockade  each  other's  ports. 
This  is  decided  to  be  justifiable.  But  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  could  not  consent  to  justify  its  blockade  of  our 
ports  on  this  ground,  as  it  would  be  an  admission  that  the  Con- 
federate States  were  a  separate  and  distinct  sovereignty,  and 
that  the  war  was  prosecuted  only  for  subjugation.  It,  there- 
fore, assumed  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  Southern  States  from 
the  Union  was  an  insurrection. 

Was  it  an  insurrection  ?  When  certain  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent States  form  a  union  with  limited  powers  for  some 
general  purposes,  and  any  one  or  more  of  them,  in  the  progress 
of  time,  suffer  unjust  and  oppressive  grievances  for  which 
there  is  no  redress  but  in  a  withdrawal  from  the  association,  is 
such  withdrawal  an  insurrection  ?  If  so,  then  of  what  advan- 
tage is  a  compact  of  union  to  States  ?  Within  the  Union  are 
oppressions  and  grievances ;  and  the  attempt  to  go  out  brings 
war  and  subjugation.  The  ambitious  and  aggressive  States  ob- 
tain possession  of  the  central  authority  which,  having  grown 
strong  in  the  lapse  of  time,  asserts  its  entire  sovereignty  over 
the  States.  Whichever  of  them  denies  it  and  seeks  to  retire,  is 
declared  to  be  guilty  of  insurrection,  its  citizens  are  stigmatized 
as  "  rebels,"  as  if  they  had  revolted  against  a  master,  and  a  war 
of  subjugation  is  begun.  If  this  action  is  once  tolerated,  where 
will  it  end?  Where  is  the  value  of  constitutional  liberty? 
What  strength  is  there  in  bills  of  rights — in  limitations  of  pow- 
er ?  What  new  hope  for  mankind  is  to  be  found  in  written 
constitutions,  what  remedy  which  did  not  exist  under  kings  or 
emperors  ?  If  the  doctrines  thus  announced  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  are  conceded,  then,  look  through  either  end 

*  Diplomatic  correspondence,  May  21,  1861. 


326      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  the  political  telescope,  and  one  sees  only  an  empire,  and  the 
once  famous  Declaration  of  Independence  trodden  in  the  dust 
as  a  "glittering  generality,"  and  the  compact  of  union  de- 
nounced as  a  "  flaunting  lie."  Those  who  submit  to  such  con- 
sequences without  resistance  are  not  worthy  of  the  liberties  and 
the  rights  to  which  they  were  born,  and  deserve  to  be  made 
slaves.     Such  must  be  the  verdict  of  mankind. 

Men  do  not  fight  to  make  a  fraternal  union,  neither  do  na- 
tions. These  military  preparations  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  signified  nothing  less  than  the  subjugation  of  the 
Southern  States,  so  that,  by  one  devastating  blow,  the  North 
might  grasp  for  ever  that  supremacy  it  had  so  long  coveted. 

To  be  prepared  for  self-defense,  I  called  Congress  together 
at  Montgomery  on  April  29th,  and,  in  the  message  of  that  date, 
thus  spoke  of  the  proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States:  "Apparently  contradictory  as  are  the  terms  of  this 
singular  document,  one  point  is  unmistakably  evident.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  calls  for  an  army  of  seventy-five 
thousand  men,  whose  first  service  is  to  be  the  capture  of  our 
forts.  It  is  a  plain  declaration  of  war,  which  I  am  not  at 
liberty  to  disregard,  because  of  my  knowledge  that,  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  President  is  usurping 
a  power  granted  exclusively  to  Congress." 

I  then  proceeded  to  say  that  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  dis- 
regard the  fact  that  many  of  the  States  seemed  quite  content  to 
submit  to  the  exercise  of  the  powers  assumed  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  were  actively  engaged  in  levying 
troops  for  the  purpose  indicated  in  the  proclamation.  Mean- 
time, being  deprived  of  the  aid  of  Congress,  I  had  been  under 
the  necessity  of  confining  my  action  to  a  call  on  the  States  for 
volunteers  for  the  common  defense,  in  accordance  with  author- 
ity previously  conferred  on  me.  I  stated  that  there  were  then 
in  the  field,  at  Charleston,  Pensacola,  Forts  Morgan,  Jackson,  St. 
Philip,  and  Pulaski,  nineteen  thousand  men,  and  sixteen  thou- 
sand more  were  on  their  way  to  Virginia ;  that  it  was  proposed 
to  organize  and  hold  in  readiness  for  instant  action,  in  view  of 
the  existing  exigencies  of  the  country,  an  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men ;  and  that,  if  a  further  force  should  be  needed, 


1861]  ALL  WE  ASK  IS  TO  BE  LET  ALONE.  327 

Congress  would  be  appealed  to  for  authority  to  call  it  into  the 
field.  Finally,  that  the  intent  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  already  developed,  to  invade  our  soil,  capture  our  forts, 
blockade  our  ports,  and  wage  war  against  us,  rendered  it  neces- 
sary to  raise  means  to  a  much  larger  amount  than  had  been 
done,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  maintaining  independence  and 
repelling  invasion. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Government 
followed,  and,  notwithstanding  frequent  declarations  of  the 
peaceful  intentions  of  the  withdrawing  States  had  been  made  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  it  was  deemed  not  to  be  out  of  place 
to  repeat  them  once  more ;  and,  therefore,  the  message  closed 
with  these  words  :  "  We  protest  solemnly,  in  the  face  of  man- 
kind, that  we  desire  peace  at  any  sacrifice,  save  that  of  honor. 
In  independence  we  seek  no  conquest,  no  aggrandizement,  no 
concession  of  any  kind  from  the  States  with  which  we  have 
lately  been  confederated.  All  we  ask  is  to  be  let  alone — that 
those  who  never  held  power  over  us  shall  not  now  attempt  our 
subjugation  by  arms.  This  we  will,  we  must,  resist  to  the  direst 
extremity.  The  moment  that  this  pretension  is  abandoned, 
the  sword  will  drop  from  our  grasp,  and  we  shall  be  ready  to 
enter  into  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  that  can  not  but  be 
mutually  beneficial.  So  long  as  this  pretension  is  maintained, 
with  a  firm  reliance  on  that  Divine  Power  which  covers  with 
its  protection  the  just  cause,  we  must  continue  to  struggle  for 
our  inherent  right  to  freedom,  independence,  and  self-govern- 
ment." 

At  this  session  Congress  passed  acts  authorizing  the  Presi- 
dent to  use  the  whole  land  and  naval  force  to  meet  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  war  thus  commenced  ;  to  issue  to  private  armed 
vessels  letters  of  marque ;  in  addition  to  the  volunteer  force 
authorized  to  be  raised,  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers,  to 
serve  during  the  war ;  to  receive  into  the  service  various  com- 
panies of  the  different  arms  ;  to  make  a  loan  of  fifty  millions  of 
dollars  in  bonds  and  notes  ;  and  to  hold  an  election  for  officers 
of  the  permanent  Government  under  the  new  Constitution.  An 
act  was  also  passed  to  provide  revenue  from  imports  ;  another, 
relative  to  prisoners  of  war ;  and  such  others  as  were  necessary 


328      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

to  complete  the  internal  organization  of  the  Government,  and 
establish  the  administration  of  public  affairs. 

In  every  portion  of  the  country  there  was  exhibited  the 
most  patriotic  devotion  to  the  common  cause.  Transportation 
companies  freely  tendered  the  use  of  their  lines  for  troops  and 
supplies.  Requisitions  for  troops  were  met  with  such  alacrity 
that  the  number  offering  their  services  in  every  instance  greatly 
exceeded  the  demand  and  the  ability  to  arm  them.  Men  of  the 
highest  official  and  social  position  served  as  volunteers  in  the 
ranks.  The  gravity  of  age  and  the  zeal  of  youth  rivaled  each 
other  in  the  desire  to  be  foremost  in  the  public  defense. 

The  appearance  of  the  proclamation  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  calling  out  seventy-five  thousand  men,  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  the  States  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Arkansas,  and  their  union  with 
the  Confederate  States.  The  former  State,  thus  placed  on  the 
frontier  and  exposed  to  invasion,  began  to  prepare  for  a  resolute 
defense.  Volunteers  were  ordered  to  be  enrolled  and  held  in 
readiness  in  every  part  of  the  State.  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee, 
having  resigned  his  commission  in  the  United  States  cavalry, 
was  on  April  22d  nominated  and  confirmed  by  the  State  Con- 
vention of  Virginia  as  "  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  military 
and  naval  forces  of  the  Commonwealth." 

Already  the  Northern  officer  in  charge  had  evacuated  Har- 
per's Ferry,  after  having  attempted  to  destroy  the  public  build- 
ings there.  His  report  says :  "  I  gave  the  order  to  apply  the 
torch.  In  three  minutes  or  less,  both  of  the  arsenal  buildings, 
containing  nearly  fifteen  thousand  stand  of  arms,  together  with 
the  carpenter's  shop,  which  was  at  the  upper  end  of  a  long  and 
connected  series  of  workshops  of  the  armory  proper,  were  in  a 
blaze.  There  is  every  reason  for  believing  the  destruction  was 
complete."  Mr.  Simon  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War,  on 
April  22d  replied  to  this  report  in  these  words :  "  I  am  directed 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  communicate  to  you, 
and  through  you  to  the  officers  and  men  under  your  command 
at  Harper's  Ferry  Armory,  the  approbation  of  the  Government 
of  your  and  their  judicious  conduct  there,  and  to  tender  you 
and  them  the  thanks  of  the  Government  for  the  same."     At 


1861]  EXPOSITION   OF  HIS  POLICY.  329 

the  same  time  the  ship-yard  at  Norfolk  was  abandoned  after  an 
attempt  to  destroy  it.  About  midnight  of  April  20th,  a  fire 
was  started  in  the  yard,  which  continued  to  increase,  and  before 
daylight  the  work  of  destruction  extended  to  two  immense  ship- 
houses,  one  of  which  contained  the  entire  frame  of  a  seventy- 
four-gun  ship,  and  to  the  long  ranges  of  stores  and  offices  on 
each  side  of  the  entrance  The  great  ship  Pennsylvania  was 
burned,  and  the  frigates  Merrimac  and  Columbus,  and  the  Dela- 
ware, Paritan,  Plymouth,  and  Germantown  were  sunk.  A  vast 
amount  of  machinery,  valuable  engines,  small-arms,  and  chro- 
nometers, was  broken  up  and  rendered  entirely  useless.  The 
value  of  the  property  destroyed  was  estimated  at  several  mill- 
ions of  dollars. 

This  property  thus  destroyed  had  been  accumulated  and 
constructed  with  laborious  care  and  skillful  ingenuity  during  a 
course  of  years  to  fulfill  one  of  the  objects  of  the  Constitution, 
which  was  expressed  in  these  words,  "  To  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defense  "  (see  Preamble  of  the  Constitution).  It  had  be- 
longed to  all  the  States  in  common,  and  to  each  one  equally 
with  the  others.  If  the  Confederate  States  were  still  members 
of  the  Union,  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  asserted, 
where  can  he  find  a  justification  of  these  acts  % 

In  explanation  of  his  policy  to  the  Commissioners  sent  to 
him  by  the  Yirginia  State  Convention,  he  said,  referring  to  his 
inaugural  address,  "  As  I  then  and  therein  said,  I  now  repeat, 
the  power  confided  in  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  pos- 
sess property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Government."  Yet 
he  tendered  the  thanks  of  the  Government  to  those  who  ap- 
plied the  torch  to  destroy  this  property  belonging,  as  he  regard- 
ed it,  to  the  Government. 

JIow  unreasonable,  how  blind  with  rage  must  have  been 
that  administration  of  affairs  which  so  quickly  brought  the  Gov- 
ernment to  the  necessity  of  destroying  its  own  means  of  defense 
in  order,  as  it  publicly  declared,  "  to  maintain  its  life " !  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  passions  that  rule  the  savage  had  taken 
possession  of  the  authorities  at  the  United  States  capital !  In 
the  conflagrations  of  vast  structures,  the  wanton  destruction  of 
public  property,  and  still  more  in  the  issue  of  lettres  de  cachet 


330      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

by  the  Secretary  of  State,  who  boasted  of  the  power  of  his  lit- 
tle bell  over  the  personal  liberties  of  the  citizen,  the  people 
saw,  or  might  have  seen,  the  rapid  strides  toward  despotism 
made  under  the  mask  of  preserving  the  Union.  Yet  these  and 
similar  measures  were  tolerated  because  the  sectional  hate  domi- 
nated in  the  Northern  States  over  the  higher  motives  of  con- 
stitutional and  moral  obligation. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

Maryland  first  approached  by  Northern  Invasion. — Denies  to  United  States  Troops 
the  Right  of  Way  across  her  Domain. — Mission  of  Judge  Handy. — Views  of 
Governor  Hicks. — His  Proclamation. — Arrival  of  Massachusetts  Troops  at 
Baltimore. — Passage  through  the  City  disputed. — Activity  of  the  Police. — 
Burning  of  Bridges. — Letter  of  President  Lincoln  to  the  Governor. — Visited 
by  Citizens. — Action  of  the  State  Legislature. — Occupation  of  the  Relay  House. 
— The  City  Arms  surrendered. — City  in  Possession  of  United  States  Troops. 
— Remonstrances  of  the  City  to  the  Passage  of  Troops  disregarded. — Citizens 
arrested ;  also,  Members  of  the  Legislature. — Accumulation  of  Northern  Forces 
at  Washington. — Invasion  of  West  Virginia  by  a  Force  under  McClellan. — 
Attack  at  Philippi ;  at  Laurel  Hill. — Death  of  General  Garnett. 

The  border  State  of  Maryland  was  the  outpost  of  the  South 
on  the  frontier  first  to  be  approached  by  .Northern  invasion. 
The  first  demonstration  against  State  sovereignty  was  to  be  made 
there,  and  in  her  fate  were  the  other  slaveholding  States  of 
the  border  to  have  warning  of  what  they  were  to  expect.  She 
had  chosen  to  be,  for  the  time  at  least,  neutral  in  the  impending 
war,  and  had  denied  to  the  United  States  troops  the  right  of 
way  across  her  domain  in  their  march  to  invade  the  Southern 
States.  The  Governor  (Hicks)  avowed  a  desire,  not  only  that 
the  State  should  avoid  war,  but  that  she  should  be  a  means  for 
pacifying  those  more  disposed  to  engage  in  combat. 

Judge  Handy,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Mississippi,  who 
was  born  in  Maryland,  had,  in  December,  1860,  been  sent  as  a 
commissioner  from  the  State  of  his  adoption  to  that  of  his  birth, 
and  presented  his  views  and  the  object  of  his  mission  to  Gov- 
ernor Hicks,  who,   in  his  response  (December  19,   1860),    de- 


1861]  AFFAIRS  IN   MARYLAND.  331 

clared  his  purpose  to  act  in  full  concert  with  the  other  border 
States,  adding,  "I  do  not  doubt  the  people  of  Maryland  are 
ready  to  go  with  the  people  of  those  States  for  weal  or  woe."  * 
Subsequently,  in  answer  to  appeals  for  and  against  a  proclama- 
tion assembling  the  Legislature,  in  order  to  have  a  call  for  a 
State  convention,  Governor  Hicks  issued  an  address,  in  which, 
arguing  that  there  was  no  necessity  to  define  the  position  of 
Maryland,  he  wrote :  "  If  the  action  of  the  Legislature  would 
be  simply  to  declare  that  Maryland  was  with  the  South  in  sym- 
pathy and  feeling ;  that  she  demands  from  the  North  the  repeal 
of  offensive,  unconstitutional  statutes,  and  appeals  to  it  for  new 
guarantees ;  that  she  will  wait  a  reasonable  time  for  the  North 
to  purge  her  statute-books,  to  do  justice  to  her  Southern  breth- 
ren ;  and,  if  her  appeals  are  vain,  will  make  common  cause  with 
her  sister  border  States  in  resistance  to  tyranny,  if  need  be,  it 
would  only  be  saying  what  the  whole  country  well  knows,"  etc. 
On  the  18th  of  April,  1861,  Governor  Hicks  issued  a  proc- 
lamation invoking  them  to  preserve  the  peace,  and  said,  "  I  as- 
sure the  people  that  no  troops  will  be  sent  from  Maryland, 
unless  it  may  be  for  the  defense  of  the  national  capital."  On 
the  same  day  Mayor  Brown,  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  issued  a 
proclamation  in  which,  referring  to  that  of  the  Governor  above 
cited,  he  said,  "  I  can  not  withhold  my  expression  of  satisfac- 
tion at  his  resolution  that  no  troops  shall  be  sent  from  Maryland 
to  the  soil  of  any  other  State."  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
capital  was  on  a  site  which  originally  belonged  to  Maryland, 
and  was  ceded  by  her  for  a  special  use,  so  that  troops  to  defend 
the  capital  might  be  considered  as  not  having  been  sent  out  of 
Maryland.  It  will  be  remembered  that  these  proclamations 
were  three  days  after  the  requisition  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
"War  on  the  States  which  had  not  seceded  for  their  quota  of 
troops  to  serve  in  the  war  about  to  be  inaugurated  against  the 
South,  and  that  rumors  existed  at  the  time  in  Baltimore  that 
troops  from  the  Northeast  were  about  to  be  sent  through  that 
city  toward  the  South.  On  the  next  day,  viz.,  the  19th  of 
April,  1861,  a  body  of  troops  arrived  at  the  railroad  depot ; 
the  citizens  assembled  in  large  numbers,  and,  though  without 

*  "  Annual  Cyclopaedia,"  vol.  i,  p.  443. 


332      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

arms,  disputed  the  passage  through  the  city.  They  attacked 
the  troops  with  the  loose  stones  found  in  the  street,  which  was 
undergoing  repair,  and  with  such  determination  and  violence, 
that  some  of  the  soldiers  were  wounded,  and  they  fired  upon 
the  multitude,  killing  a  few  and  wounding  many. 

The  police  of  Baltimore  were  very  active  in  their  efforts  to 
prevent  conflict  and  preserve  the  peace ;  they  rescued  the  bag- 
gage and  munitions  of  the  troops,  which  had  been  seized  by 
the  multitude  ;  and  the  rear  portion  of  the  troops  was,  by  di- 
rection of  Governor  Hicks,  sent  back  to  the  borders  of  the 
State.  The  troops  who  had  got  through  the  city  took  the  rail- 
road at  the  Southern  Depot  and  passed  on.  The  militia  of  the 
city  was  called  out,  and  by  evening  quiet  was  restored.  During 
the  night,  on  a  report  that  more  Northern  troops  were  approach- 
ing the  city  by  the  railroads,  the  bridges  nearest  to  the  city  were 
destroyed,  as  it  was  understood,  by  orders  from  the  authorities 
of  Baltimore. 

On  the  20th  of  April  President  Lincoln  wrote  in  reply  to 
Governor  Hicks  and  Mayor  Brown,  saying,  "  For  the  future, 
troops  must  be  brought  here,  but  I  make  no  point  of  bringing 
them  through  Baltimore."  On  the  next  day,  the  21st,  Mayor 
Brown  and  other  influential  citizens,  by  request  of  the  Presi- 
dent, visited  him.  The  interview  took  plaee  in  presence  of  the 
Cabinet  and  General  Scott,  and  was  reported  to  the  public  by 
the  Mayor  after  his  return  to  Baltimore.  From  that  report  I 
make  the  following  extracts.  Referring  to  the  President,  the 
Mayor  uses  the  following  language : 

"  The  protection  of  Washington,  he  asseverated  with  great  ear- 
nestness, was  the  sole  object  of  concentrating  troops  there,  and 
he  protested  that  none  of  the  troops  brought  through  Maryland 
were  intended  for  any  purposes  hostile  to  the  State,  or  aggressive 
as  against  the  Southern  States.  .  .  .  He  called  on  General  Scott 
for  his  opinion,  which  the  General  gave  at  great  length,  to  the 
effect  that  troops  might  be  brought  through  Maryland  without 
going  through  Baltimore,  etc.  .  .  .  The  interview  terminated  with 
the  distinct  assurance,  on  the  part  of  the  President,  that  no  more 
troops  would  be  sent  through  Baltimore,  unless  obstructed  in 
their  transit  in  other  directions,  and  with  the  understanding  that 


1861]  EARNEST  DESIRE  FOR  PEACE.  333 

the  city  authorities  should  do  their  best  to  restrain  their  own 
people. 

"The  Mayor  and  his  companions  availed  themselves  of  the 
President's  full  discussion  of  the  questions  of  the  day  to  urge 
upon  him  respectfully,  but  in  the  most  earnest  manner,  a  course 
of  policy  which  would  give  peace  to  the  country,  and  especially 
the  withdrawal  of  all  orders  contemplating  the  passage  of  troops 
through  any  part  of  Maryland." 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Maryland  appointed  com- 
missioners to  the  Confederate  Government  to  suggest  to  it  the 
cessation  of  impending  hostilities  until  the  meeting  of  Congress 
at  Washington  in  July.  Commissioners  with  like  instructions 
were  also  sent  to  "Washington.  In  my  reply  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, dated  25th  of  May,  1861,  I  referred  to  the  uniform  ex- 
pression of  desire  for  peace  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment, and  added  : 

"  In  deference  to  the  State  of  Maryland,  it  again  asserts  in  the 
most  emphatic  terms  that  its  sincere  and  earnest  desire  is  for 
peace  ;  but  that,  while  the  Government  would  readily  entertain 
any  proposition  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States  tend- 
ing to  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  present  difficulties,  the  recent 
attempts  of  this  Government  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  that 
of  the  United  States  were  attended  with  results  which  forbid  any 
renewal  of  proposals  from  it  to  that  Government.  ...  Its  policy 
can  not  but  be  peace — peace  with  all  nations  and  people." 

On  the  5th  of  May,  the  Relay  House,  at  the  junction  of  the 
"Washington  and  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroads,  was  occupied 
by  United  States  troops  under  General  Butler,  and,  on  the  13th 
of  the  same  month,  he  moved  a  portion  of  the  troops  to  Balti- 
more, and  took  position  on  Federal  Hill — thus  was  consum- 
mated the  military  occupation  of  Baltimore.  On  the  next  day, 
reinforcements  were  received  ;  and,  on  the  same  day,  the  com- 
manding General  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  citizens,  in  which 
he  announced  to  them  his  purpose  and  authority  to  discriminate 
between  citizens,  those  who  agreed  with  him  being  denominated 
"well  disposed,"  and  the  others  described  with  many  offensive  ep- 
ithets.   The  initiatory  step  of  the  policy  subsequently  developed 


334      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

was  found  in  one  sentence  :  "  Therefore,  all  manufacturers  of 
arms  and  munitions  of  war  are  hereby  requested  to  report  to  me 
forthwith,  so  that  the  lawfulness  of  their  occupations  may  be 
known  and  understood,  and  all  misconstruction  of  their  doings 
avoided." 

There  soon  followed  a  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  arms 
stored  by  the  city  authorities  in  a  warehouse.  The  police  re- 
fused to  surrender  them  without  the  orders  of  the  police  com- 
missioners. The  police  commissioners,  upon  representation  that 
the  demand  of  General  Butler  was  by  order  of  the  President, 
decided  to  surrender  the  arms  under  protest,  and  they  were  ac- 
cordingly removed  to  Fort  McHenry. 

Baltimore  was  now  disarmed.  The  Army  of  the  United 
States  had  control  of  the  city.  There  was  no  longer  necessity 
to  regard  the  remonstrance  of  Baltimore  against  sending  troops 
through  the  city,  and  that  more  convenient-  route  was  hence- 
forth to  be  employed.  George  P.  Kane,  Marshal  of  the  Police 
of  Baltimore,  who  had  rendered  most  efficient  service  for  the 
preservation  of  peace,  as  well  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  as  at  Lo- 
cust Point,  where  troops  were  disembarked  to  be  dispatched 
to  Washington,  was  arrested  at  home  by  a  military  force,  and 
sent  to  Fort  McHenry,  and  a  provost-marshal  was  appointed 
by  General  Banks,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command.  The 
excuse  given  for  the  arrest  of  Marshal  Kane  was  that  he  was 
believed  to  be  cognizant  of  combinations  of  men  waiting  for 
an  opportunity  to  unite  with  those  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States  Government.  Whether  the  suspicion  were  well 
or  ill  founded,  it  constituted  a  poor  excuse  for  depriving  a 
citizen  of  his  liberty  without  legal  warrant  and  without  proof. 
But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  unbridled  despotism  and 
a  reign  of  terror.  The  Mayor  and  Police  Commissioners, 
Charles  Howard,  William  H.  Gatchell,  and  John  W.  Davis, 
held  a  meeting,  and,  after  preparing  a  protest  against  the  sus- 
pension of  their  functions  in  the  appointment  of  a  provost-mar- 
shal, resolved  that,  while  they  would  do  nothing  to  "  obstruct 
the  execution  of  such  measures  as  Major-General  Banks  may 
deem  proper  to  take,  on  his  own  responsibility,  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  peace  of  the  city  and  of  public  order,  they  can  not, 


1861]  ARRESTS  OF  THE   MOST   ILLUSTRIOUS.  335 

consistently  with  their  views  of  official  duty  and  of  the  obliga- 
tions of  their  oaths  of  office,  recognize  the  right  of  any  of  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  police  force,  as  such,  to  receive  orders  or 
directions  from  any  other  authority  than  from  this  Board  ;  and 
that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board,  the  forcible  suspension  of 
their  functions  suspends  at  the  same  time  the  active  operations 
of  the  police  law."  *  The  Provost-Marshal,  with  the  plenary 
powers  conferred  upon  him,  commenced  a  system  of  search  and 
seizure,  in  private  houses,  of  arms  and  munitions  of  every  de- 
scription. 

On  the  1st  of  July,  General  Banks  announced  that,  "in 
pursuance  of  orders  issued  from  the  headquarters  at  "Washing- 
ton for  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace  in  this  department, 
I  have  arrested,  and  do  detain  in  custody  of  the  United  States,  the 
late  members  of  the  Board  of  Police — Messrs.  Charles  Howard, 
William  H.  Gatchell,  Charles  D.  Hinks,  and  John  W.  Davis." 
If  the  object  had  been  to  preserve  order  by  any  proper  and  legit- 
imate method,  the  effective  means  would  palpably  have  been 
to  rely  upon  men  whose  influence  was  known  to  be  great,  and 
whose  integrity  was  certainly  unquestionable.  The  first-named 
of  the  commissioners  I  knew  well.  He  was  of  an  old  Maryland 
family,  honored  for  their  public  services,  and  himself  adorned  by 
every  social  virtue.  Old,  unambitious,  hospitable,  gentle,  lov- 
ing, he  was  beloved  by  the  people  among  whom  his  long  life 
had  been  passed.  Could  such  a  man  be  the  just  object  of  suspi- 
cion, if,  when  laws  had  been  silenced,  suspicion  could  justify 
arrest  and  imprisonment  ?  Those  who  knew  him  will  accept  as 
a  just  description  : 

"  In  action  faithful,  and  in  honor  clear, 
"Who  broke  no  promise,  served  no  private  end, 
Who  gained  no  title,  and  who  lost  no  friend." 

Thenceforward,  arrests  of  the  most  illustrious  became  the  rule. 
In  a  land  where  freedom  of  speech  was  held  to  be  an  unques- 
tioned right,  freedom  of  thought  ceased  to  exist,  and  men  were 
incarcerated  for  opinion's  sake. 

In  the  Maryland  Legislature,  the  Hon.  S.  Teacle  "Wallis,  from 

*  "Baltimore  American,"  June  28,  1861. 


336      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

a  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  of  the  police 
commissioners  arrested  in  Baltimore,  made  a  report  upon  the 
unconstitutionality  of  the  act,  and  "  appealed  in  the  most  ear- 
nest manner  to  the  whole  people  of  the  country,  of  all  parties, 
sections,  and  opinions,  to  take  warnings  by  the  usurpations  men- 
tioned, and  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  free  institutions  of  the 
country."  * 

For  no  better  reason,  so  far  as  the  public  was  informed,  than 
a  vote  in  favor  of  certain  resolutions,  General  Banks  sent  his 
provost-marshal  to  Frederick,  where  the  Legislature  was  in  ses- 
sion ;  a  cordon  of  pickets  was  placed  around  the  town  to  prevent 
any  one  from  leaving  it  without  a  written  permission  from  a  mem- 
ber of  General  Banks's  staff;  police  detectives  from  Baltimore 
then  went  into  the  town  and  arrested  some  twelve  or  thirteen 
members  and  several  officers  of  the  Legislature,  which,  thereby 
left  without  a  quorum,  was  prevented  from  organizing,  and  it 
performed  the  only  act  which  it  was  competent  to  do,  i.  e.,  ad- 
journed. S.  Teacle  Wallis,  the  author  of  the  report  in  defense 
of  the  constitutional  rights  of  citizens,  was  among  those  arrested. 
Henry  May,  a  member  of  Congress,  who  had  introduced  a  reso- 
lution which  he  hoped  would  be  promotive  of  peace,  was  an- 
other of  those  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  Senator  Ken- 
nedy, of  the  same  State,  presented  a  report  of  the  Legislature  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  reciting  the  outrage  inflicted  upon 
Maryland  in  the  persons  of  her  municipal  officers  and  citizens, 
and,  after  some  opposition,  merely  obtained  an  order  to  have  it 
printed.  Governor  Hicks,  whose  promises  had  been  so  cheer- 
ing in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  sent  his  final  message  to  the 
Legislature  on  December  3,  1861.  In  that,  referring  to  the 
action  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  at  its  several  sessions  before 
that  when  the  arrest  of  its  members  prevented  an  organization, 
he  wrote,  "  This  continued  until  the  General  Government  had 
ample  reason  to  believe  it  was  about  to  go  through  the  farce  of 
enacting  an  ordinance  of  secession,  when  the  treason  was  summa- 
rily stopped  by  the  dispersion  of  the  traitors.  .  .  ."  After  re- 
ferring to  the  elections  of  the  13th  of  June  and  the  6th  of 
November,  he  says,  the  people  have  "  declared,  in  the  most  em- 

*  New  York  "World,"  August  6,  1861. 


1861]  THE  STORY   OF  MARYLAND.  337 

phatic  tones,  what  I  have  never  doubted,  that  Maryland  has  no 
sympathy  with  the  rebellion,  and  desires  to  do  her  full  share  in 
the  duty  of  suppressing  it."  It  would  be  more  easy  than  gra- 
cious to  point  out  the  inconsistency  between  his  first  statements 
and  this  last.  The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  he  kept  himself 
in  equipoise,  and  fell  at  last,  as  men  without  convictions  usually 
do,  upon  the  stronger  side. 

Henceforth  the  story  of  Maryland  is  sad  to  the  last  degree, 
only  relieved  by  the  gallant  men  who  left  their  homes  to  fight 
the  battle  of  State  rights  when  Maryland  no  longer  furnished 
them  a  field  on  which  they  could  maintain  the  rights  their 
fathers  left  them.  This  was  a  fate  doubly  sad  to  the  sons  of 
the  heroic  men  who,  under  the  designation  of  the  "  Maryland 
Line,"  did  so  much  in  our  Revolutionary  struggle  to  secure  the 
independence  of  the  States  ;  of  the  men  who,  at  a  later  day, 
fought  the  battle  of  North  Point ;  of  the  people  of  a  land  which 
had  furnished  so  many  heroes  and  statesmen,  and  gave  the  great 
Chief -Justice  Taney  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Though  Maryland  did  not  become  one  of  the  Confederate 
States,  she  was  endeared  to  the  people  thereof  by  many  most 
enduring  ties.  Last  in  order,  but  first  in  cordiality,  were  the 
tender  ministrations  of  her  noble  daughters  to  the  sick  and 
wounded  prisoners  who  were  carried  through  the  streets  of  Bal- 
timore ;  and  it  is  with  shame  we  remember  that  brutal  guards 
on  several  occasions  inflicted  wounds  upon  gentlewomen  who 
approached  these  suffering  prisoners  to  offer  them  the  relief  of 
which  they  so  evidently  stood  in  need. 

The  accumulation  of  Northern  forces  at  and  near  "Wash- 
ington City,  made  it  evident  that  the  great  effort  of  the  in- 
vasion would  be  from  that  point,  while  assaults  of  more  or  less 
vigor  might  be  expected  upon  all  important  places  which  the 
enemy,  by  his  facilities  for  transportation,  could  reach.  The 
concentration  of  Confederate  troops  in  Virginia  was  begun,  and 
they  were  sent  forward  as  rapidly  as  practicable  to  the  points 
threatened  with  attack. 

It  was  soon  manifest  that,  besides  the  army  at  "Washington, 
which  threatened  Virginia,  there  was  a  second  one  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  under  Major-General  Patterson,  designed  to 


338      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

move  through  Williamsport  and  Martinsburg,  and  another  form- 
ing in  Ohio,  under  the  command  of  Major-General  McClellan, 
destined  to  invade  the  western  counties  of  Virginia. 

This  latter  force,  having  landed  at  Wheeling  on  May  26th, 
advanced  as  far  as  Grafton  on  the  29th.  At  this  time  Colonel 
Porterfield,  with  the  small  force  of  seven  hundred  men,  sent  for- 
ward by  Governor  Letcher,  of  Virginia,  was  at  Philippi.  On 
the  night  of  June  2d  he  was  attacked  by  General  McClellan, 
with  a  strong  force,  and  withdrew  to  Laurel  Hill.  Reinforce- 
ments under  General  Garnett  were  sent  forward  and  occupied 
the  hill,  while  Colonel  Pegram,  the  second  in  command,  held 
Pich  Mountain.  On  July  11th  the  latter  was  attacked  by  two 
columns  of  the  enemy,  and,  after  a  vigorous  defense,  fell  back 
on  the  12th,  losing  many  of  his  men,  who  were  made  prisoners. 
General  Garnett,  hearing  of  this  reverse,  attempted  to  fall  back, 
but  was  pursued  by  McClellan,  and,  while  striving  to  rally  his 
rear  guard,  was  killed.  Five  hundred  of  his  men  were  taken 
prisoners.  This  success  left  the  Northern  forces  in  possession 
of  that  region. 

The  difficult  character  of  the  country  in  which  the  battle  was 
fought,  as  well  from  mountain  acclivity  as  dense  wood,  rendered 
a  minute  knowledge  of  the  roads  of  vast  importance.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  competent  guides  led  the  enemy,  by  roads 
unknown  to  our  army,  to  the  flank  and  rear  of  its  position,  and 
thus  caused  the  sacrifice  of  those  who  had  patriotically  come  to 
repel  the  invasion  of  the  very  people  who  furnished  the  guides 
to  the  enemy.  It  was  treachery  confounding  the  counsels  of 
the  brave.  Thus  occurred  the  disaster  of  Pich  Mountain  and 
Laurel  Hill. 

General  Pobert  Garnett  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a 
graduate  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy.  He  served 
in  Mexico,  on  the  staff  of  General  Z.  Taylor,  and  was  conspicu- 
ous for  gallantry  and  good  conduct,  especially  in  the  battles  of 
Monterey  and  Buena  Vista.  Pecognizing  his  allegiance  as  due 
to  the  State  of  Virginia,  from  which  he  was  appointed  a  cadet, 
and  thence  won  his  various  promotions  in  the  army,  he  resigned 
his  commission  when  the  State  withdrew  from  the  Union,  and 
earnestly  and  usefully  served  as  aide-de-camp  to  General  P.  E. 


1861]  DEVOTION  AND  FORTITUDE.  339 

Lee,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  of  Virginia,  until 
she  acceded  to  the  Confederacy. 

"When  Western  Virginia  was  invaded,  he  offered  his  services 
to  go  to  her  defense,  and,  relying  confidently  on  the  sentiment, 
so  strong  in  his  own  heart,  of  devotion  to  the  State  by  all  Vir- 
ginians, he  believed  it  was  only  needful  for  him  to  have  a  nu- 
cleus around  which  the  people  could  rally  to  resist  the  invasion 
of  their  country.  How  sadly  he  was  disappointed,  and  how 
bravely  he  struggled  against  adverse  fortune,  and  how  gallantly 
he  died  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  are  memories  which,  though 
sad,  bear  with  them  to  his  friends  the  consolation  that  the  man- 
ner of  his  death  was  worthy  of  the  way  in  which  he  lived,  and 
that  even  his  life  was  an  offering  he  was  not  unwilling  to  make 
for  the  welfare  and  honor  of  Virginia. 

He  fell  while  commanding  the  rear  guard,  to  save  his  retreat- 
ing army,  thus  exemplifying  the  highest  quality  of  man,  self- 
sacrifice  for  others,  and  such  devotion  and  fortitude  as  made 
Ney  the  grandest  figure  in  Bonaparte's  retreat  from  Moscow. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

Removal  of  the  Seat  of  Government  to  Richmond. — Message  to  Congress  at  Rich- 
mond. — Confederate  Forces  in  Virginia. — Forces  of  the  Enemy. — Letter  to  Gen- 
eral Johnston. — Combat  at  Bethel  Church. — Affair  at  Romney. — 'Movements 
of  McDowell. — Battle  of  Manassas. 

The  Provisional  Congress,  in  session  at  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama, on  the  21st  of  May,  1861,  resolved  "  that  this  Congress 
will  adjourn  on  Tuesday  next,  to  meet  again  on  the  20th  day  of 
July  at  Richmond,  Virginia."  The  resolution  further  author- 
ized the  President  to  have  the  several  executive  departments, 
with  their  archives,  removed  at  such  intermediate  time  as  he 
might  determine,  and  added  a  proviso  that,  if  any  public  emer- 
gency should  "  render  it  impolitic  to  meet  in  Richmond,"  he 
should  call  the  Congress  together  at  some  other  place  to  be 
selected  by  him. 

The  hostile  demonstrations  of  the  United  States  Government 


340      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

against  Virginia  caused  the  President,  at  an  early  day  after  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  to  proceed  to  Richmond  and  to  direct 
the  executive  departments,  with  their  archives,  to  be  removed 
to  that  place  as  soon  as  could  be  conveniently  done. 

In  the  message  delivered  to  the  Congress  at  its  meeting  in 
Richmond,  according  to  adjournment,  I  gave  the  following  ex- 
planation of  my  conduct  under  the  resolution  above  cited :  "  Im- 
mediately after  your  adjournment,  the  aggressive  movement  of 
the  enemy  required  prompt,  energetic  action.  The  accumula- 
tion of  his  forces  on  the  Potomac  sufficiently  demonstrated  that 
his  efforts  were  to  be  directed  against  Virginia,  and  from  no 
point  could  necessary  measures  for  her  defense  and  protection 
be  so  effectively  decided  as  from  her  own  capital." 

On  my  arrival  in  Richmond,  General  R.  E.  Lee,  as  com- 
mander of  the  Army  of  Virginia,  was  found  there,  where  he 
had  established  his  headquarters.  He  possessed  my  unqualified 
confidence,  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  patriot,  and  the  command  he 
had  exercised  over  the  Army  of  Virginia,  before  her  accession 
to  the  Confederacy,  gave  him  that  special  knowledge  which  at 
the  time  was  most  needful.  As  has  been  already  briefly  stated, 
troops  had  previously  been  sent  from  other  States  of  the  Confed- 
eracy to  the  aid  of  Virginia.  The  forces  there  assembled  were 
divided  into  three  armies,  at  positions  the  most  important  and 
threatened :  one,  under  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  covering  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah ;  another,  under 
General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  at  Manassas,  covering  the  direct 
approach  from  Washington  to  Richmond ;  and  the  third,  un- 
der Generals  Huger  and  Magruder,  at  Norfolk  and  on  the  Pen- 
insula between  the  James  and  York  Rivers,  covering  the  ap- 
proach to  Richmond  from  the  seaboard. 

The  first  and  second  of  these  armies,  though  separated  by 
the  Blue  Ridge,  had  such  practicable  communication  with  each 
other  as  to  render  their  junction  possible  when  the  necessity 
should  be  foreseen.  They  both  were  confronted  by  forces 
greatly  superior  in  numbers  to  their  own,  and  it  was  doubtful 
which  would  first  be  the  object  of  attack.  Harper's  Ferry  was 
an  important  position,  both  for  military  and  political  considera- 
tions, and,  though  unfavorably  situated  for  defense  against  an 


1861]  COMBAT  REGARDED  AS  A  GREAT  BATTLE.  34-1 

enemy  which  should  seek  to  turn  its  position  by  crossing  the 
Potomac  above,  it  was  desirable  to  hold  it  as  long  as  was  con- 
sistent with  safety.  The  temporary  occupation  was  especially 
needful  for  the  removal  of  the  valuable  machinery  and  material 
in  the  armory  located  there,  and  which  the  enemy  had  failed  to 
destroy,  though  he  had  for  that  purpose  fired  the  buildings  be- 
fore his  evacuation  of  the  post.  The  demonstrations  of  General 
Patterson,  commanding  the  Federal  army  in  that  region,  caused 
General  Johnston  earnestly  to  insist  on  being  allowed  to  retire 
to  a  position  nearer  to  Winchester.  Under  these  circumstances, 
an  official  letter  was  addressed  to  him,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing extract  is  made : 

"Adjutant  and  Inspector-General's  Office, 
"  Richmond,  June  IS,  1861. 

"  To  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  commanding  Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia. 

"  Sir  :  .  .  .  You  had  been  heretofore  instructed  to  exercise 
your  discretion  as  to  retiring  from  your  position  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
and  taking  the  field  to  check  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  .  .  .  The 
ineffective  portion  of  your  command,  together  with  the  baggage 
and  whatever  else  would  impede  your  operations  in  the  field,  it 
would  be  well  to  send,  without  delay,  to  the  Manassas  road. 
Should  you  not  be  sustained  by  the  population  of  the  Valley,  so 
as  to  enable  you  to  turn  upon  the  enemy  before  reaching  Win- 
chester, you  will  continue  slowly  to  retire  to  the  Manassas  road, 
upon  some  of  the  passes  of  which  it  is  hoped  you  will  be  able  to 
make  an  effective  stand,  even  against  a  very  superior  force.  To 
this  end,  it  might  be  well  to  send  your  engineer  to  make  a  re- 
connaissance and  construct  such  temporary  works  as  may  be  use- 
ful and  proper.  .  .  .  For  these  reasons  it  has  been  with  reluctance 
that  any  attempt  was  made  to  give  you  specific  instructions,  and 
you  will  accept  assurances  of  the  readiness  with  which  the  freest 
exercise  of  discretion  on  your  part  will  be  sustained. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"S.  Cooper, 
"Adjutant  and  Inspector- General." 

The  earliest  combat  in  this  quarter,  and  which,  in  the  inex- 
perience of  the  time,  was  regarded  as  a  great  battle,  may  claim  a 
passing  notice,  as  exemplifying  the  extent  to  which  the  individ- 


342      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

uality,  self-reliance,  and  habitual  use  of  small-arms  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South  was  a  substitute  for  military  training,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  how  the  want  of  such  training  made  the  North- 
ern new  levies  inferior  to  the  like  kind  of  Southern  troops. 

A  detached  work  on  the  right  of  General  Magruder's  line 
was  occupied  June  11,  1861,  by  the  First  Regiment  of  North 
Carolina  Yolunteers  and  three  hundred  and  sixty  Yirginians 
under  the  command  of  an  educated,  vigilant,  and  gallant  soldier, 
then  Colonel  D.  li.  Hill,  First  Regiment  North  Carolina  Yol- 
unteers, subsequently  a  lieutenant-general  in  the  Confederate 
service.  He  reports  that  this  small  force  was  "  engaged  for  five 
and  a  half  hours  with  four  and  a  half  regiments  of  the  enemy 
at  Bethel  Church,  nine  miles  from  Hampton.  The  enemy  made 
three  distinct  and  well-sustained  charges,  but  were  repulsed 
with  heavy  loss.  Our  cavalry  pursued  them  for  six  miles,  when 
their  retreat  became  a  total  rout." 

On  the  other  side,  Frederick  Townsend,  colonel  of  Third 
Regiment  of  the  enemy's  forces,  after  stating  with  much  minute- 
ness the  orders  and  line  of  march,  describes  how,  "  about  five  or 
six  miles  from  Hampton,  a  heavy  and  well-sustained  fire  of  can- 
ister and  small-arms  was  opened  upon  the  regiment,"  and  how 
it  was  afterward  discovered  to  be  a  portion  of  their  own  column 
which  had  fired  upon  them.  After  due  care  for  the  wounded 
and  a  recognition  of  their  friends,  the  column  proceeded,  and 
the  Colonel  describes  his  regiment  as  moving  to  the  attack  "  in 
line  of  battle,  as  if  on  parade,  in  the  face  of  a  severe  fire  of 
artillery  and  small-arms."  Subsequently,  the  description  pro- 
ceeds, "a  company  of  my  regiment  had  been  separated  from 
the  regiment  by  a  thickly-hedged  ditch,"  and  marched  in  the 
adjoining  field  in  line  with  the  main  body.  Not  being  aware  of 
the  separation  of  that  company,  the  Colonel  states  that,  there- 
fore, "  upon  seeing  among  the  breaks  in  the  hedge  the  glisten- 
ing of  bayonets  in  the  adjoining  field,  I  immediately  concluded 
that  the  enemy  were  outflanking,  and  conceived  it  to  be  my 
duty  to  immediately  retire  and  repel  that  advance."  * 

"Without  knowing  anything  of  the  subsequent  career  of  the 
Colonel  from  whose  report  these  extracts  have  been  made,  or  of 

*  See  "Rebellion  Record,"  vol.  ii,  pp.  164,  165. 


1861]  DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN  THE  TROOPS.  343 

the  officers  who  opened  fire  upon  him  while  he  was  marching 
to  the  execution  of  the  orders  under  which  they  were  all  acting, 
it  is  fair  to  suppose  that,  after  a  few  months'  experience,  such 
scenes  as  are  described  could  not  have  occurred,  and  these  cita- 
tions have  been  made  to  show  the  value  of  military  training. 

In  further  exemplification  of  the  difference  between  the 
troops  of  the  Confederate  States  and  those  of  the  United  States, 
before  either  had  been  trained  in  war,  I  will  cite  an  affair  which 
occurred  on  the  upper  Potomac.  Colonel  A.  P.  Hill,  command- 
ing a  brigade  at  Pomney,  in  Western  Yirginia,  having  learned 
that  the  enemy  had  a  command  at  the  twenty-first  bridge  on  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Pailroad,  decided  to  attack  it  and  to  de- 
stroy the  bridge,  so  as  to  interrupt  the  use  of  that  important 
line  of  the  enemy's  communication.  For  this  purpose  he  or- 
dered Colonel  John  C.  Yaughn,  of  the  Third  Tennessee  Vol- 
unteers, to  proceed  with  a  detachment  of  two  companies  of  his 
regiment  and  two  companies  of  the  Thirteenth  Yirginia  Volun- 
teers to  the  position  where  the  enemy  were  reported  to  be 
posted. 

Colonel  Vaughn  reports  that  on  June  18, 1861,  at  8  p.  m.,  he 
moved  with  his  command  as  ordered,  marched  eighteen  miles, 
and,  at  5  a.  m.  the  next  morning,  found  the  enemy  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Potomac  in  some  strength  of  infantry  and  with 
two  pieces  of  artillery.     He  had  no  picket-guards. 

After  reconnaissance,  the  order  to  charge  was  given.  It  was 
necessary,  in  the  execution  of  the  order,  to  ford  the  river  waist- 
deep,  which  Colonel  Vaughn  reports  "  was  gallantly  executed  in 
good  order  but  with  great  enthusiasm.  As  we  appeared  in  sight 
at  a  distance  of  four  hundred  yards,  the  enemy  broke  and  fled 
in  all  directions,  firing  as  they  ran  only  a  few  random  shots. 
.  .  .  The  enemy  did  not  wait  to  fire  their  artillery,  which  we 
captured,  both  guns  loaded  ;  they  were,  however,  spiked  by  the 
enemy  before  he  fled.  From  the  best  information,  their  num- 
ber was  between  two  and  three  hundred." 

Colonel  Vaughn  further  states  that,  in  pursuance  of  orders, 
he  fired  the  bridge  and  then  retired,  bringing  away  the  two 
guns  and  the  enemy's  flag,  and  other  articles  of  little  value 
which  had  been  captured,  and  arrived  at  brigade  headquarters 


344      RISE   AND  FALL  OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

in  the  evening,  with  his  command  in  high  spirits  and  good 
condition. 

Colonel  A.  P.  Hill,  the  energetic  brigade  commander  who 
directed  this  expedition,  left  the  United  States  Army  when  the 
State,  which  had  given  him  to  the  military  service  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  passed  her  ordinance  of  secession.  The  vig- 
ilance and  enterprise  he  manifested  on  this  early  occasion  in  the 
war  of  the  States  gave  promise  of  the  brilliant  career  which 
gained  for  him  the  high  rank  of  a  lieutenant-general,  and  which 
there  was  nothing  for  his  friends  to  regret  save  the  honorable 
death  which  he  met  npon  the  field  of  battle. 

Colonel  Vaughn,  the  commander  of  the  detachment,  was 
new  to  war.  His  paths  had  been  those  of  peace,  and  his  home 
in  the  mountains  of  East  Tennessee  might  reasonably  have  se- 
cured him  from  any  expectation  that  it  would  ever  be  the  the- 
atre on  which  armies  were  to  contend,  and  that  he,  in  the  muta- 
tion of  human  affairs,  would  become  a  soldier.  He  lived  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  and,  on  larger  fields  than  that  on  which  he 
first  appeared,  proved  that,  though  not  educated  for  a  soldier, 
he  had  endowments  which  compensated  for  that  disadvantage. 

The  activity  and  vigilance  of  Stuart,  afterward  so  distin- 
guished as  commander  of  cavalry  in  the  Army  of  Virginia,  and 
the  skill  and  daring  of  Jackson,  soon  by  greater  deeds  to  become 
immortal,  checked,  punished,  and  embarrassed  the  enemy  in  his 
threatened  advances,  and  his  movements  became  so  devoid  of  a 
definite  purpose  that  one  was  at  a  loss  to  divine  the  object  of 
his  campaign,  unless  it  was  to  detain  General  Johnston  with 
his  forces  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  while  General 
McDowell,  profiting  by  the  feint,  should  make  the  real  attack 
upon  General  Beauregard's  army  at  Manassas.  However  that 
may  be,  the  evidence  finally  became  conclusive  that  the  enemy 
under  General  McDowell  was  moving  to  attack  the  army  under 
General  Beauregard.  The  contingency  had  therefore  arisen  for 
that  junction  which  was  necessary  to  enable  us  to  resist  the  vastly 
superior  numbers  of  our  assailant ;  for,  though  the  most  strenuous 
and  not  wholly  unsuccessful  exertions  had  been  made  to  reen- 
f  orce  both  the  Armies  of  the  Shenandoah  and  of  the  Potomac,  they 
yet  remained  far  smaller  than  those  of  the  enemy  confronting 


1861]  TIMELY  JUNCTION  OF  FORCES.  345 

them,  and  made  a  junction  of  our  forces  indispensable  when- 
ever the  real  point  of  attack  should  be  ascertained.  For  this 
movement  we  had  the  advantage  of  an  interior  line,  so  that,  if 
the  enemy  should  discover  it  after  it  commenced,  he  could  not 
counteract  it  by  adopting  the  same  tactics.  The  success  of  this 
policy,  it  will  readily  be  perceived,  depended  upon  the  time  of 
execution,  for,  though  from  different  causes,  failure  would  equally 
result  if  done  too  soon  or  too  late.  The  determination  as  to 
which  army  should  be  reenforced  from  the  other,  and  the  exact 
time  of  the  transfer,  must  have  been  a  difficult  problem,  as 
both  the  generals  appear  to  have  been  unable  to  solve  it  (each 
asking  reinforcements  from  the  other). 

On  the  9th  of  July  General  Johnston  wrote  an  official  letter, 
from  which  I  make  the  following  extracts : 

"  Headquarters,  Winchester,  July  9,  1861. 
"  General  :  .  .  .  Similar  information  from  other  sources 
gives  me  the  impression  that  the  reinforcements  arriving  at  Mar- 
tinsburg  amount  to  seven  or  eight  thousand.  I  have  estimated 
the  enemy's  force  hitherto,  you  may  remember,  at  eighteen  thou- 
sand. Additional  artillery  has  also  been  received.  They  were 
greatly  superior  to  us  in  that  arm  before. 

"  The  object  of  reenforcing  General  Patterson  must  be  an  ad- 
vance upon  this  place.  Fighting  here  against  great  odds  seems 
to  me  more  prudent  than  retreat. 

"  I  have  not  asked  for  reinforcements,  because  I  supposed  that 
the  War  Department,  informed  of  the  state  of  affairs  everywhere, 
could  best  judge  where  the  troops  at  its  disposal  are  most  re- 
quired. .  .  . 

"  Most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"Joseph  E.  Johnston, 

"  Brigadier-  General,  etc. " 

"  If  it  is  proposed  to  strengthen  us  against  the  attack  I  sug- 
gest as  soon  to  be  made,  it  seems  to  me  that  General  Beauregard 
might  with  great  expedition  furnish  five  or  six  thousand  men  for 
a  few  days.  J.  E.  J." 

As  soon  as  I  became  satisfied  that  Manassas  was  the  objective 
point  of  the  enemy's  movement,  I  wrote  to  General  Johnston, 


346      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

urging  him  to  make  preparations  for  a  junction  with  General 
Beauregard,  and  to  his  objections,  and  the  difficulties  he  pre- 
sented, replied  at  great  length,  endeavoring  to  convince  him 
that  the  troops  he  described  as  embarrassing  a  hasty  march 
might  be  withdrawn  in  advance  of  the  more  effective  portion  of 
his  command.  Writing  with  entire  confidence,  I  kept  no  cojDy 
of  my  letters,  and,  when  subsequent  events  caused  the  wish  to 
refer  to  them,  I  requested  General  Johnston  to  send  me  copies 
of  them.  He  replied  that  his  tent  had  been  blown  down,  and 
his  papers  had  been  scattered.  His  letters  to  me,  which  would 
show  the  general  purport  of  mine  to  him,  have  shared  the  fate 
which  during  or  soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  befell  most  of 
the  correspondence  I  had  preserved,  and  his  retained  copies,  if 
still  in  his  possession,  do  not  appear  to  have  been  deemed  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  be  inserted  in  his  published  "  Narrative." 

On  the  17th  of  July,  1861,  the  following  telegram  was  sent 
by  the  Adjutant-General : 

"  Richmond,  July  17,  1861. 
"  To  General  J.  E.  Johnston.,  Winchester,  Virginia. 

"  General  Beauregard  is  attacked.  To  strike  the  enemy  a  de- 
cisive blow,  a  junction  of  all  your  effective  force  will  be  needed. 
If  practicable,  make  the  movement,  sending  your  sick  and  bag- 
gage to  Culpepper  Court-House,  either  by  railroad  or  by  Warren- 
ton.     In  all  the  arrangements  exercise  your  discretion. 

"$.  Coopee, 
"Adjutant  and  Inspector-  General." 

The  confidence  reposed  in  General  Johnston,  sufficiently 
evinced  by  the  important  command  intrusted  to  him,  was  more 
than  equal  to  the  expectation  that  he  would  do  all  that  was 
practicable  to  execute  the  order  for  a  junction,  as  well  as  to 
secure  his  sick  and  baggage.  For  the  execution  of  the  one  great 
purpose,  that  he  would  allow  no  minor  question  to  interfere 
with  that  which  was  of  vital  importance,  and  for  which  he  was 
informed  all  his  "  effective  force  "  would  "  be  needed." 

The  order  referred  to  was  the  telegram  inserted  above,  in 
which  the  sending  the  sick  to  Culpepper  Court-House  might 
have  been  after  or  before  the  effective  force  had  moved  to  the 
execution  of  the  main  and  only  positive  part  of  the  order. 


1861]  OF  UNITING  THE  TWO  ARMIES.  347 

All  the  arrangements  were  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Gen- 
eral. It  seems  strange  that  any  one  has  construed  this  expression 
as  meaning  that  the  movement  for  a  junction  was  left  to  the 
discretion  of  that  officer,  and  that  the  forming  of  a  junction — ■ 
the  imperious  necessity — should  have  been  termed  in  the  order 
"  all  the  arrangement,"  instead  of  referring  that  word  to  its 
proper  connection,  the  route  and  mode  of  transportation.  The 
General  had  no  margin  on  which  to  institute  a  comparison  as  to 
the  importance  of  his  remaining  in  the  Yalley,  according  to  his 
previous  assignment,  or  going  where  he  was  ordered  by  compe- 
tent authority. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  state  that,  from  all  the  accounts  re- 
ceived at  the  time,  the  plans  of  General  Johnston,  for  masking 
his  withdrawal  to  form  a  junction  with  General  Beauregard, 
were  conducted  with  marked  skill,  and,  though  all  of  his  troops 
did  not  arrive  as  soon  as  expected  and  needed,  he  has  satisfac- 
torily shown  that  the  failure  was  not  due  to  any  defect  in  his 
arrangements  for  their  transportation. 

The  great  question  of  uniting  the  two  armies  had  been 
decided  at  Richmond.  The  time  and  place  depended  on  the 
enemy,  and,  when  it  was  seen  that  the  real  attack  was  to  be 
against  the  position  at  Manassas,  the  order  was  sent  to  General 
Johnston  to  move  to  that  point.  His  letters  of  the  12th  and  15th 
instant  expressed  his  doubts  about  his  power  to  retire  from  be- 
fore the  superior  force  of  General  Patterson,  therefore  the  word 
"  practicable  "  was  in  this  connection  the  equivalent  of  possible. 
That  it  was,  at  the  time,  so  understood  by  General  Johnston,  is 
shown  by  his  reply  to  the  telegram. 

"  Headquarters,  Winchester,  July  18,  1861. 

"  General  :  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  telegram  of 
yesterday. 

"  General  Patterson,  who  had  been  at  Bunker  Hill  since  Mon- 
day, seems  to  have  moved  yesterday  to  Charlestown,  twenty- three 
miles  to  the  east  of  Winchester. 

"Unless  he  prevents  it,  we  shall  move  toward  General  Beaure- 
gard to-day.  .  .  . 

"Joseph  E.  Johnston. 

"  General  S.  Cooper." 


348      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

After  General  Johnston  commenced  his  march  to  Manassas, 
he  sent  to  me  a  telegram,  the  substance  of  which,  as  my  mem- 
ory serves  and  the  reply  indicates,  was  an  inquiry  as  to  the  rel- 
ative position  he  would  occupy  toward  General  Beauregard.  I 
returned  the  following  answer : 

"  Richmond,  July  20,  1861. 
"General  J.  E.  Johnston,  Manassas  Junction,  Virginia. 
"  You  are  a  general  in  the  Confederate  Army,  possessed  of  the 
power  attaching  to  that  rank.  You  will  know  how  to  make  the 
exact  knowledge  of  Brigadier-General  Beauregard,  as  well  of  the 
ground  as  of  the  troops  and  preparation,  avail  for  the  success  of 
the  object  in  which  you  cooperate.  The  zeal  of  both  assures  me 
of  harmonious  action. 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

General  Johnston,  by  his  promotion  to  the  grade  of  general, 
as  well  as  his  superior  rank  as  a  brigadier  over  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  gave  him  precedence  ;  so  there  was  no  need 
to  ask  which  of  the  two  would  command  the  whole,  when  their 
troops  should  join  and  do  duty  together.  Therefore  his  inquiry, 
as  it  was  revolved  in  my  mind,  created  an  anxiety,  not  felt  be- 
fore, lest  there  should  be  some  unfortunate  complication,  or  mis- 
understanding, between  these  officers,  when  their  forces  should 
be  united.  Regarding  the  combat  of  the  18th  of  July  as  the 
precursor  of  a  battle,  I  decided,  at  the  earliest  moment,  to  go 
in  person  to  the  army. 

As  has  been  heretofore  stated,  Congress  was  to  assemble 
on  the  20th  of  July,  to  hold  its  first  session  at  the  new  capital, 
Richmond,  Yirginia.  My  presence  on  that  occasion  and  the  de- 
livery of  a  message  were  required  by  usage  and  law.  After  the 
delivery  of  the  message  to  Congress  on  Saturday,  the  20th  of 
July,  I  intended  to  leave  in  the  afternoon  for  Manassas,  but  was 
detained  until  the  next  morning,  when  I  left  by  rail,  accom- 
panied by  my  aide-de-camp,  Colonel  J.  R.  Davis,  to  confer  with 
the  generals  on  the  field.  As  we  approached  Manassas  Railroad 
junction,  a  cloud  of  dust  was  visible  a  short  distance  to  the  west 
of  the  railroad.  It  resembled  one  raised  by  a  body  of  marching 
troops,  and  recalled  to  my  remembrance  the  design  of  General 


pleton 


1861]  A  GENERAL  ENGAGEMENT   COMMENCED.  34.9 

Beauregard  to  make  the  Rappahannock  his  second  line  of  de- 
fense. It  was,  however,  subsequently  learned  that  the  dust  was 
raised  by  a  number  of  wagons  which  had  been  sent  to  the  rear 
for  greater  security  against  the  contingencies  of  the  battle.  The 
sound  of  the  firing  had  now  become  very  distinct,  so  much  so  as 
to  leave  no  doubt  that  a  general  engagement  had  commenced. 
Though  that  event  had  been  anticipated  as  being  near  at  hand 
after  the  action  of  the  18th,  it  was  both  hoped  and  desired  that 
it  would  not  occur  quite  so  soon,  the  more  so  as  it  was  not  known 
whether  the  troops  from  the  Valley  had  yet  arrived. 

On  reaching  the  railroad  junction,  I  found  a  large  number 
of  men,  bearing  the  usual  evidence  of  those  who  leave  the  field 
of  battle  under  a  panic.  They  crowded  around  the  train  with 
fearful  stories  of  a  defeat  of  our  army.  The  railroad  conductor 
announced  his  decision  that  the  railroad  train  should  proceed  no 
farther.  Looking  among  those  who  were  about  us  for  one 
whose  demeanor  gave  reason  to  expect  from  him  a  collected 
answer,  I  selected  one  whose  gray  beard  and  calm  face  gave 
best  assurance.  He,  however,  could  furnish  no  encouragement. 
Our  line,  he  said,  was  broken,  all  was  confusion,  the  army  routed, 
and  the  battle  lost.  I  asked  for  Generals  Johnston  and  Beaure- 
gard ;  he  said  they  were  on  the  field  when  he  left  it.  I  returned 
to  the  conductor  and  told  him  that  I  must  go  on ;  that  the  rail- 
road was  the  only  means  by  which  I  could  proceed,  and  that, 
until  I  reached  the  headquarters,  I  could  not  get  a  horse  to  ride 
to  the  field  where  the  battle  was  raging.  He  finally  consented 
to  detach  the  locomotive  from  the  train,  and,  for  my  accommo- 
dation, to  run  it  as  far  as  the  army  headquarters.  In  this  manner 
Colonel  Davis,  aide-de-camp,  and  myself  proceeded. 

At  the  headquarters  we  found  the  Quartermaster-General, 
W.  L.  Cabell,  and  the  Adjutant-General,  Jordan,  of  General 
Beauregard's  staff,  who  courteously  agreed  to  furnish  us  horses, 
and  also  to  show  us  the  route.  "While  the  horses  were  being 
prepared,  Colonel  Jordan  took  occasion  to  advise  my  aide- 
de-camp,  Colonel  Davis,  of  the  hazard  of  going  to  the  field, 
and  the  impropriety  of  such  exposure  on  my  part.  The  horses 
were  after  a  time  reported  ready,  and  we  started  to  the  field. 
The  stragglers  soon  became  numerous,  and  warnings  as  to  the 


350      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

fate  which  awaited  us  if  we  advanced  were  not  only  frequent 
but  evidently  sincere. 

There  were,  however,  many  who  turned  back,  and  the 
wounded  generally  cheered  upon  meeting  us.  I  well  remem- 
ber one,  a  mere  stripling,  who,  supported  on  the  shoulders  of  a 
man,  who  was  bearing  him  to  the  rear,  took  off  his  cap  and 
waved  it  with  a  cheer,  that  showed  within  that  slender  form 
beat  the  heart  of  a  hero — breathed  a  spirit  that  would  dare  the 
labors  of  Hercules. 

As  we  advanced,  the  storm  of  the  battle  was  rolling  west- 
ward, and  its  fury  became  more  faint.  When  I  met  General 
Johnston,  who  was  upon  a  hill  which  commanded  a  general 
view  of  the  field  of  the  afternoon's  operations,  and  inquired  of 
him  as  to  the  state  of  affairs,  he  replied  that  we  had  won  the 
battle.  I  left  him  there  and  rode  still  farther  to  the  west. 
Several  of  the  volunteers  on  General  Beauregard's  staff  joined 
me,  and  a  command  of  cavalry,  the  gallant  leader  of  which,  Cap- 
tain John  F.  Lay,  insisted  that  I  was  too  near  the  enemy  to  be 
without  an  escort.  We,  however,  only  saw  one  column  near  to 
us  that  created  a  doubt  as  to  which  side  it  belonged  ;  and,  as  we 
were  riding  toward  it,  it  was  suggested  that  we  should  halt  until 
it  could  be  examined  with  a  field-glass.  Colonel  Chesnut  dis- 
mounted so  as  the  better  to  use  his  glass,  and  at  that  moment 
the  column  formed  into  line,  by  which  the  wind  struck  the  flag 
so  as  to  extend  it,  and  it  was  plainly  revealed  to  be  that  of  the 
United  States. 

Our  cavalry,  though  there  was  present  but  the  squadron 
previously  mentioned,  and  from  a  statement  of  the  commander 
of  which  I  will  make  some  extracts,  dashed  boldly  forward  to 
charge.  The  demonstration  was  followed  by  the  immediate  re- 
treat of  what  was,  I  believe,  the  last,  thereabout,  of  the  enemy's 
forces  maintaining  their  organization,  and  showing  a  disposition 
to  dispute  the  possession  of  the  field  of  battle.  In  riding  over  the 
ground,  it  seemed  quite  possible  to  mark  the  line  of  a  fugitive's 
flight.  Here  was  a  musket,  there  a  cartridge-box,  there  a  blanket 
or  overcoat,  a  haversack,  etc.,  as  if  the  runner  had  stripped  him- 
self, as  he  went,  of  all  impediments  to  speed. 

As  we  approached  toward  the  left  of  our  line,  the  signs  of 


1861]  OFF  FOR  WASHINGTON.  •  351 

an  utter  rout  of  the  enemy  were  unmistakable,  and  justified  the 
conclusion  that  the  watchword  of  "  On  to  Richmond ! "  had  been 
changed  to  "  Off  for  Washington  !  " 

On  the  extreme  left  of  our  field  of  operations.  I  found  the 
troops  whose  opportune  arrival  had  averted  impending  disaster, 
and  had  so  materially  contributed  to  our  victory.  Some  of  them 
had,  after  arriving  at  the  Mannassas  Railroad  junction,  hastened 
to  our  left ;  their  brigadier-general,  E.  K.  Smith,  was  wounded 
soon  after  getting  into  action,  and  the  command  of  the  brigade 
devolved  upon  Elzy,  by  whom  it  was  gallantly  and  skillfully  led 
to  the  close  of  the  battle  ;  others,  under  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral (then  Colonel)  Early,  made  a  rapid  march,  under  the  pressing 
necessity,  from  the  extreme  right  of  our  line  to  and  beyond  our 
left,  so  as  to  attack  the  enemy  in  flank,  thus  inflicting  on  him 
the  discomfiture  his  oblique  movement  was  designed  to  inflict 
on  us.  All  these  troops  and  the  others  near  to  them  had  hast- 
ened into  action  without  supplies  or  camp-equipage ;  weary,  hun- 
gry, and  without  shelter,  night  closed  around  them  where  they 
stood,  the  blood-stained  victors  on  a  hard-fought  field. 

It  was  reported  to  me  that  some  of  the  troops  had  been  so 
long  without  food  as  to  be  suffering  severe  hunger,  and.  that  no 
supplies  could  be  got  where  they  were.  I  made  several  addresses 
to  them,  all  to  the  effect  that  their  position  was  that  best  adapted 
to  a  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and  that  they  should  therefore  re- 
main there ;  adding  that  I  would  go  to  the  headquarters  and 
direct  that  supplies  should  be  sent  to  them  promptly. 

General  (then  Colonel)  Early,  commanding  a  brigade,  in- 
formed me  of  some  wounded  who  required  attention ;  one,  Colo- 
nel Gardner,  was,  he  said,  at  a  house  not  far  from  where  we 
were.  I  rode  to  see  him,  found  him  in  severe  pain,  and  from 
the  twitching,  visible  and  frequent,  seemed  to  be  threatened 
with  tetanus.  A  man  sat  beside  him  whose  uniform  was  that 
of  the  enemy ;  but  he  was  gentle,  and  appeared  to  be  solicitously 
attentive.  He  said  that  he  had  no  morphine,  and  did  not  know 
where  to  get  any.  I  found  in  a  short  time  a  surgeon  who  went 
with  me  to  Colonel  Gardner,  having  the  articles  necessary  in 
the  case.  Before  leaving  Colonel  Gardner,  he  told  me  that  the 
man  who  was  attending  to  him  might,  without  hindrance,  have 


352      RISE  A^D  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

retreated  with  his  comrades,  but  had  kindly  remained  with  him, 
and  he  therefore  asked  my  protection  for  the  man.  I  took  the 
name  and  the  State  of  the  supposed  good  Samaritan,  and  at  army 
headquarters  directed  that  he  should  not  be  treated  as  a  pris- 
oner.   The  sequel  will  be  told  hereafter. 

It  was  then  late,  and  we  rode  back  in  the  night,  say  seven 
miles,  to  the  army  headquarters.  I  had  not  seen  General  Beaure- 
gard on  the  field,  and  did  not  find  him  at  his  quarters  when  we 
returned ;  the  promise  made  to  the  troops  was  therefore  com- 
municated to  a  staff-officer,  who  said  he  would  have  the  sup- 
plies sent  out.  At  a  later  hour  when  I  met  General  Beaure- 
gard and  informed  him  of  what  had  occurred,  he  stated  that, 
because  of  a  false  alarm  which  had  reached  him,  he  had  ordered 
the  troops  referred  to  from  the  left  to  the  right  of  our  line,  so  as 
to  be  in  position  to  repel  the  reported  movement  of  the  enemy 
against  that  flank.  That  such  an  alarm  should  have  been  cred- 
ited, and  a  night  march  ordered  on  account  of  it,  shows  how 
little  the  completeness  of  the  victory  was  realized. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


Conference  with  the  Generals  after  the  Battle. — Order  to  pursue  the  Enemy. — 
Evidences  of  a  Thorough  Rout. — "Sweet  to  die  for  such  a  Cause." — Move- 
ments of  the  Next  Day. — What  more  it  was  practicable  to  do. — Charge  against 
the  President  of  preventing  the  Capture  of  Washington. — The  Failure  to  pur- 
sue.— Reflection  on  the  President. — General  Beauregard's  Report. — Endorse- 
ment upon  it. — Strength  of  the  Opposing  Forces. — Extracts  relating  to  the 
Battle,  from  the  Narrative  of  General  Early. — Resolutions  of  Congress. — Efforts 
to  increase  the  Efficiency  of  the  Army. 

At  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  I  had  a  conference  with  Gen- 
erals Johnston  and  Beauregard  ;  the  Adjutant-General  of  the 
latter,  Colonel  Jordan,  was  present,  and  sat  opposite  to  me  at  the 
table. 

When,  after  some  preliminary  conversation,  I  asked  whether 
any  troops  had  been  sent  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  I  was  an- 
swered in  the  negative.  Upon  further  inquiry  as  to  what  troops 
were  in  the  best  position  for  pursuit,  and  had  been  least  fatigued 


1861]  AN   ORDER  FOR  IMMEDIATE   PURSUIT.  353 

during  the  day,  General  Bonham's  brigade  was  named.  I  then 
suggested  that  he  should  be  ordered  in  pursuit ;  a  pause  ensued, 
until  Colonel  Jordan  asked  me  if  I  would  dictate  the  order.  I 
at  once  dictated  an  order  for  immediate  pursuit.  Some  conver- 
sation followed,  the  result  of  which  was  a  modification  of  the 
order  by  myself,  so  that,  instead  of  immediate  pursuit,  it  should 
be  commenced  at  early  dawn.  Colonel  Jordan  spoke  across  the 
table  to  me,  saying,  "  If  you  will  send  the  order  as  you  first  dic- 
tated it,  the  enemy  won't  stop  till  he  gets  into  the  Potomac." 
I  believe  I  remember  the  words  very  nearly,  and  am  quite  sure 
that  I  do  remember  them  substantially.  On  the  25th  of  March, 
1878,  I  wrote  to  General  Beauregard  as  follows : 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Permit  me  to  ask  you  to  recall  the  conference 
held  between  General  Johnston,  yourself,  and  myself,  on  the  night 
after  the  close  of  the  battle  of  Manassas  ;  and  to  give  me,  if  you  can, 
a  copy  of  the  order  which  I  dictated,  and  which  your  adjutant-gen- 
eral, T.  J.  Jordan,  wrote  at  my  dictation,  directing  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Bonham  to  follow  the  retreating  enemy.  If  you  can  not  fur- 
nish a  copy  of  the  order,  please  give  me  your  recollection  of  its 

substance. 

"Yours  respectfully, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

To  this  letter  General  Beauregard  courteously  replied  that 
his  order-book  was  in  New  York,  in  the  hands  of  a  friend,  to 
whom  he  would  write  for  a  copy  of  the  order  desired  if  it  should 
be  in  said  book,  and  that  he  would  also  write  to  his  adjutant, 
General  Jordan,  for  his  recollection  of  the  order  if  it  had  not 
been  inscribed  in  the  order-book. 

On  the  24th  of  April  General  Beauregard  forwarded  to  me 
the  answer  to  his  inquiries  in  my  behalf,  as  follows  : 

"  New  York,  63  Broadway,  April  18,  1878. 
"  My  dear  General  :  In  answer  to  your  note,  I  hasten  to  say 
that  properly  Mr.  Davis  is  not  to  be  held  accountable  for  our  fail- 
ure to  pursue  McDowell  from  the  field  of  Manassas  the  night  of 
the  21st  of  July,  1861. 

"  As  to  the  order,  to  which  I  presume  Mr.  Davis  refers  in  his 
note  to  you,  I  recollect  the  incident  very  distinctly. 
23 


354      RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  The  night  of  the  battle,  as  I  was  about  to  ascend  to  your 
quarters  over  my  office,  Captain  E.  P.  Alexander,  of  your  staff, 

informed  me  that  Captain ,  attached  to  General  Johnston's 

Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  reported  that  he  had  been  as  far  forward 
as  Centreville,  where  he  had  seen  the  Federal  army  completely 
routed  and  in  full  flight  toward  Washington. 

"This  statement  I  at  once  repeated  to  Mr.  Davis,  General 
Johnston,  and  yourself,  whom  I  found  seated  around  your  table — 
Mr.  Davis  at  the  moment  writing  a  dispatch  to  General  Cooper. 

"  As  soon  as  I  had  made  my  report,  Mr.  Davis  with  much  ani- 
mation asserted  the  necessity  for  an  urgent  pursuit  that  night  by 
Bonham,  who,  with  his  own  brigade  and  that  of  Longstreet,  was  in 
close  proximity  to  Centreville  at  the  moment.  So  I  took  my  seat  at 
the  same  table  with  you,  and  wrote  the  order  for  pursuit,  substan- 
tially at  the  dictation  of  Mr.  Davis.  But,  while  writing,  either  I 
happened  to  remember,  or  Captain  Alexander  himself — as  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe— called  me  aside  to  remind  me  that  his  inform- 
ant was  known  among  us  of  the  old  army  as ,  because 

of  eccentricities,  and  in  contradistinction  with  others  of  the  same 
name.  When  I  repeated  this  reminder,  Mr.  Davis  recalled  the 
sobriquet,  as  he  had  a  precise  personal  knowledge  of  the  officers  of 
the  old  army.     He  laughed  heartily,  as  did  all  present. 

"  The  question  of  throwing  General  Bonham  forward  that  night, 
upon  the  unverified  report  of  Captain ,  was  now  briefly  dis- 
cussed, with  a  unanimous  decision  against  it  ;  therefore,  the  order 
was  not  dispatched. 

"  It  is  proper  to  add  in  this  connection  that,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware — and  I  had  the  opportunity  of  knowing  what  occurred — 
this  was  the  only  instance  during  Mr.  Davis's  stay  at  Manassas  in 
which  he  exercised  any  voice  as  to  the  movement  of  the  troops. 
Profoundly  pleased  with  the  results  achieved  by  the  happy  junc- 
ture of  the  two  Confederate  armies  upon  the  very  field  of  battle, 
his  bearing  toward  the  generals  who  commanded  them  was  emi- 
nently proper,  as  I  have  testified  on  a  former  occasion  ;  and,  I 
repeat,  he  certainly  expressed  or  manifested  no  opposition  to  a  for- 
ward movement,  nor  did  he  display  the  least  disposition  to  inter- 
fere by  opinion  or  authority  touching  what  the  Confederate  forces 
should  or  should  not  do. 

"  You  having  at  the  close  of  the  day  surrendered  the  command, 
which  had  been  left  in  your  hands,  over  both  Confederate  armies 


1861]  A  MATTER  OF   IMPORTANCE.  355 

during  the  engagement,  General  Johnston  was  that  night  in  chief 
command.  He  was  decidedly  averse  to  an  immediate  offensive, 
and  emphatically  discountenanced  it  as  impracticable. 

"  Very  truly,  your  friend, 

"  Thomas  Jordan. 

"  General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana." 

General  Beauregard,  in  his  letter  forwarding  the  above, 
wrote,  "  The  account  given  herewith  by  General  Jordan  of  what 
occurred  there  respecting  further  pursuit  that  night  agrees  with 
my  own  recollection." 

It  was  a  matter  of  importance,  as  I  regarded  it,  to  follow 
closely  on  the  retreating  enemy,  but  it  was  of  no  consequence 
then  or  now  as  to  who  issued  the  order  for  pursuit,  and,  unless 
requested,  I  should  not  have  dictated  one,  preferring  that  the 
generals  to  whom  the  operations  were  confided  should  issue 
all  orders  to  the  troops.  I  supposed  the  order,  as  modified  by 
myself,  had  been  sent.  I  have  found,  however,  since  the  close 
of  the  war,  that  it  was  not,  but  that  an  order  to  the  same  effect 
was  sent  on  the  night  of  the  21st  of  July,  for  a  copy  of  which  I 
am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  that  chivalrous  gentleman,  sol- 
dier, and  patriot,  General  Bonham.     It  is  as  follows : 

"Headquarters  Army  op  the  Potomac, 

"  Manassas,  July  21,  1861. 
''(Special  Orders,  No.  140.) 

"  I.  General  Bonham  will  send,  as  early  as  practicable  in  the 
morning,  a  command  of  two  of  his  regiments  of  infantry,  a  strong 
force  of  cavalry,  and  one  field-battery,  to  scour  the  country  and 
roads  to  his  front,  toward  Centreville.  He  will  carry  with  him 
abundant  means  of  transportation  for  the  collection  of  our  wounded, 
all  the  arms,  ammunition,  and  abandoned  hospital  stores,  subsist- 
ence, and  baggage,  which  will  be  sent  immediately  to  these  head- 
quarters. 

"General  Bonham  will  advance  with  caution,  throwing  out  an 
advanced  guard  and  skirmishers  on  his  right  and  left,  and  the  ut- 
most caution  must  be  taken  to  prevent  firing  into  our  own  men. 

"  Should  it  appear,  while  this  command  is  occupied  as  directed, 
that  it  is  insufficient  for  the  purposes  indicated,  General  Bonham 
will  call  on  the  nearest  brigade  commander  for  support. 


356      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVEFvNMENT. 

"  II.  Colonel  P.  St.  George  Cocke,  commanding,  will  dispatch  at 
the  same  time,  for  similar  purposes,  a  command  of  the  same  size 
and  proportions  of  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry  on  the  road  via 
Stone  Bridge  ;  and  another  command  of  two  companies  of  infantry 
and  one  of  cavalry  on  the  road  by  which  the  enemy  retreated  to- 
ward and  via  Sudley's  Mills. 

"  By  command  of  Brigadier-General  Beauregard  : 

"  Thomas  Jordan,  A.  A.  Adjutant-  General. 

"  To  Brigadier-General  Bonham." 

Impressed  with  the  belief  that  the  enemy  was  very  superior 
to  us,  both  in  numbers  and  appointments,  I  had  felt  apprehen- 
sive that,  unless  pressed,  he  would  recover  from  the  panic  under 
which  he  fled  from  the  field,  rally  on  his  reserves,  and  renew  the 
contest.  Therefore  it  was  that  I  immediately  felt  the  necessity 
for  a  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  and  insisted  that  the  troops  on  the 
extreme  left  should  retain  their  position  during  the  night  of  the 
21st,  as  has  been  heretofore  stated.  In  conference  with  the  gen- 
erals that  night,  this  subject  was  considered,  and  I  dictated  an 
order  for  a  movement  on  the  rear  of  the  enemy  at  early  dawn, 
which,  on  account  of  the  late  hour  at  which  it  was  given,  dif- 
fered very  little  from  one  for  an  immediate  movement.  A  rain- 
fall, extraordinary  for  its  violence  and  duration,  occurred  on  the 
morning  of  the  succeeding  day,  so  that,  over  places  where  during 
the  battle  one  could  scarcely  get  a  drink  of  water,  rolled  tor- 
rents which,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  22d,  it  was  difficult  to  cross. 

From  these  and  other  causes,  the  troops  were  scattered  to 
such  an  extent  that  but  few  commands  could  have  been  assem- 
bled for  immediate  service.  It  was  well  for  us  that  the  enemy, 
instead  of  retiring  in  order,  so  as  to  be  rallied  and  again  brought 
to  the  attack,  left  hope  behind,  and  fled  in  dismay  to  seek  for 
safety  beyond  the  Potomac. 

Each  hour  of  the  day  following  the  battle  added  to  the  evi- 
dence of  a  thorough  rout  of  the  enemy.  Abandoned  wagons, 
stores,  guns,  caissons,  small-arms,  and  ammunition,  proved  his 
complete  demoralization.  As  far  as  our  cavalry  went,  no  hostile 
force  was  met,  and  all  the  indications  favored  the  conclusion  that 
the  purpose  of  invasion  had  for  the  time  been  abandoned. 

The  victory,  though  decisive  and  important,  both  in  its  moral 


J 861]  THE   DISPERSION   OF  OUR  TROOPS.  357 

and  physical  effect,  had  been  dearly  bought  by  the  sacrifice  of 
the  lives  of  many  of  our  bravest  and  best,  who  at  the  first  call 
of  their  country  had  rushed  to  its  defense. 

When  riding  to  the  front,  I  met  an  ambulance  bearing  Gen- 
eral Barnard  Bee  from  the  field,  where  he  had  been  mortally 
wounded,  after  his  patriotism  had  been  illustrated  by  conspic- 
uous exhibitions  of  skill,  daring,  and  fortitude.  Soon  after,  I 
learned  that  my  friend  Colonel  Bartow  had  heroically  sealed 
with  his  life-blood  his  faith  in  the  sanctity  of  our  cause.  He 
had  been  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  in 
the  Provisional  Congress,  and,  after  the  laws  were  enacted  to  pro- 
vide for  the  public  defense,  he  went  to  the  field  to  maintain 
them.  It  is  to  such  virtuous  and  devoted  citizens  that  a  country 
is  indebted  for  its  prosperity  and  honor,  as  well  in  peace  as  in 
war. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  dispersion  of  our  troops 
after  the  battle,  and  in  this  connection  the  following  facts  are 
mentioned :  In  the  afternoon  of  the  22d,  with  a  guide,  sup- 
posed to  be  cognizant  of  the  positions  at  which  the  different 
commands  would  be  found,  I  went  to  visit  the  wounded,  and 
among  them  a  youth  of  my  family,  who,  it  was  reported  to 
me,  was  rapidly  sinking.  After  driving  many  miles,  and  wit- 
nessing very  painful  scenes,  but  seldom  finding  the  troops  in 
the  position  where  my  guide  supposed  them  to  be,  and  always 
disappointed  in  not  discovering  him  I  particularly  sought,  I 
was,  at  the  approach  of  night,  about  to  abandon  the  search,  when, 
accidentally  meeting  an  officer  of  the  command  to  which  the 
youth  belonged,  I  was  directed  to  the  temporary  hospital  to 
which  the  wounded  of  that  command  had  been  removed.  It 
was  too  late  ;  the  soul  of  the  young  soldier  had  just  left  his  body ; 
the  corpse  lay  before  me.  Around  him  were  many  gentle  boys, 
suffering  in  different  degrees  from  the  wounds  they  had  re- 
ceived. One  bright,  refined-looking  youth  from  South  Caro- 
lina, severely  if  not  fatally  wounded,  responded  to  my  expres- 
sion of  sympathy  by  the  heroic  declaration  that  it  was  "  sweet 
to  die  for  such  a  cause." 

Many  kindred  spirits  ascended  to  the  Father  from  that  field 
of  their  glory.     The  roll  need  not  be  recorded  here ;  it  has  a 


358      ItfSE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

more  enduring  depository  than  the  pen  can  make — the  tradi- 
tions of  a  grateful  people. 

The  victory  at  Manassas  was  certainly  extraordinary,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  disparity  of  numbers  and  the  inferiority 
of  our  arms,  but  also  because  of  many  other  disadvantages  under 
which  we  labored.  We  had  no  disciplined  troops,  and,  though 
our  citizens  were  generally  skilled  in  the  use  of  small-arms, 
which,  with  their  high  pride  and  courage,  might  compensate  for 
the  want  of  training  while  in  position,  these  inadequately  sub- 
stituted military  instruction  when  manoeuvres  had  to  be  per- 
formed under  fire,  and  could  not  make  the  old-fashioned  mus- 
ket equal  to  the  long-range,  new-model  muskets  with  which 
the  enemy  was  supplied.  The  disparity  in  artillery  was  still 
greater,  both  in  the  number  and  kind  of  guns ;  but,  thanks  to 
the  skill  and  cool  courage  of  the  Rev.  Captain  W.  ~N.  Pendle- 
ton, his  battery  of  light,  smooth-bore  guns,  manned  principally 
by  the  youths  whose  rector  he  had  been,  proved  more  effective 
in  battle  than  the  long-range  rifle-guns  of  the  enemy.  The 
character  of  the  ground  brought  the  forces  into  close  contact, 
and  the  ricochet  of  the  round  balls  carried  havoc  into  the  col- 
umns of  the  enemy,  while  the  bolts  of  their  rifle-guns,  if  they 
missed  their  object,  penetrated  harmlessly  into  the  ground. 

The  field  was  very  extensive,  broken,  and  wooded.  The 
senior  general  had  so  recently  arrived  that  he  had  no  opportu- 
nity minutely  to  learn  the  ground,  and  the  troops  he  brought 
were  both  unacquainted  with  the  field  and  with  those  with 
whom  they  had  to  cooperate.  To  all  this  must  be  added  the 
disturbing  fact  that  the  plan  of  battle,  as  originally  designed, 
was  entirely  changed  by  the  movement  of  the  enemy  on  our 
extreme  left,  instead  of  right  and  center,  as  anticipated.  The 
operations,  therefore,  had  to  be  conducted  against  the  plan  of 
the  enemy,  instead  of  on  that  which  our  generals  had  prepared 
and  explained  to  their  subordinate  commanders.  The  prompti- 
tude with  which  the  troops  moved,  and  the  readiness  with  which 
our  generals  modified  their  preconceived  plans  to  meet  the 
necessities  as  they  were  developed,  entitled  them  to  the  com- 
mendation so  liberally  bestowed  at  the  time  by  their  countrymen 
at  large. 


1861]  THEY   WERE  HANDCUFFS.  359 

General  Johnston  had  been  previously  promoted  to  the  high- 
est grade  in  our  army,  and  I  deemed  it  but  a  fitting  reward  for 
the  services  rendered  by  General  Beauregard  that  he  should  be 
promoted  to  the  same  grade ;  therefore,  I  addressed  to  him  the 
following  letter : 

"  Manassas,  Virginia,  July  21,  1861. 
"Sm:  Appreciating  your  services  in  the  battle  of  Manassas, 
and  on  several  other  occasions  during  the  existing  war,  as  afford- 
ing  the  highest  evidence  of  your  skill  as  a  commander,  your  gal- 
lantry as  a  soldier,  and  your  zeal  as  a  patriot,  you  are  promoted  to 
be  a  general  in  the  army  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
and,  with  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  will  be  duly  commissioned 

accordingly. 

"  Yours,  etc., 

"Jeefekson  Davis. 
"  General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  etc." 

The  22d,  the  day  after  the  battle,  was  spent  in  following  up 
the  line  of  the  retreating  foe,  and  collecting  the  large  supplies 
of  arms,  of  ammunition,  and  other  military  stores.  The  sup- 
plies of  the  army  were  on  a  scale  of  such  luxurious  extravagance 
as  to  excite  the  surprise  of  those  accustomed  only  to  our  rigid 
economy.  The  anticipation  of  an  easy  victory  had  caused  many 
to  come  to  the  battle  as  to  a  joyous  feast,  and  the  signs  left  behind 
them  of  the  extent  to  which  they  had  been  disappointed  in  the 
entertainment,  constituted  the  staple  of  many  laughable  stories, 
which  were  not  without  their  value  because  of  the  lesson  they 
contained  as  to  the  uncertainties  of  war,  and  the  mortification 
that  usually  follows  vain  boasting.  Among  the  articles  aban- 
doned by  the  enemy  in  his  flight  were  some  which  excited  a 
just  indignation,  and  which  indicated  the  shameless  disregard 
of  all  the  usages  of  honorable  warfare.  They  were  handcuffs, 
the  fit  appendage  of  a  policeman,  but  not  of  a  soldier  who  came 
to  meet  his  foeman  hilt  to  hilt.  These  were  reported  to  have 
been  found  in  large  numbers ;  some  of  them  were  sent  to  Rich- 
mond. 

On  the  night  of  the  22d  I  held  a  second  conference  with 
Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard.  All  the  revelations  of  the 
day  were  of  the  most  satisfactory  character  as  to  the  complete- 


360      RISE  AND  FALL   OP  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ness  of  our  victory.  The  large  amount  gained  of  fine  artillery, 
small-arms,  and  ammunition,  all  of  which  were  much  needed 
by  us,  was  not  the  least  gratifying  consequence  of  our  success. 
The  generals,  like  myself,  were  well  content  with  what  had 
been  done. 

I  propounded  to  them  the  inquiry  as  to  what  more  it  was 
practicable  to  do.  They  concurred  as  to  their  inability  to  cross 
the  Potomac,  and  to  the  further  inquiry  as  to  an  advance  to  the 
south  side  of  the  Potomac,  General  Beauregard  promptly  stated 
that  there  were  strong  fortifications  there,  occupied  by  garrisons, 
which  had  not  been  in  the  battle,  and  were  therefore  not  affected 
by  the  panic  which  had  seized  the  defeated  army.  He  described 
those  fortifications  as  having  wide,  deep  ditches,  with  palisades, 
which  would  prevent  the  escalade  of  the  works.  Turning  to  Gen- 
eral Johnston,  he  said,  "  They  have  spared  no  expense."  It  was 
further  stated  in  explanation  that  we  had  no  sappers  and  miners, 
nor  even  the  tools  requisite  to  make  regular  approaches.  If  we 
had  possessed  both,  the  time  required  for  sucb  operations  would 
have  more  than  sufficed  for  General  Patterson's  army  and  other 
forces  to  have  been  brought  to  that  locality  in  such  numbers  as 
must  have  rendered  the  attempt,  with  our  present  means,  futile. 

This  view  of  the  matter  rests  on  the  supposition  that  the 
fortifications  and  garrisons  described  did  actually  exist,  of  which 
there  seemed  then  to  be  no  doubt.  If  the  reports  which  have 
since  reached  us  be  true,  that  there  were  at  that  time  neither 
fortifications  nor  troops  stationed  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Po- 
tomac ;  that  all  the  enemy's  forces  fled  to  the  north  side  of  the 
river,  and  even  beyond ;  that  the  panic  of  the  routed  army  in- 
fected the  whole  population  of  Washington  City ;  and  that  no 
preparation  was  made,  or  even  contemplated,  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  bridge  across  the  Potomac — then  it  may  have  been, 
as  many  have  asserted,  that  our  army,  following  close  upon 
the  flying  enemy,  could  have  entered  and  taken  possession  of 
the  United  States  capital.  These  reports,  however,  present  a 
condition  of  affairs  altogether  at  variance  with  the  information 
on  which  we  had  to  act.  Thus  it  was,  and,  so  far  as  I  knew,  for 
the  reasons  above  stated,  that  an  advance  to  the  south  bank  of 
the  Potomac  was  not  contemplated  as  the  immediate  sequence 


1861]  TO   INCREASE   THE   STRENGTH    OF  THE  ARMY.  301 

of  the  victory  at  Manassas.  "What  discoveries  would  have 
been  made  and  what  results  would  have  ensued  from  the  es- 
tablishment of  our  guns  upon  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  to 
open  fire  upon  the  capital,  are  speculative  questions  upon  which 
it  would  be  useless  to  enter. 

After  the  conference  of  the  22d,  and  because  of  it,  I  decided 
to  return  to  Richmond  and  employ  all  the  power  of  my  office 
to  increase  the  strength  of  the  army,  so  as  the  better  to  enable 
it  to  meet  the  public  need,  whether  in  offensive-defensive  or 
purely  defensive  operations,  as  opportunity  should  offer  for  the 
one,  or  the  renewal  of  invasion  require  the  other. 

A  short  time  subsequent  to  my  return,  a  message  was  brought 
to  me  from  the  prison,  to  the  effect  that  a  non-commissioned 
officer,  captured  at  Manassas,  claimed  to  have  a  promise  of  pro- 
tection from  me.  The  name  was  given  Hulburt,  of  Connecti- 
cut. I  had  forgotten  the  name  he  gave  when  I  saw  him ;  but, 
believing  that  I  would  recognize  the  person  who  had  attended 
to  Colonel  Gardner,  and  to  whom  only  such  a  promise  had  been 
given,  the  officer  in  charge  was  directed  to  send  him  to  me. 
When  he  came,  I  had  no  doubt  of  his  identity,  and  explained  to 
him  that  I  had  directed  that  he  should  not  be  treated  as  a  pris- 
oner, but  that,  in  the  multitude  of  those  wearing  the  same  uni- 
form as  his,  some  neglect  or  mistake  had  arisen,  for  which  I 
was  very  sorry,  and  that  he  should  be  immediately  released  and 
sent  down  the  river  to  the  neighborhood  of  Fortress  Monroe, 
where  he  would  be  among  his  own  people.  He  then  told  me 
that  he  had  a  sister  residing  a  few  miles  in  the  country,  whom  he 
would  be  very  glad  to  visit.  Permission  was  given  him  to  do 
so,  and  a  time  fixed  at  which  he  was  to  report  for  transporta- 
tion ;  and  so  he  left,  with  manifestations  of  thankfulness  for  the 
kindness  with  which  he  had  been  treated.  In  due  time  a  news- 
paper was  received,  containing  an  account  of  his  escape,  and 
how  he  had  lingered  about  the  suburbs  of  Richmond  and  made 
drawings  of  the  surrounding  fortifications.  The  treachery  was 
as  great  as  if  his  drawings  had  been  valuable,  which  they  could 
not  have  been,  as  we  had  only  then  commenced  the  detached 
works  which  were  designed  as  a  system  of  defenses  for  Rich- 
mond. 


362      KISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

When  the  smoke  of  battle  had  lifted  from  the  field  of  Ma- 
nassas, and  the  rejoicing  over  the  victory  had  spread  over  the 
land  and  spent  its  exuberance,  some,  who,  like  Job's  war-horse, 
"  snuffed  the  battle  from  afar,"  but  in  whom  the  likeness  there 
ceased,  censoriously  asked  why  the  fruits  of  the  victory  had  not 
been  gathered  by  the  capture  of  "Washington  City.  Then  some 
indiscreet  friends  of  the  generals  commanding  in  that  battle, 
instead  of  the  easier  task  of  justification,  chose  the  harder  one 
of  exculpation  for  the  imputed  failure.  Their  ill-advised  zeal, 
combined  perhaps  with  malice  against  me,  induced  the  allega- 
tion that  the  President  had  prevented  the  generals  from  mak- 
ing an  immediate  and  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  routed  enemy. 

This,  as  other  stories  had  been,  was  left  to  the  correction 
which  time  it  was  hoped  would  bring,  the  sooner  because  it  was 
expected  to  be  refuted  by  the  reports  of  the  commanding  gen- 
erals with  whom  I  had  conferred  on  that  subject  immediately 
after  the  battle. 

After  considerable  time  had  elapsed,  it  was  reported  to  me 
that  a  member  of  Congress,  who  had  served  on  that  occasion  as 
a  volunteer  aide  to  General  Beauregard,  had  stated  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  that  I  had  prevented  the  pursuit  of  the 
enemy  after  his  defeat  at  Manassas. 

This  gave  to  the  rumor  such  official  character  and  dignity  as 
seemed  to  me  to  entitle  it  to  notice  not  theretofore  given,  where- 
fore I  addressed  to  General  Johnston  the  following  inquiry, 
which,  though  restricted  in  its  terms  to  the  allegation,  was  of 
such  tenor  as  left  it  to  his  option  to  state  all  the  facts  connected 
with  the  slander,  if  he  should  choose  to  do  me  that  justice,  or 
should  see  the  public  interest  involved  in  the  correction,  which, 
as  stated  in  my  letter  to  him,  was  that  which  gave  it  in  my  esti- 
mation its  claim  to  consideration,  and  had  caused  me  to  address 
him  on  the  subject : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  November  3,  1S61. 
"General  J.  E.  Johnston",  commanding  Department  of  the  Po- 
tomac. 
"  Sir  :  Reports  have  been,  and  are  being,  widely  circulated  to 
the  effect  that  I  prevented  General  Beauregard  from  pursuing  the 
enemy  after  the  battle   of   Manassas,   and  had   subsequently  re- 


1861]  THE  PURSUIT  OF  THE  ENEMY.  363 

strained  him  from  advancing  upon  Washington  City.  Though 
such  statements  may  have  been  made  merely  for  my  injury,  and 
in  that  view  might  be  postponed  to  a  more  convenient  season,  they 
have  acquired  importance  from  the  fact  that  they  have  served  to 
create  distrust,  to  excite  disappointment,  and  must  embarrass  the 
Administration  in  its  further  efforts  to  reenforce  the  armies  of  the 
Potomac,  and  generally  to  provide  for  the  public  defense.  For 
these  public  considerations,  I  call  upon  you,  as  the  commanding 
general,  and  as  a  party  to  all  the  conferences  held  by  me  on  the 
21st  and  22d  of  July,  to  say  whether  I  obstructed  the  pursuit  of 
the  enemy  after  the  victory  at  Manassas,  or  have  ever  objected 
to  an  advance  or  other  active  operation  which  it  was  feasible  for 
the  army  to  undertake. 

"  Very  respectfully,  yours,  etc., 

"Jefferson  Davis." 

"  Headquarters,  Centreville,  November  10,  1861. 
"  To  his  Excellency  the  President. 

"  Sir  :  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter  of  the  3d 
inst.,  in  which  you  call  upon  me,  '  as  the  commanding  general, 
and  as  a  party  to  all  the  conferences  held  by  you  on  the  21st  and 
22d  of  July,  to  say  whether  you  obstructed  the  pursuit  after  the 
victory  of  Manassas,  or  have  ever  objected  to  an  advance  or  other 
active  operation  which  it  was  feasible  for  the  army  to  under- 
take ? ' 

"  To  the  first  question  I  reply,  No.  The  pursuit  was  l  obstruct- 
ed '  by  the  enemy's  troops  at  Centreville,  as  I  have  stated  in  my 
official  report.  In  that  report  I  have  also  said  why  no  advance 
was  made  upon  the  enemy's  capital  (for  reasons)  as  follows  : 

"  The  apparent  freshness  of  the  United  States  troops  at  Centre- 
ville, which  checked  our  pursuit  ;  the  strong  forces  occupying  the 
works  near  Georgetown,  Arlington,  and  Alexandria  ;  the  certain- 
ty, too,  that  General  Patterson,  if  needed,  would  reach  Washing- 
ton with  his  army  of  more  than  thirty  thousand  sooner  than  we 
could  ;  and  the  condition  and  inadequate  means  of  the  army  in 
ammunition,  provisions,  and  transportation,  prevented  any  serious 
thoughts  of  advancing  against  the  capital. 

"  To  the  second  question  I  reply  that  it  has  never  been  feasible 
for  the  army  to  advance  farther  than  it  has  done — to  the  line  of 
Fairfax  Court-House,  with  its  advanced  posts  at  Upton's,  Mun- 


364:      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

son's,  and  Mason's  Hills.  After  a  conference  at  Fairfax  Court- 
House  with  the  three  senior  general  officers,  you  announced  it  to 
be  impracticable  to  give  this  army  the  strength  which  those  officers 
considered  necessary  to  enable  it  to  assume  the  offensive.  Upon 
which  I  drew  it  back  to  its  present  position. 

"  Most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  J.  E.  Johnston." 

< 

This  answer  to  my  inquiry  was  conclusive  as  to  the  charge 
which  had  been  industriously  circulated  that  I  had  prevented 
the  immediate  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and  had  obstructed  active 
operations  after  the  battle  of  Manassas,  and  thus  had  caused  the 
failure  to  reap  the  proper  fruits  of  the  victory. 

No  specific  inquiry  was  made  by  me  as  to  the  part  I  took  in 
the  conferences  of  the  21st  and  22d  of  July,  but  a  general  ref- 
erence was  made  to  them.  The  entire  silence  of  General  John- 
ston in  regard  to  those  conferences  is  noticeable  from  the  fact 
that,  while  his  answer  was  strictly  measured  by  the  terms  of  my 
inquiry  as  to  pursuit,  he  added  a  statement  about  a  conference  at 
Fairfax  Court-House,  which  occurred  in  the  autumn,  say  October, 
and  could  have  had  no  relation  to  the  question  of  pursuit  of  the 
enemy  after  the  victory  of  Manassas,  or  other  active  operations 
therewith  connected.  The  reasons  stated  in  my  letter  for  mak- 
ing an  inquiry,  naturally  pointed  to  the  conferences  of  the  21st 
and  22d  of  July,  but  surely  not  to  a  conference  held  months 
subsequent  to  the  battle,  and  on  a  question  quite  different  from 
that  of  hot  pursuit.  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  this  subsequent 
conference  I  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter. 

I  left  the  field  of  Manassas,  proud  of  the  heroism  of  our 
troops  in  battle,  and  of  the  conduct  of  the  officers  who  led  them. 
Anxious  to  recognize  the  claim  of  the  army  on  the  gratitude  of 
the  country,  it  was  my  pleasing  duty  to  bear  testimony  to  their 
merit  in  every  available  form.  Those  who  left  the  field  and  did 
not  return  to  share  its  glory,  it  was  wished,  should  only  be  re- 
membered as  exceptions  proving  a  rule. 

With  all  the  information  possessed  at  the  time  by  the  com- 
manding generals,  the  propriety  of  maintaining  our  position, 
while  seeking  objects  more  easily  attained  than  the  capture  of 


1861]  ENOUGH  WAS   DONE  FOR  GLORY.  365 

the  United  States  capital,  seemed  to  me  so  demonstrable  as  to 
require  no  other  justification  than  the  statements  to  which  I 
have  referred  in  connection  with  the  conference  of  the  22d  of 
July.  It  would  have  seemed  to  me  then,  as  it  does  now,  to  be 
less  than  was  due  to  the  energy  and  fortitude  of  our  troops,  to 
plead  a  want  of  transportation  and  supplies  for  a  march  of  about 
twenty  miles  through  a  country  which  had  not  then  been  de- 
nuded by  the  ravages  of  war. 

Under  these  impressions,  and  with  such  feelings,  I  wrote  to 
General  Beauregard  as  follows  : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  August  4,  1861. 
"  General  Beauregard,  Manassas,  Virginia. 

"  My  dear  Sir  :  .  .  .  I  think  you  are  unjust  to  yourself  in 
putting  your  failure  to  pursue  the  enemy  to  Washington  to  the 
account  of  short  supplies  of  subsistence  and  transportation.  Under 
the  circumstances  of  our  army,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  knowledge 
since  acquired,  if  indeed  the  statements  be  true,  it  would  have 
been  extremely  hazardous  to  have  done  more  than  was  performed. 
You  will  not  fail  to  remember  that,  so  far  from  knowing  that  the 
enemy  was  routed,  a  large  part  of  our  forces  was  moved  by  you, 
in  the  night  of  the  21st,  to  repel  a  supposed  attack  upon  our  right, 
and  that  the  next  day's  operations  did  not  fully  reveal  what  has 
since  been  reported  of  the  enemy's  panic.  Enough  was  done  for 
glory,  and  the  measure  of  duty  was  full ;  let  us  rather  show  the 
untaught  that  their  desires  are  unreasonable,  than,  by  dwelling  on 
possibilities  recently  developed,  give  form  and  substance  to  the 
criticisms  always  easy  to  those  who  judge  after  the  event. 
"  With  sincere  esteem,  I  am  your  friend, 

"Jefferson  Davis." 

I  had  declared  myself  content  and  gratified  with  the  con- 
duct of  the  troops  and  the  officers,  and  supposed  the  generals, 
in  recognition  of  my  efforts  to  aid  them  by  increasing  their 
force  and  munitions,  as  well  as  by  my  abstinence  from  all  inter- 
ference with  them  upon  the  field,  would  have  neither  cause  nor 
motive  to  reflect  upon  me  in  their  reports,  and  it  was  with  equal 
surprise  and  regret  that  in  this  I  found  myself  mistaken.  Gen- 
eral Johnston,  in  his  report,  represented  the  order  to  him  to 
make  a  junction  with  General  Beauregard  as  a  movement  left 


366      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

to  bis  discretion,  with  the  condition  that,  if  made,  he  should  first 
send  his  sick  and  baggage  to  Culpepper  Court-House.  I  felt 
constrained  to  put  upon  his  report  when  it  was  received  the 
following  endorsement : 

"  The  telegram  referred  to  by  General  Johnston  in  this  report 
as  received  by  him  about  one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  18th 
of  July  is  inaccurately  reported.     The  following  is  a  copy : 

"  *  Richmond,  July  17,  1861. 
" '  General  J.  E.  Johnston",   Winchester,  Virginia. 

"  *  General  Beauregard  is  attacked.  To  strike  the  enemy  a  de- 
cisive blow,  a  junction  of  all  your  effective  force  will  be  needed. 
If  practicable,  make  the  movement,  sending  your  sick  and  bag- 
gage to  Culpepper  Court-House,  either  by  railroad  or  by  Warren- 
ton.     In  all  the  arrangements,  exercise  your  discretion. 

"  '  S.  Cooper,  Adjutant  and  Inspector-  General.'' 

"The  word  *  after'  is  not  found  in  the  dispatch  before  the 
words  *  sending  your  sick,'  as  is  stated  in  the  report ;  so  that  the 
argument  based  on  it  requires  no  comment.  The  order  to  move  *  if 
practicable '  had  reference  to  General  Johnston's  letters  of  the  12th 
and  15th  of  July,  representing  the  relative  strength  and  positions 
of  the  enemy  under  Patterson  and  of  his  own  forces  to  be  such 
as  to  make  it  doubtful  whether  General  Johnston  had  the  power 
to  effect  the  movement." 

"Upon  the  receipt  of  General  Beauregard's  report  of  the  bat- 
tle of  Manassas,  I  found  that  it  contained  matter  wmich  seemed 
to  me  out  of  place,  and  therefore  addressed  to  him  the  following 
letter : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  October  30,  1861. 
"  General  Beauregard,  Manassas,  Virginia. 

"Sir:  Yesterday  my  attention  was  called  to  various  news- 
paper publications  purporting  to  have  been  sent  from  Manassas, 
and  to  be  a  synopsis  of  your  report  of  the  battle  of  the  21st  of  July 
last,  and  in  which  it  is  represented  that  you  have  been  overruled  by 
me  in  your  plan  for  a  battle  with  the  enemy  south  of  the  Poto- 
mac, for  the  capture  of  Baltimore  and  Washington,  and  the  libera- 
tion of  Maryland. 


1861]  NEITHER  ALTERATION   NOR  ERASURE.  307 

"  I  inquired  for  your  long-expected  report,  and  it  has  been  to- 
day submitted  to  my  inspection.  It  appears,  by  official  endorse- 
ment, to  have  been  received  by  the  Adjutant-General  on  the  18th  of 
October,  though  it  is  dated  August  26,  1861. 

"  With  much  surprise  I  found  that  the  newspaper  statements 
were  sustained  by  the  text  of  your  report.  I  was  surprised,  be- 
cause, if  we  did  differ  in  opinion  as  to  the  measure  and  purposes  of 
contemplated  campaigns,  such  fact  could  have  no  appropriate  place 
in  the  report  of  a  battle  ;  further,  because  it  seemed  to  be  an  at- 
tempt to  exalt  yourself  at  my  expense  ;  and,  especially,  because  no 
such  plan  as  that  described  was  submitted  to  me.  It  is  true  that, 
some  time  before  it  was  ordered,  you  expressed  a  desire  for  the 
junction  of  General  Johnston's  army  with  your  own.  The  move- 
ment was  postponed  until  the  operations  of  the  enemy  rendered  it 
necessary,  and  until  it  became  thereby  practicable  to  make  it  with 
safety  to  the  Valley  of  Yirginia.  Hence,  I  believe,  was  secured 
the  success  by  which  it  was  attended. 

"  If  you  have  retained  a  copy  of  the  plan  of  campaign  which 
you  say  was  submitted  to  me  through  Colonel  Chesnut,  allow  me 
to  request  that  you  will  furnish  me  with  a  duplicate  of  it. 

"Very  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

As  General  Beauregard  did  not  think  proper  to  omit  that 
portion  of  his  report  to  which  objection  was  made,  it  necessi- 
tated, when  the  entire  report  was  transmitted  to  Congress,  the 
placing  of  an  endorsement  upon  it,  reviewing  that  part  of  the 
report  which  I  considered  objectionable.  The  Congress,  in  its 
discretion,  ordered  the  publication  of  the  report,  except  that 
part  to  whicb  the  endorsement  referred,  thereby  judiciously 
suppressing  both  the  endorsement  and  the  portion  of  the  re- 
port to  which  it  related.  In  this  case,  and  every  other  official 
report  ever  submitted  to  me,  I  made  neither  alteration  nor 
erasure. 

That  portion  of  the  report  which  was  suppressed  by  the  Con- 
gress has,  since  the  war,  found  its  way  into  the  press,  but  the 
endorsement  which  belonged  to  it  has  not  been  published.  As 
part  of  the  history  of  the  time,  I  will  here  present  both  in  their 
proper  connection : 


368      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  General  S.  Cooper,  Adjutant  and  Inspector  -  General,  Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

"  Before  entering  upon  a  narration  of  the  general  military  op- 
erations in  the  presence  of  the  enemy  on  July  21st,  I  propose — I 
hope  not  unreasonably — first  to  recite  certain  events  which  belong 
to  the  strategy  of  the  campaign,  and  consequently  form  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  history  of  the  battle. 

"  Having  become  satisfied  that  the  advance  of  the  enemy  with 
a  decidedly  superior  force,  both  as  to  numbers  and  war  equipage, 
to  attack  or  turn  my  position  in  this  quarter  was  immediately  im- 
pending, I  dispatched,  on  July  13th,  one  of  my  staff,  Colonel  James 
Chesnut,  of  South  Carolina,  to  submit  for  the  consideration  of  the 
President  a  plan  of  operations  substantially  as  follows  : 

"  I  proposed  that  General  Johnston  should  unite,  as  soon  as 
possible,  the  bulk  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah  with  that  of  the 
Potomac,  then  under  my  command,  leaving  only  sufficient  force 
to  garrison  his  strong  works  at  Winchester,  and  to  guard  the  five 
defensive  passes  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  thus  hold  Patterson  in 
check.  At  the  same  time  Brigadier-General  Holmes  was  to  march 
hither  with  all  of  his  command  not  essential  for  the  defense  of  the 
position  of  Acquia  Creek.  These  junctions  having  been  effected 
at  Manassas,  an  immediate,  impetuous  attack  of  our  combined 
armies  upon  General  McDowell  was  to  follow,  as  soon  as  he  ap- 
proached my  advanced  position,  at  and  around  Fairfax  Court- 
House,  with  the  inevitable  result,  as  I  submitted,  of  his  complete 
defeat,  and  the  destruction  or  capture  of  his  army.  This  accom- 
plished, the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  under  General  Johnston,  in- 
creased with  a  part  of  my  forces  and  rejoined  as  he  returned  by 
the  detachment  left  to  hold  the  mountain-passes,  was  to  march 
back  rapidly  into  the  Valley,  fall  upon  and  crush  Patterson  with  a 
superior  force,  wheresoever  he  might  be  found.  This,  I  confidently 
estimated,  could  be  achieved  within  fifteen  days  after  General 
Johnston  should  march  from  Winchester  for  Manassas. 

"Meanwhile,  I  was  to  occupy  the  enemy's  works  on  this  side 
of  the  Potomac,  if,  as  I  anticipated,  he  had  been  so  routed  as  to 
enable  me  to  enter  them  with  him  or,  if  not,  to  retire  again  for  a 
time  within  the  lines  of  Bull  Run  with  my  main  force.  Patterson 
having  been  virtually  destroyed,  then  General  Johnston  would 
reenforce  General  Garnett  sufficiently  to  make  him  superior  to 
his  opponent  (General  McClellan)  and  able  to  defeat  that  officer. 


1861]  THE  PLAN  OF  OPERATION.  369 

This  done,  General  Garnett  was  to  form  an  immediate  junction 
with  General  Johnston,  who  was  forthwith  to  cross  the  Potomac 
into  Maryland  with  his  whole  force,  arouse  the  people  as  he  ad- 
vanced to  the  recovery  of  their  political  rights,  and  the  defense  of 
their  homes  and  families  from  an  offensive  invader,  and  then 
march  to  the  investment  of  Washington,  in  the  rear,  while  I  re- 
sumed the  offensive  in  front.  This  plan  of  operations,  you  are 
aware,  was  not  acceptable  at  the  time,  from  considerations  which 
appeared  so  weighty  as  to  more  than  counterbalance  its  proposed 
advantages.  Informed  of  these  views,  and  of  the  decision  of  the 
War  Department,  I  then  made  my  preparations  for  the  stoutest 
practicable  defense  of  the  line  of  Bull  Run,  the  enemy  having  de- 
veloped his  purpose,  by  the  advance  on  and  occupation  of  Fairfax 
Court-House,  from  which  my  advance  brigade  had  been  withdrawn. 
"  The  War  Department  having  been  informed  by  me,  by  tele- 
graph on  July  17th,  of  the  movement  of  General  McDowell,  Gen- 
eral Johnston  was  immediately  ordered  to  form  a  junction  of  his 
army  corps  with  mine,  should  the  movement  in  his  judgment  be 
deemed  advisable.  General  Holmes  was  also  directed  to  push  for- 
ward with  two  regiments,  a  battery,,  and  one  company  of  cav- 
alry." * 

"  EXDOESEMENT. 

"  The  order  issued  by  the  War  Department  to  General  John- 
ston was  not,  as  herein  reported,  to  form  a  junction,  c  should  the 
movement  in  his  judgment  be  deemed  advisable.'  The  following 
is  an  accurate  copy  of  the  order  : 

"  '  General  Beauregard  is  attacked.  To  strike  the  enemy  a  de- 
cisive blow,  a  junction  of  all  your  effective  force  will  be  needed. 
If  practicable,  make  the  movement,  sending  your  sick  and  bag- 
gage to  Culpepper  Court-House,  either  by  railroad  or  by  Warren- 
ton.     In  all  the  arrangements,  exercise  your  discretion.' 

"  The  words  '  if  practicable  '  had  reference  to  letters  of  General 
Johnston  of  the  12th  and  15th  of  July,  which  made  it  extremely 
doubtful  if  he  had  the  power  to  make  the  movement,  in  view  of 
the  relative  strength  and  position  of  Patterson's  forces  as  com- 
pared with  his  own. 

"  The  plan  of  campaign  reported  to  have  been  submitted,  but 

*  The  foregoing  was  copied  from  "  The  Land  we  Love,"  for  February,  1867  (vol. 
ii,  No.  4). 

24 


370      RISE  ANr>  rALL  0F  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

not  accepted,  and  to  have  led  to  a  decision  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, can  not  be  found  among  its  files,  nor  any  reference  to  any 
decision  made  upon  it  ;  and  it  was  not  known  that  the  army  had 
advanced  beyond  the  line  of  Bull  Run,  the  position  previously  se- 
lected by  General  Lee,  and  which  was  supposed  to  have  continued 
to  be  the  defensive  line  occupied  by  the  main  body  of  our  forces. 
Inquiry  has  developed  the  fact  that  a  message,  to  be  verbally 
delivered,  was  sent  by  Hon.  Mr.  Chesnut.  If  the  conjectures 
recited  in  the  report  were  entertained,  they  rested  on  the  accom- 
plishment of  one  great  condition,  namely,  that  a  junction  of  the 
forces  of  Generals  Johnston  and  Holmes  should  be  made  with  the 
army  of  General  Beauregard  and  should  gain  a  victory.  The  junc- 
tion was  made,  the  victory  was  won  ;  but  the  consequences  that 
were  predicted  did  not  result.  The  reasons  why  no  such  conse- 
quences could  result  are  given  in  the  closing  passages  of  the  re- 
ports of  both  the  commanding  generals,  and  the  responsibility  can 
not  be  transferred  to  the  Government  at  Richmond,  which  certainly 
would  have  united  in  any  feasible  plan  to  accomplish  such  desir- 
able results. 

"  If  the  plan  of  campaign  mentioned  in  the  report  had  been 
presented  in  a  written  communication,  and  in  sufficient  detail  to 
permit  proper  investigation,  it  must  have  been  pronounced  to  be 
impossible  at  that  time,  and  its  proposal  could  only  have  been  ac- 
counted for  by  the  want  of  information  of  the  forces  and  positions 
of  the  armies  in  the  field.  The  facts  that  rendered  it  impossible 
are  the  following  : 

"  1.  It  was  based,  as  related  from  memory  by  Colonel  Ches- 
nut, on  the  supposition  of  drawing  a  force  of  about  twenty-five 
thousand  men  from  the  command  of  General  Johnston.  The  let- 
ters of  General  Johnston  show  his  effective  force  to  have  been  only 
eleven  thousand,  with  an  enemy  thirty  thousand  strong  in  his 
front,  ready  to  take  possession  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia  on  his 
withdrawal. 

"2.  It  proposed  to  continue  operations  by  effecting  a  junction 
of  a  part  of  the  victorious  forces  with  the  army  of  General  Gar- 
nett  in  Western  Virginia.  General  Garnett's  forces  amounted 
only  to  three  or  four  thousand  men,  then  known  to  be  in  rapid  re- 
treat before  vastly  superior  forces  under  McClellan,  and  the  news 
that  he  was  himself  killed  and  his  army  scattered  arrived  within 
forty-eight  hours  of  Colonel  Chesnut's  arrival  in  Richmond. 


1861]  FORCES  AT  MANASSAS.  371 

"  3.  The  plan  was  based  on  the  improbable  and  inadmissible 
supposition  that  the  enemy  was  to  await  everywhere,  isolated  and 
motionless,  until  our  forces  could  effect  junctions  to  attack  them 
in  detail. 

"  4.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  any  success  obtainable  on 
the  battle-field  would  enable  our  forces  to  carry  the  fortifications 
on  the  Potomac,  garrisoned,  and  within  supporting  distance  of 
fresh  troops  ;  nor  after  the  actual  battle  and  victory  did  the  gen- 
erals on  the  field  propose  an  advance  on  the  capital,  nor  does  it 
appear  that  they  have  since  believed  themselves  in  a  condition  to 
attempt  such  a  movement. 

"  It  is  proper  also  to  observe  that  there  is  no  communication  on 
file  in  the  War  Department,  as  recited  at  the  close  of  the  report, 
showing  what  were  the  causes  which  prevented  the  advance  of  our 
forces  and  prolonged,  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  and  be- 
yond the  Potomac. 

"Jeffekson  Davis." 

It  has  not  been  my  purpose  to  describe  the  battles  of  the 
war.  To  the  reports  of  the  officers  serving  on  the  field,  in  the 
armies  of  both  Governments,  the  student  of  history  must  turn 
for  knowledge  of  the  details,  and  it  will  be  the  task  of  the 
future  historian,  from  comparison  of  the  whole,  to  deduce  the 
truth. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  cause  of  justice  that  error  and  mis- 
representation have,  in  their  inconsistencies  and  improbabilities, 
the  elements  of  self-destruction,  while  truth  is  in  its  nature 
consistent  and  therefore  self-sustaining.  To  such  general  re- 
marks in  regard  to  campaigns,  sieges,  and  battles  as  may  seem 
to  me  appropriate  to  the  scope  and  object  of  my  work,  I  shall 
append  or  insert,  from  time  to  time,  the  evidence  of  reliable 
actors  in  those  affairs,  as  well  to  elucidate  obscurity  as  to  correct 
error. 

From  the  official  reports  it  appears  that  the  strength  of  the 
two  armies  was :  Confederate,  30,167  men  of  all  arms,  with  29 
guns ;  *  Federal,  35,732  men,f  with  a  body  of  cavalry,  of  which 
only  one  company  is  reported,  and  a  large  artillery  force  not 

*  General  Beauregard's  report. 

f  General  McDowell's  return,  July  16,  17,  1861. 


372       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

shown  in  the  tabular  statement.  Of  these  troops,  some  on  both 
sides  were  not  engaged  in  the  battle.  This,  it  is  believed,  was 
the  case  to  a  much  larger  extent  on  our  side  than  on  that  of  the 
enemy.  He  selected  the  point  of  attack,  and  could  concentrate 
his  troops  for  that  purpose,  but  we  were  guarding  a  line  of 
some  seven  miles  front,  and  therefore  widely  dispersed. 

For  the  purpose  above  stated,  extracts  are  herein  inserted 
from  a  narrative  in  the  "  Operations  on  the  Line  of  Bull  Run  in 
June  and  July,  1861,  including  the  First  Battle  of  Manassas." 
The  name  of  the  author,  J.  A.  Early,  will,  to  all  who  know 
him,  be  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  accuracy  of  the  state- 
ments, and  for  the  justice  of  the  conclusions  announced.  To 
those  who  do  not  know  him,  it  may  be  proper  to  state  that  he 
was  educated  as  a  soldier ;  after  leaving  the  army  became  a  law- 
yer, but,  when  his  country  was  involved  in  war  with  Mexico,  he 
volunteered  and  served  in  a  regiment  of  his  native  State,  Vir- 
ginia. After  that  war  terminated,  he  returned  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  which  he  was  actively  pursuing  when  the  con- 
troversy between  the  sections  caused  the  call  of  a  convention  to 
decide  whether  Virginia  should  secede  from  the  Union.  He 
was  sent,  by  the  people  of  the  county  in  which  he  resided,  to  rep- 
resent them  in  that  convention.  There  he  opposed  to  the  last 
the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  for  secession ;  but,  when  it  was 
decided,  against  his  opinion,  to  resort  to  the  remedy  of  with- 
drawal from  the  Union,  he,  true  to  his  allegiance  to  the  State  of 
which  he  was  a  citizen,  paused  not  to  cavil  or  protest,  but  at 
once  stepped  forth  to  defend  her  against  a  threatened  invasion. 
The  sword  that  had  rusted  in  peace  gleamed  brightly  in  war. 
He  rose  to  the  high  grade  of  lieutenant-general.  None  have  a 
more  stainless  record  as  a  soldier,  none  have  shown  a  higher 
patriotism  or  purer  fidelity  through  all  the  bitter  trials  to  which 
we  have  been  subjected  since  open  war  was  ended  and  nominal 
peace  began. 

Extracts  from  the  narrative  of  General  J.  A.  Early,  of  events 
occurring  when  he  was  colonel  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Regiment 
of  Virginia  Infantry  and  commanding  a  brigade : 

"On  June  19,  1861,  I  arrived  at  Manassas  Junction  and  re- 
ported to  General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  the  Twenty-fourth  Virginia 


1861]  THE  POSITION  VERY  WEAK.  373 

Regiment  having  been  previously  sent  to  Mm,  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hairsten,  from  Lynchburg,  where  I  had 
been  stationed  under  the  orders  of  General  Robert  E,  Lee,  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing  the  Virginia  troops  which  were  being  mus- 
tered into  service  at  that  place.  .  .  . 

"  On  the  morning  of  July  18th,  my  brigade  was  moved,  by 
order  of  General  Beauregard,  to  the  left  of  Camp  Walker,  on  the 
railroad,  and  remained  there  some  time.  .  .  . 

"  On  falling  back,  General  Ewell,  in  pursuance  of  his  instruc- 
tions, had  burned  the  bridges  on  the  railroad  over  Pope's  Run, 
from  Fairfax  Station  to  Union  Mills,  and  while  I  was  at  Camp 
Walker  I  saw  the  smoke  ascending  from  the  railroad-bridge  over 
Bull  Run,  which  was  burned  that  morning. 

"The  burning  of  this  bridge  had  not  been  included  in  the  pre- 
vious instructions  to  Ewell,  and  I  have  always  been  at  a  loss  to 
know  why  it  was  now  fired.  That  bridge  certainly  was  not  neces- 
sary to  the  enemy  for  crossing  Bull  Run,  either  with  his  troops  or 
wagons,  as  that  stream  was  easily  fordable  at  numerous  places, 
both  above  and  below.  The  bridge  was,  moreover,  susceptible  of 
easy  defense,  as  there  were  deep  cuts  leading  to  it  on  both  sides. 
The  only  possible  purpose  to  be  subserved  by  the  burning  of  that 
bridge  would  have  been  the  prevention  for  a  short  time  of  the 
running  of  trains  over  it  by  the  enemy,  in  the  event  of  our  defeat, 
or  evacuation  of  Manassas  without  a  fight.  As  it  was,  we  were 
afterward  greatly  inconvenienced  by  its  destruction."  .  .  . 

The  attack  made  on  the  18th  is  described  as  directed 
against  our  right  center,  and  as  having  been  met  and  repulsed 
in  a  manner  quite  creditable  to  our  raw  troops,  of  whom  he 
writes : 

"  On  the  19th  they  were  occupied  in  the  effort  to  strengthen 
their  position  by  throwing  up  the  best  defenses  they  could  with 
the  implements  at  hand,  which  consisted  of  a  very  few  picks  and 
spades,  some  rough  bowie-knives,  and  the  bayonets  of  the  mus- 
kets. .  .  .  The  position  was  a  very  weak  one,  as  the  banks  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Bull  Run  overlooked  and  commanded  those  on 
the  south  side,  which  were  but  a  few  feet  above  the  water's  edge, 
and  there  was  an  open  field  in  rear  of  the  strip  of  woods  on  our 
side  of  the  stream,  for  a  considerable  distance  up  and  down  it, 
which  exposed  all  of  our  movements  on  that  side  to  observation 


374      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

from  the  opposite  one,  as  the  strip  of  woods  afforded  but  a  thin 
veil  which  could  be  seen  through.  .  .  . 

"About  dusk  on  the  19th,  brigade  commanders  were  sum- 
moned to  a  conference  at  McLean's  house  by  General  Beauregard, 
and  he  then  informed  us  of  the  fact  that  General  Johnston  had 
been  ordered,  at  his  instance,  from  the  Valley,  and  was  marching 
to  cooperate  with  us.  He  stated  that  Johnston  would  march  di- 
rectly across  the  Blue  Ridge  toward  the  enemy's  right  flank,  and 
would  probably  attack  on  that  flank  at  dawn  the  next  morning. 
Before  he  had  finished  his  statement  of  the  plans  he  proposed  pur- 
suing in  the  event  of  Johnston's  attack  on  the  enemy's  right  flank, 
a  party  of  horsemen  rode  up  in  front  of  the  house,  and,  dismount- 
ing, one  of  them  walked  in  and  reported  himself  as  Brigadier- 
General  T.  J.  Jackson,  who  had  arrived  with  the  advanced  brigade 
of  Johnston's  troops  by  the  way  of  Manassas  Gap  Railroad,  and 
he  stated  that  his  brigade  was  about  twenty-five  hundred  strong. 
This  information  took  General  Beauregard  very  much  by  surprise, 
and,  after  ascertaining  that  General  Jackson  had  taken  the  cars  at 
Piedmont  Station,  General  Beauregard  asked  him  if  General  John- 
ston would  not  march  the  rest  of  his  command  on  the  direct  road, 
so  as  to  get  on  the  enemy's  right  flank.  General  Jackson  replied 
with  some  little  hesitation,  and,  as  I  thought  at  the  time,  in  rather 
a  stolid  manner,  that  he  thought  not  ;  that  he  thought  the  pur- 
pose was  to  transport  the  whole  force  by  railroad  from  Piedmont 
Station.  This  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  General  Jackson,  and 
my  first  impressions  of  him  were  not  very  favorable  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  gave  his  information.  I  subsequently  ascertained 
very  well  how  it  was  that  he  seemed  to  know  so  little,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  strangers  among  whom  he  found  himself,  of  General 
Johnston's  intended  movements,  and  I  presume  nothing  but  the 
fact  of  General  Beauregard  being  his  superior  in  rank,  and  his  be- 
ing ordered  to  report  to  him,  could  have  elicited  as  much  informa- 
tion from  him,  under  the  circumstances,  as  was  obtained.  After 
General  Jackson  had  given  the  information  above  stated,  and  re- 
ceived instructions  where  to  put  his  brigade,  he  retired,  and  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  proceeded  to  develop  fully  his  plans  for  the  next 
day.  The  information  received  from  General  Jackson  was  wholly 
unexpected,  but  General  Beauregard  said  he  thought  Jackson  was 
not  correctly  informed,  and  was  mistaken  ;  that  he  was  satisfied 
General  Johnston  was  marching  with  the  rest  of  his  troops  and 


1861]  THE  ENEMY   TO  BE   SURPRISED.  375 

would  attack  the  enemy's  right  flank  early  next  day  as  he  had  be- 
fore stated.  Upon  this  hypothesis,  he  directed  that  when  General 
Johnston's  attack  began  and  he  had  become  fully  engaged,  of 
which  we  were  to  judge  from  the  character  of  the  musketry-fire, 
we  should  cross  Bull  Run  from  our  several  positions,  and  move 
upon  the  enemy  so  as  to  attack  him  on  his  left  flank  and  rear.  He 
said  that  he  had  no  doubt  General  Johnston's  attack  would  be  a 
complete  surprise  to  the  enemy  ;  that  the  latter  would  not  know 
what  to  think  of  it ;  that  when  he  turned  to  meet  that  attack,  and 
soon  found  himself  assailed  on  the  other  side,  he  would  be  still 
more  surprised  and  would  not  know  what  to  do  ;  that  the  effect 
would  become  a  complete  rout — a  perfect  Waterloo  ;  and  that, 
when  the  enemy  took  to  flight,  we  would  pursue,  cross  the  Poto- 
mac, and  arouse  Maryland.  .  .  . 

"  During  the  20th  General  Johnston  arrived  at  Manassas 
Junction  by  the  railroad,  and  that  day  we  received  the  order  from 
him  assuming  command  of  the  combined  armies  of  General  Beau- 
regard and  himself. 

"Early  on  the  morning  of  the  21st  (Sunday),  we  heard  the  en- 
emy's guns  open  from  the  heights  north  of  Bull  Run,  from  which 
they  had  opened  on  the  18th,  and  I  soon  received  orders  for  the 
movement  of  my  brigade.  .   .  . 

"  Upon  arriving  there  (McLean's  Ford),  I  found  General  Jones 
had  returned  to  the  intrenchments  with  his  brigade,  and  I  was 
informed  by  him  that  General  Beauregard  had  directed  that  I 
should  join  him  (General  Beauregard)  with  my  brigade.  .  .  .  He 
then  asked  me  if  I  had  received  an  order  from  General  Beauregard 
to  go  to  him,  and,  on  my  replying  in  the  negative,  he  informed  me 
that  he  had  such  an  order  for  me  in  a  note  to  him.  He  sent  to 
one  of  his  staff-officers  for  the  note,  and  showed  it  to  me.  The 
note  was  one  directing  him  to  fall  back  behind  Bull  Run,  and  was 
in  pencil.  At  the  foot  of  it  were  these  words :  '  Send  Early  to 
me.'  This  was  all  the  order  that  I  received  to  move  to  the  left, 
and  it  was  shown  to  me  a  very  little  after  twelve  o'clock.  .  .  . 
Chisholm,  who  carried  the  note  to  Jones,  in  which  was  contained 
the  order  I  received,  passed  me  at  McLean's  Ford  going  on  to 
Jones  about,  or  a  little  after,  eleven  o'clock.  If  I  had  not  received 
the  order  until  2  p.  m.,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  me  to 
get  on  the  field  at  the  time  I  reached  it,  about  3.30  p.  m.  Colonel 
Chisholm  informed  me  that  the  order  was  for  all  the  troops  to 


376      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

fall  back  across  Bull  Run.  ...  I  was  met  by  Colonel  John  S. 
Preston,  one  of  the  General's  aides,  who  informed  me  that  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  had  gone  where  the  fighting  was,  .  .  .  but 
that  General  Johnston  was  just  in  front,  and  his  directions  were 
that  we  should  proceed  to  the  left,  where  there  was  a  heavy  fire 
of  musketry.  .  .  .  When  we  reached  General  Johnston,  he  ex- 
pressed great  gratification  at  our  arrival,  but  it  was  very  percep- 
tible that  his  anticipations  were  not  sanguine.  He  gave  me  special 
instructions  as  to  my  movements,  directing  me  to  clear  our  lines 
completely  before  going  to  the  front.  ...  In  some  fields  on  the 
left  of  our  line  we  found  Colonel  Stuart  with  a  body  of  cavalry 
and  some  pieces  of  artillery,  belonging,  as  I  understood,  to  a  bat- 
tery commanded  by  Lieutenant  Beckham.  ...  I  found  Stuart 
already  in  position  beyond  our  extreme  left,  and,  as  I  understood  it, 
supporting  and  controlling  Beckham's  guns,  which  were  firing  on 
the  enemy's  extreme  right  flank,  thus  rendering  very  efficient  ser- 
vice. I  feel  well  assured  that  Stuart  had  but  two  companies  of 
cavalry  with  him,  as  these  were  all  I  saw  when  he  afterward  went 
in  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  As  I  approached  the  left,  a  young  man 
named  Saunders  came  galloping  to  me  from  Stuart  with  the  in- 
formation that  the  enemy  was  about  retreating,  and  a  request  to 
hurry  on.  This  was  the  first  word  of  encouragement  we  had 
received  since  we  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  battle.  I  told  the 
messenger  to  inform  Stuart  that  I  was  then  moving  as  rapidly  as 
my  men  could  move  ;  but  he  soon  returned  with  another  message 
informing  me  that  the  other  was  a  mistake,  that  the  enemy  had 
merely  retired  behind  the  ridge  in  front  to  form  a  new  flanking 
column,  and  cautioning  me  to  be  on  my  guard.  This  last  informa- 
tion proved  to  be  correct.  It  was  the  last  effort  of  the  enemy  to 
extend  his  right  beyond  our  left,  and  was  met  by  the  formation  of 
my  regiments  in  his  front.  .  .  .  The  hill  on  which  the  enemy's 
troops  were  was  Chinn's  Hill,  so  often  referred  to  in  the  accounts 
of  this  battle,  and  the  one  next  year,  on  the  same  field.  ...  An 
officer  came  to  me  in  a  gallop,  and  entreated  me  not  to  fire  on  the 
troops  in  front,  and  I  was  so  much  impressed  by  his  earnest  man- 
ner and  confident  tone,  that  I  halted  my  brigade  on  the  side  of  the 
hill,  and  rode  to  the  top  of  it,  when  I  discovered,  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  to  my  right,  a  regiment  bearing  a  flag  which  was 
drooping  around  the  staff  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  be  distin- 
guishable from  the  Confederate  flag  of  that  day.     I  thought  that, 


1861]  EVIDENCES  OF  THE  FLIGHT.  377 

if  the  one  that  had  been  in  front  of  me  was  a  Virginia  regiment, 
this  must  also  be  a  Confederate  one ;  but  one  or  two  shots  from 
Beckham's  guns  on  the  left  caused  the  regiment  to  face  about,  when 
its  flag  unfurled,  and  I  discovered  it  to  be  the  United  States  flag. 
I  forthwith  ordered  my  brigade  forward,  but  it  did  not  reach  the 
top  of  the  hill  soon  enough  to  do  any  damage  to  the  retiring  regi- 
ment, which  retreated  precipitately  down  the  hill  and  across  the 
Warrenton  Pike.  At  that  time  there  was  very  little  distinction 
between  the  dress  of  some  of  the  Federal  regiments  and  some  of 
ours.  As  soon  as  the  misrepresentation  in  regard  to  the  character 
of  the  troops  was  corrected,  my  brigade  advanced  to  the  top  of 
the  hill  that  had  been  occupied  by  the  enemy,  and  we  ascertained 
that  his  troops  had  retired  precipitately,  and  a  large  body  of  them 
was  discovered  in  the  fields  in  rear  of  Dogan's  house,  and  north  of 
the  turnpike.  Colonel  Cocke,  with  one  of  his  regiments,  now  joined 
us,  and  our  pieces  of  artillery  were  advanced  and  fired  upon  the 
enemy's  columns  with  considerable  effect,  causing  them  to  dis- 
perse, and  we  soon  discovered  that  they  were  in  full  retreat.  .  .  . 
When  my  column  was  seen  by  General  Beauregard,  he  at  first 
thought  it  was  a  column  of  the  enemy,  having  received  erroneous 
information  that  such  a  column  was  on  the  Manassas  Gap  Railroad. 
The  enemy  took  my  troops,  as  they  approached  his  right,  for  a 
large  body  of  our  troops  from  the  Valley  ;  and  as  my  men,  moving 
by  flank,  were  stretched  out  at  considerable  length,  from  weariness, 
they  were  greatly  over-estimated.  We  scared  the  enemy  worse  than 
we  hurt  him.   .  .  . 

"  We  saw  the  evidences  of  the  flight  all  along  our  march,  and 
unmistakable  indications  of  the  overwhelming  character  of  the 
enemy's  defeat  in  abandoned  muskets  and  equipments.  It  was 
impossible  for  me  to  pursue  the  enemy  farther,  as  well  because  I 
was  utterly  unacquainted  with  the  crossings  of  the  Run  and  the 
woods  in  front,  as  because  most  of  the  men  belonging  to  my  bri- 
gade had  been  marching  the  greater  part  of  the  day  and  were  very 
much  exhausted.  But  pursuit  with  infantry  would  have  been  un- 
availing, as  the  enemy's  troops  retreated  with  such  rapidity  that 
they  could  not  have  been  overtaken  by  any  other  than  mounted 
troops.  On  the  next  day  we  found  a  great  many  articles  that  the 
routed  troops  had  abandoned  in  their  flight,  showing  that  no  ex- 
pense or  trouble  had  been  spared  by  the  enemy  in  equipping  his 
army.  ...  In  my  movement  after  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  com- 


378      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

menced,  I  passed  the  Carter  house  and  beyond  our  line  of  battle. 
The  enemy  had  by  this  time  entirely  disappeared,  and,  having  no 
knowledge  of  the  country  whatever,  being  on  the  ground  for  the 
first  time,  besides  not  observing  any  movement  of  troops  from  our 
line,  I  halted,  with  the  expectation  of  receiving  further  orders. 
Observing  some  men  near  the  Carter  house,  I  rode  to  it,  and  found 
some  five  or  six  Federal  soldiers,  who  had  collected  some  wounded 
there  of  both  sides,  and  among  them  Colonel  Gardner,  of  the  Eighth 
Georgia  Regiment,  who  was  suffering  from  a  very  painful  wound  in 
the  leg,  which  was  fractured  just  above  the  ankle.  .  .  .  Just  after 
my  return  from  the  house  where  I  saw  Colonel  Gardner,  Presi- 
dent Davis,  in  company  with  several  gentlemen,  rode  to  where  my 
command  was,  and  addressed  a  few  stirring  remarks  to  my  regi- 
ments, in  succession,  which  received  him  with  great  enthusiasm. 

"  I  briefly  informed  Mr.  Davis  of  the  orders  I  had  received,  and 
the  movements  of  my  brigade,  and  asked  him  what  I  should  do 
under  the  circumstances.  He  told  me  that  I  had  better  get  my 
men  into  line,  and  wait  for  further  orders.  I  then  requested  him 
to  inform  Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard  of  my  position,  and 
my  desire  to  receive  orders.  I  also  informed  him  of  the  condition 
in  which  I  had  found  Colonel  Gardner,  and  also  of  Colonel  Jones 
being  in  the  neighborhood  badly  wounded,  requesting  him  to  have 
a  surgeon  sent  to  their  relief,  as  all  of  mine  were  in  the  rear  attend- 
ing  to  the  wounded  of  their  regiments.  While  we  were  talking, 
we  saw  a  body  of  troops  moving  on  the  opposite  side  of  Bull  Run, 
some  distance  below  us. 

"  Mr.  Davis  then  left  me,  going  to  the  house  where  Colonel 
Gardner  was,  and  I  moved  my  brigade  some  half  a  mile  farther, 
and  formed  it  in  line  across  the  peninsula  formed  by  a  very  con- 
siderable bend  in  Bull  Run  above  the  stone  bridge.  I  put  out  a 
line  of  pickets  in  front,  and  my  brigade  bivouacked  in  this  posi- 
tion for  the  night.  By  the  time  all  these  dispositions  were  made 
it  was  night,  and  I  then  rode  back  with  Captain  Gardner  over  the 
route  I  had  moved  on,  as  I  knew  no  other,  in  order  to  find  General 
Johnston  or  General  Beauregard,  so  that  I  might  receive  orders, 
supposing  that  there  would  be  a  forward  movement  early  in  the 
morning.  I  first  went  to  the  Lewis  house,  which  I  found  to  be  a 
hospital  filled  with  wounded  men  ;  but  was  unable  to  get  any  in- 
formation about  either  of  the  generals.  I  then  rode  toward  Ma- 
nassas, and,  after  going  some  distance  in  that  direction,  I  met  an 


1861]  CAKE   TAKEN   OF  THE  WOUNDED.  379 

officer  who  inquired  for. General  Johnston,  stating  that  he  was  on 
his  staff.  I  informed  him  that  I  was  looking  for  General  Johnston 
also,  as  well  as  for  General  Beauregard,  and  supposed  they  were  at 
Manassas  ;  but  he  said  that  he  was  just  from  Manassas,  and  nei- 
ther of  the  generals  was  there.  ...  At  about  twelve  o'clock  at 
night  I  lay  down  in  the  field  in  rear  of  my  command,  on  a  couple 
of  bundles  of  wheat  in  the  straw.  My  men  had  no  rations  with 
them.  I  had  picked  up  a  haversack  on  the  field,  which  was  filled 
with  hard  biscuits,  and  had  been  dropped  by  some  Yankee  in 
his  flight,  and  out  of  its  contents  I  made  my  own  supper,  dis- 
tributing the  rest  among  a  number  of  officers  who  had  nothing. 

"Very  early  next  morning,  I  sent  Captain  Gardner  to  look 
out  for  the  generals,  and  get  orders  for  my  command.  He  went 
to  Manassas,  and  found  General  Beauregard,  who  sent  orders  to 
me  to  remain  where  I  was  until  further  orders,  and  to  send  for 
the  camp-equipage,  rations,  etc.,  of  my  command.  A  number  of 
the  men  spread  over  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  the  battle- 
field, and  picked  up  a  great  many  knapsacks,  India-rubber  cloths, 
blankets,  overcoats,  etc.,  as  well  as  a  good  deal  of  sugar,  coffee, 
and  other  provisions  that  had  been  abandoned  by  the  enemy.  .  .  . 

"After  I  had  received  orders  showing  that  there  was  no  pur- 
pose to  make  a  forward  movement,  I  rode  over  a  good  deal  of 
the  field,  north  of  the  Warrenton  pike,  and  to  some  hospitals  in 
the  vicinity,  in  order  to  see  what  care  was  being  taken  of  the 
wounded.  I  found  a  hospital  on  the  Sudley  road,  back  of  the 
field  of  battle,  at  which  Colonel  Jones,  of  the  Fourth  Alabama, 
had  been,  which  was  in  charge  of  a  surgeon  of  a  Rhode  Island 
regiment,  whose  name  was  Harris,  I  think.  I  asked  him  if  he 
had  what  he  wanted  for  the  men  under  his  care,  and  he  told  me 
he  would  like  to  have  some  morphine,  of  which  his  supply  was 
short.  I  directed  a  young  surgeon  of  our  cavalry,  who  rode  up  at 
the  time,  to  furnish  the  morphine,  which  he  did,  from  a  pair  of 
medical  saddle-pockets  which  he  had.  Dr.  Harris  told  me  that  he 
knew  that  their  troops  had  had  a  great  deal  of  coffee  and  sugar 
mixed,  ready  for  boiling,  of  which  a  good  deal  had  been  left  at 
different  points  near  the  field,  and  asked  if  there  would  be  any 
objection  to  his  sending  out  and  gathering  some  of  it  for  the  use 
of  the  wounded  under  his  charge,  as  it  would  be  of  much  service 
to  them.  I  gave  him  the  permission  to  get  not  only  that,  but  any- 
thing else  that  would  tend  to  the  comfort  of  his  patients.     There 


380      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

did  not  come  within  my  observation  any  instance  of  harsh  or  un- 
kind treatment  of  the  enemy's  wounded  ;  nor  did  I  see  any  indi- 
cation of  a  spirit  to  extend  such  treatment  to  them.  The  stories 
which  were  afterward  told  before  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  War  (appointed  by  the  Federal  Congress),  in  regard  to 
'  rebel  atrocities,'  were  very  grossly  exaggerated,  or  manufactured 
from  the  whole  cloth.  .  .  . 

"  On  the  night  following  the  battle,  when  I  was  looking  for 
Generals  Beauregard  and  Johnston,  in  riding  over  and  to  the  rear 
of  the  battle-field,  I  discovered  that  the  greater  part  of  the  troops 
that  had  been  engaged  in  the  battle  were  in  a  great  state  of 
confusion.  I  saw  companies  looking  for  their  regiments,  and 
squads  looking  for  their  companies,  and  they  were  scattered  as  far 
as  I  went  toward  Manassas.  It  was  very  apparent  that  no  con* 
siderable  body  of  those  troops  that  had  been  engaged  on  the  left 
could  have  been  brought  into  a  condition  next  day  for  an  advance 
toward  Washington.  .  .  . 

"  The  dispute  as  to  who  planned  the  battle,  or  commanded  on 
the  field,  General  Johnston  or  General  Beauregard,  is  a  most  un- 
profitable one.  The  battle  which  General  Beauregard  planned 
was  never  fought,  because  the  enemy  did  not  move  as  he  expect- 
ed him  to  move.  The  battle  which  was  fought  was  planned  by 
McDowell,  at  least  so  far  as  the  ground  on  which  it  was  fought 
was  concerned.  He  made  a  movement  on  our  left  which  was 
wholly  unexpected  and  unprovided  for,  and  we  were  compelled  to 
fight  a  defensive  battle  on  that  flank,  by  bringing  up  reinforcements 
from  other  points  as  rapidly  as  possible.  When  Generals  Johnston 
and  Beauregard  arrived  on  the  field  where  the  battle  was  actually 
fought,  it  had  been  progressing  for  some  time,  with  the  odds  greatly 
against  us.  What  was  required  then  was  to  rally  the  troops  already 
engaged,  which  had  been  considerably  shattered,  and  hold  the  posi- 
tion to  which  they  had  been  compelled  to  retire  until  reenf  orce- 
ments could  be  brought  up.  According  to  the  statements  of  both 
generals,  the  command  of  the  troops  then  on  the  field  was  given 
to  General  Beauregard,  and  he  continued  to  exercise  it  until  the 
close,  but  in  subordination,  of  course,  to  General  Johnston,  as 
commander-in-chief,  while  the  movements  of  all  the  reenf  orce- 
ments as  they  arrived  were  unquestionably  directed  by  the  latter. 
According  to  the  statement  of  both,  the  movement  of  Elzey's 
brigade  to  the  left  averted  a  great  danger,  and  both  concur  in 


1861]  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  THE  FAILURE.  381 

attributing  the  turning  of  the  tide  of  battle  to  the  movement  of 
my  brigade  against  the  enemy's  extreme  right  flank  (General 
Beauregard  in  a  letter  on  the  origin  of  the  battle-flag,  and  General 
Johnston  in  his  '  Narrative '  recently  published). 

"  General  Beauregard  unquestionably  performed  the  duty  as- 
signed him  with  great  ability,  and  General  Johnston  gives  him  full 
credit  therefor.  Where,  then,  is  there  any  room  for  a  controversy  in 
regard  to  the  actual  command,  and  what  profit  can  there  be  in  it  ? 

"  General  Johnston  assumes  the  responsibility  for  the  failure  to 
advance  on  Washington,  and  why,  then,  should  an  effort  be  made 
to  shift  it  on  any  one  else  ?  He  certainly  was  commander-in- 
chief,  and  had  the  privilege  of  advancing  if  he  thought  proper. 
The  attempt  to  show  that  the  failure  to  advance  was  due  to  the 
want  of  transportation  and  rations  for  the  army  is  idle.  If  the 
Bull  Run  bridge  had  not  been  burned  on  the  18th,  our  supplies 
could  have  been  run  to  Alexandria,  if  we  could  have  advanced,  as 
easily  as  to  Manassas,  for  the  enemy  had  repaired  the  railroad  to 
Fairfax  Station  as  he  moved  up,  and  failed  to  destroy  it  when  he 
went  back.  Moreover,  we  had  abundant  transportation  at  that 
time  for  all  the  purposes  of  an  advance  as  far  as  Washington.  In 
my  brigade,  the  two  Virginia  regiments  had  about  fourteen  six- 
horse  wagons  each,  and  that  would  have  furnished  enough  for  the 
brigade,  if  the  Seventh  Louisiana  had  none.  In  1862  we  carried 
into  Maryland  only  enough  wagons  to  convey  ammunition,  medi- 
cal supplies,  and  cooking-utensils,  and  we  started  from  the  battle- 
field of  second  Manassas  with  no  rations  on  hand,  being,  before 
we  crossed  the  Potomac,  entirely  dependent  on  the  country,  which, 
in  July,  1861,  was  teeming  with  supplies,  but  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember, 1862,  was  nearly  depleted.  The  pretense,  therefore,  that 
the  advance  in  July,  1861,  was  prevented  by  the  want  of  trans- 
portation and  of  supplies  is  wholly  untenable." 

I  will  now  make  the  promised  extracts  from  reminiscences 
of  Colonel  (then  Captain)  Lay,  which  were  sent  to  a  friend,  and 
handed  to  me  for  my  use.  The  paper  bears  date  February  13, 
1878.  After  some  preliminary  matter,  and  stating  that  his  force 
consisted  of  three  cavalry  companies,  the  narrative  proceeds : 

"I  was  under  orders  to  be  in  the  saddle  at  6.30  a.  m.,  July  21, 
1861,  and  to  report  immediately  to  General  Beauregard  at  his  head- 
quarters.   About  7.30  a.  m.    I  accompanied  him  and  General  John- 


382      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ston  to  a  position  near  to  Mitchell's  Ford,  where  for  some  hours  we 
remained  under  an  active  fire  of  the  long-range  guns  of  the  enemy 
upon  the  opposite  hills.  When  the  unexpected  flank  movement 
of  the  enemy  was  developed,  with  the  generals  named,  we  rode 
at  rapid  speed  to  the  left,  when  General  Beauregard  immediately 
rode  to  the  front,  General  Johnston  taking  position  near  and  to 
the  left  of  the  Lewis  house.  .  .  .  About  3.15  p.  m.,  Captain  R. 
Lindsey  Walker,  with  his  battery,  took  position  to  the  left  and  in 
front  of  the  Lewis  house  and  commenced  firing.  I  was  near  him 
when  the  shot  from  his  battery  was  fired,  and  watched  its  effect 
as  it  swept  through  the  columns  of  the  enemy,  producing  perfect 
confusion  and  demoralization.  ...  I  rode  to  join  my  brother, 
Colonel  Lay,  whom  I  saw  going  toward  my  command  from  Gen- 
eral Johnston.  He  reported  to  me  that  General  Johnston  said  : 
1  Now  is  your  time  ;  push  the  pursuit.'  I  started  at  once  on  a 
trot,  was  passing  General  Johnston,  who  gave  some  orders,  and  I 
understood  him  to  say,  '  Salute  the  President  in  passing.'  ...  I 
saluted,  and  passed  on  at  a  gallop. 

"  I  halted  at  Bull  Run  to  water  my  horses — then  suffering — 
and  to  confer  a  moment  or  two  with  my  gallant  old  commander, 
General  Philip  St.  George  Cocke. 

"  I  passed  on,  .  .  .  when  to  my  astonishment  I  saw  the  Presi- 
dent near  me  in  the  orchard.  I  immediately  rode  up  to  him,  and 
said  that  he  was  much  farther  forward  than  he  should  be  ;  that 
the  forces  of  the  enemy  were  not  entirely  broken,  and  very  few  of 
our  troops  in  front  of  the  Run,  and  advised  him  to  retire  ;  that 
I  was  then  about  to  charge.  .  .  . 

"  We  made  the  charge  ;  a  small  body  of  the  enemy  broke  be- 
fore we  reached  them,  and  scattered,  and  the  larger  body  of  troops 
beyond  proved  to  be  of  our  own  troops  rapidly  advancing  upon  our 
left.  .  .  .  After  parting  from  the  President,  I  pushed  on  to  Sud- 
ley  Church,  and  far  beyond.  Sent  my  surgeon,  Dr.  Randolph 
Barksdale,  to  Captains  Tillinghast,  Ricketts,  and  other  badly 
wounded  United  States  officers,  and  was  going  on  until  a  superior 
force  should  stop  me,  but  was  recalled  by  an  order  and  returned 
over  the  field  to  my  quarters  at  Manassas  a  little  before  daylight 
— I  and  my  little  gallant  squadron — having  been  actively  in  the 
saddle,  I  think,  more  than  twenty  hours-.  .  .  . 

(Signed)  "  John  F.  Lay, 

"Late  Colonel  of  Cavalry,  C.  S.  A. 


1861]  THE  FIELD   TRANSPORTATION.  383 

"  IN".  B. — It  may  be  well  to  add  that  General  R.  Lindsey  "Walker 
(then  Captain  Walker,  of  the  battery  referred  to)  is  now  in  my 
office,  and  confirms  my  recollection.  ...  J.  F.  L." 

The  quartermaster-general  of  General  Beauregard's  com- 
mand, W.  L.  Cabell,  states  in  a  letter  written  at  Dallas,  Texas, 
on  the  16th  of  August,  1880,  in  regard  to  the  field  transporta- 
tion of  General  Beauregard's  forces  before  the  battle  of  Ma- 
nassas, that  as  nearly  as  he  could  remember  it  was  as  follows, 
viz. : 

One  four-horse  wagon  to  each  company. 

One     "         "         "      for  field  and  staff  (regimental). 

One     "         "         "       "     ammunition. 

One     "         "         "       "     hospital  purposes. 

Two    "         "  wagons  "     each  battery  of  artillery. 

Twenty-five  wagons  in  a  train  for  depot  purposes. 

One  ambulance  for  each  regiment. 

Transportation  belonging  to  General  Johnston's  army  did 
not  arrive  until  the  day  (or  probably  two  days)  after  the  battle. 

If  General  Johnston,  as  stated,  had  nine  thousand  infantry, 
the  field  transportation  reported  above  could  surely  have  been 
distributed  so  as  to  supply  this  additional  force,  and  have  ren- 
dered, as  General  Early  states,  the  pretense  wholly  untenable 
that  the  advance  in  July,  1861,  was  prevented  by  want  of  trans- 
portation. 

The  deep  anxiety  which  had  existed,  and  was  justified  by  the 
circumstances,  had  corresponding  gratification  among  all  classes 
and  in  all  sections  of  our  country.  On  the  day  after  the  victory, 
the  Congress,  then  sitting  in  Richmond,  upon  receiving  the 
dispatch  of  the  President  from  the  field  of  Manassas,  adopted 
resolutions  expressive  of  their  thanks  to  the  most  high  God,  and 
inviting  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  to  offer  up  their 
united  thanksgiving  and  praise  for  the  mighty  deliverance.  The 
resolutions  also  deplored  the  necessity  which  had  caused  the  soil 
of  our  country  to  be  stained  with  the  blood  of  its  sons,  and  to 
their  families  and  friends  offered  the  most  cordial  sympathy ; 
assuring  them  that  in  the  hearts  of  our  people  would  be  en- 
shrined "  the  names  of  the  gallant  dead  as  the  champions  of  free 
and  constitutional  liberty." 


384      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

If  universal  gratulation  at  our  success  inspired  an  overween- 
ing confidence,  it  also  begat  increased  desire  to  enter  the  military 
service ;  and,  but  for  our  want  of  arms  and  munitions,  we  could 
have  enrolled  an  army  little  short  of  the  number  of  able-bodied 
men  in  the  Confederate  States. 

I  have  given  so  much  space  to  the  battle  of  Manassas  because 
it  was  the  first  great  action  of  the  war,  exciting  intense  feeling, 
and  producing  important  moral  results  among  the  people  of  the 
Confederacy  ;  and  further,  because  it  was  made  the  basis  of  mis- 
representation, and  unjust  reflection  upon  the  chief  Executive, 
which  certainly  had  no  plausible  pretext  in  the  facts,  and  can 
not  be  referred  to  a  reasonable  desire  to  promote  the  successful 
defense  of  our  country. 

Impressed  with  the  conviction  that  time  would  naturally 
work  to  our  disadvantage,  as  training  was  more  necessary  to 
make  soldiers  of  the  Northern  people  than  of  our  own ;  and 
further,  because  of  their  larger  population,  as  well  as  their 
greater  facility  in  obtaining  recruits  from  foreign  countries,  the 
Administration  continued  assiduously  to  exert  every  faculty  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  army  by  addition  to  its  numbers, 
by  improving  its  organization,  and  by  supplying  the  needful 
munitions  and  equipments.  Inactivity  is  the  prolific  source  of 
evil  to  an  army,  especially  if  composed  of  new  levies,  who,  like 
ours,  had  hurried  from  their  homes  at  their  country's  call.  For 
these,  and  other  reasons  more  readily  appreciated,  it  was  thought 
desirable  that  all  our  available  forces  should  be  employed  as 
actively  as  might  be  practicable. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  1861,  I  wrote  to  General  J.  E.  John- 
ston, at  Manassas,  as  follows : 

"  We  are  anxiously  looking  for  the  official  reports  of  the  battle 
of  Manassas,  and  have  present  need  to  know  what  supplies  and 
wagons  were  captured.  I  wish  you  would  have  prepared  a  state- 
ment of  your  wants  in  transportation  and  supplies  of  all  kinds,  to 
put  your  army  on  a  proper  footing  for  active  operations.  .  .  . 
"  I  am,  as  ever,  your  friend, 
(Signed)  "  Jefferson  Davis." 


1861]  CORNER-STONE   OE  THE  POLITICAL  EDIFICE.  385 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

The  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798-'99. — Their  Influence  on  Political  Affairs. — Ken- 
tucky declares  for  Neutrality. — Correspondence  of  Governor  Magoffin  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States. — 
Occupation  of  Columbus,  Kentucky,  by  Major-General  Polk. — His  Correspond- 
ence with  the  Kentucky  Commissioners. — President  Lincoln's  View  of  Neutral- 
ity.— Acts  of  the  United  States  Government. — Refugees. — Their  Motives  of  Ex- 
patriation.— Address  of  ex- Vice-President  Breckinridge  to  the  People  of  the 
State. — The  Occupation  of  Columbus  secured. — The  Purpose  of  the  United 
States  Government. — Battle  of  Belmont. — Albert  Sidney  Johnston  commands 
the  Department. — State  of  Affairs. — Line  of  Defense. — Efforts  to  obtain  Arms  ; 
also  Troops. 

Kentucky,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Virginia,  had  moved  con- 
temporaneously with  her  mother  in  the  assertion  of  the  cardinal 
principles  announced  in  the  resolutions  of  1798-99.  She  then  by 
the  properly  constituted  authority  did  with  due  solemnity  declare 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  the  result  of  a 
compact  between  the  States  to  which  each  acceded  as  a  State ; 
that  it  possessed  only  delegated  powers,  of  which  it  was  not  the 
exclusive  or  final  judge ;  and  that,  as  in  all  cases  of  compact 
among  parties  having  no  common  judge,  "  each  party  has  an 
equal  right  to  judge  for  itself  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the 
mode  and  measure  of  redress."  Thus  spoke  Kentucky  in  the 
first  years  of  her  existence  as  a  sovereign.  The  great  truth  an- 
nounced in  her  series  of  resolutions  was  the  sign  under  which 
the  Democracy  conquered  in  1800,  and  which  constituted  the 
corner-stone  of  the  political  edifice  of  which  Jefferson  was  the 
architect,  and  which  stood  unshaken  for  sixty  years  from  the 
time  its  foundation  was  laid.  During  this  period,  the  growth, 
prosperity,  and  happiness  of  the  country  seemed  unmistakably 
to  confirm  the  wisdom  of  the  voluntary  union  of  free  sovereign 
States  under  a  written  compact  confining  the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government  to  the  expressly  enumerated  powers  which 
had  been  delegated  therein.  When  infractions  of  the  compact 
had  been  deliberately  and  persistently  made,  when  the  intent 
was  clearly  manifested  to  pervert  the  powers  of  the  General 
25 


386      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Government  from  the  purposes  for  which  thej  had  been  con- 
ferred, and  to  use  them  for  the  injury  of  a  portion  of  the  States, 
which  were  the  integral  parties  to  the  compact,  some  of  them 
resolved  to  judge  for  themselves  of  the  "  mode  and  measure  of 
redress,"  and  to  exercise  the  right,  enunciated  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  to  be  the  unalienable  endowment  of  every 
people,  to  alter  or  abolish  any  form  of  government,  and  to  in- 
stitute a  new  one, "  laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and 
organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most 
likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness."  By  no  rational 
mode  of  construction,  in  view  of  the  history  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  or  of  the  resolutions  of  Kentucky,  can  it  be 
claimed  that  the  word  "  people  "  had  any  other  meaning  than 
that  of  a  distinct  community,  such  as  the  people  of  each  colony 
who  by  their  delegates  in  the  Congress  declared  themselves 
to  be  henceforth  a  State  ;  and  that  none  other  than  the  people 
of  each  State  could,  by  the  resolutions  of  1798-99,  have  been 
referred  to  as  the  final  judge  of  infractions  of  their  compact, 
and  of  the  remedy  which  should  be  applied. 

Kentucky  made  no  decision  adverse  to  this  right  of  a  State, 
but  she  declared,  in  the  impending  conflict  between  the  States 
seceding  from  and  those  adhering  to  the  Federal  Government, 
that  she  woud  hold  the  position  of  neutrality.  If  the  question 
was  to  be  settled  by  a  war  of  words,  that  was  feasible ;  but,  if 
the  conflict  was  to  be  one  of  arms,  it  was  utterly  impracticable. 
To  maintain  neutrality  under  such  circumstances  would  have 
required  a  power  greater  than  that  of  both  the  contestants,  or  a 
moral  influence  commanding  such  respect  for  her  wishes  as 
could  hardly  have  been  anticipated  from  that  party  which  had, 
in  violation  of  right,  inflicted  the  wrongs  which  produced  the 
withdrawal  of  some  of  the  States,  and  had  uttered  multiplied 
threats  of  coercion  if  any  State  attempted  to  exercise  the  rights 
defined  in  the  resolutions  of  1798-'99.  If,  however,  any  such 
hope  may  have  been  entertained,  but  few  moons  had  filled  and 
waned  before  the  defiant  occupation  of  her  territory  and  the 
enrollment  of  her  citizens  as  soldiers  in  the  army  of  invasion 
must  have  dispelled  the  illusion. 

The  following  correspondence  took  place  in  August,  between 


1861]  THE  NEUTRALITY   OF  KENTUCKY.  387 

Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky,  and  President  Lincoln — also 
between  the  Governor  and  myself,  as  President  of  the  Con- 
federate States — relative  to  the  neutrality  of  the  State  : 

"  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  Executive  Department, 
"  Frankfort,  August  19, 1861. 

"  To  his  Excellency  Abraham  Lincoln",  President  of  the  United 
States. 

"  Sir  :  From  the  commencement  of  the  unhappy  hostilities 
now  pending  in  this  country,  the  people  of  Kentucky  have  indi- 
cated an  earnest  desire  and  purpose,  as  far  as  lay  in  their  power, 
while  maintaining  their  original  political  status,  to  do  nothing  by 
which  to  involve  themselves  in  the  war.  Up  to  this  time  they 
have  succeeded  in  securing  to  themselves  and  to  the  State  peace 
and  tranquillity  as  the  fruits  of  the  policy  they  adopted.  My 
single  object  now  is  to  promote  the  continuance  of  these  blessings 
to  this  State. 

"  Until  within  a  brief  period  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  quiet 
and  tranquil,  free  from  domestic  strife,  and  undisturbed  by  inter- 
nal commotion.  They  have  resisted  no  law,  rebelled  against  no 
authority,  engaged  in  no  revolution,  but  constantly  proclaimed 
their  firm  determination  to  pursue  their  peaceful  avocations,  ear- 
nestly hoping  that  their  own  soil  would  be  spared  the  presence  of 
armed  troops,  and  that  the  scene  of  conflict  would  be  kept  re- 
moved beyond  the  border  of  their  State.  By  thus  avoiding  all 
occasions  for  the  introduction  of  bodies  of  armed  soldiers,  and 
offering  no  provocation  for  the  presence  of  military  force,  the 
people  of  Kentucky  have  sincerely  striven  to  preserve  in  their 
State  domestic  peace  and  avert  the  calamities  of  sanguinary  en- 
gagements. 

"  Recently  a  large  body  of  soldiers  have  been  enlisted  in  the 
United  States  army  and  collected  in  military  camps  in  the  central 
portion  of  Kentucky.  This  movement  was  preceded  by  the  ac- 
tive organization  of  companies,  regiments,  etc.,  consisting  of  men 
sworn  into  the  United  States  service,  under  officers  holding  com- 
missions from  yourself.  Ordnance,  arms,  munitions,  and  supplies 
of  war  are  being  transported  into  the  State,  and  placed  in  large 
quantities  in  these  camps.  In  a  word,  an  army  is  now  being  or- 
ganized and  quartered  within  the  State,  supplied  with  all  the  ap- 
pliances of  war,  without  the  consent  or  advice  of  the  authorities 


388      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

of  the  State,  and  without  consultation  with  those  most  prominent- 
ly known  and  recognized  as  loyal  citizens.  This  movement  now 
imperils  that  peace  and  tranquillity  which  from  the  beginning  of 
our  pending  difficulties  have  been  the  paramount  desire  of  this 
people,  and  which,  up  to  this  time,  they  have  so  secured  to  the 
State. 

"  Within  Kentucky  there  has  been,  and  is  likely  to  be,  no  occa- 
sion for  the  presence  of  military  force.  The  people  are  quiet  and 
tranquil,  feeling  no  apprehension  of  any  occasion  arising  to  invoke 
protection  from  the  Federal  arm.  They  have  asked  that  their 
territory  be  left  free  from  military  occupation,  and  the  present 
tranquillity  of  their  communication  left  uninvaded  by  soldiers. 
They  do  not  desire  that  Kentucky  shall  be  required  to  supply  the 
battle-field  for  the  contending  armies,  or  become  the  theatre  of  the 
war. 

"  Now,  therefore,  as  Governor  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  people  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  and  with 
the  single  and  earnest  desire  to  avert  from  their  peaceful  homes 
the  horrors  of  war,  I  urge  the  removal  from  the  limits  of  Ken- 
tucky of  the  military  force  now  organized  and  in  camp  within 
the  State.  If  such  action  as  is  here  urged  be  promptly  taken,  I 
firmly  believe  the  peace  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  will  be  pre- 
served, and  the  horrors  of  a  bloody  war  will  be  averted  from  a 
people  now  peaceful  and  tranquil. 

"  I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"B.  Magoffin." 

"  Washington,  August  2 fa  1861. 
"To  his  Excellency  B.  Magoffin,    Governor   of  the   State   of 
Kentucky. 

"Sir  :  Your  letter  of  the  19th  instant,  in  which  you  'urge  the 
removal  from  the  limits  of  Kentucky  of  the  military  force  now 
organized  and  in  camp  within  that  State,'  is  received. 

"  I  may  not  possess  full  and  precisely  accurate  knowledge  upon 
this  subject ;  but  I  believe  it  is  true  that  there  is  a  military  force 
in  camp  within  Kentucky,  acting  by  authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  force  is  not  very  large,  and  is  not  now  being  aug- 
mented. 

"  I  also  believe  that  some  arms  have  been  furnished  to  this 
force  by  the  United  States. 


1861]  THE  POLICY  TO  PROTECT  OUR  OWN  SOIL.  389 

"  I  also  believe  this  force  consists  exclusively  of  Kentuckians, 
having  their  camp  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  their  own  homes, 
and  not  assailing  or  menacing  any  of  the  good  people  of  Kentucky. 

"  In  all  I  have  done  in  the  premises,  I  have  acted  upon  the 
urgent  solicitation  of  many  Kentuckians,  and  in  accordance  with 
what  I  believed,  and  still  believe,  to  be  the  wish  of  a  majority  of 
all  the  Union-loving  people  of  Kentucky. 

"  While  I  have  conversed  on  this  subject  with  many  of  the 
eminent  men  of  Kentucky,  including  a  large  majority  of  her  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  I  do  not  remember  that  any  one  of  them,  or  any 
other  person  except  your  Excellency  and  the  bearers  of  your  Excel- 
lency's letter,  has  urged  me  to  remove  the  military  force  from 
Kentucky,  or  to  disband  it.  One  very  worthy  citizen  of  Kentucky 
did  solicit  me  to  have  the  augmenting  of  the  force  suspended  for 
a  time. 

"  Taking  all  the  means  within  my  reach  to  form  a  judgment, 
I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  popular  wish  of  Kentucky  that  this  force 
shall  be  removed  beyond  her  limits  ;  and,  with  this  impression,  I 
must  respectfully  decline  to  so  remove  it. 

"  I  most  cordially  sympathize  with  your  Excellency  in  the  wish 
to  preserve  the  peace  of  my  own  native  State,  Kentucky.  It  is 
with  regret  I  search  for,  and  can  not  find,  in  your  not  very  short 
letter,  any  declaration  or  intimation  that  you  entertain  any  desire 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Federal  Union. 

"Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln." 

"Commonwealth  op  Kentucky,  Executive  Department, 
"  Frankfort,  August  &£,  1861. 

"  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  Richmond^  Virginia. 

"  Sir  :  Since  the  commencement  of  the  unhappy  difficulties 
pending  in  the  country,  the  people  of  Kentucky  have  indicated  a 
steadfast  desire  and  purpose  to  maintain  a  position  of  strict  neu- 
trality between  the  belligerent  parties.  They  have  earnestly 
striven  by  their  policy  to  avert  from  themselves  the  calamity  of 
war,  and  protect  their  own  soil  from  the  presence  of  contending 
armies.  Up  to  this  period  they  have  enjoyed  comparative  tran- 
quillity and  entire  domestic  peace. 

"  Recently  a  military  force  has  been  enlisted  and  quartered  by 
the  United  States  authorities  within  this  State.  I  have  on  this 
day  addressed  a  communication  and  dispatched  commissioners  to 


390      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  President  of  the  United  States,  urging  the  removal  of  these 
troops  from  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  and  thus  exerting  myself  to 
carry  out  the  will  of  the  people  in  the  maintenance  of  a  neutral 
position.  The  people  of  this  State  desire  to  be  free  from  the 
presence  of  the  soldiers  of  either  belligerent,  and  to  that  end  my 
efforts  are  now  directed. 

"  Although  I  have  no  reason  to  presume  that  the  Government 
of  the  Confederate  States  contemplate  or  have  ever  proposed  any 
violation  of  the  neutral  attitude  thus  assumed  by  Kentucky,  there 
seems  to  be  some  uneasiness  felt  among  the  people  of  some  portion 
of  the  State,  occasioned  by  the  collection  of  bodies  of  troops  along 
their  southern  frontier.  In  order  to  quiet  this  apprehension,  and 
to  secure  to  the  people  their  cherished  object  of  peace,  this  com- 
munication is  to  present  these  facts  and  elicit  an  authoritative 
assurance  that  the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  will 
continue  to  respect  and  observe  the  position  indicated  as  assumed 
by  Kentucky. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"B.  Magoffin." 

"  Richmond,  August  28,  1861. 
"  To  Hon.  B.  Magoffin,  Governor  of  Kentucky r,  etc. 

"  Sir  :  I  have  received  your  letter  informing  me  that  '  since 
the  commencement  of  the  unhappy  difficulties  pending  in  the  coun- 
try, the  people  of  Kentucky  have  indicated  a  steadfast  desire  to 
maintain  a  position  of  strict  neutrality  between  the  belligerent 
parties.'  In  the  same  communication  you  express  your  desire  to 
elicit '  an  authoritative  assurance  that  the  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States  will  continue  to  respect  and  observe  the  neutral 
position  of  Kentucky.' 

"In  reply  to  this  request,  I  lose  no  time  in  assuring  you  that 
the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  neither  desires  nor  in- 
tends to  disturb  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky.  The  assemblage  of 
troops  in  Tennessee,  to  which  you  refer,  had  no  other  object  than 
to  repel  the  lawless  invasion  of  that  State  by  the  forces  of  the 
United  States,  should  their  Government  seek  to  approach  it 
through  Kentucky,  without  respect  for  its  position  of  neutrality. 
That  such  apprehensions  were  not  groundless  has  been  proved  by 
the  course  of  that  Government  in  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Mis- 
souri, and  more  recently  in  Kentucky-  itself,  in  which,  as  you  in- 


1861]  FOR  PURPOSES  OF  SELF-DEFENSE.  391 

form  me,  *  a  military  force  lias  been  enlisted  and  quartered  by  the 
United  States  authorities. ' 

"  The  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  has  not  only  re- 
spected most  scrupulously  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky,  but  has 
continued  to  maintain  the  friendly  relations  of  trade  and  inter- 
course which  it  has  suspended  with  the  United  States  generally. 

"  In  view  of  the  history  of  the  past,  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary 
to  assure  your  Excellency  that  the  Government  of  the  Confederate 
States  will  continue  to  respect  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky  so  long 
as  her  people  will  maintain  it  themselves. 

"But  neutrality,  to  be  entitled  to  respect,  must  be  strictly 
maintained  between  both  parties  ;  or,  if  the  door  be  opened  on 
the  one  side  for  the  aggressions  of  one  of  the  belligerent  parties 
upon  the  other,  it  ought  not  to  be  shut  to  the  assailed  when  they 
seek  to  enter  it  for  purposes  of  self-defense. 

"I  do  not,  however,  for  a  moment  believe  that  your  gallant 
State  will  suffer  its  soil  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  giving  an 
advantage  to  those  who  violate  its  neutrality  and  disregard  its 
rights,  over  others  who  respect  both. 

"  In  conclusion,  I  tender  to  your  Excellency  the  assurance  of 
my  high  consideration  and  regard,  and  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

"  Yours,  etc.,  Jefeeeson  Davis." 

Movements  by  the  Federal  forces  in  southwestern  Kentucky 
revealed  such  designs  as  made  it  absolutely  necessary  that  Gen- 
eral Polk,  commanding  the  Confederate  forces  in  that  section, 
should  immediately  occupy  the  town  of  Columbus,  Kentucky ; 
a  position  of  much  strategic  importance  on  the  shore  of  the 
Mississippi  River. 

That  position  was  doubly  important,  because  it  commanded 
the  opposite  shore  in  Missouri,  and  was  the  gateway  on  the 
border  of  Tennessee. 

Two  States  of  the  Confederacy  were  therefore  threatened 
by  the  anticipated  movement  of  the  enemy  to  get  possession 
of  Columbus. 

Major-General  Polk,  therefore,  crossed  the  State  line,  took 
possession  of  Hickman  on  September  3d,  and  on  the  4th  secured 
Columbus.  General  Grant,  wTho  took  command  at  Cairo  on 
September  2d,  being  thus  anticipated,  seized  Paducah,  at  the 


392      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

mouth  of  the  Tennessee  River,  and  occupied  it  in  force  on  the 
5th  and  6th. 

After  the  occupation,  under  date  of  September  4th,  I  received 
the  following  dispatch  from  Major-General  Polk :  "  The  enemy 
having  descended  the  Mississippi  River  some  three  or  four  days 
since,  and  seated  himself  with  cannon  and  intrenched  lines  op- 
posite the  town  of  Columbus,  Kentucky,  making  such  demon- 
strations as  left  no  doubt  upon  the  minds  of  any  of  their  inten- 
tion to  seize  and  forcibly  possess  said  town,  I  thought  proper, 
under  the  plenary  power  delegated  to  me,  to  direct  a  sufficient 
portion  of  my  command  both  by  the  river  way  and  land  to  con- 
centrate at  Columbus,  as  well  to  offer  to  its  citizens  that  protec- 
tion they  unite  to  a  man  in  accepting,  as  also  to  prevent,  in  time, 
the  occupation  by  the  enemy  of  a  point  so  necessary  to  the  se- 
curity of  western  Tennessee.  The  demonstration  on  my  part 
has  had  the  desired  effect.  The  enemy  has  withdrawn  his 
forces  even  before  I  had  fortified  my  position.  It  is  my  in- 
tention to  continue  to  occupy  and  hold  this  place."  On  the 
same  day  I  sent  the  following  reply  to  Major-General  Polk : 
"  Your  telegram  received ;  the  necessity  must  justify  the  ac- 
tion." 

The  Legislature  of  Kentucky  passed  resolutions  and  appoint- 
ed a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  action  of  General  Polk,  from 
which  the  annexed  correspondence  resulted  : 

CORRESPONDENCE   BETWEEN   MAJOR-GENERAL   POLK   AND   THE    AU- 
THORITIES   OP   KENTUCKY. 

Resolutions  of  the  Kentucky  Senate  relative  to  the  Violation  of  the  Neu- 
trality of  Kentucky. 

"  Resolved  by  the  Senate,  That  the  special  committee  of  the 
Senate,  raised  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  reported  occupa- 
tion of  Hickman  and  other  points  in  Kentucky  by  Confederate 
troops,  take  into  consideration  the  occupation  of  Paducah  and 
other  places  in  Kentucky  by  the  Federal  authorities,  and  report 
thereon  when  the  true  state  of  the  case  shall  have  been  ascer- 
tained. That  the  Speaker  appoint  three  members  of  the  Senate 
to  visit  southern  Kentucky,  who  are  directed  to  obtain  all  the 
facts  they  can  in  reference  to  the  recent  occupation  of  Kentucky 


1861]  KENTUCKY  DEMANDS  WITHDRAWAL.  393 

soil  by  Confederate  and  Federal  forces,  and  report  in  writing  at 
as  early  a  day  as  practicable. 

"  In  Senate  of  Kentucky,  Saturday,  September  7,  a.  d.  1861. 

"  Twice  read  and  adopted. 

"  Attest :  (Signed)  J.  H.  Johnson,  S.  S. 

"  In  accordance  with  the  foregoing  resolution,  the  Speaker  ap- 
pointed as  said  committee  Messrs.  John  M.  Johnson,  William  B. 
Read,  and  Thornton  F.  Marshall. 

"Attest :  (Signed)  J.  H.  Johnson,  S.  S." 

Letter  of  Ron.  J.  if.  Johnson,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Kentucky 

Senate,  to  General  Polk. 

"  Columbus,  Kentucky,  September  9,  1861. 
il  To  Major-General  Polk,  commanding  forces,  etc. 

"  Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  herewith  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate  of  Kentucky,  adopted  by  that  body  upon  the  reception  of 
the  intelligence  of  the  military  occupation  of  Hickman,  Chalk 
Bank,  and  Columbus,  by  the  Confederate  troops  under  your 
command.  I  need  not  say  that  the  people  of  Kentucky  are  pro- 
foundly astonished  that  such  an  act  should  have  been  commit- 
ted by  the  Confederates,  and  especially  that  they  should  have 
been  the  first  to  do  so  with  an  equipped  and  regularly  organized 
army. 

"  The  people  of  Kentucky,  having  with  great  unanimity  deter- 
mined upon  a  position  of  neutrality  in  the  unhappy  war  now  be- 
ing waged,  and  which  they  had  tried  in  vain  to  prevent,  had  hoped 
that  one  place  at  least  in  this  great  nation  might  remain  uninvaded 
by  passion,  and  through  whose  good  office  something  might  be 
done  to  end  the  war,  or  at  least  to  mitigate  its  horrors,  or,  if  this 
were  not  possible,  that  she  might  be  left  to  choose  her  destiny 
without  disturbance  from  any  quarter. 

"  In  obedience  to  the  thrice-repeated  will  of  the  people,  as  ex- 
pressed at  the  polls,  and  in  their  name,  I  ask  you  to  withdraw  your 
forces  from  the  soil  of  Kentucky. 

"  I  will  say,  in  conclusion,  that  all  the  people  of  the  State  await, 
in  deep  suspense,  your  action  in  the  premises. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient  servant,  etc., 
(Signed)  "  John  M.  Johnson, 

"  Chairman  of  Committee? 


394:      RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Letter  from  General  Folic  to  the  Kentucky  Commissioners. 

"  Columbus,  Kentucky,  September  9,  1861. 
"  To  J.  M.  Johnson,  Chairman  of  Committee,  Senate  of  Kentucky. 

"  Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  of  this  date,  conveying  to  me  a  copy  of  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate  of  Kentucky,  under  which  a  committee  (of  whieh  you  are 
chairman)  was  raised  *  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  reported 
occupation  of  Hickman  and  other  points  in  Kentucky  by  the  Con- 
federate troops,  and  that  they  take  into  consideration  the  reported 
occupation  of  Paducah  and  other  points  in  Kentucky  by  the  Fed- 
eral authorities,  and  report  thereon '  ;  also,  that  they  be  '  directed 
to  obtain  all  the  facts  they  can  in  reference  to  the  recent  occupa- 
tion of  Kentucky  soil  by  the  Confederate  and  Federal  forces,  and 
report,  in  writing,  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable.' 

"  From  the  terms  of  the  resolution,  it  appears  your  office,  as 
committee-men,  was  restricted  merely  to  collecting  the  facts  in 
reference  to  the  recent  occupation  of  Kentucky  soil  by  the  Con- 
federate and  Federal  forces,  and  to  report  thereon  in  writing,  at  as 
early  a  day  as  possible.  In  answer  to  these  resolutions,  I  have 
respectfully  to  say  that,  so  far  as  the  Confederate  forces  are  con- 
cerned, the  facts  are  plain,  and  shortly  stated.  The  Government 
which  they  represent,  recognizing  as  a  fundamental  principle  the 
right  of  sovereign  States  to  take  such  a  position  as  they  choose  in 
regard  to  their  relations  with  other  States,  was  compelled  by  that 
principle  to  concede  to  Kentucky  the  right  to  assume  the  position 
of  neutrality,  which  she  has  chosen  in  the  passing  struggle.  This 
it  has  done  on  all  occasions,  and  without  an  exception.  The  cases 
alluded  to  by  his  Excellency,  Governor  Magoffin,  in  his  recent 
message,  as  '  raids,'  I  presume,  are  the  cases  of  the  steamers  Che- 
ney and  Orr.  The  former  was  the  unauthorized  and  unrecognized 
act  of  certain  citizens  of  Alabama,  and  the  latter  the  act  of  citi- 
zens of  Tennessee  and  others,  and  was  an  act  of  reprisal.  They 
can  not,  therefore,  be  charged,  in  any  sense,  as  acts  of  the  Con- 
federate Government. 

"  The  first  and  only  instance  in  which  the  neutrality  of  Ken- 
tucky has  been  disregarded  is  that  in  which  the  troops  under  my 
command,  and  by  my  direction,  took  possession  of  the  place  I  now 
hold,  and  so  much  of  the  territory  between  it  and  the  Tennessee 
line  as  was  necessary  for  me  to  pass  over  in  order  to  reach  it. 
This  act  finds  abundant  justification  in  the  history  of  the  conces- 


1861]  SIMILAR  ACTS.  395 

sions  granted  to  the  Federal  Government  by  Kentucky  ever  since 
the  war  began,  notwithstanding  the  position  of  neutrality  which 
she  had  assumed,  and  the  firmness  with  which  she  proclaimed  her 
intention  to  maintain  it.  That  history  shows  the  following  among 
other  facts  :  In  January,  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Ken- 
tucky passed  anti-coercion  resolutions — only  four  dissenting.  The 
Governor,  in  May,  issued  his  neutrality  proclamation.  The  ad- 
dress of  the  Union  Central  Committee,  including  Mr.  James  Speed, 
Mr.  Prentice,  and  other  prominent  Union  men,  in  April,  proclaimed 
neutrality  as  the  policy  of  Kentucky,  and  claimed  that  an  attempt 
to  coerce  the  South  should  induce  Kentucky  to  make  common 
cause  with  her,  and  take  part  in  the  contest  on  her  side,  '  without 
counting  the  cost.'  The  Union  speakers  and  papers,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, claimed,  up  to  the  last  election,  that  the  Union  vote  was 
strict  neutrality  and  peace.  These  facts  and  events  gave  assur- 
ance of  the  integrity  of  the  avowed  purpose  of  your  State,  and  we 
were  content  with  the  position  she  assumed. 

"  Since  the  election,  however,  she  has  allowed  the  seizure  in 
her  port  (Paducah)  of  property  of  citizens  of  the  Confederate 
States  ;  she  has,  by  her  members  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  voted  supplies  of  men  and  money  to  carry  on  the  war  against 
the  Confederate  States  ;  she  has  allowed  the  Federal  Government 
to  cut  timber  from  her  forests  for  the  purpose  of  building  armed 
boats  for  the  invasion  of  the  Southern  States  ;  she  is  permitting 
to  be  enlisted  in  her  territory,  troops,  not  only  of  her  own  citizens, 
but  of  the  citizens  of  other  States,  for  the  purpose  of  being  armed 
and  used  in  offensive  warfare  against  the  Confederate  States. 
At  Camp  Robinson,  in  the  county  of  Garrard,  there  are  now  ten 
thousand  troops,  if  the  newspapers  can  be  relied  upon,  in  which 
men  from  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  are  mustered  with 
Kentuckians  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  armed  by 
that  Government  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  giving  aid  to  the  dis- 
affected in  one  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  of  carrying  out  the 
designs  of  that  Government  for  their  subjugation.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  these  and  other  acts  of  a  similar  character,  the  Confederate 
States  have  continued  to  respect  the  attitude  which  Kentucky  had 
assumed  as  a  neutral,  and  forborne  from  reprisals,  in  the  hope 
that  Kentucky  would  yet  enforce  respect  for  her  position  on  the 
part  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

"  Our  patient  expectation  has  been  disappointed,  and  it  was  only 


396      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

when  we  perceived  that  this  continued  indifference  to  our  rights 
and  our  safety  was  about  to  culminate  in  the  seizure  of  an  impor- 
tant part  of  her  territory  by  the  United  States  forces  for  offensive 
operations  against  the  Confederate  States,  that  a  regard  for  self- 
preservation  demanded  of  us  to  seize  it  in  advance.  We  are  here, 
therefore,  not  by  choice,  but  of  necessity,  and  as  I  have  had  the 
honor  to  say,  in  a  communication  addressed  to  his  Excellency  Gov- 
ernor Magoffin,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  inclosed  and  sub- 
mitted as  a  part  of  my  reply,  so  I  now  repeat  in  answer  to  your 
request,  that  I  am  prepared  to  agree  to  withdraw  the  Confederate 
troops  from  Kentucky,  provided  she  will  agree  that  the  troops  of 
the  Federal  Government  be  withdrawn  simultaneously,  with  a 
guarantee  (which  I  will  give  reciprocally  for  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment) that  the  Federal  troops  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  nor 
occupy  any  part  of  Kentucky  for  the  future. 

"  In  view  of  the  facts  thus  submitted,  I  can  not  but  think  the 
world  at  large  will  find  it  difficult  to  appreciate  the  '  profound 
astonishment '  with  which  you  say  the  people  of  Kentucky  re- 
ceived the  intelligence  of  the  occupation  of  this  place. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant,  etc., 

"Leonidas  Polk, 
"  Major-  General  commanding" 

Letter  from  General  Polk  to  Governor  Magoffin. 

"  Columbus,  Kentucky,  September  S,  186L 
"  Governor  Magoffin,  Frankfort,  Kentucky. 

"  I  should  have  dispatched  to  you  immediately,  as  the  troops 
under  my  command  took  possession  of  this  position,  the  very  few 
words  I  addressed  to  the  people  here  ;  but  my  duties  since  that 
time  have  so  preoccupied  me,  that  I  have  but  now  the  first  leisure 
moment  to  communicate  with  you.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  me  to 
inform  you  (as  my  short  address  herewith  will  do)  that  I  had  in- 
formation, on  which  I  could  rely,  that  the  Federal  forces  intended, 
and  were  preparing  to  seize  Columbus.  I  need  not  describe  to  you 
the  danger  resulting  to  western  Tennessee  from  such  occupation. 

"  My  responsibility  could  not  permit  me  quietly  to  lose  to  the 
command  intrusted  to  me  so  important  a  position.  In  evidence 
of  the  accuracy  of  the  information  I  possessed,  I  will  state  that,  as 
the  Confederate  forces  approached  this  place,  the  Federal  troops 


1861]  TAKE  ADVANTAGE   OF  ITS  OWN  WRONG.  397 

were  found  in  formidable  numbers  in  position  upon  the  opposite 
bank,  with  their  cannon  turned  upon  Columbus.  The  citizens  of 
the  town  had  fled  with  terror,  and  not  a  word  of  assurance  of  safety 
or  protection  had  been  addressed  to  them.  Since  I  have  taken 
possession  of  this  place,  I  have  been  informed  by  highly  respected 
citizens  of  your  State  that  certain  representatives  of  the  Federal 
Government  are  seeking  to  take  advantage  of  its  own  wrong,  are 
setting  up  complaints  against  my  acts  of  occupation,  and  are  mak- 
ing it  a  pretext  for  seizing  other  points.  Upon  this  proceeding  I 
have  no  comments  to  make.  But  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  I  will 
agree  to  withdraw  the  Confederate  troops  from  Kentucky,  pro- 
vided that  she  will  agree  that  the  troops  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment be  withdrawn  simultaneously,  with  a  guarantee  (which  I  will 
give  reciprocally  for  the  Confederate  Government)  that  the  Fed- 
eral troops  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  or  occupy  any  part  of  Ken- 
tucky in  the  future. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  "  Leonidas  Polk, 

"  3fajor-  General  commanding? 

However  willing  the  government  of  Kentucky  might  have 
been  to  accede  to  the  proposition  of  General  Polk,  and  which 
from  his  knowledge  of  the  views  of  his  own  Government  he 
was  fully  justified  in  offering,  the  State  of  Kentucky  had  no 
power,  moral  or  physical,  to  prevent  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment from  using  her  soil  as  best  might  suit  its  purposes  in  the 
war  it  was  waging  for  the  subjugation  of  the  seceded  States. 
President  Lincoln,  in  his  message  of  the  previous  July,  had  dis- 
tinctly and  reproachfully  spoken  of  the  idea  of  neutrality  as  ex- 
isting in  some  of  the  border  States.  He  said :  "  To  prevent  the 
Union  forces  passing  one  way,  or  the  disunion  the  other,  over 
their  soil,  would  be  disunion  completed.  ...  At  a  stroke  it 
would  take  all  the  trouble  off  the  hands  of  secession,  except 
only  what  proceeds  from  the  external  blockade." 

The  acts  of  the  Federal  Government  corresponded  with  the 
views  announced  by  its  President.  Briefly,  but  conclusively, 
General  Polk  showed  in  his  answer  that  the  United  States 
Government  paid  no  respect  to  the  neutral  position  which  Ken- 
tucky wished  to  maintain  ;  that  it  was  armed,  but  not  neutral, 


398      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

for  the  arms  and  the  troops  assembled  on  her  soil  were  for 
the  invasion  of  the  South ;  and  that  he  occupied  Columbus  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  taking  possession  of  it.  When  our 
troops  first  entered  Columbus  they  found  the  inhabitants  had 
been  in  alarm  from  demonstrations  of  the  United  States  forces, 
but  that  they  felt  no  dread  of  the  Confederate  troops.  As  far  as 
the  truth  could  be  ascertained,  a  decided  majority  of  the  people 
of  Kentucky,  especially  its  southwestern  portion,  if  left  to  a  free 
choice,  would  have  joined  the  Confederacy  in  preference  to  re- 
maining in  the  Union.  Could  they  have  foreseen  what  in  a 
short  time  was  revealed,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  mule 
contracts,  and  other  forms  of  bribery,  would  have  proved  un- 
availing to  make  her  the  passive  observer  of  usurpations  de- 
structive of  the  personal  and  political  rights  of  which  she  had 
always  been  a  most  earnest  advocate.  "With  the  slow  and  sinu- 
ous approach  of  the  serpent,  the  General  Government,  little  by 
little,  gained  power  over  Kentucky,  and  then,  throwing  off  the 
mask,  proceeded  to  outrages  so  regardless  of  law  and  the  usages 
of  English-speaking  people,  as  could  not  have  been  anticipated, 
and  can  only  be  remembered  with  shame  by  those  who  honor 
the  constitutional  Government  created  by  the  States.  While 
artfully  urging  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  as  a  duty  of 
patriotism,  the  Constitution  which  gave  the  Union  birth  was 
trampled  under  foot,  and  the  excesses  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror 
which  followed  the  French  Revolution  were  reenacted  in  our 
land,  once  the  vaunted  home  of  law  and  liberty.  Men  who 
had  been  most  honored  by  the  State,  and  who  had  reflected 
back  most  honor  upon  it,  were  seized  without  warrant,  con- 
demned without  trial,  because  they  had  exercised  the  privilege 
of  free  speech,  and  for  adhering  to  the  principles  which  were 
the  bed-rock  on  which  our  fathers  builded  our  political  temple. 
Members  of  the  Legislature  vacated  their  seats  and  left  the  State 
to  avoid  arrest,  the  penalty  hanging  over  them  for  opinion's 
sake.  The  venerable  Judge  Monroe,  who  had  presided  over  the 
United  States  District  Court  for  more  than  a  generation,  driven 
from  the  land  of  his  birth,  the  State  he  had  served  so  long  and  so 
well,  with  feeble  step,  but  upright  conscience  and  indomitable 
will,  sought  a  resting-place  among  those  who  did  not  regard  it  a 


1861]  THE  WRECK  OF  CONSTITUTIONAL  LIBERTY.  399 

crime  to  adhere  to  the  principles  of  1776  and  of  1787,  and  the 
declaratory  affirmation  of  them  in  the  resolutions  of  1798-'99. 
About  the  same  time  others  of  great  worth  and  distinction,  im- 
pelled by  the  feeling  that  "  where  liberty  is  there  is  my 
country,"  left  the  land  desecrated  by  despotic  usurpation,  to 
join  the  Confederacy  in  its  struggle  to  maintain  the  personal 
and  political  liberties  which  the  men  of  the  Revolution  had  left 
as  an  inheritance  to  their  posterity.  Space  would  not  suffice 
for  a  complete  list  of  the  refugees  who  became  conspicuous  in 
the  military  events  of  the  Confederacy ;  let  a  few  answer  for 
the  many  :  J.  C.  Breckinridge,  the  late  Yice-President  of  the 
United  States,  and  whose  general  and  well-deserved  popularity 
might  have  reasonably  led  him  to  expect  in  the  Union  the 
highest  honors  the  States  could  bestow  ;  William  Preston, 
George  W.  Johnston,  S.  B.  Buckner,  John  H.  Morgan,  and  a 
host  of  others,  alike  meritorious  and  alike  gratefully  remem- 
bered. When  the  passions  of  the  hour  shall  have  subsided,  and 
the  past  shall  be  reviewed  with  discrimination  and  justice,  the 
question  must  arise  in  every  reflecting  mind,  Why  did  such  men 
as  these  expatriate  themselves,  and  surrender  all  the  advantages 
which  they  had  won  by  a  life  of  honorable  effort  in  the  .land  of 
their  nativity  ?  To  such  inquiry  the  answer  must  be,  the  usur- 
pations of  the  General  Government  foretold  to  them  the  wreck 
of  constitutional  liberty.  The  motives  which  governed  them , 
may  best  be  learned  from  the  annexed  extracts  from  the  state- 
ment made  in  the  address  of  Mr.  Breckinridge  to  the  people 
of  Kentucky,  whom  he  had  represented  in  both  Houses  of  the 
United  States  Congress,  with  such  distinguished  .ability  and  zeal 
for  the  general  welfare  as  to  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
the  statesmen  of  his  day : 

"  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  October  <?, 1861. 
"  In  obedience,  as  I  supposed,  to  your  wishes,  I  proceeded  to 
Washington,  and  at  the  special  session  of  Congress,  in  July,  spoke 
and  voted  against  the  whole  war  policy  of  the  President  and  Con- 
gress ;  demanding,  in  addition,  for  Kentucky,  the  right  to  refuse, 
not  men  only,  but  money  also,  to  the  war,  for  I  would  have 
blushed  to  meet  you  with  the  confession  that  I  had  purchased  for 
you  exemption  from  the  perils  of  the  battle-field,  and  the  shame  of 


400      ftlSE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

waging  war  against  your  Southern  brethren,  by  hiring  others  to  do 
the  work  you  shrunk  from  performing.  During  that  memorable 
session  a  very  small  body  of  Senators  and  Representatives,  even 
beneath  the  shadow  of  a  military  despotism,  resisted  the  usurpa- 
tions of  the  Executive,  and,  with  what  degree  of  dignity  and 
firmness,  they  willingly  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  world. 

"  Their  efforts  were  unavailing,  yet  they  may  prove  valuable 
hereafter,  as  another  added  to  former  examples  of  manly  protest 
against  the  progress  of  tyranny. 

"  On  my  return  to  Kentucky,  at  the  close  of  the  late  special 
session  of  Congress,  it  was  my  purpose  immediately  to  resign  the 
office  of  Senator.  The  verbal  and  written  remonstrances  of  many 
friends  in  different  parts  of  the  State  induced  me  to  postpone  the 
execution  of  my  purpose  ;  but  the  time  has  arrived  to  carry  it 
into  effect,  and  accordingly  I  now  hereby  return  the  trust  into 
your  hands.  ...  In  the  House  of  Representatives  it  was  declared 
that  the  South  should  be  reduced  to  *  abject  submission,'  or  their 
institutions  be  overthrown.  In  the  Senate  it  was  said  that,  if 
necessary,  the  South  should  be  depopulated  and  repeopled  from 
the  North  ;  and  an  eminent  Senator  expressed  a  desire  that  the 
President  should  be  made  dictator.  This  was  superfluous,  since 
they  had  already  clothed  him  with  dictatorial  powers.  In  the 
midst  of  these  proceedings,  no  plea  for  the  Constitution  is  listened 
to  in  the  North  ;  here  and  there  a  few  heroic  voices  are  feebly 
heard  protesting  against  the  progress  of  despotism,  but,  for  the 
most  part,  beyond  the  military  lines,  mobs  and  anarchy  rule  the 
hour. 

"  The  great  mass  of  the  Northern  people  seem  anxious  to  sun- 
der every  safeguard  of  freedom ;  they  eagerly  offer  to  the  Gov- 
ernment what  no  European  monarch  would  dare  to  demand.  The 
President  and  his  generals  are  unable  to  pick  up  the  liberties  of 
the  people  as  rapidly  as  they  are  thrown  at  their  feet.  ...  In 
every  form  by  which  you  could  give  direct  expression  to  your 
will,  you  declared  for  neutrality.  A  large  majority  of  the  people 
at  the  May  and  August  elections  voted  for  the  neutrality  and 
peace  of  Kentucky.  The  press,  the  public  speakers,  the  candi- 
dates— with  exceptions  in  favor  of  the  Government  at  Washing- 
ton so  rare  as  not  to  need  mention — planted  themselves  on  this 
position.  You  voted  for  it,  and  you  meant  it.  You  were  prom- 
ised it,  and  you  expected  it.  .  .  .  Look  now  at  the  condition  of 


1861]  IMPRISONMENT   WITHOUT   INDICTMENT.  401 

Kentucky,  and  see  how  your  expectations  have  been  realized — 
how  these  promises  have  been  redeemed.  .  .  .  General  Anderson, 
the  military  dictator  of  Kentucky,  announces  in  one  of  his  procla- 
mations that  he  will  arrest  no  one  who  does  not  act,  write,  or 
speak  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  Government.  It  would  have 
completed  the  idea  if  he  had  added,  or  think  in  opposition  to  it. 
Look  at  the  condition  of  our  State  under  the  rule  of  our  new  pro- 
tectors. They  have  suppressed  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the 
press.  They  seize  people  by  military  force  upon  mere  suspicion, 
and  impose  on  them  oaths  unknown  to  the  laws.  Other  citizens 
they  imprison  without  warrant,  and  carry  them  out  of  the  State, 
so  that  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  can  not  reach  them. 

"  Every  day  foreign  armed  bands  are  making  seizures  among 
the  people.  Hundreds  of  citizens,  old  and  young,  venerable 
magistrates,  whose  lives  have  been  distinguished  by  the  love  of 
the  people,  have  been  compelled  to  fly  from  their  homes  and  fam- 
ilies to  escape  imprisonment  and  exile  at  the  hands  of  Northern 
and  German  soldiers,  under  the  orders  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
military  subordinates.  While  yet  holding  an  important  political 
trust,  confided  by  Kentucky,  I  was  compelled  to  leave  my  home 
and  family,  or  suffer  imprisonment  and  exile.  If  it  is  asked  why 
I  did  not  meet  the  arrest  and  seek  a  trial,  my  answer  is,. that  I 
would  have  welcomed  an  arrest  to  be  followed  by  a  judge  and 
jury  ;  but  you  well  know  that  I  could  not  have  secured  these  con- 
stitutional rights.  I  would  have  been  transported  beyond  the 
State,  to  languish  in  some  Federal  fortress  during  the  pleasure  of 
the  oppressor.  Witness  the  fate  of  Morehead  and  his  Kentucky 
associates  in  their  distant  and  gloomy  prison. 

"  The  case  of  the  gentleman  just  mentioned  is  an  example  of 
many  others,  and  it  meets  every  element  in  a  definition  of  despot- 
ism. If  it  should  occur  in  England  it  would  be  righted,  or  it 
would  overturn  the  British  Empire.  He  is  a  citizen  and  native 
of  Kentucky.  As  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  Speaker  of  the 
House,  Representative  in  Congress  from  the  Ashland  district,  and 
Governor  of  the  State,  you  have  known,  trusted,  and  honored  him 
during  a  public  service  of  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  is  eminent 
for  his  ability,  his  amiable  character,  and  his  blameless  life.  Yet 
this  man,  without  indictment,  without  warrant,  without  accusation, 
but  by  the  order  of  President  Lincoln,  was  seized  at  midnight,  in 
his  own  house,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  own  family,  and  led  through 
26 


402      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  streets  of  Louisville,  as  I  am  informed,  with  his  hands  crossed 
and  pinioned  before  him — was  carried  out  of  the  State  and  dis- 
trict, and  now  lies  a  prisoner  in  a  fortress  in  New  York  Harbor,  a 
thousand  miles  away.  .  .  . 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  these  invaders 
unconstitutionally  swear  every  citizen  whom  they  unconstitution- 
ally seize  to  support,  has  been  wholly  abolished.  It  is  as  much 
forgotten  as  if  it  lay  away  back  in  the  twilight  of  history.  The 
facts  I  have  enumerated  show  that  the  very  rights  most  carefully 
reserved  by  it  to  the  States  and  to  individuals  have  been  most 
conspicuously  violated.  .  .  .     Your  fellow-citizen, 

(Signed)  "John  C.  Breckinridge." 

Sucb  was  the  "  neutrality  "  suffered  by  the  Confederacy  from 
governments  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  chivalric  people  of  Kentucky  showed  their  sympathy 
with  the  just  cause  of  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  by 
leaving  the  home  where  they  could  not  serve  the  cause  of  right 
against  might,  and  nobly  shared  the  fortunes  of  their  Southern 
brethren  on  many  a  blood-dyed  field.  In  like  manner  did  the 
British  people  see  with  disapprobation  their  Government,  while 
proclaiming  neutrality,  make  new  rules,  and  give  new  construc- 
tions to  old  ones,  so  as  to  favor  our  enemy  and  embarrass  us. 
The  Englishman's  sense  of  fair-play,  and  the  manly  instinct 
which  predisposes  him  to  side  with  the  weak,  gave  us  hosts  of 
friends,  but  all  their  good  intentions  were  paralyzed  or  foiled  by 
their  wily  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  his  coadjutor  on 
this  side,  the  artful,  unscrupulous  United  States  Secretary  of 
State. 

I  have  thus  presented  the  case  of  Kentucky,  not  because  it 
was  the  only  State  where  false  promises  lulled  the  people  into 
delusive  security,  until,  by  gradual  approaches,  usurpation  had 
bound  them  hand  and  foot,  and  where  despotic  power  crushed 
all  the  muniments  of  civil  liberty  which  the  Union  was  formed 
to  secure,  but  because  of  the  attempt,  which  has  been  noticed, 
to  arraign  the  Confederacy  for  invasion  of  the  State  in  disregard 
of  her  sovereignty. 

The  occupation  of  Columbus  by  the  Confederate  forces  was 
only  just  soon  enough  to  anticipate  the  predetermined  purpose 


1861]  OTHER  ACTS  OF   INVASION.  403 

of  the  Federal  Government,  all  of  which  was  plainly  set  forth  in 
the  letter  of  General  Polk  to  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  and 
his  subsequent  letter  to  the  Kentucky  commissioners. 

Missouri,  like  Kentucky,  had  wished  to  preserve  peaceful 
relations  in  the  contest  which  it  was  foreseen  would  soon  occur 
between  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  States.  When  the  Fed- 
eral Government  denied  to  her  the  privilege  of  choosing  her  own 
position,  which  betokened  no  hostility  to  the  General  Govern- 
ment, and  she  was  driven  to  the  necessity  of  deciding  whether 
or  not  her  citizens  should  be  used  for  the  subjugation  of  the 
Southern  States,  her  people  and  their  representative,  the  State 
government,  repelled  the  arbitrary  assumption  of  authority  by 
military  force  to  control  her  government  and  her  people. 

Among  other  acts  of  invasion,  the  Federal  troops  had  occu- 
pied Belmont,  a  village  in  Missouri  opposite  to  Columbus,  and 
with  artillery  threatened  that  town,  inspiring  terror  in  its  peaceful 
inhabitants.  After  the  occupation  of  Columbus,  under  these 
circumstances  of  full  justification,  a  small  Confederate  force, 
Colonel  Tappan's  Arkansas  regiment,  and  Beltzhoover's  battery, 
were  thrown  across  the  Mississippi  to  occupy  and  hold  the  vil- 
lage, in  the  State  of  Missouri,  then  an  ally,  and  soon  to  become  a 
member,  of  the  Confederacy.  On  the  6th  of  November  General 
Grant  left  his  headquarters  at  Cairo  with  a  land  and  naval  force, 
and  encamped  on  the  Kentucky  shore.  This  act  and  a  demon- 
stration made  by  detachments  from  his  force  at  Paducah  were 
probably  intended  to  induce  the  belief  that  he  contemplated 
an  attack  on  Columbus,  thus  concealing  his  real  purpose  to 
surprise  the  small  garrison  at  Belmont.  General  Polk  on  the 
morning  of  the  7th  discovered  the  landing  of  the  Federal  forces 
on  the  Missouri  shore,  some  seven  miles  above  Columbus,  and, 
divining  the  real  purpose  of  the  enemy,  detached  General  Pil- 
low with  four  regiments  of  his  division,  say  two  thousand  men, 
to  reenforce  the  garrison  at  Belmont.  Yery  soon  after  his 
arrival,  the  enemy  commenced  an  assault  which  was  sternly 
resisted,  and  with  varying  fortune,  for  several  hours.  The  ene- 
my's front  so  far  exceeded  the  length  of  our  line  as  to  enable 
him  to  attack  on  both  flanks,  and  our  troops  were  finally  driven 
back  to  the  bank  of  the  river  with  the  loss  of  their  battery, 


404      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

which  had  been  gallantly  and  efficiently  served  nntil  nearly  all 
its  horses  had  been  killed,  and  its  ammunition  had  been  ex- 
pended. The  enemy  advanced  to  the  bank  of  the  river  below 
the  point  to  which  oar  men  had  retreated,  and  opened  an  artil- 
lery-fire upon  the  town  of  Columbus,  to  which  our  guns  from 
the  commanding  height  responded  with  such  effect  as  to  drive 
him  from  the  river  bank.  In  the  mean  time  General  Polk  had 
at  intervals  sent  three  regiments  to  reenforce  General  Pillow. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  first  of  these,  General  Pillow  led  it  to  a 
favorable  position,  where  it  for  some  time  steadily  resisted  and 
checked  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  General  Pillow,  with  great 
energy  and  gallantry,  rallied  his  repulsed  troops  and  brought 
them  again  into  action.  General  Polk  now  proceeded  in  person 
with  two  other  regiments.  Whether  from  this  or  some  other 
cause,  the  enemy  commenced  a  retreat.  General  Pillow,  whose 
activity  and  daring  on  the  occasion  were  worthy  of  all  praise,  led 
the  first  and  second  detachments,  by  which  he  had  been  reen- 
forced,  to  attack  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  and  General  Polk,  land- 
ing further  up  the  river,  moved  to  cut  off  the  enemy's  retreat ; 
but  some  embarrassment  and  consequent  delay  which  occurred 
in  landing  his  troops  caused  him  to  be  too  late  for  the  purpose 
for  which  he  crossed,  and  to  become  only  a  part  of  the  pursu- 
ing force. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  the  question  about  which 
there  would  be  the  greatest  certainty  would  be  the  number  of 
troops  engaged  in  a  battle,  yet  there  is  nothing  in  regard  to 
which  we  have  such  conflicting  accounts.  It  is  fairly  concluded, 
from  the  concurrent  reports,  that  the  enemy  attacked  us  on  both 
flanks,  and  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  action  we  were  outnum- 
bered ;  but  the  obstinacy  with  which  the  conflict  was  maintained 
and  the  successive  advances  and  retreats  which  occurred  in  the 
action  indicate  that  the  disparity  could  not  have  been  very  great, 
and  therefore  that,  after  the  arrival  of  our  reinforcements,  our 
troops  must  have  become  numerically  superior.  The  dead  and 
wounded  left  by  the  enemy  upon  the  field,  the  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, and  military  stores  abandoned  in  his  flight,  so  incontesta- 
bly  prove  his  defeat,  that  his  claim  to  have  achieved  a  victory  is 
too  preposterous  for  discussion.      Though  the  forces  engaged 


X 


gJSSjiliSiSPwJW* 


:  I  !    I  !  ! '  '     |  ■  |        • 


1861]  A  SOLDIER  OF  GREAT  DISTINCTION.  405 

were  comparatively  small  to  those  in  subsequent  battles  of 
the  war,  six  hours  of  incessant  combat,  with  repeated  bayonet- 
charges,  must  place  this  in  the  rank  of  the  most  stubborn  engage- 
ments, and  the  victors  must  accord  to  the  vanquished  the  meed 
of  having  fought  like  Americans.  One  of  the  results  of  the 
battle,  which  is  at  least  significant,  is  the  fact  that  General 
Grant,  who  had  superciliously  refused  to  recognize  General  Polk 
as  one  with  whom  he  could  exchange  prisoners,  did,  after  the 
battle,  send  a  flag  of  truce  to  get  such  privileges  as  are  recog- 
nized between  armies  acknowledging  each  other  to  be  "  f oemen 
worthy  of  their  steel." 

General  Polk  reported  as  follows :  "  We  pursued  them  to 
their  boats,  seven  miles,  and  then  drove  their  boats  before  us. 
The  road  was  strewed  with  their  dead  and  wounded,  guns,  ammu- 
nition, and  equipments.  The  number  of  prisoners  taken  by  the 
enemy,  as  shown  by  their  list  furnished,  was  one  hundred  and  six, 
all  of  whom  have  been  returned  by  exchange.  After  making  a 
liberal  allowance  to  the  enemy,  a  hundred  of  their  prisoners 
still  remain  in  my  hands,  one  stand  of  colors,  and  a  fraction  over 
one  thousand  stand  of  arms,  with  knapsacks,  ammunition,  and 
other  military  stores.  Our  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  miss- 
ing, was  six  hundred  and  forty  one ;  that  of  the  enemy  was 
probably  not  less  than  twelve  hundred." 

Meanwhile,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  a  soldier  of  great  dis- 
tinction in  the  United  States  Army,  where  he  had  attained  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general  by  brevet,  and  was  in  command  of  the 
Department  of  California,  resigned  his  commission,  and  came 
overland  from  San  Francisco  to  Richmond,  to  tender  his  ser- 
vices to  the  Confederate  States.  Though  he  had  been  bred  a 
soldier,  and  most  of  his  life  had  been  spent  in  the  army,  he  had 
not  neglected  such  study  of  political  affairs  as  properly  belongs 
to  the  citizen  of  a  republic,  and  appreciated  the  issue  made  be- 
tween States  claiming  the  right  to  resume  the  powers  they  had 
delegated  to  a  general  agent  and  the  claims  set  up  by  that 
agent  to  coerce  States,  his  creators,  and  for  whom  he  held  a 
trust. 

He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  his  first  military  appoint- 
ment was  from  Louisiana,  and  he  was  a  volunteer  in  the  war  for 


406      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

independence  by  Texas,  and  for  a  time  resided  in  that  State. 
Much  of  his  military  service  had  been  in  the  West,  and  he  felt 
most  identified  with  it.  On  the  10th  of  September,  1861,  he  was 
assigned  to  command  our  Department  of  the  West,  which  in- 
cluded the  States  of  Tennessee,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  the  Indian 
country,  and  the  western  part  of  Mississippi. 

General  Johnston,  on  his  arrival  at  Nashville,  found  that  he 
lacked  not  only  men,  but  the  munitions  of  war  and  the  means 
of  obtaining  them.  Men  were  ready  to  be  enlisted,  but  the 
arms  and  equipments  had  nearly  all  been  required  to  fit  out  the 
first  levies.  Immediately  on  his  survey  of  the  situation,  he 
determined  to  occupy  Bowling  Green  in  Kentucky,  and  ordered 
Brigadier-General  S.  B.  Buckner,  with  five  thousand  men,  to 
take  possession  of  the  position.  This  invasion  of  Kentucky  was 
an  act  of  self-defense  rendered  necessary  by  the  action  of  the 
government  of  Kentucky,  and  by  the  evidences  of  intended 
movements  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States.  It  was  not  possi- 
ble to  withdraw  the  troops  from  Columbus  in  the  west,  nor  from 
Cumberland  Ford  in  the  east,  to  which  General  Felix  K.  Zolli- 
coffer  had  advanced  with  four  thousand  men.  A  compliance 
with  the  demands  of  Kentucky  would  have  opened  the  fron- 
tiers of  Tennessee  and  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  enemy ;  be- 
sides, it  was  essential  to  the  defense  of  Tennessee. 

East  of  Columbus,  Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson,  and  Hop- 
kinsville  were  garrisoned  with  small  bodies  of  troops ;  and  the 
territory  between  Columbus  and  Bowling  Green  was  occupied 
by  moving  detachments  which  caused  the  supposition  that  a 
large  military  force  was  present  and  contemplated  an  advance. 
A  fortified  camp  was  established  at  Cumberland  Gap  as  the 
right  of  General  Johnston's  line,  and  an  important  point  for  the 
protection  of  East  Tennessee  against  invasion.  Thus  General 
Johnston  located  his  line  of  defense,  from  Columbus  on  the 
west  to  the  Cumberland  Mountains  on  the  east,  with  his  center  at 
Bowling  Green,  which  was  occupied  and  intrenched.  It  was  a 
good  base  for  military  operations,  was  a  proper  depot  for  sup- 
plies, and,  if  fortified,  could  be  held  against  largely  superior 
numbers. 

On  October  28th  General  Johnston  took  command  at  Bowl- 


1861]  ARMS  WANTED   IN  THE  WEST.  407 

ing  Green.  He  states  his  force  to  have  been  twelve  thousand 
men,  and  that  the  enemy's  force  at  that  time  was  estimated  to 
be  double  his  own,  or  twenty-four  thousand.  He  says  :  "  The 
enemy's  force  increased  more  rapidly  than  our  own,  so  that  by 
the  last  of  November  it  numbered  fifty  thousand,  and  contin- 
ued to  increase  until  it  ran  up  to  between  seventy-five  and  one 
hundred  thousand.  My  force  was  kept  down  by  disease,  so 
that  it  numbered  about  twenty-two  thousand." 

The  chief  anxiety  of  the  commander  of  the  department  was 
to  procure  arms  and  men.  On  the  next  day  after  his  arrival 
at  Nashville,  he  wrote  to  the  Governor  of  Alabama,  "  I  shall  beg 
to  rely  on  your  Excellency  to  furnish  us  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
at  this  point,  with  every  arm  it  may  be  in  your  power  to  pro- 
vide— I  mean  small-arms  for  infantry  and  cavalry."  The  Gov- 
ernor replied,  "  It  is  out  of  the  power  of  Alabama  to  afford  you 
any  assistance  in  the  way  of  arms."  The  Governor  of  Georgia 
replied  to  the  same  request  on  September  18th,  "  It  is  utterly 
impossible  for  me  to  comply  with  your  request."  General 
Bragg,  in  command  at  Pensacola,  writes  in  reply  on  September 
27th :  "  The  mission  of  Colonel  Buckner  will  not  be  successful, 
I  fear,  as  our  extreme  Southern  country  has  been  stripped 
of  both  arms  and  men.  We  started  early  in  this  matter,  and 
have  wellnigh  exhausted  our  resources."  On  September  19th 
General  Johnston  telegraphed  to  me  :  "  Thirty  thousand  stand 
of  arms  are  a  necessity  to  my  command.  I  beg  you  to  order 
them,  or  as  many  as  can  be  got,  to  be  instantly  procured  and 
sent  with  dispatch."  The  Secretary  of  War  replied  :  "  The 
whole  number  received  by  us,  by  that  steamer,  was  eighteen 
hundred,  and  we  purchased  of  the  owners  seventeen  hundred 
and  eighty,  making  in  all  thirty-five  hundred  Enfield  rifles,  of 
which  we  have  been  compelled  to  allow  the  Governor  of  Georgia 
to  have  one  thousand  for  arming  troops  to  repel  an  attack  now 
hourly  threatened  at  Brunswick.  Of  the  remaining  twenty-five 
hundred,  I  have  ordered  one  thousand  sent  to  you,  leaving  us 
but  fifteen  hundred  for  arming  several  regiments  now  encamped 
here,  and  who  have  been  awaiting  their  arms  for  several  months. 
.  .  .  We  have  not  an  engineer  to  send  you.  The  whole  engineer 
corps  comprises  only  six  captains  together  with  three  majors,  of 


408      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

whom  one  is  on  bureau  duty.  You  will  be  compelled  to  em- 
ploy the  best  material  within  your  reach,  by  detailing  officers 
from  other  corps,  and  by  employing  civil  engineers." 

These  details  are  given  to  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  defi- 
ciencies existing  in  every  department  of  the  military  service  in 
the  first  years  of  the  war.  In  this  respect  much  relief  came 
from  the  well-directed  efforts  of  Governor  Harris  and  the  Legis- 
lature of  Tennessee.  A  cap-factory,  ordnance-shops,  and  work- 
shops were  established.  The  powder-mills  at  Nashville  turned 
out  about  four  hundred  pounds  a  day.  Twelve  or  fourteen  bat- 
teries were  fitted  out  at  Memphis.  Laws  were  passed  to  impress 
and  pay  for  the  private  arms  scattered  throughout  the  State, 
and  the  utmost  efforts  were  made  to  collect  and  adapt  them  to 
military  uses.  The  returns  make  it  evident  that,  during  most  of 
the  autumn  of  1861,  fully  one  half  of  General  Johnston's  troops 
were  imperfectly  armed,  and  whole  brigades  remained  without 
weapons  for  months. 

No  less  energetic  were  the  measures  taken  to  concentrate  and 
recruit  his  forces.  General  Hardee's  command  was  moved  from 
northeastern  Arkansas,  and  sent  to  Bowling  Green,  which  added 
four  thousand  men  to  the  troops  there.  The  regiment  of  Texan 
rangers  was  brought  from  Louisiana,  and  supplied  with  horses 
and  sent  to  the  front.  Five  hundred  Kentuckians  joined  Gen- 
eral Buckner  on  his  advance,  and  five  regiments  were  gradually 
formed  and  filled  up.  A  cavalry  company  under  John  H.  Mor- 
gan was  also  added.  At  this  time  (September,  1861),  General 
Johnston,  under  the  authority  granted  to  him  by  the  Govern- 
ment, made  a  requisition  for  thirty  thousand  men  from  Tennes- 
see, ten  thousand  from  Mississippi,  and  ten  thousand  from  Ar- 
kansas. The  Arkansas  troops  were  directed  to  be  sent  to  Gen- 
eral McCulloch  for  the  defense  of  their  own  frontier.  The 
Governor  of  Mississippi  sent  four  regiments,  when  this  source 
of  supply  was  closed. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  November  only  three  regiments  were 
mustered  in  under  this  call  from  Tennessee,  but,  by  the  close  of 
December,  the  number  of  men  who  joined  was  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  thousand.  Two  regiments,  fifteen  hundred  strong,  had 
joined  General  Polk. 


1861]  GENERAL  POSITION  OF  BOWLING   GREEN.  409 

In  Arkansas,  five  companies  and  a  battalion  had  been  organ- 
ized, and  were  ready  to  join  General  McCulloch. 

A  speedy  advance  of  the  enemy  was  now  indicated,  and  an 
increase  of  force  was  so  necessary  that  further  delay  was  im- 
possible. General  Johnston,  therefore,  determined  upon  a  levy 
en  masse  in  his  department.  He  made  a  requisition  on  the  Gov- 
ernors of  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  to  call  out  every 
able-bodied  member  of  the  militia  into  whose  hands  arms  could 
be  placed,  or  to  provide  a  volunteer  force  large  enough  to  use 
all  the  arms  that  could  be  procured.  In  his  letters  to  these 
Governors,  he  plainly  presents  his  view  of  the  posture  of  affairs 
on  December  24th,  points  out  impending  dangers,  and  shows 
that  to  his  applications  the  response  had  not  been  such  as  the 
emergency  demanded.     He  says : 

"  It  was  apprehended  by  me  that  the  enemy  would  attempt  to 
assail  the  South,  not  only  by  boats  and  troops  moving  down  the 
river,  to  be  assembled  during  the  fall  and  winter,  but  by  columns 
marching  inland,  threatening  Tennessee,  by  endeavoring  to  turn 
the  defenses  of  Columbus.  Further  observation  confirms  me  in 
this  opinion  ;  but  I  think  the  means  employed  for  the  defense  of 
the  river  will  probably  render  it  comparatively  secure.  The  ene- 
my will  energetically  push  toward  Nashville  the  heavy  masses  of 
troops  now  assembled  between  Louisville  and  Bowling  Green. 
The  general  position  of  Bowling  Green  is  good  and  command- 
ing ;  but  the  peculiar  topography  of  the  place  and  the  length 
of  the  line  of  the  Barren  River  as  a  line  of  defense,  though  strong, 
require  a  large  force  to  defend  it.  There  is  no  position  equally 
defensive  as  Bowling  Green,  nor  line  of  defense  as  good  as  the 
Barren  River,  between  the  Barren  and  the  Cumberland  at  Nash- 
ville ;  so  that  it  can  not  be  abandoned  without  exposing  Ten- 
nessee, and  giving  vastly  the  vantage-ground  to  the  enemy.  It 
is  manifest  that  the  Northern  generals  appreciate  this  ;  and,  by 
withdrawing  their  forces  from  western  Virginia  and  east  Ken- 
tucky, they  have  managed  to  add  them  to  the  new  levies  from 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  and  to  concentrate  a  force  in  front 
of  me  variously  estimated  at  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  and  which  I  believe  will  number  seventy-five  thousand. 
To  maintain  my  position,  I  have  only  about  seventeen  thou- 
sand men  in  this  neighborhood.     It  is  impossible  for'  me  to  ob- 


410      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

tain  additions  to  my  strength  from.  Columbus  ;  the  generals  in 
command  in  that  quarter  consider  that  it  would  imperil  that  point 
to  diminish  their  force,  and  open  Tennessee  to  the  enemy.  Gen- 
eral Zollicoffer  can  not  join  me,  as  he  guards  the  Cumberland,  and 
prevents  the  invasion  and  possible  revolt  of  East  Tennessee." 

On  June  5th  General  Johnston  was  reenforced  by  the  bri- 
gades of  Floyd  and  Maney  from  western  Yirginia.  He  also  sent 
a  messenger  to  Richmond  to  ask  that  a  few  regiments  might  be 
detached  from  the  several  armies  in  the  field,  and  sent  to  him  to 
be  replaced  by  new  levies.  He  said :  "  I  do  not  ask  that  my 
force  shall  be  made  equal  to  that  of  the  enemy ;  but,  if  possible, 
it  should  be  raised  to  fifty  thousand  men."  Meantime  such  an 
appearance  of  menace  had  been  maintained  as  led  the  enemy  to 
believe  that  our  force  was  large,  and  that  he  might  be  attacked 
at  any  time.  Frequent  and  rapid  expeditions  through  the 
sparsely  settled  country  gave  rise  to  rumors  which  kept  alive 
this  apprehension. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Coercion  of  Missouri. — Answers  of  the  Governors  of  States  to  President  Lin- 
coln's Requisition  for  Troops. — Restoration  of  Forts  Caswell  and  Johnson  to 
the  United  States  Government. — Condition  of  Missouri  similar  to  that  of  Ken- 
tucky.— Hostilities,  how  initiated  in  Missouri. — Agreement  between  Generals 
Price  and  Harney. — Its  Favorable  Effects. — General  Harney  relieved  of  Com- 
mand by  the  United  States  Government  because  of  his  Pacific  Policy. — Removal 
of  Public  Arms  from  Missouri. — Searches  for  and  Seizure  of  Arms. — Missouri 
on  the  Side  of  Peace. — Address  of  General  Price  to  the  People. — Proclamation 
of  Governor  Jackson. — Humiliating  Concessions  of  the  Governor  to  the  United 
States  Government,  for  the  sake  of  Peace. — Demands  of  the  Federal  Officers. — 
Revolutionary  Principles  attempted  to  be  enforced  by  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment.— The  Action  at  Booneville. — The  Patriot  Army  of  Militia. — Further 
Rout  of  the  Enemy.— Heroism  and  Self-sacrifice  of  the  People.— Complaints  and 
Embarrassments. — Zeal :  its  effects. — Action  of  Congress. — Battle  of  Spring- 
field.— General  Price. — Battle  at  Lexington. — Bales  of  Hemp. — Other  Combats. 

To  preserve  the  Union  in  the  spirit  and  for  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  established,  an  equilibrium  between  the  States,  as 
grouped  in  sections,  was  essential.  When  the  Territory  of  Mis- 
souri constitutionally  applied  for  admission  as  a  State  into  the 


1861]  CONTEST  WHICH  SHOOK  THE   UNION.  411 

Union,  the  struggle  between  State  rights  and  that  sectional 
aggrandizement  which  was  seeking  to  destroy  the  existing 
equilibrium  gave  rise  to  the  contest  which  shook  the  Union  to 
its  foundation,  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  geographical  divisions, 
which  have  borne  the  most  noxious  weeds  that  have  choked 
our  political  vineyard.  Again,  in  1861,  Missouri  appealed  to 
the  Constitution  for  the  vindication  of  her  rights,  and  again 
did  usurpation  and  the  blind  rage  of  a  sectional  party  disregard 
the  appeal,  and  assume  powers,  not  only  undelegated,  but  in 
direct  violation  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of 
the  Constitution,  which  every  Federal  officer  had  sworn  to 
maintain,  and  which  secured  to  every  State  a  republican  gov- 
ernment, and  protection  against  invasion. 

If  it  be  contended  that  the  invasion  referred  to  must  have 
been  by  other  than  the  troops  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
their  troops  were  therefore  not  prohibited  from  entering  a  State 
against  its  wishes,  and  for  purposes  hostile  to  its  policy,  the 
section  of  the  Constitution  referred  to  fortifies  the  fact,  hereto- 
fore noticed,  of  the  refusal  of  the  Convention,  when  forming  the 
Constitution,  to  delegate  to  the  Federal  Government  power  to 
coerce  a  State.  By  its  last  clause  it  was  provided  that  not  even 
to  suppress  domestic  violence  could  the  General  Government, 
on  its  own  motion,  send  troops  of  the  United  States  into  the 
territory  of  one  of  the  States.     That  section  reads  thus : 

"  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of 
them  against  invasion,  and  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of 
the  executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened),  against 
domestic  violence." 

Surely,  if  Federal  troops  could  not  be  sent  into  a  State  with- 
out its  application,  even  to  protect  it  against  domestic  violence, 
still  less  could  it  be  done  to  overrule  the  will  of  its  people. 
That,  instead  of  an  obligation  upon  the  citizens  of  other  States 
to  respond  to  a  call  by  the  President  for  troops  to  invade  a  par- 
ticular State,  it  was  in  April,  1861,  deemed  a  high  crime  to  so  use 
them :  reference  is  here  made  to  the  published  answers  of  the 
Governors  of  States,  which  had  not  seceded,  to  the  requisition 


412      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

made  upon  them  for  troops  to  be  employed  against  the  States 
which  had  seceded. 

Governor  Letcher,  of  Virginia,  replied  to  the  requisition  of 
the  United  States  Secretary  of  War  as  follows  : 

"  I  am  requested  to  detach  from  the  militia  of  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia the  quota  designated  in  a  table  which  you  append,  to  serve 
as  infantry  or  riflemen,  for  the  period  of  three  months,  unless 
sooner  discharged. 

"  In  reply  to  this  communication,  I  have  only  to  say  that  the 
militia  of  Virginia  will  not  be  furnished  to  the  powers  at  Wash- 
ington for  any  such  use  or  purpose  as  they  have  in  view.  Your 
object  is  to  subjugate  the  Southern  States,  and  a  requisition  made 
upon  me  for  such  an  object— an  object,  in  my  judgment,  not  with- 
in the  purview  of  the  Constitution,  or  the  Act  of  1795 — will  not  be 
complied  with." 

Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky,  replied  : 

"Your  dispatch  is  received.  In  answer,  I  say  emphatically, 
Kentucky  will  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of  subdu- 
ing her  sister  Southern  States." 

Governor  Harris,  of  Tennessee,  replied  : 

"  Tennessee  will  not  furnish  a  single  man  for  coercion,  but 
fifty  thousand,  if  necessary,  for  the  defense  of  our  rights,  or  those 
of  our  Southern  brothers." 

Governor  Jackson,  of  Missouri,  answered : 

"Requisition  is  illegal,  unconstitutional,  revolutionary,  inhu- 
man, diabolical,  and  can  not  be  complied  with." 

Governor  Rector,  of  Arkansas,  replied  : 

"  In  answer  to  your  requisition  for  troops  from  Arkansas,  to 
subjugate  the  Southern  States,  I  have  to  say  that  none  will  be 
furnished.     The  demand  is  only  adding  insult  to  injury." 

Governor  Ellis,  of  North  Carolina,  responded  to  the  requisi- 
tion for  troops  from  that  State  as  follows  : 

"  Your  dispatch  is  received,  and,  if  genuine — which  its  extraor- 
dinary character  leads  me  to  doubt— I  have  to  say,  in  reply,  that 


1861]  A  PLEA  CREATED   BY  USURPATIONS.  413 

I  regard  the  levy  of  troops  made  by  the  Administration,  for  the 
purpose  of  subjugating  the  States  of  the  South,  as  in  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  and  a  usurpation  of  power.  I  can  be  no  party 
to  this  wicked  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  to  this 
war  upon  the  liberties  of  a  free  people.  You  can  get  no  troops 
from  North  Carolina." 

Governor  Ellis,  who  had  lived  long  enough  to  leave  behind 
him  an  enviable  reputation,  was  a  fair  representative  of  the  con- 
servatism, gallantry,  and  tenacity  in  well-doing,  of  the  State  over 
which  he  presided.  He  died  too  soon  for  his  country's  good, 
and  the  Confederacy  seriously  felt  the  loss  of  his  valuable  ser- 
vices. The  prompt  and  spirited  answer  he  gave  to  the  call  upon 
North  Carolina  to  furnish  troops  for  the  subjugation  of  the 
Southern  States,  was  the  fitting  complement  of  his  earlier  action 
in  immediately  restoring  to  the  Federal  Government  Forts 
Johnson  and  Caswell,  which  had  been  seized  without  proper 
authority.  In  communicating  his  action  to  President  Buchan- 
an, he  wrote : 

"  My  information  satisfies  me  that  this  popular  outbreak  was 
caused  by  a  report,  very  generally  credited,  but  which,-  for  the 
sake  of  humanity,  I  hope  is  not  true,  that  it  was  the  purpose  of 
the  Administration  to  coerce  the  Southern  States,  and  that  troops 
were  on  their  way  to  garrison  the  Southern  ports,  and  to  begin  the 
work  of  subjugation.  .  .  .  Should  I  receive  assurance  that  no 
troops  will  be  sent  to  this  State  prior  to  the  4th  of  March  next, 
then  all  will  be  peace  and  quiet  here,  and  the  property  of  the 
United  States  will  be  fully  protected,  as  heretofore.  If,  however, 
I  am  unable  to  get  such  assurances,  I  will  not  undertake  to  answer 
for  the  consequences. 

"  The  forts  in  this  State  have  long  been  unoccupied,  and  their 
being  garrisoned  at  this  time  will  unquestionably  be  looked  upon 
as  a  hostile  demonstration,  and  will  in  my  opinion  certainly  be 
resisted." 

The  plea  so  constantly  made  by  the  succeeding  Administra- 
tion, as  an  excuse  for  its  warlike  acts,  that  the  duty  to  protect 
the  public  property  required  such  action,  is  shown  by  this  letter 
of  Governor  Ellis  to  have  been  a  plea  created  by  their  usurpa- 


414      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

tions,  but  for  which  there  might  have  been  peace,  as  well  as 
safety  to  property,  and,  what  was  of  greater  worth,  the  lives,  the 
liberties,  and  the  republican  institutions  of  the  country. 

There  was  great  similarity  in  the  condition  of  Missouri  to 
that  of  Kentucky.  They  were  both  border  States,  and,  by  their 
institutions  and  the  origin  of  a  large  portion  of  their  citizens, 
were  identified  with  the  South.  Both  sought  to  occupy  a  neu- 
tral position  in  the  impending  war,  and  offered  guarantees  of 
peace  and  order  throughout  their  territory  if  left  free  to  control 
their  own  affairs.  Both  refused  to  furnish  troops  to  the  United 
States  Government  for  the  unconstitutional  purpose  of  coercing 
the  Southern  States.  Both,  because  of  their  stronger  affinity  to 
the  South  than  to  the  JSTorth,  were  the  objects  of  suspicion,  and 
consequent  military  occupation  by  the  troops  of  the  United 
States  Government.  At  the  inception  of  this  unwarrantable 
proceeding,  an  effort  was  made  by  the  Governor  of  Missouri  to 
preserve  the  rights  of  the  State  without  disturbing  its  relations 
to  the  United  States  Government.  If  it  had  been  the  policy  of 
the  Government  to  allow  to  Missouri  the  control  of  her  domes- 
tic affairs,  and  an  exemption  from  being  a  party  to  the  violation 
of  the  Constitution  in  making  war  against  certain  of  the  States, 
the  above-described  effort  of  the  Governor  might  and  probably 
would  have  been  successful.  The  form  and  purpose  of  that 
effort  appear  in  the  compact  entered  into  between  Major-Gen- 
eral Price,  commanding  the  militia  or  "  Missouri  State  Guard," 
and  General  Harney,  of  the  United  States  Army,  commanding 
the  Department  of  the  West,  a  geographical  division  which  in- 
cluded the  State  of  Missouri. 

During  a  temporary  absence  of  General  Harney,  Captain 
Lyon,  commanding  United  States  forces  at  St.  Louis,  initiated 
hostilities  against  the  State  of  Missouri  under  the  following  cir- 
cumstances : 

In  obedience  to  the  militia  law  of  the  State,  an  annual  en- 
campment was  directed  by  the  Governor  for  instruction  in 
tactics.  Camp  Jackson,  near  St.  Louis,  was  designated  for  the 
encampment  of  the  militia  of  the  county  in  1861.  Here  for 
some  days  companies  of  State  militia,  amounting  to  about  eight 
hundred   men,  under   command   of   Brigadier-General    D.  M. 


1861]  PEACEABLE  MILITIA  ATTACKED.  415 

Frost,  were  being  exercised,  as  is  usual  upon  such  occasions. 
They  presented  no  appearance  of  a  hostile  camp.  There  were 
no  sentinels  to  guard  against  surprise ;  visitors  were  freely  ad- 
mitted ;  it  was  the  picnic-ground  for  the  ladies  of  the  city,  and 
everything  wore  the  aspect  of  merry-making  rather  than  that 
of  grim-visaged  war. 

Suddenly,  Captain  (afterward  General)  Nathaniel  Lyon  ap- 
peared with  an  overwhelming  force  of  Federal  troops,  surround- 
ed this  holiday  encampment,  and  demanded  an  unconditional 
surrender.  Resistance  was  impracticable,  and  none  was  at- 
tempted ;  the  militia  surrendered,  and  were  confined  as  pris- 
oners ;  but  prisoners  of  what  ?  There  was  no  war,  and  no 
warrant  for  their  arrest  as  offenders  against  the  law.  It  is  left 
for  the  usurpers  to  frame  a  vocabulary  suited  to  their  act. 

After  the  return  of  General  Harney,  Brigadier-General  D. 
M.  Frost,  of  the  Missouri  militia,  appealed  to  him  from  his 
prison,  the  St.  Louis  Arsenal,  on  May  11,  1861,  representing 
that,  ain  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
which  have  been  existing  for  some  years,  and  in  obedience  to 
the  orders  of  the  Governor,  on  Monday  last  I  entered  into  an 
encampment  with  the  militia  force  of  St.  Louis  County  for  the 
purpose  of  instructing  the  same  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  of  this  State."  He  further  sets  forth  that 
every  officer  and  soldier  of  his  command  had  taken  an  oath  to 
sustain  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  State  of  Missouri,  and  that  while  in  the  peaceable  perform- 
ance of  their  duties  the  encampment  was  surrounded  by  the 
command  of  Captain  K  Lyon,  United  States  Army,  and  a  sur- 
render demanded,  to  which  General  Frost  replied  as  follows  : 

"  Camp  Jackson,  May  10,  1861. 
"  Sir  :  I,  never  for  a  moment  having  conceived  the  idea  that  so 
illegal  and  unconstitutional  a  demand  as  I  have  just  received  from 
you  would  be  made  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  am 
wholly  unprepared  to  defend  my  command  from  this  unwarranted 
attack,  and  shall  therefore  be  forced  to  comply  with  your  demand. 
"  I  am  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"D.  Frost, 
"  Brigadier-  General,  commanding  Camp  Jackson,  M.  M. 
u  Captain  N.  Lyon,  commanding  United  States  troops." 


416      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT, 

General  Frost's  letter  to  General  Harney  continues  :  "  My 
command  was,  in  accordance  with  the  above,  deprived  of  their 
arms,  and  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  Captain  Lyon  ;  after 
which,  while  thus  disarmed  and  surrounded,  a  fire  was  opened 
on  a  portion  of  it  by  his  troops,  and  a  number  of  my  men  put  to 
death,  together  with  several  innocent  lookers-on,  men,  women, 
and  children."  On  the  occasion  of  the  attack  upon  Camp  Jack- 
son, "  a  large  crowd  of  citizens,  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
gathered  around,  gazing  curiously  at  these  strange  proceedings, 
when  a  volley  was  fired  into  them,  killing  ten  and  wounding 
twenty  non-combatants,  mostly  women  and  children.  A  reign 
of  terror  was  at  once  established,  and  the  most  severe  measures 
were  adopted  by  the  Federals  to  overawe  the  excitement  and 
the  rage  of  the  people."  * 

The  massacre  at  Camp  Jackson  produced  intense  excitement 
throughout  the  State.  The  Legislature,  upon  receipt  of  the 
news,  passed  several  bills  for  the  enrollment  and  organization 
of  the  militia,  and  to  confer  special  powers  upon  the  Governor 
of  the  State.  By  virtue  of  these,  general  officers  were  appointed, 
chief  of  whom  was  Sterling  Price. 

Because  of  the  atrocities  at  St.  Louis,  and  the  violent  demon- 
strations consequent  upon  them,  not  only  in  St.  Louis  but  else- 
where in  the  State,  General  Price,  well  known  to  be  what  was 
termed  "  a  Union  man,"  and  not  only  by  his  commission  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  militia  of  the  State,  but  also,  and  even 
more,  because  of  his  influence  among  the  people,  was  earnestly 
solicited  by  influential  citizens  of  St.  Louis  to  unite  with  Gen- 
eral Harney  in  a  joint  effort  to  restore  order  and  preserve  peace. 
With  the  sanction  of  Governor  Jackson  he  proceeded  to  St. 
Louis,  the  headquarters  of  the  Department  of  the  West,  and, 
after  some  preliminary  conference,  entered  into  the  following 
agreement,  which,  being  promulgated  to  the  people,  was  received 
with  general  satisfaction,  and  for  a  time  allayed  excitement. 
The  agreement  was  as  follows : 

"  St.  Louis,  May  21,  1861. 
"  The  undersigned,  officers  of  the  United  States  Government 
and  of  the  government  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  for  the  purpose 
*  See  "  Confederate  First  and  Second  Missouri  Brigades,"  Bevier,  pp.  24-26. 


1861]  AGREEMENT   OF   GENERALS  HARNEY  AND  PRICE.  41 7 

of  removing  misapprehension  and  of  allaying  public  excitement, 
deem  it  proper  to  declare  publicly  that  they  have  this  day  had  a 
personal  interview  in  this  city,  in  which  it  has  been  mutually  un- 
derstood, without  the  semblance  of  dissent  on  either  part,  that 
each  of  them  has  no  other  than  a  common  object,  equally  interest- 
ing and  important  to  every  citizen  of  Missouri — that  of  restoring 
peace  and  good  order  to  the  people  of  the  State  in  subordination 
to  the  laws  of  the  General  and  State  governments. 

"  It  being  thus  understood,  there  seems  no  reason  why  every 
citizen  should  not  confide  in  the  proper  officers  of  the  General  and 
State  governments  to  restore  quiet,  and,  as  among  the  best  means 
of  offering  no  counter-influences,  we  mutually  commend  to  all  per- 
sons to  respect  each  other's  rights  throughout  the  State,  making 
no  attempt  to  exercise  unauthorized  powers,  as  it  is  the  determina- 
tion of  the  proper  authorities  to  suppress  all  unlawful  proceedings 
which  can  only  disturb  the  public  peace.  General  Price,  having 
by  commission  full  authority  over  the  militia  of  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri, undertakes  with  the  sanction  of  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
already  declared,  to  direct  the  whole  power  of  the  State  officers 
to  maintaining  order  within  the  State  among  the  people  thereof. 
General  Harney  publicly  declares  that,  this  object  being  assured, 
he  can  have  no  occasion,  as  he  has  no  wish,  to  make  military  move- 
ments that  might  otherwise  create  excitement  and  jealousy,  which 
he  most  earnestly  desires  to  avoid. 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  do  therefore  mutually  enjoin  upon  the 
people  of  the  State  to  attend  to  their  civil  business,  of  whatever 
sort  it  may  be,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  unquiet  elements  which 
have  threatened  so  seriously  to  disturb  the  public  peace  may  soon 
subside,  and  be  remembered  only  to  be  deplored. 

"W.  S.  Harney, 
"  Brigadier-  General  commanding. 
"  Sterling  Price, 
u  Major- General  Missouri  State  Guard." 

The  distinct  position  of  General  Harney,  that  the  military 
force  of  the  United  States  should  not  be  used  in  Missouri  except 
in  case  of  necessity,  together  with  the  emphatic  declaration  of 
General  Price  that  he  had  the  power  and  would  use  it  to  pre- 
serve peace  and  order  in  Missouri,  seemed  to  remove  all  danger 
of  collision  in  that  State  between  the  Federal  and  local  forces. 
27 


418      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

In  conformity  with  this  understanding,  General  Price  returned 
to  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  sent  to  their  homes  the  militia 
who  had  been  assembled  there  by  the  Governor  for  the  defense 
of  the  capital  against  an  anticipated  attack  by  the  troops  of  the 
United  States. 

Those  who  desired  to  preserve  peace  in  Missouri  had  just 
cause  to  be  gratified  at  the  favorable  prospect  now  presented. 
Those  who  desired  war  had  equal  ground  for  dissatisfaction.  A 
few  days  after  the  promulgation  of  the  agreement  between  Gen- 
eral Price  and  General  Harney,  the  latter  was  removed  from 
command,  as  many  believed,  because  of  his  successful  efforts  to 
allay  excitement  and  avoid  war.  Humors  had  been  in  circula- 
tion that  the  Missourians  were  driving  the  "  Union  men  "  from 
their  homes,  and  many  letters  purporting  to  be  written  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  State  represented  the  persecution  of  Union 
men.  It  was  suspected  that  many  of  them  were  written  in  St. 
Louis,  or  inspired  by  the  cabal.  An  incident  related  in  con- 
firmation of  the  justice  of  this  suspicion  is,  that  General  Harney 
received  a  letter  from  St.  Joseph,  stating  that  ex-Governor  Stew- 
art and  a  number  of  the  most  respectable  men  in  St.  Joseph 
had  been  driven  from  their  homes,  and  that,  unless  soldiers  were 
soon  sent,  the  Union  men  would  all  have  to  leave.  He  called 
upon  the  Hon.  F.  P.  Blair,  an  influential  citizen  of  St.  Louis, 
and  asked  him  if  he  knew  the  writer  of  the  letter.  The  reply 
was :  "  Oh,  yes,  he  is  perfectly  reliable ;  you  can  believe  any- 
thing he  says."  *  General  Harney  said  he  would  write  imme- 
diately to  General  Price.  Dissatisfaction  was  then  manifested 
at  such  delay ;  but,  two  or  three  days  later,  a  letter  from  ex- 
Governor  Stewart  was  published  in  the  "  St.  Joseph  News,"  in 
which  was  a  marked  paragraph  of  the  copy  sent  to  General 
Harney :  "  Neither  I  nor  any  other  Union  man  has  been  driven 
out  of  St.  Joe."  f  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  evade  the  con- 
clusion that  General  Harney  was  relieved  from  command  be- 
cause of  his  pacific  policy.  The  argument  is,  that  the  order  was 
dated  the  16th  of  May,  and  his  agreement  with  General  Price 
was  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month,  an  argument  more  specious 

*  See  "  Life  of  General  Wm.  S.  Harney,"  by  L.  U.  Reavis,  p.  373. 
f  See  ibid.,  p.  373. 


1861]  TO   WHOM  DID   THOSE  ARMS  BELONG?  419 

than  fair,  as  it  appears  from  the  letter  of  President  Lincoln  of 
May  18,  1861,  to  Hon.  F.  P.  Blair,  that  the  order  sent  from  the 
War  Department  to  him  was  to  be  delivered  or  withheld  at  his 
discretion,  and  that  it  was  not  delivered  nntil  the  30th  of  the 
month,  and  until  after  General  Harney  had  not  only  entered 
into  his  agreement  with  General  Price,  bnt  had  declined  to  act 
upon  sensational  stories  of  persecution,  on  which  applications 
were  made  to  send  troops  into  the  interior  of  Missouri.  During 
the  days  this  order  was  held  for  his  removal,  with  discretionary 
power  to  deliver  or  withhold  it,  the  above-recited  events  occurred, 
and  they  may  fairly  be  considered  as  having  decided  the  ques- 
tion of  his  removal  from  that  command. 

The  principal  United  States  arsenal  at  the  West  was  that 
near  to  St.  Louis.  To  it  had  been  transferred  a  large  number 
of  the  altered  muskets  sent  from  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  so 
that  in  1861  the  arms  in  that  arsenal  were,  perhaps,  numerically 
second  only  to  those  at  Springfield.  These  arms,  by  a  conjunc- 
tion of  deceptive  and  bold  measures,  were  removed  from  the 
arsenal  in  Missouri  and  transported  to  Illinois.  To  whom  did 
those  arms  belong  ?  Certainly  to  those  whose  money  had  made  or 
purchased  them.  That  is,  to  the  States  in  common,  not- to  their 
agent  the  General  Government,  or  to  a  portion  of  the  States 
which  might  be  in  a  condition  to  appropriate  them  to  their 
special  use,  and  in  disregard  of  the  rights  of  their  partners. 

Not  satisfied  with  removing  the  public  arms  from  the  limits 
of  Missouri,  the  next  step  was  that,  in  total  disrespect  of  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  citizens  to  bear  arms  for  their  own 
defense,  and  to  be  free  from  searches  and  seizures  except  by 
warrants  duly  issued,  the  officers  of  the  General  Government 
proceeded  to  search  the  houses  of  citizens  in  St.  Louis,  and  to 
seize  arms  wherever  they  were  found. 

Missouri  had  refused  to  engage  in  war  against  her  sister 
States  of  the  South ;  therefore  she  was  first  to  be  disarmed,  and 
then  to  be  made  the  victim  of  an  invasion  characterized  by 
such  barbarous  atrocities  as  shame  the  civilization  of  the  age. 
The  wrongs  she  suffered,  the  brave  efforts  of  her  unarmed  peo- 
ple to  defend  their  hearthstones  and  their  liberties  against  the 
desecration  and  destruction  of  both,  form  a  melancholy  chapter 


420      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  which  all  who  would  cherish 
their  fair  fame  must  wish  could  be  obliterated. 

These  acts  of  usurpation  and  outrage,  as  well  upon  the  po- 
litical as  personal  rights  of  the  people  of  Missouri,  aroused  an 
intense  feeling  in  that  State.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Gov- 
ernor Jackson  had  responded  to  the  call  of  Mr.  Lincoln  upon 
him  for  troops  with  the  just  indignation  of  one  who  understood 
the  rights  of  the  State,  and  the  limited  powers  of  the  General 
Government.  His  stern  refusal  to  become  a  party  to  the  war 
upon  the  South  made  him  the  object  of  special  persecution. 
By  his  side  in  this  critical  juncture  stood  the  gallant  veteran, 
General  Price.  To  the  latter  was  confided  the  conduct  of  the 
military  affairs  of  the  State,  and,  after  exhausting  every  effort 
to  maintain  order  by  peaceful  means,  and  seeing  that  the  Gov- 
ernment would  recognize  no  other  method  than  that  of  force, 
he  energetically  applied  himself  to  raise  troops,  and  procure 
arms  so  as  to  enable  the  State  to  meet  force  by  force.  During 
this  and  all  the  subsequent  period,  the  Governor  and  the  Gen- 
eral were  ably  seconded  by  the  accomplished,  gallant,  and  in- 
defatigable Lieutenant-Governor,  Reynolds. 

The  position  of  Missouri  in  1860-'61  was  unquestionably 
that  of  opposition  to  the  secession  of  the  State.  The  people 
generously  confided  in  the  disposition  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  observe  their  rights,  and  continued  to  hope  for  a 
peaceful  settlement  of  the  questions  then  agitating  the  country. 
This  was  evinced  by  the  fact  that  not  a  single  secessionist  was 
elected  to  the  State  Convention,  and  that  General  Price,  an 
avowed  "  Union  man,"  was  chosen  as  President  of  the  Conven- 
tion. Hence  the  general  satisfaction  with  the  agreement  made 
between  Generals  Harney  and  Price  for  the  preservation  of 
peace  and  non-intervention  by  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
General  Harney,  the  day  before  the  order  for  his  removal  was 
communicated  to  him,  wrote  to  the  War  Department,  expressing 
his  confidence  in  the  preservation  of  peace  in  Missouri,  and 
used  this  significant  expression :  "  Interference  by  unauthor- 
ized parties  as  to  the  course  I  shall  pursue  can  alone  prevent  the 
realization  of  these   hopes."*      The  "unauthorized   parties" 

*  See  "  Life  of  General  Wm.  S.  Harney,"  by  L.  U.  Reavis,  p.  12. 


1861]  THE  INTENT  TO  COERCE  STATES.  421 

here  referred  to  could  not  have  been  the  people  or  the  govern- 
ment of  Missouri.  Others  than  thej  must  have  been  the  parties 
wishing  to  use  force,  provocative  of  hostilities. 

As  has  been  heretofore  stated,  after  his  agreement  with 
General  Harney  at  St.  Louis,  General  Price  returned  to  the 
capital  and  dismissed  to  their  homes  the  large  body  of  militia 
that  had  been  there  assembled. 

After  the  removal  of  General  Harney,  believed  to  be  in  con- 
sequence of  his  determination  to  avoid  the  use  of  military  force 
against  the  people  of  Missouri,  reports  were  rife  of  a  purpose 
on  the  part  of  the  Administration  at  Washington  to  disarm  the 
citizens  of  Missouri  who  did  not  sympathize  with  the  views  of 
the  Federal  Government,  and  to  put  arms  into  the  hands  of 
those  who  could  be  relied  on  to  enforce  them.  On  the  4th  of 
June  General  Price  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri, and  in  reference  to  that  report  said :  "  The  purpose  of 
such  a  movement  could  not  be  misunderstood  ;  and  it  would  not 
only  be  a  palpable  violation  of  the  agreement  referred  to,  and 
an  equally  plain  violation  of  our  constitutional  rights,  but  a 
gross  indignity  to  the  citizens  of  this  State,  which  would  be  re- 
sisted to  the  last  extremity." 

The  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  seventy- five  thousand  vol- 
unteers removed  any  preexisting  doubt  as  to  the  intent  to 
coerce  the  States  which  should  claim  to  assert  their  right  of 
sovereignty.  Missouri,  while  avowing  her  purpose  to  adhere 
to  the  Union,  had  asserted  her  right  to  exercise  supreme  control 
over  her  domestic  affairs,  and  this  put  her  in  the  category  of  a 
State  threatened  by  the  proceedings  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment. To  provide  for  such  contingency  as  might  be  antici- 
pated, Governor  Jackson,  on  the  13th  of  June,  issued  a  call  for 
fifty  thousand  volunteers,  and  Major-General  Price  took  the 
field  in  command.  In  this  proclamation  Governor  Jackson 
said : 

"A  series  of  unprovoked  and  unparalleled  outrages  has  been 
inflicted  on  the  peace  and  dignity  of  this  Commonwealth,  and 
upon  the  rights  and  liberties  of  its  people,  by  wicked  and  un- 
principled men  professing  to  act  under  the  authority  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States." 


422      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

In  his  endeavor  to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  State,  and  to 
avert,  if  possible,  from  its  borders  a  civil  war,  he  caused  the 
aforementioned  agreement  to  be  made  with  the  commander  of 
the  Northern  forces  in  the  State,  by  which  its  peace  might  be 
preserved.  That  officer  was  promptly  removed  by  his  Govern- 
ment. The  Governor  then,  upon  the  increase  of  hostile  actions, 
proposed,  at  an  interview  with  the  new  officer  commanding  the 
forces  of  the  United  States  Government,  to  disband  the  State 
Guard,  and  break  up  its  organization ;  to  disarm  all  companies 
that  had  been  armed  by  the  State ;  to  pledge  himself  not  to  or- 
ganize the  militia  under  the  military  bill ;  that  no  arms  or 
munitions  of  war  should  be  brought  into  the  State ;  that  he 
would  protect  the  citizens  equally  in  all  their  rights,  regardless 
of  their  political  opinions ;  that  he  would  repress  all  insurrec- 
tionary movements  within  the  State ;  would  repel  all  attempts 
to  invade  it,  from  whatever  quarter,  and  by  whomsoever  made ; 
and  would  maintain  a  strict  neutrality  and  preserve  the  peace 
of  the  State.  And,  further,  if  necessary,  he  would  invoke  the 
assistance  of  the  United  States  troops  to  carry  out  the  pledges. 
The  only  conditions  to  this  proposition  made  by  the  Governor 
were  that  the  United  States  Government  should  undertake  to 
disarm  the  "  Home  Guard  "  which  it  had  illegally  organized  and 
armed  throughout  the  State,  and  pledge  itself  not  to  occupy 
with  its  troops  any  localities  in  the  State  not  occupied  by  them 
at  that  time. 

The  words  of  a  Governor  of  a  State  who  offered  such  truly 
generous  terms  deserve  to  be  inserted :  "  Nothing  but  the  most 
earnest  desire  to  avert  the  horrors  of  civil  war  from  our  be- 
loved State  could  have  tempted  me  to  propose  these  humiliating 
terms.     They  were  rejected  by  the  Federal  officers." 

These  demanded  not  only  the  disorganization  and  disarming 
of  the  State  militia  and  the  nullification  of  the  military  bill,  but 
they  refused  to  disarm  their  own  "  Home  Guard,"  and  insisted 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  enjoy  an  un- 
restricted right  to  move  and  station  its  troops  throughout  the 
State  whenever  and  wherever  it  might,  in  the  opinion  of  its 
officers,  be  necessary  either  for  the  protection  of  its  "  loyal  sub- 
jects "  or  for  the  repelling  of  invasion  ;  and  they  plainly  an- 


1861]  REVOLUTIONARY  IN   THE  EXTREME.  423 

nounced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Administration  to  take 
military  occupation  of  the  whole  State,  and  to  reduce  it,  as 
avowed  by  General  Lyon,  to  the  "  exact  condition  of  Maryland." 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  revolutionary  measures 
which  the  United  States  Government  had  undertaken  to  enforce 
involved  the  subjection  of  every  State,  either  by  voluntary  sub- 
mission or  subjugation.  However  much  a  State  might  desire 
peace  and  neutrality,  its  own  will  could  not  elect.  The  scheme 
demanded  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or,  in  other  words,  the  extinguishment  of  the 
independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  State.  Human  actions 
are  not  only  the  fruit  of  the  ruling  motive,  but  they  are  also 
the  evidence  of  the  existence  of  that  motive.  Thus,  when 
we  see  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri  offering  such  gen- 
erous terms  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  in  order  to 
preserve  peace  and  neutrality,  and  the  latter,  rejecting  them, 
avow  its  intention  to  do  its  will  with  the  authorities,  the  prop- 
erty, and  the  citizens  of  the  State,  and  proceed  with  military 
force  to  do  it,  its  actions  are  both  the  evidence  and  the  fruit  of 
its  theory.  These  measures  were  revolutionary  in  the  extreme. 
They  involved  the  entire  subversion  of  those  principles  on 
which  the  American  Union  was  founded,  and  of  the  compact 
or  Constitution  of  that  Union.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  hands  of  those  who  wielded  its  authority,  was 
made  the  bloody  instrument  to  establish  these  usurpations  on 
the  ruins  of  the  crushed  hopes  of  mankind  for  permanent  free- 
dom under  constitutional  government.  For  the  justness  and 
truthfulness  of  these  allegations  I  appeal  to  the  impartial  and 
sober  judgment  of  posterity. 

The  volunteers  who  were  assembled  under  this  proclamation 
of  Governor  Jackson,  of  June  13th,  had  few  arms  except  their 
squirrel-rifles  and  shot-guns,  and  could  scarcely  be  said  to  have 
any  military  equipments.  The  brigadier-generals  who  were 
appointed  were  assigned  to  geographical  divisions,  and,  with 
such  men  as  they  could  collect,  reported  in  obedience  to  their 
orders  at  Booneville  and  Lexington.  On  the  20th  of  June, 
1861,  General  Lyon  and  Colonel  F.  P.  Blair,  with  an  estimated 
force  of  seven  thousand  well-armed  troops,  having  eight  pieces 


424:      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

of  artillery,  ascended  the  Missouri  River,  and  debarked  about 
Hve  miles  below  Booneville.  To  oppose  them,  the  Missourians 
had  there  about  eight  hundred  men,  poorly  armed,  without  a 
piece  of  artillery,  and  but  little  ammunition.  With  courage 
which  must  be  commended  at  the  expense  of  their  discretion, 
they  resolved  to  engage  the  enemy,  and,  after  a  combat  of  an 
hour  and  a  half  or  more,  retired,  having  inflicted  heavy  loss 
upon  the  enemy,  and  suffering  but  little  themselves.  This  first 
skirmish  between  the  Federal  troops  and  the  Missouri  militia 
inspired  confidence  in  their  fellow-citizens,  and  checked  the 
contemptuous  terms  in  which  the  militia  had  been  spoken  of 
by  the  enemy.  Governor  Jackson,  with  some  two  hundred 
and  fifty  to  three  hundred  of  the  militia  engaged  in  the  action 
at  Booneville,  started  toward  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
State.  He  marched  in  the  direction  of  a  place  called  Cole 
Camp,  and,  when  within  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  of  it,  learned 
that  a  force  of  seven  hundred  to  one  thousand  of  the  enemy 
had  been  sent  to  that  point  by  General  Lyon  and  Colonel  Blair, 
with  the  view  of  intercepting  his  retreat.  The  design,  however, 
was  frustrated  by  an  expedition  consisting  of  about  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  commanded  by  Colonel  O'Kane,  who  had 
assembled  them  in  a  very  few  hours  in  the  neighborhood  south 
of  the  enemy's  camp.  There  were  no  pickets  out  except  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Jackson's  forces,  and  Colonel  O'Kane  surprised 
the  enemy  where  they  were  asleep  in  two  large  barns.  The  at- 
tack was  made  at  daybreak,  the  enemy  routed  after  suffering 
the  heavy  loss  of  two  hundred  and  six  killed  and  more  wounded, 
and  more  than  a  hundred  prisoners.  Three  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  muskets  with  bayonets  were  captured.  The  Missourians 
lost  four  killed  and  fifteen  or  twenty  wounded. 

General  Price,  with  a  view  to  draw  his  army  from  the  base- 
line of  the  enemy,  the  Missouri  River,  ordered  his  troops  to  the 
southwestern  portion  of  the  State.  The  column  from  Lexing- 
ton marched  without  transportation,  without  tents  or  blankets, 
and  relied  for  subsistence  on  the  country  through  which  it 
passed,  being  in  the  mean  time  closely  pursued  by  the  enemy. 
The  movement  was  successfully  made,  and  a  junction  effected 
in  Cedar  County  with  the  forces  present  with  Governor  Jack- 


1861]  STONES  WERE   SUBSTITUTED  FOR  SHOT.  425 

son.     The  total  when  assembled  was  about  thirty-six  hundred 
men. 

"This,  then,  was  the  patriot  army  of  Missouri.  It  was  a 
heterogeneous  mass  representing  every  condition  of  Western  life. 
There  were  the  old  and  young,  the  rich  and  poor,  the  grave  and 
gay,  the  planter  and  laborer,  the  farmer  and  clerk,  the  hunter 
and  boatman,  the  merchant  and  woodsman.  At  least  five  hun- 
dred of  these  men  were  entirely  unarmed.  Many  had  only  the 
common  rifle  and  shot-gun.  None  were  provided  with  cartridges 
or  canteens.  They  had  eight  pieces  of  cannon,  but  no  shells,  and 
very  few  solid  shot,  or  rounds  of  grape  and  canister. 

"Rude  and  almost  incredible  devices  were  made  to  supply 
these  wants  :  trace-chains,  iron  rods,  hard  pebbles,  and  smooth 
stones  were  substituted  for  shot ;  and  evidence  of  the  effect  of 
such  rough  missiles  was  to  be  given  in  the  next  encounter  with  the 
enemy."  * 

Governor  Jackson  continued  his  march  toward  southwestern 
Missouri.  He  had  received  reliable  intelligence  that  he  was 
pursued  by  General  Lyon  from  the  northeast,  and  by  Lane  and 
Sturgis  from  the  northwest,  their  supposed  object  being  to 
form  a  junction  in  his  rear,  and  he  subsequently  learned  that  a 
column  numbering  three  thousand  had  been  sent  out  from  St. 
Louis  to  intercept  his  retreat,  and  had  arrived  at  the  town  of  Car- 
thage, immediately  in  his  front.  These  undisciplined,  poorly 
armed  Missourians  were,  therefore,  in  a  position  which  would 
have  appalled  less  heroic  men — a  large  hostile  force  in  their 
rear,  and  another,  nearly  equal  in  numbers  to  their  own,  disput- 
ing their  passage  in  front.  They,  however,  cheerfully  moved 
forward,  attacked  the  enemy  in  position,  and,  after  a  severe  en- 
gagement, routed  him,  pursued  him  to  a  second  position,  from 
which  he  was  again  driven,  falling  back  to  Carthage,  where  he 
made  his  last  stand,  and,  upon  being  driven  from  which,  as  was 
subsequently  ascertained,  continued  his  retreat  all  night.  The 
killed  and  wounded  of  the  enemy,  left  along  the  route  of  his 
retreat  over  a  space  of  ten  miles,  were  estimated  at  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  killed,  and  from  three  to 

*  Bevier,  pp.  35,  36. 


426      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

four  hundred  wounded.  Several  hundred  muskets  were  cap- 
tured, and  the  Missourians  were  better  prepared  for  future 
conflicts.  Our  loss  was  between  forty  and  fifty  killed,  and 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
wounded.* 

If  any  shall  ask  why  I  have  entered  into  such  details  of  en- 
gagements where  the  forces  were  comparatively  so  small,  and 
the  results  so  little  affected  the  final  issue  of  the  war,  the  reply 
is,  that  such  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  as  these  undisciplined, 
partially  armed,  unequipped  men  displayed  against  superior 
numbers,  possessed  of  all  the  appliances  of  war,  claim  special 
notice  as  bearing  evidence  not  only  of  the  virtue  of  the  men, 
but  the  sanctity  of  the  cause  which  could  so  inspire  them.  Un- 
supported, save  by  the  consciousness  of  a  just  cause,  without 
other  sympathy  than  that  which  the  Confederate  States  fully 
gave,  despising  the  plea  of  helplessness,  and  defying  the  threats 
of  a  powerful  Government  to  crush  her,  Missouri,  without  arms 
or  other  military  preparation,  took  up  the  gauntlet  thrown  at 
her  feet,  and  dared  to  make  war  in  defense  of  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  her  people. 

My  motive  for  promptly  removing  the  seat  of  government, 
after  authority  was  given  by  the  Provisional  Congress,  has  been 
heretofore  stated,  but  proximity  to  the  main  army  of  the  enemy, 
and  the  flanking  attacks  by  which  the  new  capital  was  threat- 
ened, did  not  diminish  the  anxiety,  which  had  been  felt  before 
removal  from  Montgomery,  in  regard  to  affairs  in  Missouri,  the 
"  far  West  "  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  State,  which  forty  years  before  had  been  admitted  to 
the  Union,  against  sectional  resistance  to  the  right  guaranteed 
by  the  Constitution,  and  specifically  denominated  in  the  treaty 
for  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  now,  because  her  Governor 
refused  to  furnish  troops  for  the  unconstitutional  purpose  of 
coercing  States,  became  the  subject  of  special  hostility  and  the 
object  of  extraordinary  efforts  for  her  subjugation. 

The  little  which  it  would  have  been  possible  for  the  Con- 
federacy to  do  to  promote  her  military  efficiency  was  diminished 
by  the  anomalous  condition  in  which  the  State  troops  remained 

*  Bevier,  pp.  36-38. 


1861]  A  STRANGE   MISAPPREHENSION.  427 

until  some  time  in  the  second  year  of  the  war.  A  strange  misap- 
prehension led  to  unreasonable  complaints,  under  the  supposition 
that  Missouri  was  generally  neglected,  and  her  favorite  officer, 
General  Price,  was  not  accorded  a  commission  corresponding  to 
his  merit  and  the  wishes  of  the  people.  It  is  due  to  that  gal- 
lant soldier  and  true  patriot,  that  it  should  here  be  stated  that  he 
was  not  a  party  to  any  such  complaints,  knew  they  were  un- 
founded, and  realized  that  his  wishes  for  the  defense  of  Missouri 
were  fully  reciprocated  by  the  Executive  of  the  Confederacy  ; 
all  of  which  was  manifested  in  the  correspondence  between  us, 
before  Missouri  had  tendered  any  troops  to  the  Confederate 
States.  It  was  his  statement  of  the  difficulties  and  embarrass- 
ments which  surrounded  him  that  caused  me  to  write  to  the 
Governor  of  Missouri  on  the  21st  of  December,  1861,  stating  to 
him  my  anxiety  to  have  the  troops  of  Missouri  tendered  and 
organized  into  brigades  and  divisions,  so  that  they  might  be 
rendered  more  effective,  and  we  be  better  able  to  provide  for 
them  by  the  appointment  of  general  officers  and  otherwise. 

For  a  full  understanding  of  the  nature  and  degree  of  the 
complaints  and  embarrassments  referred  to,  I  here  insert  my 
reply  to  letters  sent  to  me  by  the  Hon.  John  B.  Clarke,  M.  C, 
of  Missouri : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  January  8,  1862. 
"  Hon.  John  B.  Clarke,  Richmond,   Virginia. 

"Sir  :  I  have  received  the  two  letters  from  Governor  Jack- 
son sent  by  you  this  day.  The  Governor  speaks  of  delay  by  the 
authorities  of  Richmond,  and  neglect  of  the  interests  of  Missouri, 
and  expresses  the  hope  that  he  has  said  enough  to  be  well  under- 
stood by  me. 

"  When  I  remember  that  he  wrote  in  reply  to  my  call  upon 
him  to  hasten  the  tender  of  Missouri  troops,  so  that  they  should 
be  put  upon  the  footing  of  those  of  other  States,  and  with  a  knowl- 
edge that  as  militia  of  the  State  I  had  no  power  to  organize  or 
appoint  commanders  for  them,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  attend 
to  their  wants,  but  that  I  had  sent  an  agent  of  the  Confederate 
Government  as  far  as  practicable  to  furnish  the  necessary  supplies 
to  the  militia  of  Missouri  actually  in  service,  I  can  only  say,  I 
hope  he  is  not  understood  by  me.     It  is  but  a  short  time  since,  in 


428      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

a  conversation  of  hours,  I  fully  explained  to  you  the  case  so  far  as 
I  am  connected  with  it,  and  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  add  to  what 
you  then  seemed  to  consider  conclusive. 

"  Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

As  is  usually  the  case  when  citizens  are  called  from  their 
ordinary  pursuits  for  the  purposes  of  war,  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri did  not  then  realize  the  value  of  preparation  in  camp,  and 
were  reluctant  to  enroll  themselves  for  long  periods.  The  State, 
even  less  than  the  Confederate  Government,  could  not  supply 
them  with  the  arms,  munitions,  and  equipage  necessary  for  cam- 
paigns and  battles  and  sieges.  Under  all  these  disadvantages, 
it  is  a  matter  of  well-grounded  surprise  that  they  were  able  to 
achieve  so  much.  The  Missourians  who  fought  at  Yicksburg, 
and  who,  after  that  long,  trying,  and  disastrous  siege,  asked, 
when  in  the  camp  of  parolled  prisoners,  not  if  they  could  get  a 
furlough,  not  if  they  might  go  home  when  released,  but  how 
soon  they  might  hope  to  be  exchanged  and  resume  their  places 
in  the  line  of  battle,  show  of  what  metal  the  Missouri  troops 
were  made,  and  of  what  they  were  capable  when  tempered  in 
the  fiery  furnace  of  war. 

I  can  recall  few  scenes  during  the  war  which  impressed  me 
more  deeply  than  the  spirit  of  those  worn  prisoners  waiting  for 
the  exchange  that  wrould  again  permit  them  to  take  the  hazards 
of  battle  for  the  cause  of  their  country. 

This  memory  leads  me  to  recur  with  regret  to  my  inability, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  to  convince  the  Governor  of  Mis- 
souri of  the  necessity  for  thorough  organization  and  the  enroll- 
ment of  men  for  long  terms,  instead  of  loose  combinations  of 
militia  for  periods  always  short  and  sometimes  uncertain. 

General  Price  possessed  an  extraordinary  power  to  secure 
the  personal  attachment  of  his  troops,  and  to  inspire  them  with 
a  confidence  which  served  in  no  small  degree  as  a  substitute  for 
more  thorough  training.  His  own  enthusiasm  and  entire  de- 
votion to  the  cause  he  served  were  infused  throughout  his  fol- 
lowers, and  made  them  all  their  country's  own.  To  Lord  Wel- 
lington has  been  attributed  the  remark  that  he  did  not  want 


1861]     MATTERED  BUT  LITTLE  WHAT  POSITION  HE  OCCUPIED.      429 

zeal  in  a  soldier,  and  to  Napoleon  the  apothegm  that  Providence 
is  on  the  side  of  the  heavy  battalions.  Zeal  was  oftentimes 
our  main  dependence,  and  on  many  a  hard-fought  field  served 
to  drive  our  small  battalions,  like  a  wedge,  through  the  serried 
ranks  of  the  enemy. 

The  Confederate  States,  yet  in  their  infancy,  and  themselves 
engaged  in  an  unequal  struggle  for  existence,  by  act  of  their 
Congress  declared  that,  if  Missouri  was  engaged  in  repelling  a 
lawless  invasion  of  her  territory  by  armed  forces,  it  was  their 
right  and  duty  to  aid  the  people  and  government  of  said  State 
in  resisting  such  invasion,  and  in  securing  the  means  and  the 
opportunity  of  expressing  their  will  upon  all  questions  affecting 
their  rights  and  liberties.  With  small  means,  compared  to 
their  wants,  the  Confederate  Congress,  on  the  6th  of  August, 
appropriated  one  million  dollars  "to  aid  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Missouri  in  the  effort  to  maintain,  within  their  own 
limits,  the  constitutional  liberty  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  the 
Confederate  States  in  the  existing  war  to  vindicate,"  etc. 

In  the  next  battle  after  that  of  Carthage,  which  has  been 
noticed,  Missourians  were  no  longer  to  be  alone.  General 
McCullough,  commanding  a  brigade  of  Confederate  troops, 
marched  from  Arkansas  to  make  a  junction  with  General  Price, 
then  threatened  with  an  attack  by  a  large  force  of  the  enemy 
under  General  Lyon,  which  was  concentrated  near  Springfield, 
Missouri.  The  battle  was  fiercely  contested,  but  finally  won 
by  our  troops.  In  this  action  General  Lyon  was  killed  while 
gallantly  endeavoring  to  rally  his  discomfited  troops,  and  lead 
them  to  the  charge.  While  we  can  not  forget  the  cruel  wrongs 
he  had  inflicted  and  sought  still  further  to  impose  upon  an  un- 
offending people,  we  must  accord  to  him  the  redeeming  virtue 
of  courage,  and  recognize  his  ability  as  a  soldier.  On  this  oc- 
casion General  Price  exhibited  in  two  instances  the  magnanim- 
ity, self-denial,  and  humanity  which  ever  characterized  him. 
General  McCulloch  claimed  the  right  to  command  as  an  officer 
of  the  Confederate  States  Army.  General  Price,  though  he 
ranked  him  by  a  grade,  replied  that  "  he  was  not  fighting  for 
distinction,  but  for  the  defense  of  the  liberties  of  his  country- 
men, and  that  it  mattered  but  little  what  position  he  occupied. 


430      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

He  said  lie  was  ready  to  surrender  not  only  the  command,  but 
his  life,  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  cause."  *  He  surrendered  the  com- 
mand and  took  a  subordinate  position,  though  "  he  felt  assured 
of  victory." 

The  second  instance  was  an  act  of  humanity  to  his  bitterest 
enemy.  General  Lyon's  "  surgeon  came  in  for  his  body,  under 
a  flag  of  truce,  after  the  close  of  the  battle,  and  General  Price 
sent  it  in  his  own  wagon.  But  the  enemy,  in  his  flight,  left 
the  body  unshrouded  in  Springfield.  The  next  morning,  Au- 
gust 11th,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gnstavus  Elgin  and  Colonel  P. 
H.  Musser,  two  members  of  Brigadier- General  Clarke's  staff, 
caused  the  body  to  be  properly  prepared  for  burial."  f 

After  the  battle  of  Springfield,  General  McCulloch  returned 
with  his  brigade  to  his  former  position  in  Arkansas.  John  C. 
Fremont  had  been  appointed  a  general,  and  assigned  to  the 
command  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  General  Lyon.  He 
signalized  his  entrance  upon  the  duty  by  a  proclamation,  con- 
fiscating the  estates  and  slave  property  of  "  rebels." 

"  On  the  10th  of  September,  when  General  Price  was  about 
to  go  into  camp,  he  learned  that  a  detachment  of  Federal  troops 
was  marching  from  Lexington  to  Warrensburg,  to  seize  the 
funds  of  the  bank  in  that  place,  and  to  arrest  and  plunder  the 
citizens  of  Johnson  County,  in  accordance  with  General  Fre- 
mont's proclamation  and  instructions."  J  General  Price  re- 
sumed his  march,  and,  pressing  rapidly  forward  with  his  mounted 
men,  arrived  about  daybreak  at  Warrensburg,  where  he  learned 
that  the  enemy  had  hastily  fled  about  midnight.  He  then  de- 
cided to  move  with  his  whole  force  against  Lexington.  He 
found  the  enemy  in  strong  intrenchments,  and  well  supplied 
with  artillery. 

The  place  was  stubbornly  defended.  The  siege  proper 
commenced  on  the  18th  of  September,  1861,  and  with  varying 
fortunes.  Fierce  combats  continued  through  that  day  and 
the  next.  On  the  morning  of  the  20th  General  Price  ordered 
a  number  of  bales  of  hemp  to  be  transported  to  the  point 
from  which  the  advance  of  his  troops  had  been  repeatedly  re- 
pulsed.   They  were  ranged  in  a  line  for  a  breastwork,  and,  when 

*  Bevier,  p.  41.  f  Ibid.,  pp.  49,  50.  \  Ibid.,  p.  54. 


1861]  A  MOVING  RAMPART.  431 

rolled  before  the  men  as  they  advanced,  formed  a  moving  ram- 
part which  was  proof  against  shot,  and  only  to  be  overcome  by 
a  sortie  in  force,  which  the  enemy  did  not  dare  to  make.  On 
came  the  hempen  breastworks,  while  Price's  artillery  continued 
an  effective  fire.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  20th  the  enemy  hung 
out  a  white  flag,  upon  which  General  Price  ordered  a  cessation 
of  firing,  and  sent  to  ascertain  the  object  of  the  signal.  The 
Federal  forces  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war,  to  the  number 
of  thirty-five  hundred ;  also,  seven  pieces  of  artillery,  over 
three  thousand  stand  of  muskets,  a  considerable  number  of  sa- 
bres, a  valuable  supply  of  ammunition,  a  number  of  horses, 
a  large  amount  of  commissary's  stores,  and  other  property. 
Here  were  also  recovered  the  great  seal  of  the  State  and  the 
public  records,  and  about  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars  of 
which  the  Bank  of  Lexington  had  been  robbed.  General  Price 
caused  the  money  to  be  at  once  returned  to  the  bank. 

After  the  first  day  of  the  siege  of  Lexington,  General  Price 
learned  that  Lane  and  Montgomery,  from  Kansas,  with  about 
four  thousand  men,  and  General  Sturgis,  with  fifteen  hundred 
cavalry,  were  on  the  north  side  of  the  Missouri  Piver,  advanc- 
ing to  reenforce  the  garrison  at  Lexington.  At  the  same  time, 
and  from  the  same  direction,  Colonel  Saunders,  with  about 
twenty-five  hundred  Missourians,  was  coming  to  the  aid  of 
General  Price.  General  D.  P.  Atchison,  who  had  long  been  a 
United  States  Senator  from  Missouri,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
resignation  was  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate,  was  sent  by 
General  Price  to  meet  the  command  of  Colonel  Saunders  and 
hasten*  them  forward.  He  joined  them  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  river,  and,  after  all  but  about  five  hundred  had  been  ferried 
over,  General.  Atchison  still  remaining  with  these,  they  were 
unexpectedly  attacked  by  the  force  from  Kansas.  The  ground 
was  densely  wooded,  and  partially  covered  with  water.  The  Mis- 
sourians, led  and  cheered  by  one  they  had  so  long  and  deservedly 
honored,  met  the  assault  with  such  determination,  and  fighting 
with  the  skill  of  woodsmen  and  hunters,  that  they  put  the 
enemy  to  rout,  pursuing  him  for  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  and  in- 
flicting heavy  loss  upon  him,  while  that  of  the  Missourians  was 
but  five  killed  and  twenty  wounded. 


432      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

The  expedient  of  the  bales  of  hemp  was  a  brilliant  concep- 
tion, not  unlike  that  which  made  Tarik,  the  Saracen  warrior, 
immortal,  and  gave  his  name  to  the  northern  pillar  of  Hercules. 

The  victories  in  Missouri  which  have  been  noticed,  and 
which  so  far  exceeded  what  might  have  been  expected  from  the 
small  forces  by  which  they  were  achieved,  had  caused  an  aug- 
mentation of  the  enemy's  troops  to  an  estimated  number  of 
seventy  thousand.  Against  these  the  army  of  General  Price 
could  not  hope  successfully  to  contend ;  he  therefore  retired 
toward  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State. 

The  want  of  supplies  and  transportation  compelled  him  to 
disband  a  portion  of  his  troops ;  with  the  rest  he  continued  his  re- 
treat to  Neosho.  By  proclamation  of  Governor  Jackson,  the 
Legislature  had  assembled  at  this  place,  and  had  passed  the  or- 
dinance of  secession.  If  other  evidence  were  wanting,  the  fact 
that,  without  governmental  aid,  without  a  military  chest,  with- 
out munitions  of  war,  the  campaign  which  has  been  described 
had  so  far  been  carried  on  by  the  voluntary  service  of  the 
citizens,  and  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people,  must  be  con- 
clusive that  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  the  expression  of  the 
popular  will  of  Missouri. 

The  forces  of  Missouri  again  formed  a  junction  with  the 
Confederate  troops  under  General  McCulloch,  and  together  they 
moved  to  Pineville,  in  McDonald  County. 


CHAPTEE    X. 

Brigadier-General  Henry  A.  Wise  takes  command  in  Western  Virginia. — His  Move 
ments. — Advance  of  General  John  B.  Floyd. — Defeats  the  Enemy. — Attacked 
by  Rosecrans. — Controversy  between  Wise  and  Floyd. — General  R.  E.  Lee  takes 
the  Command  in  West  Virginia. — Movement  on  Cheat  Mountain. — Its  Failure. 
— Further  Operations. — Winter  Quarters. — Lee  sent  to  South  Carolina. 

In  June,  1861,  Brigadier-General  Henry  A.  Wise,  who  was 
well  and  favorably  known  to  the  people  of  the  Kanawha  Yalley, 
in  his  enthusiasm  for  their  defense  and  confidence  in  his  ability 
to  rally  them  to  resist  the  threatened  invasion  of  that  region, 


1861]  CARNIFEX  FERRY.  433 

offered  his  services  for  that  purpose.  "With  a  small  command, 
which  was  to  serve  as  a  nucleus  to  the  force  he  hoped  to  raise, 
he  was  sent  thither.  His  success  was  as  great  as  could  have 
been  reasonably  expected,  and,  after  the  small  but  brilliant  affair 
on  Scary  Creek,  he  prepared  to  give  battle  to  the  enemy  then 
advancing  up  the  Kanawha  Yalley  under  General  Cox ;  but  the 
defeat  of  our  forces  at  Laurel  Hill,  which  has  been  already  no- 
ticed, uncovered  his  right  flank  and  endangered  his  rear,  which 
was  open  to  approach  by  several  roads ;  he  therefore  fell  back 
to  Lewisburg. 

Brigadier-General  John  B.  Floyd  had  in  the  mean  time 
raised  a  brigade  in  southwestern  Yirginia,  and  advanced  to  the 
support  of  General  Wise.  Unfortunately,  there  was  a  want 
of  concert  between  these  two  officers,  which  prevented  their 
entire  cooperation.  General  Floyd  engaged  the  enemy  in  sev- 
eral brilliant  skirmishes,  when  he  found  that  his  right  was 
threatened  by  a  force  which  was  approaching  on  that  flank, 
with  the  apparent  purpose  of  crossing  the  Gauley  Biver  at  the 
Carnifex  Ferry  so  as  to  strike  his  line  of  communication  with 
Lewisburg.  He  crossed  the  river  with  his  brigade  and  a  part 
of  Wise's  cavalry,  leaving  that  general  to  check  any  advance 
which  Cox  might  make.  General  Floyd's  movement  was  as 
successful  as  it  was  daring ;  he  met  the  enemy's  forces,  defeated 
and  dispersed  them,  but  the  want  of  cooperation  between  Gen- 
erals Wise  and  Floyd  prevented  a  movement  against  General 
Cox. 

Floyd  intrenched  himself  on  the  Gauley,  in  a  position  of 
great  natural  strength,  but  the  small  force  under  his  com- 
mand and  the  fact  that  he  was  separated  from  that  of  General 
Wise  probably  induced  General  Bosecrans,  commanding  the 
enemy's  forces  in  the  Cheat  Mountain,  to  advance  and  assail  the 
position.  Though  his  numbers  were  vastly  superior,  the  attack 
was  a  failure ;  after  a  heavy  loss  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  he 
fell  back  after  nightfall.  During  the  night  Floyd  crossed  the 
river  and  withdrew  to  the  camp  of  General  Wise,  to  form  a 
junction  of  the  two  forces,  and  together  they  fell  back  toward 
Sewell's  Mountain.  The  unfortunate  controversy  between  these 
officers,  which  had  prevented  cooperation  in  the  past,  grew 
28 


434      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

more  bitter,  and  each  complained  of  the  other  in  terms  that  left 
little  hope  of  future  harmony ;  and  this  want  of  cooperation  led 
to  confusion,  and  threatened  further  reverses. 

General  Loring  had  succeeded  General  Garnett,  and  was  in 
command  of  the  remnant  of  the  force  defeated  at  Laurel  Hill. 
His  headquarters  were  at  Yalley  Mountain.  General  R.  E. 
Lee,  on  duty  at  Richmond,  aiding  the  President  in  the  general 
direction  of  military  affairs,  was  now  ordered  to  proceed  to 
western  Yirginia.  It  was  hoped  that,  by  his  military  skill  and 
deserved  influence  over  men,  he  would  be  able  to  retrieve  the 
disaster  we  had  suffered  at  Laurel  Hill,  and,  by  combining  all 
our  forces  in  western  Yirginia  on  one  plan  of  operations,  give 
protection  to  that  portion  of  our  country.  Such  reenforcement 
as  could  be  furnished  had  been  sent  to  Yalley  Mountain,  the 
headquarters  of  General  Loring.  Thither  General  Lee  prompt- 
ly proceeded.  The  duty  to  which  he  was  assigned  was  certain- 
ly not  attractive  by  the  glory  to  be  gained  or  the  ease  to  be  en- 
joyed, but  Lee  made  no  question  as  to  personal  preference,  and, 
whatever  were  his  wishes,  they  were  subordinate  to  what  was 
believed  to  be  the  public  interest. 

The  season  had  been  one  of  extraordinary  rains,  render- 
ing the  mountain-roads,  ordinarily  difficult,  almost  impassable. 
With  unfaltering  purpose  and  energy,  he  crossed  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  and,  learning  that  the  main  encampment  of  the  en- 
emy wTas  in  the  valley  of  Tygart  River  and  Elk  Run,  Randolph 
County,  he  directed  his  march  toward  that  position.  The  troops 
under  the  immediate  command  of  Brigadier-General  H.  R.  Jack- 
son, together  with  those  under  Brigadier-General  Loring,  were 
about  thirty-five  hundred  men.  The  force  of  the  enemy,  as  far 
as  it  could  be  ascertained,  was  very  much  greater.  In  the  de- 
tached work  at  Cheat  Mountain  Pass,  we  learned  by  a  provision- 
return,  found  upon  the  person  of  a  captured  staff-officer,  that 
there  were  three  thousand  men,  being  but  a  fraction  less  than 
our  whole  force.  After  a  careful  reconnaissance,  and  a  full  con- 
ference with  General  Loring,  Lee  decided  to  attack  the  main 
encampment  of  the  enemy  by  a  movement  of  his  troops  con- 
verging upon  the  valley  from  three  directions.  The  colonel  of 
one  of  his  regiments,  who  had  reconnoitered  the  position  of  the 


1861]  WITHOUT  THE  EXPECTED   SIGNAL.  435 

works  at  Cheat  Mountain  Pass,  reported  that  it  was  feasible  to 
turn  it  and  carry  it  by  assault,  and  lie  was  assigned  to  that  duty. 
General  Lee  ordered  other  portions  of  his  force  to  take  position 
on  the  spurs  overlooking  the  enemy's  main  encampment,  while 
he  led  three  regiments  to  the  height  below  and  nearest  to  the 
position  of  the  enemy.  The  instructions  were  that  the  officer 
sent  to  turn  the  position  at  Cheat  Mountain  Pass  should  ap- 
proach it  at  early  dawn,  and  immediately  open  fire,  which  was 
to  be  the  signal  for  the  concerted  attack  by  the  rest  of  the  force. 
It  rained  heavily  during  the  day,  and,  after  a  toilsome  night- 
march,  the  force  led  by  General  Lee,  wet,  weary,  hungry,  and 
cold,  gained  their  position  close  to  and  overlooking  the  enemy's 
encampment.  In  their  march  they  had  surprised  and  captured 
the  picket,  without  a  gun  being  fired,  so  that  no  notice  had  been 
given  of  their  approach. 

The  officer  who  had  been  sent  to  attack  the  work  at  Cheat 
Mountain  Pass  found  on  closer  examination  that  he  had  been 
mistaken  as  to  the  practicability  of  taking  it  by  assault,  and  that 
the  heavy  abatis  which  covered  it  was  advanced  beyond  the 
range  of  his  rifles.  Not  having  understood  that  his  firing  was 
to  be  the  signal  for  the  general  attack,  and  should  therefore  be 
opened,  whether  it  would  be  effective  or  not,  he  withdrew  with- 
out firing  a  musket. 

The  height  occupied  by  General  Lee  was  shrouded  in  fog, 
and,  as  morning  had  dawned  without  the  expected  signal,  he  con- 
cluded that  some  mishap  had  befallen  the  force  which  was  to 
make  it.  By  a  tortuous  path  he  went  down  the  side  of  the 
mountain  low  enough  to  have  a  distinct  view  of  the  camp.  He 
saw  the  men,  unconscious  of  the  near  presence  of  an  enemy, 
engaged  in  cleaning  their  arms,  cooking,  and  other  morning 
occupations;  then  returning  to  his  command,  he  explained  to 
his  senior  officers  what  he  had  seen,  and  expressed  his  belief 
that,  though  the  plan  of  attack  had  failed,  the  troops  there  with 
him  could  surprise  and  capture  the  camp.  The  officers  with- 
drew, conferred  with  their  men,  and  reported  to  the  General 
that  the  troops  were  not  in  condition  for  the  enterprise.  As 
the  fog  was  then  lifting,  and  they  would  soon  be  revealed  to  the 
enemy  below,  whose  numbers  were  vastly  superior  to  his  own, 


436      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

he  withdrew  his  command  by  the  route  they  had  come,  and  with- 
out observation  returned  to  his  camp.  Beyond  some  skirmishes 
with  outposts  and  reconnoitering  parties,  our  troops  had  not  been 
engaged,  and  in  these  affairs  our  reported  loss  was  comparatively 
small. 

Colonel  John  A.  "Washington,  aide-de-camp  of  General  Lee, 
was  killed,  while  making  a  reconnaissance,  by  a  party  in  ambus- 
cade. The  loss  of  this  valuable  and  accomplished  officer  was 
much  regretted  by  his  general  and  all  others  who  knew  him. 

The  report  that  Bosecrans  and  Cox  had  united  their  com- 
mands and  were  advancing  upon  Wise  and  Floyd  caused  Gen- 
eral Lee  to  move  at  once  to  their  support.  He  found  Gen- 
eral  Floyd  at  Meadow  Bluff  and  General  Wise  at  Sewell 
Mountain.  The  latter  position  being  very  favorable  for  de- 
fense, the  troops  were  concentrated  there  to  await  the  threatened 
attack  by  Bosecrans,  who  advanced  and  took  position  in  sight 
of  General  Lee's  intrenched  camp,  and,  having  remained  there 
for  more  than  a  week,  withdrew  in  the  night  without  attempting 
the  expected  attack. 

The  weak  condition  of  his  artillery-horses  and  the  bad  state 
of  the  roads,  made  worse  by  the  retiring  army,  prevented  General 
Lee  from  attempting  to  pursue ;  and  the  approach  of  winter, 
always  rigorous  in  that  mountain-region,  closed  the  campaign 
with  a  small  but  brilliant  action  in  which  General  H.  B.  Jackson 
repelled  an  attack  of  a  greatly  superior  force,  inflicting  severe 
loss  on  the  assailants,  and  losing  but  six  of  his  own  command. 

With  the  close  of  active  operations,  General  Lee  returned 
to  Bichmond,  and,  though  subjected  to  depreciatory  criticism 
by  the  carpet-knights  who  make  campaigns  on  assumed  hy- 
potheses, he  with  characteristic  self-abnegation  made  no  defense 
of  himself,  not  even  presenting  an  official  report  of  his  night- 
march  in  the  Cheat  Mountain,  but  orally  he  stated  to  me  the 
facts  which  have  formed  the  basis  of  this  sketch.  My  estimate 
of  General  Lee,  my  confidence  in  his  ability,  zeal,  and  fidelity, 
rested  on  a  foundation  not  to  be  shaken  by  such  criticism  as  I 
have  noticed.  I  had  no  more  doubt  then,  than  after  his  fame 
had  been  securely  established,  that,  whenever  he  had  the  op- 
portunity to  prove  his  worth,  he  would  secure  public  apprecia- 


1861]  WHAT   MANNER   OF  MAN  HE   WAS.  437 

tion.  Therefore,  as  affairs  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  were  in  an  unsatisfactory  condition,  he  was  directed  to 
go  there  and  take  such  measures  for  the  defense,  particularly 
of  Savannah  and  Charleston,  as  he  should  find  needful.  Lest 
the  newspaper  attack  should  have  created  unjust  and  unfavor- 
able impressions  in  regard  to  him,  I  thought  it  desirable  to  write 
to  Governor  Pickens  and  tell  him  what  manner  of  man  he  was 
who  had  been  sent  to  South  Carolina. 

After  the  withdrawal  of  the  Confederate  army  from  Fair- 
fax Court-House  and  the  positions  which  had  been  occupied  in 
front  of  that  place,  a  movement  was  made  by  the  enemy  to  cross 
the  Potomac  near  Leesburg,  where  we  had,  under  the  command 
of  Brigadier  General  1ST.  S.  Evans,  of  South  Carolina,  four 
regiments  of  infantry  (i.  e.,  the  Thirteenth,  Seventeenth,  and 
Eighteenth  Mississippi,  and  the  Eighth  Virginia),  commanded 
respectively  by  Colonels  Barksdale,  Featherston,  Burt,  and  Hun- 
ton,  a  small  detachment  of  cavalry,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Jenifer,  and  some  pieces  of  artillery. 

On  the  21st  of  October  the  enemy  commenced  crossing  the 
river  at  Edwards's  Ferry.  A  brigade  was  thrown  over  and  met 
by  the  Thirteenth  Mississippi,  which  held  them  in  check  at  the 
point  of  crossing.  In  the  mean  time  another  brigade  was  thrown 
>ver  at  Ball's  Bluff,  and,  as  troops  continued  to  cross  at  that  point, 
where  the  Eighth  Yirginia  had  engaged  them,  General  Evans  or- 
dered up  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Mississippi,  and  the 
three  regiments  made  such  an  impetuous  attack  as  to  drive  back 
the  enemy  to  the  bluff,  and  their  leader,  Colonel  Baker,  having 
fallen,  a  panic  seemed  to  seize  the  command,  so  that  they  rushed 
headlong  down  the  bluff,  and  crowded  into  the  fiat-boats,  which 
were  their  means  of  transportation,  in  such  numbers  that  they 
were  sunk,  and  many  of  the  foe  were  drowned  in  their  attempt 
to  swim  the  river.  The  loss  of  the  enemy,  prisoners  included, 
exceeded  the  number  of  our  troops  in  the  action.  The  Con- 
federate loss  was  reported  to  be  thirty-six  killed,  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  wounded,  and  two  captured ;  total,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five.  Among  the  killed  was  the  gallant  Colonel 
Burt,  a  much-respected  citizen  of  Mississippi,  where  he  had  held 
high  civil  station,  and  where  his  death  was  long  deplored. 


438      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTEK    XI. 

The  Issue. — The  American  Idea  of  Government. — Who  was  responsible  for  the 
War  ? — Situation  of  Virginia. — Concentration  of  the  Enemy  against  Richmond. 
— Our  Difficulty. — Unjust  Criticisms. — The  Facts  set  forth. — Organization  of 
the  Army. — Conference  at  Fairfax  Court-House. — Inaction  of  the  Army. — Cap- 
ture of  Romney. — Troops  ordered  to  retire  to  the  Valley. — Discipline. — General 
Johnston  regards  his  Position  as  unsafe. — The  First  Policy. — Retreat  of  Gen- 
eral Johnston. — The  Plans  of  the  Enemy. — Our  Strength  magnified  by  the 
Enemy. — Stores  destroyed. — The  Trent  Affair. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  Southern  States,  by  their  repre- 
sentatives in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  consistently  endeavored 
even  to  the  last  day,  when  they  were  by  their  constituents  per- 
mitted to  remain  in  the  halls  of  Federal  legislation,  to  main- 
tain the  Constitution,  and  preserve  the  Union  which  the  States 
had  by  their  independent  action  ordained  and  established.  On 
the  other  hand,  proof  has  been  adduced  to  show  that  the  North- 
ern States,  by  a  majority  of  their  representatives  in  the  Congress, 
had  persisted  in  agitation  injurious  to  the  welfare  and  tranquillity 
of  the  Southern  States,  and  at  the  last  moment  had  refused  to 
make  any  concessions,  or  to  offer  any  guarantees  to  check  the  cur- 
rent toward  secession  of  the  complaining  States,  whose  love  for 
the  Union  rendered  them  willing  to  accept  less  than  justice  should 
have  readily  accorded.  The  issue  was  then  presented  between 
submission  to  empire  of  the  North,  or  the  severance  of  those 
ties  consecrated  by  many  memories,  and  strengthened  by  those 
habits  which  render  every  people  reluctant  to  sever  long-exist- 
ing associations. 

The  authorities  heretofore  cited  have,  I  must  believe,  con- 
clusively shown  that  the  question  of  changing  their  government 
was  one  that  the  States  had  the  power  to  decide  by  virtue  of 
the  unalienable  right  announced  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  which  had  been  proudly  denominated  the  American 
idea  of  government.  The  hope  and  the  wish  of  the  people  of 
the  South  were  that  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  separation 
would  be  peacefully  met,  and  be  followed  by  such  commercial 
regulations  as  would  least  disturb  the  prosperity  and  future 


1861]  TO  EXERCISE   THEIR  SOVEREIGN  RIGHT.  439 

intercourse  of  the  separated  States.  Every  step  taken  by  the 
Confederate  Government  was  directed  toward  that  end.  The 
separation  of  the  States  having  been  decided  on,  it  was  sought 
to  effect  it  in  such  manner  as  would  be  just  to  the  parties  con- 
cerned, and  preserve  as  far  as  possible,  under  separate  govern- 
ments, the  fraternal  and  mutually  beneficial  relations  which 
had  existed  between  the  States  when  united,  and  which  it  was 
the  object  of  their  compact  of  union  to  secure.  To  all  the 
proofs  heretofore  offered  I  confidently  refer  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  fact  that  whatever  of  bloodshed,  of  devastation,  or 
shock  to  republican  government  has  resulted  from  the  war,  is 
to  be  charged  to  the  Northern  States.  The  invasions  of  the 
Southern  States,  for  purposes  of  coercion,  were  in  violation  of 
the  written  Constitution,  and  the  attempt  to  subjugate  sover- 
eign States,  under  the  pretext  of  "preserving  the  Union,"  was 
alike  offensive  to  law,  to  good  morals,  and  the  proper  use  of  lan- 
guage. The  Union  was  the  voluntary  junction  of  free  and 
independent  States ;  to  subjugate  any  of  them  was  to  destroy 
constituent  parts,  and  necessarily,  therefore,  must  be  the  de- 
struction of  the  Union  itself. 

That  the  Southern  States  were  satisfied  with  a  Federal  Gov- 
ernment such  as  their  fathers  had  formed,  was  shown  by  their 
adoption  of  a  Constitution  so  little  differing  from  the  instrument 
of  1787.  It  was  against  the  violations  of  that  instrument,  and 
usurpations  offensive  to  their  pride  and  injurious  to  their  inter- 
ests, that  they  remonstrated,  argued,  and  finally  appealed  to  the 
inherent,  undelegated  power  of  the  States  to  judge  of  their 
wrongs,  and  of  the  "  mode  and  measure  of  redress." 

After  many  years  of  fruitless  effort  to  secure  from  their 
Northern  associates  a  faithful  observance  of  the  compact  of 
union;  after  its  conditions  had  been  deliberately  and  persist- 
ently broken,  and  the  signs  of  the  times  indicated  further  and 
more  ruthless  violations  of  their  rights  as  equals  in  the  Union, 
the  Southern  States,  preferring  a  peaceful  separation  to  continu- 
ance in  a  hostile  Union,  decided  to  exercise  their  sovereign  right 
to  withdraw  from  an  association  which  had  failed  to  answer  the 
ends  for  which  it  was  formed.  It  has  been  shown  how  they 
endeavored  to  effect  the  change  with  strict  regard  to  the  princi- 


440      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

pies  controlling  a  dissolution  of  partnership,  and  how  earnestly 
they  desired  to  remain  in  friendly  relations  to  the  Northern 
States,  and  how  all  their  overtures  were  rejected.  When  they 
pleaded  for  peace,  the  United  States  Government  deceptively 
delayed  to  answer,  while  making  ready  for  war.  To  the  calm 
judgment  of  mankind  is  submitted  the  question,  Who  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  war  between  the  States  ? 

Virginia,  whose  history,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1776,  had  been  a  long  course  of  sacrifices  for  the  benefit 
of  her  sister  States,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  she  had 
mainly  contributed  to  establish,  clung  to  it  with  the  devotion  of 
a  mother.  It  has  been  shown  how  her  efforts  to  check  dissolu- 
tion were  persisted  in  when  the  aggrieved  were  hopeless  and  the 
aggressors  reckless,  and  how  her  mediations  were  rejected  in  the 
"  Peace  Congress,"  which  on  her  motion  had  been  assembled. 
Sorrowing  over  the  failure  of  this,  her  blessed  though  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  to  preserve  the  Union  of  the  Constitution,  she  was 
not  permitted  to  mourn  as  a  neutral,  but  was  required  by  the 
United  States  Government  to  choose  between  furnishing  troops 
to  subjugate  her  Southern  sisters  or  the  reclamation  of  the 
grants  she  had  made  to  the  Federal  Government  when  she  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Union.  The  first  was  a  violation  of 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution ;  the  second  was  a 
reserved  right.  The  voice  of  Henry  called  to  her  from  the 
ground ;  the  spirits  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  moved  among 
her  people. 

There  was  but  one  course  consistent  with  her  stainless  reputa- 
tion and  often-declared  tenets,  as  to  the  liberties  of  her  people, 
which  she  could  have  adopted.  As  in  1776,  reluctantly  she 
bowed  to  the  necessity  of  separation  from  the  Crown,  so  in  1861 
the  ordinance  of  secession  was  adopted.  Having  exhausted  all 
other  means,  she  took  the  last  resort,  and,  if  for  this  she  was 
selected  as  the  first  object  of  assault,  "  methinks  the  punishment 
exceedeth  the  offense." 

The  large  resources  and  full  preparation  of  the  United 
States  Government  enabled  it  to  girt  Yirginia  as  with  a  wall  of 
fire.  It  has  been  shown  that  she  was  threatened  from  the  east, 
from  the  north,  and  from  the  west.     The  capital  of  the  State 


1861]  THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE   CAPITAL.  441 

and  of  the  Confederacy,  Richmond,  was  the  objective  point,  and 
on  this  the  march  of  three  columns  concentrated.  On  the  east, 
the  advance  of  the  enemy  was  on  several  occasions  feasible, 
when  we  consider  the  number  of  his  forces  at  and  about  Fortress 
Monroe,  in  comparison  with  the  small  means  retained  for  the 
defense  of  the  capital.  On  the  north,  the  most  formidable  army 
of  the  enemy  was  assembled ;  to  oppose  it  we  had  the  compara- 
tively small  Army  of  the  Potomac.  This  being  regarded  as  the 
line  on  which  the  greatest  danger  was  apprehended,  our  efforts 
were  mostly  directed  toward  giving  it  the  requisite  strength. 
Troops,  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be  raised  and  armed,  were  sent 
forward  for  that  purpose.  From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of 
the  war,  we  mainly  relied  for  the  defense  of  the  capital  on  its 
aged  citizens,  boys  too  young  for  service,  and  the  civil  em- 
ployees of  the  executive  departments.  On  several  occasions 
these  were  called  out  to  resist  an  attack.  They  answered  with 
alacrity,  and  always  bore  themselves  gallantly,  more  than  once 
repelling  the  enemy  in  the  open  field.  Had  it  been  practicable 
to  do  so,  it  would  surely  have  been  proper  to  keep  a  large  force 
in  reserve  for  the  defense  of  the  capital,  so  often  and  vauntingly 
proclaimed  to  be  the  object  of  the  enemy's  campaign.  Perhaps 
the  propriety  of  such  provision  gave  currency  and  credence  to 
rumors  that  we  had  a  large  force  at  Richmond.  This  even  led 
to  the  application  for  a  detachment  from  it  to  reenforce  our 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  caused  me  to  write  to  General  J. 
E.  Johnston  at  Manassas,  Virginia,  on  September  5, 1861,  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  You  have  again  been  deceived  as  to  the  forces  here.  We 
never  have  had  anything  near  to  twenty  thousand  men,  and  have 
now  but  little  over  one  fourth  of  that  number.  .  .  .  Since  the  date  of 
your  glorious  victory  the  enemy  have  grown  weaker  in  numbers, 
and  far  weaker  in  the  character  of  their  troops,  so  that  I  had  felt  it 
remained  with  us  to  decide  whether  another  battle  should  soon  be 
fought  or  not.  Your  remark  indicates  a  different  opinion.  ...  I 
wish  I  could  send  additional  force  to  occupy  Loudon,  but  my 
means  are  short  of  the  wants  of  each  division  I  am  laboring  to 
protect.  One  ship-load  of  small-arms  would  enable  me  to  answer 
all  demands,  but  vainly  have  I  hoped  and  waited." 


442      RISE  ANI)  FALL  0F  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Then,  there,  and  everywhere,  our  difficulty  was  the  want  of 
arms  and  munitions  of  war.  Lamentable  cries  came  to  us  from 
the  West  for  the  supplies  which  would  enable  patriotic  citizens 
to  defend  their  homes.  The  resource  upon  which  the  people 
had  so  confidently  relied,  the  private  arms  in  the  hands  of  citi- 
zens, proved  a  sad  delusion,  and  elsewhere  it  has  been  shown 
how  deficient  we  were  in  ammunition,  or  the  means  of  providing 
it.  The  simple  fact  was,  the  country  had  gone  to  war  without 
counting  the  cost. 

Undue  elation  over  our  victory  at  Manassas  was  followed 
by  dissatisfaction  at  what  was  termed  the  failure  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  victory ;  and  rumors,  for  which  there  could  be  no  better 
excuse  than  partisan  zeal,  were  circulated  that  the  heroes  of  the 
hour  were  prevented  from  reaping  the  fruits  of  the  victory  by 
the  interference  of  the  President.  Naturally  there  followed 
another  rumor,  that  the  inaction  of  the  victorious  army,  to 
which  reinforcements  continued  to  be  sent,  was  due  to  the 
policy  of  the  President ;  and  he  also  was  held  responsible,  and 
with  more  apparent  justice,  for  the  failure  to  organize  the 
troops  of  the  several  States,  as  the  law  contemplated,  into  bri- 
gades and  divisions  composed  of  the  soldiers  of  each. 

Though  these  unjust  criticisms  weakened  the  power  of  the 
Government  to  meet  its  present  and  provide  for  its  future  ne- 
cessities, I  bore  them  in  silence,  lest  to  vindicate  myself  should 
injure  the  public  service  by  turning  the  public  censure  to  the 
generals  on  whom  the  hopes  of  the  country  rested.  That  motive 
no  longer  exists ;  and,  to  justify  the  faith  of  those  who,  without 
a  defense,  continued  to  uphold  my  hands,  I  propose  to  set  forth 
the  facts  by  correspondence  and  otherwise.  So  far  as,  in  doing 
this,  blame  shall  be  transferred  from  me  to  others,  it  will  be  the 
incident,  not  the  design,  as  it  would  be  most  gratifying  to  me 
only  to  notice  for  praise  each  and  all  who  wore  the  gray. 

The  fiction  of  my  having  prevented  the  pursuit  of  the 
enemy  after  the  victory  of  Manassas  was  exploded  after  it  had 
acquired  an  authoritative  and  semi-official  form  in  the  manner 
and  for  the  reasons  heretofore  set  forth.  It  only  remains,  there- 
fore, to  notice  the  other  points  indicated  above  : 

First,  the  organization  of  the  army. 


1861]  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ARMY.  443 

Disease  and  discontent  are  known  to  be  the  attendants  of 
armies  lying  unemployed  in  camps,  especially,  as  in  our  case, 
when  the  troops  were  composed  of  citizens  called  from  their 
homes  under  the  idea  of  a  pressing  necessity,  and  with  the  hope 
of  soon  returning  to  them. 

Our  citizen  soldiers  were  a  powerful  political  element,  and 
their  correspondence,  finding  its  way  to  the  people  through  the 
press  and  to  the  halls  of  Congress  by  direct  communication  with 
the  members,  was  felt,  by  its  influence  both  upon  public  opinion 
and  general  legislation.  Members  of  Congress,  and  notably  the 
Yice-President,  contended  that  men  should  be  allowed  to  go 
home  and  attend  to  their  private  affairs  while  there  were  no 
active  operations,  and  that  there  was  no  doubt  but  that  they 
would  return  whenever  there  was  to  be  a  battle.  The  experi- 
ence of  war  soon  taught  our  people  the  absurdity  of  such 
ideas,  and  before  its  close  probably  none  would  have  uttered 
them. 

There  were  very  many  men  out  of  the  army  who  were  anx- 
ious to  enter  it,  but  for  whom  we  had  not  arms.  This  gave 
rise  to  the  remark,  more  humorous  than  profound,  that  we 
"  stood  around  the  camps  with  clubs  to  keep  one  set  in  and  an- 
other set  out."  Had  this  been  true,  it  was  certainly  justifiable 
to  refuse  to  exchange  a  trained  man  for  a  recruit.  All  who 
have  seen  service  know  that  one  old  soldier  is,  in  campaign, 
equal  to  several  who  have  everything  of  military  life  to 
learn. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  the  Southern  people  was  indi- 
viduality, and  time  was  needful  to  teach  them  that  the  terrible 
machine,  a  disciplined  army,  must  be  made  of  men  who  had 
surrendered  their  freedom  of  will.  The  most  distinguished  of 
our  citizens  were  not  the  slowest  to  learn  the  lesson,  and  per- 
haps no  army  ever  more  thoroughly  knew  it  than  did  that  which 
Lee  led  into  Pennsylvania,  and  none  ever  had  a  leader  who  in 
his  own  conduct  better  illustrated  the  lesson. 

Our  largest  army  in  1861  was  that  of  the  Potomac.  It  had 
been  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  forces  under  General  J.  E. 
Johnston  with  those  under  General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  with 
such  additions  as  could  be  hurriedly  sent  forward  to  meet  the 


4A4:      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

enemy  on  the  field  of  Manassas.     They  were  combined  into 
brigades  and  divisions  as  pressing  exigencies  required. 

By  the  act  of  February  28,  1861,  the  President  was  author- 
ized to  receive  companies,  battalions,  and  regiments  to  form  a 
part  of  the  provisional  army  of  the  Confederate  States,  and, 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  Congress,  to  appoint  general 
officers  for  them ;  and  by  the  act  of  March  6th  the  President 
was  to  apportion  the  staff  and  general  officers  among  the  respec- 
tive States  from  which  the  volunteers  were  received.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  the  States  generously  surrendered  their  right 
to  preserve  for  those  volunteers  the  character  of  State  troops 
and  to  appoint  general  officers  when  furnishing  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  regiments  to  require  such  grade  for  their  command ;  but, 
in  giving  their  volunteers  to  form  the  provisional  army  of  the 
Confederacy,  it  was  distinctly  suggested  that  the  general  officers 
should  be  so  appointed  as  to  make  a  just  apportionment  among 
the  States  furnishing  the  troops. 

During  the  repose  which  followed  the  battle  of  Manassas, 
it  was  deemed  proper  that  the  regiments  of  the  different  States 
should  be  assembled  in  brigad.es  together,  and,  as  far  as  consist- 
ent with  the  public  service,  that  the  spirit  of  the  law  should  be 
complied  with  by  the  assignment  of  brigadier-generals  of  the 
same  State  from  which  the  troops  were  drawn.  Instructions  to 
that  end  were  therefore  given,  and  again  and  again  repeated,  but 
were  for  a  long  time  only  partially  complied  with,  until  the 
delay  formed  the  basis  of  the  argument  that  those  who  had  by 
association  become  thoroughly  acquainted  would  more  advanta- 
geously be  left  united.  In  the  mean  time,  frequent  complaints 
came  to  me  from  the  army,  of  unjust  discrimination,  the  law 
being  executed  in  regard  to  the  troops  of  some  States  but  not 
of  others,  and  of  serious  discontent  arising  therefrom. 

.The  duty  to  obey  the  law  was  imperative,  and  neither  the 
Executive  nor  the  officers  of  the  army  had  any  right  to  ques- 
tion its  propriety.  I,  however,  considered  the  policy  of  that 
law  wise,  and  was  not  surprised  when  it  was  stated  to  me  that 
the  persistent  obstruction  to  its  execution  was  repressing  the 
spirit  to  volunteer  in  places  to  which  complaints  of  such  sup- 
posed favoritism  had  been  transmitted. 


1861]  CONFERENCE  AT  FAIRFAX   COURT-HOUSE.  445 

About  the  1st  of  October,  at  the  request  of  General  John- 
ston, I  went  to  his  headquarters,  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  for 
the  purpose  of  conference. 

At  the  time  of  this  visit  to  the  army,  the  attention  of  the 
general  officers,  who  then  met  me  in  conference,  was  called  to 
the  obligation  created  by  law  to  organize  the  troops,  when  the 
numbers  tendered  by  any  State  permitted  it,  into  brigades  and 
divisions  composed  of  the  regiments,  battalions,  or  companies 
of  such  State,  and  to  assign  general  and  staff  officers  in  the  ratio 
of  the  troops  thus  received.  After  my  return  to  the  capital, 
the  importance  of  the  subject  weighed  so  heavily  upon  me  as 
to  lead  to  correspondence  with  the  generals,  which  will  be  best 
understood  by  the  following  extracts  from  my  letters  to  them- 
which  are  here  appended : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  October  10,  1861. 
"  Major-General  G.  W.  Smith,  Army  of  Potomac. 

" .  .  .  .  How  have  you  progressed  in  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem I  left — the  organization  of  the  troops  with  reference  to  the 
States,  and  term  of  service  ?  If  the  volunteers  continue  their  com- 
plaints that  they  are  commanded  by  strangers  and  do  not  get  jus- 
tice, and  that  they  are  kept '  in  camp  to  die  when  reported  for 
hospital  by  the  surgeon,  we  shall  soon  feel  a  reaction  in  the  mat- 
ter of  volunteering.  Already  I  have  been  much  pressed  on  both 
subjects,  and  have  answered  by  promising  that  the  generals 
would  give  due  attention,  and,  I  hoped,  make  satisfactory  changes. 
The  authority  to  organize  regiments  into  brigades  and  the  latter 
into  divisions  is  by  law  conferred  only  on  the  President ;  and  I 
must  be  able  to  assume  responsibility  of  the  action  taken  by 
whomsoever  acts  for  me  in  that  regard.  By  reference  to  the  law, 
you  will  see  that,  in  surrendering  the  sole  power  to  appoint  gen- 
eral officers,  it  was  nevertheless  designed,  as  far  as  should  be 
found  consistent,  to  keep  up  the  State  relation  of  troops  and  gen- 
erals. Kentucky  has  a  brigadier,  but  not  a  brigade  ;  she  has, 
however,  a  regiment — that  regiment  and  brigadier  might  be  asso- 
ciated together.  Louisiana  had  regiments  enough  to  form  a  bri- 
gade, but  no  brigadier  in  either  corps  ;  all  of  the  regiments  were 
sent  to  that  corps  commanded  by  a  Louisiana  general.  Georgia 
has  regiments  now  organized  into  two  brigades  ;  she  has  on  duty 
with  that  army  two  brigadiers,  but  one  of  them  serves  with  other 


446      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

troops.  Mississippi  troops  were  scattered  as  if  the  State  were 
unknown.  Brigadier-General  Clark  was  sent  to  remove  a  grow- 
ing dissatisfaction,  but,  though  the  State  had  nine  regiments 
there,  he  (Clark)  was  put  in  command  of  a  post  and  depot  of  sup- 
plies. These  nine  regiments  should  form  two  brigades.  Briga- 
diers Clark  and  (as  a  native  of  Mississippi)  Whiting  should  be 
placed  in  command  of  them,  and  the  regiments  for  the  war  put  in 
the  army  man's  brigade.  Both  brigades  should  be  put  in  the 
division  commanded  by  General  Van  Dorn,  of  Mississippi.  Thus 
would  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  law  be  complied  with,  disagree- 
able complaint  be  spared  me,  and  more  of  content  be  assured 
under  the  trials  to  which  you  look  forward.  It  is  needless  to 
specify  further.  I  have  been  able  in  writing  to  you  to  speak 
freely,  and  you  have  no  past  associations  to  disturb  the  judgment 
to  be  passed  upon  the  views  presented.  I  have  made  and  am 
making  inquiries  as  to  the  practicability  of  getting  a  corps  of  ne- 
groes for  laborers  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  an  intrenched  line 
in  rear  of  your  present  position. 

"  Your  remarks  on  the  want  of  efficient  staff-officers  are  real- 
ized in  all  their  force,  and  I  hope,  among  the  elements  which  con- 
stitute a  staff-officer  for  volunteers,  you  have  duly  estimated  the 
qualities  of  forbearance  and  urbanity.  Many  of  the  privates  are 
men  of  high  social  position,  of  scholarship  and  fortune.  Their 
pride  furnishes  the  motive  for  good  conduct,  and,  if  wounded,  is 
turned  from  an  instrument  of  good  to  one  of  great  power  for 

evil.  .  .  ." 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  October  16, 1861. 

"  General  Beauregakd,  Manassas,  Virginia. 

" ....  I  have  thought  often  upon  the  questions  of  reorgani- 
zation which  were  submitted  to  you,  and  it  has  seemed  to  me  that, 
whether  in  view  of  disease,  or  the  disappointment  and  suffering 
of  a  winter  cantonment  on  a  line  of  defense,  or  of  a  battle  to  be 
fought  in  and  near  your  position,  it  was  desirable  to  combine  the 
troops,  by  a  new  distribution,  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable. 
They  will  be  stimulated  to  extraordinary  effort  when  so  organ- 
ized, in  that  the  fame  of  their  State  will  be  in  their  keeping,  and 
that  each  will  feel  that  his  immediate  commander  will  desire  to 
exalt  rather  than  diminish  his  services.  You  pointed  me  to  the 
fact  that  you  had  observed  that  rule  in  the  case  of  the  Louisiana 
and  Carolina  troops,  and  you  will  not  fail  to  perceive  that  others 


1861]  REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ARMY.  447 

find  in  the  fact  a  reason  for  the  like  disposal  of  them.  In  the 
hour  of  sickness,  and  the  tedium  of  waiting  for  spring,  men  from 
the  same  region  will  best  console  and  relieve  each  other.  The 
maintenance  of  our  cause  rests  on  the  sentiments  of  the  people. 
Letters  from  the  camp,  complaining  of  inequality  and  harshness 
in  the  treatment  of  the  men,  have  already  dulled  the  enthusiasm 
which  filled  our  ranks  with  men  who  by  birth,  fortune,  education, 
and  social  position  were  the  equals  of  any  officer  in  the  land.  The 
spirit  of  our  military  law  is  manifested  in  the  fact  that  the  State 
organization  was  limited  to  the  regiment.  The  volunteers  come 
in  sufficient  numbers  to  have  brigadiers,  but  have  only  colonels. 
It  was  not  then  intended  (is  the  necessary  conclusion)  that  those 
troops  should  be  under  the  immediate  command  of  officers  above 
the  grade  of  colonel.  The  spirit  of  the  law,  then,  indicates  that 
brigades  should  be  larger  than  customary,  the  general  being 
charged  with  the  care,  the  direction,  the  preservation  of  the  men, 
rather  than  the  internal  police." 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  October  20, 1861. 
"  General  Beauregard,  Manassas,  Virginia. 

"  My  dear  General  :  .  .  .  Two  rules  have  been  applied  in 
the  projected  reorganization  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  : 

"  1.  As  far  as  practicable,  to  keep  regiments  from  the  same  State 
together  ;  2.  To  assign  generals  to  command  the  troops  of  their 
own  State.  I  have  not  overlooked  the  objections  to  each,  but  the 
advantages  are  believed  to  outweigh  the  disadvantages  of  that 
arrangement.  In  distributing  the  regiments  of  the  several  States 
it  would,  I  think,  be  better  to  place  the  regiments  for  the  war  in 
the  same  brigade  of  the  State,  and  assign  to  those  brigades  the 
brigadiers  whose  services  could  least  easily  be  dispensed  with. 
For  this,  among  other  reasons,  I  will  mention  but  one  :  the  com- 
mission of  a  brigadier  expires  upon  the  breaking  up  of  his  brigade 
(see  the  law  for  their  appointment).  Of  course,  I  would  not  for 
slight  cause  change  the  relations  of  troops  and  commanders,  es- 
pecially where  it  has  been  long  continued  and  endeared  by  the 
trials  of  battle  ;  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  regiment  was  fixed 
as  the  unit  of  organization,  and  made  the  connecting  link  between 
the  soldier  and  his  home.  Above  that,  all  was  subject  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Confederate  authorities,  save  the  pregnant  intima- 
tion in  relation  to  the  distribution  of  generals  among  the  several 


448      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

States.     It  was  generous  and  confiding  to  surrender  entirely  to 

the  Confederacy  the  appointment  of  generals,  and  it  is  the  more 

incumbent  on  me  to  carry  out  as  well  as  may  be  the  spirit  of  the 

volunteer  system." 

"  Richmond,  May  10,  1862. 
"General  J.  E.  Johnston. 

" .  .  .  .  Your  attention  has  been  heretofore  called  to  the  law 
in  relation  to  the  organization  of  brigades  and  divisions — orders 
were  long  since  given  to  bring  the  practice  and  the  law  into  con- 
formity. Recently  reports  have  been  asked  for  from  the  com- 
manders of  separate  armies  as  to  the  composition  of  their  respec- 
tive brigades  and  t  divisions.  I  have  been  much  harassed,  and 
the  public  interest  has  certainly  suffered,  by  the  delay  to  place 
the  regiments  of  some  of  the  States  in  brigades  together,  it  being 
deemed  that  unjust  discrimination  was  made  against  them,  and 
also  by  the  popular  error  which  has  existed  as  to  the  number  of 
brigadiers  to  which  appointments  could  be  specially  urged  on  the 
grounds  of  residence.  While  some  have  expressed  surprise  at  my 
patience  when  orders  to  you  were  not  observed,  I  have  at  least 
hoped  that  you  would  recognize  the  desire  to  aid  and  sustain  you, 
and  that  it  would  produce  the  corresponding  action  on  your  part. 
The  reasons  formerly  offered  have  one  after  another  disappeared, 
and  I  hope  you  will,  as  you  can,  proceed  to  organize  your  troops 
as  heretofore  instructed,  and  that  the  returns  will  relieve  us  of  the 
uncertainty  now  felt  as  to  the  number  and  relations  of  the  troops, 
and  the  commands  of  the  officers  having  brigades  and  divisions. 
...  I  will  not  dwell  on  the  lost  opportunity  afforded  along  the 
line  of  northern  Virginia,  but  must  call  your  attention  to  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  and  probable  action  of  the  enemy,  if 
not  driven  from  his  purpose  to  advance  on  the  Fredericksburg 
route.  .  .  .  Very  truly  yours, 

"Jefferson  Davis." 

On  the  26th  of  May  General  Johnston's  attention  was  again 
called  to  the  organization  of  the  ten  Mississippi  regiments  into 
two  brigades,  and  was  reminded  that  the  proposition  bad  been 
made  to  him  in  the  previous  autumn,  with  an  expression  of  my 
confidence  that  the  regiments  would  be  more  effective  in  battle 
if  thus  associated. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  notice  the  allegation  that  1  was  re- 


1861]  INACTION  BY  THE  ARMY   OF  THE  POTOMAC.  4.4.9 

sponsible  for  inaction  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1861  and  in  the  early  part  of  1862.  After  the  ex- 
plosion of  the  fallacy  that  I  had  prevented  the  pursuit  of  the 
enemy  from  Manassas  in  July,  1861,  my  assailants  have  sought 
to  cover  their  exposure  by  a  change  of  time  and  place,  locating 
their  story  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  and  dating  it  in  the  autumn 
of  1861.  " 

"When  at  that  time  and  place  I  met  General  Johnston  for 
conference,  he  called  in  the  two  generals  next  in  rank  to  him- 
self, Beauregard  and  Gr.  W.  Smith.  The  question  for  considera- 
tion was,  What  course  should  be  adopted  for  the  future  action 
of  the  army  ?  and  the  preliminary  inquiry  by  me  was  as  to  the 
number  of  the  troops  there  assembled.  To  my  surprise  and 
disappointment,  the  effective  strength  was  stated  to  be  but  little 
greater  than  when  it  fought  the  battle  of  the  21st  of  the  preced- 
ing July.  The  frequent  reinforcements  which  had  been  sent 
to  that  army  in  nowise  prepared  me  for  such  an  announcement. 
To  my  inquiry  as  to  what  force  would  be  required  for  the  con- 
templated advance  into  Maryland,  the  lowest  estimate  made  by 
any  of  them  was  about  twice  the  number  there  present  for 
duty.  How  little  I  was  prepared  for  such  a  condition  of  things 
will  be  realized  from  the  fact  that  previous  suggestions  by  the 
generals  in  regard  to  a  purpose  to  advance  into  Maryland  had 
induced  me,  when  I  went  to  that  conference,  to  take  with  me 
some  drawings  made  by  the  veteran  soldier  and  engineer,  Colo- 
nel Crozet,  of  -the  falls  of  the  Potomac,  to  show  the  feasibility 
of  crossing  the  river  at  that  point.  Yery  little  knowledge  of 
the  condition  and  military  resources  of  the  country  must  have 
sufficed  to  show  that  I  had  no  power  to  make  such  an  addition 
to  that  army  without  a  total  disregard  of  the  safety  of  other 
threatened  positions.  It  only  remained  for  me  to  answer  that 
I  had  not  power  to  furnish  such  a  number  of  troops ;  and,  unless 
the  militia  bearing  their  private  arms  should  be  relied  on,  we 
could  not  possibly  fulfill  such  a  requisition  until  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  small-arms  which  we  had  early  and  constantly 
striven  to  procure  from  abroad,  and  had  for  some  time  ex- 
pected. 

After  I  had  written  the  foregoing,  and  all  the  succeeding 
29 


450      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

chapters  on  kindred  subjects,  a  friend,  in  October,  1880,  fur- 
nished me  with  a  copy  of  a  paper  relating  to  the  conference 
at  Fairfax  Court-House,  which  seems  to  require  notice  at  my 
hands. 

Therefore  I  break  the  chain  of  events  to  insert  here  some 
remarks  in  regard  to  it. 

The  paper  appears  to  have  been  written  by  General  G.  "W. 
Smith,  and  to  have  received  the  approval  of  Generals  Beaure- 
gard and  J.  E.  Johnston,  and  to  bear  date  the  31st  of  January, 
1862. 

It  does  not  agree  in  some  respects  with  my  memory  of 
what  occurred,  and  is  not  consistent  with  itself.  It  was  not 
necessary  that  I  should  learn  in  that  interview  the  evil  of  in- 
activity. My  correspondence  of  anterior  date  might  have 
shown  that  I  was  fully  aware  of  it,  and  my  suggestions  in  the 
interview  certainly  did  not  look  as  if  it  was  necessary  to  im- 
press me  with  the  advantage  of  action. 

In  one  part  of  the  paper  it  is  stated  that  the  reenforcements 
asked  for  were  to  be  "  seasoned  soldiers,"  such  as  were  there 
present,  and  who  were  said  to  be  in  the  "  finest  fighting  condi- 
tion." This,  if  such  a  proposition  had  been  made,  would  have 
exposed  its  absurdity,  as  well  as  the  loophole  it  offered  for  es- 
cape, by  subsequently  asserting  that  the  troops  furnished  were 
not  up  to  the  proposed  standard. 

In  another  part  of  the  paper  it  is  stated  that  there  were 
hope  and  expectation  that,  before  the  end  of  the  winter,  arms 
would  be  introduced  into  the  country,  and  that  then  we  could 
successfully  invade  that  of  the  enemy  ;  but  this  supply  of  arms, 
however  abundant,  could  not  furnish  "  seasoned  soldiers,"  and 
the  two  propositions  are  therefore  inconsistent.  In  one  place  it 
is  written  that  "  it  was  felt  it  might  be  better  to  run  the  risk  of 
almost  certain  destruction  fighting  upon  the  other  side  of  the 
Potomac,  rather  than  see  the  gradual  dying  out  and  deteriora- 
tion of  this  army  during  a  winter,"  etc. ;  but,  when  it  was  pro- 
posed to  cross  into  eastern  Maryland  on  a  steamer  in  our  posses- 
sion for  a  partial  campaign,  difficulties  arose  like  the  lion  in  the 
path  of  the  sluggard,  so  that  the  proposition  was  postponed  and 
never  executed.     In  like  manner  the  other. expedition  in  the 


1861]  ITS  STRENGTH  HAD  BUT  LITTLE   INCREASED.  451 

Valley  of  Virginia  was  achieved  by  an  officer  not  of  this  coun- 
cil, General  T.  J.  Jackson. 

In  one  place  it  is  written  that  the  President  stated,  "  At  that 
time  no  reinforcements  could  be  furnished  to  the  army  of  the 
character  asked  for."  In  another  place  he  is  made  to  say  he 
could  not  take  any  troops  from  the  points  named,  and,  "  without 
arms  from  abroad,  could  not  reenforce  that  army."  Here, 
again,  it  is  clear  from  the  answer  that  the  proposition  had  been 
for  such  reenforcement  as  additional  arms  would  enable  him  to 
give.  Those  arms  he  expected  to  receive,  barring  the  dangers 
of  the  sea,  and  of  the  enemy,  which  obstacles  alone  prevented 
the  "  positive  assurance  that  they  would  be  received  at  all." 

It  was,  as  stated,  with  deep  regret  and  bitter  disappointment 
that  I  found,  notwithstanding  our  diligent  efforts  to  reenforce 
this  army  before  and  after  the  battle  of  Manassas,  that  its 
strength  had  but  little  increased,  and  that  the  arms  of  absentees 
and  discharged  men  were  represented  by  only  twenty-five  hun- 
dred on  hand.  I  can  not  suppose  that  General  Johnston  could 
have  noticed  the  statement  that  his  request  for  conference  had 
set  forth  the  object  of  it  to  be  to  discuss  the  question  of  re- 
enforcement.  He  would  have  known  that  in  Richmond,  where 
all  the  returns  were  to  be  found,  any  consideration  of  reenforce- 
ment, by  the  withdrawal  of  troops  from  existing  garrisons,  could 
best  be  decided.  Very  little  experience  or  a  fair  amount  of  mod- 
esty without  any  experience  would  serve  to  prevent  one  from 
announcing  his  conclusion  that  troops  could  be  withdrawn  from 
a  place  or  places  without  knowing  how  many  were  there,  and 
what  was  the  necessity  for  their  presence. 

I  was  at  the  conference  by  request ;  the  confidence  felt  in 
those  officers  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  I  met  them  alone,  and 
did  not  require  any  minutes  to  be  made  of  the  meeting.  About 
four  months  afterward  a  paper  was  prepared  to  make  a  record 
of  the  conversation  ;  the  fact  was  concealed  from  me,  whereas, 
both  for  accuracy  and  frankness,  it  should  have  been  submitted 
to  me,  even  if  there  had  been  nothing  due  to  our  official  rela- 
tions.  Twenty  years  after  the  event,  I  learned  of  this  secret 
report,  by  one  party,  without  notice  having  been  given  to  the 
I  other,  of  a  conversation  said  to  have  lasted  two  hours. 


4-52      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

I  have  noticed  the  improbabilities  and  inconsistencies  of  the 
paper,  and,  without  remark,  I  submit  to  honorable  men  the  con- 
cealment from  me  in  which  it  was  prepared,  whereby  thej  may 
judge  of  the  chances  for  such  co-intelligence  as  needs  must  exist 
between  the  Executive  and  the  commanders  of  armies  to  insure 
attainable  success. 

The  position  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  though  it  would  an- 
swer very  well  as  a  point  from  which  to  advance,  was  quite 
unfavorable  for  defense ;  and  when  I  so  remarked,  the  opinion 
seemed  to  be  that  to  which  the  generals  had  previously  arrived. 
It,  therefore,  only  remained  to  consider  what  change  of  posi- 
tion should  be  made  in  the  event  of  the  enemy  threatening 
soon  to  advance.  But  in  the  mean  time  I  hoped  that  some- 
thing could  be  done  by  detachments  from  the  army  to  effect 
objects  less  difficult  than  an  advance  against  his  main  force, 
and  particularly  indicated  the  lower  part  of  Maryland,  where  a 
small  force  was  said  to  be  ravaging  the  country  and  oppressing 
our  friends.  This,  I  thought,  might  be  feasible  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  battery  near  to  Acquia  Creek,  where  the  channel 
of  the  Potomac  was  said  to  be  so  narrow  that  our  guns  could 
jDrevent  the  use  of  the  river  by  the  enemy's  boats,  and,  by  em- 
ploying a  steamboat  lying  there,  troops  enough  could  be  sent 
over  some  night  to  defeat  that  force,  and  return  before  any 
large  body  could  be  concentrated  against  them.  The  effect  of 
the  battery  and  of  the  expedition,  it  was  hoped,  would  be  im- 
portant in  relieving  our  friends  and  securing  recruits  from  those 
who  wished  to  join  us.  Previously,  General  Johnston's  atten- 
tion had  been  called  to  possibilities  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah, and  that  these  and  other  like  things  were  not  done,  was 
surely  due  to  other  causes  than  "  the  policy  of  the  Administra- 
tion," as  will  appear  by  the  letters  hereto  annexed : 


"  Richmond,  Virginia,  August  1,  1SG1. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston  : 

".  .  .  .  General  Lee  has  gone  to  western  Virginia,  and  I  hope 
may  be  able  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  in  that  quarter,  or,  failing 
in  that,  will  be  able  to  organize  and  post  our  troops  so  as  to  check 
the  enemy,  after  which  he  will  return  to  this  place. 

"  The  movement  of  Banks  will  require  your  attention.    It  may 


1861]  OVERLOOK   THE   NECESSITIES   OF   OTHERS.  453 

be  a  ruse,  but,  if  a  real  movement,  when  your  army  has  the  requi- 
site strength  and  mobility,  you  will  probably  find  an  opportunity, 
by  a  rapid  movement  through  the  passes,  to  strike  him  in  rear  or 
flank,  and  thus  add  another  to  your  many  claims  to  your  country's 
gratitude.  .  .  .  We  must  be  prompt  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  weak- 
ness resulting  from  the  exchange  of  the  new  and  less  reliable  forces 
of  the  enemy,  for  those  heretofore  in  service,  as  well  as  of  the  moral 
effect  produced  by  their  late  defeat.  .  .  . 

"  I  am,  as  ever,  your  friend, 

"Jefferson-  Davis." 


From  the  correspondence  which,  occurred  after  the  confer- 
ence at  Fairfax  Court-House,  I  select  a  reply  made  to  General 
Smith,  who  had  written  to  me  in  advocacy  of  the  views  he  had 
then  expressed  about  large  reinforcements  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  for  an  advance  into  Maryland.  Nothing  is  more 
common  than  that  a  general,  realizing  the  wants  of  the  army 
with  which  he  is  serving,  and  the  ends  that  might  be  achieved 
if  those  wants  were  supplied,  should  overlook  the  necessities  of 
others,  and  accept  rumors  of  large  forces  which  do  not  exist, 
and  assume  the  absence  of  danger  elsewhere  than  in  his  own 
front. 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  October  10,  1861. 
"  Major-General  G.  W.  Smith,  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

" .  .  .  .  Your  remarks  about  the  moral  effect  of  repressing  the 
hope  of  the  volunteers  for  an  advance  are  in  accordance  with  the 
painful  impression  made  on  me  when,  in  our  council,  it  was  revealed 
to  me  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  reduced  to  about  one 
half  the  legalized  strength,  and  that  the  arms  to  restore  the  num- 
bers were  not  in  depot.  As  I  there  suggested,  though  you  may 
not  be  able  to  advance  into  Maryland  and  expel  the  enemy,  it  may 
be  possible  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  your  troops  by  expeditions 
such  as  that  particularly  spoken  of  against  Sickles's  brigade  on  the 
lower  Potomac,  or  Banks's  above.  By  destroying  the  canal  and 
making  other  rapid  movements  wherever  opportunity  presents,  to 
beat  detachments  or  to  destroy  lines  of  communication.  .  .  . 
"  Very  truly,  your  friend, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 


454      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  November  18,  1861. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston-. 

" .  .  .  .  If  a  large  force  should  be  landed  on  the  Potomac  below 

General  Holmes,  with  the  view  to  turn  or  to  attack  him,  the  value 

of  the  position  between  Dumfries  and  Fredericksburg  will  be  so 

great  that  I  wish  you  to  give  to  that  line  your  personal  inspection. 

With  a  sufficient  force,  the  enemy  may  be  prevented  from  leaving 

his  boats,  should  he  be  able  to  cross  the  river.     To  make  our  force 

available  at  either  of  the  points  which  he  may  select,  it  will  be 

necessary  to  improve  the   roads   connecting   the  advance   posts 

with  the  armies  of  the  Potomac  and  of  the  Acquia,  as  well  as 

with  each  other,  and  to  have  the  requisite  teams  to  move  heavy 

guns  with  celerity.  .  .  .  Very  respectfully  yours, 

"Jefferson"  Davis." 

In  November,  1861,  reports  became  current  that  the  enemy 
were  concentrating  troops  west  of  the  Valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah with  a  view  to  a  descent  upon  it.  That  vigilant,  enter- 
prising, and  patriotic  soldier,  General  T.  J.  Jackson,  whose 
steadiness  under  fire  at  the  first  battle  of  Manassas  had  pro- 
cured for  him  the  sobriquet  of  "  Stonewall,"  was  then  on  duty 
as  district  commander  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

He  was  a  West  Virginian ;  and,  though  he  had  not  acquired 
the  fame  which  subsequently  shed  such  luster  upon  his  name, 
he  possessed  a  well-deserved  confidence  among  the  people  of 
that  region.  Ever  watchful  and  daring  in  the  discharge  of  any 
duty,  he  was  intensely  anxious  to  guard  his  beloved  mountains 
of  Virginia.  This,  stimulating  his  devotion  to  the  general  wel- 
fare of  the  Confederacy,  induced  him  to  desire  to  march  against 
the  enemy,  who  had  captured  Romney.  On  the  20th  of  No- 
vember, 1861,  he  wrote  to  the  War  Department,  proposing  an 
expedition  to  Komney,  in  western  Virginia.  It  was  decided 
to  adopt  his  proposition,  endorsed  by  the  commander  of  the 
department,  and,  further  to  insure  success,  though  not  recom- 
mended in  the  endorsement,  his  old  brigade,  then  in  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  was  selected  as  a  part  of  the  command  with 
which  he  was  to  make  the  campaign.  General  Johnston  re- 
monstrated against  this  transfer,  and  the  correspondence  is  sub- 
joined for  a  fuller  understanding  of  the  matter  : 


1861]  SOME  PROPOSED  MOVEMENTS.  455 

"  Headquarters,  Yalley  District,  November  20,  1861. 
"  Hon.  J.  P.  Benjamin,  Secretary  of  War. 

"  Sir  :  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  for  requesting  that,  at  once, 
all  the  troops  under  General  Loring  be  ordered  to  this  point.  Deep- 
ly impressed  with  the  importance  of  absolute  secrecy  respecting 
military  operations,  I  have  made  it  a  point  to  say  but  little  re- 
specting my  proposed  movements  in  the  event  of  sufficient  rein- 
forcements arriving,  but,  since  conversing  with  Lieutenant-Colonel 
J.  L.  T.  Preston  upon  his  return  from  General  Loring,  and  ascer- 
taining the  disposition  of  the  General's  forces,  I  venture  to  re- 
spectfully urge  that,  after  concentrating  all  his  troops  here,  an 
attempt  should  be  made  to  capture  the  Federal  forces  at  Romney. 
The  attack  on  Romney  would  probably  induce  McClellan  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  so  weakened  as  to 
justify  him  in  making  an  advance  on  Centreville  ;  but,  should  this 
not  induce  him  to  advance,  I  do  not  believe  anything  will  during 
the  present  winter.  Should  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  be  attacked, 
I  would  be  at  once  prepared  to  reenforce  it  with  my  present  vol- 
unteer force,  increased  by  General  Loring's.  After  repulsing  the 
enemy  at  Manassas,  let  the  troops  that  marched  on  Romney  re- 
turn to  the  Yalley  and  move  rapidly  westward  to  the  waters  of 
the  Monongahela  and  Little  Kanawha.  Should  General  Kelley  be 
defeated,  and  especially  should  he  be  captured,  I  believe  that,  by 
a  judicious  disposition  of  the  militia,  a  few  cavalry,  and  a  small 
number  of  field-pieces,  no  additional  forces  would  be  required  for 
some  time  in  this  district.  I  deem  it  of  very  great  importance 
that  northwestern  Virginia  be  occupied  by  Confederate  troops 
this  winter.  At  present,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  enemy  are 
not  expecting  an  attack  there,  and  the  resources  of  that  region 
necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  our  troops  are  in  greater  abun- 
dance than  in  almost  any  other  season  of  the  year.  Postpone  the 
occupation  of  that  section  until  spring,  and  we  may  expect  to 
find  the  enemy  prepared  for  us,  and  the  resources  to  which  I  have 
referred  greatly  exhausted.  I  know  that  what  I  have  proposed 
will  be  an  arduous  undertaking,  and  can  not  be  accomplished  with- 
out the  sacrifice  of  much  personal  comfort,  but  I  feel  that  the 
troops  will  be  prepared  to  make  this  sacrifice  when  animated  by 
the  prospects  of  important  results  to  our  cause  and  distinction  to 
themselves.  It  may  be  urged,  against  this  plan,  that  the  enemy 
will  advance  on  Staunton  or  Huntersville.     I  am  well  satisfied  that 


456      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

such  a  step  would  but  make  their  destruction  more  certain.  Again, 
it  may  be  said  that  General  Floyd  will  be  cut  off.  To  avoid  this, 
if  necessary,  the  General  has  only  to  fall  back  toward  the  Virginia 
and  Tennessee  Railroad.  When  northwestern  Virginia  is  occu- 
pied in  force,  the  Kanawha  Valley,  unless  it  be  the  lower  part  of 
it,  must  be  evacuated  by  the  Federal  forces,  or  otherwise  their 
safety  will  be  endangered  by  forcing  a  column  across  from  the 
Little  Kanawha  between  them  'and  the  Ohio  River.  Admitting 
that  the  season  is  too  far  advanced,  or  that  from  other  causes  all 
can  not  be  accomplished  that  has  been  named,  yet,  through  the 
blessing  of  God,  who  has  thus  far  so  wonderfully  prospered  our 
cause,  much  more  may  be  expected  from  General  Loring's  troops, 
according  to  this  programme,  than  can  be  expected  from  them 
where  they  are.  If  you  decide  to  order  them  here,  I  trust  that, 
for  the  purpose  of  saving  time,  all  the  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artil- 
lery will  be  directed  to  move  immediately  upon  the  reception  of 
the  order.  The  enemy,  about  five  thousand  strong,  have  been  for 
some  time  slightly  fortifying  at  Romney,  and  have  completed  their 
telegraph  from  that  place  to  Green  Spring  Depot.  Their  forces  at 
and  near  Williamsport  are  estimated  as  high  as  five  thousand,  but 
as  yet  I  have  no  reliable  information  of  their  strength  beyond  the 
Potomac.     Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  T.  J.  Jackson,  Major-  General,  P.  A.  C.  S. " 

"  Headquarters,  Centreville,  November  21,  1861. 
"Respectfully  forwarded.      I  submit  that  the  troops   under 
General  Loring  might  render  valuable  services  by  taking  the  field 
with  General  Jackson,  instead  of  going  into  winter-quarters,  as 
now  proposed.  J.  E.  Johnston,  General." 

"  Headquarters,  Centreville,  November  22,  1861. 
"  General  Cooper,  Adjutant  and  Inspector-  General. 

"Sir  :  I  have  received  Major-General  Jackson's  plan  of  opera- 
tions in  his  district,  for  which  he  asks  for  reinforcements.  It 
seems  to  me  that  he  proposes  more  than  can  well  be  accomplished 
in  that  high,  mountainous  country  at  this  season.  If  the  means  of 
driving  the  enemy  from  Romney  (preventing  the  reconstruction 
of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  and  incursions  by  marauders 
into  the  counties  of  Jefferson,  Berkeley,  and  Morgan)  can  be  sup- 
plied to  General  Jackson,  and  with  them  those  objects  accom- 


1861]  RECENT  ACTIVITY   OF  THE  ENEMY.  457 

plished,  we  shall  have  reason  to  be  satisfied,  so  far  as  the  Valley 
district  is  concerned.  The  wants  of  other  portions  of  the  frontier 
— Acquia  district,  for  instance — make  it  inexpedient,  in  my  opin- 
ion, to  transfer  to  the  Valley  district  so  large  a  force  as  that  asked 
for  by  Major-General  Jackson.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  now  of  espe- 
cial importance  to  strengthen  Major-General  Holmes,  near  Acquia 
Creek.  The  force  there  is  very  small,  compared  with  the  import- 
ance of  the  position.  Your  obedient  servant, 

"J.  E.  Johnston,  General. 

"  [Endorsement.] 

"  Respectfully  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  War  : 

"  S.  Cooper,  Adjutant  and  Inspector-  General. 

"  November  25,  186V 

4<  Richmond,  Virginia,  November  10,  1861. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  Manassas,  Virginia. 

"  Sir  :  The  Secretary  of  War  has  this  morning  laid  before  me 
yours  of  the  8th  instant.  I  fully  sympathize  with  your  anxiety 
for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  If  indeed  mine  be  less  than  yours, 
it  can  only  be  so  because  the  south,  the  west,  and  the  east,  present- 
ing like  cause  for  solicitude,  have  in  the  same  manner  demanded 
my  care.  Our  correspondence  must  have  assured  you  that  I  fully 
concur  in  your  view  of  the  necessity  for  unity  in  command,  and  I 
hope  by  a  statement  of  the  case  to  convince  you  that  there  has 
been  no  purpose  to  divide  your  authority  by  transferring  the 
troops  specified  in  order  No.  206  from  the  center  to  the  left  of 
your  department.  The  active  campaign  in  the  Greenbrier  region 
was  considered  as  closed  for  the  season.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  enemy  is  moving  a  portion  of  his  forces  from  that  moun- 
tain-region toward  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  that  he  has  sent 
troops  and  munitions  from  the  east  by  the  way  of  the  Poto- 
mac Canal  toward  the  same  point.  The  failure  to  destroy  his 
communications  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  and  by  the 
Potomac  Canal  has  left  him  in  possession  of  great  advantages  for 
that  operation.  General  Jackson,  for  reasons  known  to  you,  was 
selected  to  command  the  division  of  the  Valley,  but  we  had  only 
the  militia  and  one  mounted  regiment  within  the  district  assigned 
to  him.  The  recent  activity  of  the  enemy,  the  capture  of  Rom- 
ney,  etc.,  required  that  he  should  have  for  prompt  service  a  body 
of  Confederate  troops  to  cooperate  with  the  militia  of  that  dis- 
trict.    You  suggest  that  such  force  should  be  drawn  from  the 


458      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

army  at  the  Greenbrier  ;  this  was  originally  considered,  and  aban- 
doned, because  they  could  not  reach  him  in  time  to  anticipate  the 
enemy's  concentration,  and  also  because  General  Jackson  was  a 
stranger  to  them,  and  time  was  wanting  for  the  growth  of  that 
confidence  between  the  commander  and  his  troops,  the  value  of 
which  need  not  be  urged  upon  you.  We  could  have  sent  to  him 
from  this  place  an  equal  number  of  regiments,  being  about  double 
the  numerical  strength  of  those  specified  in  the  order  referred  to, 
but  they  were  parts  of  a  brigade  now  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
or  were  southern  troops,  and  were  ignorant  of  the  country  in 
which  they  were  to  serve,  and  all  of  them  unknown  to  General 
Jackson.  The  troops  sent  were  his  old  brigade,  had  served  in  the 
Valley,  and  had  acquired  a  reputation  which  would  give  confidence 
to  the  people  of  that  region  upon  whom  the  General  had  to  rely 
for  his  future  success.  Though  the  troops  sent  to  you  are,  as  you 
say,  i  raw,'  they  have  many  able  officers,  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  be 
found  reliable  in  the  hour  of  danger.  Their  greater  numbers  will 
to  you,  I  hope,  more  than  compensate  for  the  experience  of  those 
transferred  ;  while,  in  the  Valley,  the  latter,  by  the  moral  effect 
their  presence  will  produce,  will  more  than  compensate  for  the 
inferiority  of  their  numbers.  I  have  labored  to  increase  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  and,  so  far  from  proposing  a  reduction  of  it,  did 
not  intend  to  rest  content  with  an  exchange  of  equivalents.  In 
addition  to  the  troops  recently  sent  to  you,  I  expected  soon  to  send 
further  reinforcements  by  withdrawing  a  part  of  the  army  from 
the  Greenbrier  Mountains.  I  have  looked  hopefully  forward  to 
the  time  when  our  army  could  assume  the  offensive,  and  select  the 
time  and  place  where  battles  were  to  be  fought,  so  that  ours 
should  be  alternations  of  activity  and  repose,  theirs  the  heavy 
task  of  constant  watching.  When  I  last  visited  your  headquarters, 
my  surprise  was  expressed  at  the  little  increase  of  your  effective 
force  above  that  of  the  21st  of  July  last,  notwithstanding  the  heavy 
reinforcements  which,  in  the  mean  time,  had  been  sent  to  you. 
Since  that  visit  I  have  frequently  heard  of  the  improved  health  of 
the  troops,  of  the  return  of  many  who  had  been  absent  sick  ;  and 
some  increase  has  been  made  by  reenf  orcements.  You  can,  then, 
imagine  my  disappointment  at  the  information  you  give,  that,  on 
the  day  before  the  date  of  your  letter,  the  army  at  your  position 
was  yet  no  stronger  than  on  the  21st  of  July.  I  can  only  repeat  what 
has  been  said  to  you  in  our  conference  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  that 


1861]  HE  ATTAINED   HIS   OBJECT.  459 

we  are  restricted  in  our  capacity  to  reenf  orce  by  the  want  of  arms. 
Troops  to  bear  the  few  arms  you  have  in  store  have  been  ordered 
forward.  Your  view  of  the  magnitude  of  the  calamity  of  defeat 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  is  entirely  concurred  in,  and  every 
advantage  which  is  attainable  should  be  seized  to  increase  the 
power  of  your  present  force.  I  will  do  what  I  can  to  augment  its 
numbers,  but  you  must  remember  that  our  wants  greatly  exceed 
our  resources. 

"Banks's  brigade,  we  learn,  has  left  the  position  occupied  when 
I  last  saw  you.  Sickles  is  said  to  be  yet  in  the  lower  Potomac, 
and,  when  your  means  will  enable  you  to  reach  him,  I  still  hope  he 
may  be  crushed. 

"I  will  show  this  reply  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  hope  there 
will  be  no  misunderstanding  between  you  in  future.  The  success 
of  the  army  requires  harmonious  cooperation. 

"  Yery  respectfully,  etc., 

"Jefferson  Davis." 

After  General  Jackson  commenced  his  march,  the  cold  be- 
came unexpectedly  severe,  and,  as  he  ascended  into  the  moun- 
tainous region,  the  slopes  were  covered  with  ice,  which  impeded 
his  progress,  the  more  because  his  horses  were  smooth-shod ;  but 
his  tenacity  of  purpose,  fidelity,  and  daring,  too  well  known 
to  need  commendation,  triumphed  over  every  obstacle,  and  he 
attained  his  object,  drove  the  enemy  from  Romney  and  its 
surroundings,  took  possession  of  the  place,  and  prevented  the 
threatened  concentration.  Having  accomplished  this  purpose, 
and  being  assured  that  the  enemy  had  abandoned  that  section 
of  country,  he  returned  with  his  old  brigade  to  the  Valley  of 
the  Shenandoah,  leaving  the  balance  of  his  command  at  Rom- 
ney.  General  Loringy  the  senior  officer  there  present,  and 
many  others  of  the  command  so  left,  appealed  to  the  War  De- 
partment to  be  withdrawn.  Their  arguments  were,  as  well 
as  I  remember,  these :  that  the  troops,  being  from  the  South, 
were  unaccustomed  to,  and  unprepared  for,  the  rigors  of  a 
mountain  winter ;  that  they  were  strangers  to  the  people  of 
that  section ;  that  the  position  had  no  military  strength,  and,  at 
the  approach  of  spring,  would  be  accessible  to  the  enemy  by 
roads  leading  from  various  quarters. 


460      RISE  AND  TALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

After  some  preliminary  action,  an  order  was  issued  from  the 
War  Office  directing  the  troops  to  retire  to  the  Valley.  As 
that  order  has  been  the  subject  of  no  little  complaint,  both  by 
civil  and  military  functionaries,  my  letter  to  the  General  com- 
manding the  department,  in  explanation  of  the  act  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  is  hereto  annexed : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  February  14,  1862. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  commanding  Department  of  Northern 
Virginia,  Centreville,   Virginia. 

"  General  :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  5th  instant. 
While  I  admit  the  propriety  in  all  cases  of  transmitting  orders 
through  you  to  those  under  your  command,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Secretary  of  War  should,  in  a  case  requiring  prompt 
action,  have  departed  from  this,  the  usual  method,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  he  had  failed  more  than  once  in  having  his  instructions 
carried  out  when  forwarded  to  you  in  the  proper  manner.  You 
will  remember  that  you  were  directed,  on  account  of  the  painful 
reports  received  at  the  War  Department  in  relation  to  the  com- 
mand at  Romney,  to  repair  to  that  place,  and,  after  the  needful 
examination,  to  give  the  orders  proper  in  the  case.  You  sent  your 
adjutant-  (inspector?)  general,  and  I  am  informed  that  he  went 
no  farther  than  Winchester,  to  which  point  the  commander  of  the 
expedition  had  withdrawn  ;  leaving  the  troops,  for  whom  anxiety 
had  been  excited,  at  Romney.  Had  you  given  your  personal 
attention  to  the  case,  you  must  be  assured  that  the  confidence 
reposed  in  you  would  have  prevented  the  Secretary  from  taking 
any  action  before  your  report  had  been  received.  In  the  absence 
of  such  security,  he  was  further  moved  by  what  was  deemed  reli- 
able information,  that  a  large  force  of  the  enemy  was  concentrating 
to  capture  the  troops  at  Romney,  and  by  official  report  that  place 
had  no  natural  strength  and  little  strategic  importance.  To  iusure 
concert  of  action  in  the  defense  of  our  Potomac  frontier,  it  was 
thought  best  to  place  all  the  forces  for  this  object  under  one  com- 
mand. The  reasons  which  originally  induced  the  adding  of  the 
Valley  district  to  your  department  exist  in  full  force  at  present, 
and  I  can  not,  therefore,  agree  to  its  separation  from  your  com- 
mand. 

"  I  will  visit  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  as  soon  as  other  en- 
gagements will  permit,  although  I  can  not  realize  your  compliment- 


1861]  ANSWER  TO   COMPLAINTS.  461 

ary  assurance  that  great  good  to  the  army  will  result  from  it ; 
nor  can  I  anticipate  the  precise  time  when  it  will  be  practicable  to 
leave  my  duties  here. 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"Jefferson  Davis." 

To  complaints  by  General  Johnston  that  the  discipline  of 
his  army  was  interfered  with  by  irregular  action  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  and  its  numerical  strength  diminished  by  fur- 
loughs granted  directly  by  the  War  Department,  I  replied, 
after  making  inquiry  at  the  War  Office,  by  a  letter,  a  copy  of 
which  is  hereto  annexed : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  March  4, 1S62. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  Centreville,  Virginia. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Yours  of  the  1st  instant  received  prompt  atten- 
tion, and  I  am  led  to  the  conclusion  that  some  imposition  has  been 
practiced  upon  you.  The  Secretary  of  War  informs  me  that  he 
has  not  granted  leaves  of  absence  or  furloughs  to  soldiers  of  your 
command  for  a  month  past,  and  then  only  to  divert  the  current 
which  threatened  by  legislation  to  destroy  your  army  by  a  whole- 
sale system  of  furloughs.  Those  which  you  inform  me  are  daily 
received  must  be  spurious.  The  authority  to  reenlist  and  change 
from  infantry  to  artillery,  the  Secretary  informs  me,  has  been 
given  but  in  four  cases — three  on  the  recommendation  of  Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  and  specially  explained  to  you  some  time  since  ; 
the  remaining  case  was  that  of  a  company  from  Wheeling,  which 
was  regarded  as  an  exceptional  one.  I  wish,  therefore,  that  you 
would  send  to  the  Adjutant- General  the  cases  of  recent  date  in 
which  the  discipline  of  your  troops  has  been  interfered  with  in  the 
two  methods  stated,  so  that  an  inquiry  may  be  made  into  the  ori- 
gin of  the  papers  presented.  The  law  in  relation  to  reenlistment 
provides  for  reorganization,  and  was  under  the  policy  of  electing 
the  officers. 

"The  concession  to  army  opinions  was  limited  to  the  promo- 
tion by  seniority  after  the  organization  of  the  companies  and 
regiments  had  been  completed.  The  reorganization  was  not  to 
occur  before  the  expiration  of  the  present  term.  A  subsequent  law 
provides  for  filling  up  the  twelve  months'  companies  by  recruits 
for  the  war,  but  the  organization  ceases  with  the  term  of  the 
twelve  months'  men.     Be  assured  of  readiness  to  protect  your 


462      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

proper  authority,  and  I  do  but  justice  to  the  Secretary  of  War  in 
saying  that  he  can  not  desire  to  interfere  with  the  discipline  and 
organization  of  your  troops.  He  has  complained  that  his  orders 
are  not  executed,  and  I  regret  that  he  was  able  to  present  to  me 
so  many  instances  to  justify  that  complaint,  which  were  in  no  wise 
the  invasion  of  your  prerogative  as  a  commander  in  the  field. 

"You  can  command  my  attention  at  all  times  to  any  matter 
connected  with  your  duties,  and  I  hope  that  full  co-intelligence 
will  secure  full  satisfaction.  Very  truly  yours, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

A  fortnight  after  this  letter,  I  received  from  General  John- 
ston notice  that  his  position  was  considered  unsafe.  Many  of 
his  letters  to  me  have  been  lost,  and  I  have  thus  far  not  been 
able  to  find  the  one  giving  the  notice  referred  to,  but  the  reply 
which  is  annexed  clearly  indicates  the  substance  of  the  letter 
which  was  answered : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  February  28,  1862. 

"  General  J.  E.  Johnston  :  .  .  .  Your  opinion  that  your  po- 
sition may  be  turned  whenever  the  enemy  chooses  to  advance,  and 
that  he  will  be  ready  to  take  the  field  before  yourself,  clearly  in- 
dicates prompt  effort  to  disencumber  yourself  of  everything  which 
would  interfere  with  your  rapid  movement  when  necessary,  and 
such  thorough  examination  of  the  country  in  your  rear  as  would 
give  you  exact  knowledge  of  its  roads  and  general  topography, 
and  enable  you  to  select  a  line  of  greater  natural  advantages  than 
that  now  occupied  by  your  forces. 

"The  heavy  guns  at  Manassas  and  Evansport,  needed  else- 
where, and  reported  to  be  useless  in  their  present  position,  would 
necessarily  be  abandoned  in  any  hasty  retreat.  I  regret  that  you 
find  it  impossible  to  move  them. 

"  The  subsistence  stores  should,  when  removed,  be  placed  in 
positions  to  answer  your  future  wants.  Those  can  not  be  deter- 
mined until  you  have  furnished  definite  information  as  to  your 
plans,  especially  the  line  to  which  you  would  remove  in  the  con- 
tingency of  retiring.  The  Commissary- General  had  previously 
stopped  further  shipments  to  your  army,  and  given  satisfactory 
reasons  for  the  establishment  at  Thoroughfare.*  .  .  . 

*  Thoroughfare  Gap  was  the  point  at  which  the  Commissary-General  had  placed 
a  meat-packing  establishment. 


1861]  IMPOSSIBILITIES   MUST  BE   RENDERED   POSSIBLE.  4^3 

"  I  need  not  urge  on  your  consideration  the  value  to  our  coun- 
try of  arms  and  munitions  of  war  :  you  know  the  difficulty  with 
which  we  have  obtained  our  small  supply ;  that,  to  furnish  heavy  ar- 
tillery to  the  advanced  posts,  we  have  exhausted  the  supplies  here 
which  were  designed  for  the  armament  of  the  city  defenses.  What- 
ever can  be,  should  be  done  to  avoid  the  loss  of  these  guns.  .  .  . 

"  As  has  been  my  custom,  I  have  only  sought  to  present  gen- 
eral purposes  and  views.  I  rely  upon  your  special  knowledge  and 
high  ability  to  effect  whatever  is  practicable  in  this  our  hour  of 
need.  Recent  disasters  have  depressed  the  weak,  and  are  depriving 
us  of  the  aid  of  the  wavering.  Traitors  show  the  tendencies  here- 
tofore  concealed,  and  the  selfish  grow  clamorous  for  local  and  per- 
sonal interests.  At  such  an  hour,  the  wisdom  of  the  trained  and 
the  steadiness  of  the  brave  possess  a  double  value.  The  military 
paradox  that  impossibilities  must  be  rendered  possible,  had  never 
better  occasion  for  its  application. 

"  The  engineers  for  whom  you  asked  have  been  ordered  to  re- 
port to  you,  and  further  additions  will  be  made  to  your  list  of 
brigadier-generals.     Let  me  hear  from  you  often  and  fully. 

"  Very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  March  6,  1862. 
"General  J.  E.  Johnston:  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  the  threaten- 
ing position  of  the  enemy,  I  infer  from  your  account  of  the  roads  and 
streams  that  his  active  operations  must  be  for  some  time  delayed, 
and  thus  I  am  permitted  to  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  mobilize 
your  army  by  the  removal  of  your  heavy  ordnance  and  such  stores 
as  are  not  required  for  active  operations,  so  that,  whenever  you  are 
required  to  move,  it  may  be  without  public  loss  and  without  im- 
pediment to  celerity.  I  was  fully  impressed  with  the  difficulties 
which  you  presented  when  discussing  the  subject  of  a  change  of 
position.  To  preserve  the  efficiency  of  your  army,  you  will,  of 
course,  avoid  all  needless  exposure  ;  and,  when  your  army  has  been 
relieved  of  all  useless  incumbrance,  you  can  have  no  occasion  to 
move  it  while  the  roads  and  the  weather  are  such  as  would  involve 
serious  suffering,  because  the  same  reasons  must  restrain  the  oper- 
ations of  the  enemy.  .  .  . 

"  Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 


4:Q4c      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

At  the  conference  at  Fairfax  Conrt-House,  heretofore  referred 
to,  I  was  sadly  disappointed  to  find  that  the  strength  of  that 
army  had  been  little  increased,  notwithstanding  the  reinforce- 
ments sent  to  it  since  the  21st  of  July,  and  that  to  make  an 
advance  the  generals  required  an  additional  force,  which  it  was 
utterly  impracticable  for  me  to  supply.  Soon  thereafter  the 
army  withdrew  to  Centreville,  a  better  position  for  defense  but 
not  for  attack,  and  thereby  suggestive  of  the  abandonment  of 
an  intention  to  advance.  The  subsequent  correspondence  with 
General  Johnston  during  the  winter  expressed  an  expectation 
that  the  enemy  would  resume  the  offensive,  and  that  the  po- 
sition then  held  was  geographically  unfavorable.  There  was  a 
general  apprehension  at  Richmond  that  the  northern  frontier  of 
Virginia  would  be  abandoned,  and  a  corresponding  earnestness 
was  exhibited  to  raise  the  requisite  force  to  enable  our  army  to 
take  the  offensive.  On  the  10th  of  March  I  telegraphed  to 
General  Johnston  :  "  Further  assurance  given  to  me  this  day  that 
you  shall  be  promptly  and  adequately  reenforced,  so  as  to  ena- 
ble you  to  maintain  your  position,  and  resume  first  policy  when 
the  roads  will  permit."  The  first  policy  was  to  carry  the  war 
beyond  our  own  border. 

Five  days  thereafter,  I  received  notice  that  our  army  was  in 
retreat,  and  replied  as  follows  : 

"Richmond,  Virginia,  March  15,  1862. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston",  Headquarters  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

"  General  :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  13th  instant, 
giving  the  first  official  account  I  have  received  of  the  retrograde 
movement  of  your  army. 

"  Your  letter  would  lead  me  to  infer  that  others  had  been  sent 
to  apprise  me  of  your  plans  and  movements.  If  so,  they  have  not 
reached  me  ;  and,  before  the  receipt  of  yours  of  the  13th,  I  was  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  to  your  purposes,  condition,  and  necessities  as 
at  the  time  of  our  conversation  on  the  subject  about  a  month  since. 

"  It  is  true  I  have  had  many  and  alarming  reports  of  great  de- 
struction of  ammunition,  camp-equipage,  and  provisions,  indicating 
precipitate  retreat ;  but,  having  heard  of  no  cause  for  such  a  sudden 
movement,  I  was  at  a  loss  to  believe  it. 

"I  have  not  the  requisite  topographical  knowledge   for  the 


1861]  A  CAREFUL  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  465 

selection  of  your  new  position.  I  had  intended  that  you  should 
determine  that  question  ;  and  for  this  purpose  a  corps  of  engineers 
was  furnished  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the  country  to  aid 
you  in  your  decision. 

"  The  question  of  throwing  troops  into  Richmond  is  contingent 
upon  reverses  in  the  West  and  Southeast.  The  immediate  neces- 
sity for  such  a  movement  is  not  anticipated. 

"Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

On  the  same  day  I  sent  the  following  telegram : 

"  Richmond,  Virginia,  March  15,  1862. 
"  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  Culpepper  Court-House,  Virginia. 

"  Your  letter  of  the  13th  received  this  day,  being  the  first  in- 
formation of  your  retrograde  movement.  I  have  no  report  of 
your  reconnaissance,  and  can  suggest  nothing  as  to  the  position 
you  should  take  except  it  should  be  as  far  in  advance  as  consistent 

with  your  safety. 

"  Jefferson  Davis." 

To  further  inquiry  from  General  Johnston  as  to  where  he 
should  take  position,  I  replied  that  I  would  go  to  his  headquar- 
ters in  the  field,  and  found  him  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river, 
to  which  he  had  retired,  in  a  position  possessing  great  natural 
advantages.  An  elevated  bank  commanded  the  north  side  of 
the  river,  overlooking  the  bridge,  and  an  open  field  beyond  it, 
across  which  the  enemy  must  pass  to  reach  the  bridge,  which,  if 
left  standing,  was  an  invitation  to  seek  that  crossing.  Upon  in- 
quiring whether  the  south  bank  of  the  river  continued  to  com- 
mand the  other  side  down  to  Fredericksburg,  General  Johnston 
answered  that  he  did  not  know ;  that  he  had  not  been  at  Fred- 
ericksburg since  he  passed  there  in  a  stage  on  his  way  to  West 
Point,  when  he  was  first  appointed  a  cadet.  I  then  proposed  that 
we  should  go  to  Fredericksburg,  to  inform  ourselves  upon  that 
point.  On  arriving  at  Fredericksburg,  a  reconnaissance  soon 
manifested  that  the  hills  on  the  opposite  side  commanded  the 
town  and  adjacent  river-bank,  and  therefore  Fredericksburg 
could  only  be  defended  by  an  army  occupying  the  opposite  hills, 
for  which  our  force  was  inadequate.  In  returning  to  the  house  of 
30 


£6$      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Mr.  Barton,  where  I  was  a  guest,  I  found  a  number  of  ladies  had 
assembled  there  to  welcome  me,  and  who,  with  anxiety,  inquired 
as  to  the  result  of  our  reconnaissance.  Upon  learning  that  the 
town  was  not  considered  defensible  against  an  enemy  occupying 
the  heights  on  the  other  side,  and  that  our  force  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  hold  those  heights  against  such  an  attack  as  might  be 
anticipated,  the  general  answer  was,  with  a  self-sacrificing  patri- 
otism too  much  admired  to  be  forgotten,  (i  If  the  good  of  our 
cause  requires  the  defense  of  the  town  to  be  abandoned,  let  it 
be  done."  The  purposes  of  the  enemy  were  then  unknown  to 
us.  If  General  Johnston's  expectation  of  a  hostile  advance  in 
great  force  should  be  realized,  our  course  must  depend  partly 
upon  receiving  the  reenforcement  we  had  reason  to  expect 
from  promises  previously  given  and  renewed,  as  was  announced 
to  General  Johnston  in  my  telegram  of  10th  of  March,  1862,  in 
these  words : 

"  Further  assurance  given  to  me  this  day  that  you  shall  be 
promptly  and  adequately  reenforced,  so  as  to  enable  you  to  main- 
tain your  position,  and  resume  first  policy  when  the  roads  will 
permit." 

No  immediate  decision  could  therefore  be  made,  and  I  re- 
turned to  Richmond,  to  wait  the  further  development  of  the 
enemy's  plans,  and  to  prepare  as  best  we  might  to  counteract 
them. 

The  feeling  heretofore  noticed  as  arousing  in  Virginia  a 
determination  to  resist  the  abandonment  of  her  northern  fron- 
tier, and  which  caused  the  assurance  of  reinforcements,  bore 
fruit  in  the  addition  of  about  thirty  thousand  men,  by  a  draft 
made  by  the  Governor  of  the  State.  These,  it  is  true,  were  not 
the  disciplined,  seasoned  troops  which  were  asked  for  by  the 
generals  in  the  conference  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  but  they 
were  of  such  men  as  often  during  the  war  won  battles  for  the 
Confederacy.  The  development  of  the  enemy's  plans,  for 
which  we  had  to  wait,  proved  that,  instead  of  advancing  in 
force  against  our  position  at  Centreville,  he  had,  before  the  re- 
treat of  our  army  commenced,  decided  to  move  down  the  Poto- 
mac for  a  campaign  against  Richmond,  from  the  Peninsula  as  a 


1861]  MAGNIFIED   THE  FORCE  WE  POSSESSED.  467 

base.  The  conflagration  at  Centreville  gave  notice  of  its  evacu- 
ation, and  an  advance  was  made  as  far  as  Manassas,  but,  as  ap- 
pears by  General  McClellan's  report,  with,  no  more  important 
design  than  to  attack  our  rear  guard,  if  it  should  be  encountered. 
In  the  report  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  by  a  committee  of  the 
United  States  Congress,  evidence  is  found  of  much  vacillation 
'before  the  conclusion  was  finally  reached  of  abandoning  the 
idea  of  a  direct  advance  upon  Richmond  for  that  of  concentrat- 
ing their  army  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake.  Whatever 
doubt  or  apprehension  continued  to  exist  about  uncovering  the 
city  of  Washington  by  removing  their  main  army  from  before 
it,  was  of  course  dispelled  by  the  retreat  of  our  army,  and  the 
burning  of  bridges  behind  it.  In  this  last-mentioned  fact,  Gen- 
eral McClellan  says  he  found  the  strongest  reason  to  believe 
that  there  was  no  immediate  danger  of  our  army  returning. 

There  was  an  apparent  advantage  to  the  enemy  in  the  new 
base  for  his  operations  which  was  sufficiently  illustrated  by  the 
events  of  the  last  year  of  the  war.  Had  we  possessed  an  army 
as  large  as  the  enemy  supposed,  it  would  have  been  possible  for 
us  at  the  same  time  to  check  his  advance  from  the  East  and  to 
march  against  his  capital,  with  fair  prospect  of  capturing  it,  be- 
fore the  army  he  had  sent  against  Yorktown  could  have  been 
brought  back  for  the  defense  of  Washington.  On  this  as  on 
other  occasions  he  greatly  magnified  the  force  We  possessed,  and 
on  this  as  on  other  occasions  it  required  the  concentration  of 
our  troops  successfully  to  resist  a  detachment  of  his.  Accept- 
ing as  a  necesssity  the  withdrawal  of  the  main  portion  of  our 
army  from  northern  Virginia  to  meet  the  invasion  from  the 
seaboard,  it  was  regretted  that  earlier  and  more  effective  means 
were  not  employed  for  the  mobilization  of  the  army,  a  desirable 
measure  in  either  contingency  of  advance  or  retreat,  or  at  the 
least  that  the  withdrawal  was  not  so  deliberate  as  to  secure  the 
removal  of  our  ordnance,  subsistence,  and  quartermasters'  stores, 
which  had  been  collected  on  the  line  occupied  in  1861  and  the 
early  part  of  1862. 

A  distinguished  officer  of  our  army,  who  has  since  the  war 
made  valuable  contributions  to  the  history  of  its  operations — 
especially  valuable  as  well  for  their  accuracy  as  for  their  free- 


468      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

dom  from  personal  or  partisan  bias — writes  thus  of  the  retreat 
from  Centreville : 

"  A  very  large  amount  of  stores  and  provisions  had  been  aban- 
doned for  want  of  transportation,  and  among  the  stores  was  a 
very  large  quantity  of  clothing,  blankets,  etc.,  which  had  been 
provided  by  the  States  south  of  Virginia  for  their  own  troops. 
The  pile  of  trunks  along  the  railroad  was  appalling  to  behold. 
All  these  stores,  clothing,  trunks,  etc.,  were  consigned  to  the 
flames  by  a  portion  of  our  cavalry  left  to  carry  out  the  work  of 
their  destruction.  The  loss  of  stores  at  this  point  and  at  White 
Plains  on  the  Manassas  Gap  Railroad,  where  a  large  amount  of 
meat  had  been  salted  and  stored,  was  a  very  serious  one  to  us,  and 
embarrassed  us  for  the  remainder  of  the  war,  as  it  put  us  at  once 
on  a  running  stock." 

The  same  officer — and  the  value  of  his  opinion  will  be  recog- 
nized by  all  who  know  him,  wherefore  I  give  his  name,  General 
J.  A.  Early — in  a  communication  subsequent  to  that  from  which 
I  have  just  quoted,  writes,  in  regard  to  the  loss  of  supplies : 

"  I  believe  that  all  might  have  been  carried  off  from  Manassas 
if  the  railroads  had  been  energetically  operated.  The  rolling- 
stock  of  the  Orange  and  Alexandria,  Manassas  Gap,  and  Virginia 
Central  Railroads  ought  to  have  been  sufficient  for  the  purpose 
of  removing  everything  in  the  two  weeks  allowed,  if  properly 
used." 

The  enemy's  plans,  the  development  of  which,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  was  necessary  for  the  determination  of  our  own 
movements,  were  soon  thereafter  found  to  be  the  invasion  of 
Virginia  from  the  seaboard,  and  the  principal  portion  of  our 
army  was  consequently  ordered  to  the  Peninsula,  between  the 
York  River  and  the  James.  Thus  the  northern  frontier  of  Vir- 
ginia, which,  in  the  first  year  of  the  war,  had  been  the  main  field 
of  skirmishes,  combats,  and  battles,  of  advance  and  retreat,  and 
the  occupation  and  evacuation  of  fortified  positions,  ceased  for 
a  time  to  tremble  beneath  the  tread  of  contending  armies. 

To  the  foregoing  narration  of  events  immediately  connected 
with  the  efforts  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  maintain  its 


1861]  THE  BRITISH  MAIL  STEAMER  TRENT.  409 

existence  at  home,  may  here  be  properly  added  an  incident 
bearing  on  its  foreign  relations  in  the  first  year  of  the  war. 

Our  efforts  for  the  recognition  of  the  Confederate  States  by 
the  European  powers,  in  1861,  served  to  make  us  better  known 
abroad,  to  awaken  a  kindly  feeling  in  our  favor,  and  cause  a 
respectful  regard  for  the  effort  we  were  making  to  maintain  the 
independence  of  the  States  which  Great  Britain  had  recognized, 
and  her  people  knew  to  be  our  birthright. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  1861,  an  outrage  was  perpetrated 
by  an  armed  vessel  of  the  United  States,  in  the  forcible  deten- 
tion, on  the  high-seas,  of  a  British  mail  steamer,  making  one  of 
her  regular  trips  from  one  British  port  to  another,  and  the  seiz- 
ure, on  that  unarmed  vessel,  of  our  Commissioners,  Mason  and 
Slidell,  who  with  their  secretaries  were  bound  for  Europe  on 
diplomatic  service.  The  seizure  was  made  by  an  armed  force 
against  the  protest  of  the  Captain  of  the  vessel,  and  of  Com- 
mander Williams,  ~R.  E\,  the  latter  speaking  as  the  representa- 
tive of  her  Majesty's  Government.  The  Commissioners  only 
yielded  when  force,  which  they  could  not  resist,  was  used  to 
remove  them  from  the  mail-steamer,  and  convey  them  to  the 
United  States  vessel  of  war. 

This  outrage  was  the  more  marked  because  the  United 
States  had  been  foremost  in  resisting  the  right  of  "  visit  and 
search,"  and  had  made  it  the  cause  of  the  War  of  1812  with 
Great  Britain. 

When  intelligence  of  the  event  was  received  in  England, 
it  excited  the  greatest  indignation  among  the  people  ;  and  her 
Majesty's  Government,  by  naval  and  other  preparations,  un- 
mistakably exhibited  the  purpose  to  redress  the  wrong. 

The  Commissioners  and  their  secretaries  had  been  trans- 
ported to  the  harbor  of  Boston,  and  imprisoned  in  its  main  for- 
tress. 

Diplomatic  correspondence  resulted  from  this  event.  The 
British  Government  demanded  the  immediate  and  uncondition- 
al release  of  the  Commissioners,  "  in  order  that  they  may  again 
be  placed  under  British  protection,  and  a  suitable  apology  for 
the  aggression  which  has  been  committed." 

In  the  mean  time,  Captain  Wilkes,  commander  of  the  ves- 


470      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOYEENMENT. 

sel  which  had  made  the  visit  and  search  of  the  Trent,  returned 
to  the  United  States  and  was  received  with  general  plaudit, 
both  by  the  people  and  the  Government.  The  Honse  of  Rep- 
resentatives passed  a  vote  of  thanks,  an  honor  not  heretofore 
bestowed  except  for  some  deed  deserving  well  of  the  coun- 
try. In  the  midst  of  all  this  exultation  at  the  seizure  of  our 
Commissioners  on  board  of  a  British  merchant-ship,  came  the 
indignant  and  stern  demand  for  the  restoration  of  those  Com- 
missioners to  the  British  protection  from  which  they  had  been 
taken,  and  an  apology  for  the  aggression.  It  was  little  to  be 
expected,  after  such  explicit  commendation  of  the  act,  that  the 
United  States  Government  would  accede  to  the  demand ;  and 
therefore  the  War  and  Navy  Departments  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment made  active  and  extensive  provision  to  enforce  it. 
The  haughty  temper  displayed  toward  four  gentlemen  arrested 
on  an  unarmed  ship  subsided  in  view  of  a  demand  to  be  en- 
forced by  the  army  and  navy  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  United 
States  Secretary  of  State,  after  a  wordy  and  ingenious  reply  to 
the  Minister  of  Great  Britain  at  Washington  City,  wrote :  "  The 
four  persons  in  question  are  now  held  in  military  custody  at 
Fort  Warren,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  They  will  be 
cheerfully  liberated.  Your  lordship  will  please  indicate  a  time 
and  place  for  receiving  them." 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Government  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States  would  not  have  sanctioned  such  aggression 
on  the  right  of  friendly  ships  to  pass  unquestioned  on  the  high- 
way of  nations,  and  the  right  of  a  neutral  flag  to  protect  every- 
thing not  contraband  of  war ;  but  that  was  a  time  when  arro- 
gance and  duplicity  had  not  led  them  into  false  positions,  and 
when  the  roar  of  the  British  lion  could  not  make  Americans 
retract  what  they  had  deliberately  avowed. 


1861]  DISTRIBUTION  OF  ARMS.  471 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Supply  of  Arms  at  the  Beginning  of  the  War;  of  Powder;  of  Batteries;  of  other 
Articles. — Contents  of  Arsenals. — Other  Stores,  Mills,  etc. — First  Efforts  to  ob- 
tain Powder,  Niter,  and  Sulphur. — Construction  of  Mills  commenced. — Efforts 
to  supply  Arms,  Machinery,  Field- Artillery,  Ammunition,  Equipment,  and  Salt- 
peter.— Results  in  1862. — Government  Powder-Mills  ;  how  organized. — Suc- 
cess.— Efforts  to  obtain  Lead.— Smelting-Works. — Troops,  how  armed. — Winter 
of  1862. — Supplies. — Niter  and  Mining  Bureau. — Equipment  of  First  Armies. — 
Receipts  by  Blockade-Runners. — Arsenal  at  Richmond. — Armories  at  Richmond 
and  Fayetteville. — A  Central  Laboratory  built  at  Macon. — Statement  of  Gen- 
eral Gorgas. — Northern  Charge  against  General  Floyd  answered.— Charge  of 
Slowness  against  the  President  answered. — Quantities  of  Arms  purchased  that 
could  not  be  shipped  in  1861. — Letter  of  Mr.  Huse. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  arms  within  the  limits  of 
the  Confederacy  were  distributed  as  follows : 

Kifles.  Muskets. 

At  Richmond  (State) about  4,000 

Fayetteville,  North  Carolina "  2,000  25,000 

Charleston,  South  Carolina "  2,000  20,000 

Augusta,  Georgia "  3,000  28,000 

Mount  Yernon,  Alabama "  2,000  20,000 

Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana "  2,000  27,000 

Total 15,000       120,000 

There  were  at  Eichmond  about  sixty  thousand  old  flint-mus- 
kets, and  at  Baton  Rouge  about  ten  thousand  old  Hall's  rifles 
and  carbines.  At  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  there  were  a  few 
thousand  stands,  and  a  few  at  the  Texas  Arsenal,  increasing  the 
aggregate  of  serviceable  arms  to  about  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  thousand.  Add  to  these  the  arms  owned  by  the  several 
States  and  by  military  organizations,  and  it  would  make  a  total 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  for  the  use  of  the  armies  of 
the  Confederacy.  The  rifles  were  of  the  caliber  *54,  known  as 
Mississippi  rifles,  except  those  at  Richmond  taken  from  Harper's 
Ferry,  which  were  of  the  new-model  caliber  *58 ;  the  muskets 
were  the  old  flint-lock,  caliber  *69,  altered  to  percussion.  There 
were  a  few  boxes  of  sabers  at  each  arsenal,  and  some  short  artil- 
lery-swords. A  few  hundred  holster  -  pistols  were  scattered 
about.     There  were  no  revolvers. 


472      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

There  was  before  the  war  little  powder  or  ammunition  of 
any  kind  stored  in  the  Southern  States,  and  this  was  a  relic  of 
the  war  with  Mexico.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  were  a  million  of 
rounds  of  small-arms  cartridges.  The  chief  store  of  powder 
was  that  captured  at  Norfolk ;  there  was,  besides,  a  small  quan- 
tity at  each  of  the  Southern  arsenals,  in  all  sixty  thousand  pounds, 
chiefly  old  cannon-powder.  The  percussion-caps  did  not  exceed 
one  quarter  of  a  million,  and  there  was  no  lead  on  hand.  There 
were  no  batteries  of  serviceable  field-artillery  at  the  arsen'als,  but 
a  few  old  iron  guns  mounted  on  Gribeauval  carriages  fabricated 
about  1812.  The  States  and  the  volunteer  companies  did,  how- 
ever, possess  some  serviceable  batteries.  But  there  were  neither 
harness,  saddles,  bridles,  blankets,  nor  other  artillery  or  cavalry 
equipments. 

To  furnish  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Mississippi,  in  May,  1861,  there  were  no  infantry 
accoutrements,  no  cavalry  arms  or  equipments,  no  artillery,  and, 
above  all,  no  ammunition  ;  nothing  save  arms,  and  these  almost 
wholly  the  old  pattern  smooth-bore  muskets,  altered  to  percus- 
sion from  flint  locks. 

"Within  the  limits  of  the  Confederate  States  the  arsenals  had 
been  used  only  as  depots,  and  no  one  of  them,  except  that  at 
Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  had  a  single  machine  above  the 
grade  of  a  foot-lathe.  Except  at  Harper's  Ferry  Armory,  all 
the  work  of  preparation  of  material  had  been  carried  on  at 
the  North  ;  not  an  arm,  not  a  gun,  not  a  gun-carriage,  and, 
except  during  the  Mexican  "War,  scarcely  a  round  of  ammu- 
nition, had  for  fifty  years  been  prepared  in  the  Confederate 
States.  There  were  consequently  no  workmen,  or  very  few, 
skilled  in  these  arts.  Powder,  save  perhaps  for  blasting,  had 
not  been  made  at  the  South.  No  saltpeter  was  in  store  at  any 
Southern  point ;  it  was  stored  wholly  at  the  North.  There 
were  no  worked  mines  of  lead  except  in  Virginia,  and  the  situ- 
ation of  those  made  them  a  precarious  dependence.  The  only 
cannon-foundry  existing  was  at  Richmond.  Copper,  so  neces- 
sary for  field-artillery  and  for  percussion-caps,  was  just  being 
obtained  in  East  Tennessee.  There  was  no  rolling-mill  for  bar- 
iron  south  of  Richmond,  and  but  few  blast-furnaces,  and  these, 


1861]  FIRST  EFFORTS  TO  OBTAIN  POWDER.  473 

with  trifling  exceptions,  were  in  the  border  States  of  Virginia 
and  Tennessee. 

The  first  efforts  made  to  obtain  powder  were  by  orders  sent 
to  the  North,  which  had  been  early  done  both  by  the  Confed- 
erate Government  and  by  some  of  the  States.  These  were  be- 
ing rapidly  filled  when  the  attack  was  made  on  Fort  Sumter. 
The  shipments  then  ceased.  Niter  was  contemporaneously 
sought  for  in  north  Alabama  and  Tennessee.  Between  four 
and  five  hundred  tons  of  sulphur  were  obtained  in  New  Orleans, 
at  which  place  it  had  been  imported  for  use  in  the  manufacture 
of  sugar.  Preparations  for  the  construction  of  a  large  powder- 
mill  were  promptly  commenced  by  the  Government,  and  two 
small,  private  mills  in  East  Tennessee  were  supervised  and  im- 
proved. On  June  1, 1861,  there  was  probably  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  pounds  only,  chiefly  of  cannon-powder,  and  about 
as  much  niter,  which  had  been  imported  by  Georgia.  There 
were  the  two  powder-mills  above  mentioned,  but  we  had  no  ex- 
perience in  making  powder,  or  in  extracting  niter  from  natural 
deposits,  or  in  obtaining  it  by  artificial  beds. 

For  the  supply  of  arms  an  agent  was  sent  to  Europe,  who 
made  contracts  to  the  extent  of  nearly  half  a  million  dollars. 
Some  small-arms  had  been  obtained  from  the  North,  and  also 
important  machinery.  The  machinery  at  Harper's  Ferry  Armo- 
ry had  been  saved  from  the  flames  by  the  heroic  conduct  of  the 
operatives,  headed  by  Mr.  Armistead  M.  Ball,  the  master  armor- 
er. Of  the  machinery  so  saved,  that  for  making  rifle-muskets 
was  transported  to  Richmond,  and  that  for  rifles  with  sword- 
bayonets  to  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina.  In  addition  to  the 
injuries  suffered  by  the  machinery,  the  lack  of  skilled  workmen 
caused  much  embarrassment.  In  the  mean  time  the  manufac- 
ture of  small-arms  was  undertaken  at  New  Orleans  and  prose- 
cuted with  energy,  though  with  limited  success. 

In  field-artillery  the  manufacture  was  confined  almost  en- 
tirely to  the  Tredegar  Works  in  Richmond.  Some  castings 
were  made  in  New  Orleans,  and  attention  was  turned  to  the 
manufacture  of  field  and  siege  artillery  at  Nashville.  A  small 
foundry  at  Rome,  Georgia,  was  induced  to  undertake  the  cast- 
ing of  the  three-inch  iron  rifle,  but  the  progress  was  very  slow. 


474:      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  State  of  Virginia  possessed  a  number  of  old  four-pounder 
iron  guns  which  were  reamed  out  to  get  a  good  bore,  and  rifled 
with  three  grooves,  after  the  manner  of  Parrott.  The  army  at 
Harper's  Ferry  and  that  at  Manassas  were  supplied  with  old  bat- 
teries of  six-pounder  guns  and  twelve-pounder  howitzers.  A 
few  Parrott  guns,  purchased  by  the  State  of  Virginia,  were 
with  General  Magruder  at  Big  Bethel. 

For  the  ammunition  and  equipment  required  for  the  infan- 
try and  artillery,  a  good  laboratory  and  workshop  had  been 
established  at  Richmond.  The  arsenals  were  making  prepara- 
tions for  furnishing  ammunition  and  knapsacks  ;  but  generally, 
what  little  was  done  in  this  regard  was  for  local  purposes. 
Such  was  the  general  condition  of  ordnance  and  ordnance  stores 
in  May,  1861. 

The  progress  of  development,  however,  was  steady.  A  re- 
finery of  saltpeter  was  established  near  Nashville  during  the 
summer,  which  received  the  niter  from  its  vicinity,  and  from 
the  caves  in  East  and  Middle  Tennessee.  Some  inferior  powder 
was  made  at  two  small  mills  in  South  Carolina.  ISTorth  Caro- 
lina established  a  mill  near  Paleigh  ;  and  a  stamping-mill  was 
put  up  near  ]STew  Orleans,  and  powder  made  there  before  the 
fall  of  the  city.  Small  quantities  were  also  received  through 
the  blockade.  It  was  estimated  that  on  January  1,  1862,  there 
were  fifteen  hundred  seacoast-guns  of  various  caliber  in  position 
from  Evansport,  on  the  Potomac,  to  Fort  Brown,  on  the  Bio 
Grande.  If  their  caliber  was  averaged  at  thirty-two  pounder, 
and  the  charge  at  live  pounds,  it  would,  at  forty  rounds  per  gun, 
require  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  powder  for  them.  The 
field-artillery — say  three  hundred  guns,  with  two  hundred  rounds 
to  the  piece — would  require  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand pounds  ;  and  the  small-arm  cartridges — say  ten  million — 
would  consume  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  pounds 
more,  making  in  all  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds. 
Deducting  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  supposed 
to  be  on  hand  in  various  shapes,  and  the  increment  is  six  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  for  the  year  1861.  Of  this,  perhaps  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  had  been  made  at  the  Tennessee 
and  other  mills,  leaving  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  to  be 


1861]  THE   GOVERNMENT  POWDER-MILLS.  475 

supplied  through  the  blockade,  or  before  the  beginning  of  hos- 
tilities. 

The  liability  of  powder  to  deteriorate  in  damp  atmospheres 
results  from  the  impurity  of  the  niter  used  in  its  manufacture, 
and  this  it  is  not  possible  to  detect  by  any  of  the  usual  tests. 
Security,  therefore,  in  the  purchase,  depends  on  the  reliability  of 
the  maker.  To  us,  who  had  to  rely  on  foreign  products  and 
the  open  market,  this  was  equivalent  to  no  security  at  all.  It 
was,  therefore,  as  well  for  this  reason  as  because  of  the  precari- 
ousness  of  thus  obtaining  the  requisite  supply,  necessary  that 
we  should  establish  a  Government  powder-mill.  It  was  our 
good  fortune  to  have  a  valuable  man  whose  military  education 
and  scientific  knowledge  had  been  supplemented  by  practical 
experience  in  a  large  manufactory  of  machinery.  He,  General 
G.  W.  Eains,  was  at  the  time  resident  in  the  State  of  New  York ; 
but,  when  his  native  State,  North  Carolina,  seceded  from  the 
Union  and  joined  the  Confederacy,  true  to  the  highest  instincts 
of  patriotism,  he  returned  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  only 
asked  where  he  could  be  most  useful.  The  expectations  which 
his  reputation  justified,  caused  him  to  be  assigned  to  the  task 
of  making  a  great  powder-mill,  which  should  alike  furnish  an 
adequate  supply,  and  give  assurance  of  its  possessing  all  the 
requisite  qualities.  This  problem,  which,  under  the  existing 
circumstances,  seemed  barely  possible,  was  fully  solved.  Not 
only  was  powder  made  of  every  variety  of  grain  and  exact  uni- 
formity in  each,  but  the  niter  was  so  absolutely  purified  that 
there  was  no  danger  of  its  deterioration  in  service.  Had  Admi- 
ral Semmes  been  supplied  with  such  powder,  it  is  demonstrated, 
by  the  facts  which  have  since  been  established,  that  the  engage- 
ment between  the  Alabama  and  the  Kearsarge  would  have  re- 
sulted in  a  victory  for  the  former. 

These  Government  powder-mills  were  located  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  and  satisfactory  progress  was  made  in  the  construction 
during  the  year.  All  the  machinery,  including  the  very  heavy 
rollers,  was  made  in  the  Confederate  States.  Contracts  were 
made  abroad  for  the  delivery  of  niter  through  the  blockade ; 
and,  for  obtaining  it  immediately,  we  resorted  to  caves,  tobacco- 
houses,  cellars,  etc.     The  amount  delivered  from  Tennessee  was 


476      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  largest  item  in  the  year's  supply,  but  the  whole  was  quite 
inadequate  to  existing  and  prospective  needs. 

The  consumption  of  lead  was  mainly  met  by  the  Yirginia 
lead-mines  at  Wytheville,  the  yield  from  which  was  from  sixty 
to  eighty  thousand  pounds  per  month.  Lead  was  also  collected 
by  agents  in  considerable  quantities  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  battle-field  of  Manassas  was  closely  gleaned,  from  which 
much  lead  was  collected.  A  laboratory  for  the  smelting  of 
other  ores  was  constructed  at  Petersburg,  Yirginia,  and  was  in 
operation  before  midsummer  of  1862. 

By  the  close  of  1861,  eight  arsenals  and  four  depots  had 
been  supplied  with  materials  and  machinery,  so  as  to  be  effi- 
cient in  producing  the  various  munitions  and  equipments,  the 
want  of  which  had  caused  early  embarrassment.  Thus  a  good 
deal  had  been  done  to  produce  the  needed  material  of  war,  and 
to  refute  the  croakers  who  found  in  our  poverty  application  for 
tjie  maxim,  "  Ex  nihilo  nihil  jit." 

The  troops  were,  however,  still  very  poorly  armed  and 
equipped.  The  old  smooth-bore  musket  was  the  principal  weap- 
on of  the  infantry ;  the  artillery  had  mostly  the  six-pounder 
gun  and  the  twelve-pounder  howitzer ;  and  the  cavalry  were 
armed  with  such  various  weapons  as  they  could  get — sabers, 
horse-pistols,  revolvers,  Sharp's  carbines,  musketoons,  short  En- 
field rifles,  Holt's  carbines,  muskets  cut  off,  etc.  Equipments 
were  in  many  cases  made  of  stout  cotton  domestic,  stitched  in 
triple  folds  and  covered  with  paint  or  rubber  varnish.  But, 
poor  as  were  the  arms,  enough  of  them,  such  as  they  were,  could 
not  be  obtained  to  arm  the  troops  pressing  forward  to  defend 
their  homes  and  their  political  rights. 

In  December,  1861,  arms  purchased  abroad  began  to  come 
in,  and  a  good  many  Enfield  rifles  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
troops  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  The  winter  of  1862  was  the 
period  when  our  ordnance  deficiencies  were  most  keenly  felt. 
Powder  was  called  for  on  every  hand ;  and  the  equipments 
most  needed  were  those  we  were  least  able  to  supply.  The 
abandonment  of  the  line  of  the  Potomac  and  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi from  Columbus  to  Memphis  did  somewhat,  however, 
reduce  the  pressure  for  heavy  artillery ;  and,  after  the  fall  of 


1862]  HOW  NITER  WAS  OBTAINED.  477 

1862,  when  the  powder-mills  at  Augusta  had  got  into  full  op- 
eration, there  was  no  further  inability  to  meet  all  requisitions 
for  ammunition.  To  provide  the  iron  needed  for  cannon  and 
projectiles,  it  had  been  necessary  to  stimulate  by  contracts  the 
mining  and  smelting  of  its  ores. 

But  it  was  obviously  beyond  the  power  of  even  the  great 
administrative  capacity  of  the  chief  of  ordnance,  General  J. 
Gorgas,  to  whose  monograph  I  am  indebted  for  these  details, 
to  add,  to  his  already  burdensome  labors,  the  numerous  and 
increasing  cares  of  obtaining  the  material  from  which  ammu- 
nition, arms,  and  equipments  were  to  be  manufactured.  On 
his  recommendation  a  niter  and  mining  bureau  was  organized, 
and  Colonel  St.  John,  who  had  been  hitherto  assigned  to  duty 
in  connection  with  procuring  supplies  of  niter  and  iron,  was 
appointed  to  be  chief  of  this  bureau.  A  large,  difficult,  and 
most  important  field  of  operations  was  thus  assigned  to  him, 
and  well  did  he  fulfill  its  requirements.  To  his  recent  expert 
ence  was  added  scientific  knowledge,  and  to  both,  untiring, 
systematic  industry,  and  his  heart's  thorough  devotion  to  the 
cause  he  served.  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit,  and  he  may 
confidently  point  to  results  as  the  evidence  on  which  he  is  will- 
ing to  stand  for  judgment.     Briefly,  they  will  be  noticed. 

Mter  was  to  be  obtained  from  caves  and  other  like  sources, 
and  by  the  formation  of  niter-beds,  some  of  which  had  previ- 
ously been  begun  at  Eichmond.  These  beds  were  located  at 
Columbia,  South  Carolina,  Charleston,  Savannah,  Augusta,  Mo- 
bile, Selma,  and  various  other  points.  At  the  close  of  1864 
there  were  two  million  eight  hundred  thousand  feet  of  earth 
collected,  and  in  various  stages  of  nitrification,  of  which  a  large 
proportion  was  presumed  to  yield  one  and  a  half  pound  of  niter 
per  foot  of  earth.  The  whole  country  was  laid  off  into  districts, 
each  of  which  was  under  the  charge  of  an  officer,  who  obtained 
details  of  workmen  from  the  army,  and  made  his  monthly  re- 
ports. Thus  the  niter  production,  in  the  course  of  a  year,  was 
brought  up  to  something  like  half  of  the  total  consumption. 
The  district  from  which  the  most  constant  yield  could  be  relied 
on  had  its  chief  office  at  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  a  region 
which  had  no  niter-caves  in  it.     The  niter  was  obtained  from 


478      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

lixiviation  of  nitrous  earth  found  under  old  houses,  barns,  etc. 
The  supervision  of  the  production  of  iron,  lead,  copper,  and  all 
the  minerals  which  needed  development,  as  well  as  the  manu- 
facture of  sulphuric  and  nitric  acids  (the  latter  required  for  the 
supply  of  the  fulminate  of  mercury  for  percussion-caps),  with- 
out which  the  firearms  of  our  day  would  have  been  useless,  was 
added  to  the  niter  bureau.  Such  was  the  progress  that,  in  a 
short  time,  the  bureau  was  aiding  or  managing  some  twenty  to 
thirty  furnaces  with  an  annual  yield  of  fifty  thousand  tons  or 
more  of  pig-iron.  The  lead-  and  copper-smelting  works  erected 
were  sufficient  for  all  wants,  and  the  smelting  of  zinc  of  good 
quality  had  been  achieved.  The  chemical  works  were  placed  at 
Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  to  serve  as  a  reserve  when  the  sup- 
ply from  abroad  might  be  cut  off. 

In  equipping  the  armies  first  sent  into  the  field,  the  supply 
of  accessories  was  embarrassingly  scant.  There  were  arms,  such 
as  they  were,  for  over  one  hundred  thousand  men,  but  no  ac- 
coutrements nor  equipments,  and  a  meager  supply  of  ammu- 
nition. In  time  the  knapsacks  were  supplanted  by  haversacks, 
which  the  women  could  make.  But  soldiers'  shoes  and  car- 
tridge-boxes must  be  had  ;  leather  was  also  needed  for  artillery- 
harness  and  for  cavalry-saddles ;  and,  as  the  amount  of  leather 
which  the  country  could  furnish  was  quite  insufficient  for  all 
these  purposes,  it  was  perforce  apportioned  among  them.  Sol- 
diers' shoes  were  the  prime  necessity.  Therefore,  a  scale  was 
established,  by  which  first  shoes  and  then  cartridge-boxes  had 
the  preference ;  after  these,  artillery-harness,  and  then  saddles 
and  bridles.  To  economize  leather,  the  waist  and  cartridge- 
box  belts  were  made  of  prepared  cotton  cloth  stitched  in  three 
or  four  thicknesses.  Bridle-reins  were  likewise  so  made,  and 
then  cartridge-boxes  were  thus  covered,  except  the  flap.  Sad- 
dle-skirts, too,  were  made  of  heavy  cotton  cloth  strongly  stitched; 
To  get  leather,  each  department  procured  its  quota  of  hides, 
made  contracts  with  the  tanners,  obtained  hands  for  them  by 
exemptions  from  the  army,  got  transportation  over  the  railroads 
for  the  hides  and  for  supplies.  To  the  varied  functions  of  this 
bureau  was  finally  added  that  of  assisting  the  tanners  to  procure 
the  necessary  supplies  for  the  tanneries.     A  fishery,  even,  was 


1862]  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  ARSENALS.  479 

established  on  Cape  Fear  River  to  get  oil  for  mechanical  pur- 
poses, and  at  the  same  time  food  for  the  workmen.  In  cavalry 
equipments  the  main  thing  was  to  get  a  good  saddle  which 
would  not  hurt  the  back  of  the  horse.  For  this  purpose  various 
patterns  were  tried,  and  reasonable  success  was  obtained.  One 
of  the  most  difficult  wants  to  supply  in  this  branch  of  the  ser- 
vice was  the  horseshoe  for  cavalry  and  artillery.  The  want  of 
iron  and  of  skilled  labor  was  strongly  felt.  Every  wayside  black- 
smith-shop accessible,  especially  those  in  and  near  the  theatre 
of  operations,  was  employed.  These,  again,  had  to  be  supplied 
with  material,  and  the  employees  exempted  from  service. 

It  early  became  manifest  that  great  reliance  must  be  placed 
on  the  introduction  of  articles  of  prime  necessity  through  the 
blockaded  ports.  A  vessel,  capable  of  stowing  six  hundred  and 
fifty  bales  of  cotton,  was  purchased  by  the  agent  in  England,  and 
kept  running  between  Bermuda  and  Wilmington.  Some  fifteen 
to  eighteen  successive  trips  were  made  before  she  was  captured. 
Another  was  added,  which  was  equally  successful.  These  ves- 
sels were  long,  low,  rather  narrow,  and  built  for  speed.  They 
were  mostly  of  pale  sky-color,  and,  with  their  lights  out  and  with 
fuel  that  made  little  smoke,  they  ran  to  and  from  Wilmington 
with  considerable  regularity.  Several  others  were  added,  and 
devoted  to  bringing  in  ordnance,  and  finally  general  supplies. 
Depots  of  stores  were  likewise  made  at  Nassau  and  Havana. 
Another  organization  was  also  necessary,  that  the  vessels  com- 
ing in  through  the  blockade  might  have  their  return  cargoes 
promptly  on  their  arrival.  These  resources  were  also  supple- 
mented by  contracts  for  supplies  brought  through  Texas  from 
Mexico. 

The  arsenal  in  Eichmond  soon  grew  into  very  large  dimen- 
sions, and  produced  all  the  ordnance  stores  that  the  army  re- 
quired, except  cannon  and  small-arms,  in  quantities  sufficient  to 
supply  the  forces  in  the  field.  The  arsenal  at  Augusta  was 
very  serviceable  to  the  armies  serving  in  the  south  and  west, 
and  turned  out  a  good  deal  of  field-artillery  complete.  The 
Government  powder-mills  were  entirely  successful.  The  arsenal 
and  workshops  at  Charleston  were  enlarged,  steam  introduced, 
and  good  work  done  in  various  departments.     The  arsenal  at 


480      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Mount  Vernon,  Alabama,  was  moved  to  Selma,  in  that  State, 
where  it  grew  into  a  large  and  well-ordered  establishment  of  the 
first  class.  Mount  Yernon  Arsenal  was  dismantled,  and  served  to 
furnish  lumber  and  timber  for  use  elsewhere.  At  Montgomery, 
shops  were  kept  up  for  the  repair  of  small-arms  and  the  manu- 
facture of  articles  of  leather.  There  were  many  other  small 
establishments  and  depots. 

The  chief  armories  were  at  Eichmond  and  Fayetteville, 
North  Carolina.  The  former  turned  out  about  fifteen  hundred 
stands  per  month,  and  the  latter  only  four  hundred  per  month, 
for  want  of  operatives.  To  meet  the  want  of  cavalry  arms,  a 
contract  was  made  for  the  construction  in  Eichmond  of  a  fac- 
tory for  Sharp's  carbines;  this  being  built,  it  was  then  con- 
verted into  a  manufactory  of  rifle-carbines,  caliber  -58.  Smaller 
establishments  grew  up  at  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  and  at 
Tallahassee,  Alabama.  A  great  part  of  the  work  of  the  armories 
consisted  in  the  repair  of  arms.  In  this  manner  the  gleanings 
of  the  battle-fields  were  utilized.  Nearly  ten  thousand  stands 
were  saved  from  the  field  of  Manassas,  and  from  those  about 
Eichmond  in  1862  about  twenty-five  thousand  excellent  arms. 
All  the  stock  of  inferior  arms  disappeared  from  the  armories 
during  the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  and  were  replaced  by  a 
better  class  of  arms,  rifled  and  percussioned.  Placing  the  good 
arms  lost  previous  to  July,  1863,  at  one  hundred  thousand,  there 
must  have  been  received  from  various  sources  four  hundred 
thousand  stands  of  infantry  arms  in  the  first  two  years  of  the 
war. 

Among  the  obvious  requirements  of  a  well-regulated  service 
was  one  central  laboratory  of  sufficient  capacity  to  prepare  all 
ammunition,  and  thus  to  secure  the  vital  advantage  of  absolute 
uniformity.  Authority  was  therefore  granted  to  concentrate 
this  species  of  work  at  Macon,  Georgia.  Plans  of  the  buildings 
and  of  the  machinery  required  were  submitted  and  approved, 
and  the  work  was  begun  with  energy.  The  pile  of  buildings  had 
a  f acade  of  six  hundred  feet,  was  designed  with  taste,  and  com- 
prehended every  possible  appliance  for  good  and  well-organized 
work.  The  buildings  were  nearly  ready  for  occupation  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  some  of  the  machinery  had  arrived  at  Ber- 


1861]  GENERAL   GORGAS'S  MONOGRAPH.  481 

muda.  This  project  preceded  that  of  a  general  armory  for  the 
Confederacy,  and  was  mnch  nearer  completion.  These,  with 
the  admirable  powder-mills  at  Augusta,  would  have  been  com- 
pleted, and  with  them  the  Government  would  have  been  in  a 
condition  to  supply  arms  and  ammunition  to  three  hundred 
thousand  men.  To  these  would  have  been  added  a  foundry 
for  heavy  guns  at  Selma  or  Brierfield,  Alabama,  where  the 
strongest  cast  iron  in  the  country  had  been  made. 

Thus  has  been  briefly  sketched  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources from  which  our  large  armies  were  supplied  with  arms 
and  ammunition,  while  our  country  was  invaded  on  land  and 
water  by  armies  much  larger  than  our  own.  It  will  be  seen  un- 
der what  disadvantages  our  people  successfully  prosecuted  the 
(to  them)  new  pursuits  of  mining  and  manufacturing.  The 
chief  of  ordnance  was  General  J.  Gorgas,  a  man  remarkable 
for  his  scientific  attainment,  for  the  highest  administrative 
capacity  and  moral  purity,  all  crowned  by  zeal  and  fidelity  to 
his  trust,  in  which  he  achieved  results  greatly  disproportioned 
to  the  means  at  his  command.  He  closes  his  excellent  mono- 
graph in  the  following  words  : 

"We  began  in  April,  1861,  without  an  arsenal,  laboratory,  or 
powder-mill  of  any  capacity,  and  with  no  foundry  or  rolling-mill, 
except  in  Richmond,  and,  before  the  close  of  1863,  or  within  a  little 
over  two  years,  we  supplied  them.  During  the  harassments  of  war, 
while  holding  our  own  in  the  field  defiantly  and  successfully  against 
a  powerful  enemy  ;  crippled  by  a  depreciated  currency  ;  throttled 
with  a  blockade  that  deprived  us  of  nearly  all  the  means  of  get- 
ting material  or  workmen  ;  obliged  to  send  almost  every  able-bod- 
ied man  to  the  field  ;  unable  to  use  the  slave-labor,  with  which  we 
were  abundantly  supplied,  except  in  the  most  unskilled  depart- 
ments of  production  ;  hampered  by  want  of  transportation  even  of 
the  commonest  supplies  of  food  ;  with  no  stock  on  hand  even  of 
articles  such  as  steel,  copper,  leather,  iron,  which  we  must  have 
to  build  up  our  establishments — against  all  these  obstacles,  in 
spite  of  all  these  deficiencies,  we  persevered  at  home,  as  deter- 
minedly as  did  our  troops  in  the  field,  against  a  more  tangible  op- 
position ;  and  in  that  short  period  created,  almost  literally  out 
of  the  ground,  foundries  and  rolling-mills  at  Selma,  Richmond, 
31 


482      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Atlanta,  and  Macon  ;  smelting-works  at  Petersburg,  chemical 
works  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina  ;  a  powder-mill  far  superior  to 
any  in  the  United  States  and  unsurpassed  by  any  across  the  ocean  ; 
and  a  chain  of  arsenals,  armories,  and  laboratories  equal  in  their 
capacity  and  their  improved  appointments  to  the  best  of  those  in 
the  United  States,  stretching  link  by  link  from  Virginia  to  Ala- 
bama." 

The  same  officer  writes : 

"It  was  a  charge  often  repeated  at  the  North  against  General 
Floyd,  that,  as  Secretary  of  War,  he  had  with  traitorous  intent 
abused  his  office  by  sending  arms  to  the  South  just  before  the 
secession  of  the  States.  The  transactions  which  gave  rise  to  this 
accusation  were  in  the  ordinary  course  of  an  economical  adminis- 
tration of  the  War  Department.  After  it  had  been  determined  to 
change  the  old  flint-lock  muskets  which  the  United  States  pos- 
sessed to  percussion,  it  was  deemed  cheaper  to  bring  all  the  flint- 
lock arms  in  store  at  Southern  arsenals  to  the  Northern  arsenals 
and  armories  for  alteration,  rather  than  to  send  the  necessary  ma- 
chinery and  workmen  to  the  South.  Consequently,  the  Southern 
arsenals  were  stripped  of  their  deposits,  which  were  sent  to  Spring- 
field, Watervliet,  Pittsburg,  St.  Louis,  and  other  points.  After 
the  conversion  had  been  effected,  the  denuded  Southern  arsenals 
were  again  supplied  with  about  the  same  number,  perhaps  slightly 
augmented,  that  had  formerly  been  stored  there.  The  quota  de- 
posited at  the  Charleston  Arsenal,  where  I  was  stationed  in  1860, 
arrived  there  full  a  year  before  the  opening  of  the  war." 

The  charge  was  made  early  in  the  war  that  I  was  slow  in 
procuring  arms  and  munitions  of  war  from  Europe.  We  were 
not  only  in  advance  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in 
the  markets  of  Europe,  but  the  facts  presented  in  the  following 
extracts  from  a  letter  of  our  agent,  Caleb  Huse,  dated  December 
30,  1861,  and  addressed  to  Major  C.  C.  Anderson,  will  serve  to 
place  the  matter  in  its  proper  light : 

"  London,  December  30,  1SG1. 
"  Dear  Major  :  We  are  all  waiting  with  almost  breathless 
anxiety  for  the  arrival  of  the  answer  from  the  United  States  to  the 
unqualified  demand  of  England  for  the  captured  commissioners. 


1861]  VAST  SUPPLIES  SHUT   OUT.  483 

Will  Mr.  Lincoln  disregard  the  international  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus served  by  Great  Britain  ?  We  shall  soon  know.  If  the  pris- 
oners are  given  up,  the  affair  will  result  in  great  inconvenience  to 
us  in  the  way  of  shipping  goods. 

"  I  have  now  more  than  enough  to  load  three  '  Bermudas,'  and 
can  not  ship  a  package,  though  I  have  a  steamer  off  the  wharf,  all 
ready  to  receive  her  cargo.  We  are  literally  fighting  two  govern- 
ments here.  Government  watchmen  guard  the  wharf  where  our 
goods  are  stowed  and  others  in  the  neighborhood,  night  and  day 
— and  the  wharfinger  has  orders  not  to  ship  or  deliver,  by  land 
or  water,  any  goods  marked  W.  D.,  without  first  acquainting  the 
honorable  Board  of  Customs.  I  have  applied  myself  to  ship  to 
Bermuda,  offering  to  give  bonds  to  double  the  amount  of  value 
of  the  goods,  that  they  should  be  held  in  Bermuda,  subject  to 
the  direction  of  her  Majesty's  representative  in  Bermuda.  I  .  .  . 
has  applied  for  permission  to  ship  to  Cardenas,  agreeing  to  hold 
the  goods  subject  to  the  order  of  the  Spanish  authorities — but 
all  without  avail,  and  our  army  must  suffer  for  the  want  of  blank- 
ets, overcoats,  shoes,  socks,  field  forges,  arms,  and  ammunition, 
which  have  been  collected  to  an  amount  more  than  double  that 
I  have  yet  received. 

"  It  is  miserable  to  have  to  look  at  the  immense  pile  of  packages 
in  the  warehouse  at  St.  Andrews  Wharf,  and  not  be  able  to  send 
anything — only  read  the  following  :  twenty-five  thousand  rifles  ; 
two  thousand  barrels  of  powder  ;  five  hundred  thousand  caps  ;  ten 
thousand  friction-tubes  ;  five  hundred  thousand  cartridges  ;  thir- 
teen thousand  accoutrements  ;  thirteen  thousand  knapsacks  ;  thir- 
teen thousand  gun-slings  ; '  forty-four  thousand  three  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  pairs  of  socks  ;  sixteen  thousand  four  hundred  and 
eighty-four  blankets  ;  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  saddles  ;  sad- 
dlers' tools  ;  artillery-harness  ;  leather,  etc.     Very  truly  yours, 

"  Caleb  Huse." 


484      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTEE    XIII. 

Extracts  from  my  Inaugural. — Our  Financial  System. — Receipts  and  Expenditures  of 
the  First  Year. — Resources,  Loans,  and  Taxes. — Loans  authorized. — Notes  and 
Bonds. — Funding  Notes. — Treasury  Notes  guaranteed  by  the  States. — Measure 
to  reduce  the  Currency. — Operation  of  the  General  System. — Currency  fundable. 
— Taxation. — Popular  Aversion. — Compulsory  Reduction  of  the  Currency. — Tax 
Law. — Successful  Result. — Financial  Condition  of  the  Government  at  its  Close. — 
Sources  whence  Revenue  was  derived. — Total  Public  Debt. — System  of  Direct 
Taxes  and  Revenue.— The  Tariff. — War-Tax  of  Fifty  Cents  on  a  Hundred  Dol- 
lars.— Property  subject  to  it. — Every  Resource  of  the  Country  to  be  reached. — 
Tax  paid  by  the  States  mostly. — Obstacle  to  the  taking  of  the  Census. — The  For- 
eign Debt. — Terms  of  the  Contract. — Premium. — False  Charge  against  me  of 
Repudiation. — Facts  stated. — The  Tariff :  its  History  and  Oppressiveness. 

In  my  inaugural  address  in  1862  I  said : 

"  The  first  year  of  our  history  has  been  the  most  eventful  in 
the  annals  of  this  continent.  A  new  Government  has  been  estab- 
lished, and  its  machinery  put  in  operation  over  an  area  exceeding 
seven  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  The  great  principles  upon 
which  we  have  been  willing  to  hazard  everything  that  is  dear  to 
man,  have  made  conquests  for  us  which  could  never  have  been 
achieved  by  the  sword.  Our  Confederacy  has  grown  from  six  to 
thirteen  States  ;  and  Maryland,  already  united  to  us  by  hallowed 
memories  and  material  interests,  will,  I  believe,  when  enabled  to 
speak  with  unstifled  voice,  connect  her  destiny  with  the  South. 
Our  people  have  rallied  with  unexampled  unanimity  to  the  support 
of  the  great  principles  of  constitutional  government,  with  firm  re- 
solve to  perpetuate  by  arms  the  rights  which  they  could  not  peace- 
fully secure.  A  million  of  men,  it  is  estimated,  are  now  standing 
in  hostile  array  and  waging  war  along  a  frontier  of  thousands  of 
miles.  Battles  have  been  fought,  sieges  have  been  conducted,  and, 
although  the  contest  is  not  ended,  and  the  tide  for  the  moment  is 
against  us,  the  final  result  in  our  favor  is  not  doubtful.  .  .  .  Fel- 
low-citizens, after  the  struggles  of  ages  had  consecrated  the  right 
of  the  Englishman  to  constitutional  representative  government, 
our  colonial  ancestors  were  forced  to  vindicate  that  birthright  by 
an  appeal  to  arms.  Success  crowned  their  efforts,  and  they  pro- 
vided for  their  posterity  a  peaceful  remedy  against  future  aggres- 
sion. 


1862]  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  ADOPTED.  485 

"  The  tyranny  of  an  unbridled  majority,  the  most  odious  and 
the  least  responsible  form  of  despotism,  has  denied  us  both  the 
right  and  the  remedy.  Therefore,  we  are  in  arms  to  renew  such 
sacrifices  as  our  forefathers  made  to  the  holy  cause  of  constitu- 
tional liberty. " 

The  financial  system  which  had  been  adopted  from  necessity 
proved  adequate  at  this  early  period  to  supply  all  the  wants  of 
the  Government  and  of  the  people.  An  unexpected  and  very 
large  increase  of  expenditures  had  resulted  from  the  great  en- 
largement of  the  necessary  means  of  defense.  Yet  the  Govern- 
ment entered  on  its  second  year  without  a  floating  debt  and 
with  its  credit  unimpaired.  The  total  expenditures  of  the  first 
year,  ending  February  1,  1862,  amounted  to  one  hundred  and 
seventy  million  dollars.  A  statement  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  comprising  the  period  from  the  organization  of  the 
Government  to  August  1,  1862,  presents  the  following  results: 

Expenditures :  War  Department $298,376,549  41 

Navy         "  14,605,777  86 

Civil  and  miscellaneous 15,766,503  43 

Total , $328,748,830  70 

Outstanding  requisitions 18,524,128  15 

Total  expenditures 347,272,958  85 

Total  receipts 302,482,096  60 

Deficient  Treasury  notes  authorized 16,755,165  00 

"  "  "     to  be  provided 28,035,697  25 

$44,790,862  25 

The  receipts  were  derived  as  follows : 

Customs $1,437,399  96 

War-tax 10,539,910  70 

Miscellaneous 1,974,769  33         $13,952,079  99 

Loans,  bonds,  February,  1861 15,000,000  00 

Bonds,  August,  1861 22,613,346  61 

Call  certificates,  December,  1861 37,515,200  00 

Treasury  notes,  April,  1861 22,799,900  00 

Demand  notes,  August,  1861 187,130,670  00 

One  and  two  dollar  notes 846,900  00 

Due  banks 2,645,000  00       $288,551,016  61 

Total  receipts $302,503,096  60 


486      RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Such  was  the  result  presented  by  the  Treasury  of  a  Govern- 
ment that  had  been  in  existence  only  eighteen  months.  It  com- 
menced that  existence  without  a  treasury,  and,  without  the  sinews 
and  the  munitions  of  war,  was  in  less  than  two  months  invaded 
on  everj  side  by  an  implacable  foe.  Its  ways  and  means  con- 
sisted in  loans  and  taxes*,  and  to  these  it  resorted.  On  February 
28th  I  was  authorized  by  Congress  to  borrow,  at  any  time  within 
twelve  months,  fifteen  million  dollars,  or  less,  as  might  be  need- 
ed. It  was  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  appropriations  for 
the  support  of  the  Government,  and  for  the  public  defense. 
Certificates  of  stock  or  bonds,  payable  in  ten  years  at  eight  per 
cent,  interest,  were  issued.  For  the  payment  of  the  interest  and 
principal  of  this  loan  a  tax  or  duty  of  one  eighth  of  one  per 
cent,  per  pound  was  laid  on  all  cotton  exported.  On  March  9th 
an  issue  of  one  million  dollars  in  Treasury  notes  of  fifty  dollars 
and  upward  was  authorized,  payable  in  one  year  from  date,  at 
3*65  per  cent,  interest,  and  receivable  for  all  public  debts  except 
the  export  duty  on  cotton.  A  reissue  was  authorized  for  a  year. 
On  May  16th  a  loan  of  fifty  million  dollars  in  bonds,  payable 
after  twenty  years  at  eight  per  cent,  interest,  was  authorized. 
The  bonds  were  "  to  be  sold  for  specie,  military  stores,  or  for  the 
proceeds  of  sales  of  raw  produce  or  manufactured  articles,  to  be 
paid  in  the  form  of  specie  or  with  foreign  bills  of  exchange." 
The  bonds  could  not  be  issued  in  fractional  parts  of  a  hun- 
dred dollars,  or  be  exchanged  for  Treasury  notes  or  the  notes  of 
any  bank,  corporation,  or  individual.  In  lieu  of  any  amount  of 
these  bonds,  not  exceeding  twenty  million  dollars,  an  equal 
amount  of  Treasury  notes,  without  interest,  in  denominations  of 
five  dollars  and  upward,  was  authorized  to  be  issued.  These 
notes  were  payable  in  two  years  in  specie,  and  were  receivable 
for  all  debts  or  taxes  except  the  export  duty  on  cotton.  They 
were  also  convertible  into  bonds  payable  in  ten  years  at  eight 
per  cent,  interest.  On  August  19th  another  issue  of  Treasury 
notes,  amounting  with  those  then  issued  to  one  hundred  million 
dollars,  was  authorized.  They  were  of  the  denominations  of 
five  dollars  and  upward.  They  were  receivable  for  the  war-tax 
and  all  other  public  dues  except  the  export  duty  on  cotton. 
These  notes  were  convertible  into  twenty-year  bonds,  bearing 


1862]  ISSUES  OF  BONDS  AND  NOTES.  487 

eight  per  cent,  interest,  of  which  the  issue  was  limited  to  one 
hundred  million  dollars.  Thirty  millions  were  to  be  a  substitute 
for  the  same  amount,  authorized  by  the  act  of  May  16,  1861. 
These  bonds  could  be  exchanged  for  specie,  military  and  naval 
stores,  or  for  the  proceeds  of  raw  produce  and  manufactured 
articles.  On  December  19th  ten  million  dollars  in  Treasury 
notes  were  issued  to  pay  the  advance  of  the  banks.  On  Decem- 
ber 21th  an  additional  issue  of  fifty  millions  of  Treasury  notes 
like  those  of  the  act  of  August  19th  was  authorized.  An  addi- 
tional issue  of  thirty  millions  of  bonds  was  also  authorized.  On 
April  12,  1862,  an  issue  of  Treasury  notes,  certificates  of  stock 
and  bonds,  as  the  public  necessities  might  require,  to  the  amount 
of  two  hundred  and  fifteen  millions,  was  authorized.  Of  these, 
fifty  millions  in  Treasury  notes  were  issued  without  reserve,  ten 
millions  in  Treasury  notes  retained  as  a  reserve  fund  to  pay  any 
sudden  or  unexpected  call  for  deposits,  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  millions  certificates  of  stock  or  bonds.  Bonds  to  the 
amount  of  fifty  million  dollars,  payable  in  ten  years  at  six  per  cent, 
interest,  were  authorized  and  made  exchangeable  for  any  of  the 
above  Treasury  notes.  All  these  notes  and  bonds  were  subject 
to  the  same  conditions  as  those  of  the  acts  of  August  19  and 
December  24,  1861.  On  April  17th  five  millions  of  Treasury 
notes  were  authorized  to  be  issued  in  denominations  of  one  and 
two  dollars,  which  were  receivable  for  all  public  dues  except 
the  cotton  duty.  An  amount  of  Treasury  notes  bearing  interest 
at  two  cents  per  day  on  each  hundred  dollars,  as  a  substitute  for 
as  much  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  millions  of  bonds 
authorized,  was  also  authorized  to  be  issued.  On  September  19, 
1862,  three  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  bonds  was 
authorized  to  be  issued  to  meet  a  contract  for  six  iron-clad  ves- 
sels of  war.  On  September  23,  1862,  the  amount  of  Treasury 
notes  under  the  denomination  of  five  dollars  was  increased  from 
five  million  to  ten  million  dollars,  and  a  further  issue  of  bonds 
or  certificates  of  stock,  to  the  amount  of  fifty  million  dollars,  was 
authorized. 

On  March  23,  1863,  an  effort  was  made  to  remove  from  cir- 
culation some  of  the  issues  of  Treasury  notes  by  funding  them. 
For  this  purpose  it  was  provided  that  all  Treasury  notes,  not 


488      RISE   AND  FALL  OP  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

bearing  interest,  issued  prior  to  December,  1862,  should  be 
fundable  in  eight  per  cent,  bonds  or  stock  during  the  ensuing 
thirty  days,  and  during  the  succeeding  three  months  in  seven  per 
cent,  bonds  or  stock,  after  which  they  ceased  to  be  fundable. 
All  Treasury  notes  not  bearing  interest,  and  issued  after  Decem- 
ber 1,  1862,  until  ten  days  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  were 
made  fundable  in  seven  per  cent,  bonds  or  stock  during  the 
ensuing  four  months,  and  afterward  only  in  four  per  cent,  thirty 
years  bonds.  Call  certificates  were  made  fundable  in  thirty 
years  bonds  at  eight  per  cent.,  and  all  outstanding  on  the  ensu- 
ing July  1st  were  deemed  bonds  at  six  per  cent.,  payable  in 
thirty  years.  A  monthly  issue  of  Treasury  notes,  without  inter- 
est, to  the  amount  of  fifty  million  dollars,  was  also  authorized. 
These  were  made  fundable  during  the  first  year  of  their  issue 
in  six  per  cent,  thirty  years  bonds,  and  after  the  expiration 
of  the  year  in  four  per  cent,  thirty  years  bonds.  The  further 
issue  of  call  certificates  was  suspended ;  but  Treasury  notes  fund- 
able in  the  six  per  cent,  bonds  might  be  converted,  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  holder,  into  such  certificates  at  five  per  cent,  interest, 
which  were  reconvertible  into  like  notes  within  six  months, 
or  afterward  exchanged  for  thirty  years  six  per  cent,  bonds. 
Treasury  notes  fundable  in  four  per  cent,  bonds  were  converti- 
ble in  like  manner  at  four  per  cent.  All  disposable  means  in 
the  Treasury  were  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  Treasury 
notes,  bearing  no  interest,  until  the  amount  in  circulation  did 
not  exceed  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions.  The  issue 
of  five  million  dollars,  in  notes  of  two  dollars,  one  dollar,  and 
fifty  cents,  was  also  authorized.  It  was  further  provided  in 
this  act  that  six  per  cent,  bonds,  as  above  mentioned,  might  be 
sold  to  any  of  the  States  for  Treasury  notes,  and,  being  guaran- 
teed by  any  of  the  States,  they  might  be  used  to  purchase  Treas- 
ury notes.  The  whole  amount  of  such  bonds  could  not  exceed 
two  hundred  million  dollars.  Treasury  notes  so  purchased  were 
not  to  be  reissued.  The  issue  of  six  per  cent,  coupon  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  one  hundred  million  dollars,  which  were  to  be  ap- 
plied only  to  the  absorption  of  Treasury  notes,  was  also  author- 
ized. The  coupons  were  payable  either  in  the  currency  in 
which  interest  on  other  bonds  was    paid,  or  in  cotton  certifi- 


1862]  OPERATION  OF   THE   SYSTEM.  489 

cates  pledging  the  Government  to  pay  the  same  in  cotton  of 
New  Orleans  middling  quality,  delivered  at  the  rate  of  eight 
pence  sterling  per  pound. 

An  important  measure  was  adopted  on  February  17,  1864, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  reduce  the  currency  and  to  author- 
ize a  new  issue  of  notes  and  bonds.  All  Treasury  notes  above 
the  denomination  of  five  dollars,  and  not  bearing  interest,  were, 
if  offered  within  a  short  period,  made  fundable  in  registered 
twenty  years  bonds  at  four  per  cent.  At  the  same  time  a  new 
issue  of  Treasury  notes  was  authorized,  and  made  receivable  for 
all  public  dues,  except  customs  duties,  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars 
for  three  of  the  old.  The  issue  of  other  Treasury  notes,  after 
the  1st  of  the  ensuing  April,  was  prohibited. 

To  pay  the  expenses  of  the  Government  an  issue  of  five 
hundred  million  dollars  in  six  per  cent,  bonds  was  author- 
ized. For  the  payment  of  interest  the  receipts  of  the  export 
and  import  duties,  payable  in  specie,  were  pledged. 

A  review  of  this  statement  of  the  legislation  of  Congress 
will  clearly  present  the  financial  system  of  the  Government. 
The  first  action  of  the  Provisional  Congress  was  confined  to  the 
adoption  of  a  tariff  law,  and  an  act  for  a  loan  of  fifteen  million 
dollars,  with  a  pledge  of  a  small  export  duty  on  cotton,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  redemption  of  the  debt.  At  the  next  session,  after 
the  commencement  of  the  war,  provision  was  made  for  the 
issue  of  twenty  million  dollars  in  Treasury  notes,  and  for  bor- 
rowing thirty  million  dollars  in  bonds.  At  the  same  time  the 
tariff  was  revised,  and  preparatory  measures  taken  for  the  levy 
of  internal  taxes.  After  the  purpose  of  subjugation  became 
manifest  by  the  action  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
early  in  July,  1861,  and  the  certainty  of  a  long  war  was  demon- 
strated, there  arose  the  necessity  that  a  financial  system  should 
be  devised  on  a  basis  sufficiently  large  for  the  vast  proportions 
of  the  approaching  contest.  The  plan  then  adopted  was  founded 
on  the  theory  of  issuing  Treasury  notes,  convertible  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  holder  into  eight  per  cent,  bonds,  with  the  interest 
payable  in  coin.  It  was  assumed  that  any  tendency  to  depreci- 
ation, which  might  arise  from  the  over-issue  of  the  currency, 
would  be  checked  by  the  constant  exercise  of  the  holder's  right 


490      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

to  fund  the  notes  at  a  liberal  interest,  payable  in  specie.  The 
success  of  this  system  depended  on  the  ability  of  the  Govern- 
ment constantly  to  pay  the  interest  in  specie.  The  measures, 
therefore,  adopted  to  secure  that  payment  consisted  in  the  levy 
of  an  internal  tax,  termed  a  war-tax,  and  the  appropriation  of 
the  revenue  from  imports. 

The  first  operation  of  this  plan  was  quite  successful.  The 
interest  was  paid  from  the  reserve  of  coin  existing  in  the  coun- 
try, and  experience  sustained  the  expectations  of  those  who  de- 
vised the  system. 

Wheat,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1862,  was  selling  at 
one  dollar  and  thirty  cents  per  bushel,  thus  but  little  exceeding 
its  average  price  in  time  of  peace.  The  other  agricultural 
products  of  the  country  were  at  similarly  moderate  rates,  thus 
indicating  that  there  was  no  excess  of  circulation.  At  the  same 
time  the  premium  on  coin  had  reached  about  twenty  per  cent. 
But  it  had  become  apparent  that  the  commerce  of  our  country 
was  threatened  with  permanent  suspension  by  reason  of  the 
conduct  of  neutral  nations,  who  virtually  gave  aid  to  the  United 
States  Government  by  sanctioning  its  declaration  of  a  block- 
ade. These  neutral  nations  treated  our  invasion  by  our  for- 
mer limited  and  special  agent  as  though  it  were  the  attempt  of 
a  sovereign  to  suppress  a  rebellion  against  lawful  authority. 
This  exceptional  cause  heightened  the  premium  on  specie,  be- 
cause it  indicated  the  exhaustion  of  our  reserve,  without  the 
possibility  of  renewing  the  supply. 

At  the  inauguration  of  the  permanent  Government,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1862,  a  popular  aversion  to  internal  taxation  had  been  so 
strongly  manifested  as  to  indicate  its  partial  failure.  This  will 
be  further  explained  presently  in  our  statement  of  the  system 
of  taxation. 

Under  all  these  circumstances  the  effort  was  made  to  avoid 
the  increase  in  the  volume  of  notes  in  circulation,  by  offering 
inducements  to  voluntary  funding.  The  measures  adopted  for 
that  purpose  were  but  partially  successful.  Meanwhile  the  in- 
tervening exigencies  from  the  fortunes  of  war  permitted  no 
delay.  The  issues  of  Treasury  notes  were  increased  until,  in 
December,  1863,  the  currency  in  circulation  amounted  to  more 


1862]  TAX  LEVIED   ON  THE  CIRCULATION.  491 

than  six  hundred  million  dollars,  or  more  than  threefold  the 
amount  required  by  the  business  of  the  country.  The  evil 
effects  of  this  financial  condition  were  but  too  apparent.  In 
addition  to  the  difficulty  presented  to  the  necessary  operations 
of  the  Government,  and  the  efficient  conduct  of  the  war,  the 
most  deplorable  of  all  its  results  was,  undoubtedly,  its  corrupt- 
ing influence  on  the  morals  of  the  people.  The  possession  of 
large  amounts  of  Treasury  notes  led  to  a  desire  for  investment ; 
and,  with  a  constantly  increasing  volume  of  currency,  there  was 
an  equally  constant  increase  of  price  in  all  objects  of  invest- 
ment. This  effect  stimulated  purchase  by  the  apparent  cer- 
tainty of  profit,  and  a  spirit  of  speculation  was  thus  fostered, 
which  had  so  debasing  an  influence  and  such  ruinous  conse- 
quences that  it  became  our  highest  duty  to  remove  the  cause 
by  prompt  and  stringent  measures. 

I  therefore  recommended  to  Congress,  in  December,  1863, 
the  compulsory  reduction  of  the  currency  to  the  amount  re- 
quired by  the  business  of  the  country,  accompanied  by  a  pledge 
that,  under  no  stress  of  circumstances,  would  the  amount  be 
increased.  I  stated  that,  if  the  currency  was  not  greatly  and 
promptly  reduced,  the  existing  scale  of  inflated  prices  would 
not  only  continue,  but,  by  the  very  fact  of  the  large  amounts 
thus  made  requisite  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  these  prices 
would  reach  rates  still  more  extravagant,  and  the  whole  system 
would  fall  under  its  own  weight,  rendering  the  redemption  of 
the  debt  impossible,  and  destroying  its  value  in  the  hands  of 
the  holder.  If,  on  the  contrary,  a  funded  debt,  with  interest 
secured  by  adequate  taxation,  could  be  substituted  for  the  out- 
standing currency,  its  entire  amount  would  be  made  available 
to  the  holder,  and  the  Government  would  be  in  a  condition,  be- 
yond the  reach  of  any  probable  contingency,  to  prosecute  the 
war  to  a  successful  issue. 

This  recommendation  was  followed  by  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  February  17,  1864,  above  mentioned.  One  of  its  fea- 
tures is  the  tax  levied  on  the  circulation.  Regarding  the  Gov- 
ernment when  contracting  a  debt  as  the  agent  of  the  people,  its 
debt  is  their  debt.  As  the  currency  was  held  exclusively  by 
ourselves,  it  was  obvious  that,  if  each  person   held  Treasury 


492      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

notes  in  exact  proportion  to  the  valuation  of  his  whole  estate, 
each  would  in  fact  owe  himself  the  amount  of  the  notes  held 
by  him  ;  and,  were  it  possible  to  distribute  the  currency  among 
the  people  in  this  exact  proportion,  a  tax  levied  on  the  currency 
alone,  to  an  amount  sufficient  to  reduce  it  to  its  proper  limits, 
would  afford  the  best  of  all  remedies.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, the  notes  remaining  in  the  hands  of  each  holder  after 
the  payment  of  his  tax  would  be  worth  quite  as  much  as  the 
whole  sum  previously  held,  for  it  would  have  an  equal  purchas- 
ing capacity. 

After  this  law  had  been  in  operation  for  one  year,  it  was 
manifest  that  it  had  the  desired  effect  of  withdrawing  from  cir- 
culation the  large  excess  of  Treasury  notes  which  had  been 
issued.  On  July  1,  1864,  the  outstanding  amount  was  esti- 
mated at  two  hundred  and  thirty  million  dollars.  The  estimate 
of  the  amount  funded  under  this  act,  about  this  time,  was  three 
hundred  million  dollars,  while  new  notes  were  authorized  to  be 
issued  to  the  extent  of  two  thirds  of  the  sum  received  under 
its  provisions.  The  chief  difficulty  apprehended  in  connection 
with  our  finances,  up  to  the  close  of  the  war,  resulted  from  the 
depreciation  of  our  Treasury  notes,  which  was  to  be  attributed 
to  the  increasing  redundancy  in  amount  and  the  diminishing 
confidence  in  their  ultimate  redemption. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Government,  near  its  close, 
is  very  correctly  represented  in  the  report  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment. The  total  receipts  of  the  Treasury  for  the  two  quar- 
ters ending  on  September  30,  1864,  amounted  to  $415,191,550, 
which  sum,  added  to  the  balance,  $308,282,722,  that  remained 
in  the  Treasury  on  April  1, 1864,  formed  a  total  of  $723,474,272. 
Of  this  total,  not  far  from  half,  that  is  to  say,  $342,560,327, 
were  applied  to  the  extinction  of  the  public  debt;  while  the 
total  expenditures  were  $272,378,505,  leaving  a  balance  in  the 
Treasury  on  October  1,  1864,  of  $108,435,440.  The  sources 
from  which  this  revenue  was  derived  were  as  follows : 

Four  per  cent,  registered  bonds,  act  of  February  17,  1864. . . .  $13,363,500 
Six  per  cent,  bonds,  $500,000,000  loan,  act  of  February  17, 

1864 14,481,050 

Four  per  cent,  call  certificates,  act  of  February  17,  1864 20,978,100 


1862]  STATEMENT  OF  THE  PUBLIC  DEBT.  493 

Tax  on  old  issue  of  certificates  redeemed $14,440,566 

Repayments  by  disbursing  officers 20,115,830 

Treasury  notes,  act  of  February  17,  1864 277,576,950 

War-tax . .. 42,294,314 

Sequestrations 1,338,732 

Customs 50,004 

Export  duty 4,320 

Coin  seized  by  the  Secretary  of  War 1,653,200 

Premium  on  loans . 4,822,249 

Soldiers'  tax 908,622 

The  total  amount  of  the  public  debt  on  October  1,  1864,  on 
the  books  of  the  Eegister  of  the  Treasury,  was  $1,147,970,208, 
of  which  $530,340,090  were  funded  debt,  bearing  interest,  and 
$283,880,150  were  Treasury  notes  of  the  new  issue,  and  the  re- 
mainder consisted  of  the  former  issue  of  Treasury  notes  which 
were  converted  into  other  forms  of  debt,  and  ceased  to  exist  on 
December  31st.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the  absence  of 
certain  returns  from  distant  officers,  the  true  amount  of  the 
debt  was  less  by  $21,500,000  than  appeared  on  the  books  of  the 
Register ;  so  that  the  total  public  debt,  on  October  1st,  might 
have  been  fairly  considered  to  have  been  $1,126,381,095.  Of 
this  amount,  $541,340,090  consisted  of  funded  debt,  and  the 
balance  unfunded  debt,  or  Treasury  notes.  The  foreign  debt 
is  omitted  in  these  statements.  It  amounted  to  £2,200,000, 
and  was  provided  for  by  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand bales  of  cotton  collected  by  the  Government.* 

The  aggregate  appropriations  called  for  by  the  different  de- 
partments of  the  Government  for  the  six  months  ending  on 
June  30,  1865,  amounted  to  $438,416,504.  It  was  estimated 
that  the  remains  of  former  appropriations  would,  on  January 
1,  1865,  amount  to  a  balance  of  $467,416,504.  No  additional 
appropriations  were  therefore  required  for  the  ensuing  six 
months.  i 

A  system  of  measures  by  which  to  obtain  a  revenue  from 
direct  taxes  and  duties  was  commenced  at  the  first  session  of 
Congress  under  the  provisional  Government.  The  officers  who, 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  provisional  Constitution,  held 

*  These  bales  were  the  security  for  the  foreign  cotton  bonds,  and  were  seized  by 
the  United  States  Government.     Was  it  not  liable  to  the  bondholders  ? 


494      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

any  office  connected  with  the  collection  of  the  customs,  duties, 
and  imposts  in  the  several  States  of  the  Confederacy,  or  as 
assistant  treasurers  intrusted  with  the  keeping  of  moneys  aris- 
ing therefrom,  were  continued  in  office  with  the  same  powers 
and  subject  to  the  same  duties.  The  tariff  laws  of  the  United 
States  were  continued  in  force  until  they  might  be  altered. 
The  free  list  was  enlarged  so  as  to  embrace  many  articles  of 
necessity  ;  additional  ports  and  places  of  entry  were  established ; 
restrictive  laws  were  repealed,  and  foreign  vessels  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  coasting-trade.  A  lighthouse  bureau  was  organ- 
ized ;  a  lower  rate  of  duties  was  imposed  on  a  number  of  enu- 
merated articles,  and  an  export  duty  of  one  eighth  of  one  cent 
per  pound  was  imposed  on  all  cotton  exported  in  the  raw  state. 
At  the  second  session,  in  May,  a  complete  tariff  law  was  en- 
acted, with  a  lower  scale  of  duties  than  had  previously  existed. 
On  August  19,  1861,  a  war-tax  of  fifty  cents  on  each  hundred 
dollars  of  certain  classes  of  property  was  levied  for  the  special 
purpose  of  paying  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  public  debt, 
and  of  supporting  the  Government.  The  different  classes  of 
property  on  which  the  tax  was  levied  were  as  follows :  real  es- 
tate of  all  kinds;  slaves;  merchandise;  bank-stocks;  railroad 
and  other  corporation  stocks ;  money  at  interest,  or  invested  by 
individuals  in  the  purchase  of  bills,  notes,  and  other  securities 
for  money,  except  the  bonds  of  the  Confederate  States,  and 
cash  on  hand,  or  on  deposit ;  cattle,  horses,  and  mules ;  gold 
watches,  gold  and  silver  plate,  pianos,  and  pleasure-carriages. 
There  were  some  exemptions,  such  as  the  property  of  educa- 
tional, charitable,  and  religious  institutions,  and  of  a  head  of  a 
family  having  property  worth  less  than  five  hundred  dollars. 
An  act  was  passed  for  the  sequestration  of  the  property  of  alien 
enemies,  as  a  retaliatory  measure,  to  offset  the  confiscation  act 
of  the  United  States. 

On  April  24,  1863,  a  new  act  was  passed  relative  to  internal 
or  direct  taxes.  It  was  designed  to  reach,  as  far  as  practicable, 
every  resource  of  the  country  except  the  capital  invested  in  real 
estate  and  slaves,  and,  by  means  of  an  income-tax  and  a  tax  in 
kind  on  the  produce  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  by  licenses  on  busi- 
ness occupations  and  professions,  to  command  .resources  suffi- 


1864]  POPULAR  AVERSION  TO  INTERNAL  TAXATION.  495 

cient  for  the  wants  of  the  country.  On  February  17,  1864,  an 
amendment  to  this  last-mentioned  act  was  passed.  It  levied 
additional  taxes  on  all  business  of  individuals,  of  copartnerships 
and  corporations,  also  on  trades,  sales,  liquor-dealers,  hotel-keep- 
ers, distillers,  and  a  tax  in  kind  on  agriculturists.  On  June  10, 
1864,  an  act  was  passed  which  levied  a  tax  equal  to  one  fifth 
of  the  amount  of  the  existing  tax  upon  all  subjects  of  taxation 
for  the  year. 

Within  six  months  after  the  passage  of  the  war-tax  of  Au- 
gust 19,  1861,  the  popular  aversion  to  internal  taxation  by  the 
General  Government  had  so  influenced  the  legislation  of  the 
several  States  that  only  in  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and 
Texas  were  the  taxes  actually  collected  from  the  people.  The 
quotas  of  the  remaining  States  had  been  raised  by  the  issue  of 
bonds  and  State  Treasury  notes.  The  public  debt  of  the  coun- 
try was  thus  actually  increased  instead  of  being  diminished  by' 
the  taxation  imposed  by  Congress. 

At  the  first  and  second  sessions  of  Congress  in  1862  no 
means  were  provided  by  taxation  for  maintaining  the  Govern- 
ment. The  legislation  was  confined  to  authorizing  further 
sales  of  bonds  and  issues  of  Treasury  notes.  An  obstacle  had 
arisen  against  successful  taxation.  About  two  thirds  of  the 
entire  taxable  property  of  the  Confederate  States  consisted  in 
land  and  slaves.  Under  the  provisional  Constitution,  which 
ceased  to  be  in  force  on  February  22,  1862,  the  power  of  Con- 
gress to  levy  taxes  was  not  restricted  by  any  other  condition 
than  that  "  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  should  be  uniform 
throughout  the  States  of  the  Confederacy."  But  in  the  per- 
manent Constitution,  which  took  effect  on  the  same  day  (Febru- 
ary 22d),  it  was  specially  provided  that  "  representatives  and 
direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined 
by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons — including  those 
bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed — three  fifths  of  all  slaves."  According  to  the  received 
construction  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  had 
been  acquiesced  in  for  sixty  years,  taxes  on  lands  and  slaves 
were  direct  taxes.     In  repeating,  without  modification,  in  our 


496      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Constitution  this  language  of  the  United  States  Constitution, 
our  Convention  necessarily  seems  to  have  intended  to  attach  to 
it  the  meaning  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  long  and  unin- 
terrupted acquiescence — thus  deciding  that  taxes  on  lands  and 
slaves  were  direct  taxes.  Our  Constitution  further  ordered  that 
a  census  should  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meet- 
ing of  Congress,  and  that  "no  capitation  or  other  direct  tax 
shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to  the  census  or  enumeration 
hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken." 

So  long  as  there  seemed  to  be  a  probability  of  being  able  to 
carry  out  these  provisions  of  the  Constitution  fully,  and  in  con- 
formity with  the  intentions  of  its  authors,  there  was  an  obvious 
difficulty  in  framing  any  system  of  taxation.  A  law  which 
should  exempt  from  the  burden  two  thirds  of  the  property  of 
the  country  would  be  as  unfair  to  the  owners  of  the  remaining 
"third  as  it  would  be  inadequate  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
public  service.  The  urgency  of  the  need,  however,  was  such 
that,  after  great  embarrassment,  the  law  of  April  24,  1863, 
above  mentioned,  was  framed.  Still,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
these  resources  was  unavailable  for  some  time,  and,  the  inter- 
vening exigencies  permitting  of  no  delay,  a  resort  to  further 
issues  of  Treasury  notes  became  unavoidable. 

The  foreign  debt  of  the  Confederate  States  at  the  close  of 
the  war  was  twenty-two  hundred  thousand  pounds.  The  earliest 
proposals  on  which  this  debt  was  contracted  were  issued  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris  in  March,  1863.  The  bonds  bore  interest  at  seven 
per  cent,  per  annum,  in  sterling,  payable  half-yearly.  They 
were  exchangeable  for  cotton  on  application,  at  the  option  of  the 
holder,  or  redeemable  at  par  in  sterling,  in  twenty  years,  by  half- 
yearly  drawings,  commencing  March  1,  1864.  The  special  se- 
curity of  these  bonds  was  the  engagement  of  the  Government 
to  deliver  cotton  to  the  holders.  Each  bond,  at  the  option  of 
the  holder,  was  convertible  at  its  nominal  amount  into  cotton  at 
the  rate  of  sixpence  sterling  for  each  pound  of  cotton — say  four 
thousand  poundb  of  cotton  for  each  bond  of  a  hundred  pounds, 
or  twenty-five  hundred  francs ;  and  this  could  be  done  at  any 
time  not  later  than  six  months  after  the  ratification  of  a  treaty 
of  peace  between  the  belligerents.     Sixty  days  after  the  notice, 


1862]  BASIS  OF  "COTTON"  BONDS.  497 

the  cotton  was  to  be  delivered,  if  in  a  state  of  peace,  at  the  ports 
of  Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile,  or  New  Orleans ;  if  at  war, 
at  points  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  within  ten  miles  of  a 
railroad,  or  a  stream  navigable  to  the  ocean.  The  delivery  was 
to  be  made  free  of  all  charges,  except  the  export  duty  of  one 
eighth  of  one  cent  per  pound.  The  quality  of  the  cotton  was  to 
be  the  standard  of  New  Orleans  middling.  An  annual  sinking 
fund  of  five  per  cent,  was  provided  for,  whereby  two  and  a  half 
per  cent,  of  the  bonds  unredeemed  by  cotton  should  be  drawn 
by  lot  half-yearly,  so  as  finally  to  extinguish  the  loan  in  twenty 
years  from  the  first  drawing.  The  bonds  were  issued  at  ninety 
per  cent.,  payable  in  installments.  The  loan  soon  stood  in  the 
London  market  at  five  per  cent,  premium.  The  amount  asked 
for  was  three  million  pounds.  The  amount  of  applications  in 
London  and  Paris  exceeded  fifteen  million  pounds. 

Great  efforts  had  previously  been  made  by  agents  of  the 
United  States  Government  to  reflect  upon  the  credit  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  by  resuscitating  an  almost  forgotten  accusation 
of  repudiation  against  the  State  of  Mississippi,  and  especially  by 
an  emissary  sent  to  Great  Britain,  than  whom  no  one  knew 
better  how  false  were  the  attempts  to  implicate  my  name  in 
that  charge.  The  slanderous  tongues  of  Northern  hatred  even 
went  so  far  as  to  style  me  "  the  father  of  repudiation."  How 
unjust  all  such  assertions  were,  will  be  manifest  by  a  simple 
statement  of  the  case.* 

*  The  facts  with  regard  to  the  Mississippi  "Union  Bank"  bonds  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows : 

The  Constitution  of  Mississippi  required  that  no  law  should  ever  be  passed  "  to 
raise  a  loan  of  money  on  the  credit  of  the  State,  or  to  pledge  the  faith  of  the  State 
for  the  payment  or  redemption  of  any  loan  or  debt,"  unless  such  law  should  be  pro- 
posed and  adopted  by  the  Legislature,  then  published  for  three  months  previous 
to  the  next  regular  election,  and  finally  reenacted  by  the  succeeding  Legislature. 
The  object  was  to  enable  the  people  of  the  State  to  consider  the  question  intelli- 
gently, and  to  indicate  and  exercise  their  will  upon  it  by  the  election  of  representa- 
tives to  the  ensuing  Legislature,  whose  views  upon  the  subject  would  be  known,  and 
with  such  instructions,  express  or  implied,  as  they  might  think  proper  to  give. 

In  183*1  a  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  for  incorporating  the  "  Union  Bank 
of  Mississippi,"  with  a  capital  of  fifteen  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  "  to 
be  raised  by  means  of  a  loan  to  be  obtained  by  the  directors  of  the  institution."  In 
order  to  secure  this  loan,  the  stockholders  were  required  to  give  mortgages  on  pro- 
ductive and  unencumbered  property,  to  be  in  all  cases  of  value  greater,  by  a  fixed 
32 


498      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

I  propose  now  to  refer  once  more  to  that  which  is  believed 
to  have  been  the  most  prolific  source  of  sectional  strife  and 
alienation :  the  question  of  the  tariff,  or  duties  upon  imports. 
Its  influence  extended  to  and  affected  subjects  with  which  it 
was  not  visibly  connected,  and  finally  assumed  a  form  surely 

ratio,  than  the  amount  of  their  stock.  When  the  stock  had  been  thus  secured,  as  a 
further  guarantee  for  the  redemption  of  the  loan,  the  Governor  was  directed  to 
issue  bonds,  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  State,  equal  in  amount  to  the  stock  se- 
cured by  mortgage  on  private  property.     No  bonds  as  thus  directed  were  ever  issued. 

This  act  was  duly  promulgated  to  the  people,  and  duly  reenacted  by  the  succeeding 
Legislature  on  the  5th  of  February,  1838,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Constitution. 

Ten  days  afterward,  however,  viz.,  on  the  15th  of  February,  the  Legislature 
passed  an  act  supplemental  to  the  act  chartering  the  Union  Bank,  which  materially 
changed  or  abolished  the  essential  conditions  for  the  pledge  of  the  credit  of  the  State. 
By  this  supplemental  act  the  Governor  was  instructed,  as  soon  as  the  books  of  sub- 
scription should  be  opened,  to  "  subscribe  for,  in  behalf  of  the  State,  fifty  thousand 
shares  of  the  stock  of  the  original  capital  of  said  bank,  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  State  bonds  to  be  executed  to  the  said  bank,  as  already  provided  for  in 
the  said  charter."  This  act  was  passed  in  the  ordinary  mode  of  legislation,  and  was 
not  referred,  published,  nor  reenacted,  as  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  As  soon 
as  the  directory  was  organized  and  the  books  of  subscription  were  opened,  and  before 
the  mortgages  required  by  the  charter  were  executed,  the  Governor,  in  behalf  of  the 
State,  subscribed  for  fifty  thousand  shares  of  the  stock,  and  issued  the  bonds  of 
the  State  for  five  million  dollars,  payable  to  the  order  of  the  bank. 

These  bonds  were  sold  to  Nicholas  Biddle,  President  of  the  United  States  Bank 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  by  him  sent  to  Great  Britain  as  collateral  security  for  a  loan 
previously  made.  None  of  the  money  received  for  them  went  into  the  Treasury 
of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  nor  was  any  of  it  used  for  a  public  improvement. 
All  the  consideration  ever  received  by  the  State  was  its  stock  in  the  Union  Bank. 
The  bank  soon  failed,  and  the  stock  became  utterly  worthless. 

Before  the  bonds  became  due,  the  Governor  of  the  State  had  declared  them  to 
be  null  and  void,  among  other  causes,  in  consequence  of  the  failure  to  sell  them 
at  par,  as  required  by  the  "  supplemental  act,"  under  which  they  were  issued. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  validity  or  nullity  of  the 
bonds.     The  object  is  merely  to  state  the  principal  facts. 

While  these  events  were  occurring,  and  until  a  period  several  years  subsequent 
to  their  consummation,  I,  who  had  just  resigned  my  commission  in  the  army,  was 
a  private  citizen,  had  never  held  any  civil  office,  and  took  no  part  in  political 
affairs.  Indeed,  I  have  never  at  any  time  before,  during,  or  since  those  events,  held 
any  civil  office  under  the  State  government,  and  neither  had  nor  could  have  had 
any  part  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  State.  When  brought  out  as  a  candidate  for 
office,  my  nomination  was  opposed  by  that  section  of  my  party  which  advocated 
"  repudiation,"  on  account  of  my  opinions  in  favor  of  the  payment  of  the  bonds. 

As  a  private  citizen,  it  may  be  stated  that  I  held  that  the  question  of  the  validity 
of  the  bonds  should  be  decided  by  the  courts.     The  Constitution  of  Mississippi  au- 


1777]  NOT  A  HOBNAIL   SHOULD   BE   MADE.  499 

not  contemplated  in  the  original  formation  of  the  Union.  In 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the  first  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  theory  was  that  of  direct  taxation,  and  the 
manner  was  to  impose  upon  the  States  an  amount  which  each 
was  to  furnish  to  the  common  Treasury  to  defray  expenses  for 
the  common  defense  and  general  welfare. 

During  the  period  of  our  colonial  existence,  the  policy  of 
the  British  Government  had  been  to  suppress  the  growth  of 
manufacturing  industry.  It  was  forcibly  expressed  by  Lord 
ISforth  in  the  declaration  that  "  not  a  hobnail  should  be  made 
in  the  American  colonies."  The  consequence  was  that  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  our  armies  and  people  suffered  so  much 
from  the  want  of  the  most  necessary  supplies  that  General 
Washington,  after  we  had  achieved  our  independence,  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  Government  should,  by  bounties,  encour- 
age the  manufacture  of  such  materials  as  were  necessary  in  time 
of  war. 

In  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  for  a 
"  more  perfect  Union,"  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  agreeing 
upon  its  terms  was  found  in  the  different  interests  of  the  States, 
but,  among  the  compromises  which  were  made,  there  promi- 
nently appears  the  purpose  of  a  strict  equality  in  the  burdens  to 
be  borne,  as  well  as  the  blessings  to  be  enjoyed,  by  the  people 
of  the  several  States.     For  a  long  time  after  the  formation  of 

thorized  suit  to  be  brought  against  the  State  in  such  cases  in  her  own  courts,  and 
this  I  regarded  as  the  proper  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  bondholders,  holding  that 
the  State  would  be  bound  by  the  judicial  decision,  if  it  should  sustain  the  validity  of 
the  claim.  This  course,  however,  was  not  adopted  until  long  afterward,  when  the 
question  had  become  complicated  with  political  issues,  which  rendered  the  effort  to 
obtain  a  settlement  entirely  nugatory. 

When  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  my  official  influence 
was  exerted  to  promote  the  objects  of  a  citizen  of  Mississippi,  who,  with  quasi-cre- 
dentials  from  the  United  States  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Buchanan,  went  to  London 
to  propose  to  the  bondholders  an  arrangement  by  which  the  claim,  or  the  greater 
portion  of  it,  might  be  paid  by  private  subscription,  on  consideration  of  the  cancella- 
tion of  the  bonds.  This  effort  failed,  from  a  mistaken  estimate  on  the  part  of  some 
of  the  principal  bondholders,  to  whom  the  proposition  was  made,  of  the  extent  to 
which  State  pride  would  induce  our  citizens  to  contribute,  and  to  the  belief  in 
a  power  to  coerce  payment.  The  gentleman  who,  bore  the  proposal,  indignant  at 
the  offensive  manner  of  its  rejection,  and  conscious  of  the  disinterestedness  of  his 
motives,  abandoned  the  negotiation  in  disgust,  and  the  opportunity  was  lost. 


500      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

the  "more  perfect  Union,"  bnt  little  capital  was  invested  in 
manufacturing  establishments ;  and,  though  in  the  early  part  of 
the  present  century  the  amount  had  considerably  increased,  the 
products  were  yet  quite  insufficient  for  the  necessary  supplies  of 
our  armies  in  the  War  of  1812.  Government  contracts,  high 
prices,  and  to  some  extent,  no  doubt,  patriotic  impulses,  led  to 
the  investment  of  capital  in  the  articles  required  for  the  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  "With  the  restoration  of  peace  and  the  re- 
newal of  commerce,  prices  naturally  declined,  and  it  was  rep- 
resented that  the  investments  made  in  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments were  so  unprofitable  as  to  involve  the  ruin  of  those 
who  had  made  them.  The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in 
1816,  from  motives  at  least  to  be  commended  for  their  gener- 
osity, enacted  a  law  to  protect  from  the  threatened  ruin  those 
of  their  countrymen  who  had  employed  their  capital  for  pur- 
poses demanded  by  the  general  welfare  and  common  defense. 
These  good  intentions,  if  it  be  conceded  that  the  danger  was 
real  which  it  was  designed  to  avert,  were  most  unfortunate  as 
the  beginning  of  a  policy  the  end  of  which  was  fraught  with 
the  greatest  evils  that  have  ever  befallen  the  Union.  Ey  the 
Constitution  of  1789  power  was  conferred  upon  Congress- — 

"  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay  the 
debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general  welfare  of 
the  United  States  ;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall  be  uni- 
form throughout  the  United  States." 

In  the  exercise  of  this  delegated  trust,  tariff  laws  were  en- 
acted, and  had  been  in  operation  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parts 
of  the  Union,  from  the  organization  of  the  Government  down 
to  1816 ;  but  throughout  that  period  all  of  those  laws  were 
based  upon  the  principle  of  duties  for  revenue.  It  was  true, 
and  of  course  it  was  known,  that  such  duties  would  give  inci- 
dental protection  to  any  industry  producing  an  article  on  which 
the  duty  was  levied ;  but,  while  the  money  was  collected  for 
the  purposes  enumerated,  and  the  rate  kept  down  to  the  lowest 
revenue  standard,  the  consumer  had  no  cause  to  complain  of 
the  indirect  benefit  recerVed  by  the  manufacturer,  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  time  shows  that  it  produced  no  discontent.    Not  so 


1816]  DUE   TO  PHYSICAL   CAUSES.  501 

with  the  tariff  law  of  1816  :  though  sustained  by  men  from  all 
sections  of  the  Union,  and  notably  by  so  strict  a  constructionist 
as  Mr.  Calhoun,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  saw  in  it  a 
departure  from  the  limitation  of  the  Constitution,  and  sternly 
opposed  it  as  the  usurpation  of  a  power  to  legislate  for  the  ben- 
efit of  a  class.  The  law  derived  much  of  its  support  from  the 
assurance  that  it  was  only  a  temporary  measure,  and  intended 
to  shield  those  whose  patriotism  had  exposed  them  to  danger, 
thus  presenting  the  not  uncommon  occurrence  of  a  good  case 
making  a  bad  precedent.  For  the  first  time  a  tariff  law  had 
protection  for  its  object,  and  for  the  first  time  it  produced  dis- 
content. In  the  law  there  was  nothing  which  necessarily  gave 
to  it  or  in  its  terms  violated  the  obligation  that  duties  should 
be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States.  The  fact  that  it 
affected  the  sections  differently  was  due  to  physical  causes — 
that  is,  geographical  differences.  The  streams  of  the  Southern 
Atlantic  States  ran  over  wide  plains  into  the  sea;  their  last 
falls  were  remote  from  ocean  navigation ;  and  their  people,  al- 
most exclusively  agricultural,  resided  principally  on  this  plain, 
and  as  near  to  the  seaboard  as  circumstances  would  permit. 
In  the  Northern  Atlantic  States  the  highlands  approached  more 
nearly  to  the  sea,  and  the  rivers  made  their  last  leap  near  to 
harbors  of  commerce.  Water-power  being  relied  on  before  the 
steam-engine  had  been  made,  and  ships  the  medium  of  com- 
merce before  railroads  and  locomotives  were  introduced,  it  fol- 
lowed that  the  staples  of  the  Southern  plains  were  economically 
sent  to  the  water-power  of  the  North  to  be  manufactured.  This 
remark,  of  course,  applies  to  such  articles  as  were  not  exported 
to  foreign  countries,  and  is  intended  to  explain  how  the  North 
became  the  seat  of  manufactures,  and  the  South  remained 
agricultural.  From  this  it  followed  that  legislation  for  the 
benefit  of  manufacturers  became  a  Northern  policy.  It  was 
not,  as  has  been  erroneously  stated,  because  of  the  agricultural 
character  of  the  Southern  people,  that  they  were  opposed  to  the 
policy  inaugurated  by  the  tariff  act  of  1816.  This  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  anterior  to  that  time  they  had  been  the  friends  of 
manufacturing  industry,  without  reference  to  its  location.  As 
long  as  duties  were  imposed  for  revenue,  so  that  the  object  was 


502      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

to  supply  the  common  Treasury,  it  had  been  cheerfully  borne, 
and  the .  agriculture  of  one  section  and  the  manufacturing  of 
another  were  properly  regarded  as  handmaids,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  referred  to  as  the  means  of  strengthening  and  perpetu- 
ating the  bonds  by  which  the  States  were  united.  When  duties 
were  imposed,  not  for  revenue,  but  as  a  bounty  to  a  particular 
industry,  it  was  regarded  both  as  unjust  and  without  warrant, 
expressed  or  implied,  in  the  Constitution. 

Then  arose  the  controversy,  quadrennially  renewed  and  with 
increasing  provocation,  in  1820,  in  1824,  and  in  1828 — each 
stage  intensifying  the  discontent,  arising  more  from  the  in- 
justice than  the  weight  of  the  burden  borne.  It  was  not  the 
twenty-shilling  ship-money  tax,  but  the  violation  of  Magna 
Charta,  which  Hampden  and  his  associates  resisted.  It  was  not 
the  stamp  duty  nor  the  tea-tax,  but  the  principle  involved 
in  taxation  without  representation,  against  which  our  colonial 
fathers  took  up  arms.  So  the  tariff  act  in  1828,  known  at 
the  time  as  "  the  bill  of  abominations,"  was  resisted  by  South- 
ern representatives,  because  it  was  the  invasion  of  private  rights 
in  violation  of  the  compact  by  which  the  States  were  united. 
In  the  last  stage  of  the  proceeding,  after  the  friends  of  the 
bill  had  advocated  it  as  a  measure  for  protecting  capital  in- 
vested in  manufactures,  Mr.  Drayton,  of  South  Carolina,  moved 
to  amend  the  title  so  that  it  should  read,  "  An  act  to  increase 
the  duties  upon  certain  imports,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing 
the  profits  of  certain  manufacturers,"  and  stated  his  purpose  for 
desiring  to  amend  the  title  to  be  that,  upon  some  case  which 
would  arise  under  the  execution  of  the  law,  an  appeal  might  be 
made  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  test  its  con- 
stitutionality. Those  who  had  passed  the  bill  refused  to  allow 
the  opportunity  to  test  the  validity  of  a  tax  imposed  for  the 
protection  of  a  particular  industry.  Though  the  debates  showed 
clearly  enough  the  purpose  to  be  to  impose  duties  for  protec- 
tion, the  phraseology  of  the  law  presented  it  as  enacted  to  raise 
revenue,  and  therefore  the  victims  of  the  discrimination  were 
deprived  of  an  appeal  to  the  tribunal  instituted  to  hear  and  de- 
cide on  the  constitutionality  of  a  law. 

South  Carolina,  oppressed  by  onerous  duties  and  stung  by 


1833]  TWO   GOLDEN  STREAMS  FLOWED.  503 

the  injustice  of  a  refusal  to  allow  her  the  ordinary  remedy 
against  unconstitutional  legislation,  asserted  the  right,  as  a  sov- 
ereign State,  to  nullify  the  law.  This  conflict  between  the 
authority  of  the  United  States  and  one  of  the  States  threatened 
for  a  time  such  disastrous  consequences  as  to  excite  intense  feel- 
ing in  all  who  loved  the  Union  as  the  fraternal  federation  of 
equal  States.  Before  an  actual  collision  of  arms  occurred,  Con- 
gress wisely  adopted  the  compromise  act  of  1833.  By  that  the 
fact  of  protection  remained,  but  the  principle  of  duties  for  rev- 
enue was  recognized  by  a  sliding  scale  of  reduction,  and  it  was 
hoped  the  question  had  been  placed  upon  a  basis  that  promised 
a  permanent  peace.  The  party  of  protective  duties,  however, 
came  into  power  about  the  close  of  the  period  when  the  com- 
promise measure  had  reached  the  result  it  proposed,  and  the 
contest  was  renewed  with  little  faith  on  the  part  of  the  then 
dominant  party  and  with  more  than  all  of  its  former  bitterness. 
The  cause  of  the  departure  from  a  sound  principle  of  a  tariff  for 
revenue,  which  had  prevailed  during  the  first  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  the  adoption  in  1816  of  the  rule  imposing  duties  for 
protection,  was  stated  by  Mr.  McDuffie  to  be  that  politicians  and 
capitalists  had  seized  upon  the  subject  and  used  it  for  their  own 
purposes — the  former  for  political  advancement,  the  latter  for 
their  own  pecuniary  profit — and  that  the  question  had  become 
one  of  partisan  politics  and  sectional  enrichment.  Contempora- 
neously with  this  theory  of  protective  duties,  arose  the  policy  of 
making  appropriations  from  the  common  Treasury  for  local  im- 
provements. As  the  Southern  representatives  were  mainly  those 
who  denied  the  constitutional  power  to  make  such  expenditures, 
it  naturally  resulted  that  the  mass  of  those  appropriations  were 
made  for  Northern  works.  Now  that  direct  taxes  had  in  prac- 
tice been  so  wholly  abandoned  as  to  be  almost  an  obsolete  idea, 
and  now  that  the  Treasury  was  supplied  by  the  collection  of  du- 
ties upon  imports,  two  golden  streams  flowed  steadily  to  enrich 
tlie  Northern  and  manufacturing  region  by  the  impoverish- 
ment of  the  Southern  and  agricultural  section.  In  the  train  of 
wealth  and  demand  for  labor  followed  immigration  and  the  more 
rapid  increase  of  population  in  the  Northern  than  in  the  South- 
ern States.     I  do  not  deny  the  existence  of  other  causes,  such 


504      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

as  the  fertile  region  of  the  Northwest,  the  better  harbors,  the 
greater  amount  of  shipping  of  the  Northeastern  States,  and  the 
prejudice  of  Europeans  against  contact  with  the  negro  race ; 
but  the  causes  I  have  first  stated  were,  I  think,  the  chief,  and 
those  only  which  are  referable  to  the  action  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment. It  was  not  found  that  the  possession  of  power  miti- 
gated the  injustice  of  its  use  by  the  North,  and  discontent  there- 
fore was  steadily  accumulating,  and,  as  stated  in  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter,  I  think  was  due  to  class  legislation  in  the  form 
of  protective  duties  and  its  consequences  more  than  to  any  or  all 
other  causes  combined.  Turning  from  the  consideration  of  this 
question  in  its  sectional  aspect,  I  now  invite  attention  to  its  gen- 
eral effect  upon  the  character  of  our  institutions.  If  the  com- 
mon Treasury  of  the  States  had,  as  under  the  Confederation, 
been  supplied  by  direct  taxation,  who  can  doubt  that  a  rigid 
economy  would  have  been  the  rule  of  the  Government ;  that 
representatives  would  have  returned  to  their  tax-paying  con- 
stituents to  justify  appropriations  for  which  they  had  voted  by 
showing  that  they  were  required  for  the  general  welfare,  and 
were  authorized  by  the  Constitution  under  which  they  were  act- 
ing ?  When  the  money  was  obtained  by  indirect  taxation,  so  that 
but  few  could  see  the  source  from  which  it  was  derived,  it  read- 
ily followed  that  a  constituency  would  ask,  not  why  the  repre- 
sentative had  voted  for  the  expenditure  of  money,  but  how 
much  he  had  got  for  his  own  district,  and  perhaps  he  might  have 
to  explain  why  he  did  not  get  more.  Is  it  doubtful  that  this 
would  lead  to  extravagance,  if  not  to  corruption?  Nothing 
could  be  more  fatal  to  the  independence  of  the  people  and  the 
liberties  of  the  States  than  dependence  for  support  upon  the 
public  Treasury,  whether  it  be  in  the  form  of  subsidies,  of 
bounties,  or  restrictions  on  trade  for  the  benefit  of  special  inter- 
ests. In  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  epoch  in  which 
the  hopelessness  of  renovation  was  made  manifest  was  that  in 
which  the  people  accepted  corn  from  the  public  granaries  :  it 
preceded  but  a  little  the  time  when  the  post  of  emperor  be- 
came a  matter  of  purchase.  How  far  would  it  differ  from  this  if 
constituencies  should  choose  their  representatives,  not  for  their 
integrity,  not  for  their  capacity,  not  for  their  past  services,  but 


1861]  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTS  DIMINISHED.  505 

because  of  their  ability  to  get  money  from  the  public  Treasury 
for  the  benefit  of  their  local  interests ;  and  how  far  would  it 
differ  from  a  purchase  of  the  office  if  a  President  were  chosen 
because  of  the  favor  he  would  show  to  certain  moneyed  interests  ? 
Now  that  fanaticism  can  no  longer  inflame  the  prejudices 
of  the  uninformed,  it  may  be  hoped  that  our  statesmen  will 
review  the  past,  and  give  to  our  country  a  future  in  accordance 
with  its  early  history,  and  promotive  of  true  liberty. 


CHAPTEE    XIV. 

Military  Laws  and  Measures. — Agricultural  Products  diminished. — Manufactures 
flourishing.— The  Call  for  Volunteers.- — The  Term  of  Three  Years. — Improved 
Discipline. — The  Law  assailed. — Important  Constitutional  Question  raised. — 
Its  Discussion  at  Length. — Power  of  the  Government  over  its  own  Armies  and 
the  Militia. — Object  of  Confederations. — The  War-Powers  granted. — Two 
Modes  of  raising  Armies  in  the  Confederate  States. — Is  the  Law  necessary  and 
proper  ? — Congress  is  the  Judge  under  the  Grant  of  Specific  Power. — What  is 
meant  by  Militia. — Whole  Military  Strength  divided  into  Two  Classes. — Powers 
of  Congress. — Objections  answered. — Good  Effects  of  the  Law. — The  Limitations 
enlarged. — Results  of  the  Operations  of  these  Laws. — Act  for  the  Employment 
of  Slaves. — Message  to  Congress. — "  Died  of  a  Theory." — Act  to  use  Slaves  as 
Soldiers  passed. — Not  Time  to  put  it  in  Operation. 

The  agricultural  products  were  diminished  every  year  dur- 
ing the  war.  Its  demands  diminished  the  number  of  cultiva- 
tors, and  their  labors  were  more  extensively  devoted  to  grain- 
crops.  The  amount  of  the  cotton-crop  was  greatly  reduced, 
and  numbers  of  bales  were  destroyed  when  in  danger  of  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  manufacturing  industry  became  more  extensive  than 
ever  before,  and  in  many  branches  more  highly  developed. 
The  results  in  the  ordnance  department  of  the  Government, 
stated  elsewhere  in  these  pages,  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the 
achievements  in  many  branches  of  industry. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  war  the  authority  granted  to  the 
President  to  call  for  volunteers  in  the  army  for  a  short  period 
was  sufficient  to  secure  all  the  military  force  which  we  could 


506      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

fit  out  and  use  advantageously.  As  it  became  evident  that 
the  contest  would  be  long  and  severe,  better  measures  of  prep- 
aration were  enacted.  I  was  authorized  to  call  out  and  place 
in  the  military  service  for  three  years,  unless  the  war  should 
sooner  end,  all  white  men  residents  of  the  Confederate  States 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty-five  years,  and  to  con- 
tinue those  already  in  the  field  until  three  years  from  the  date 
of  their  enlistment.  But  those  under  eighteen  years  and  over 
thirty-five  were  required  to  remain  ninety  days.  The  existing 
organization  of  companies,  regiments,  etc.,  was  preserved,  but 
the  former  were  filled  up  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  men.  This  was  the  first  step  toward  placing  the . 
army  in  a  permanent  and  efficient  condition.  The  term  of  ser- 
vice being  lengthened,  the  changes  by  discharges  and  by  re- 
ceiving recruits  were  diminished,  so  that,  while  additions  were 
made  to  the  forces  already  in  the  field,  the  discipline  was  greatly 
improved.  At  the  same  time,  on  March  13,  1862,  General 
Robert  E.  Lee  was  "  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  military 
operations  of  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy "  under  my  direc- 
tion. Nevertheless,  the  law  upon  which  our  success  so  greatly 
depended  was  assailed  with  unexpected  criticism  in  various 
quarters.  A  constitutional  question  of  high  importance  was 
raised,  which  tended  to  involve  the  harmony  of  cooperation,  so 
essential  in  this  crisis,  between  the  General  and  the  State  gov- 
ernments. It  was  advanced  principally  by  the  Governor  of 
Georgia,  Hon.  Joseph  E.  Brown,  and  the  following  extracts 
are  taken  from  my  reply  to  him,  dated 

"Executive  Department,  Richmond,  May  29,  1862. 

"  I  propose,  from  my  high  respect  for  yourself  and  for  other 
eminent  citizens  who  entertain  opinions  similar  to  yours,  to  set 
forth  somewhat  at  length  my  own  views  on  the  power  of  the 
Confederate  Government  over  its  own  armies  and  the  militia,  and 
will  endeavor  not  to  leave  without  answer  any  of  the  positions 
maintained  in  your  letters. 

"  The  main,  if  not  the  only,  purpose  for  which  independent 
states  form  unions,  or  confederations,  is  to  combine  the  power  of 
the  several  members  in  such  manner  as  to  form  one  united  force 
in  all  relations  with  foreign  powers,  whether  in  peace  or  in  war. 


^ 


l^l/* 


1862]  WAR  POWERS  OF   GOVERNMENT.  507 

Each  state,  amply  competent  to  administer  and  control  its  own 
domestic  government,  yet  too  feeble  successfully  to  resist  power- 
ful nations,  seeks  safety  by  uniting  with  other  states  in  like  con- 
dition, and  by  delegating  to  some  common  agent  the  use  of  the 
combined  strength  of  all,  in  order  to  secure  advantageous  commer- 
cial relations  in  peace,  and  to  carry  on  hostilities  with  effect  in  war. 

" Now,  the  powers  delegated  by  the  several  States  to  the  Con- 
federate Government,  which  is  their  common  agent,  are  enumer- 
ated in  the  eighth  section  of  the  Constitution  ;  each  power  being 
distinct,  specific,  and  enumerated  in  paragraphs  separately  num- 
bered. The  only  exception  is  the  eighteenth  paragraph,  which  by 
its  own  terms  is  made  dependent  on  those  previously  enumerated, 
as  follows  :  '  18.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,'  etc. 

"  Now  the  war-powers  granted  to  the  Congress  are  conferred 
in  the  following  paragraphs  :  No.  1  *  gives  authority  to  raise  reve- 
nue necessary  to  pay  the  debts,  provide  for  the  common  defense, 
and  carry  on  the  Government,'  etc.  No.  11,  *  To  declare  war,  grant 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules  concerning  cap- 
tures on  land  and  water.'  N"o.  12,  '  To  raise  and  support  armies, 
but  no  appropriations  of  money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer 
term  than  two  years.'  No.  13,  '  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy.' 
No.  14,  '  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces.' 

"  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  broad,  ample,  and  unquali- 
fied delegation  of  the  whole  war  power  of  each  State  than  is  here 
contained,  with  the  solitary  limitation  of  the  appropriations  to 
two  years.  The  States  not  only  gave  power  to  raise  money  for 
the  common  defense,  to  declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies 
(in  the  plural),  to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy,  to  govern  and 
regulate  both  land  and  naval  forces,  but  they  went  further,  and 
covenanted,  by  the  third  paragraph  of  the  tenth  section,  not  'to 
engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  dan- 
ger as  will  not  admit  of  delay.' 

"  I  know  of  but  two  modes  of  raising  armies  within  the  Con- 
federate States,  viz.,  voluntary  enlistment  and  draft,  or  conscrip- 
tion. I  perceive,  in  the  delegation  of  power  to  raise  armies,  no 
restriction  as  to  the  mode  of  procuring  troops.  I  see  nothing 
which  confines  Congress  to  one  class  of  men,  nor  any  greater 
power  to  receive  volunteers  than  conscripts  into  its  service.     I  see 


508      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

no  limitation  by  which  enlistments  are  to  be  received  of  individu- 
als only,  but  not  of  companies,  or  battalions,  or  squadrons,  or 
regiments.  I  find  no  limitation  of  time  of  service,  but  only  of 
duration  of  appropriation.  I  discover  nothing  to  confine  Con- 
gress to  waging  war  within  the  limits  of  the  Confederacy,  nor  to 
prohibit  offensive  war.  In  a  word,  when  Congress  desires  to  raise 
an  army,  and  passes  a  law  for  that  purpose,  the  solitary  question 
is  under  the  eighteenth  paragraph,  viz.,  '  Is  the  law  one  that  is 
necessary  and  proper  to  execute  the  power  to  raise  armies  ? ' 

"  On  this  point  you  say  :  '  But  did  the  necessity  exist  in  this 
case  ?  The  conscription  act  can  not  aid  the  Government  in  in- 
creasing its  supply  of  arms  or  provisions,  but  can  only  enable  it 
to  call  a  larger  number  of  men  into  the  field.  The  difficulty  has 
never  been  to  get  men.  The  States  have  already  furnished  the 
Government  more  than  it  can  arm,'  etc. 

"  I  would  have  very  little  difficulty  in  establishing  to  your  en- 
tire satisfaction  that  the  passage  of  the  law  was  not  only  neces- 
sary, but  that  it  was  absolutely  indispensable  ;  that  numerous 
regiments  of  twelve  months'  men  were  on  the  eve  of  being  dis- 
banded, whose  places  could  not  be  supplied  by  raw  levies  in  the 
face  of  superior  numbers  of  the  foe,  without  entailing  the  most 
disastrous  results  ;  that  the  position  of  our  armies  was  so  critical 
as  to  fill  the  bosom  of  every  patriot  with  the  liveliest  apprehen- 
sion ;  and  that  the  provisions  of  this  law  were  effective  in  ward- 
ing off  a  pressing  danger.  But  I  prefer  to  answer  your  objection 
on  other  and  broader  grounds. 

"  I  hold  that,  when  a  specific  power  is  granted  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, like  that  now  in  question,  c  to  raise  armies,'  Congress  is  the 
judge  whether  the  law  passed  for  the  purpose  of  executing  that 
power  is  '  necessary  and  proper.'  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  ar- 
mies might  be  raised  in  other  ways,  and  that,  therefore,  this  par- 
ticular way  is  not  'necessary.'  The  same  argument  might  be  used 
against  every  mode  of  raising  armies.  To  each  successive  mode 
suggested,  the  objection  would  be  that  other  modes  were  practi- 
cable, and  that,  therefore,  the  particular  mode  used  was  not  c  ne- 
cessary.' The  true  and  only  test  is  to  inquire  whether  the  law  is 
intended  and  calculated  to  carry  out  the  object  ;  whether  it  de- 
vises and  creates  an  instrumentality  for  executing  the  specific 
power  granted  ;  and,  if  the  answer  be  in  the  affirmative,  the  law 
is  constitutional.     None  can  doubt  that  the  conscription  law  is 


1862]  WHAT  ARE  MILITIA.  509 

calculated  and  intended  to  l  raise  armies '  ;  it  is,  therefore,  '  neces- 
sary and  proper  '  for  the  execution  of  that  power,  and  is  constitu- 
tional, unless  it  comes  in  conflict  with  some  other  provision  of 
our  Confederate  compact. 

"  You  express  the  opinion  that  this  conflict  exists,  and  support 
your  argument  by  the  citation  of  those  clauses  which  refer  to  the 
militia.  There  are  certain  provisions  not  cited  by  you,  which  are 
not  without  influence  on  my  judgment,  and  to  which  I  call  your 
attention.  They  will  aid  in  defining  what  is  meant  by  *  militia,' 
and  in  determining  the  respective  powers  of  the  States  and  the 
Confederacy  over  them. 

"  The  several  States  agree  '  not  to  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war 
in  time  of  peace.'  *  They  further  stipulate  that, '  a  well-regulated 
militia  being  necessary  for  the  security  of  a  free  State,  the  right 
of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed.'  f 

" c  That  no  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  other- 
wise infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a 
grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or 
in  the  militia  when  in  actual  service  in  times  of  war  or  public 
danger.'  J 

"  What,  then,  are  militia  ?  They  can  only  be  created  by  law. 
The  arms-bearing  inhabitants  of  a  State  are  liable  to  become  its 
militia,  if  the  law  so  order ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  a  law  to  that 
effect,  the  men  of  a  State  capable  of  bearing  arms  are  no  more 
militia  than  they  are  seamen. 

"  The  Constitution  also  tells  us  that  militia  are  not  troops,  nor 
are  they  any  part  of  the  land  or  naval  forces  •  for  militia  exist  in 
time  of  peace,  and  the  Constitution  forbids  the  States  to  keep 
troops  in  time  of  peace,  and  they  are  expressly  distinguished  and 
placed  in  a  separate  category  from  land  or  naval  forces  in  the  six- 
teenth paragraph  above  quoted  ;  and  the  words  land  and  naval 
forces  are  shown  by  paragraphs  12, 13,  and  14,  to  mean  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  Confederate  States. 

"  Now,  if  militia  are  not  the  citizens  taken  singly,  but  a  body 
created  by  law  ;  if  they  are  not  troops  ;  if  they  are  no  part  of  the 
Army  and  ISTavy  of  the  Confederacy,  we  are  led  directly  to  the 
definition,  quoted  by  the  Attorney-General,  that  militia  are  '  a 
body  of  soldiers  in  a  State  enrolled  for  discipline.'      In  other 

*  Article  I,  section  10,  paragraph  3.  f  Ibid.,  section  9,  Part  XIII. 

%  Ibid.,  section  9,  paragraph  16. 


510      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

words,  the  term  {  militia '  is  a  collective  term  meaning  a  body  of 
men  organized,  and  can  not  be  applied  to  the  separate  individuals 
who  compose  the  organization. 

"  The  Constitution  divides  the  whole  military  strength  of  the 
States  into  only  two  classes  of  organized  bodies  :  one,  the  armies 
of  the  Confederacy  ;  the  other,  the  militia  of  the  States. 

"  In  the  delegation  of  power  to  the  Confederacy,  after  exhaust- 
ing the  subject  of  declaring  war,  raising  and  supporting  armies, 
and  providing  a  navy,  in  relation  to  all  which  the  grant  of  author- 
ity to  Congress  is  exclusive,  the  Constitution  proceeds  to  deal  with 
the  other  organized  body,  the  militia  ;  and,  instead  of  delegating 
power  to  Congress  alone,  or  reserving  it  to  the  States  alone,  the 
power  is  divided  as  follows,  viz.  :  Congress  is  to  have  power  '  to 
provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Confederate  States,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions. '  * 

" i  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States ;  reserving  to  the  States 
respectively  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the  authority  of 
training  the  militia,  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Con- 
gress.' f 

"  Congress,  then,  has  the  power  to  provide  for  organizing  the 
arms-bearing  people  of  the  State  into  militia.  Each  State  has  the 
power  to  officer  and  train  them  when  organized. 

"  Congress  may  call  forth  the  militia  to  execute  Confederate 
laws  ;  the  State  has  not  surrendered  the  power  to  call  them  forth 
to  execute  State  laws. 

"  Congress  may  call  them  forth  to  repel  invasion  ;  so  may  the 
State,  for  the  power  is  impliedly  reserved  of  governing  all  the 
militia,  except  the  part  in  actual  service  of  the  Confederacy. 

"  I  confess  myself  at  a  loss  to  perceive  in  what  manner  these 
careful  and  well-defined  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  regulating 
the  organization  and  government  of  the  militia,  can  be  understood 
as  applying  in  the  remotest  degree  to  the  armies  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, nor  can  I  conceive  how  the  grant  of  exclusive  power  to 
declare  and  carry  on  war  by  armies  raised  and  supported  by  the 
Confederacy  is  to  be  restricted  or  diminished  by  the  clauses  which 
grant  a  divided  power  over  the  militia.  On  the  contrary,  the 
delegation  of  authority  over  the  militia,  so  far  as  granted,  appears 

*  Section  8,  paragraph  15.  f  Ibid.,  paragraph  16. 


1862]  THE  GRANT  OF  POWER.  511 

to  me  to  be  plainly  an  additional  enumerated  power  intended  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Confederate  Government  in  the  dis- 
charge of  its  paramount  duty,  the  common  defense  of  the  States. 

"  You  state,  after  quoting  the  twelfth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth 
grants  of  power  to  Congress,  that  *  these  grants  of  power  all  relate 
to  the  same  subject-matter,  and  are  all  contained  in  the  same  sec- 
tion of  the  Constitution,  and,  by  a  well-known  rule  of  construc- 
tion, must  be  taken  as  a  whole  and  construed  together.' 

"  This  argument  appears  to  me  unsound.  All  the  powers  of 
Congress  are  enumerated  in  one  section,  and  the  three  paragraphs 
quoted  can  no  more  control  each  other  by  reason  of  their  location 
in  the  same  section  than  they  can  control  any  of  the  other  para- 
graphs preceding,  intervening,  or  succeeding.  So  far  as  the  sub- 
ject-matter is  concerned,  I  have  already  endeavored  to  show  that 
the  armies  mentioned  in  the  twelfth  paragraph  are  a  subject- 
matter  as  distinct  from  the  militia  mentioned  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  as  they  are  from  the  navy  mentioned  in  the  thirteenth. 
Nothing  can  so  mislead  as  to  construe  together,  and  as  a  whole, 
the  carefully  separated  clauses  which  define  the  different  powers 
to  be  exercised  over  distinct  subjects  by  the  Congress. 

"  But  you  add  that,  '  by  the  grant  of  power  to  Congress  to 
raise  and  support  armies  without  qualification,  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  intended  the  regular  armies  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
not  armies  composed  of  the  whole  militia  of  all  the  States.' 

"  I  must  confess  myself  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  understand  this 
position.  If  I  am  right  that  the  militia  is  a  body  of  enrolled  State 
soldiers,  it  is  not  possible  in  the  nature  of  things  that  armies  raised 
by  the  Confederacy  can  '  be  composed  of  the  whole  militia  of  all 
the  States.'  The  militia  may  be  called  forth  in  whole  or  in  part 
into  the  Confederate  service,  but  do  not  thereby  become  part  of 
the  c armies  raised'  by  Congress.  They  remain  militia,  and  go 
home  when  the  emergency  which  provoked  their  call  has  ceased. 
Armies  raised  by  Congress  are  of  course  raised  out  of  the  same 
popidation  as  the  militia  organized  by  the  States,  and  to  deny  to 
Congress  the  power  to  draft  a  citizen  into  the  army,  or  to  receive 
his  voluntary  offer  of  services,  because  he  is  a  member  of  the  State 
militia,  is  to  deny  the  power  to  raise  an  army  at  all ;  for,  practi- 
cally, all  men  fit  for  service  in  the  army  may  be  embraced  in  the 
militia  organization  of  the  several  States.  You  seem,  however,  to 
suggest,  rather  than  directly  to  assert,  that  the  conscript  law  may 


512      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

be  unconstitutional,  because  it  comprehends  all  arms-bearing  men 
between  eighteen  and  thirty-five  years  ;  at  least,  this  is  an  infer- 
ence which  I  draw  from  your  expression,  '  armies  composed  of  the 
whole  militia  of  all  the  States.'  But  it  is  obvious  that,  if  Congress 
have  power  to  draft  into  the  armies  raised  by  it  any  citizens  at  all 
(without  regard  to  the  fact  whether  they  are,  or  not,  members  of 
militia  organizations),  the  power  must  be  coextensive  with  the 
exigencies  of  the  occasion,  or  it  becomes  illusory  ;  and  the  extent 
of  the  exigency  must  be  determined  by  Congress  ;  for  the  Consti- 
tution has  left  the  power  without  any  other  check  or  restriction 
than  the  Executive  veto.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  the  power 
thus  delegated  to  Congress  is  scarcely  felt  by  the  States.  At  the 
present  moment,  when  our  very  existence  is  threatened  by  armies 
vastly  superior  in  numbers  to  ours,  the  necessity  for  defense  has 
induced  a  call,  not  for  '  the  whole  militia  of  all  the  States,'  not  for 
any  militia,  but  for  men  to  compose  annies  for  the  Confederate 
States. 

"  Surely  there  is  no  mystery  in  this  subject.  During  our  whole 
past  history,  as  well  as  during  our  recent  one  year's  experience  as 
a  new  Confederacy,  the  militia  'have  been  called  forth  to  repel 
invasion '  in  numerous  instances,  and  they  never  came  otherwise 
than  as  bodies  organized  by  the  States  with  their  company,  field, 
and  general  officers  ;  and,  when  the  emergency  had  passed,  they 
went  home  again.  I  can  not  perceive  how  any  one  can  interpret 
the  conscription  law  as  taking  away  from  the  States  the  power  to 
appoint  officers  to  their  militia.  You  observe  on  this  point  in 
your  letter  that,  unless  your  construction  is  adopted,  'the  very 
object  of  the  States  in  reserving  the  power  of  appointing  the  offi- 
cers is  defeated,  and  that  portion  of  the  Constitution  is  not  only  a 
nullity,  but  the  whole  military  power  of  the  States,  and  the  entire 
control  of  the  militia,  with  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  is 
vested  in  the  Confederate  Government,  whenever  it  chooses  to 
call  its  own  action  "  raising  an  army,"  and  not  "  calling  forth  the 
militia." ' 

"  I  can  only  say,  in  reply  to  this,  that  the  power  of  Congress 
depends  on  the  real  nature  of  the  act  it  proposes  to  perform,  not 
on  the  name  given  to  it  ;  and  I  have  endeavored  to  show  that 
its  action  is  really  that  of  '  raising  an  army,'  and  bears  no  sem- 
blance to  '  calling  forth  the  militia.'  I  think  I  may  safely  venture 
the  assertion  that  there  is  not  one  man  out  of  a  thousand  of  those 


1862]  POWER  TO  RAISE  ARMIES.  513 

who  will  do  service  under  the  conscription  act  that  will  describe 
himself  while  in  the  Confederate  service  as  being  a  militiaman ; 
and,  if  I  am  right  in  this  assumption,  the  popular  understanding 
concurs  entirely  with  my  own  deductions  from  the  Constitution  as 
to  the  meaning  of  the  word  *  militia.5 

"  My  answer  has  grown  to  such  a  length,  that  I  must  confine 
myself  to  one  more  quotation  from  your  letter.  You  proceed  : 
'  Congress  shall  have  power  to  raise  armies.  How  shall  it  be  done  ? 
The  answer  is  clear.  In  conformity  to  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution, which  expressly  provides  that,  when  the  militia  of  the 
States  are  called  forth  to  repel  invasion,  and  employed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Confederate  States,  which  is  now  the  case,  the  State 
shall  appoint  the  officers.' 

"  I  beg  you  to  observe  that  the  answer  which  you  say  is  clear 
is  not  an  answer  to  the  question  put.  The  question  is,  How  are 
armies  to  be  raised  ?  The  answer  given  is,  that,  when  militia  are 
called  upon  to  repel  invasion,  the  State  shall  appoint  the  officers. 

"  There  seems  to  me  to  be  a  conclusive  test  on  this  whole  sub- 
ject. By  our  Constitution,  Congress  may  declare  war,  offensive 
as  well  as  defensive.  It  may  acquire  territory.  Now,  suppose 
that,  for  good  cause  and  to  right  unprovoked  injuries,  Congress 
should  declare  war  against  Mexico  and  invade  Sonora.  The  militia 
could  not  be  called  forth  in  such  a  case,  the  right  to  call  it  being 
limited  'to  repel  invasions.'  Is  it  not  plain  that  the  law  now 
under  discussion,  if  passed  under  such  circumstances,  could  by  no 
possibility  be  aught  else  than  a  law  to  <  raise  an  army '  ?  Can  one 
and  the  same  law  be  construed  into  a  '  calling  forth  the  militia,'  if 
the  war  be  defensive,  and  a  <  raising  of  armies,'  if  the  war  be  of- 
fensive ? 

"At  some  future  day,  after  our  independence  shall  have  been 
established,  it  is  no  improbable  supposition  that  our  present  enemy 
may  be  tempted  to  abuse  his  naval  power  by  depredations  on  our 
commerce,  and  that  we  may  be  compelled  to  assert  our  rights  by 
offensive  war.  How  is  it  to  be  carried  on  ?  Of  what  is  the  army 
to  be  composed  ?  If  this  Government  can  not  call  on  its  arms- 
bearing  population  otherwise  than  as  militia,  and  if  the  militia  can 
only  be  called  forth  to  repel  invasion,  we  should  be  utterly  help- 
less to  vindicate  our  honor  or  protect  our  rights.  War  has  been 
well  styled  'the  terrible  litigation  of  nations.'  Have  we  so 
formed  our  Government  that  in  this  litigation  we  must  never  be 


514       RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

plaintiffs?     Surely  this  can  not  have  been  the  intention  of  the 
framers  of  our  compact. 

"  In  no  respect  in  which  I  can  view  this  law  can  I  find  just 
reason  to  distrust  the  propriety  of  my  action  in  approving  and 
signing  it  ;  and  the  question  presented  involves  consequences, 
both  immediate  and  remote,  too  momentous  to  permit  me  to  leave 
your  objections  unanswered." 

The  operation  of  this  law  was  suspended  in  the  States  of 
Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  Maryland,  because  of  their  occupation 
by  the  armies  of  the  Federal  Government.  The  opposition  to 
it,  where  its  execution  was  continued,  soon  became  limited, 
and  before  June  1st  its  good  effects  were  seen  in  the  increased 
strength  and  efficiency  of  our  armies.  At  the  same  time  I 
was  authorized  to  commission  officers  to  form  bands  of  "  Parti- 
san Rangers,"  either  of  infantry  or  cavalry,  which  were  subse- 
quently confined  to  cavalry  alone.  On  September  27,  1862,  all 
white  men  between  the  ages  of  thirty-five  and  forty-five  were 
placed  in  the  military  service  for  three  years.  All  persons  sub- 
ject to  enrollment  might  be  enrolled  wherever  found,  and  were 
made  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  law.  Authority  was  also 
given  for  the  reception  of  volunteers  from  the  States  in  which 
the  law  was  suspended.  On  February  11,  1864,  it  was  enacted 
by  Congress  that  all  white  men  between  the  ages  of  seventeen 
and  fifty  should  be  in  the  military  service  for  the  war ;  also,  that 
all  then  in  the  service  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty- 
five  should  be  retained  during  the  war.  An  enrollment  was 
also  ordered  of  all  persons  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and 
eighteen  and  between  forty-five  and  fifty  years,  who  should 
constitute  a  reserve  for  State  defense  and  detail  duty.  On  Feb- 
ruary 17th  all  male  free  negroes  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  fifty  years  were  made  liable  to  perform  duties  with  the 
army,  or  in  connection  with  the  military  defenses  of  the  coun- 
try in  the  way  of  work  upon  the  fortifications,  or  in  Govern- 
ment works  for  the  production  or  preparation  of  materials  of 
war,  or  in  military  hospitals.  The  Secretary  of  War  was  also 
authorized  to  employ  for  the  same  duties  any  number  of  negro 
slaves  not  exceeding  twenty  thousand. 


1864]  NEGROES  AS  SOLDIERS.  515 

In  the  operation  of  the  military  laws  we  found  the  exemp- 
tion from  military  duty  accorded  by  the  law  to  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  certain  specified  pursuits  or  professions  to  be  unwise. 
Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  indefensible  in  theory.  The  defense  of 
home,  family,  and  country  is  universally  recognized  as  the  par- 
amount political  duty  of  every  member  of  society ;  and,  in  a 
form  of  government  where  each  citizen  enjoys  an  equality  of 
rights  and  privileges,  nothing  can  be  more  invidious  than  an 
unequal  distribution  of  duties  or  obligations.  No  pursuit  nor 
position  should  relieve  any  one  who  is  able  to  do  active  duty 
from  enrollment  in  the  army,  unless  his  functions  or  services  are 
more  useful  to  the  defense  of  his  country  in  another  sphere. 
But  the  exemption  from  service  of  entire  classes  should  be 
wholly  abandoned. 

The  act  of  February  IT,  1864  (above  mentioned),  which  au- 
thorized the  employment  of  slaves,  produced  less  results  than 
had  been  anticipated.  It,  however,  brought  forward  the  ques- 
tion of  the  employment  of  the  negroes  as  soldiers  in  the  army, 
which  was  warmly  advocated  by  some  and  as  ardently  opposed 
by  others.  My  own  views  upon  it  were  expressed  freely  and 
frequently  in  intercourse  with  members  of  Congress,  and  em- 
phatically in  my  message  of  November  7,  1864,  when,  urging 
upon  Congress  the  consideration  of  the  propriety  of  a  radical 
modification  of  the  theory  of  the  law,  I  said  : 

"Viewed  merely  as  property,  and  therefore  as  the  subject  of 
impressment,  the  service  or  labor  of  the  slave  has  been  frequently 
claimed  for  short  periods  in  the  construction  of  defensive  works. 
The  slave,  however,  bears  another  relation  to  the  state — that  of  a 
person.  The  law  of  last  February  contemplates  only  the  relation 
of  the  slave  to  the  master,  and  limits  the  impressment  to  a  certain 
term  of  service. 

"  But,  for  the  purposes  enumerated  in  the  act,  instruction  in 
the  manner  of  camping,  marching,  and  packing  trains  is  needful, 
so  that  even  in  this  limited  employment  length  of  service  adds 
greatly  to  the  value  of  the  negro's  labor.  Hazard  is  also  encoun- 
tered in  all  the  positions  to  which  negroes  can  be  assigned  for 
service  with  the  army,  and  the  duties  required  of  them  demand 
loyalty  and  zeal. 


516       RISE   AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

"  In  this  aspect  the  relation  of  person  predominates  so  far  as 
to  render  it  doubtful  whether  the  private  right  of  property  can 
consistently  and  beneficially  be  continued,  and  it  would  seem 
proper  to  acquire  for  the  public  service  the  entire  property  in  the 
labor  of  the  slave,  and  to  pay  therefor  due  compensation,  rather 
than  to  impress  his  labor  for  short  terms  ;  and  this  the  more  espe- 
cially as  the  effect  of  the  present  law  would  vest  this  entire  prop- 
erty in  all  cases  where  the  slave  might  be  recaptured  after  com- 
pensation for  his  loss  had  been  paid  to  the  private  owner.  When- 
ever the  entire  property  in  the  service  of  a  slave  is  thus  acquired 
by  the  Government,  the  question  is  presented  by  what  tenure  he 
should  be  held.  Should  he  be  retained  in  servitude,  or  should  his 
emancipation  be  held  out  to  him  as  a  reward  for  faithful  service, 
or  should  it  be  granted  at  once  on  the  promise  of  such  service  ; 
and  if  emancipated  what  action  should  be  taken  to  secure  for  the 
freed  man  the  permission  of  the  State  from  which  he  was  drawn 
to  reside  within  its  limits  after  the  close  of  his  public  service? 
The  permission  would  doubtless  be  more  readily  accorded  as  a 
reward  for  past  faithful  service,  and  a  double  motive  for  zealous 
discharge  of  duty  would  thus  be  offered  to  those  employed  by  the 
Government — their  freedom  and  the  gratification  of  the  local  at- 
tachment which  is  so  marked  a  characteristic  of  the  negro  and 
forms  so  powerful  an  incentive  to  his  action.  The  policy  of  en- 
gaging to  liberate  the  negro  on  his  discharge  after  service  faith- 
fully rendered  seems  to  me  preferable  to  that  of  granting  imme- 
diate manumission,  or  that  of  retaining  him  in  servitude.  If  this 
policy  should  commend  itself  to  the  judgment  of  Congress,  it  is 
suggested  that,  in  addition  to  the  duties  heretofore  performed  by 
the  slave,  he  might  be  advantageously  employed  as  a  pioneer  and 
engineer  laborer,  and,  in  that  event,  that  the  number  should  be 
augmented  to  forty  thousand. 

"Beyond  this  limit  and  these  employments  it  does  not  seem 
to  me  desirable  under  existing  circumstances  to  go. 

"  A  broad,  moral  distinction  exists  between  the  use  of  slaves  as 
soldiers  in  defense  of  their  homes  and  the  incitement  of  the  same 
persons  to  insurrection  against  their  masters.  The  one  is  justifi- 
able, if  necessary,  the  other  is  iniquitous  and  unworthy  of  civilized 
people  ;  and  such  is  the  judgment  of  all  writers  on  public  law,  as 
well  as  that  expressed  and  insisted  on  by  our  enemies  in  all  wars 
prior  to  that  now  waged  against  us.     By  none  have  the  practices 


1864]  THE   CLIMAX  OF  ATROCITY.  517 

of  which  they  are  now  guilty  been  denounced  with  greater  sever- 
ity than  by  themselves  in  the  two  wars  with  Great  Britain,  in  the 
last  and  in  the  present  century,  and  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence in  1776,  when  an  enumeration  was  made  of  the  wrongs 
which  justified  the  revolt  from  Great  Britain.  The  climax  of 
atrocity  was  deemed  to  be  reached  only  when  the  English  mon- 
arch was  denounced  as  having  '  excited  domestic  insurrection 
among  us.' 

"The  subject  is  to  be  viewed  by  us,  therefore,  solely  in  the 
light  of  policy  and  our  social  economy.  When  so  regarded,  I 
must  dissent  from  those  who  advise  a  general  levy  and  arming  of 
the  slaves  for  the  duty  of  soldiers.  Until  our  white  population 
shall  prove  insufficient  for  the  armies  we  require  and  can  afford 
to  keep  in  the  field,  to  employ  as  a  soldier  the  negro,  who  has 
merely  been  trained  to  labor,  and,  as  a  laborer,  the  white  man 
accustomed  from  his  youth  to  the  use  of  arms,  would  scarcely  be 
deemed  wise  or  advantageous  by  any  ;  and  this  is  the  question 
now  before  us.  But  should  the  alternative  ever  be  presented  of 
subjugation,  or  of  the  employment  of  the  slave  as  a  soldier,  there 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  what  should  then  be  our  decision. 
Whether  our  view  embraces  what  would,  in  so  extreme  a  case,  be 
the  sum  of  misery  entailed  by  the  dominion  of  the  enemy,  or  be 
restricted  solely  to  the  effect  upon  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
the  negro  population  themselves,  the  result  would  be  the  same. 
The  appalling  demoralization,  suffering,  disease,  and  death,  which 
have  been  caused  by  partially  substituting  the  invaders'  system  of 
police  for  the  kind  relation  previously  subsisting  between  the 
master  and  slave,  have  been  a  sufficient  demonstration  that  exter- 
nal interference  with  our  institution  of  domestic  slavery  is  pro- 
ductive of  evil  only.  If  the  subject  involved  no  other  considera- 
tion than  the  mere  right  of  property,  the  sacrifices  heretofore 
made  by  our  people  have  been  such  as  to  permit  no  doubt  of  their 
readiness  to  surrender  every  possession  in  order  to  secure  indepen- 
dence. But  the  social  and  political  question  which  is  exclusively 
under  the  control  of  the  several  States  has  a  far  wider  and  more 
enduring  importance  than  that  of  pecuniary  interest.  In  its  man- 
ifold phases  it  embraces  the  stability  of  our  republican  institu- 
tions, resting  on  the  actual  political  equality  of  all  its  citizens,  and 
includes  the  fulfillment  of  the  task  which  has  been  so  happily  be- 
gun— that  of  Christianizing  and  improving  the  condition  of  the 


518       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Africans  who  have  by  the  will  of  Providence  been  placed  in  our 
charge.  Comparing  the  results  of  our  own  experience  with  those 
of  the  experiments  of  others  who  have  borne  similar  relations  to 
the  African  race,  the  people  of  the  several  States  of  the  Confeder- 
acy have  abundant  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  past,  and  to  use 
the  greatest  circumspection  in  determining  their  course.  These 
considerations,  however,  are  rather  applicable  to  the  improbable 
contingency  of  our  need  of  resorting  to  this  element  of  assistance 
than  to  our  present  condition.  If  the  recommendation  above, 
made  for  the  training  of  forty  thousand  negroes  for  the  service 
indicated,  shall  meet  your  approval,  it  is  certain  that  even  this  lim- 
ited number,  by  their  preparatory  training  in  intermediate  du- 
ties, would  form  a  more  valuable  reserve  force  in  case  of  urgency 
than  threefold  their  number  suddenly  called  from  field-labor, 
while  a  fresh  levy  could  to  a  certain  extent  supply  their  places  in 
the  special  service  for  which  they  are  now  employed." 

Subsequent  events  advanced  my  views  from  a  prospective 
to  a  present  need  for  the  enrollment  of  negroes  to  take  their 
place  in  the  ranks.  Strenuously  I  argued  the  question  with 
members  of  Congress  who  called  to  confer  with  me.  To  a 
member  of  the  Senate  (the  House  in  which  we  most  needed  a 
vote)  I  stated,  as  I  had  done  to  many  others,  the  fact  of  having 
led  negroes  against  a  lawless  body  of  armed  white  men,  and 
the  assurance  which  the  experiment  gave  me  that  they  might, 
under  proper  conditions,  be  relied  on  in  battle,  and  finally  used 
to  him  the  expression  which  I  believe  I  can  repeat  exactly :  "  If 
the  Confederacy  falls,  there  should  be  written  on  its  tombstone, 
<  Died  of  a  theory.' "  General  Lee  was  brought  before  a  com- 
mittee to  state  his  opinion  as  to  the  probable  efficiency  of  ne- 
groes as  soldiers,  and  disappointed  the  probable  expectation  by 
his  unqualified  advocacy  of  the  proposed  measure. 

After  much  discussion  in  Congress,  a  bill  authorizing  the 
President  to  ask  for  and  accept  from  their  owners  such  a  num- 
ber of  able-bodied  negro  men  as  he  might  deem  expedient  sub- 
sequently passed  the  House,  but  was  lost  in  the  Senate  by  one 
vote.  The  Senators  of  Virginia  opposed  the  measure  so  strongly 
that  only  legislative  instruction  could  secure  their  support  of 
it.     Their  Legislature  did  so  instruct  them,  and  they  voted  for 


1864]  HAD   BEEN  SO   LONG  DELAYED.  519 

it.  Finally,  the  bill  passed,  with  an  amendment  providing  that 
not  more  than  twenty-live  per  cent,  of  the  male  slaves  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five  should  be  called  out.  But 
the  passage  of  the  act  had  been  so  long  delayed  that  the  oppor- 
tunity was  lost.  There  did  not  remain  time  enough  to  obtain 
any  result  from  its  provisions. 


APPENDIXES. 


APPENDIX  B. 

THE    OREGON    QUESTION. 

Extracts  from  a  speech  delivered  by  the  author  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  February  6,  1846,  on  the  resolution  to  termi- 
nate the  joint  occupation  of  the  Oregon  Territory. 

Me.  Chaieman:  In  negotiations  between  governments,  in  attempts  to 
modify  existing  policies,  the  circumstances  of  the  time  most  frequently 
decide  between  success  and  failure. 

How  far  the  introduction  of  this  question  may  affect  our  foreign  inter- 
course, the  future  only  can  determine ;  but  I  invite  attention  to  the  present 
posture  of  affairs.  Amicable  relations,  after  a  serious  interruption,  have 
been  but  recently  restored  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico.  The 
most  delicate  and  difficult  of  questions,  the  adjustment  of  a  boundary  be- 
tween us,  remains  unsettled ;  and  many  eyes  are  fixed  upon  our  minister  at 
Mexico,  with  the  hope  that  he  may  negotiate  a  treaty  which  will  remove 
all  causes  of  dispute,  and  give  to  us  territorial  limits,  the  ultimate  advan- 
tages of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate. 

If,  sir,  hereafter  we  shall  find  that,  by  this  excited  discussion,  portentous 
of  a  war  with  England,  unreasonable  demands  upon  the  part  of  Mexico 
should  be  encouraged,  the  acquisition  of  California  be  defeated,  that  key  to 
Asiatic  commerce  be  passed  from  our  hands  for  ever — what  will  we  have 
gained  to  compensate  so  great  a  loss  ?  We  know  the  influence  which  Great 
Britain  exercises  over  Mexico  ;  we  should  not  expect  her  to  be  passive,  nor 
doubt  that  the  prospect  of  a  war  between  England  and  the  United  States 
would  serve  to  revive  the  former  hopes  and  to  renew  the  recent  enmity  of 
Mexico. 

Sir,  I  have  another  hope,  for  the  fulfillment  of  which  the  signs  of  the 
times  seem  most  propitious.  An  unusually  long  exemption  from  a  general 
war  has  permitted  the  bonds  of  commerce  to  extend  themselves  around  the 


522       RISE  AND  FALL  0F   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

civilized  world,  and  nations  from  remote  quarters  of  the  globe  have  been 
drawn  into  that  close  and  mutual  dependence  which  foretold  unshackled 
trade  and  a  lasting  peace.  In  the  East,  there  appeared  a  rainbow  which 
promised  that  the  waters  of  national  jealousy  and  proscription  were  about 
to  recede  from  the  earth  for  ever,  and  the  spirit  of  free  trade  to  move  over 
the  face  thereof. 

In  perspective,  we  saw  the  ports  of  California  united  to  the  ports  and 
forests  of  Oregon,  and  our  countrymen  commanding  the  trade  of  the  Pacific. 
The  day  seemed  at  hand  when  the  overcharged  granaries  of  the  West  should 
be  emptied  to  the  starving  millions  of  Europe  and  Asia;  when  the  canvas- 
winged  doves  of  our  commerce  should  freely  fly  forth  from  the  ark,  and 
return  across  every  sea  with  the  olive  of  every  land.  Shall  objects  like 
these  be  endangered  by  the  impatience  of  petty  ambition,  the  promptings  of 
sectional  interest,  or  the  goadings  of  fanatic  hate  ?  Shall  the  good  of  the 
whole  be  surrendered  to  the  voracious  demands  of  the  few  ?  Shall  class 
interests  control  the  great  policy  of  our  country,  and  the  voice  of  reason  be 
drowned  in  the  clamor  of  causeless  excitement  ?  If  so,  not  otherwise,  we 
may  agree  with  him  who  would  reconcile  us  to  the  evils  of  war  by  the 
promise  of  "  emancipation  from  the  manufacturers  of  Manchester  and  Bir- 
mingham " ;  or  leave  unanswered  the  heresy  boldly  announced,  though  by 
history  condemned,  that  war  is  the  purifier,  blood  is  the  aliment,  of  free 
institutions.  Sir,  it  is  true  that  republics  have  often  been  cradled  in  war, 
but  more  often  they  have  met  with  a  grave  in  that  cradle.  Peace  is  the 
interest,  the  policy,  the  nature  of  a  popular  government.  "War  may  bring 
benefits  to  a  few,  but  privation  and  loss  are  the  lot  of  the  many.  An  appeal 
to  arms  should  be  the  last  resort,  and  only  by  national  rights  or  national 
honor  can  it  be  justified. 

To  those  who  have  treated  this  as  a  case  involving  the  national  honor, 
I  reply  that,  whenever  that  question  shall  justly  be  raised,  I  trust  an  Ameri- 
can Congress  will  not  delay  for  weeks  to  discuss  the  chances,  or  estimate 
the  sacrifices,  which  its  maintenance  may  cost.  But,  sir,  instead  of  rights 
invaded  or  honor  violated,  the  question  before  us  is,  the  expediency  of 
terminating  an  ancient  treaty,  which,  if  it  be  unwise,  it  can  not  be  dishon- 
orable, to  continue.  Yet,  throughout  this  long  discussion,  the  recesses  and 
vaulted  dome  of  this  hall  have  reechoed  to  inflammatory  appeals  and  violent 
declamations  on  the  sanctity  of  national  honor ;  and  then,  as  if  to  justify 
them,  followed  reflections  most  discreditable  to  the  conduct  of  our  Govern- 
ment. The  charge  made  elsewhere  has  been  repeated  here,  that  we  have 
trodden  upon  Mexico,  but  cowered  under  England. 

Sir,  it  has  been  my  pride  to  believe  that  our  history  was  unstained  by  an 
act  of  injustice  or  of  perfidy;  that  we  stood  recorded  before  the  world  as  a 
people  haughty  to  the  strong,  generous  to  the  weak;  and  nowhere  has 
this  character  been  more  exemplified  than  in  our  intercourse  with  Mexico. 
We  have  been  referred  to  the  treaty  of  peace  that  closed  our  last  war  with 


APPENDIX  B.  523 

Great  Britain,  and  told  that  our  injuries  were  unredressed,  because  the 
question  of  impressment  was  not  decided.  There  are  other  decisions  than 
those  made  by  commissioners,  and  sometimes  they  outlast  the  letter  of  a 
treaty.  On  sea  and  land  we  settled  the  question  of  impressment  before 
negotiations  were  commenced  at  Ghent.  Further,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  there  was  involved  within  that  question  a  cardinal  principle  of 
each  Government.  The  power  of  expatriation,  and  its  sequence,  naturali- 
zation, were  denied  by  Great  Britain;  and  hence  a  right  asserted  to  impress 
native-born  Britons,  though  naturalized  as  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
This  violated  a  principle  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our  institutions, 
and  could  never  be  permitted ;  but,  not  being  propagandists,  we  could  afford 
to  leave  the  political  opinion  unnoticed,  after  having  taught  a  lesson  which 
would  probably  prevent  any  future  attempt  to  exercise  it  to  our  injury. 
Let  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  be  judged  by  subsequent  events.  .  .  . 

The  author  then  proceeded  to  state  and  argue  at  length  the 
historical  questions  involved,  making  copious  citations  from  origi- 
nal authorities.     He  continued  : 

"Waiving  the  consideration  of  any  sinister  motive  or  sectional  hate  which 
may  have  brought  allies  to  the  support  of  the  resolution  now  before  us,  I 
will  treat  it  as  simply  aiming  at  the  object  which  in  common  we  desire — to 
secure  the  whole  of  Oregon  to  the  United  States. 

Thus  considered,  the  dissolution  of  the  Oregon  convention  becomes  a 
mere  question  of  time.  As  a  friend  to  the  extension  of  our  Union,  and 
therefore  prone  to  insist  upon  its  territorial  claims,  I  have  thought  this 
movement  premature ;  that  we  should  have  put  ourselves  in  the  strongest 
attitude  for  the  enforcement  of  our  claims  before  we  fixed  a  day  on  which 
negotiations  should  be  terminated.  That  nation  negotiates  to  most  advan- 
tage which  is  best  prepared  for  war.  Gentlemen  have  treated  the  idea  of 
preparation  for  war  as  synonymous  with  the  raising  of  an  army.  It  is  not 
so ;  indeed,  that  is  the  last  measure,  and  should  only  be  resorted  to  when 
war  has  become  inevitable ;  and  then  a  very  short  time  will  always  be,  I 
trust,  sufficient.  But,  sir,  there  are  preparations  which  require  years,  and 
can  only  be  made  in  a  state  of  peace.  Such  are  the  fortifications  of  the 
salient  points  and  main  entrances  of  our  coast.  For  twenty-odd  years 
Southern  men  have  urged  the  occupation  of  the  Tortugas.  Are  those  who 
have  so  long  opposed  appropriations  for  that  purpose  ready  to  grant  them 
now  in  such  profusion  that  the  labor  of  three  years  may  be  done  in  one? 
No,  sir ;  the  occasion,  by  increasing  the  demand  for  money  elsewhere,  must 
increase  the  opposition.  That  rock,  which  Nature  placed  like  a  sentinel  to 
guard  the  entrance  into  the  Mediterranean  of  our  continent,  and  which 
should  be  Argus-eyed  to  watch  it,  will  stand  without  an  embrasure  to  look 
through. 


52tt      RISE  AND  rALL   0F  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

How  is  the  case  in  Oregon  ?  Our  settlements  there  must  be  protected, 
and  under  present  circumstances  an  army  of  operations  in  that  country 
must  draw  its  food  from  this ;  but  we  have  not  a  sufficient  navy  to  keep 
open  a  line  of  communication  by  sea  around  Cape  Horn ;  and  the  rugged 
route  and  the  great  distance  forbid  the  idea  of  supplying  it  by  transportation 
across  the  mountains.  Now,  let  us  see  what  time  and  the  measures  more 
pointedly  recommended  by  the  President  would  effect.  Our  jurisdiction 
extended  into  Oregon,  the  route  guarded  by  stockades  and  troops,  a  new 
impulse  would  be  given  to  immigration :  and  in  two  or  three  years  the  set- 
tlement on  the  Willamette  might  grow  into  a  colony,  whose  flocks  and 
herds  and  granaries  would  sustain  an  army,  whenever  one  should  be  re- 
quired. 

By  agencies  among  the  Indian  tribes,  that  effective  ally  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, which  formerly  she  has  not  scrupled  to  employ,  would  be  rendered 
friendly  to  our  people.  In  the  mean  time,  roads  could  be  constructed  for 
the  transportation  of  munitions  of  war.  Then  we  should  be  prepared  to 
assert,  and  effectively  maintain,  our  claims  to  their  ultimate  limits. 

I  could  not  depreciate  my  countrymen ;  I  would  not  vaunt  the  prowess 
of  an  enemy;  but,  sir,  I  tell  those  gentlemen  who,  in  this  debate,  have 
found  it  so  easy  to  drive  British  troops  out  of  Oregon,  that,  between  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States,  if  hostilities  occur  in  that  remote  territory,  the 
party  must  succeed  which  has  bread  within  the  country.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Chairman,  unfortunately,  the  opinion  has  gone  forth  that  no  poli- 
tician dares  to  be  the  advocate  of  peace  when  the  question  of  war  is 
mooted.  That  will  be  an  evil  hour — the  sand  of  our  republic  will  be  nearly 
run — when  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  any  demagogue,  or  fanatic,  to  raise 
a  war-clamor,  and  control  the  legislation  of  the  country.  The  evils  of  war 
must  fall  upon  the  people,  and  with  them  the  war-feeling  should  originate. 
We,  their  representatives,  are  but  a  mirror  to  reflect  the  light,  and  never 
should  become  a  torch  to  fire  the  pile.  But,  sir,  though  gentlemen  go, 
torch  in  hand,  among  combustible  materials,  they  still  declare  there  is  no 
danger  of  a  fire.  War-speeches  and  measures  threatening  war  are  mingled 
with  profuse  assurances  of  peace.  Sir,  we  can  not  expect,  we  should  not 
require,  our  adversary  to  submit  to  more  than  we  would  bear;  and  I  ask, 
after  the  notice  has  been  given  and  the  twelve  months  have  expired,  wiio 
would  allow  Great  Britain  to  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  Oregon? 
If  we  would  resist  such  act  by  force  of  arms,  before  ourselves  performing 
it  we  should  prepare  for  war. 

Some  advocates  of  this  immediate  notice  have  urged  their  policy  by 
reference  to  a  resolution  of  the  Democratic  Baltimore  Convention,  and 
contended  that  the  question  was  thereby  closed  to  members  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  That  resolution  does  not  recommend  immediate  notice,  but 
recommends  "the  reannexation  of  Texas"  and  the  " reoccupation  of  Ore- 
gon "  at  the  "  earliest  practicable  period."    The  claim  is  strongly  made  to 


APPENDIX  B.  525 

the  "  whole  of  Oregon " ;  and  the  resolution  seems  directed  more  point- 
edly to  space  than  time.  Texas  and  Oregon  were  united  in  the  resolution ; 
and,  had  there  been  a  third  question  involving  our  territorial  extension,  I 
doubt  not  it  would  have  been  united  with  the  other  two.  The  addition 
of  territory  to  our  Union  is  part  of  the  Democratic  faith,  and  properly 
was  placed  in  the  declaration  of  our  policy  at  that  time.  To  determine 
whether  that  practicable  period  has  arrived  is  now  the  question ;  and 
those  who  cordially  agree  upon  the  principle  of  territorial  enlargement 
have  differed,  and  may  continue  still  to  differ,  on  that  question.  Sir, 
though  it  is  demonstrable  that  haste  may  diminish  but  can  not  increase  our 
chances  to  secure  the  whole  of  Oregon,  yet,  because  Southern  men  have 
urged  the  wisdom  of  delay,  we  have  had  injurious  comparisons  instituted 
between  our  conduct  on  Texas  annexation  and  Oregon  occupation.  Is 
there  such  equality  between  the  cases  that  the  same  policy  must  apply 
to  each?  Texas  was  peopled,  the  time  was  present  when  it  must  be  ac- 
quired, or  the  influences  active  to  defeat  our  annexation  purpose  would 
probably  succeed,  and  the  country  be  lost  to  us  for  ever.  Oregon  is,  with 
a  small  exception,  still  a  wilderness ;  our  claim  to  ultimate  sovereignty  can 
not  be  weakened  during  the  continuance  of  the  Oregon  convention.  That 
ill-starred  partnership  has  robbed  us  of  the  advantages  which  an  early  oc- 
cupation would  have  given  to  our  people  in  the  fur-trade  of  the  country, 
and  we  are  now  rapidly  advancing  to  a  position  from  which  we  can  com- 
mand the  entire  Territory.  In  Texas  annexation  we  were  prompted  by 
other  and  higher  considerations  than  mere  interest.  Texas  had  been  a 
member  of  our  family :  in  her  infancy  had  been  driven  from  the  paternal 
roof,  surrendered  to  the  government  of  harsh,  inquisitorial  Spain  ;  but,  true 
to  her  lineage,  preserved  the  faith  of  opposition  to  monarchical  oppression. 
She  now  returned,  and  asked  to  be  admitted  to  the  hearth  of  the  home- 
stead. She  pointed  to  the  band  of  noble  sons  who  stood  around  her  and 
said :  "  Here  is  the  remnant  of  my  family  ;  the  rest  I  gave  a  sacrifice  at  the 
altar  of  our  fathers'  God — the  God  of  Liberty."  One,  two,  three,  of  the 
elder  sisters  strove  hard  to  close  the  door  upon  her ;  but  the  generous  sym- 
pathy, the  justice  of  the  family,  threw  it  wide  open,  and  welcomed  her 
return.     Such  was  the  case  of  Texas ;  is  there  a  parallel  in  Oregon  ? 

But  who  are  those  that  arraign  the  South,  imputing  to  us  motives  of  sec- 
tional aggrandizement  ?  Generally,  the  same  who  resisted  Texas  annexation, 
and  now  most  eagerly  press  on  the  immediate  occupation  of  the  whole  of 
Oregon.  The  source  is  worthy  the  suspicion.  These  were  the  men  whose 
constitutional  scruples  resisted  the  admission  of  a  country  gratuitously 
offered  to  us,  but  who  now  look  forward  to  gaining  Canada  by  conquest. 
These,  the  same  who  claim  a  weight  to  balance  Texas,  while  they  attack 
others  as  governed  by  sectional  considerations. 

Sir,  this  doctrine  of  a  political  balance  between  different  sections  of  our 
Union  is  not  of  Southern  growth.     We  advocated  the  annexation  of  Texas 


526      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

as  a  "great  national  measure" ;  we  saw  in  it  the  extension  of  the  principles 
intrusted  to  our  care ;  and,  if  in  the  progress  of  the  question  it  assumed  a 
sectional  hue,  the  coloring  came  from  the  opposition  that  it  met — an  op- 
position based,  not  upon  a  showing  of  the  injury  it  would  bring  to  them, 
but  upon  the  supposition  that  benefits  would  be  obtained  by  us. 

Why  is  it  that  Texas  is  referred  to,  and  treated  as  a  Southern  measure 
merely,  though  its  northern  latitude  is  42°  ?  And  why  has  the  "West  so 
often  been  reminded  of  its  services  upon  Texas  annexation  ?  Is  it  to  divide 
the  South  and  "West?  If  so,  let  those  who  seek  this  object  cease  from  their 
travail,  for  their  end  can  never  be  obtained.  A  common  agricultural  in- 
terest unites  us  in  a  common  policy,  and  the  hand  that  sows  seeds  of  dis- 
sension between  us  will  find,  if  they  spring  from  the  ground,  that  the  foot 
of  fraternal  intercourse  will  tread  them  back  to  earth. 

The  streams  that  rise  in  the  "West  flow  on  and  are  accumulated  into  the 
rivers  of  the  South ;  they  bear  the  products  of  one  to  the  other,  and  bind 
the  interests  of  the  whole  indissolubly  together.  The  wishes  of  the  one 
wake  the  sympathies  of  the  other.  On  Texas  annexation  the  voice  of 
Mississippi  found  an  echo  in  the  "West,  and  Mississippi  reechoes  the  call  of 
the  West  on  the  question  of  Oregon.  Though  this  Government  has  done 
nothing  adequate  to  the  defense  of  Mississippi,  though  by  war  she  has  much 
to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain,  yet  she  is  willing  to  encounter  it,  if  necessary 
to  maintain  our  rights  in  Oregon.  Her  Legislature  has  recently  so  resolved, 
and  her  Governor,  in  a  late  message,  says,  "If  war  comes,  to  us  it  will 
bring  blight  and  desolation,  yet  we  are  ready  for  the  crisis."  Sir,  could 
there  be  a  higher  obligation  on  the  representative  of  such  a  people  than  to 
restrain  excitement — than  to  oppose  a  policy  that  threatens  an  unnecessary 
war?  .  .  . 

Mr.  Chairman,  why  have  such  repeated  calls  been  made  upon  the  South 
to  rally  to  the  rescue?  "When,  where,  or  how,  has  she  been  laggard  or 
deserter  ? 

In  1776  the  rights  of  man  were  violated  in  the  outrages  upon  the 
Northern  colonies,  and  the  South  united  in  a  war  for  their  defense.  In 
1812  the  flag  of  our  Union  was  insulted,  our  sailors'  rights  invaded ;  and, 
though  the  interests  infringed  were  mainly  Northern,  war  was  declared, 
and  the  opposition  to  its  vigorous  prosecution  came  not  from  the  South. 
"We  entered  it  for  the  common  cause,  and  for  the  common  cause  we  freely 
met  its  sacrifices.  If,  sir,  we  have  not  been  the  "  war  party  in  peace," 
neither  have  we  been  the  "  peace  party  in  war,"  and  I  will  leave  the  past  to 
answer  for  the  future. 

If  we  have  not  sought  the  acquisition  of  provinces  by  conquest,  neither 
have  we  desired  to  exclude  from  our  Union  such  as,  drawn  by  the  magnet 
of  free  institutions,  have  peacefully  sought  for  admission.  From  sire  to 
son  has  descended  our  federative  creed,  opposed  to  the  idea  of  sectional 
conflict  for  private  advantage,  and  favoring  the   wider  expanse  of  our 


APPENDIX  B.  527 

Union.  If  envy  and  jealousy  and  sectional  strife  are  eating  like  rust  into  the 
bonds  our  fathers  expected  to  bind  us,  they  come  from  causes  which  our 
Southern  atmosphere  has  never  furnished.  As  we  have  shared  in  the  toils, 
so  we  have  gloried  in  the  triumphs,  of  our  country.  In  our  hearts,  as  in  our 
history,  are  mingled  the  names  of  Concord,  and  Camden,  and  Saratoga,  and 
Lexington,  and  Plattsburg,  and  Chippewa,  and  Erie,  and  Moultrie,  and  New 
Orleans,  and  Yorktown,  and  Bunker  Hill.  Grouped  together,  tfiey  form  a 
record  of  the  triumphs  of  our  cause,  a  monument  of  the  common  glory  of 
our  Union.  "What  Southern  man  would  wish  it  less  by  one  of  the  Northern 
names  of  which  it  is  composed  ?  Or  where  is  he  who,  gazing  on  the  obelisk 
that  rises  from  the  ground  made  sacred  by  the  blood  of  Warren,  would  feel 
his  patriot's  pride  suppressed  by  local  jealousy?  Type  of  the  men,  the 
event,  the  purpose,  it  commemorates,  that  column  rises,  stern,  even  severe 
in  its  simplicity ;  neither  niche  nor  molding  for  parasite  or  creeping  thing 
to  rest  on ;  composed  of  material  that  defies  the  waves  of  time,  and  point- 
ing like  a  finger  to  the  source  of  noblest  thought.  Beacon  of  freedom, 
it  guides  the  present  generation  to  retrace  the  fountain  of  our  years  and 
stand  beside  its  source ;  to  contemplate  the  scene  where  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia,  as  stronger  brothers  of  the  family,  stood  foremost  to  defend  our 
common  rights ;  and  remembrance  of  the  petty  jarrings  of  to-day  are 
buried  in  the  nobler  friendship  of  an  earlier  time. 

Yes,  sir,  and  when  ignorance,  led  by  fanatic  hate,  and  armed  by  all  un- 
charitableness,  assails  a  domestic  institution  of  the  South,  I  try  to  forgive, 
for  the  sake  of  the  righteous  among  the  wicked — our  natural  allies,  the 
Democracy  of  the  North.  Thus,  sir,  I  leave  to  silent  contempt  the  malign 
predictions  of  the  member  from  Ohio,  who  spoke  in  the  early  stage  of  this 
discussion,  while  it  pleases  me  to  remember  the  manly  and  patriotic  senti- 
ments of  the  gentleman  who  sits  near  me  [Mr.  McDowell],  and  who  rep- 
resents another  portion  of  that  State.  In  him  I  recognize  the  feelings  of 
our  Western  brethren;  his  were  the  sentiments  that  accord  with  their  acts 
in  the  past,  and  which,  with  a  few  ignoble  exceptions,  I  doubt  not  they 
will  emulate,  if  again  the  necessity  should  exist.  Yes,  sir,  if  ever  they  hear 
that  the  invader's  foot  has  been  pressed  upon  our  soil,  they  will  descend  to 
the  plain  like  an  avalanche,  rushing  to  bury  the  foe. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that,  free  from  any  forebodings  of  evil,  above 
the  influence  of  taunts,  beyond  the  reach  of  treasonable  threats,  and  con- 
fiding securely  in  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  Executive,  I  shrink  from 
the  assertion  of  no  right,  and  will  consent  to  no  restrictions  on  the  discre- 
tion of  the  treaty-making  power  of  our  Government. 


528      RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


APPENDIX  C. 

SPEECHES,  AND  EXTRACTS  FROM  SPEECHES,  OF  THE  AUTHOR  IN 
THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  DURING  THE  FIRST  SES- 
SION   OF    THE    THIRTY-FIRST    CONGRESS,    1849-1850. 

Speech  of  the  author  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  resolutions  of  compromise  proposed  by  Mr.  Clay, 
January  29,  1850. 

I  do  not  rise  to  continue  the  discussion,  but,  as  it  has  been  made  an  his- 
torical question  as  to  what  the  position  of  the  Senate  was  twelve  years  ago, 
and,  as  with  great  regret  I  see  this,  the  conservative  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment, tending  toward  that  fanaticism  which  seems  to  prevail  with  the 
majority  in  the  United  States,  I  wish  to  read  from  the  journals  of  that  date 
the  resolutions  then  adopted,  and  to  show  that  they  went  further  than  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  has  stated.  I  take  it  for  granted,  from 
the  date  to  which  the  honorable  Senator  has  alluded,  he  means  the  resolu- 
tions introduced  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Cal- 
houn], not  now  in  his  seat,  and  to  which  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  pro- 
posed certain  amendments.  Of  the  resolutions  introduced  by  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  I  will  read  the  fifth  in  the  series,  that  to  which  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  must  have  alluded.    It  is  in  these  words : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  intermeddling  of  any  State  or  States,  or  their  citi- 
zens, to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District,  or  any  of  the  Territories,  on  the 
ground,  or  under  the  pretext,  that  it  is  immoral  or  sinful,  or  the  passage  of 
any  act  or  measure  of  Congress  with  that  view,  would  be  a  direct  and  dan- 
gerous attack  on  the  institutions  of  all  the  slaveholding  States." 

Such  is  the  general  form  of  the  proposition.  It  was  variously  modified, 
but  never,  in  my  opinion,  improved.  On  the  27th,  the  fifth  resolution  being 
again  under  consideration,  Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  moved  to  amend  the 
amendment  by  striking  out  all  after  the  word  "  resolved,"  and  insert : 

"  That  the  interference,  by  the  citizens  of  any  of  the  States,  with  a  view 
to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  this  "District,  is  endangering  the  rights  and 
security  of  the  people  of  the  District;  and  that  any  act  or  measure  of  Con- 
gress designed  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District  would  be  a  violation  of  the 
faith  implied  in  the  cessions  by  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland ;  a  just 
cause  of  alarm  to  the  people  of  the  slaveholding  States,  and  have  a  direct 
and  inevitable  tendency  to  disturb  and  endanger  the  Union. 

"And,  resolved,  That  it  would  be  highly  inexpedient  to  abolish  slavery 
within  any  district  of  country  set  apart  for  the  Indian  tribes,  where  it  now 
exists,  or  in  Florida,  the  only  Territory  of  the  United  States  in  which  it  now 
exists,  because  of  the  serious  alarm  and  just  apprehensions  which  would  be 


APPENDIX   C.  529 

thereby  excited  in  the  States  sustaining  that  domestic  institution ;  because 
the  people  of  that  Territory  have  not  asked  it  to  be  done,  and,  when 
admitted  into  the  Union,  will  be  exclusively  entitled  to  decide  that  question 
for  themselves;  because  it  would  be  in  violation  of  the  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  of  the  22d  of  February,  1819  ; 
and,  also,  because  it  would  be  in  violation  of  a  solemn  compromise,  made  at 
a  memorable  and  critical  period  in  the  history  of  this  country,  by  which, 
while  slavery  was  prohibited  north,  it  was  admitted  south,  of  the  line  of 
thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude." 

But  this  resolution  was  not  finally  adopted.  Upon  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Buchanan-  to  amend  said  amendment,  by  striking  out  the  second  clause 
thereof,  commencing  with  the  word  "  resolved,"  it  was  determined  in  the 
affirmative,  and  finally  the  resolution  which  here  follows  was  substituted  in 
place  of  the  second  clause : 

"  That  the  interference  by  the  citizens  of  any  of  the  States,  with  a  view 
to  the  abolition  of  slavery  iu  this  District,  is  endangering  the  rights  and  se- 
curity of  the  people  of  the  District ;  and  that  any  act  or  measure  of  Congress 
designed  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  district,  would  be  a  violation  of  the  faith 
implied  in  the  cessions  by  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland ;  a  just  cause 
of  alarm  to  the  people  of  the  slaveholding  States,  and  have  a  direct  and 
inevitable  tendency  to  disturb  and  endanger  the  Union." 

This  was  the  form  in  which  the  resolution  was  finally  adopted,  passing 
by  a  vote  of  thirty-six  to  eight.  Here,  then,  was  fully  and  broadly  asserted 
the  danger  resulting  from  the  interference  in  the  question  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  as  trenching  upon  the  rights  of  the  slaveholding 
States.  Twelve  years  only  have  elapsed,  yet  this  brief  period  has  swept 
away  even  the  remembrance  of  principles  then  deemed  sacred  and  neces- 
sary to  secure  the  safety  of  the  Union.  Now,  an  honorable  and  distin- 
guished Senator,  to  whom  the  country  has  been  induced  to  look  for  some- 
thing that  would  heal  the  existing  dissensions,  instead  of  raising  new  barriers 
against  encroachment,  dashes  down  those  heretofore  erected  and  augments 
the  existing  danger.  A  representative  from  one  of  the  slaveholding  States 
raises  his  voice  for  the  first  time  in  disregard  of  this  admitted  right.  Nor, 
Mr.  President,  did  he  stop  here.  The  boundary  of  a  State,  with  which  we 
have  no  more  right  to  interfere  than  with  the  boundary  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  is  encroached  upon.  The  United  States,  sir,  as  the  agent  for 
Texas,  had  a  right  to  settle  the  question  of  boundary  between  Texas  and 
Mexico.  Texas  was  not  annexed  as  a  Territory,  but  was  admitted  as  a  State, 
and,  at  the  period  of  her  admission,  her  boundaries  were  established  by 
her  Congress.  She,  by  the  terms  of  annexation,  gave  to  the  United  States 
the  right  to  define  her  boundary  by  treaty  with  Mexico ;  but  the  United 
States,  in  the  treaty  made  with  Mexico  subsequent  to  the  war  with  that 
country,  received  from  Mexico  not  merely  a  cession  of  the  territory  that 
was  claimed  by  Texas,  but  much  that  lay  beyond  the  asserted  limits.  Shall 
34 


530      RISE  ^V  FALL  0F  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

we,  then,  acting  simply  as  the  agent  of  Texas  in  the  settlement  of  this  ques- 
tion of  boundary,  take  from  the  principal  for  whom  we  act  that  territory 
which  belongs  to  her,  to  which  we  asserted  her  title  against  Mexico,  and 
appropriate  it  to  ourselves?  Why,  sir,  it  would  be  a  violation  of  justice, 
and  of  a  principle  of  law  which  is  so  plain  that  it  does  not  require  one  to 
have  been  bred  to  the  profession  of  law  to  understand  it.  The  principle  I 
refer  to  is,  that  an  agent  can  not  take  for  his  own  benefit  anything  result- 
ing from  the  matter  in  controversy,  after  having  acquired  it  as  belonging  to 
the  principal  for  whom  he  acts.  The  agent  can  not  appropriate  to  himself 
rights  acquired  for  his  client.  The  right  of  Texas,  therefore,  to  that  boun- 
dary was  made  complete  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  silenced  the  only 
rival  claim  *to  the  territory.  It  was  distinctly  defined  by  the  acts  of  her 
Congress,  before  the  time  of  annexation ;  and  I  have  only  to  refer  to  those 
acts  to  show  that  the  boundary  of  Texas  was  the  Eio  Bravo  del  Norte, 
from  its  mouth  to  its  source.  What  justice,  or  even  decent  regard  for  fair- 
ness, can  there  be,  now  that  Texas  has  acceded  to  annexation  upon  certain 
terms,  to  propose  a  change  of  boundary,  in  violation  of  those  terms,  and  by 
the  power  we  hold  over  her  as  a  part  of  the  Union?  Can  this  power  ex- 
tend so  far  as  to  take  from  her  a  portion  of  her  territory,  or  to  assert  that 
there  is  a  portion  to  which  she  is  not  entitled  ? 

These  constitute  with  me  two  great  objections  to  the  propositions  of 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky ;  but,  without  stating  all  the  objec- 
tions that  I  have,  and  they  are  very  many,  I  will  merely  point  out  a  few  of 
the  prominent  points  to  whicn  I  object  in  the  argument  of  the  Senator.  He 
assumes  as  facts  things  which  are  mere  matters  of  opinion,  and,  I  think,  of 
erroneous  and  injurious  opinion.  But,  deferring  the  discussion  to  another 
occasion,  I  desire  at  present  merely  to  notice  the  assertion  of  the  honorable 
Senator,  that  slavery  would  never  under  any  circumstances  be  established 
in  California.  This,  though  stated  as  a  fact,  is  but  a  mere  opinion — an 
opinion  with  which  I  do  not  accord.  It  was  to  work  the  gold-mines  on 
this  continent  that  the  Spaniards  first  brought  Africans  to  the  country. 
The  European  races  now  engaged  in  working  the  mines  of  California  sink 
under  the  burning  heat  and  sudden  changes  of  the  climate  to  which  the 
African  race  are  altogether  better  adapted.  The  production  of  rice,  sugar, 
and  cotton,  is  no  better  adapted  to  slave-labor  than  the  digging,  washing, 
and  quarrying  of  the  gold-mines. 

We,  sir,  have  not  asked  that  slavery  should  be  established  in  California. 
We  have  only  asked  that  there  should  be  no  restriction ;  that  climate  and 
soil  should  be  left  free  to  establish  the  institution  or  not,  as  experience 
should  determine.  Sir,  after  the  agitation  of  the  subject  within  these  halls 
and  elsewhere  has  prevented  the  introduction  of  slavery — by  preventing  the 
emigration  of  slaveholders  with  their  property — are  we  now  to  be  told  that 
the  question  is  settled  ?  More  than  that :  when  we  have  acquired  territory 
over  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  thereby  extended,  and 


APPENDIX  C.  531 

which  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  have  a  right  to  occupy,  and  to  estab- 
lish therein  what  laws  they  please,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution — in  which  they  have  a  right  to  establish  what  institutions  they 
please — it  is  now  claimed  that  the  municipal  regulations  which  previously 
existed  shall  still  govern  the  people,  and  that  a  portion  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  shall  thus  be  precluded  from  going  there  with  their  property. 
This  rule  has,  however,  in  discussion  here,  only  been  applied  to  the  prop- 
erty of  slaveholders;  as  though  slaves  were  the  only  property  under  the 
laws  of  Mexico  prohibited  from  entering  California.  It  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  the  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  a  report  to  Congress,  stated 
that  the  Mexican  law  prohibited  the  entrance  of  some  sixty  articles  of  com- 
merce ;  this  was  prohibition  by  law  of  Congress,  and  slavery  has  never  been 
so  prohibited.  It  never  has  been  prohibited  by  the  Mexican  Congress  in 
California ;  and  the  only  prohibition  ever  issued  was  that  contained  in  the 
edict  of  a  usurper,  under  the  specious  pretext  that  it  was  necessary,  in 
order  to  oppose  the  invasion  of  the  country  by  Spain.  This  decree  was 
recognized  by  a  subsequent  Congress,  so  far  as  to  pass  a  law  authorizing 
payment  for  slaves  so  liberated.  It  was  the  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves 
in  Mexico ;  an  act,  if  you  please,  of  abolition,  not  of  prohibition ;  not, 
whatever  construction  may  be  placed  upon  it,  done  in  the  forms  of  law  and 
requirements  of  their  Constitution.  But  we  have  not  proposed  to  inquire 
into  the  legality  of  the  abolition,  neither  has  any  Southern  man  asked  that 
that  decree  should  be  repealed,  or  that  those  liberated  under  its  provisions 
should  be  returned  to  slavery.  We  only  claim  that  there  shall  be  an  equality 
of  immunities  and  privileges  among  citizens  of  all  parts  of  the  United  States ; 
that  Mexican  law  shall  not  be  applied  so  as  to  create  inequality  between 
citizens,  by  preventing  the  immigration  of  any. 

But,  sir,  we  are  called  on  to  receive  this  as  a  measure  of  compromise ! 
Is  a  measure  in  which  we  of  the  minority  are  to  receive  nothing  a  compro- 
mise ?  I  look  upon  it  as  but  a  modest  mode  of  taking  that,  the  claim  to 
which  has  been  more  boldly  asserted  by  others;  and,  that  I  may  be  under- 
stood upon  this  question,  and  that  my  position  may  go  forth  to  the  country 
in  the  same  columns  that  convey  the  sentiments  of  the  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky, I  here  assert  that  never  will  I  take  less  than  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise line  extended  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with  the  specific  recognition  of  the 
right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  territory  below  that  line  ;  and  that,  before  such 
Territories  are  admitted  into  the  Union  as  States,  slaves  may  be  taken 
there  from  any  of  the  United  States  at  the  option  of  their  owners.  I 
can  never  consent  to  give  additional  power  to  a  majority  to  commit  fur- 
ther aggressions  upon  the  minority  in  this  Union;  and  will  never  consent 
to  any  proposition  which  will  have  such  a  tendency,  without  a  full  guar- 
antee or  counteracting  measure  is  connected  with  it.  I  forbear  comment- 
ing at  any  further  length  upon  the  propositions  embraced  in  the  resolutions 
at  this  time. 


532      RISE   AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Remarks  of  the  author  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  question  of  the  reception  of  a  memorial  from  in- 
habitants of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  presented  by  Mr.  Hale, 
of  New  Hampshire,  praying  that  Congress  would  adopt  measures 
for  an  immediate  and  peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Union,  February 
8,  1850. 

Me.  President  :  I  rise  merely  to  make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  right  of 
petition,  and  to  notice  the  error  which  I  think  has  pervaded  the  compari- 
sons that  have  been  instituted  between  certain  resolutions  which  were  pre- 
sented by  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  and  the  petition  which  it  is 
now  proposed  shall  be  received.  The  resolutions  which  were  presented 
from  North  Carolina  were  published  in  yesterday's  paper,  and,  after  reading 
them,  I  think  they  refer  to  a  state  of  case  which  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina might  properly  present  as  their  grievance.  They  were  resolutions  for 
preserving  the  Union,  calling  upon  Congress  to  take  all  measures  in  its 
power  for  that  purpose.  This  was  all  legitimate.  They  had  a  right  to 
petition  Congress  for  a  redress  of  grievances;  and,  if  it  were  in  our  power 
to  redress  those  grievances,  if  it  were  within  the  legitimate  functions  of  our 
legislation,  we  were  bound  to  receive  the  petition  and  respectfully  consider 
it.  This  case  is  exactly  the  reverse.  Here  is  no  grievance,  unless  the 
Union  is  a  grievance  to  those  who  petition.  And  they  call  upon  Congress 
to  do  that  which  every  one  must  admit  Congress  has  no  power  to  do — to 
dissolve  peaceably  the  union  of  the  States.  Then,  sir,  in  the  first  place, 
there  is  no  grievance ;  in  the  next  place,  there  is  no  power ;  and,  beyond 
all  that,  it  is  offensive  to  the  Senate.  It  is  offensive  to  recommend  legisla- 
tion for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union — offensive  to  the  Senate  and  to  the 
whole  country.  If  this  Union  is  ever  to  be  dissolved,  it  must  be  by  the 
action  of  the  States  and  their  people.  "Whatever  power  Congress  holds,  it 
holds  under  the  Constitution,  and  that  power  is  but  a  part  of  the  Union. 
Congress  has  no  power  to  legislate  upon  that  which  will  be  the  destruction 
of  the  whole  foundation  upon  which  its  authority  rests. 

I  recollect,  a  good  many  years  ago,  that  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
[Mr.  John  Davis],  who  addressed  the  Senate  this  morning,  very  pointedly 
described  the  right  of  petition  as  a  very  humble  right — as  the  mere  right  to 
beg.  This  is  my  own  view.  The  right  peaceably  to  assemble,  I  hold  as  the 
right  which  it  was  intended  to  grant  to  the  people ;  that  was  the  only  right 
which  had  ever  been  denied  in  our  colonial  condition.  The  right  of  peti- 
tion had  never  been  denied  by  Parliament.  It  was  intended  only  to  secure 
•to  the  people,  I  say,  the  right  peaceably  to  assemble,  whenever  they  choose 
to  do  so,  with  intent  to  petition  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

But,  sir,  the  right  of  petition,  though  but  a  poor  right — the  mere  right 
to  beg — may  yet  be  carried  to  such  an  extent  that  we  are  bound  to  abate  it 
as  a  nuisance.     If  the  avenues  to  the  Capitol  were  to  be  obstructed,  so  that 


APPENDIX  C.  533 

members  would  find  themselves  unable  to  reach  the  halls  of  legislation,  be- 
cause hordes  of  beggars  presented  themselves  in  the  way  calling  for  relief, 
it  would  be  a  nuisance  that  would  require  to  be  abated,  and  Congress,  in 
self-defense,  would  be  compelled  to  remove  them.  But  such  a  collection  of 
beggars  would  not  be  half  so  great  an  evil  as  the  petitions  presented  here  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  They  disturb  the  peace  of  the  country;  they  impede 
and  pervert  legislation  by  the  excitement  they  create ;  they  do  more  to  pre- 
vent rational  investigation  and  proper  action  in  this  body  than  any,  if  not 
all,  other  causes.  Good,  if  ever  designed,  has  never  resulted,  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  suppose  that  good  is  expected  ever  to  flow  from  them.  Why, 
then,  should  we  be  bound  to  receive  such  petitions  to  the  detriment  of  the 
public  business;  or,  rather,  why  are  they  presented?  I  am  not  of  those 
who  believe  we  should  be  turned  from  the  path  of  duty  by  out-of-door 
clamor,  or  that  the  evil  can  be  removed  by  partial  concession.  To  receive 
is  to  give  cause  for  further  demands,  and  our  direct  and  safe  course  is  re- 
jection. 

Yes,  sir,  their  reception  would  serve  only  to  embarrass  Congress,  to  dis- 
turb the  tranquillity  of  the  country,  and  to  peril  the  Union  of  the  States. 
By  every  obligation,  therefore,  that  rests  upon  us  under  the  Constitution, 
upon  every  great  principle  upon  which  the  Constitution  is  founded,  we  are 
bound  to  abate  this  as  a  great  and  growing  evil.  This  petition,  sir,  was 
well  described  by  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  as  being  spurious;  and 
I  have  been  assured  of  the  fact,  from  other  sources  of  information,  that 
petitions  are  sent  round  in  reference  to  other  subjects — of  temperance,  gen- 
erally— and,  after  a  long  list  of  names  has  been  obtained,  the  caption  is 
cut  off,  and  the  list  of  signatures  attached  to  an  abolition  caption  and  sent 
here  to  excite  one  section  of  the  Union  against  the  other,  to  disturb  the 
country,  and  distract  the  legislation  of  Congress,  to  execute  which  we  have 
our  seats  in  this  Chamber.  For  the  reasons  first  stated,  I  voted  to  receive 
the  resolutions  that  were  presented  by  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina, 
and  for  the  reasons  I  have  just  given  shall  vote  to  reject  this  petition. 

Conclusion  of  the  speech  the  author  delivered  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Clay,  relative  to  sla- 
very in  the  Territories,  etc.,  February  13  and  14,  1850. 

.  .  .  Sir,  it  has  been  asked  on  several  occasions  during  the  present  ses- 
sion, "What  ground  of  complaint  has  the  South?  Is  this  agitation  in  the 
two  halls  of  Congress,  in  relation  to  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  South, 
no  subject  for  complaint?  Is  the  denunciation  heaped  upon  us  by  the  press 
of  the  North,  and  the  attempts  to  degrade  us  in  the  eyes  of  Christendom — 
to  arraign  the  character  of  our  people  and  the  character  of  our  fathers, 
from  whom  our  institutions  are  derived — no  subject  for  complaint  ?  Is  this 
sectional  organization,  for  the  purpose  of  hostility  to  our  portion  of  the 


534      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Union,  no  subject  for  complaint?     Would  it  not,  between  foreign  nations 
— nations  not  bound  together  and  restrained  as  we  are  by  compact— would 
it  not,  I  say,  be  just  cause  for  war?     What  difference  is  there  between  or- 
ganizations for  circulating  incendiary  documents  and  promoting  the  escape 
of  fugitives  from  a  neighboring  State  and  the  organization  of  an  armed 
force  for  the  purpose  of  invasion  ?     Sir,  a  State  relying  securely  on  its  own 
strength  would  rather  court  the  open  invasion  than  the  insidious  attack. 
And  for  what  end,  sir,  is  all  this  aggression  ?   They  see  that  the  slaves  in  their 
present  condition  in  the  South  are  comfortable  and  happy ;  they  see  them 
advancing  in  intelligence ;  they  see  the  kindest  relations  existing  between 
them  and  their  masters ;  they  see  them  provided  for  in  age  and  sickness,  in 
infancy  and  in  disability ;  they  see  them  in  useful  employment,  restrained 
from  the  vicious  indulgences  to  which  their  inferior  nature  inclines  them ; 
they  see  our  penitentiaries  never  filled,  and  our  poor-houses  usually  empty. 
Let  them  turn  to  the  other  hand,  and  they  see  the  same  race  in  a  state  of 
freedom  at  the  North ;  but,  instead  of  the  comfort  and  kindness  they  re- 
ceive at  the  South,  instead  of  being  happy  and  useful,  they  are,  with  few 
exceptions,  miserable,  degraded,  filling  the  penitentiaries  and  poor-houses, 
objects  of  scorn,  excluded  in  some  places  from  the  schools,  and  deprived 
of  many  other  privileges  and  benefits  which  attach  to  the  white  men  among 
whom  they  live.     And  yet  they  insist  that  elsewhere  an  institution  which 
has  proved  beneficial  to  this  race  shall  be  abolished,  that  it  may  be  substi- 
tuted by  a  state  of  things  which  is  fraught  with  so  many  evils  to  the  race 
which  they  claim  to  be  the  object  of  their  solicitude!     Do  they  find  in  the 
history  of  St.  Domingo,  and  in  the  present  condition  of  Jamaica,  under  the 
recent  experiments  which  have  been  made  upon  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  liberation  of  the  blacks,  before  God,  in  his  wisdom,  designed  it 
should  be  done — do  they  there  find  anything  to  stimulate  them  to  future 
exertion  in  the  cause  of  abolition  ?     Or  should  they  not  find  there  satisfac- 
tory evidence  that  their  past  course  was  founded  in  error?     And  is  it  not 
the  part  of  integrity  and  wisdom,  as  soon  as  they  can,  to  retrace  their 
steps?     Should  they  not  immediately  cease  from  a  course  mischievous  in 
every  stage,  and  finally  tending  to  the  greatest  catastrophe?     We  may  dis- 
pute about  measures,  but,  as  long  as  parties  have  nationality,  as  long  as  it 
is  a  difference  of  opinion  between  individuals  passing  into  every  section  of 
the  country,  it  threatens  no  danger  to  the  Union.     If  the  conflicts  of  party 
were  the  only  cause  of  apprehension,  this  Government  might  last  for  ever 
— the  last  page  of  human  history  might  contain  a  discussion  in  the  American 
Congress  upon  the  meaning  of  some  phrase,  the  extent  of  the  power  con- 
ferred by  some  grant  of  the  Constitution.     It  is,  sir,  these  sectional  divi- 
sions which  weaken  the  bonds  of  union  and  threaten  their  final  rupture. 
It  is  not  differences  of  opinion — it  is  geographical  lines,  rivers  and  moun- 
tains— which  divide  State  from  State,  and  make  different  nations  of  man- 
kind. 


APPENDIX  C.  535 

Are  these  no  subjects  of  complaint  for  us?  And  do  they  furnish  no 
cause  for  repentance  to  you?  Have  we  not  a  right  to  appeal  to  you  as 
brethren  of  this  Union  ?  Have  we  not  a  right  to  appeal  to  you,  as  brethren 
bound  by  the  compact  of  our  fathers,  that  you  should,  with  due  regard  to 
your  own  rights  and  interests  and  constitutional  obligations,  do  all  that  is 
necessary  to  preserve  our  peace  and  promote  our  prosperity  ? 

If,  sir,  the  seeds  of  disunion  have  been  sown  broadcast  over  this  land,  I 
ask  by  whose  hand  they  have  been  scattered  ?  If,  sir,  we  are  now  reduced 
to  a  condition  when  the  powers  of  this  Government  are  held  subservient  to 
faction ;  if  we  can  not  and  dare  not  legislate  for  the  organization  of  territo- 
rial governments— I  ask,  sir,  who  is  responsible  for  it  ?  And  I  can  with 
proud  reliance  say,  it  is  not  the  South — it  is  not  the  South!  Sir,  every 
charge  of  disunion  which  is  made  on  that  part  of  the  South  which  I  in  part 
represent,  and  whose  sentiments  I  well  understand,  I  here  pronounce  to  be 
grossly  calumnious.  The  conduct  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  in  calling  a 
convention  has  already  been  introduced  before  the  Senate ;  and  on  that 
occasion  I  stated,  and  now  repeat,  that  it  was  the  result  of  patriotism,  and 
a  high  resolve  to  preserve,  if  possible,  our  constitutional  Union ;  that  all  its 
proceedings  were  conducted  with  deliberation,  and  it  was  composed  of  the 
first  men  of  the  State. 

The  Chief-Justice — a  man  well  known  for  his  high  integrity,  for  his  pow- 
erful intellect,  for  his  great  legal  attainments,  and  his  ability  in  questions  of 
constitutional  law — presided  over  that  Convention.  After  calm  and  ma- 
ture deliberation,  resolutions  were  adopted,  not  in  the  spirit  of  disunion,  but 
announcing,  in  the  first  resolution  of  the  series,  their  attachment  to  the 
Union.  They  call  on  their  brethren  of  the  South  to  unite  with  them  in 
their  holy  purpose  of  preserving  the  Constitution,  which  is  its  only  bond 
and  reliable  hope.  This  was  their  object ;  and  for  this  and  for  no  other 
purpose  do  they  propose  to  meet  in  general  convention  at  Nashville.  As  I 
stated  on  a  former  occasion,  this  was  not  a  party  movement  in  Mississippi. 
The  presiding  officer  belongs  to  the  political  minority  in  the  State ;  the  two 
parties  in  the  State  were  equally  represented  in  the  numbers  of  the  Conven- 
tion, and  its  deliberations  assumed  no  partisan  or  political  character  what- 
ever. It  was  the  result  of  primary  meetings  in  the  counties;  an  assemblage 
of  men  known  throughout  the  State,  having  first  met  and  intimated  to  those 
counties  a  time  when  the  State  Convention  should,  if  deemed  proper,  be 
held.  Every  movement  was  taken  with  deliberation,  and  every  movement 
then  taken  was  wholly  independent  of  the  action  of  anybody  else;  unless  it 
be  intended,  by  the  remarks  made  here,  to  refer  its  action  to  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  those  who  have  gone  before  ns,  and  who  have  left  us  the  rich 
legacy  of  the  free  institutions  under  which  we  live.  If  it  be  attempted  to 
assign  the  movement  to  the  nullification  tenets  of  South  Carolina,  as  my 
friend  near  me  seemed  to  understand,  then  I  say  you  must  go  further  back, 
and  impute  it  to  the  State  rights  and  strict- construction  doctrines  of  Madi- 


536      RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

son  and  Jefferson.  You  must  refer  these  in  their  turn  to  the  principles  in 
which  originated  the  Revolution  and  separation  of  these  then  colonies  from 
England.  You  must  not  stop  there,  but  go  back  still  further,  to  the  bold 
spirit  of  the  ancient  barons  of  England.  That  spirit  has  come  down  to  us, 
and  in  that  spirit  has  all  the  action  since  been  taken.  We  will  not  permit 
aggressions.  We  will  defend  our  rights ;  and,  if  it  be  necessary,  we  will 
claim  from  this  Government,  as  the  barons  of  England  claimed  from  John, 
the  grant  of  another  Magna  Charta  for  our  protection. 

Sir,  I  can  but  consider  it  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  character  for  can- 
dor and  sincerity  which  the  South  maintains,  that  every  movement  which 
occurs  in  the  Southern  States  is  closely  scrutinized,  and  the  assertion  of  a 
determination  to  maintain  their  constitutional  rights  is  denounced  as  a  move- 
ment of  disunion ;  while  violent  denunciations  against  the  Union  are  now 
made,  and  for  years  have  been  made,  at  the  North  by  associations,  by 
presses  and  conventions,  yet  are  allowed  to  pass  unnoticed  as  the  idle  wind 
— I  suppose  for  the  simple  reason  that  nobody  believed  there  was  any 
danger  in  them.  It  is,  then,  I  say,  a  tribute  paid  to  the  sincerity  of  the 
South,  that  every  movement  of  hers  is  watched  with  such  jealousy ;  but 
what  shall  we  think  of  the  love  for  the  Union  of  those  in  whom  this  brings 
us  corresponding  change  of  conduct,  who  continue  the  wanton  aggravations 
which  have  produced  and  justify  the  action  they  deprecate  ?  Is  it  well,  is 
it  wise,  is  it  safe,  to  disregard  these  manifestations  of  public  displeasure, 
though  it  be  the  displeasure  of  a  minority  ?  Is  it  proper,  or  prudent,  or  re- 
spectful, when  a  representative,  in  accordance  with  the  known  will  of  his 
constituents,  addresses  you  the  language  of  solemn  warning,  in  conformity 
to  his  duty  to  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  to  his  own  conscience,  that 
his  course  should  be  arraigned  as  the  declaration  of  ultra  and  dangerous  opin- 
ions ?  If  these  warnings  were  received  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  given, 
it  would  augur  better  for  the  country.  It  would  give  hopes  which  are  now 
denied  us,  if  the  press  of  the  country,  that  great  lever  of  public  opinion,  would 
enforce  these  warnings,  and  bear  them  to  every  cottage,  instead  of  heaping 
abuse  upon  those  whose  love  of  ease  would  prompt  them  to  silence— whose 
speech,  therefore,  is  evidence  of  sincerity.  Lightly  and  loosely,  representa- 
tives of  Southern  people  have  been  denounced  as  disunionists  by  that  por- 
tion of  the  Northern  press  which  most  disturbs  the  harmony  and  endangers 
the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  Such,  even,  has  been  my  own  case,  though  the 
man  does  not  breathe  at  whose  door  the  charge  of  disunion  might  not  as  well 
be  laid  as  at  mine.  The  son  of  a  Eevolutionary  soldier,  attachment  to  this 
Union  was  among  the  first  lessons  of  my  childhood;  bred  to  the  service  of 
my  country,  from  boyhood  to  mature  age,  I  wore  its  uniform.  Through  the 
brightest  portion  of  my  life  I  was  accustomed  to  see  our  flag,  historic  emblem 
of  the  Union,  rise  with  the  rising  and  fall  with  the  setting  sun.  I  look  upon 
it  now  with  the  affection  of  early  love,  and  seek  to  preserve  it  by  a  strict 
adherence  to  the  Constitution,  from  which  it  had  its  birth,  and  by  the  nur- 


APPENDIX  C.  537 

ture  of  which  its  stars  have  come  so  much  to  outnumber  its  original  stripes. 
Shall  that  flag,  which  has  gathered  fresh  glory  in  every  war,  and  become 
more  radiant  still  by  the  conquest  of  peace — shall  that  flag  now  be  torn  by 
domestic  faction,  and  trodden  in  the  dust  by  sectional  rivalry  ?  Shall  we 
of  the  South,  who  have  shared  equally  with  you  all  your  toils,  all  your 
dangers,  all  your  adversities,  and  who  equally  rejoice  in  your  prosperity  and 
your  fame — shall  we  be  denied  those  benefits  guaranteed  by  our  compact, 
or  gathered  as  the  common  fruits  of  a  common  country  ?  If  so,  self-respect 
requires  that  we  should  assert  them ;  and,  as  best  we  may,  maintain  that 
which  we  could  not  surrender  without  losing  your  respect  as  well  as  our 
own.     . 

If,  sir,  this  spirit  of  sectional  aggrandizement — or,  if  gentlemen  prefer, 
this  love  they  bear  the  African  race — shall  cause  the  disunion  of  these 
States,  the  last  chapter  of  our  history  will  be  a  sad  commentary  upon  the 
justice  and  the  wisdom  of  our  people.  That  this  Union,  replete  with  bless- 
ings to  its  own  citizens,  and  diffusive  of  hope  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  should 
fall  a  victim  to  a  selfish  aggrandizement  and  a  pseudo-philanthropy, 
prompting  one  portion  of  the  Union  to  war  upon  the  domestic  rights  and 
peace  of  another,  would  be  a  deep  reflection  on  the  good  sense  and  patriot- 
ism of  our  day  and  generation.  But,  sir,  if  this  last  chapter  in  our  history 
shall  ever  be  written,  the  reflective  reader  will  ask,  Whence  proceeded  this 
hostility  of  the  North  against  the  South?  He  will  find  it  there  recorded 
that  the  South,  in  opposition  to  her  own  immediate  interests,  engaged  with 
the  North  in  the  unequal  struggle  of  the  Eevolution.  He  will  find  again, 
that,  when  Northern  seamen  were  impressed,  their  brethren  of  the  South 
considered  it  cause  for  war,  and  entered  warmly  into  the  contest  with  the 
haughty  power  then  claiming  to  be  mistress  of  the  seas.  He  will  find  that 
the  South,  afar  off,  unseen  and  unheard,  toiling  in  the  pursuits  of  agricul- 
ture, had  filled  the  shipping  and  supplied  the  staple  for  manufactures,  which 
enriched  the  North.  He  will  find  that  she  was  the.  great  consumer  of 
Northern  fabrics — that  she  not  only  paid'  for  these  their  fair  value  in  the 
markets  of  the  world,  but  that  she  also  paid  their  increased  value,  derived 
from  the  imposition  of  revenue  duties.  And,  if,  still  further,  he  seeks  for 
the  cause  of  this  hostility,  it  at  last  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  South 
held  the  African  race  in  bondage,  being  the  descendants  of  those  who  were 
mainly  purchased  from  the  people  of  the  North.  And  this  was  the  great 
cause.  For  this  the  North  claimed  that  the  South  should  be  restricted  from 
future  growth — that  around  her  should  be  drawn,  as  it  were,  a  sanitary 
cordon  to  prevent  the  extension  of  a  "  moral  leprosy" ;  and,  if  for  that  it 
shall  be  written  that  the  South  resisted,  it  would  be  but  in  keeping  with 
every  page  she  has  added  to  the  history  of  our  country. 

It  depends  on  those  in  the  majority  to  say  whether  this  last  chapter  in 
our  history  shall  be  written  or  not.  It  depends  on  them  now  to  decide 
whether  the  strife  between  the  different  sections  shall  be  arrested  before 


538      RISE  AND  FALL  0F  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

it  has  become  impossible,  or  whether  it  shall  proceed  to  a  final  catastrophe. 
I,  sir — and  I  only  speak  for  myself— am  willing  to  meet  any  fair  proposition 
— to  settle  upon  anything  which  promises  security  for  the  future ;  anything 
which  assures  me  of  permanent  peace,  and  I  am  willing  to  make  whatever 
sacrifice  I  may  properly  be  called  on  to  render  for  that  purpose.  Nor, 
sir,  is  it  a  light  responsibility.  If  I  strictly  measured  my  conduct  by  the 
late  message  of  the  Governor,  and  the  recent  expressions  of  opinion  in  my 
State,  I  should  have  no  power  to  accept  any  terms  save  the  unqualified  ad- 
mission of  the  equal  rights  of  the  citizens  of  the  South  to  go  into  any  of  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States  with  any  and  every  species  of  property  held 
among  us.  I  am  willing,  however,  to  take  my  share  of  the  responsibility 
which  the  crisis  of  our  country  demands.  I  am  willing  to  rely  on  the 
known  love  of  the  people  I  represent  for  the  whole  country,  and  the  abid- 
ing respect  which  I  know  they  entertain  for  the  Union  of  these  States.  If, 
sir,  I  distrusted  their  attachment  to  our  Government,  and  if  I  believed  that 
they  had  that  restless  spirit  of  disunion  which  has  been  ascribed  to  the 
South,  I  should  know  full  well  that  I  had  no  such  foundation  as  this  to  rely 
upon — no  such  great  reserve  in  the  heart  of  the  people  to  fall  back  upon  in 
the  hour  of  accountability. 

Mr.  President,  is  there  such  incompatibility  of  interest  between  the  two 
sections  of  this  country  that  they  can  not  profitably  live  together  ?    Does 
the  agriculture  of  the  South  injure  the  manufactures  of  the  North  ?     On  the 
other  hand,  are  they  not  their  life-blood  ?    And  think  you,  if  one  portion  of 
the  Union,  however  great  it  might  be  in  commerce  and  manufactures,  was 
separated  from  all  the  agricultural  districts,  that  it  would  long  maintain  its 
supremacy?     If  any  one  so  believes,  let  him  turn  to  the  written  history  of 
commercial  states:  let  him  look  upon  the  moldering  palaces  of  Venice; 
let  him  ask  for  the  faded  purple  of  Tyre,  and  visit  the  ruins  of  Carthage ; 
there  he  will  see  written  the  fate  of  every  country  which  rests  its  prosperity 
on  commerce  and  manufactures  alone.     United  we  have  grown  to  our 
present  dignity  and  power — united  we  may  go  on  to  a  destiny  which  the 
human  mind  can  not  measure.    Separated,  I  feel  that  it  requires  no  prophetic 
eye  to  see  that  the  portion  of  the  country  which  is  now  scattering  the  seeds 
of  disunion  to  which  I  have  referred  will  be  that  which  will  suffer  most. 
Grass  will  grow  on  the  pavements  now  worn  by  the  constant  tread  of  the 
human  throng  which  waits  on  commerce,  and  the  shipping  will  abandon 
your  ports  for  those  which  now  furnish  the  staples  of  trade.     And  we  who 
produce  the  great  staples  upon  which  your  commerce  and  manufactures  rest, 
we  will  produce  those  staples  still ;  shipping  will  fill  our  harbors ;  and  why 
may  we  not  found  the  Tyre  of  modern  commerce  within  our  own  limits? 
Why  may  we  not  bring  the  manufacturers  to  the  side  of  agriculture,  and 
commerce,  too,  the  ready  servant  of  both  ? 

But,  sir,  I  have  no  disposition  to  follow  this  subject.     I  certainly  can 
derive  no  pleasure  from  the  contemplation  of  anything  which  can  impair  the 


APPENDIX  C.  539 

prosperity  of  any  portion  of  this  Union ;  and  I  only  refer  to  it  that  those 
who  suppose  we  are  tied  by  interest  or  fear  should  look  the  question  in  the 
face  and  understand  that  it  is  mainly  a  feeling  of  attachment  to  the  Union 
which  has  long  bound,  and  now  binds,  the  South.  But,  Mr.  President,  I 
ask  Senators  to  consider  how  long  affection  can  be  proof  against  such  trial, 
and  injury,  and  provocation,  as  the  South  is  continually  receiving. 

The  case  in  which  this  discrimination  against  the  South  is  attempted,  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  introduced,  render  it  especially  offensive. 
It  will  not  be  difficult  to  imagine  the  feeling  with  which  a  Southern  soldier 
during  the  Mexican  war  received  the  announcement  that  the  House  of  Kep- 
resentatives  had  passed  that  odious  measure,  the  Wilmot  Proviso ;  and  that 
he,  although  then  periling  his  life,  abandoning  all  the  comforts  of  home, 
and  sacrificing  his  interests,  was,  by  the  Legislature  of  his  country,  marked 
as  coming  from  a  portion  of  the  Union  which  was  not  entitled  to  the  equal 
benefits  of  whatever  might  result  from  the  service  to  which  he  was  contrib- 
uting whatever  power  he  possessed.  Nor  will  it  be  difficult  to  conceive, 
of  the  many  sons  of  the  South  whose  blood  has  stained  those  battle-fields, 
whose  ashes  now  mingle  with  Mexican  earth,  that  some,  when  they  last 
looked  on  the  flag  of  their  country,  may  have  felt  their  dying  moments  em- 
bittered by  the  recollection  that  that  flag  cast  not  an  equal  shadow  of  pro- 
tection over  the  land  of  their  birth,  the  graves  of  their  parents,  and  the 
homes  of  their  children,  so  soon  to  be  orphans.  Sir,  I  ask  Northern  Senators 
to  make  the  case  their  own — to  carry  to  their  own  firesides  the  idea  of  such 
intrusion  and  offensive  discrimination  as  is  offered  to  us — realize  these 
irritations,  so  galling  to  the  humble,  so  intolerable  to  the  haughty,  and  wake, 
before  it  is  too  late,  from  the  dream  that  the  South  will  tamely  submit. 
Measure  the  consequences  to  us  of  your  assumption,  and  ask  yourselves 
whether,  as  a  free,  honorable,  and  brave  people,  you  would  submit  to  it? 

It  is  essentially  the  characteristic  of  the  chivalrous  that  they  never  spec- 
ulate upon  the  fears  of  any  man,  and  I  trust  that  no  such  speculations  will 
be  made  upon  the  idea  that  may  be  entertained  in  any  quarter  that  the 
South,  from  fear  of  her  slaves,  is  necessarily  opposed  to  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  She  has  no  such  fear ;  her  slaves  would  be  to  her  now,  as  they  were 
in  the  Eevolution,  an  element  of  military  strength.  I  trust  that  no  specula- 
tions will  be  made  upon  either  the  condition  or  the  supposed  weakness  of 
the  South.  They  will  bring  sad  disappointments  to  those  who  indulge 
them.  Kely  upon  her  devotion  to  the  Union,  rely  upon  the  feeling  of  fra- 
ternity she  inherited  and  has  never  failed  to  manifest;  rely  upon  the 
nationality  and  freedom  from  sedition  which  have  in  all  ages  characterized 
an  agricultural  people ;  give  her  justice,  sheer  justice,  and  the  reliance  will 
never  fail  you. 

Then,  Mr.  President,  I  ask  that  some  substantial  proposition  maybe  made 
by  the  majority  in  regard  to  this  question.  It  is  for  those  who  have  the 
power  to  pass  it  to  propose  one.     It  is  for  those  who  are  threatening  us 


540      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

with  the  loss  of  that  which  we  are  entitled  to  enjoy,  to  state,  if  there  be 
any  compromise,  what  that  compromise  is.  We  are  unable  to  pass  any 
measure,  if  we  propose  it ;  therefore  I  have  none  to  suggest.  We  are  un- 
able to  bend  you  to  any  terms  which  we  may  offer;  we  are  under  the  ban  of 
your  purpose:  therefore  from  you,  if  from  anywhere,  the  proposition  must 
come.  I  trust  that  we  shall  meet  it,  and  bear  the  responsibility  as  be- 
comes us;  that  we  shall  not  seek  to  escape  from  it;  that  we  shall  not  seek 
to  transfer  to  other  places,  or  other  times,  or  other  persons,  that  responsi- 
bility which  devolves  upon  us;  and  I  hope  the  earnestness  which  the  oc- 
casion justifies  will  not  be  mistaken  for  the  ebullition  of  passion,  nor  the 
language  of  warning  be  construed  as  a  threat.  We  can  not,  without  the  most 
humiliating  confession  of  the  supremacy  of  faction,  evade  our  constitutional 
obligations,  and  our  obligations  under  the  treaty  with  Mexico  to  organize 
governments  in  the  Territories  of  California  and  Few  Mexico.  I  trust  that 
we  will  not  seek  to  escape  from  the  responsibility,  and  leave  the  country 
unprovided  for,  unless  by  an  irregular  admission  of  new  States ;  that  we 
will  act  upon  the  good  example  of  Washington  in  the  case  of  Tennessee,  and 
of  Jefferson  in  the  case  of  Louisiana;  that  we  will  not,  if  we  abandon  those 
high  standards,  do  more  than  come  down  to  modern  examples ;  that  we  will 
not  go  further  than  to  permit  those  who  have  the  forms  of  government, 
under  the  Constitution,  to  assume  sovereignty  over  territory  of  the  United 
States ;  that  we  may  at  least,  I  say,  assert  the  right  to  know  who  they  are, 
how  many  they  are — where  they  voted,  how  they  voted — and  whose  cer- 
tificate is  presented  to  us  of  the  fact,  before  it  is  conceded  to  them  to  deter- 
mine the  fundamental  law  of  the  country,  and  to  prescribe  the  conditions 
on  which  other  citizens  of  the  United  States  may  enter  it.  To  reach  all 
this  knowledge,  we  must  go  through  the  intermediate  stage  of  territorial 
government. 

How  will  you  determine  what  is  the  seal,  and  who  are  the  officers,  of  a 
community  unknown  as  an  organized  body  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  ?  Can  the  right  be  admitted  in  that  community  to  usurp  the  sover- 
eignty over  territory  which  belongs  to  the  States  of  the  Union  ?  All  these 
questions  must  be  answered  before  I  can  consent  to  any  such  irregular  pro- 
ceeding as  that  which  is  now  presented  in  the  case  of  California. 

Mr.  President,  thanking  the  Senate  for  the  patience  they  have  shown 
toward  me,  I  again  express  the  hope  that  those  who  have  the  power  to 
settle  this  distracting  question — those  who  have  the  ability  to  restore  peace, 
concord,  and  lasting  harmony  to  the  United  States — will  give  us  some  sub- 
stantial proposition,  such  as  magnanimity  can  offer,  and  such  as  we  can 
honorably  accept.  I,  being  one  of  the  minority  in  the  Senate  and  the 
Union,  have  nothing  to  offer,  except  an  assurance  of  cooperation  in  any- 
thing which  my  principles  will  allow  me  to  adopt,  and  which  promises  per- 
manent, substantial  security. 


APPENDIX  D.  541 


APPENDIX  D. 

Speech  of  the  author  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  (chiefly  in  answer  to  Mr.  Fessenden,  of  Maine,  on  the 
message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  transmitting  to 
Congress  the  "Lecompton  Constitution"  of  Kansas),  February  8, 

.1858. 

I  wish  to  express  not  only  my  concurrence  with  the  message  of  the 
President,  but  my  hearty  approbation  of  the  high  motive  which  actuated 
him  when  he  wrote  it.  In  that  paper  breathes  the  sentiment  of  a  patriot, 
and  it  stands  out  in  bold  contrast  with  the  miserable  slang  by  which  he  was 
pursued  this  morning.  It  may  serve  the  purposes  of  a  man  who  little 
regards  the  Union  to  perpetrate  a  joke  on  the  hazard  of  its  dissolution.  It 
may  serve  the  purpose  of  a  man  who  never  looks  to  his  own  heart  to  find 
there  any  impulses  of  honor,  to  arraign  everybody,  the  President  and  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  to  have  them  impeached  and  vilified  on  his  mere  sus- 
picion. It  ill  becomes  such  a  man  to  point  to  Southern  institutions  as  to 
him  a  moral  leprosy,  which  he  is  to  pursue  to  the  end  of  extermination, 
and,  perverting  everything,  ancient  and  modern,  to  bring  it  tributary  to  his 
own  malignant  purposes.  Not  even  could  that  clause  of  the  Constitution 
which  refers  to  the  importation  or  migration  of  persons  be  held  up  to  public 
consideration  by  the  Senator  [Mr.  Fessenden]  in  a  studied  argument,  save 
as  a  permission  for  the  slave-trade.  Then,  everything  that  is  most  promi- 
nent in  relation  to  the  protection  of  property  in  that  instrument  he  holds  to 
have  been  swept  away  by  a  statute  which  prohibited  the  further  importa- 
tion of  Africans.  The  language  of  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  is  far 
broader  than  the  importation  of  Africans.  It  is  not  confined  or  limited  at 
all  to  that  subject.     It  says : 

II  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  now 
existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress 
prior  to  the  year  1808,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importa- 
tion, not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person." 

That  was  a  power  given  to  Congress  far  broader  than  the  slave-trade ; 
and  yet  the  Senator  gravely  argues  that,  when  that  prohibition  against  the 
further  importation  of  Africans  took  place  by  act  of  Congress,  thencefor- 
ward  the  constitutional  shield,  which  had  been  thrown  over  slave  property, 
fell.  Sir,  it  is  the  only  private  property  in  the  United  States  which  is  spe- 
cifically recognized  in  the  Constitution  and  protected  by  it. 

There  was  a  time  when  there  was  a  higher  and  holier  sentiment  among 
the  men  who  represented  the  people  of  this  country.  As  far  back  as  the 
time  of  the  Confederation,  when  no  narrow,  miserable  prejudice  between 
Northern  and  Southern  men  governed  those  who  ruled  the  States,  a  com- 


542      RISE  AND  FALL   0F  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

mittee  of  three,  two  of  whom  were  Northern  men,  reporting  upon  what 
they  considered  the  bad  faith  of  Spain  in  Florida,  in  relation  to  fugitive 
slaves,  proposed  that  negotiations  should  be  instituted  to  require  Spain  to 
surrender,  as  the  States  did  then  surrender,  all  fugitives  escaped  into  their 
limits.  Hamilton  and  Sedgwick  from  the  North,  and  Madison  from  the 
South,  made  that  report — men,  the  loftiness  of  whose  purpose  and  genius 
might  put  to  shame  the  puny  efforts  now  made  to  disturb  that  which  lies 
at  the  very  foundation  of  the  Government  under  which  we  live. 

A  man  not  knowing  into  what  presence  he  was  introduced,  coming  into 
this  Chamber,  might,  for  a  large  part  of  this  session,  have  supposed  that 
here  stood  the  representatives  of  belligerent  States,  and  that,  instead  of 
men  assembled  here  to  confer  together  for  the  common  welfare,  for  the 
general  good,  he  saw  here  ministers  from  States  preparing  to  make  war 
upon  each  other ;  and  then  he  would  have  felt  that  vain,  indeed,  was  the 
vaunting  of  the  prowess  of  one  to  destroy  another.  Or  if,  sir,  he  had 
known  more — if  he  had  recognized  the  representatives  of  the  States  of  the 
Union — still  he  would  have  traced  through  this  same  eternal,  petty  agita- 
tion about  sectional  success,  that  limit  which  can  not  fail,  however  the 
Senator  from  New  York  (Mr.  Sewaed)  may  regret  it,  to  bring  about  a 
result  which  every  man  should,  from  his  own  sense  of  honor,  feel,  when  he 
takes  his  seat  in  this  Chamber,  that  he  is  morally  bound  to  avoid  as  long 
as  he  retains  possession  of  his  seat. 

To  express  myself 'more  distinctly  :  I  hold  that  a  Senator,  while  he  sits 
here  as  the  representative  of  a  State  in  the  Federal  Government,  is  in  the 
relation  of  a  minister  to  a  friendly  court,  and  that  the  moment  he  sees  this 
Government  in  hostility  to  his  own,  the  day  he  resolves  to  make  war  on  this 
Government,  his  honor  and  the  honor  of  his  State  compel  him  to  vacate 
the  seat  he  holds. 

It  is  a  poor  evasion  for  any  man  to  say:  "I  make  war  on  the  rights  of 
one  whole  section ;  I  make  war  on  the  principles  of  the  Constitution;  and 
yet,  I  uphold  the  Union,  and  I  desire  to  see  it  protected."  Undermine  the 
foundation,  and  still  pretend  that  he  desires  the  fabric  to  stand !  Common 
sense  rejects  it.  No  one  will  believe  the  man  who  makes  the  assertion, 
unless  he  believes  him  under  the  charitable  supposition  that  he  knows  not 
what  he  is  doing. 

Sir,  we  are  arraigned,  day  after  day,  as  the  aggressive  power.  What 
Southern  Senator,  during  this  whole  session,  has  attacked  any  portion,  or 
any  interest,  ot  the  North  ?  In  what  have  we  now,  or  ever,  back  to  the 
earliest  period  of  our  history,  sought  to  deprive  the  North  of  any  advan- 
tage it  possessed?  The  whole  charge  is,  and  has  been,  that  we  seek  to 
extend  our  own  institutions  into  the  common  territory  of  the  United 
States.  Well  and  wisely  has  the  President  of  the  United  States  pointed  to 
that  common  territory  as  the  joint  possession  of  the  country.  Jointly  we 
held  it,  jointly  we  enjoyed  it  in  the  earlier  period  of  our  country ;  but  when, 


APPENDIX  D.  543 

in  the  progress  of  years,  it  became  apparent  that  it  could  not  longer  be 
enjoyed  in  peace,  the  men  of  that  day  took  upon  themselves,  wisely  or 
unwisely,  a  power  which  the  Constitution  did  not  confer,  and,  by  a  geo- 
graphical line,  determined  to  divide  the  Territories,  so  that  the  common 
field,  which. brothers  could  not  cultivate  in  peace,  should  be  held  severally 
for  the  benefit  of  each.  Wisely  or  unwisely,  that  law  was  denied  extension 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

I  was  struck,  in  the  course  of  these  debates,  to  which  I  have  not  been 
in  the  habit  of  replying,  to  hear  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  [Mr. 
Hale],  who  so  very  ardently  opposed  the  extension  of  that  line  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  who  held  it  to  be  a  political  stain  upon  the  history  of  our  country, 
and  who  would  not  even  allow  the  southern  boundary  of  Utah  to  be  the 
parallel  of  36°  30',  because  of  the  political  implication  which  was  contained 
in  it  (the  historical  character  of  the  line),  plead,  as  he  did  a  few  days  ago, 
for  the  constitutionality  and  legality  and  for  the  sacred  character  of  that 
so-called  Missouri  Compromise. 

I,  for  one,  never  believed  Congress  had  the  power  to  pass  that  law ;  yet, 
as  one  who  was  willing  to  lay  down  much  then,  as  I  am  now,  to  the  peace, 
the  harmony,  and  the  welfare  of  our  common  country,  I  desired  to  see 
that  line  extended  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  that  strife  which  now  agitates 
the  country  never  renewed ;  but  with  a  distinct  declaration :  "  Go  ye  to 
the  right,  and  we  will  go  to  the  left ;  and  we  go  in  peace  and  good-will 
toward  each  other."  Those  who  refused  then  to  allow  the  extension  of 
that  line,  those  who  declared  then  that  it  was  a  violation  of  principle,  and 
insisted  on  what  they  termed  non-intervention,  must  have  stood  with  very 
poor  grace  in  the  same  Chamber  when,  at  a  subsequent  period,  the  Senator 
from  Illinois  [Mr.  Douglas],  bound  by  his  honor  on  account  of  his  previous 
course,  moved  the  repeal  of  that  line  to  throw  open  Kansas ;  they  must  have 
stood  with  very  bad  grace,  in  this  presence,  to  argue  that  that  line  was 
now  sacred,  and  must  be  kept  for  ever. 

The  Senator  from  Illinois  stood  foremost  as  one  who  was  willing,  at  an 
early  period,  to  sacrifice  his  own  prejudices  and  his  own  interests  (if,  in- 
deed, his  interests  be  girt  and  bounded  by  the  limits  of  a  State)  by  propos- 
ing to  extend  that  line  of  pacification  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  and,  failing  in 
that,  then  became  foremost  in  the  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  of  non-inter- 
vention ;  and  upon  that,  I  say,  he  was  in  honor  bound  to  wipe  out  that  line 
and  throw  Kansas  open,  like  any  other  Territory.  But,  sir,  was  it  then 
understood  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  or  anybody  else,  that  throwing 
open  the  Territory  of  Kansas  to  free  emigration  was  to  be  the  signal  for 
the  marching  of  cohorts  from  one  section  or  another  to  fight  on  that  battle- 
field for  mastery  ?  Or,  did  he  not  rather  think  that  emigration  was  to  be 
allowed  to  take  its  course,  and  soil  and  climate  be  permitted  to  decide  the 
great  question?  We  were  willing  to  abide  by  it.  We  were  willing  to 
leave  natural  causes  to  decide  the  question.     Though  I  differed  from  the 


544:      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Senator  from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward],  though  I  did  not  believe  that 
natural  causes,  if  permitted  to  flow  in  their  own  channel,  would  have  pro- 
duced any  other  result  than  the  introduction  of  slave  property  into  the 
Territory  of  Kansas,  I  am  free  to  admit  that  I  have  not  yet  reached  the 
conclusion  that  that  property  would  have  permanently  remained  there. 
That  is  a  question  which  interest  decides.  Vermont  would  not  keep 
African  slaves,  because  they  were  not  valuable  to  her;  neither  will  any 
population,  whose  density  is  so  great  as  to  trade  rapidly  on  the  supply  of 
bread,  be  willing  to  keep  and  maintain  an  improvident  population,  to  feed 
them  in  infancy,  to  care  for  them  in  sickness,  to  protect  them  in  age.  And 
thus  it  will  be  found  in  the  history  of  nations,  that,  whenever  population 
has  reached  that  density  in  the  temperate  zones,  serfdom,  villenage,  or 
slavery,  whatever  it  has  been  called,  has  disappeared. 

Ours  presents  a  new  problem,  one  not  stated  by  those  who  wrote  on  it 
in  the  earlier  period  of  our  history.  It  is  the  problem  of  a  semi-tropical 
climate,  the  problem  of  malarial  districts,  of  staple  products.  This  produces 
a  result  different  from  that  which  would  be  found  in  the  farming  districts 
and  cooler  climates.  A  race  suited  to  our  labor  exists  there.  "Why  should 
we  care  whether  they  go  into  other  Territories  or  not?  Simply  because  of 
the  war  which  is  made  against  our  institutions  ;  simply  because  of  the  want 
of  security  which  results  from  the  action  of  our  opponents  in  the  Northern 
States.  Had  you  made  no  political  war  upon  us,  had  you  observed  the 
principles  of  our  confederacy  as  States,  that  the  people  of  each  State  were 
to  take  care  of  their  domestic  affairs,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Kansas  bill, 
to  be  left  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  institutions  in  their  own 
way,  then,  I  say,  within  the  limits  of  each  State  the  population  there  would 
have  gone  on  to  attend  to  their  own  affairs,  and  would  have  had  little  regard 
to  whether  this  species  of  property,  or  any  other,  was  held  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  Union.  You  have  made  it  a  political  war.  We  are  on  the 
defensive.     How  far  are  you  to  push  us  ? 

The  Senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Clay]  has  been  compelled  to  notice  the 
resolutions  of  his  State ;  nor  does  that  State  stand  alone.  To  what  issue 
are  you  now  pressing  us  ?  To  the  conclusion  that,  because  within  the  limits 
of  a  Territory  slaves  are  held  as  property,  a  State  is  to  be  excluded  from 
the  Union.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  paying  lip-service  to  the  Union.  The 
"Union  is  strong  enough  to  confer  favors ;  it  is  strong  enough  to  command 
service.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  man  deserves  but  little  credit  who 
sings  pasans  to  its  glory.  If,  through  a  life,  now  not  a  short  one,  a  large 
portion  of  which  has  been  spent  in  the  public  service,  I  have  given  no  better 
proof  of  my  affection  for  this  Union  than  by  declarations,  I  have  lived  to 
little  purpose,  indeed.  I  think  I  have  given  evidence,  in  every  form  in  which 
patriotism  is  ever  subjected  to  a  test,  and  I  trust,  whatever  evil  may  be  in 
store  for  us  by  those  who  wage  war  on  the  Constitution  and  our  rights  under 
it,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  turn  at  least  to  the  past  and  say,  "  Up  to  that 


APPENDIX  D.  545 

period  when  I  was  declining  into  the  grave,  I  served  a  Government  I  loved, 
and  served  it  with  my  whole  heart."  JSTor  will  I  stop  to  compare  services 
with  those  gentlemen  who  have  fair  phrases,  while  they  undermine  the  very 
foundation  of  the  temple  our  fathers  built.  If,  however,  there  be  those  here 
who  do  really  love  the  Union,  and  the  Constitution,  which  is  the  life-blood 
of  the  Union,  the  time  has  come  when  we  should  look  calmly,  though  stead- 
ily, the  danger  which  besets  us  in  the  face. 

Violent  speeches,  denunciatory  of  people  in  any  particular  section  of  the 
Union,  the  arraignment  of  institutions  which  they  inherited  and  intend  to 
transmit,  as  leprous  spots  on  the  body -politic,  are  not  the  means  by  which 
fraternity  is  to  be  preserved,  or  this  Union  rendered  perpetual.  These  were 
not  the  arguments  which  our  fathers  made  when,  through  the  struggles  of 
the  Kevolutionary  War,  they  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Union.  These  are 
not  the  principles  on  which  our  Constitution,  a  bundle  of  compromises,  was 
made.  Then  the  navigating  and  the  agricultural  States  did  not  war  to  see 
which  could  most  injure  the  other ;  but  each  conceded  something  from  that 
which  it  believed  to  be  its  own  interest  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  other. 
Those  debates,  while  they  brought  up  all  that  struggle  which  belongs  to 
opposite  interests  and  opposite  localities,  show  none  of  that  bitterness 
which,  so  unfortunately,  characterizes  every  debate  in  which  this  body  is 
involved. 

The  meanest  thing — I  do  not  mean  otherwise  than  the  smallest  thing — 
which  can  arise  among  us,  incidentally,  runs  into  this  sectional  agitation,  as 
though  it  were  an  epidemic  and  gave  its  type  to  every  disease.  Not  even 
could  the  committees  of  this  body,  when  we  first  assembled,  before  any  one 
had  the  excuse  of  excitement  to  plead,  be  organized  without  sectional  agita- 
tion springing  up.  Forcibly,  I  suppose  gravely  and  sincerely,  it  was  con- 
tended here  that  a  great  wrong  was  done  because  New  York,  the  great 
commercial  State,  and  the  emporium  of  commerce  within  her  limits,  was 
not  represented  upon  the  Committee  of  Commerce.  This  will  go  forth  to 
remote  corners,  and  descend,  perhaps,  to  after-times,  as  an  instance  in  which 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  Senate  behaved  with  unfairness  toward  its 
opponents  ;  for  with  it  will  not  descend  the  fact  that  the  Democratic  party 
only  arranged  for  itself  its  own  portion  of  the  committees,  taking  the  con- 
trol of  them,  and  left  blanks  on  the  committees  to  be  filled  by  the  Opposi- 
tion ;  that  the  Opposition  did  fill  the  blanks  ;  that  the  Opposition  had  both 
the  Senators  from  New  York,  but  did  not  choose  to  put  either  of  them  on 
that  committee,  though  it  afterward  formed  the  basis  and  staple  of  their 
complaint. 

Mr.  President,  I  concur  with  my  friend  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Hunter],  and 
when  I  rose  Itdid  not  intend  to  consume  anything  like  so  much  time  as  I 
have  occupied.  I  think  there  are  points,  which  have  been  sprung  upon  the 
Senate  to-day  and  heretofore,  that  require  to  be  answered  and  to  be  met. 
Like  my  friend  from  Virginia,  I  shall  feel  that  it  devolves  on  me,  as  a  rep- 
35 


54:6       RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

resentative  in  part  of  that  constituency  which  is  peculiarly  assailed,  on 
another  occasion  to  meet,  and,  if  I  am  able,  to  answer,  the  allegations  and 
accusations  which  have  been  heaped,  as  well  on  the  section  in  which  I  live 
as  upon  every  man  who  has  performed  his  duty  by  extending  over  them  the 
protection  for  which  our  Constitution  and  Government  were  formed. 


APPENDIX  E, 

In  the  summer  of  1858,  the  author  being  in  Portland,  Maine, 
a  vast  concourse  of  its  citizens  assembled  in  front  of  his  hotel  to 
offer  him  a  welcome  to  their  city,  whereupon  he  made  to  them  an 
address,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  given  : 

Fellow-Citizens  :  Accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  this  manifestation  of 
your  kindness.  Vanity  does  not  lead  me  so  far  to  misconceive  your  pur- 
pose as  to  appropriate  the  demonstration  to  myself;  but  it  is  not  the  less 
gratifying  to  me  to  be  made  the  medium  through  which  Maine  tenders  an 
expression  of  regard  to  her  sister,  Mississippi.  It  is,  moreover,  with  feel- 
ings of  profound  gratification  that  I. witness  this  indication  of  that  national 
sentiment  and  fraternity  which  made  us,  and  which  alone  can  keep  us,  one 
people.  At  a  period  but  as  yesterday,  when  compared  with  the  life  of 
nations,  these  States  were  separate,  and  in  some  respects  opposing  colonies; 
their  only  relation  to  each  other  was  that  of  a  common  allegiance  to  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain.  So  separate,  indeed  almost  hostile,  was 
their  attitude,  that  when  General  Stark,  of  Bennington  memory,  was  cap- 
tured by  savages  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Kennebec,  he  was  subsequently 
taken  by  them  to  Albany,  where  they  went  to  sell  furs,  and  again  led  away 
a  captive,  without  interference  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  neigh- 
ing colony  to  demand  or  obtain  his  release.  United  as  we  now  are,  were  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  as  an  act  of  hostility  to  our  country,  impris- 
oned or  slain  in  any  quarter  of  the  world,  whether  on  land  or  sea,  the  peo- 
ple of  each  and  every  State  of  the  Union,  with  one  heart  and  with  one 
voice,  would  demand  redress,  and  woe  be  to  him  against  whom  a  brother's 
blood  cried  to  us  from  the  ground!  Such  is  the  fruit  of  the  wisdom  and 
the  justice  with  which  our  fathers  bound  contending  colonies  into  confed- 
eration, and  blended  different  habits  and  rival  interests  into  an  harmonious 
whole,  so  that,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  they  entered  on  the  trial  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  step  with  step  trod  its  thorny  paths  until  they  reached  the 
height  of  national  independence,  and  founded  the  constitutional  representa- 
tive liberty  which  is  our  birthright.  .  .  . 

By  such  men,  thus  trained  and  ennobled,  our  Constitution  was  framed. 


APPENDIX  E.  547 

It  stands  a  monument  of  principle,  of  forecast,  and,  above  all,  of  that  lib- 
erality which  made  each  willing  to  sacrifice  local  interest,  individual  preju- 
dice, or  temporary  good  to  the  general  welfare  and  the  perpetuity  of  the 
republican  institutions  which  they  had  passed  through  fire  and  blood  to 
secure.  The  grants  were  as  broad  as  were  necessary  for  the  functions  of 
the  general  agent,  and  the  mutual  concessions  were  twice  blessed,  blessing 
him  who  gave  and  him  who  received.  Whatever  was  necessary  for  domes- 
tic government — requisite  in  the  social  organization  of  each  community — 
was  retained  by  the  States  and  the  people  thereof;  and  these  it  was  made 
the  duty  of  all  to  defend  and  maintain.  Such,  in  very  general  terms,  is  the 
rich  political  legacy  our  fathers  bequeathed  to  us.  Shall  we  preserve  and 
transmit  it  to  posterity?  Yes,  yes,  the  heart  responds  ;  and  the  judgment 
answers,  the  task  is  easily  performed.  It  but  requires  that  each  should 
attend  to  that  which  most  concerns  him,  and  on  which  alone  he  has  right- 
ful power  to  decide  and  to  act;  that  each  should  adhere  to  the  terms  of  a 
written  compact,  and  that  all  should  cooperate  for  that  which  interest, 
duty,  and  honor  demand. 

For  the  general  affairs  of  our  country,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  we 
have  a  national  Executive  and  a  national  Legislature.  Representatives  and 
Senators  are  chosen  by  districts  and  by  States,  but  their  acts  affect  the 
whole  country,  and  their  obligations  are  to  the  whole  people.  He,  who, 
holding  either  seat,  would  confine  his  investigations  to  the  mere  interests 
of  his  immediate  constituents,  would  be  derelict  to  his  plain  duty;  and  he 
who  would  legislate  in  hostility  to  any  section  would  be  morally  unfit  for 
the  station,  and  surely  an  unsafe  depositary,  if  not  a  treacherous  guardian, 
of  the  inheritance  with  which  we  are  blessed.  No  one  more  than  myself 
recognizes  the  binding  force  of  the  allegiance  which  the  citizen  owes  to  the 
State  of  his  citizenship,  but,  that  State  being  a  party  to  our  compact,  a 
member  of  the  Union,  fealty  to  the  Federal  Constitution  is  not  in  oppo- 
sition to,  but  flows  from  the  allegiance  due  to,  one  of  the  United  States. 
Washington  was  not  less  a  Virginian  when  he  commanded  at  Boston,  nor 
did  Gates  or  Greene  weaken  the  bonds  which  bound  them  to  their  several 
States  by  their  campaigns  in  the  South.  In  proportion  as  a  citizen  loves 
his  own  State  will  he  strive  to  honor  her  by  preserving  her  name  and  her 
fame,  free  from  the  tarnish  of  having  failed  to  observe  her  obligations  and 
to  fulfill  her  duties  to  her  sister  States.  Each  page  of  our  history  is  illus- 
trated by  the  names  and  deeds  of  those  who  have  well  understood  and  dis- 
charged the -.obligation.  Have  we  so  degenerated  that  we  can  no  longer 
emulate  their  virtues?  Have  the  purposes  for  which  our  Union  was  formed 
lost  their  value?  Has  patriotism  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  and  is  narrow  sec- 
tionalism no  longer  to  be  counted  a  crime?  Shall  the  North  not  rejoice 
that  the  progress  of  agriculture  in  the  South  has  given  to  her  great  staple 
the  controlling  influence  of  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  put  manu- 
facturing nations  under  bond  to  keep  the  peace  with  the  United  States? 


548       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Shall  the  South  not  exult  iu  the  fact  that  the  industry  and  persevering  in- 
telligence of  the  JSTorth  have  placed  her  mechanical  skill  in  the  front  ranks 
of  the  civilized  world;  that  our  mother-country,  whose  haughty  minister 
some  eighty-odd  years  ago,  declared  that  not  a  hobnail  should  be  made  in 
the  colonies  which  are  now  the  United  States,  was  brought,  some  four 
years  ago,  to  recognize  our  preeminence  by  sending  a  commission  to  ex- 
amine our  workshops  and  our  machinery,  to  perfect  their  own  manufacture 
of  the  arms  requisite  for  their  defense  ?  Do  not  our  whole  people  interior 
and  seaboard,  North,  South,  East,  and  West,  alike  feel  proud  of  the  hardi- 
hood, the  enterprise,  the  skill,  and  the  courage  of  the  Yankee  sailor,  who 
has  borne  our  flag  far  as  the  ocean  bears  its  foam,  and  caused  the  name  and 
character  of  the  United  States  to  be  known  and  respected  wherever  there 
is  wealth  enough  to  woo  commerce,  and  intelligence  to  honor  merit?  So 
long  as  we  preserve  and  appreciate  the  achievements  of  Jefferson  and 
Adams,  of  Franklin  and  Madison,  of  Hamilton,  of  Hancock,  and  of  Rut- 
ledge,  men  who  labored  for  the  whole  country,  and  lived  for  mankind,  we 
can  not  sink  to  the  petty  strife  which  would  sap  the  foundations  and  de- 
stroy the  political  fabric  our  fathers  erected  and  bequeathed  as  an  inheri- 
tance to  our  posterity  for  ever. 

Since  the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  a  vast  extension  of  territory 
and  the  varied  relations  arising  therefrom  have  presented  problems  which 
could  not  have  been  foreseen.  It  is  just  cause  for  admiration,  even  won- 
der, that  the  provisions  of  the  fundamental  law  should  have  been  so  fully 
adequate  to  all  the  wants  of  a  government,  new  in  its  organization,  and 
new  in  many  of  the  principles  on  which  it  was  founded.  "Whatever  fears 
may  have  once  existed  as  to  the  consequences  of  territorial  expansion  must 
give  way  before  the  evidence  which  the  past  affords.  The  General  Gov- 
ernment, strictly  confined  to  its  delegated  functions,  and  the  State  left  in 
the  undisturbed  exercise  of  all  else,  we  have  a  theory  and  practice  which 
fit  our  Government  for  immeasurable  domain,  and  might,  under  a  millen- 
nium of  nations,  embrace  mankind. 

From  the  slope  of  the  Atlantic  our  population,  with  ceaseless  tide,  has 
poured  into  the  wide  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  with  eddying 
whirl  has  passed  to  the  coast  of  the  Pacific ;  from  the  West  and  the  East 
the  tides  are  rushing  toward  each  other,  and  the  mind  is  carried  to  the  day 
when  all  the  cultivable  land  will  be  inhabited,  and  the  American  people 
will  sigh  for  more  wilderness  to  conquer.  But  there  is  here  a  physico- 
political  problem  presented  for  our  solution.  Were  it  purely  physical,  your 
past  triumphs  would  leave  but  little  doubt  of  your  capacity  to  solve  it.  A 
community  which,  when  less  than  twenty  thousand,  conceived  the  grand 
project  of  crossing  the  White  Mountains,  and  unaided,  save  by  the  stimulus 
which  jeers  and  prophecies  of  failure  gave,  successfully  executed  the  her- 
culean work,  might  well  be  impatient  if  it  were  suggested  that  a  physical 
problem   was  before  us  too   difficult  for  mastery.     The  history  of  man 


APPENDIX  E.  549 

teaches  that  high  mountains  and  wide  deserts  have  resisted  the  perma- 
nent extension  of  empire,  and  have  formed  the  immutable  boundaries  of 
states.  From  time  to  time,  under  some  able  leader,  have  the  hordes  of  the 
upper  plains  of  Asia  swept  over  the  adjacent  country,  and  rolled  their 
conquering  columns  over  Southern  Europe.  Yet,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few 
generations,  the  physical  law  to  which  I  have  referred  has  asserted  its 
supremacy,  and  the  boundaries  of  those  states  differ  little  now  from  those 
which  were  obtained  three  thousand  years  ago. 

Rome  flew  her  conquering  eagles  over  the  then  known  world,  and  has 
now  subsided  into  the  little  territory  on  which  the  great  city  was  originally 
built.  The  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees  have  been  unable  to  restrain  imperial 
France ;  but  her  expansion  was  a  feverish  action,  her  advance  and  her 
retreat  were  tracked  with  blood,  and  those  mountain-ridges  are  the  rees- 
tablished limits  of  her  empire.  Shall  the  Rocky  Mountains  prove  a  divid- 
ing barrier  to  us  ?  Were  ours  a  central,  consolidated  Government,  instead 
of  a  Union  of  sovereign  States,  our  fate  might  be  learned  from  the  history 
of  other  nations.  Thanks  to  the  wisdom  and  independent  spirit  of  our 
forefathers,  this  is  not  the  case.  Each  State  having  sole  charge  of  its 
local  interests  and  domestic  affairs,  the  problem,  which  to  others  has  been 
insoluble,  to  us  is  made  easy.  Rapid,  safe,  and  easy  communication  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  will  give  cointelligence,  unity  of  interest,  and 
cooperation  among  all  parts  of  our  continent-wide  republic.  The  network 
of  railroads  which  bind  the  North  and  the  South,  the  slope  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  together,  testifies  that  our  people"  have  the 
power  to  perform,  in  that  regard,  whatever  it  is  their  will  to  achieve. 

We  require  a  railroad  to  the  States  of  the  Pacific  for  present  uses ;  the 
time  no  doubt  will  come  when  we  shall  have  need  of  two  or  three,  it  may 
be  more.  Because  of  the  desert  character  of  the  interior  country,  the 
work  will  be  difficult  and  expensive.  It  will  require  the  efforts  of  a  united 
people.  The  bickerings  of  little  politicians,  the  jealousies  of  sections,  must 
give  way  to  dignity  of  purpose  and  zeal  for  the  common  good.  If  the  ob- 
ject be  obstructed  by  contention  and  division  as  to  whether  the  route  shall 
be  Northern,  Southern,  or  central,  the  handwriting  is  on  the  wall,  and  it 
requires  little  skill  to  see  that  failure  is  the  interpretation  of  the  inscrip- 
tion. You  are  practical  people,  and  may  ask,  How  is  that  contest  to  be 
avoided  ?  By  taking  the  question  out  of  the  hands  of  politicians  altogether. 
Let  the  Government  give  such  aid  as  it  is  proper  for  it  to  render  to  the 
company  which  shall  propose  the  most  feasible  plan;  then  leave  to  capital- 
ists, with  judgments  sharpened  by  interest,  the  selection  of  the  route,  and 
the  difficulties  will  diminish,  as  did  those  which  you  overcame  when  you 
connected  your  harbor  with  the  Canadian  provinces. 

It  would  be  to  trespass  on  your  kindness,  and  to  violate  the  proprieties 
of  the  occasion,  were  I  to  detain  the  vast  concourse  which  stands  before 
me,  by  entering  on  the  discussion  of  controverted  topics,  or  by  further 


550      RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

indulging  in  the  expression  of  such  reflections  as  circumstances  suggest.  I 
came  to  your  city  in  quest  of  health  and  repose.  From  the  moment  I 
entered  it  you  have  showered  upon  me  kindness  and  hospitality.  Though 
my  experience  has  taught  me  to  anticipate  good  rather  than  evil  from  my 
fellow-man,  it  had  not  prepared  me  to  expect  such  unremitting  attentions 
as  have  here  been  bestowed.  I  have  been  jocularly  asked  in  relation  to  my 
coming  here,  whether  I  had  secured  a  guarantee  for  my  safety,  and  lo !  I 
have  found  it.  I  stand  in  the  midst  of  thousands  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
But,  my  friends,  I  came  neither  distrusting  nor  apprehensive.  .  .  . 

In  the  autumn  of  1858  the  author  visited  Boston,  and  was  in- 
vited to  address  a  public  meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall.  He  was  intro- 
duced by  the  Hon.  Caleb  Cushing,  with  whom  he  had  been  four 
years  associated  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Pierce.  Mr.  Cushing's 
speech,  on  account  of  its  great  merit,  is  inserted  here,  except  some 
complimentary  portions  of  it. 

Me.  Peesident — Fellow-Citizens:  I  present  myself  before  you  at  the 
instance  of  your  chairman,  not  so  much  in  order  to  occupy  your  time  with 
observations  of  my  own,  as  to  prepare  you  for  that  higher  gratification 
which  you  are  to  receive  from  the  remarks  of  the  eminent  man  here  present 
to  address  you  in  the  course  of  the  evening.  I  will  briefly  and  only  suggest 
to  you  such  reflections  as  are  appropriate  to  that  duty. 

We  are  assembled  here,  my  friends,  at  the  call  of  the  Democratic  ward 
and  county  committee  of  Suffolk,  for  the  purpose  of  ratifying  the  nomina- 
tions made  at  the  late  Democratic  State  Convention — the  nomination  of  our 
distinguished  and  honored  fellow-citizen  [Hon.  Eeasmus  D.  Beach]  who 
has  already  addressed  to  you  the  words  of  wisdom  and  of  patriotism;  as 
also  the  nomination  of  others  of  our  fellow-citizens,  whom — if  we  may — we 
ought,  whom  the  welfare  and  the  honor  of  our  Commonwealth  demand  of 
us,  to  place  in  power  in  the  stead  of  the  existing  authorities  of  the  Common- 
wealth. I  would  to  God  it  were  in  our  power  to  say  with  confidence  that 
shall  be  done!  ["It  can  be  done."]  We  do  say  that  it  shall  not  depend 
upon  us  that  it  shall  not  be  done.  We  do  say  that  in  so  far  as  depends 
upon  us  it  shall  be  done;  and  whatsoever  devoted  love  of  our  country  and 
our  Commonwealth;  whatsoever  of  our  noble  and  holy  principles;  whatso- 
ever desire  to  vindicate  our  Commonwealth  from  the  stain  that  has  so  long 
rested  upon  the  name  may  prompt  us  to  do,  that  we  will  do,  leaving  the 
result  to  the  good  providence  of  God. 

I  say  we  are  invited  here  by  the  ward  and  county  committee  to  ratify 
these  nominations,  and  we  do  ratify  them  with  our  whole  heart.  And  we 
pledge  our  most  earnest  efforts  at  the  polls  to  give  success  to  these  nomina- 
tions. That  call  is  comprehensive  ;  it  is  addressed  not  only  to  Democrats, 
but  to  all  national  men,  and  so  it  should  be.     We  know  full  well  that  there 


APPENDIX  E.  551 

are  multitudes  of  men  in  this  Commonwealth  who  oppose  the  Democratic 
party,  hut  who  are  yet  impelled  toward  us  by  sympathy  for  the  principles 
we  profess,  and  by  the  repulsion  they  have  toward  the  opinions  and  pur- 
poses of  the  leaders  of  the  Kepublican  party.  They  sympathize  with  our 
principles,  and  we  invite  them  to  cooperate  with  us  in  the  maintenance  of 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution  and  in  the  vindication  of  the  Common- 
wealth— all  national  men,  whatsoever  may  have  been  their  past  party  affin- 
ities. But,  while  we  do  so,  we  declare  that  it  is  our  belief  that  the  Demo- 
cratic party  is  now  recognized  as  that  only  existing  national  party  in  the 
United  States — the  only  constitutional  party — the  only  party  which  by  its 
present  principles  is  competent  to  govern  these  United  States,  whose  princi- 
ples are  based  upon  the  Constitution — the  only  party  with  a  platform  coex- 
tensive with  this  great  Union — this  is  the  great  Democratic  party.  I  have 
heard  again  and  again,  remonstrances  have  been  addressed  to  me  more  than 
once,  because  of  the  condemnation  which  Democratic  speakers  so  continu- 
ally utter  about  the  unnationality  as  well  as  the  unconstitutionality  of  the 
Eepublican  party. 

Let  us  reflect  a  moment ;  let  us  recall  to  mind  that  the  honor  of  the  ex- 
isting organization  of  this  Federal  Administration  was  by  the  votes  of  the 
people  of  these  United  States  sustained  when  James  Buchanan  was  nomi- 
nated for  the  Presidency,  and  that  he  is  a  worthy  representative  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  Let  us  reflect  also  that  John  C.  Fremont  was  nominated  as 
the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party.  I  pray  you,  gentlemen,  to  reflect 
upon  the  different  methods  by  which  these  nominations  were  presented  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  On  the  one  hand,  there  assembled  at  the 
Democratic  Convention,  at  Cincinnati,  the  delegates  of  every  one  of  the 
States  in  the  Union.  That  Convention  was  national  in  its  constitution, 
national  in  its  character,  national  in  its  purpose,  and  cordially  presented  to 
the  suffrages  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  national  candidate,  a  can- 
didate of  the  whole  United  States ;  and  that  candidate  was  elected  not  by 
the  votes  of  one  section  of  the  Union  alone,  or  another  section  of  the  Union 
alone,  but  by  the  concurrent  votes  of  the  South  and  the  North. 

How  was  it  on  the  other  side?  On  the  other  side  there  assembled  a 
convention  which,  by  the  very  tenor  of  its  call,  was  confined  to  sixteen  of 
the  thirty-one  States  of  the  Union,  which,  by  the  very  tenor  of  its  call,  ex- 
cluded from  its  councils  fifteen  of  the  thirty-one  States  of  the  Union,  a  con- 
vention in  which  appeared  the  representatives  of  only  sixteen  of  the  States 
of  the  Union — nay,  I  mistake — as  to  the  remaining  fifteen  States  of  the 
Union,  in  their  name,  pretendedly  in  their  name  and  their  behalf,  there  ap- 
peared one  man — one  man  only — and  he  a  self-appointed  delegate  by  pre- 
tension from  the  State  of  Maryland.  That  was  the  Convention  which 
presented  John  C.  Fremont  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  say  that 
was  a  sectional  Convention,  a  sectional  nomination,  a  sectional  party  ;  and 
no  reasoning,  no  remonstrances,  no  protestations,  can  discharge  the  Repub- 


552      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

lican  party  from  the  ineffaceable  stigma  of  that  sectional  Convention,  that 
sectional  nomination,  and  that  sectional  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the 
United  States.  That  party  itself  has  placed  upon  its  back  that  shirt  of 
INessus  which  clings  to  it  and  stings  it  to  death.  I  repeat,  then,  and  I  say 
it  in  confidence  and  vindication,  in  so  far  as  regards  my  own  belief,  I  say  it 
in  all  good  spirit  toward  multitudes  of  men  in  this  Commonwealth  of  the 
"Whig  and  American  parties  in  their  heretofore  organization ;  I  say  it  to 
multitudes  of  men  who  have  been  betrayed  by  the  passions  of  the  hour  into 
joining  the  sectional  combinations  of  the  Republican  party;  I  say  that  in 
the  Democratic  party  and  in  that  alone  is  the  tower  of  strength  for  the 
liberties,  the  position,  and  the  honor  of  the  United  States.  But  why  need 
I  indulge  in  these  reflections  in  proof  of  my  proposition  ?  Gentlemen,  we 
have  here  this  evening  the  living  proof,  the  visible,  tangible,  audible,  incon- 
testable, immortal  proof,  that  the  position  of  the  Democratic  party,  in  the 
existing  organization  of  parties,  is  the  national,  constitutional  party  of  the 
United  States.  Gentlemen,  I  ask  you  to  challenge  your  memories,  and  look 
upon  the  history  of  the  past  four  years  of  the  United  States,  and  can  you 
point  me  to  a  Republican  assembly  here,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  or  anywhere 
else ;  can  you  point  me  in  the  last  four  years  of  our  history  to  any  occasion 
on  which  Faneuil  Hall  has  been  crowded  to  its  utmost  capability  with  a 
Republican  assembly  in  which  appeared  any  one  of  those  preeminent  states- 
men of  the  Southern  States  to  honor  not  merely  their  States,  but  these 
United  States?  When,  sir,  did  that  ever  happen?  When,  sir,  was  that  a 
possible  fact,  morally  speaking,  that  any  eminent  Southern  statesman  ap- 
peared in  a  Republican  assembly  in  any  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union  ? 
There  never  was  a  Republican  assembly — an  assembly  of  the  Republican 
party  in  fifteen  of  these  States — and  I  again  ask,  when,  in  the  remaining 
sixteen  States,  was  there  ever  convened  an  assembly  of  the  Republican 
party  which,  by  reason  of  bigotry,  proscriptive  bigotry,  of  unnational  hatred 
of  the  South,  and  of  determined  insult  of  all  Southern  statesmen,  did  not 
render  it  an  impossible  fact  that  any  Southern  statesman  should  thus  make 
his  appearance  as  a  member  in  such  Republican  Convention  ?  You  know  it 
is  so,  gentlemen ;  and  yet,  have  we  not  a  common  country?  Did  those 
thirteen  colonies  which,  commencing  with  that  combat  at  Concord,  and  fol- 
lowing it  with  that  battle  at  Bunker's  Hill,  and  pursuing  it  in  every  battle- 
field of  this  continent,  did  those  thirteen  colonies  form  one  country  or  thir- 
teen countries?  Nay,  did  they  form  two  countries,  or  one  country?  I 
would  imagine  when  I  listen  to  a  Republican  speech  here  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  when  I  read  a  Republican  address  in  Massachusetts,  I  would 
imagine  fifteen  States  of  this  Union — our  fellow-citizens  or  fellow-  sufferers, 
our  fellow-heroes  of  the  Revolution — I  would  imagine  not  that  they  are  our 
countrymen  endeared  to  us  by  ties  of  consanguinity,  but  that  they  are  from 
some  foreign  country,  that  they  belong  to  some  French  or  British  or  Mexi- 
can enemies.     There  never  was  a  day  in  which  the  forces  of  war  were  mar- 


APPENDIX  E.  553 

slialed  against  the  most  flagrant  abuses  toward  these  United  States ;  there 
never  was  a  war  in  which  these  United  States  have  been  engaged,  never 
even  in  the  death-struggle  of  the  Eevolution,  never  in  our  war  for  maritime 
independence,  never  in  our  war  with  France  and  Mexico,  never  was  there  a 
time  when  any  party  in  these  United  States  expressed,  avowed,  proclaimed, 
ostentatiously  proclaimed  more  intense  hostility  to  the  British,  French, 
Mexican  enemy,  than  I  have  heard  uttered  or  proclaimed  concerning  our 
fellow-citizens — brothers  in  the  fifteen  States  of  this  Union.  It  is  the  glory 
of  the  Democratic  party  that  we  can  assume  the  burden  of  our  nationality 
for  the  Union ;  that  we  can  make  all  due  sacrifices  in  order  to  show  our 
reprobation  of  sectionalism,  that  we  of  the  North  can  sacrifice  to  the  South, 
from  dear  attachment  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  South,  and  they  in  the 
South  in  like  manner  meet  with  us  upon  that  ground,  in  order  to  show  their 
love  for  the  Federal  Union,  and  at  the  risk  of  encountering  local  prejudices. 
In  the  Democratic  party  alone,  as  parties  are  now  organized,  is  this  catholic, 
generous,  universal  spirit  to  be  found.  I  say,  then,  the  Democratic  party 
has  such  a  character  of  constitutionality  and  of  nationality. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  I  have  allowed  myself  unthinkingly  to  be  carried 
beyond  my  original  purpose.  I  return  to  it  to  remind  you  that  here  among 
us  is  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  Southern  States,  eloquent  among  the  most  elo- 
quent in  debate,  wise  among  the  wisest  in  council,  and  brave  among  the 
bravest  in  the  battle-field.  A  citizen  of  a  Southern  State  who  knows  that 
he  can  associate  with  you,  the  representatives  of  the  Democracy  and  the 
nationality  of  Massachusetts,  that  he  can  associate  with  you  on  equal  foot- 
ing with  the  fellow-citizens  and  common  members  of  these  United  States. 

My  friends,  there  are  those  here  present,  and  in  fact  there  is  no  one  here 
present  of  whom  it  can  not  be  said  that,  in  memory  and  admiration  at  least, 
and  if  not  in  the  actual  fact,  yet  in  proud  and  bounding  memory,  they  have 
been  able  to  tread  the  glorious  tracks  of  the  victorious  achievements  of 
Jefferson  Davis  on  the  fields  of  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  and  all  have 
heard  or  have  read  the  accents  of  eloquence  addressed  by  him  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  there  is  one  at  least  who,  from  his  own  personal 
observation,  can  bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  the  surpassing  wisdom  of  Jeffer- 
son Davis  in  the  administration  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
Such  a  man,  fellow-citizens,  you  are  this  evening  to  hear,  and  to  hear  as  a 
beautiful  illustration  of  the  working  of  our  republican  institutions  of  these 
United  States ;  of  the  republican  institutions  which  in  our  own  country,  our 
own  republic,  as  in  the  old  republics  of  Athens  and  of  Rome,  exhibit  the 
same  combinations  of  the  highest  military  and  civic  qualities  in  the  same 
person.  It  must  naturally  be  so,  for  in  a  republic  every  citizen  is  a  soldier, 
and  every  soldier  a  citizen.  Not  in  these  United  States  on  the  occurrence 
of  foreign  war  is  that  spectacle  exhibited  which  we  have  so  recently  seen  in 
our  mother-country,  of  the  administration  of  the  country  going  abroad 
begging  and  stealing  soldiers  throughout  Europe  and  America.     No  !    And 


554      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

while  I  ask  you,  my  friends,  to  ponder  this  fact  in  relation  to  that  disastrous 
struggle  of  giants  which  so  recently  occurred  in  our  day — the  Crimean  War 
— I  ask  you  whether  any  English  gentleman,  any  member  of  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  any  member  of  the  British  House  of  Peers,  abandoned 
the  ease  of  home,  abandoned  his  easy  hours  at  home,  and  went  into  the 
country  among  his  friends,  tenants,  and  fellow-countrymen,  volunteering 
there  to  raise  troops  for  the  service  of  England  in  that  hour  of  her  peril ; 
did  any  such  fact  occur?  No!  But  here  in  these  United  States  we  had 
examples,  and  illustrious  ones,  of  the  fact  that  men,  eminent  in  their  place 
in  Congress,  abandoned  their  stations  and  their  honors  to  go  among  fellow- 
citizens  of  their  own  States,  and  there  raise  troops  with  which  to  vindicate 
the  honor  and  the  flag  of  their  country.     Of  such  men  was  Jefferson  Davis. 

There  is  now  living  one  military  man  of  prominent  distinction  in  the 
public  eye  of  England  and  the  United  States — I  mean  Sir  Colin  Campbell, 
now  Lord  Clyde  of  Clydesdale.  He  deserves  the  distinction  he  enjoys,  for 
he  has  redeemed  the  British  flag  on  the  ensanguined,  burning  plains  of 
India.  He  has  restored  the  glory  of  the  British  name  in  Asia.  I  honor 
him.  Scotland,  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland  are  open,  for  their  counties, 
as  well  as  their  countries,  and  their  poets,  orators,  and  statesmen,  and  their 
generals,  belong  to  our  history  as  well  as  theirs.  I  will  never  disavow  Henry 
V  on  the  plains  of  Agincourt;  never  Oliver  Cromwell  on  the  fields  of  Mar- 
ston  Moor  and  Naseby ;  never  Sarsfield  on  the  banks  of  the  Boyne.  The 
glories  and  honors  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell  are  the  glories  of  the  British  race, 
and  the  races  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  from  whom  we  are  descended. 

But  what  gained  Sir  Colin  Campbell  the  opportunity  to  achieve  those 
glorious  results  in  India?  Eemember  that,  and  let  us  see  what  it  was.  On 
one  of  those  bloody  battles  fought  by  the  British  before  the  fortress  of  Se- 
bastopol,  in  the  midst  of  the  perils,  the  most  perilous  of  all  the  battle-fields 
England  ever  encountered  in  Europe,  in  one  of  the  bloody  charges  of  the 
Eussian  cavalry,  there  was  an  officer — a  man  who  felt  and  who  possessed 
sufficient  confidence  in  the  troops  he  commanded,  and  in  the  authority  of 
his  own  voice  and  example — received  that  charge  not  in  the  ordinary,  com- 
monplace, and  accustomed  manner,  by  forming  his  troops  into  a  hollow 
square,  and  thus  arresting  the  charge,  but  by  forming  into  two  diverging 
lines,  and  thus  receiving  upon  the  rifles  of  his  Highlandmen  the  charge  of 
the  Russian  cavalry  and  repelling  it.  How  all  England  rang  with  the  glory 
of  that  achievement!  How  the  general  voice  of  England  placed  upon  the 
brows  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell  the  laurels  of  the  future  mastership  of  victory 
for  the  arms  of  England!  And  well  they  might  do  so.  But  who  originated 
that  movement;  who  set  the  example  of  that  gallant  operation — who  but 
Colonel  Jefferson  Davis,  of  the  First  Mississippi  Regiment,  on  the  field  of 
Buena  Vista?  He  was  justly  entitled  to  the  applause  of  the  restorer  of 
victory  to  the  arms  of  the  Union.  Gentlemen,  in  our  country,  in  this  day, 
such  a  man,  such  a  master  of  the  art  of  war,  so  daring  in  the  field,  such  a 


APPENDIX  E.  555 

man  may  not  only  aspire  to  the  highest  places  in  the  executive  government 
of  the  Union,  but  such  a  man  may  acquire  what  nowhere  else,  since  the 
days  of  Cimon  and  Miltiades,  of  the  Cincinnati  and  the  Oornelii  of  Athens 
and  of  Rome,  has  been  done  by  the  human  race,  the  combination  of  emi- 
nent powers,  of  intellectual  cultivation,  and  of  eloquence  with  the  practical 
qualities  of  a  statesman  and  general. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  am  again  betrayed  beyond  my  purpose.  Sir  [address- 
ing General  Davis],  we  welcome  you  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 
You  may  not  find  here  the  ardent  skies  of  your  own  sunny  South,  but  you 
will  find  as  ardent  hearts,  as  warm  and  generous  hands  to  welcome  you  to 
our  Commonwealth.  We  welcome  you  to  the  city  of  Boston,  and  you  have 
already  experienced  how  open-hearted,  how  generous,  how  free  from  all 
possible  taint  of  sectional  thought  are  the  hospitality  and  cordiality  of  the 
city  of  Boston.  We  welcome  you  to  Faneuil  Hall.  Many  an  eloquent 
voice  has  in  all  times  resounded  from  the  walls  of  Faneuil  Hall.  It  is  said 
that  no  voice  is  uttered  by  man  in  this  air  we  breathe  but  enters  into  that 
air.  It  continues  there  immortal  as  the  portion  of  the  universe  into  which 
it  has  passed.  If  it  be  so,  how  instinct  is  Faneuil  Hall  with  the  voice  of  the 
great,  good,  and  glorious  of  past  generations,  and  of  our  own,  whose  voices 
have  echoed  through  its  walls,  whose  eloquent  words  have  thrilled  the 
hearts  of  hearers,  as  if  a  pointed  sword  were  passing  them  through  and 
through.  Here  Adams  aroused  his  countrymen  in  the  War  of  Independence, 
and  Webster  invoked  them  almost  with  the  dying  breath  of  his  body — in- 
voked with  that  voice  of  majesty  and  power  which  he  alone  possessed — 
invoked  them  to  a  union  between  the  North  and  South.  Ay,  sir,  and  who, 
if  he  were  here  present,  who  from  those  blest  abodes  on  high  from  which 
he  looks  down  upon  us  would  congratulate  us  for  this  scene.  First,  and 
above  all,  because  his  large  heart  would  have  appreciated  the  spectacle  of  a 
statesman  eminent  among  the  most  eminent  of  the  Southern  States  here 
addressing  an  assembly  of  the  people  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Because,  in  the 
second  place,  he  would  have  remembered  that,  though  divided  from  you  by 
party  relations,  in  one  of  the  critical  hours  of  his  fame  and  his  honor,  your 
voice  was  not  wanting  for  his  vindication  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.     Sir,  again,  I  say  we  welcome  you  to  Faneuil  Hall. 

And  now,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  will  withdraw  myself  and  present  to  you 
the  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis. 

Address  of  the  author  at  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  October  12, 

1858. 

Countrymen,  Brethren,  Democrats  :  Most  happy  am  I  to  meet  you,  and 
to  have  received  here  renewed  assurance — of  that  which  I  have  so  long  be- 
lieved— that  the  pulsation  of  the  Democratic  heart  is  the  same  in  every 
parallel  of  latitude,  on  every  meridian  of  longitude,  throughout  the  United 


556   RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

States.  It  required  not  this  to  confirm  me  in  a  belief  I  have  so  long  and  so 
happily  enjoyed.  Your  own  great  statesman  [the  Hon.  Caleb  Cushing], 
who  has  introduced  me  to  this  assembly,  has  been  too  long  associated  with 
me,  too  nearly  connected,  we  have  labored  too  many  hours,  until  one  day 
ran  into  another,  in  the  cause  of  our  country,  for  me  to  fail  to  understand 
that  a  Massachusetts  Democrat  has  a  heart  as  wide  as  the  Union,  and  that 
its  pulsations  always  beat  for  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  his  country. 
Neither  could  I  be  unaware  that  such  was  the  sentiment  of  the  Democracy 
of  New  England.  For  it  was  my  fortune  lately  to  serve  under  a  President 
drawn  from  the  neighboring  State  of  New  Hampshire,  and  I  know  that  he 
spoke  the  language  of  his  heart,  for  I  learned  it  in  four  years  of  intimate 
relations  with  him,  when  he  said  he  knew  "  no  North,  no  South,  no  East, 
no  West,  but  sacred  maintenance  of  the  common  bond  and  true  devotion  to 
the  common  brotherhood."  Never,  sir,  in  the  past  history  of  our  country, 
never,  I  add,  in  its  future  destiny,  however  bright  it  may  be,  did  or  will  a 
man  of  higher  and  purer  patriotism,  a  man  more  devoted  to  the  common 
weal  of  his  country,  hold  the  helm  of  our  great  ship  of  state,  than  Franklin 
Pierce. 

I  have  heard  the  resolutions  read  and  approved  by  this  meeting;  I  have 
heard  the  address  of  your  candidate  for  Governor ;  and  these,  added  to  the 
address  of  my  old  and  intimate  friend,  General  Gushing,  bear  to  me  fresh 
testimony,  which  I  shall  be  happy  to  carry  away  with  me,  that  the  Democ- 
racy, in  the  language  of  your  own  glorious  Webster,  "  still  lives  "  ;  lives,  not 
as  his  great  spirit  did,  when  it  hung  'twixt  life  and  death,  like  a  star  upon 
the  horizon's  verge,  but  lives  like  the  germ  that  is  shooting  upward;  like 
the  sapling  that  is  growing  to  a  mighty  tree,  and  I  trust  it  may  redeem 
Massachusetts  to  her  glorious  place  in  the  Union,  when  she  led  the  van  of 
the  defenders  of  State  rights. 

When  I  see  Faneuil  Hall  thus  thronged  it  reminds  me  of  another  meet- 
ing, when  it  was  found  too  small  to  contain  the  assembly  that  met  here,  on 
the  call  of  the  people,  to  know  what  should  be  done  in  relation  to  the  tea- 
tax,  and  when,  Faneuil  Hall  being  too  small,  they  went  to  the  old  South 
Church,  which  still  stands  a  monument  of  your  early  day.  I  hope  the  time 
will  soon  come  when  many  Democratic  meetings  in  Boston  will  be  too  large 
for  Faneuil  Hall.  I  am  welcomed  to  this  hall,  so  venerable  for  all  the 
associations  of  our  early  history ;  to  this  hall  of  which  you  are  so  justly 
proud,  and  the  memories  of  which  are  part  of  the  inheritance  of  every 
American  citizen;  and  I  felt,  as  I  looked  upon  it,  and  remembered  how 
many  voices  of  patriotic  fervor  have  filled  it — how  here  the  first  movement 
originated  from  which  the  Eevolution  sprang ;  how  here  began  the  system 
of  town  meetings  and  free  discussion — that,  though  my  theme  was  more 
humble  than  theirs,  as  befitted  my  humbler  powers,  I  had  enough  to  warn 
me  that  I  was  assuming  much  to  speak  in  this  sacred  chamber.  But,  when 
I  heard  your  distinguished  orator  say  that  words  uttered  here  could  never 


APPENDIX  E.  557 

die,  that  they  lived  and  became  a  part  of  the  circumambient  air,  I  feel  a 
hesitation  which  increases  upon  me  with  the  remembrance  of  his  expres- 
sions. But,  if  those  voices  which  breathed  the  first  impulse  into  the  col- 
onies— now  the  United  States — to  proclaim  independence,  and  to  unite  for 
resistance  against  the  power  of  the  mother-country — if  those  voices  live  here 
still  how  must  they  fare  who  come  here  to  preach  treason  to  the  Constitu- 
tion and  to  assail  the  union  of  these  States?  It  would  seem  that  their 
criminal  hearts  would  fear  that  those  voices,  so  long  slumbering,  would 
break  silence,  that  those  forms  which  hang  upon  these  walls  behind  me 
might  come  forth,  and  that  the  sabers  so  long  sheathed  would  leap  from 
their  scabbards  to  drive  from  this  sacred  temple  those  who  desecrate  it  as 
did  the  money-changers  who  sold  doves  in  the  temple  of  the  living  God. 

Here  you  have,  to  remind  you,  and  to  remind  all  who  enter  this  hall,  the 
portraits  of  those  men  who  are  dear  to  every  lover  of  liberty,  and  part  and 
parcel  of  the  memory  of  every  American  citizen;  and  highest  among  them 
all  I  see  you  have  placed  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock.  You  have 
placed  them  the  highest,  and  properly ;  for  they  were  two,  the  only  two, 
excepted  from  the  proclamation  of  mercy,  when  Governor  Gage  issued  his 
anathema  against  them  and  against  their  fellow-patriots.  These  men,  thus 
excepted  from  the  saving  grace  of  the  crown,  now  occupy  the  highest  places 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  thus  seem  to  be  the  highest  in  the  reverence  of  the 
people  of  Boston.  This  is  one  of  the  instances  in  which  we  find  tradition 
so  much  more  reliable  than  history ;  for  tradition  has  borne  the  name  of 
Samuel  Adams  to  the  remotest  of  the  colonies,  and  the  new  States  formed 
out  of  what  was  territory  of  the  old  colonies ;  and  there  it  is  a  name  as 
sacred  among  us  as  it  is  among  you. 

We  all  remember  how  early  he  saw  the  necessity  of  community  inde- 
pendence. How,  through  the  dim  mists  of  the  future,  and  in  advance  of 
his  day,  he  looked  forward  to  the  proclamation  of  the  independence  of 
Massachusetts ;  how  he  steadily  strove,  through  good  report  and  evil  report, 
with  a  great,  unwavering  heart,  whether  in  the  midst  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
cheered  by  their  voices,  or  communing  with  his  own  heart,  when  driven 
from  his  home,  his  eyes  were  still  fixed  upon  his  first,  last  hope,  the  com- 
munity independence  of  Massachusetts !  Always  a  commanding  figure,  we 
see  him,  at  a  later  period,  the  leader  in  the  correspondence  which  waked 
the  feelings  of  the  other  colonies  to  united  fraternal  association — the  people 
of  Massachusetts  with  the  people  of  the  other  colonies — there  we  see  his 
letters  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  rice  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  money 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania — all  these  poured  in  to  relieve  Boston  of  the 
sufferings  inflicted  upon  her  when  the  port  was  closed  by  the  despotism  of 
the  British  crown — we  see  the  beginning  of  that  which  insured  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  colonies  throughout  the  desperate  struggle  of  the  Kevolution. 
And  we  there  see  that  which,  if  the  present  generation  be  true  to  the 
memory  of  their  sires,  to  the  memory  of  the  noble  men  from  whom  they 


558       RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

descended,  will  perpetuate  for  them  that  spirit  of  fraternity  in  which  the 
Union  began.  But  it  is  not  here  alone,  nor  in  reminiscences  connected  with 
the  objects  which  present  themselves  within  this  hall,  that  the  people  of 
Boston  have  much  to  excite  their  patriotism  and  carry  them  back  to  the 
great  principles  of  the  Kevolutionary  struggle.  Where  will  you  go  and  not 
meet  some  monument  to  inspire  such  sentiments  ?  Go  to  Lexington  and 
Concord,  where  sixty  brave  countrymen  came  with  their  fowling-pieces  to 
oppose  six  hundred  veterans — where  they  forced  those  veterans  back,  pur- 
suing them  on  the  road,  fighting  from  every  barn,  and  bush,  and  stock,  and 
stone,  till  they  drove  them,  retreating,  to  the  ships  from  which  they  went 
forth !  And  there  stand  those  monuments  of  your  early  patriotism,  Breed's 
and  Bunker's  Hills,  whose  soil  drank  the  martyr-blood  of  men  who  lived 
for  their  country  and  died  for  mankind !  Can  it  be  that  any  of  you  should 
tread  that  soil  and  forget  the  great  purposes  for  which  those  men  died  ? 
While,  on  the  other  side,  rise  the  heights  of  Dorchester,  where  once  stood 
the  encampment  of  the  Virginian,  the  man  who  came  here,  and  did  not  ask, 
Is  this  a  town  of  Virginia?  but,  Is  this  a  town  of  my  brethren?  The 
steady  courage  and  cautious  wisdom  of  Washington  availed  to  drive  the 
British  troops  out  from  the  city  which  they  had  so  confidently  held.  Here, 
too,  you  find  where  once  the  old  Liberty  Tree,  connected  with  so  many  of 
your  memories,  grew.  You  ask  your  legend,  and  learn  that  it  was  cut  down 
for  firewood  by  British  soldiers,  as  some  of  your  meeting-houses  were  de- 
stroyed ;  they  burned  the  old  tree,  and  it  warmed  the  soldiers  long  enough 
to  leave  town,  and,  had  they  burned  it  a  little  longer,  its  light  would  have 
shown  Washington  and  his  followers  where  their  enemies  were. 

But  they  are  gone,  and  never  again  shall  a  hostile  foot  set  its  imprint 
upon  your  soil.  Your  harbor  is  being  fortified,  to  prevent  an  unexpected 
attack  on  your  city  by  a  hostile  fleet.  But  woe  to  the  enemy  whose  fleet 
shall  bear  him  to  your  shores  to  set  his  footprint  upon  your  soil ;  he  goes 
to  a  prison  or  to  a  grave !  American  fortifications  are  not  built  from  any 
fear  of  invasion,  they  are  intended  to  guard  points  where  marine  attacks 
can  be  made  ;  and,  for  the  rest,  the  hearts  of  Americans  are  our  ramparts. 

But,  my  friends,  it  is  not  merely  in  these  associations,  so  connected  writh 
the  honorable  pride  of  Massachusetts,  that  one  who  visits  Boston  finds 
much  for  gratification,  hope,  and  instruction.  If  I  were  selecting  a  place 
w<  here  the  advocate  of  strict  construction,  the  extreme  expounder  of  demo- 
cratic State-rights  doctrine  should  go  for  his  texts,  I  would  send  him  into 
the  collections  of  your  historical  associations.  Instead  of  going  to  Boston 
as  a  place  where  only  consolidation  would  be  found,  he  would  find  written, 
in  letters  of  living  light,  that  sacred  creed  of  State  rights  which  has  been 
miscalled  the  ultra  opinions  of  the  South ;  he  could  find  among  your  early 
records  that  this  Faneuil  Hall,  the  property  of  the  town  at  the  time  when 
Massachusetts  was  under  a  colonial  government,  administered  by  a  man 
appointed  by  the  British  crown,  guarded  by  British  soldiers,  was  refused  to  a 


APPENDIX  E.  559 

British  Governor  in  which,  to  hold  a  British  festival,  because  he  was  going  to 
bring  with  him  the  agents  for  collecting,  and  naval  officers  sent  here  to  en- 
force, an  oppressive  tax  upon  your  Commonwealth.  Such  was  the  proud 
spirit  of  independence  manifested  even  in  your  colonial  history.  Such  is 
the  great  foundation-stone  on  which  may  be  erected  an  eternal  monument 
of  State  rights.  And  so,  in  an  early  period  of  our  country,  you  find  Massa- 
chusetts leading  the  movements,  prominent  of  all  the  States,  in  the  assertion 
of  that  doctrine  which  has  been  recently  so  much  belied.  Having  achieved 
your  independence,  having  passed  through  the  Confederation,  you  assented 
to  the  formation  of  our  present  constitutional  Union.  You  did  not  surren- 
der your  sovereignty.  Your  fathers  had  sacrificed  too  much  to  claim,  as 
a  reward  of  their  toil,  merely  that  they  should  have  a  change  of  masters ; 
and  a  change  of  masters  it  would  have  been  had  Massachusetts  surrendered 
her  State  sovereignty  to  the  central  Government,  and  consented  that  that 
central  Government  should  have  the  power  to  coerce  a  State.  But,  if  this 
power  does  not  exist,  if  this  sovereignty  has  not  been  surrendered,  then, 
who  can  deny  the  words  of  soberness  and  truth  spoken  by  your  candidate 
this  evening,  when  he  has  pleaded  to  you  the  cause  of  State  independence, 
and  the  right  of  every  community  to  be  judge  of  its  own  domestic  affairs? 
This  is  all  we  have  ever  asked — we  of  the  South,  I  mean — for  I  stand  before 
you  as  one  of  those  who  have  always  been  called  the  ultra  men  of  the  South, 
and  I  speak,  therefore,  for  that  class ;  and  I  tell  you  that  your  candidate 
for  Governor  has  uttered  to-night  everything  which  we  have  claimed  as 
a  principle  for  our  protection.  And  I  have  found  the  same  condition  of 
things  in  the  neighboring  State  of  Maine.  I  have  found  that  the  Democrats 
there  asserted  the  same  broad  constitutional  principle  for  which  we  have 
been  contending,  by  which  we  are  willing  to  live,  for  which  we  are  willing 
to  die ! 

In  this  state  of  the  case,  my  friends,  why  is  the  country  agitated?  The 
old  controversies  have  passed  away,  or  they  have  subsided,  and  have  been 
covered  up  by  one  dark  pall  of  somber  hue,  which  increases  with  every 
passing  year.  Why  is  it,  then,  I  say,  that  you  are  thus  agitated  in  relation 
to  the  domestic  affairs  of  other  communities?  Why  is  it  that  the  peace  of 
the  country  is  disturbed  in  order  that  one  people  may  judge  of  what  another 
people  may  do?  Is  there  any  political  power  to  authorize  such  interfer- 
ence? If  so,  where  is  it?  You  did  not  surrender  your  sovereignty.  You 
gave  to  the  Federal  Government  certain  functions.  It  was  your  agent, 
created  for  specified  purposes.  It  can  do  nothing  save  that  which  you  have 
given  it  power  to  perform.  Where  is  the  grant?  Has  it  a  right  to  deter- 
mine what  shall  be  property  ?  Surely  not ;  that  belongs  to  every  commu- 
nity to  decide  for  itself;  you  judge  -in  your  case— every  other  State  must 
judge  in  its  case.  The  Federal  Government  has  no  power  to  destroy  prop- 
erty. Do  you  pay  taxes,  then,  to  an  agent,  that  he  may  destroy  your  prop- 
erty?    Do  you  support  him  for  that  purpose?     It  is  an  absurdity  on  the 


560      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

face  of  it.  To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer  it.  The  Government  is  insti- 
tuted to  protect,  not  to  destroy,  property.  And,  in  abundance  of  caution, 
your  fathers  provided  that  the  Federal  Government  should  not  take  private 
property  for  its  own  use  unless  by  making  due  compensation  therefor.  It 
is  prohibited  from  attempting  to  destroy  property.  One  of  its  great  pur- 
poses was  protection  to  the  States.  Whenever  that  power  is  made  a  source 
of  danger,  we  destroy  the  purpose  for  which  the  Government  was  formed. 

Why,  then,  have  you  agitators?  With  Pharisaical  pretension  it  is 
sometimes  said  it  is  a  moral  obligation  to  agitate,  and  I  suppose  they  are 
going  through  a  sort  of  vicarious  repentance  for  other  men's  sins.  With 
all  due  allowance  for  their  zeal,  we  ask,  how  do  they  decide  that  it  is  a  sin? 
By  what  standard  do  they  measure  it  ?  Not  the  Constitution  ;  the  Consti- 
tution recognizes  the  property  in  slaves  in  many  forms,  and  imposes  obliga- 
tions in  connection  with  that  recognition.  Not  the  Bible ;  that  justifies  it. 
Not  the  good  of  society ;  for,  if  they  go  where  it  exists,  they  find  that 
society  recognizes  it  as  good.  What,  then,  is  their  standard?  The  good 
of  mankind?  Is  that  seen  in  the  diminished  resources  of  the  country?  Is 
that  seen  in  the  diminished  comfort  of  the  world  ?  Or  is  not  the  reverse 
exhibited  ?  Is  there,  in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  a  motive  for  the  prohi- 
bition of  the  system  which  is  the  only  agency  through  which  Christianity 
has  reached  that  inferior  race,  the  only  means  by  which  they  have  been 
civilized  and  elevated?  Or  is  their  piety  manifested  in  denunciation  of 
their  brethren,  who  are  deterred  from  answering  their  denunciation  only 
by  the  contempt  which  they  feel  for  a  mere  brawler,  who  intends  to  end 
his  brawling  only  in  empty  words  ? 

What,  my  friends,  must  be  the  consequences?  Good  or  evil?  They 
have  been  evil,  and  evil  they  must  be  only  to  the  end.  Not  one  particle  of 
good  has  been  done  to  any  man,  of  any  color,  by  this  agitation.  It  has  been 
insidiously  working  the  purpose  of  sedition,  for  the  destruction  of  that 
Union  on  which  our  hopes  of  future  greatness  depend. 

On  the  one  side,  then,  you  see  agitation  tending  slowly  and  steadily  to 
that  separation  of  States,  which,  if  you  have  any  hope  connected  with  the 
liberty  of  mankind ;  if  you  have  any  national  pride  connected  with  making 
your  country  the  greatest  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  if  you  have  any  sacred 
regard  for  the  obligations  which  the  deeds  and  the  blood  of  your  fathers 
entailed  upon  you,  that  hope  should  prompt  you  to  reject  anything  that 
would  tend  to  destroy  the  result  of  that  experiment  which  they  left  it  to 
you  to  conclude  and  perpetuate.  On  the  other  hand,  if  each  community, 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  our  Government,  should  regard  its  do- 
mestic interests  as  a  part  of  the  common  whole,  and  struggle  for  the  bene- 
fit of  all,  this  would  steadily  lead  us  to  fraternity,  to  unity,  to  cooperation,  to 
the  increase  of  our  happiness  and  the  extension  of  the  benefits  of  our  useful 
example  over  mankind.  The  flag  of  the  Union,  whose  stars  have  already 
more  than  doubled  their  original  number,  with  its  ample  folds  may  wave, 


APPENDIX  E.  561 

the  recognized  flag  of  every  State  or  the  recognized  protector  of  every  State 
upon  the  Continent  of  America. 

In  connection  with  the  view  which  I  have  presented  of  the  early  idea  of 
community  independence,  I  will  add  the  very  striking  fact  that  one  of  the 
colonies,  about  the  time  they  had  resolved  to  unite  for  the  purpose  of 
achieving  their  independence,  addressed  the  Colonial  Congress  to  know  in 
what  condition  it  would  be  in  the  interval  between  its  separation  from  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  and  the  establishment  of  a  government  on  this 
continent.  The  answer  of  the  Colonial  Congress  was  exactly  what  might 
have  been  expected — exactly  what  State-rights  Democracy  would  answer 
to-day  to  such  an  inquiry — that  they  "had  nothing  to  do  with  it."  If  such 
sentiment  had  continued,  if  it  had  governed  in  every  State,  if  representa- 
tives had  been  chosen  upon  it,  then  your  halls  of  Federal  legislation  would 
not  have  been  disturbed  about  the  question  of  the  domestic  institutions  of 
the  different  States.  The  peace  of  the  country  would  not  be  hazarded  by 
the  arraignment  of  the  family  relations  of  people  over  whom  the  Govern- 
ment has  no  control.  If  in  harmony  working  together,  with  co-intelligence 
for  the  conservation  of  the  interests  of  the  country — if  protection  to  the 
States  and  the  other  great  ends  for  which  the  Government  was  established, 
had  been  the  aim  and  united  effort  of  all — what  effects  would  not  have  been 
produced?  As  our  Government  increases  in  expansion  it  would  increase 
in  its  beneficent  effect  upon  the  people ;  we  should,  as  we  grow  in  power 
and  prosperity,  also  grow  in  fraternity,  and  it  would  be  no  longer  a  wonder 
to  see  a  man  coming  from  a  Southern  State  to  address  a  Democratic  audi- 
ence in  Boston. 

But  I  have  referred  to  the  fact  that  Massachusetts  stood  preeminently 
forward  among  those  who  asserted  community  independence  :  and  this  re- 
minds me  of  another  incident.  President  Washington  visited  Boston  when 
John  Hancock  was  Governor,  and  Hancock  refused  to  call  upon  the  Presi- 
dent, because  he  contended  that  any  man  who  came  within  the  limits  of 
Massachusetts  must  yield  rank  and  precedence  to  the  Governor  of  the  State. 
He  eventually  only  surrendered  the  point  on  account  of  his  personal  regard 
and  respect  for  the  character  of  George  Washington.  I  honor  him  for  this, 
and  value  it  as  one  of  the  early  testimonies  in  favor  of  State  rights.  I  wish 
all  our  Governors  had  the  same  regard  for  the  dignity  of  the  State  as  had 
the  great  and  glorious  John  Hancock. 

In  the  beginning  the  founders  of  this  Government  were  true  democratic 
State-rights  men.  Democracy  was  State  rights,  and  State  rights  was  democ- 
racy, and  it  is  so  to-day.  Your  resolutions  breathe  it.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  embodied  the  sentiments  which  had  lived  in  the  hearts  of  the 
country  for  many  years  before  its  formal  assertion.  Our  fathers  asserted 
the  great  principle — the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own  government 
— and  that  government  rested  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed.  In  every 
form  of  expression  it  uttered  the  samo  idea,  community  independence  and 
36 


562      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  dependence  of  the  Union  upon  the  communities  of  which  it  consisted. 
It  was  an  American  declaration  of  the  unalienable  right  of  man ;  it  was  a 
general  truth,  and  I  wish  it  were  accepted  by  all  men.  But  I  have  said 
that  this  State  sovereignty — this  community  independence — has  never  been 
surrendered,  and  that  there  is  no  power  in  the  Federal  Government  to  co- 
erce a  State.  Will  any  one  ask  me,  then,  how  a  State  is  to  be  held  to  the 
fulfillment  of  its  obligations  ?  My  answer  is,  by  its  honor.  The  obligation 
is  the  more  sacred  to  observe  every  feature  of  the  compact,  because  there 
is  no  power  to  enforce  it.  The  great  error  of  the  Confederation  was,  that 
it  attempted  to  act  upon  the  States.  It  was  found  impracticable,  and  our 
present  form  of  government  was  adopted,  which  acts  upon  individuals,  and 
is  not  designed  to  act  upon  States.  The  question  of  State  coercion  was 
raised  in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  and,  after  discus- 
sion, the  proposition  to  give  power  to  the  General  Government  to  enforce 
against  any  State  obedience  to  the  laws  was  rejected.  It  is  upon  the 
ground  that  a  State  can  not  be  coerced  that  observance  of  the  compact  is  a 
sacred  obligation.  It  was  upon  this  principle  that  our  fathers  depended  for 
the  perpetuity  of  a  fraternal  Union,  and  for  the  security  of  the  rights  that 
the  Constitution  was  designed  to  preserve.  The  fugitive  slave  compact  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  implied  that  the  States  should  fulfill 
it  voluntarily.  They  expected  the  States  to  legislate  so  as  to  secure  the 
rendition  of  fugitives ;  and  in  1778  it  was  a  matter  of  complaint  that  the 
Spanish  colony  of  Florida  did  not  restore  fugitive  negroes  from  the  United 
States  who  escaped  into  that  colony,  and  a  committee,  composed  of  Ham- 
ilton, of  New  York,  Sedgwick,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mason,  of  Virginia, 
reported  resolutions  in  the  Congress,  instructing  the  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs  to  address  the  charge  d'affaires  at  Madrid  to  apply  to  his  Majesty 
of  Spain  to  issue  orders  to  his  governor  to  compel  them  to  secure  the  ren- 
dition of  fugitive  negroes.  This  was  the  sentiment  of  the  committee,  and 
they  added,  also,  that  the  States  would  return  any  slaves  from  Florida  who 
might  escape  into  their  limits. 

When  the  constitutional  obligation  was  imposed,  who  could  have  doubt- 
ed that  every  State,  faithful  to  its  obligations,  would  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Constitution,  and  waive  all  questions  as  to  whether  the 
institution  should  or  should  not  exist  in  another  community  over  which 
they  had  no  control?  Congress  was  at  last  forced  to  legislate  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  they  have  continued,  up  to  a  recent  period,  to  legislate,  and  this 
has  been  one  of  the  causes  by  which  you  have  been  disturbed.  You  have 
been  called  upon  to  make  war  against  a  law  which  need  never  to  have  been 
enacted,  if  each  State  had  done  the  duty  which  she  was  called  upon  by  the 
Constitution  to  perform. 

Gentlemen,  this  presents  one  phase  of  agitation— negro  agitation :  there 
is  another  and  graver  question,  it  is  in  relation  to  the  prohibition  by  Con- 
gress of  the  introduction  of  slave  property  into  the  Territories.      What 


APPENDIX  E.  563 

power  does  Congress  possess  in  this  connection  ?  Has  it  the  right  to  say 
what  shall  be  property  anywhere  ?  If  it  has,  from  what  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution does  it  derive  that  power?  Have  other  States  the  power  to  pre- 
scribe the  condition  upon  which  a  citizen  of  another  State  shall  enter  upon 
and  enjoy  territory — common  property  of  all?  Clearly  not.  Shall  the 
inhabitants  who  first  go  into  the  Territory  deprive  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States  of  those  rights  which  belong  to  him  as  an  equal  owner  of  the  soil? 
Certainly  not.  Sovereign  jurisdiction  can  only  pass  to  these  inhabitants 
when  the  States,  the  owners  of  that  Territory  shall  recognize  their  right 
to  become  an  equal  member  of  the  Union.  Until  then,  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  Union  must  be  the  rule  governing  within  the  limits  of 
a  Territory. 

The  Constitution  recognizes  all  property,  and  gives  equal  privileges  to 
every  citizen  of  the  States ;  and  it  would  be  a  violation  of  its  fundamental 
principles  to  attempt  any  discrimination. 

There  is  nothing  of  truth  or  justice  with  which  to  sustain  this  agitation, 
or  ground  for  it,  unless  it  be  that  it  is  a  very  good  bridge  over  which  to  pass 
into  office ;  a  little  stock  of  trade  in  politics  built  up  to  aid  men  who  are 
missionaries  staying  at  home ;  reformers  of  things  which  they  do  not  go  to 
learn ;  preachers  without  a  congregation ;  overseers  without  laborers  and 
without  wages;  war-horses  who  snuff  the  battle  afar  off  and  cry:  "  Aha! 
aha !  I  am  afar  off." 

Thus  it  is  that  the  peace  of  the  Union  is  disturbed ;  thus  it  is  that  broth- 
er is  arrayed  against  brother ;  thus  it  is  that  the  people  come  to  consider 
not  how  they  can  promote  each  other's  interests,  but  how  they  may  success- 
fully war  upon  them.  And  among  the  things  most  odious  to  my  mind  is  to 
find  a  man  who  enters  upon  a  public  office,  under  the  sanction  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  taking  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution — the  compact  be- 
tween the  States  binding  each  for  the  common  defense  and  general  welfare 
of  the  other — and  retaining  to  himself  a  mental  reservation  that  he  will 
war  upon  the  institutions  and  the  property  of  any  of  the  States  of  the 
Union.  It  is  a  crime  too  low  to  characterize  as  it  deserves  before  this 
assembly.  It  is  one  which  would  disgrace  a  gentleman — one  which  a  man 
with  self-respect  would  never  commit.  To  swear  that  he  will  support  the 
Constitution,  to  take  an  office  which  belongs  in  many  of  its  relations  to  all 
the  States,  and  to  use  it  as  a  means  of  injuring  a  portion  of  the  States  of 
whom  he  is  thus  an  agent,  is  treason  to  everything  that  is  honorable  in  man. 
It  is  the  base  and  cowardly  attack  of  him  who  gains  the  confidence  of  an- 
other in  order  that  he  may  wound  him.  But  I  have  often  heard  it  argued, 
and  I  have  seen  it  published :  I  have  seen  a  petition  that  was  circulated  for 
signers,  announcing  that  there  was  an  incompatibility  between  the  different 
sections  of  the  Union ;  that  it  had  been  tried  long  enough,  and  that  they 
must  get  rid  of  those  sections  in  which  the  curse  of  slavery  existed.  Ah ! 
those  sages,  so  much  wiser  than  our  fathers,  have  found  out  that  there  is 


564      MSE  AND  FALL  OP  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

incompatibility  in  that  which  existed  when  the  Union  was  formed.  They 
have  found  an  incompatibility  inconsistent  with  union,  in  that  which  ex- 
isted when  South  Carolina  sent  her  rice  to  Boston,  and  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania  and  JSTew  York  brought  in  their  funds  for  her  relief.  The 
fact  is  that,  from  that  day  to  this,  the  difference  between  the  people  of  the 
colonies  has  been  steadily  diminishing,  and  the  possible  advantages  of 
union  in  no  small  degree  augmented.  The  variety  of  product  of  soil  and  of 
climate  has  been  multiplied,  both  by  the  expansion  of  our  country  and  by 
the  introduction  of  new  tropical  products  not  cultivated  at  that  time;  so 
that  every  motive  to  union  which  your  fathers  had,  in  a  diversity  which 
should  give  prosperity  to  the  country,  exists  in  a  higher  degree  to-day  than 
when  this  Union  was  formed,  and  this  diversity  is  fundamental  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  people  of  the  several  sections  of  the  country. 

It  is,  however,  to-day,  in  sentiment  and  interest,  less  than  on  the  day 
when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made.  Diversity  there  is — 
diversity  of  character — but  it  is  not  of  that  extreme  kind  which  proves  in- 
compatibility ;  for  your  Massachusetts  man,  when  he  comes  into  Missis- 
sippi, adopts  our  opinions  and  our  institutions,  and  frequently  becomes  the 
most  extreme  man  among  us.  As  our  country  has  extended,  as  new  prod- 
ucts have  been  introduced  into  it,  this  Union  and  the  free  trade  that  be- 
longs to  it  have  been  of  increasing  value.  And  I  say,  moreover,  that  it  is 
not  an  unfortunate  circumstance  that  this  diversity  of  pursuit  and  character 
still  remains.  Originally  it  sprang  in  no  small  degree  from  natural  causes. 
Massachusetts  became  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  State  because  of 
her  fine  harbors — because  of  her  water-power,  making  its  last  leap  into  the 
sea,  so  that  the  ship  of  commerce  brought  the  staple  to  the  manufacturing 
power.  This  made  you  a  commercial  and  a  manufacturing  people.  In  the 
Southern  States  great  plains  interpose  between  the  last  leaps  of  the  streams 
and  the  sea.  Those  plains  were  cultivated  in  staple  crops,  and  the  sea 
brought  their  products  to  your  streams  to  be  manufactured.  This  was  the 
first  beginning  of  the  differences. 

Then  your  longer  and  more  severe  winters,  your  soil  not  so  favorable  for 
agriculture,  in  a  degree  kept  you  a  manufacturing  and  a  commercial  people. 
Even  after  the  cause  had  passed  away — after  railroads  had  been  built — after 
the  steam-engine  had  become  a  motive  power  for  a  large  part  of  manufactur- 
ing machinery,  the  natural  causes  from  which  your  people  obtained  a  manu- 
facturing ascendancy  and  ours  became  chiefly  agriculturists  continued  to  act 
in  a  considerable  measure  to  preserve  that  relation.  Your  interest  is  to  re- 
main a  manufacturing,  and  ours  to  remain  an  agricultural  people.  Your 
prosperity,  then,  is  to  receive  our  staple  and  to  manufacture  it,  and  ours  to 
sell  it  to  you  and  buy  the  manufactured  goods.  This  is  an  interweaving  of 
interests  which  makes  us  all  the  richer  and  happier. 

But  this  accursed  agitation,  this  intermeddling  with  the  affairs  of  other 
people,  is  that  alone  which  will  promote  a  desire  in  the  mind  of  any  one  to 


APPENDIX  E.  565 

separate  these  great  and  glorious  States.  The  seeds  of  dissension  may  be 
sown  by  invidious  reflections.  Men  may  be  goaded  by  the  constant  attempts 
to  infringe  upon  rights  and  to  disturb  tranquillity,  and  in  the  resentment 
which  follows  it  is  not  possible  to  tell  how  far  the  wave  may  rush.  I 
therefore  plead  to  you  now  to  arrest  a  fanaticism  which  has  been  evil  in  the 
beginning  and  must  be  evil  in  the  end.  You  may  not  have  the  numerical 
power  requisite;  and  those  at  a  distance  may  not  understand  how  many  of 
you  there  are  desirous  to  put  a  stop  to  the  course  of  this  agitation.  For 
me,  I  have  learned  since  I  have  been  in  New  England  the  vast  mass  of  true 
State-rights  Democrats  to  be  found  within  its  limits — though  not  repre- 
sented in  the  halls  of  Congress.  And  if  it  comes  to  the  worst — if,  availing 
themselves  of  a  majority  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  they  should  at- 
tempt to  trample  upon  the  Constitution;  if  they  should  attempt  to  violate 
the  rights  of  the  States ;  if  they  should  attempt  to  infringe  upon  our  equality 
in  the  Union — I  believe  that  even  in  Massachusetts,  though  it  has  not  had  a 
representative  in  Congress  for  many  a  day,  the  State-rights  Democracy,  in 
whose  breasts  beats  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution,  can  and  will  whip  the  black 
Republicans.  I  trust  we  shall  never  be  thus  purified,  as  it  were,  by  fire; 
but  that  the  peaceful,  progressive  revolution  of  the  ballot-box  will  answer 
all  the  glorious  purposes  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  And  I  marked 
that  the  distinguished  orator  and  statesman  who  preceded  me,  in  addressing 
you,  used  the  words  "national"  and  "constitutional"  in  such  relation  to 
each  other  as  to  show  that  in  his  mind  the  one  was  a  synonym  of  the  other. 
I  say  so :  we  became  national  by  the  Constitution,  the  bond  for  uniting 
the  States,  and  national  and  constitutional  are  convertible  terms. 

Your  candidate  for  the  high  office  of  Governor — whom  I  have  been  once 
or  twice  on  the  point  of  calling  Governor,  and  whom  I  hope  I  may  be  able 
soon  to  call  so — in  his  remarks  to  you  has  presented  the  same  idea  in  another 
form.  And  well  may  Massachusetts  orators,  without  even  perceiving  what 
they  are  saying,  utter  sentiments  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  your 
colonial  as  well  as  your  subsequent  political  history,  which  existed  in  Mas- 
sachusetts before  the  Revolution,  and  have  existed  ever  since,  whenever 
the  true  spirit  which  comes  down  from  the  Revolutionary  sires  has  swelled 
and  found  utterance  within  her  limits. 

It  has  been  not  only,  my  friends,  in  this  increasing  and  mutual  depend- 
ence of  interest  that  we  have  found  new  ties  to  you.  Those  bonds  are 
both  material  and  mental.  Every  improvement  or  invention,  every  con- 
struction of  a  railroad,  has  formed  a  new  reason  for  our  being  one.  Every 
new  achievement,  whether  it  has  been  in  arts  or  science,  in  war  or  in  manu- 
factures, has  constituted  for  us  a  new  bond  and  a  new  sentiment  holding  us 
together. 

Why,  then,  I  would  ask,  do  we  see  these  lengthened  shadows  which 
follow  in  the  course  of  our  political  history?  Is  it  because  our  sun  is  de- 
clining to  the  horizon  ?     Are  they  the  shadows  of  evening,  or  are  they,  as 


566      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

I  hopefully  believe,  but  the  mists  which  are  exhaled  by  the  sun  as  it  rises, 
but  which  are  to  be  dispersed  by  its  meridian  glory  ?  Are  they  but  the 
little  evanishing  clouds  that  flit  between  the  people  and  the  great  objects 
for  which  the  Constitution  was  established?  I  hopefully  look  toward  the 
reaction  which  will  establish  the  fact  that  our  sun  is  still  in  the  ascendant 
— that  that  cloud  which  has  so  long  covered  our  political  horizon  is  to  be 
dispersed — that  we  are  not  again  to  be  divided  on  parallels  of  latitude  and 
about  the  domestic  institutions  of  States — a  sectional  attack  on  the  prosper- 
ity and  tranquillity  of  a  nation — but  only  by  differences  in  opinion  upon 
measures  of  expediency,  upon  questions  of  relative  interest,  by  discussions  as 
to  the  powers  of  the  States  and  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  powers 
of  the  Federal  Government — such  discussion  as  is  commemorated  in  this 
picture  of  your  own  great  and  glorious  Webster,  when  he  specially  addressed 
our  best,  most  tried,  and  greatest  man,  the  pure  and  incorruptible  Calhoun, 
represented  as  intently  listening  to  catch  the  accents  of  eloquence  that  fell 
from  his  lips.  Those  giants  strove  each  for  his  conviction,  not  against  a 
section — not  against  each  other ;  they  stood  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of 
personal  affection  and  esteem,  and  never  did  I  see  Mr.  Webster  so  agitated, 
never  did  I  hear  his  voice  falter,  as  when  he  delivered  the  eulogy  on  John 
C.  Calhoun. 

But  allusion  was  made  to  my  own  connection  with  your  great  and  fa- 
vorite departed  statesman.  Of  that  I  will  only  say,  on  this  occasion,  that 
very  early  in  my  Congressional  life  Mr.  Webster  was  arraigned  for  an  of- 
fense which  affected  him  most  deeply.  He  was  no  accountant,  and  all  knew 
that.  He  was  arraigned  on  a  pecuniary  charge — the  misapplication  of 
what  is  known  as  the  secret-service  fund — and  I  was  one  of  the  committee 
that  had  to  investigate  the  charge.  I  endeavored  to  do  justice.  I  endeav- 
ored to  examine  the  evidence  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  truth.  It  is 
true  I  remembered  that  he  was  an  eminent  American  statesman.  It  is  true 
that  as  an  American  I  hoped  he  would  come  out  without  a  stain  upon  his 
garments.  But  I  entered  upon  the  investigation  to  find  the  truth  and  to  do 
justice.  The  result  was,  he  was  acquitted  of  every  charge  that  was  made 
against  him,  and  it  was  equally  my  pride  and  my  pleasure  to  vindicate  him 
in  every  form  which  lay  within  my  power.  No  one  that  knew  Daniel 
Webster  could  have  believed  that  he  would  ever  ask  whether  a  charge  was 
made  against  a  Massachusetts  man  or  a  Mississippian.  No !  It  belonged  to 
a  lower,  to  a  later,  and  I  trust  a  shorter-lived  race  of  statesmen,  who  meas- 
ure all  facts  by  considerations  of  latitude  and  longitude. 

I  honor  that  sentiment  which  makes  us  oftentimes  too  confident,  and  to 
despise  too  much  the  danger  of  that  agitation  which  disturbs  the  peace  of 
the  country.  I  respect  that  feeling  which  regards  the  Union  as  too  strong 
to  be  broken.  But,  at  the  same  time,  in  sober  judgment,  it  will  not  do 
to  treat  too  lightly  the  danger  which  has  existed  and  still  exists.  I  have 
heard  our  Constitution  and  Union  compared  to  the  granite  shores  which 


APPENDIX  E.  567 

face  the  sea,  and,  dashing  back  the  foam  of  the  waves,  stand  unmoved  by 
their  fury.  Now  I  accept  the  simile :  and  I  have  stood  upon  the  shore, 
and  I  have  seen  the  waves  of  the  sea  dash  upon  the  granite  of  your  own 
shores  which  frowns  over  the  ocean,  have  seen  the  spray  thrown  back 
from  the  cliffs.  But,  when  the  tide  had  ebbed,  I  saw  that  the  rock  was 
seamed  and  worn ;  and,  when  the  tide  was  low,  the  pieces  that  had  been 
riven  from  the  granite  rock  were  lying  at  its  base. 

And  thus  the  waves  of  sectional  agitation  are  dashing  themselves 
against  the  granite  patriotism  of  the  land.  But  even  that  must  show  the 
seams  and  scars  of  the  conflict.  Sectional  hostility  will  follow.  The  dan- 
ger lies  at  your  door,  and  it  is  time  to  arrest  it.  Too  long  have  we  allowed 
this  influence  to  progress.  It  is  time  that  men  should  go  back  to  the  first 
foundation  of  our  institutions.  They  should  drink  the  waters  of  the  foun- 
tain at  the  source  of  our  colonial  and  early  history. 

You,  men  of  Boston,  go  to  the  street  where  the  massacre  occured  in 
1770.  There  you  should  learn  how  your  fathers  strove  for  community 
rights.  And  near  the  same  spot  you  should  learn  how  proudly  the  delega- 
tion of  democracy  came  to  demand  the  removal  of  the  troops  from  Boston, 
and  how  the  venerable  Samuel  Adams  stood  asserting  the  rights  of  democ- 
racy, dauntless  as  Hampden,  clear  and  eloquent  as  Sidney;  and  how  they 
drove  out  the  myrmidons  who  had  trampled  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

All  over  our  country,  these  monuments,  instructive  to  the  present 
generation,  of  what  our  fathers  did,  are  to  be  found.  In  the  library  of 
your  association  for  the  collection  of  your  early  history,  I  found,  a  letter 
descriptive  of  the  reading  of  the  church  service  to  his  army  by  General 
Washington,  during  one  of  those  winters  when  the  army  was  ill-clad  and 
without  shoes,  when  he  built  a  little  log-cabin  for  a  meeting-house,  and 
there,  reading  the  service  to  them  his  sight  failed  him,  he  put  on  his  glasses 
and,  with  emotion  which  manifested  the  reality  of  his  feelings,  said,  "I 
have  grown  gray  in  serving  my  country,  and  now  I  am  growing  blind." 

By  the  aid  of  your  records  you  may  call  before  you  the  day  when  the 
delegation  of  the  army  of  the  democracy  of  Boston  demanded  compliance 
with  its  requirements  for  the  removal  of  the  troops.  A  painfully  thrilling 
case  will  be  found  in  the  heroic  conduct  of  your  fathers'  friends,  the  patri- 
ots in  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  The  prisoners  were  put  upon  the  hulks, 
where  the  small-pox  existed,  and  where  they  were  brought  on  shore  to  stay 
the  progress  of  the  infection,  and  were  offered,  if  they  would  enlist  in  his 
Majesty's  service,  release  from  all  their  sufferings,  present  and  prospective ; 
while,  if  they  would  not,  the  rations  would  be  taken  from  their  families, 
and  they  would  be  sent  back  to  the  hulks  and  again  exposed  to  the  infec- 
tion. Emaciated  as  they  were,  with  the  prospect  of  being  returned  to  con- 
finement, and  their  families  turned  out  into  the  streets,  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence, the  devotion  to  liberty,  was  so  supreme  in  their  breasts,  that  they 
gave  one  loud  huzza  for  General  Washington,  and  went  to  meet  death  in 


568      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

their  loathsome  prison.  From  these  glorious  recollections,  from  the  emo- 
tions which  they  create,  when  the  sacrifices  of  those  who  gave  you  the 
heritage  of  liberty  are  read  in  your  early  history,  the  eye  is  directed  to  our 
present  condition.  Mark  the  prosperity,  the  growth,  the  honorable  career 
of  your  country  under  the  voluntary  union  of  independent  States.  I  do  not 
envy  the  heart  of  that  American  whose  pulse  does  not  beat  quicker,  and  who 
does  not  feel  within  him  a  high  exultation  and  pride,  in  the  past  glory  and 
future  prospects  of  his  country.  With  these  prospects  are  associated — if 
we  are  only  wise,  true,  and  faithful,  if  we  shun  sectional  dissension — all  that 
man  can  conceive  of  the  progression  of  the  American  people.  And  the 
only  danger  which  threatens  those  high  prospects  is  that  miserable  spirit 
which,  disregarding  the  obligations  of  honor,  makes  war  upon  the  Consti- 
tution ;  which  induces  men  to  assume  powers  they  do  not  possess,  tram- 
pling as  well  upon  the  great  principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  as  upon 
the  honorable  obligations  which  were  fixed  upon  them  by  their  fathers. 
They  with  internecine  strife  would  sacrifice  themselves  and  their  brethren 
to  a  spirit  which  is  a  disgrace  to  our  common  country.  "With  these  views, 
it  will  not  be  surprising,  to  those  who  most  differ  from  me,  that  I  feel  an 
ardent  desire  for  the  success  of  this  State-rights  Democracy ;  that,  convinced 
as  I  am  of  the  ill  consequences  of  the  described  heresies  unless  they  be  cor- 
rected ;  of  the  evils  upon  which  they  would  precipitate  the  country  unless 
they  are  restrained — I  say,  none  need  be  surprised  if,  prompted  by  such 
aspirations,  and  impressed  by  such  forebodings  as  now  open  themselves 
before  me,  I  have  spoken  freely,  yielding  to  motives  I  would  suppress  and 
can  not  avoid.  I  have  often,  elsewhere  than  in  the  State  of  which  I  am  a 
citizen,  spoken  in  favor  of  that  party  which  alone  is  national,  in  which 
alone  lies  the  hope  of  preserving  the  Constitution  and  the  perpetuation  of 
the  Government  and  of  the  blessings  which  it  was  ordained  and  established 
to  secure. 

My  friends,  my  brethren,  my  countrymen,  I  thank  you  for  the  patient 
attention  you  have  given  me.  It  is  the  first  time  it  has  ever  befallen  me  to 
address  an  audience  here.  It  will  probably  be  the  last.  Eesiding  in  a  re- 
mote section  of  the  country,  with  private  as  well  as  public  duties  to  occupy 
the  whole  of  my  time,  it  would  only  be  for  a  very  hurried  visit,  or  under 
some  such  necessity  for  a  restoration  to  health  as  brought  me  here  this 
season,  that  I  could  ever  expect  to  remain  long  among  you,  or  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  Union  than  the  State  of  which  I  am  a  citizen. 

I  have  staid  long  enough  to  feel  that  generous  hospitality  which  evinces 
itself  to-night,  which  has  evinced  itself  in  Boston  since  I  have  been  here, 
and  showed  itself  in  every  town  and  village  of  New  England  where  I  have 
gone.  I  have  staid  here,  too,  long  enough  to  learn  that,  though  not  repre- 
sented in  Congress,  there  is  a  large  mass  of  as  true  Democrats  as  are  to  be 
found  in  any  portion  of  the  Union  within  the  limits  of  New  England.     Their 


APPENDIX  F.  569 

purposes,  their  construction  of  the  Constitution,  their  hopes  for  the  future, 
their  respect  for  the  past,  is  the  same  as  that  which  exists  among  my  heloved 
brethren  in  Mississippi.  .  .  . 

In  the  hour  of  apprehension  I  shall  turn  back  to  my  observations  here, 
in  this  consecrated  hall,  where  men  so  early  devoted  themselves  to  liberty 
and  community  independence ;  and  I  shall  endeavor  to  impress  upon  others, 
who  know  you  only  as  you  are  represented  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress, 
how  true  and  how  many  are  the  hearts  that  beat  for  constitutional  liberty, 
and  faithfully  respect  every  clause  and  guarantee  which  the  Constitution 
contains  for  any  and  every  portion  of  the  Union. 


APPENDIX  F. 

Speech  of  the  author  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  resolutions  offered  by  him  relative  to  the  relations 
of  the  States,  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  Territories,  May 
7,  1860. 

Me.  President  :  Among  the  many  blessings  for  which  we  are  indebted 
to  our  ancestry  is  that  of  transmitting  to  us  a  written  Constitution  ;  a  fixed 
standard  to  which,  in  the  progress  of  events,  every  case  may  be  referred, 
and  by  which  it  may  be  measured.  But  for  this,  the  wise  men  who  formed 
our  Government  dared  not  have  hoped  for  its  perpetuity ;  for  they  saw, 
floating  down  the  tide  of  time,  wreck  after  wreck,  marking  the  short  life  of 
every  republic  which  had  preceded  them.  With  this,  however,  to  check, 
to  restrain,  and  to  direct  their  posterity,  they  might  reasonably  hope  the 
Government  they  founded  should  last  for  ever;  that  it  should  secure  the 
great  purposes  for  which  it  was  ordained  and  established  ;  that  it  would  be 
the  shield  of  their  posterity  equally  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and  equally 
in  all  time  to  come.  It  was  this  which  mainly  distinguished  the  formation 
of  our  Government  from  those  confederacies  or  republics  which  had  pre- 
ceded it ;  and  this  is  the  best  foundation  for,  our  hope  to-day.  The  resolu- 
tions which  have  been  read,  and  which  I  had  the  honor  to  present  to  the 
Senate,  are  little  more  than  the  announcement  of  what  I  hold  to  be  the 
clearly-expressed  declarations  of  the  Constitution  itself.  To  that  fixed 
standard  it  is  sought,  at  this  time,  when  we  are  drifting  far  from  the  initial 
point,  and  when  clouds  and  darkness  hover  over  us,  to  bring  back  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  to  test  our  condition  to-day  by  the  rules  which  our  fathers 
laid  down  for  us  in  the  beginning. 

The  differences  which  exist  between  different  portions  of  the  country, 
the  rivalries  and  the  jealousies  of  to-day,  though  differing  in  degree,  are 
exactly  of  the  nature  of  those  which  preceded  the  formation  of  the  Consti- 


570      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

tution.  Our  fathers  were  aware  of  the  different  interests  of  the  navigating 
and  planting  States,  as  they  were  then  regarded.  They  sought  to  compose 
those  difficulties,  and,  by  compensating  advantages  given  by  one  to  the 
other,  to  form  a  Government  equal  and  just  in  its  operation,  and  which 
like  the  gentle  showers  of  heaven,  should  fall  twice  blessed,  blessing  him 
that  gives  and  him  that  receives.  This  beneficial  action  and  reaction  be- 
tween the  different  interests  of  the  country  constituted  the  bond  of  union 
and  the  motive  of  its  formation.  They  constitute  it  to-day,  if  we  are  suffi- 
ciently wise  to  appreciate  our  interests,  and  sufficiently  faithful  to  observe 
our  trust.  Indeed,  with  the  extension  of  territory,  with  the  multiplication 
of  interests,  with  the  varieties,  increasing  from  time  to  time,  of  the  products 
of  this  great  country,  the  bonds  which  bind  the  Union  together  should  have 
increased.  Kationally  considered,  they  have  increased,  because  the  free 
trade  which  was  established  in  the  beginning  has  now  become  more  valuable 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  than  their  trade  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

I  do  not  propose  to  argue  questions  of  natural  rights  and  inherent 
powers.  I  plant  my  reliance  upon  the  Constitution;  that  Constitution 
which  you  have  all  sworn  to  support ;  that  Constitution  which  you  have 
solemnly  pledged  yourself  to  maintain  while  you  hold  the  seat  you  now 
occupy  in  the  Senate ;  to  which  you  are  bound  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  letter, 
not  grudgingly,  but  willingly,  to  render  your  obedience  and  support  as  long 
as  you  hold  office  under  the  Federal  Government. 

When  the  tempter  entered  the  garden  of  Eden  and  induced  our  com- 
mon mother  to  offend  against  the  law  which  God  had  given  to  her  through 
Adam,  he  was  the  first  teacher  of  that  "higher  law  "  which  sets  the  will  of 
the  individual  above  the  solemn  rule  which  he  is  bound,  as  a  part  of 
every  community,  to  observe.  From  the  effect  of  the  introduction  of  that 
higher  law  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  the  fall  consequent  upon  it,  came 
sin  into  the  world;  and  from  sin  came  death  and  banishment  and  sub- 
jugation, as  the  punishment  of  sin;  the  loss  of  life,  unfettered  liberty,  and 
perfect  happiness  followed  from  that  first  great  law  which  was  given  by 
God  to  fallen  man. 

"Why,  then,  shall  we  talk  about  natural  rights?  Who  is  to  define  them? 
Where  is  the  judge  who  is  to  sit  over  the  court  to  try  natural  rights  ?  What 
is  the  era  at  which  you  will  fix  the  date  by  which  you  will  determine  the 
breadth,  the  length,  and  the  depth  of  those  called  the  rights  of  nature? 
Shall  it  be  after  the  fall,  when  the  earth  was  covered  with  thorns,  and  man 
had  to  earn  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow?  Or  shall  it  be  when 
there  was  equality  between  the  sexes,  when  he  lived  in  the  garden,  when 
all  his  wants  were  supplied,  and  when  thorns  and  thistles  were  unknown 
on  the  face  of  the  earth?  Shall  it  be  then?  Shall  it  be  after  the  flood, 
when,  for  the  first  sin  committed  after  the  waters  retired  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,  the  doom  of  slavery  was  fixed  upon  the  mongrel  descendants  of 


APPENDIX  F.  571 

Ham  ?  If  after  the  flood,  and  after  that  decree,  how  idle  is  all  this  prating 
about  natural  rights  as  standing  above  the  obligations  of  civil  government! 
The  Constitution  is  the  law  supreme  to  every  American.  It  is  the  plighted 
faith  of  our  fathers ;  it  is  the  hope  of  our  posterity.  I  say,  then,  I  come 
not  to  argue  questions  outside  of  or  above  the  Constitution,  but  to  plead 
the  cause  of  right,  of  law  and  order,  under  the  Constitution,  and  to  plead  it 
to  those  who  have  sworn  to  abide  by  that  obligation. 

One  of  the  fruitful  sources,  as  I  hold  it,  of  the  errors  which  prevail  in 
our  country,  is  the  theory  that  this  is  a  Government  of  one  people ;  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  formed  by  a  mass.  The  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  a  compact  between  the  sovereign  members 
who  formed  ifc ;  and,  if  there  be  one  feature  common  to  all  the  colonies 
planted  upon  the  shores  of  America,  it  is  desire  for  community  indepen- 
dence. It  was  for  this  the  Puritan,  the  Huguenot,  the  Catholic,  the  Quaker, 
the  Protestant,  left  the  land  of  their  nativity,  and,  guided  by  the  shadows 
thrown  by  the  fires  of  European  persecution,  they  sought  and  found  the 
American  refuge  of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  While  they  existed  as 
separate  and  distinct  colonies  they  were  not  forbearing  toward  each  other. 
They  oppressed  opposite  religions.  They  did  not  come  here  with  the  en- 
larged idea  of  no  established  religion.  The  Puritans  drove  out  the  Quakers ; 
the  Church-of-England  men  drove  out  the  Catholics.  Persecution  reigned 
through  the  colonies,  except,  perhaps,  that  of  the  Catholic  colony  of  Mary- 
land ;  but  the  rule  was — persecution.  Therefore,  I  say  the  common  idea, 
and  the  only  common  idea,  was  community  independence — the  right  of 
each  independent  people  to  do  as  they  pleased  in  their  domestic  affairs. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made  by  the  colonies,  each  for 
itself.  The  recognition  of  their  independence  was  not  for  the  colonies 
united,  but  for  each  of  the  colonies  which  had  maintained  its  independence ; 
and  so,  when  the  Constitution  was  formed,  the  delegates  were  not  elected 
by  the  people  en  masse,  but  they  came  from  each  one  of  the  States; 
and  when  the  Constitution  was  formed  it  was  referred,  not  to  the  people 
en  masse,  but  to  the  States  severally,  and  severally  by  them  ratified  and 
approved.  But,  if  there  be  anything  which  enforces  this  idea  more  than 
another,  it  is  the  unequal  dates  at  which  it  received  this  approval.  From 
first  to  last,  nearly  two  years  and  a  half  elapsed;  and  the  Government 
went  into  operation  something  like  a  year — I  believe  more  than  a  year — 
before  the  last  ratification  was  made.  Is  it  then  contended  that,  by  this 
ratification  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  States  surrendered  that 
sovereignty  which  they  had  previously  gained  ?  Can  it  be  that  men  who 
braved  the  perils  of  the  ocean,  the  privations  of  the  wilderness,  who  fought 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  the  hour  of  their  success,  when  aH"Vas  sun- 
shine and  peace  around  them,  came  voluntarily  forward  to  lay  down  that 
community  independence  for  which  they  had  suffered  so  much  and  so 
long?     Reason  forbids  it;  but,  if  reason  did  not  furnish  a  sufficient  answer, 


572      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

the  action  of  the  States  themselves  forbids  it.  The  great  State  of  New- 
York — great,  relatively,  then,  as  she  is  now — manifested  her  wisdom  in 
not  receiving  merely  that  implication  which  belongs  to  the  occasion,  which 
was  accepted  by  the  other  States,  but  she  required  the  positive  assertion  of 
that  retention  of  her  sovereignty  and  power  over  all  her  affairs  as  the  con- 
dition on  which  she  ratified  the  Constitution  itself.  I  read  from  Elliott's 
"Debates"  (page  327).  Among  her  resolutions  of  ratification  is  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  That  the  powers  of  government  may  be  reassumed  by  the  people 
whensoever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness ;  that  every  power, 
jurisdiction,  and  right  which  is  not  by  the  said  Constitution  clearly  dele- 
gated to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  the  departments  of  the 
Government  thereof,  remain  to  the  people  of  the  several  States,  or  to  their 
respective  State  governments  to  which  they  may  have  granted  the  same." 

North  Carolina,  with  the  Scotch  caution  which  subsequent  events  have 
so  well  justified,  in  1788  passed  this  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  a  declaration  of  rights,  asserting  and  securing  from 
encroachments  the  great  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  the 
unalienable  rights  of  the  people,  together  with  amendments  to  the  most 
ambiguous  and  exceptionable  parts  of  the  said  Constitution  of  Government, 
ought  to  be  laid  before  Congress  and  the  convention  of  the  States  that  shall 
or  may  be  called  for  the  purpose  of  amending  the  said  Constitution,  for 
their  consideration,  previous  to  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  afore- 
said, on  the  part  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina." 

And  in  keeping  with  this  North  Carolina  withheld  her  ratification;  she 
allowed  the  Government  to  be  formed  with  the  number  of  States  which 
was  required  to  put  it  in  operation,  and  still  she  remained  out  of  the  Union, 
asserting  and  recognized  in  the  independence  which  she  had  maintained 
against  Great  Britain,  and  which  she  had  no  idea  of  surrendering  to  any 
other  power;  and  the  last  State  which  ratified  the  Constitution  long  after 
it  had  in  fact  gone  into  effect,  Ehode  Island,  in  the  third  of  her  resolutions, 
says: 

"III.  That  the  powers  of  government  may  be  reassumed  by  the  people 
whensoever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness.  That  the  rights 
of  the  States  respectively  to  nominate  and  appoint  all  State  officers,  and 
every  other  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  the  said  Consti- 
tution clearly  delegated  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  the  depart- 
ments of  Government  thereof,  remain  to  the  people  of  the  several  States,  or 
their  respective  State  governments  to  whom  they  may  have  granted  the 
same." 

Here  the  use  of  the  phrase  "  State  governments  "  shows  how  utterly 
unwarrantable  the  construction  has  been,  to  say  that  the  reference  here  was 
to  the  whole  people  of  the  States — to  the  people  of  all  the  States — and  not 
to  the  people  of  each  of  the  States  severally. 


APPENDIX  F.  573 

I  spoke,  however,  Mr.  President,  but  a  moment  ago,  of  the  difference  of 
politics,  products,  population,  constituting  the  great  motive  for  the  Union. 
It  was,  indeed,  its  necessity.  Had  all  the  people  been  alike — had  their  in- 
stitutions all  been  the  same — there  would  have  been  no  interest  to  bring 
them  together ;  there  would  have  been  no  cause  or  necessity  for  any  restraint 
being  imposed  upon  them.  It  was  the  fact  that  they  differed  which  ren- 
dered it  necessary  to  have  some  law  governing  their  intercourse.  It  was 
the  fact  that  their  products  were  opposite — that  their  pursuits  were  various 
— that  rendered  it  the  great  interest  of  the  people  that  they  should  have 
free  trade  existing  among  each  other;  that  free  trade  which  Franklin 
characterized  as  being  between  the  States  such  as  existed  between  the 
counties  of  England. 

Since  that  era,  however,  a  fiber  then  unknown  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  production  of  which  is  dependent  upon  the  domestic  institution  of 
African  slavery,  has  come  to  be  cultivated  in  such  amounts,  to  enter  so  into 
the  wearing  apparel  of  the  world,  so  greatly  to  add  to  the  comfort  of  the 
poor,  that  it  may  be  said  to-day  that  that  little  fiber,  cotton,  wraps  the  com- 
mercial world  and  binds  it  to  the  United  States  in  bonds  to  keep  the  peace 
with  us  which  no  Government  dare  break.  It  has  built  up  the  Northern 
States.  It  is  their  great  manufacturing  interest  to-day.  It  supports  their 
shipping  abroad.  It  enables  them  to  purchase  in  the  markets  of  China, 
when  the  high  premium  to  be  paid  on  the  milled  dollar  would  otherwise 
exclude  them  from  that  market.  These  are  a  part  of  the  blessings  resulting 
from  that  increase  and  variety  of  product  which  could  not  have  existed  if 
we  had  all  been  alike ;  which  would  have  been  lost  to-day  unless  free  trade 
between  the  United  States  was  still  preserved. 

And  here  it  strikes  me  as  somewhat  strange  that  a  book  recently  issued 
has  received  the  commendation  of  a  large  number  of  the  representatives  of 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  States,  though,  apart  from  its  falsifica- 
tion of  statistics  and  low  abuse  of  Southern  States,  institutions,  and  interests, 
the  great  feature  which  stands  prominently  out  from  it  is  the  arraignment 
of  the  South  for  using  their  surplus  money  in  buying  the  manufactures  of 
the  North.  How  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  people  can  be  truly  rep- 
resented by  those  who  would  inculcate  such  doctrines  as  these,  is  to  me 
passing  strange.  Is  it  vain  boasting  which  renders  you  anxious  to  proclaim 
to  the  world  that  we  buy  our  buckets,  our  rakes,  and  our  shovels  from  you  ? 
No,  there  is  too  much  good  sense  in  the  people  for  that ;  and,  therefore,  I 
am  left  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  motive,  unless  it  be  that  deep-rooted 
hate  which  makes  you  blind  to  your  own  interest  when  that  interest  is 
weighed  in  the  balance  with  the  denunciation  and  detraction  of  your 
brethren  of  the  South. 

The  great  principle  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  this  fixed  standard, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  was  the  equality  of  rights  between 
the  States.     This  was  essential;  it  was  necessary;  it  was  a  step  which  had 


574      I^SE  ANr>   FALL  0F  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

to  be  taken  first,  before  any  progress  could  be  made.  It  was  the  essential 
requisite  of  the  very  idea  of  sovereignty  in  the  State ;  of  a  compact  volun- 
tarily entered  into  between  sovereigns ;  and  it  is  that  equality  of  right  un- 
der the  Constitution  on  which  we  now  insist.  But  more :  when  the  States 
united  they  transferred  their  forts,  their  armament,  their  ships,  and  their 
right  to  maintain  armies  and  navies,  to  the  Federal  Government.  It  was 
the  disarmament  of  the  States,  under  the  operation  of  a  league  which  made 
the  warlike  operations,  the  powers  of  defense,  common  to  them  all.  Then, 
with  this  equality  of  the  States,  with  this  disarmament  of  the  States,  if 
there  had  been  nothing  in  the  Constitution  to  express  it,  I  say  the  protec- 
tion of  every  constitutional  right  would  follow  as  a  necessary  incident,  and 
could  not  be  denied  by  any  one  who  could  understand  and  would  admit  the 
true  theory  of  such  a  Government. 

"We  claim  protection,  first,  because  it  is  our  right ;  secondly,  because  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  General  Government;  and,  thirdly,  because  we  have 
entered  into  a  compact  together,  which  deprives  each  State  of  the  power 
of  using  all  the  means  which  it  might  employ  for  its  own  defense.  This  is 
the  general  theory  of  the  right  of  protection.  What  is  the  exception  to  it  ? 
Is  there  an  exception?  If  so,  who  made  it?  Does  the  Constitution  dis- 
criminate between  different  kinds  of  property?  Did  the  Constitution 
attempt  to  assimilate  the  institutions  of  the  different  States  confederated 
together?  Was  there  a  single  State  in  this  Union  that  would  have  been  so 
unfaithful  to  the  principles  which  had  prompted  them  in  their  colonial 
position,  and  which  had  prompted  them,  at  a  still  earlier  period,  to  seek  and 
try  the  temptations  of  the  wilderness ;  is  there  one  which  would  have  con- 
sented to  allow  the  Federal  Government  to  control  or  to  discriminate  be- 
tween her  institutions  and  those  of  her  confederate  States  ? 

But,  if  it  be  contended  that  this  is  argument,  and  that  you  need  author- 
ity, I  will  draw  it  fi;om  the  fountain  ;  from  the  spring  before  it  had  been 
polluted ;  from  the  debates  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  ;  from  the 
views  of  those  who  at  least  it  will  be  admitted  understood  what  they  were 
doing. 

Mr.  Eandolph,  it  will  be  recollected,  introduced  a  projet  for  a  Govern- 
ment, consisting  of  a  series  of  resolutions.  Among  them  was  one  which 
proposed  to  give  Congress  the  power  "  to  call  forth  the  force  of  the  Union 
against  any  member  of  the  Union  failing  to  fulfill  its  duty  under  the  arti- 
cles thereof."  That  was,  to  give  Congress  the  power  to  coerce  the  States ; 
to  bring  the  States  into  subjection  to  the  Federal  Government.  Now,  sir, 
let  us  see  how  that  was  treated ;  and  first  I  will  refer  to  one  whose  wis- 
dom, as  we  take  a  retrospective  view,  seems  to  me  marvelous.  Not  con- 
spicuous in  debate,  at  least  not  among  the  names  which  first  occur  when 
we  think  of  that  bright  galaxy  of  patriots  and  statesmen,  he  was  the  man 
who,  above  all  others,  it  seems  to  me,  laid  his  finger  upon  every  danger,  and 
indicated  the  course  which  that  danger  was  to  take.     I  refer  to  Mr.  Mason. 


APPENDIX  F.  575 

"Mr.  Mason  observed,  not  only  that  the  present  Confederation  was 
deficient  in  not  providing  for  coercion  and  punishment  against  delinquent 
States,  but  argued  very  cogently  that  punishment  could  not,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  be  executed  on  the  States  collectively;  and,  therefore,  that  such 
a  Government  was  necessary  as  could  directly  operate  on  individuals,  and 
would  punish  those  only  whose  guilt  required  it."  * 

Mr.  Madison,  who  has  been  called  sometimes  the  father  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, upon  the  same  question,  said : 

u  A  union  of  the  States  containing  such  an  ingredient  seemed  to  provide 
for  its  own  destruction.  The  use  of  force  against  a  State  would  look  more 
like  a  declaration  of  war  than  an  infliction  of  punishment,  and  would 
probably  be  considered  by  the  party  attacked  as  a  dissolution  of  all  pre- 
vious compacts  by  which  it  might  be  bound." 

Mr.  Hamilton,  who,  if  I  were  to  express  a  judgment  by  way  of  com- 
parison, I  would  say  was  the  master  intellect  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived, 
whose  mind  seemed  to  penetrate  profoundly  every  question  with  which  he 
grappled,  and  who  seldom  failed  to  exhaust  the  subject  which  he  treated — 
Mr.  Hamilton,  in  speaking  of  the  various  powers  necessary  to  maintain  a 
Government,  came  to  clause  four : 

"  4.  Force,  by  which  may  be  understood  a  coercion  of  laws,  or  coercion 
of  arms.  Congress  have  not  the  former,  except  in  few  cases.  In  particular 
States,  this  coercion  is  nearly  sufficient ;  though  he  held  it,  in  most  cases, 
not  entirely  so.  A  certain  portion  of  military  force  is  absolutely  necessary 
in  large  communities.  Massachusetts  is  now  feeling  this  necessity,  and 
making  provision  for  it.  But  how  can  this  force  be  exerted  on  the  States 
collectively  ?  It  is  impossible.  It  amounts  to  a  war  between  the  parties. 
Foreign  powers,  also,  will  not  be  idle  spectators.  They  will  interpose ;  the 
confusion  will  increase  ;  and  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  will  ensue." 

The  consequence  was,  the  proposition  was  lost.  In  support  of  this  same 
idea  of  community  independence,  which  I  have  suggested,  the  argument 
upon  the  proposition  least  likely  to  have  exhibited  it,  that  to  give  power  to 
restrain  the  slave-trade,  shows  the  Northern  and  Southern  men  all  arguing 
and  presenting  different  views,  yet  concurred  in  this,  that  there  could  be  no 
power  to  restrain  a  State  from  importing  what  she  pleased.  As  the  Senator 
from  Vermont  [Mr.  Collamer]  looks  somewhat  surprised  at  my  statement, 
I  will  refer  to  the  authority.     Mr.  Rutledge  said  : 

"  Eeligion  and  humanity  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  question.  Interest 
alone  is  the  governing  principle  with  nations.  The  true  question  at  present 
is,  whether  the  Southern  States  shall  or  shall  not  be  parties  to  the  Union. 
If  the  Northern  States  consult  their  interest,  they  will  not  oppose  the 
increase  of  slaves,  which  will  increase  the  commodities  of  which  they  will 
become  the  carriers."  t 

Mr.  Pinckney :  "South  Carolina  can  never  receive  the  plan  if  it  pro- 

*  Elliott's  "  Debates,"  vol.  v,  p.  133.  +  Ibid.,  p.  457. 


576       RISE   AND   FALL   0F  THJ:   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

hibits  the  slave-trade.  In  every  proposed  extension  of  the  powers  of  Con- 
gress, that  State  has  expressly  and  watchfully  excepted  that  of  meddling 
with  the  importation  of  negroes.  If  the  States  be  all  left  at  liberty  on  this 
subject,  South  Carolina  may,  perhaps,  by  degrees,  do  of  herself  what  is 
wished,  as  Virginia  and  Maryland  already  have  done."  * 

"Mr.  Sheeman  was  for  leaving  the  clause  as  it  stands.  He  disapproved 
of  the  slave-trade ;  yet,  as  the  States  were  now  possessed  of  the  right  to 
import  slaves,  as  the  public  good  did  not  require  it  to  be  taken  from  them, 
and  as  it  was  expedient  to  have  as  few  objections  as  possible  to  the  pro- 
posed scheme  of  government,  he  thought  it  best  to  leave  the  matter  as  we 
find  it."  t 

"Mr.  Baldwin  had  conceived  national  objects  alone  to  be  before  the 
Convention :  not  such  as,  like  the  present,  were  of  a  local  nature.  Georgia 
was  decided  on  this  point.  That  State  has  always  hitherto  supposed  a  Gen- 
eral Government  to  be  the  pursuit  of  the  central  States,  who  wished  to  have 
a  vortex  for  everything;  that  her  distance  would  preclude  her  from  equal 
advantage ;  and  that  she  could  not  prudently  purchase  it  by  yielding  na- 
tional powers.  From  this,  it  might  be  understood  in  what  light  she  would 
view  an  attempt  to  abridge  one  of  her  favorite  prerogatives. 

"  If  left  to  herself,  she  may  probably  put  a  stop  to  the  evil.     As  one 

ground  for  this  conjecture,  he  took  notice  of  the  sect  of ,  which, 

he  said  was  a  respectable  class  of  people  who  carried  their  ethics  beyond  the 
mere  equality  of  men,  extending  their  humanity  to  the  claims  of  the  whole 
animal  creation."  J 

"  Mr.  Geeey  thought  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  conduct  of  the 
States  as  to  slaves,  but  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  give  any  sanction  to  it."  § 

"  Mr.  King  thought  the  subject  should  be  considered  in  a  political  light 
only.  If  two  States  will  not  agree  to  the  Constitution,  as  stated  on  one  side, 
he  could  affirm  with  equal  belief,  on  the  other,  that  great  and  equal  oppo- 
sition would  be  experienced  from  the  other  States.  He  remarked  on  the 
exemption  of  slaves  from  duty,  while  every  other  import  was  subjected  to 
it,  as  an  inequality  that  could  not  fail  to  strike  the  commercial  sagacity  of 
the  Northern  and  Middle  States."  || 

Here,  as  will  be  observed,  everywhere  was  recognized  and  admitted  the 
doctrine  of  community  independence  and  State  equality — no  interference 
with  the  institutions  of  a  State — no  interference  even  prospectively  save  and 
except  with  their  consent;  and  thus  it  followed  that  at  one  time  it  was 
proposed  to  except,  from  the  power  to  prohibit  the  further  introduction  of 
Africans,  those  States  which  insisted  upon  retaining  the  power;  and  finally 
it  was  agreed  that  a  date  should  be  fixed  beyond  which,  probably,  none  of 
them  desired  to  retain  it.     These  were  States  acting  in  their  sovereign  ca- 


*  Elliot's  "Debates,"  vol.  v,  p.  457.        \  Jbid.  \  Ibid.,  p.  459. 

§  Ibid.  ||  Ibid.,  p.  460. 


APPENDIX  F.  577 

pacity ;  they  possessed  power  to  do  as  they  pleased;  and  that  was  the  view 
which  they  took  of  it.  I  ask,  then,  how  are  we,  their  descendants,  those  hold- 
ing under  their  authority,  to  assume  a  power  which  they  refused  to  admit, 
upon  principles  eternal  and  lying  at  the  foundation  of  the  Constitution 
itself? 

If,  then,  there  he  no  such  distinction  or  discrimination;  if  protection  be 
the  duty  (and  who  will  deny  it?)  with  which  this  Government  is  charged, 
and  for  which  the  States  pay  taxes,  because  of  which  they  surrendered  their 
armies  and  their  navies ;  if  general  protection  be  the  general  duty,  I  ask,  in 
the  name  of  reason  and  constitutional  right — I  ask  you  to  point  me  to  au- 
thority by  which  a  discrimination  is  made  between  slave-property  and  any 
other.  Yet  this  is  the  question  now  fraught  with  evil  to  our  country.  It  is 
this  which  has  raised  the  hurricane  threatening  to  sweep  our  political  insti- 
tutions before  it.  This  is  the  dark  spot  which  some  already  begin  to  fear 
may  blot  out  the  constellation  of  the  Union  from  the  political  firmament  of 
mankind.  Does  it  not  become  us,  then,  calmly  to  consider  it,  justly  to 
weigh  it ;  to  hold  it  in  balances  from  which  the  dust  has  been  blown,  in 
order  that  we  may  see  where  truth,  right,  and  the  obligations  of  the  Con- 
stitution require  us  to  go  ? 

It  may  be  pardoned  to  one  who,  from  his  earliest  youth  up,  has  been 
connected  with  a  particular  party,  who  has  always  believed  that  the  welfare 
and  the  safety  of  the  country  most  securely  rested  with  that  party,  who 
has  seen  in  the  triumph  of  Democracy  the  triumph  of  the  Union,  and  who 
has  believed  for  years  past  that  the  downfall  of  Democracy  would  be  its  de- 
struction— it  may  be  pardoned,  I  say,  under  such  circumstances  as  these, 
to  such  a  person  as  that,  to  refer  even  in  this  connection  to  that  feature  of 
the  particular  point  which  I  am  discussing,  which  has  been  brought  forward 
by  the  recent  action  of  that  party.  States  met  together  to  consult  as  breth- 
ren, to  see  whether  they  could  agree  as  well  upon  the  candidate  as  upon 
the  creed,  and  it  was  apparent  that  division  had  entered  into  our  ranks. 
After  days  of  discussion,  we  saw  that  party  convention  broken.  We  saw 
the  enemies  of  Democracy  waiting  to  be  invited  to  its  funeral,  and  jestingly 
looking  into  the  blank  faces  of  those  of  us  to  whom  the  telegraph  brought 
the  sad  intelligence.  I  hope  this  is,  however,  but  the  mist  of  the  morning. 
I  have  faith  in  the  Democracy,  and  that  it  still  lives.  I  have  faith  in  the 
patriotism  and  in  the  good  sense  of  the  Democracy,  that  they  will  assert  the 
truth,  boldly  pronounce  it,  meet  the  issue,  and  I  trust  in  the  good  sense  and 
patriotism  of  the  people  for  their  success. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  permissible  to  review  our  present  party 
condition.  For  a  long  time  two  parties  divided  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  The  controversy  was  mainly  upon  questions  of  expediency;  some- 
times of  constitutionality.  They  divided  men  in  all  of  the  States.  The 
contest  was  sometimes  won  by  one,  and  sometimes  by  the  other.  The 
Whig  party  lives  now  but  in  history,  yet  it  has  a  history  of  which  any  of 

37 


578      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

its  members  may  be  proud.  It  bore  the  high  but  not  successful  part  of 
stemming  the  tide  of  popular  impulse,  and  thus  failed  to  attain  the  highest 
power.  Differing  from  them  upon  the  points  at  issue,  I  offer  the  homage 
of  my  respect  to  those  who,  adhering  to  what  they  believed  to  be  true,  go 
down  sooner  than  find  success  in  the  abandonment  of  principle.  With  the 
disappearance  of  that  party — and  perhaps  for  the  very  reasons  that  caused 
its  disappearance — up  rose  radical  organizations  who  strode  so  far  beyond 
progressive  Democracy  that  Democracy  took  the  place  now  left  vacant  by 
the  old  Whig  party,  and  became  the  reservoir  into  which  all  conservatism 
was  poured.  Therefore  it  is  that  so  many  of  those  men,  eminent  in  their 
day,  eminent  for  their  services,  eminent  in  their  history,  have  approved  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  the  present  condition  of  the  country  as  the  only 
conservative  element  which  remains  in  our  politics.  In  the  midst  of  this 
radicalism,  of  this  revolutionary  tendency,  it  becomes  not  the  regret  of  a 
partisan  merely;  it  is  the  sadness  of  an  American  citizen,  that  the  party  on 
which  the  conservative  hopes  of  the  country  hang  has  been  threatened 
with  division,  and  possibly  may  not  hereafter  be  united.  Thanks  to  a  san- 
guine temperament,  thanks  to  an  abiding  faith,  thanks  to  a  confidence  in 
the  Providence  which  has  so  long  ruled  for  good  the  destiny  of  my  country, 
I  believe  it  will  reunite,  and  reunite  upon  sound  and  acceptable  principles. 
At  least,  I  hope  so. 

From  the  postulates  which  I  have  laid  down  result  the  fourth  and  fifth 
resolutions.  They  are  the  two  which  I  expect  to  be  opposed.  They  con- 
tain the  assertion  of  the  equality  of  rights  of  all  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  the  Territories,  and  they  declare  the  obligation  of  the  Congress  to 
see  these  rights  protected.  I  admit  that  the  United  States  may  acquire 
eminent  domain.  I  admit  that  the  United  States  may  have  sovereignty 
over  territory;  otherwise  the  sovereign  jurisdiction  which  we  obtained  by 
conquest  or  treaty  would  not  pass  to  us.  I  deny  that  their  agent,  the 
Federal  Government,  under  the  existing  Constitution,  can  have  eminent 
domain ;  I  deny  that  i£  can  have  sovereignty.  I  consider  it  as  the  mere 
agent  of  the  States — an  agent  of  limited  power ;  and  that  it  can  do  no- 
thing save  that  which  the  Constitution  empowers  it  to  perform  ;  and  that, 
though  the  treaty  or  the  deed  of  cession  may  direct  or  control,  it  can  not 
enlarge  or  expand  the  powers  of  the  Congress  ;  that  it  is  not  sovereign  in 
any  essential  particular.  It  has  functions  to  perform,  and  those  functions  I 
propose  now  to  consider. 

The  power  of  Congress  over  the  Territories — a  subject  not  well  defined 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — has  been  drawn  from  various 
sources  by  different  advocates  of  that  power.  One  has  found  it  in  the 
grant  of  power  to  dispose  of  the  Territory  and  other  public  property.  That 
is  to  say,  because  the  agent  was  authorized  to  sell  a  particular  thing,  or  to 
dispose  of  it  by  grant  or  barter,  therefore  he  has  sovereign  power  over  that 
and  all  else  which  the  principal,  constituting  him  an  agent,  may  hereafter 


APPENDIX  F.  579 

acquire!  The  property,  besides  the  land,  consisted  of  forts,  of  ships,  of 
armaments,  and  other  things  which  had  belonged  to  the  States  in  their 
separate  capacity,  and  were  turned  over  to  the  Government  of  the  Confed- 
eration, and  transferred  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
this,  together  with  the  land  so  transferred,  the  Federal  Government  had 
the  power  to  dispose ;  and  of  territory  thereafter  acquired,  of  arms  there- 
after made  or  purchased,  of  forts  thereafter  constructed,  or  custom-houses, 
or  docks,  or  lights,  or  buoys ;  of  all  these,  of  course,  it  had  power  to  dis- 
pose. It  had  the  power  to  create  them ;  it  must,  of  necessity,  have  had 
the  power  to  dispose  of  them.  It  was  only  necessary  to  confer  the  power 
to  dispose  of  those  things  which  the  Federal  Government  did  not  create,  of 
those  things  which  came  to  it  from  the  States,  and  over  which  they  might 
signify  their  will  for  its  control. 

I  look  upon  it  as  the  mere  power  to  dispose  of,  for  considerations  and 
objects  defined  in  the  trust,  the  land  held  in  the  United  States,  none  of 
which  then  was  within  the  limits  of  the  States,  and  the  other  public  prop- 
erty which  the  United  States  received  from  the  States  after  the  formation 
of  the  Union.  I  do  not  agree  with  those  who  say  the  Government  has  no 
power  to  establish  a  temporary  and  civil  government  within  a  Territory. 
I  stand  half-way  between  the  extremes  of  squatter  sovereignty  and  of  Con- 
gressional sovereignty.  I  hold  that  the  Congress  has  power  to  establish  a 
civil  government ;  that  it  derives  it  from  the  grants  of  the  Constitution — 
not  the  one  which  is  referred  to ;  and  I  hold  that  that  power  is.  limited 
and  restrained,  first,  by  the  Constitution  itself,  and  then  by  every  rule  of 
popular  liberty  and  sound  discretion,  to  the  narrowest  limits  which  the 
necessities  of  the  case  require.  The  Congress  has  power  to  defend  the 
territory,  to  repel  invasion,  to  suppress  insurrection;  the  Congress  has 
power  to  see  the  laws  executed.  For  this  it  may  have  a  civil  magistracy — 
territorial  courts.  It  has  the  power  to  establish  a  Federal  judiciary.  To 
that  Federal  judiciary,  from  these  local  courts,  may  come  up  to  be  decided 
questions  with  regard  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  These,  combined,  give  power  to  establish  a 
temporary  government,  sufficient,  perhaps,  for  the  simple  wants  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  Territory,  until  they  shall  acquire  the  population,  until 
they  shall  have  the  resources  and  the  interests  which  justify  them  in  be- 
coming a  State.  I  am  sustained  in  this  view  of  the  case  by  an  opinion  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  1845,  in  the  case  of  Pollard's 
Lessee  vs.  P.  Hagan  (3  Howard,  222,  223),  in  which  the  Court  say : 

"Taking  the  legislative  acts  of  the  United  States,  and  the  States  of 
Virginia  and  Georgia,  and  their  deeds  of  cession  to  the  United  States,  and 
giving  to  each  separately,  and  to  all  jointly,  a  fair  interpretation,  we  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  parties  to  invest  the 
United  States  with  the  eminent  domain  of  the  country  ceded,  both  national 
and  municipal,  for  the  purposes  of  temporary  government ;  and  to  hold  it  in 


580      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

trust  for  the  performance  of  the  stipulations  and  conditions  expressed  in  the 
deeds  of  cession  and  the  legislative  acts  connected  with  them." 

This  was  a  question  of  land.  It  was  land  lying  between  high  and  low 
water,  over  which  the  United  States  claimed  to  have  and  to  exercise  author- 
ity, because  of  the  terms  on  which  Alabama  had  been  admitted  into  the 
Union.     In  that  connection  the  Court  say,  in  the  same  case : 

"  When  Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  original  States,  she  succeeded  to  all  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  jurisdiction, 
and  eminent  domain  which  Georgia  possessed  at  the  date  of  the  cession,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  this  right  was  diminished  by  the  public  lands  remaining  in 
the  possession  and  under  the  control  of  the  United  States  for  the  temporary 
purpose  provided  for  in  the  deeds  of  cession  and  the  legislative  acts  con- 
nected with  it.  Nothing  remained  in  the  United  States,  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  agreement,  but  the  public  lands;  and  if  an  express  stipulation 
had  been  inserted  in  the  agreement,  granting  the  municipal  right  of  sov- 
ereignty and  eminent  domain  to  the  United  States,  such  stipulation  would 
have  been  void  and  inoperative ;  because  the  United  States  has  no  constitu- 
tional capacity  to  exercise  municipal  jurisdiction,  sovereignty,  or  eminent 
domain  within  the  limits  of  a  State  or  elsewhere,  except  in  the  cases  in 
which  it  is  expressly  granted." 

Another  case  arose  not  long  afterward,  in  which  not  land,  but  religion, 
was  involved,  where  suit  was  brought  against  the  municipality  of  New 
Orleans  because  they  would  not  allow  a  dead  body  to  be  exposed  at  a  place 
where,  according  to  the  religious  rites  of  those  interested,  it  was  deemed 
they  had  a  right  thus  to  expose  it.  On  that  the  Supreme  Court  say,  speak- 
ing of  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  Louisiana : 

"  So  far  as  they  conferred  political  rights  and  secured  civil  and  religious 
liberties  (which  are  political  rights)  the  laws  of  Congress  were  all  suspended 
by  the  State  Constitution ;  nor  is  any  part  of  them  in  force,  unless  they 
were  adopted  by  the  Constitution  of  Louisiana,  as  laws  of  the  State."  * 

Thus  we  find  the  Supreme  Court  sustaining  the  proposition  that  the 
Federal  Government  has  power  to  establish  a  temporary  civil  government 
within  the  limits  of  a  Territory,  but  that  it  can  enact  no  law  which  will 
endure  beyond  the  temporary  purposes  for  which  such  government  was 
established.  In  other  cases  the  decisions  of  the  Court  run  in  the  same 
line ;  and  in  1855  the  then  Attorney-General,  most  learned  in  his  profession 
— and  in  what  else  is  he  not  learned,  for  he  may  be  said  to  be  a  man  of  uni- 
versal acquirements  ? — Attorney-General  Cushing  then  foretold  what  must 
have  been  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
anticipating  the  decision  subsequeutly  made  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott ;  that 
decision  for  which  the  venerable  justices  have  been  so  often  and  so  violently 
arraigned.    He  foretold  it  as  the  necessary  consequence  from  the  line  of  pre- 

*  Permoli  vs.  First  Municipality,  3  Iloward,  610. 


APPENDIX  F.  581 

cedents  descending  from  1842,  affirmed  and  reaffirmed  in  different  cases, 
and  now  bearing  on  a  case  similar  in  principle,  and  only  different  in  the 
mere  reference  to  the  subject  involved  from  those  which  had  gone  before. 
As  connected  with  the  decision  which  had  agitated  the  peace  of  the  country ; 
I'as  the  anticipation  of  that  decision  before  it  was  made,  viewing  it  as  the 
necessary  consequence  of  the  decisions  which  the  court  had  made  before ; 
if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  Senate,  I  ask  my  friend  from  South  Carolina 
[Mr.  Chesnut]  to  read  for  me  a  letter  of  the  Attorney-General,  being  an 
official  answer  made  by  him  in  relation  to  the  military  reservation  which 
[was  involved  in  the  question  before  him. 

Mr.  Chesnut  read  from  the  "Opinions  of  the  Attorneys-General,"  vol. 
vii,  page  575 : 

"  The  Supreme  Court  has  determined  that  the  United  States  never  held 
any  municipal  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  right  of  soil  in  the  territory  of 
which  any  of  the  new  States  have  been  formed,  except  for  temporary 
purposes,  and  to  execute  the  trusts  created  by  the  deeds  of  cession.  .  .  . 

"  By  the  force  of  the  same  principle,  and  in  the  same  line  of  adjudica- 
tions, the  Supreme  Court  would  have  had  to  decide  that  the  provision  of  the 
act  of  March  6,  1820,  which  undertakes  to  determine  in  advance  the  muni- 
cipal law  of  all  that  portion  of  the  original  province  of  Louisiana  which  lies 
north  of  the  parallel  36°  30'  north  latitude,  was  null  and  void  ab  incepto,  if  it 
had  not  been  repealed  by  a  recent  act  of  Congress.  (Compare  iv,  Statutes  at 
Large,  p.  848,  and  x,  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  289.)  For  an  act  of  Congress  which 
pretends  of  right,  and  without  consent  or  compact,  to  impose  on  the 
municipal  power  of  any  new  State  or  States  limitations  and  restrictions  not 
imposed  on  all,  is  contrary  to  the  fundamental  condition  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, according  to  which  there  is  to  be  equality  of  right  between  the  old  and 
new  States  'in  all  respects  whatsoever.'  " 

Mr.  Davis  :  It  was  not  long  after  this  official  opinion  of  the  Attorney- 
General  before  the  case  arose  on  which  the  decision  was  made  which  has 
so  agitated  the  country.  Fortunate  indeed  was  it  for  the  public  peace  that 
land  and  religion  had  been  decided— those  questions  on  which  men  might 
reason  had  been  the  foundation  of  judicial  decision — before  that  which 
drives  all  reason,  it  seems,  from  the  mind  of  man,  came  to  be  presented 
the  question  whether  Cuffee  should  be  kept  in  his  normal  condition  or  not; 
the  question  whether  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  could  decide  what 
might  or  might  not  be  property  in  a  Territory — the  case  being  that  of  an 
officer  of  the  army  sent  into  a  Territory  to  perform  his  public  duty,  having 
taken  with  him  his  negro  slave.  The  court,  however,  in  giving  their  deci- 
sion in  this  case — or  their  opinion,  if  it  suits  gentlemen  better — have  gone 
into  the  question  with  such  clearness,  such  precision,  and  such  amplitude, 
that  it  will  relieve  me  from  the  necessity  of  arguing  it  any  further  than  to 
make  a  reference  to  some  sentences  contained  in  that  opinion.  And  here  let 
me  say,  I  can  not  see  how  those  who  agreed  on  a  former  occasion  that  the 


582      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

constitutional  right  of  the  slaveholder  to  take  his  property  into  the  Ter- 
ritory— the  constitutional  power  of  the  Congress  and  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  Territory  to  legislate  upon  that  subject — should  be  a  judicial 
question,  can  now  attempt  to  escape  the  operation  of  an  opinion  which 
covers  the  exact  political  question  which,  it  was  known  beforehand,  the 
Court  would  be  called  upon  to  decide.  Decided  in  strictness  of  technical 
language,  it  was  known  it  could  not  be.  Hundreds,  thousands,  a  vast  vari- 
ety of  cases  may  arise,  and  centuries  elapse,  and  leave  that  Court,  if  our 
Union  still  exists,  deciding  questions  in  relation  to  that  character  of  prop- 
erty in  the  Territories ;  but  the  great  and  fundamental  idea  was  that,  after 
thirty  years  of  angry  controversy,  dividing  the  people  and  paralyzing  the 
arm  of  the  Federal  Government,  some  umpire  should  be  sought  which 
would  compose  the  difficulty  and  set  it  upon  a  footing  to  leave  us  in  future 
to  proceed  in  peace ;  and  that  umpire  was  selected  which  the  Constitution 
had  provided  to  decide  questions  of  law.  I  ask  my  friend  to  read  some 
extracts  from  the  decision. 

Mr.  Chesnut  read  as  follows,  from  the  case  of  Dred  Scott  vs.  Sand- 
ford,  pp.  55-57 : 

"  The  Territory  being  a  part  of  the  United  States,  the  Government  and 
the  citizen  both  enter  it  under  the  authority  of  the  Constitution,  with  their 
respective  rights  denned  and  marked  out ;  and  the  Federal  Government  can 
exercise  no  power  over  his  person  or  property  beyond  what  that  instru- 
ment confers,  nor  lawfully  deny  any  right  which  it  has  reserved.  .  .  . 

"  The  powers  over  person  and  property,  of  which  we  speak,  are  not  only 
not  granted  to  Congress,  but  are  in  express  terms  denied,  and  they  are 
forbidden  to  exercise  them.  And  this  prohibition  is  not  confined  to  the 
States,  but  the  words  are  general,  and  extend  to  the  whole  territory  over 
which  the  Constitution  gives  it  power  to  legislate,  including  those  portions 
of  it  remaining  under  territorial  government,  as  well  as  that  covered  by 
States.  It  is  a  total  absence  of  power  everywhere  within  the  dominion  of 
the  United  States,  and  places  the  citizens  of  a  Territory,  so  far  as  these 
rights  are  concerned,  on  the  same  footing  with  citizens  of  the  States,  and 
guards  them  as  firmly  and  plainly  against  any  inroads  which  the  General 
Government  might  attempt  under  the  plea  of  implied  or  incidental  powers. 
And  if  Congress  itself  can  not  do  this — if  it  is  beyond  the  powers  conferred 
on  the  Federal  Government — it  will  be  admitted,  we  presume,  that  it  could 
not  authorize  a  territorial  government  to  exercise  them.  It  could  confer 
no  power  on  any  local  government,  established  by  its  authority,  to  violate 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  . 

"And  if  the  Constitution  recognizes  the  right  of  property  of  the  master 
in  the  slave,  and  makes  no  distinction  between  that  description  of  property 
and  other  property  owned  by  a  citizen,  no  tribunal,  acting  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  United  States,  whether  it  be  legislative,  executive,  or  judicial, 
has  a  right  to  draw  such  a  distinction,  or  deny  to  it  the  benefit  of  the  pro- 


APPENDIX  F.  583 

visions  and  guarantees  which  have  been  provided  for  the  protection  of 
private  property  against  the  encroachments  of  the  Government.  .  .  . 

"  This  is  done  in  plain  words — too  plain  to  be  misunderstood.  And  no 
word  can  be  found  in  the  Constitution  which  gives  Congress  a  greater 
power  over  slave-property,  or  which  entitles  property  of  that  kind  to  less 
protection  than  property  of  any  other  description.  The  only  power  con- 
ferred is  the  power  coupled  with  the  duty  of  guarding  and  protecting  the 
owner  in  his  rights. 

"  Upon  these  considerations,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court  that  the  act 
of  Congress  which  prohibited  a  citizen  from  holding  and  owning  property 
of  this  kind,  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States  north  of  the  line  therein 
mentioned,  is  not  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  and  is  therefore  void; 
and  that  neither  Dred  Scott  himself,  nor  any  of  his  family,  were  made  free 
by  being  carried  into  this  territory,  even  if  they  had  been  carried  there  by 
the  owner,  with  the  intention  of  becoming  a  permanent  resident." 

Mr.  Davis  :  Here,  then,  Mr.  President,  I  say  the  umpire  selected  as  the 
referee  in  the  controversy  has  decided  that  neither  the  Congress  nor  its 
agent,  the  territorial  government,  has  the  power  to  invade  or  impair  the 
right  of  property  within  the  limits  of  a  Territory.  I  will  not  inquire 
whether  it  be  technically  a  decision  or  not.  It  was  obligatory  on  those  who 
selected  the  umpire  and  agreed  to  abide  by  the  award. 

It  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  been  associated  with  me  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  that,  from  the  commencement  of  the  question,  I  have 
been  the  determined  opponent  of  what  is  called  squatter  sovereignty.  I 
never  gave  it  countenance,  and  I  am  now  least  of  all  disposed  to  give  it 
quarter.  In  1848  it  made  its  appearance  for  good  purposes.  It  was  ushered 
in  by  a  great  and  good  man.  He  brought  it  forward  because  of  that  dis- 
trust which  he  had  in  the  capacity  of  the  Government  to  bear  the  rude 
shock  to  which  it  was  exposed.  His  apprehension,  no  doubt,  to  some  ex- 
tent sharpened  and  directed  his  patriotism,  and  his  reflection  led  him  to  a 
conclusion  to  which,  I  doubt  not,  to-day  he  adheres  as  tenaciously  as  ever ; 
but  from  which  it  was  my  fortune,  good  or  ill,  to  dissent  when  his  letter 
was  read  to  me  in  manuscript — I  being,  together  with  some  other  persons, 
asked,  though  not  by  the  writer,  whether  or  not  it  should  be  sent.  At  the 
first  blush  I  believed  it  to  be  a  fallacy — a  fallacy  fraught  with  mischief ; 
that  it  escaped  an  issue  which  was  upon  us  which  it  was  our  duty  to  meet ; 
that  it  escaped  it  by  a  side  path,  which  led  to  a  greater  danger.  I  thought 
it  a  fallacy  which  would  surely  be  exploded.  I  doubted  then,  and  still  more 
for  some  time  afterward,  when  held  to  a  dread  responsibility  for  the  posi- 
tion which  I  occupied.  I  doubted  whether  I  should  live  to  see  that  fallacy 
exploded.  It  has  been  more  speedily,  and,  to  the  country,  more  injuriously 
than  I  anticipated.  In  the  mean  time,  what  has  been  its  operation?  Let 
Kansas  speak — the  first  great  field  on  which  the  trial  was  made.  What 
was  then  the  consequence?    The  Federal  Government  withdrawing  control, 


584      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

leaving  the  contending  sections,  excited  to  the  highest  point  upon  this 
question,  each  to  send  forth  its  army,  Kansas  became  the  battle-field,  and 
Kansas  the  cry,  which  wellnigh  led  to  civil  war.  This  was  the  first  fruit. 
More  deadly  than  the  fatal  upas,  its  effect  was  not  limited  to  the  mere  spot 
of  ground  on  which  the  dew  fell  from  its  leaves,  but  it  spread  throughout 
the  United  States ;  it  kindled  all  which  had  been  collected  for  years  of  in- 
flammable material.  It  was  owing  to  the  strength  of  our  Government  and 
the  good  sense  of  the  quiet  masses  of  the  people  that  it  did  not  wrap  our 
country  in  one  widespread  conflagration. 

What  right  had  Congress  then,  or  what  right  has  it  now,  to  abdicate  any 
power 'conferred  upon  it  as  trustee  of  the  States?  "What  right  had  Con- 
gress then,  or  has  it  now,  to  shrink  from  the  performance  of  a  duty  because 
the  mere  counters  spread  on  the  table  may  be  swept  off,  when  they  have 
not  answered  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  placed?  What  is  it  to  you, 
or  me,  or  any  one,  when  we  weigh  our  own  continuation  in  place  against 
the  great  interests  of  which  we  are  conservators;  against  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  and  the  liberty  of  our  posterity  to  the  remotest  ages?  What  is 
it,  I  say,  which  can  be  counted  in  the  balance  on  our  side  against  the  per- 
formance of  that  duty  which  is  imposed  upon  us?  If  any  one  believes 
Congress  has  not  the  constitutional  power,  he  acts  conscientiously  in  insist- 
ing upon  Congress  not  usurping  it.  If  any  one  believes  that  the  squatters 
upon  the  lands  of  the  United  States  within  a  Territory  are  invested  with 
sovereignty,  having  won  it  by  some  of  those  processes  unknown  to  history, 
without  grant,  or  without  revolution,  without  money  and  without  price,  he, 
adhering  to  the  theory,  may  pursue  it  to  its  conclusion.  To  the  first  class, 
those  who  claim  sovereign  power  over  the  Territories  for  Congress,  I  say, 
lay  your  hand  upon  the  Constitution,  and  find  there  the  warrant  of  your 
authority.  Of  the  second,  those  of  whom  I  have  last  spoken,  I  ask,  in 
the  Constitution,  reason,  right,  or  justice,  what  is  there  to  sustain  your 
theory  ? 

The  phraseology  which  has  been  employed  on  this  question  seems  to 
me  to  betray  a  strange  confusion  of  ideas — to  speak  of  a  sovereignty,  a 
plenary  legislative  power  deriving  its  power  from  an  agent ;  a  sovereignty 
held  subject  to  articles  with  the  formation  of  which  that  sovereignty  had 
nothing  to  do  ;  a  compact  to  which  it  was  not  a  party!  You  say  to  a  sov- 
ereign :  "  A  and  B  have  agreed  on  certain  terms  between  themselves,  and 
you  must  govern  your  conduct  according  to  them ;  yet  I  do  not  deny  your 
sovereignty!"  That  is,  the  power  to  do  as  they  please,  provided  it  con- 
forms to  the  rule  which  others  chose  to  lay  down !  Can  this  be  a  definition 
of  sovereignty  ? 

But  again,  sir,  nothing  seems  to  me  more  illogical  than  the  argument 
that  this  power  is  acquired  by  a  grant  from  the  Congress,  connected  with 
the  other  argument  that  Congress  have  not  got  the  power  to  do  the  act 
themselves;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  recipient  takes  more  than  the  giver 


APPENDIX  F.  585 

possessed ;  that  a  Territorial  Legislature  can  do  anything  which  a  State 
Legislature  can  do,  and  that  "  subject  to  the  Constitution  "  means  merely 
the  restraints  imposed  upon  both.  This  is  confouuding  the  whole  theory 
and  the  history  of  our  Government.  The  States  were  the  grantors ;  they 
made  the  compact ;  they  gave  the  Federal  agent  its  powers ;  they  inhibited 
themselves  from  doing  certain  things,  and  all  else  they  retained  to  them- 
selves. This  Federal  agent  got  just  so  much  as  the  States  chose  to  give — 
no  more.  It  could  do  nothing  save  by  warrant  of  the  authority  of  the  grant 
made  by  the  States.  Therefore  its  powers  are  not  comparable  to  the  powers 
of  the  State  Legislature,  because  one  is  the  creature  of  grant,  and  the  other 
the  exponent  of  sovereign  power.  The  Supreme  Court  have  covered  the 
whole  ground  of  the  relation  of  the  Congress  to  the  Territorial  Legislatures 
— the  agent  of  the  States  and  the  agent  of  the  Congress— and  the  restric- 
tions put  upon  the  one  are  those  put  upon  the  other — in  language  so  clear 
as  to  render  it  needless  further  to  dwell  upon  the  subject. 

In  1850,  following  the  promulgation  of  this  notion  of  squatter  sov- 
ereignty, we  had  the  idea  of  non-intervention  introduced  into  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  and  it  is  strange  to  me  how  that  idea  has  expanded.  It 
seems  to  have  been  more  malleable  than  gold;  to  have  been  hammered  out 
to  an  extent  that  covers  boundless  regions  undiscovered  by  those  who  pro- 
claimed the  doctrine.  Non-intervention  then  meant,  as  the  debates  show, 
that  Congress  should  neither  prohibit  nor  establish  slavery  in  the  Territo- 
ries. That  I  hold  to  now.  Will  any  one  suppose  that  it  was  then  meant 
by  non-intervention  that  Congress  should  legislate  in  no  regard  in  respect 
to  property  in  slaves?  "Why,  sir,  the  very  acts  which  they  passed  at  the 
time  refute  it.  There  is  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  that  abomination  of 
laws  which  assumed  to  confiscate  the  property  of  a  citizen  who  should 
attempt  to  bring  it  into  this  District  with  intent  to  remove  it  to  sell  it  at 
some  other  time  and  at  some  other  place.  Congress  acted  then  upon  the 
subject — acted  beyond  the  limit  of  its  authority,  as  I  believed,  confidently 
believed ;  and,  if  ever  that  act  comes  before  the  Supreme  Court,  I  feel  satis- 
fied they  will  declare  it  null  and  void.  Are  we  to  understand  that  those 
men,  thus  acting  at  the  very  moment,  intended  by  non-intervention  to  deny 
and  repudiate  the  laws  they  were  then  creating  ?  The  man  who  stood  most 
prominently  the  advocate  of  the  measures  of  that  year,  who,  great  in  many 
periods  of  our  history,  perhaps  shone  then  with  the  brightest  light  his 
genius  ever  emitted — I  refer  to  Henry  Clay — has  given  his  own  view  on 
this  subject;  and  I  suppose  he  may  be  considered  as  the  highest  authority. 
On  June  18,  1850,  I  had  introduced  an  amendment  to  the  compromise  bill, 
providing : 

"  And  that  all  laws,  or  parts  of  laws,  usages,  or  customs,  preexisting  in 
the  Territories  acquired  by  the  United  States  from  Mexico,  and  which  in 
said  Territories  restrict,  abridge,  or  obstruct,  the  full  enjoyment  of  any 
right  of  person  or  property  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  as  recognized 


586      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

or  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  are  hereby 
declared  and  shall  be  held  as  repealed." 

Upon  that,  Mr.  Clay  said : 

"  Mr.  Peesident  :  I  thought  that  upon  this  subject  there  had  been  a  clear 
understanding  in  the  Senate  that  the  Senate  would  not  decide  itself  upon 
the  lex  loci  as  it  respects  slavery ;  that  the  Senate  would  not  allow  the 
Territorial  Legislature  to  pass  any  law  upon  that  question.  In  other  words, 
that  it  would  leave  the  operation  of  the  local  law,  or  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  upon  that  local  law,  to  be  decided  by  the  proper  and 
competent  tribunal — the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States."—- (Appendix 
to  Congressional  Globe,  Thirty-first  Congress,  first  session,  p.  916.) 

That  was  the  position  taken  by  Mr.  Clay,  the  leader.  A  mere  sentence 
will  show  with  what  view  I  regarded  the  dogma  of  non-intervention  when 
that  amendment  was  offered.    I  said : 

"But  what  is  non-intervention  seems  to  vary  as  often  as  the  light  and 
shade  of  every  fleeting  cloud.  It  has  different  meanings  in  every  State,  in 
every  county,  in  every  town.  If  non-intervention  means  that  we  shall 
not  have  protection  for  our  property  in  slaves,  then  I  always  was,  and 
always  shall  be,  opposed  to  it.  If  it  means  that  we  shall  not  have  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law  because  it  would  favor  slaveholders,  that  Congress  shall 
not  legislate  so  as  to  secure  to  us  the  benefits  of  the  Constitution,  then  I  am 
opposed  to  non-intervention,  and  shall  always  be  opposed  to  it." — (Appen- 
dix to  Congressional  Globe,  Thirty-first  Congress,  first  session,  p.  919.) 

Mr.  Downs,  one  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  and  an  advocate  of  the 
measures,  said : 

"  What  I  understand  by  non-intervention  is,  an  interposition  of  Con- 
gress prohibiting,  or  establishing,  or  interfering  with  slavery." — (Appendix 
to  Congressional  Globe,   Thirty-first  Congress,  first  session,  p.  99.) 

By  what  species  of  legerdemain  this  doctrine  of  non-intervention  has 
come  to  extend  to  a  paralysis  of  the  Government  on  the  whole  subject,  to 
exclude  the  Congress  from  any  kind  of  legislation  whatever,  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  conceive.  Certain  it  is,  it  was  not  the  theory  of  that  period,  and  it  was 
not  contended  for  in  all  the  controversies  we  had  then.  I  had  no  faith  in 
it  then ;  I  considered  it  an  evasion ;  I  held  that  the  duty  of  Congress  ought 
to  be  performed ;  that  the  issue  was  before  us,  and  ought  to  be  met,  the 
sooner  the  better ;  that  truth  would  prevail  if  presented  to  the  people ; 
borne  down  to-day,  it  would  rise  up  to-morrow ;  and  I  stood  then  on  the 
same  general  plea  which  I  am  making  now.  The  Senator  from  Illinois 
[Mr.  Douglas]  and  myself  differed  at  that  time,  as  I  presume  we  do  now. 
We  differed  radically  then.  He  opposed  every  proposition  which  I  made, 
voting  against  propositions  to  give  power  to  a  Territorial  Legislature  to 
protect  slave-property  which  should  be  taken  there;  to  remove  the  obstruc- 
tions of  the  Mexican  laws;  voting  for  a  proposition  to  exclude  the  conclu- 
sion that  slaves  might  be  held  there ;  voting  for  the  proposition  expressly 


APPENDIX  F.  587 

to  prohibit  its  introduction;  voting  for  the  proposition  to  keep  in  force 
the  laws  of  Mexico  which  prohibited  it.  Some  of  these  votes,  it  is  but 
just  to  him  I  should  say,  I  think  he  gave  perforce  of  his  instructions;  but 
others  of  them,  I  think  it  is  equally  fair  to  suppose,  were  outside  of  the 
limits  of  any  instructions  which  could  have  been  given  before  the  fact. 

In  1854,  advancing  in  this  same  general  line  of  thought,  the  Congress, 
in  enacting  territorial  bills,  left  out  a  provision  which  had  before  been 
usually  contained  in  them,  requiring  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  to 
submit  its  laws  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  It  has  been  some- 
times assumed  that  this  was  the  recognition  of  the  power  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature  to  exercise  plenary  legislation,  as  might  that  of  a  State.  It  will 
be  remembered  that,  when  our  present  form  of  government  was  instituted, 
there  were  those  who  believed  the  Federal  Government  should  have  the 
power  of  revision  over  the  laws  of  a  State.  It  was  long  and  ably  con- 
tended for  in  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Constitution ;  and  one  of 
the  compromises  which  was  made  was  a  provision  to  lodge  an  appellate 
power  in  the  Supreme  Court  to  decide  questions  of  constitutional  law. 

But  did  this  omission  of  the  obligation  to  send  here  the  laws  of  the  Ter- 
ritories work  this  grant  of  power  to  the  Territorial  Legislature?  Certainly 
not ;  it  could  not ;  and  that  it  did  not  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that,  at  a  sub- 
sequent period,  the  organic  act  was  revised  because  the  legislation  of  the 
Territory  of  Kansas  was  offensive  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
Congress  could  not  abdicate  its  authority ;  it  could  not  abandon  its  trust ; 
and,  when  it  omitted  the  requirement  that  the  laws  should  be  sent  back,  it 
created  a  casus  which  required  it  to  act  without  the  official  records  being 
laid  before  it,  as  they  would  have  been  if  the  obligation  had  existed.  That 
was  all  the  difference.  It  was  not  enforcing  upon  the  agent  the  obliga- 
tion to  send  the  information.  It  left  Congress,  as  to  its  power,  just  where 
it  was.  I  find  myself  physically  unable  to  go  as  fully  into  the  subject  as  I 
intended,  and  therefore,  omitting  a  reference  to  those  acts,  suffice  it  to 
say  that  here  was  the  recognition  of  the  obligation  of  Congress  to  inter- 
pose against  a  Territorial  Legislature  for  the  protection  of  personal  right. 
That  is  what  we  ask  of  Congress  now.  I  am  not  disposed  to  ask  this  Con- 
gress to  go  into  speculative  legislation.  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  would 
willingly  see  this  Congress  enact  a  code  to  be  applied  to  all  Territories  and 
for  all  time  to  come.  I  only  ask  that  cases,  as  they  arise,  may  be  met  ac- 
cording to  the  exigency.  I  ask  that  when  personal  and  property  rights  in 
the  Territories  are  not  pretected,  then  the  Congress,  by  existing  laws  and 
governmental  machinery,  shall  intervene  and  provide  such  means  as  will 
secure  in  each  case,  as  far  as  may  be,  an  adequate  remedy.  I  ask  no  slave 
code,  nor  horse  code,  nor  machine  code.  I  ask  that  the  Territorial  Legis- 
lature be  made  to  understand  beforehand  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  does  not  concede  to  them  the  power  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of 
person  or  property  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  and  that  it  will  apply 


588      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

the  remedy,  if  the  Territorial  Legislature  should  so  far  forget  its  duty,  so 
far  transcend  its  power,  as  to  commit  that  violation  of  right.  That  is  the 
announcement  of  the  fifth  resolution. 

These  are  the  general  views  which  I  entertain  of  our  right  of  protec- 
tion and  the  duty  of  the  Government.  They  are  those  which  are  enter- 
tained by  the  constituency  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  whose  delegation 
has  recently  announced  those  principles  at  Charleston.  I  honor  them,  and 
I  approve  their  conduct.  I  think  their  bearing  was  worthy  of  the  mother- 
State  which  sent  them  there  ;  and  I  doubt  not  she  will  receive  them  with 
joy  and  gratitude.  They  have  asserted  and  vindicated  her  equality  of 
right.  By  that  asserted  equality  of  right  I  doubt  not  she  will  stand.  For 
weal  or  for  woe,  for  prosperity  or  adversity,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
great  blessings  which  we  enjoy,  or  the  trial  of  a  new  and  separate  condi- 
tion, I  trust  Mississippi  never  will  surrender  the  smallest  atom  of  the  sov- 
ereignty, independence,  and  equality,  to  which  she  was  born,  to  avoid  any 
danger  or  any  sacrifice  to  which  she  may  hereby  be  exposed. 

The  sixth  resolution  of  the  series  declares  at  what  time  a  State  may 
form  a  Constitution  and  decide  upon  her  domestic  institutions.  I  deny 
this  right  to  the  territorial  condition,  because  the  Territory  belongs  in  com- 
mon to  the  States.  Every  citizen  of  the  United  States,  as  a  joint  owner  of 
that  Territory,  has  a  right  to  go  into  it  with  any  property  which  he  may 
possess.  These  territorial  inhabitants  require  municipal  law,  police,  and 
government.  They  should  have  them,  but  they  should  be  restricted  to  their 
own  necessities.  They  have  no  right  within  their  municipal  power  to  attempt 
to  decide  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  States.  They  have  no  right  to 
exclude  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  from  owning  and  equally  enjoying 
this  common  possession  ;  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  order,  and  giv- 
ing protection  to  rights  of  person  and  property,  that  a  municipal  territorial 
government  should  be  instituted. 

The  last  resolution  refers  to  a  law  founded  on  a  provision  of  the  Consti- 
tution, which  contains  an  obligation  of  faith  to  every  State  of  the  Union ; 
and  that  obligation  of  faith  has  been  violated  by  thirteen  States  of  the  Con- 
federacy— as  many  as  originally  fought  the  battles  of  the  Revolution  and  es- 
tablished the  Confederation.  Is  it  to  be  expected  that  a  compact  thus  broken 
in  part,  violated  in  its  important  features,  will  be  regarded  as  binding  in  all 
else  ?  Is  the  free  trade  which  the  North  sought  in  the  formation  of  the 
Union,  and  for  which  the  States  generally  agreed  to  give  Congress  the  power 
to  regulate  commerce,  to  be  trampled  under  foot  by  laws  of  obstruction,  not 
giving  to  the  citizens  of  the  South  that  free  transit  across  the  territory  of 
the  Northern  States  which  we  might  claim  from  any  friendly  state  under 
Christendom ;  and  is  Congress  to  stand  powerless  by,  on  the  doctrine  of  non- 
intervention ?  We  have  a  right  to  claim  abstinence  from  interference  with 
our  rights  from  any  Government  on  the  earth.     Shall  we  claim  no  more 


APPENDIX  F.  589 

from  that  which  we  have  constituted  for  our  own  purposes,  and  which  we 
support  by  draining  our  own  means  for  its  support? 

"We*  have  had  agitation,  changing  in  its  form,  and  gathering  intensity, 
for  the  last  forty  years.  It  was  first  for  political  power,  and  directed 
against  new  States ;  now  it  has  assumed  a  social  form,  is  all-prevailing,  and 
has  reached  the  point  of  revolution  and  civil  war.  For  it  was  only  last  fall 
that  an  overt  act  was  committed  by  men  who  were  sustained  by  arms  and 
money,  raised  by  extensive  combination  among  the  non-slaveholding  States, 
to  carry  treasonable  war  against  the  State  of  Virginia,  because  now,  as  be- 
fore the  Eevolution,  and  ever  since,  she  held  the  African  in  bondage.  This 
is  part  of  the  history  and  marks  the  necessity  of  the  times.  It  warns  us  to 
stop  and  reflect,  to  go  back  to  the  original  standard,  to  measure  our  acts  by 
the  obligation  of  our  fathers,  by  the  pledges  they  made  one  to  the  other,  to 
see  whether  we  are  conforming  to  our  plighted  faith,  and  to  ask  seriously, 
solemnly,  looking  each  other  inquiringly  in  the  face,  what  we  should  do  to 
save  our  country. 

This  agitation  being  at  first  one  of  sectional  pride  for  political  power,  has 
at  last  degenerated  or  grown  up  to  (as  you  please)  a  trade.  There  are  men 
who  habitually  set  aside  a  portion  of  money  which  they  are  annually  to  ap- 
ply to  what  are  called  "charitable  purposes" — that  is  to  say,  so  far  as  I 
understand  it,  to  support  some  vagrant  lecturer,  whose  purpose  is  agitation 
and  mischief  wherever  he  goes.  This  constitutes,  therefore,  a  trade;  a 
class  of  people  are  thus  employed — employed  for  mischief,  for  incendiary 
purposes,  perhaps  not  always  understood  by  those  who  furnish  tlie  money; 
but  such  is  the  effect ;  such  is  the  result  of  their  action ;  and  in  this  state  of 
the  case  I  call  upon  the  Senate  to  affirm  the  great  principles  on  which  our 
institutions  rest.  In  no  spirit  of  crimination  have  I  stated  the  reasons  why 
I  present  it.  For  these  reasons  I  call  upon  them  now  to  restrain  the  growth 
of  evil  passion,  and  to  bring  back  the  public  sense  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  by 
earnest  and  united  effort,  if  it  may  be,  to  crown  our  country  with  peace, 
and  start  it  once  more  in  its  primal  channel  on  a  career  of  progressive 
prosperity  and  justice. 

The  majority  section  can  not  be  struggling  for  additional  power  in  order 
to  preserve  their  rights.  If  any  of  them  ever  believed  in  what  is  called 
Southern  aggression,  they  know  now  they  have  the  majority  in  the  repre- 
sentative districts  and  in  the  electoral  college.  They  can  not,  therefore, 
fear  an  invasion  of  their  rights.  They  need  no  additional  political  power  to 
protect  them  from  that.  The  argument,  then,  or  the  reason  on  which  this 
agitation  commenced,  has  passed  away ;  and  yet  we  are  asked,  if  a  party 
hostile  to  our  institutions  shall  gain  possession  of  the  Government,  that  we 
shall  stand  quietly  by,  and  wait  for  an  overt  act.  Overt  act!  Is  not  a 
declaration  of  war  an  overt  act?  What  would  be  thought  of  a  country 
that,  after  a  declaration  of  war,  and  while  the  enemy's  fleets  were  upon  the 
sea,  should  wait  until  a  city  had  been  sacked  before  it  would  say  that  war 


590      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

existed,  or  resistance  should  be  made?  The  power  of  resistance  consists,  in 
no  small  degree,  in  meeting  the  evil  at  the  outer  gate.  I  can  speak  for  my- 
self— and  I  have  no  right  to  speak  for  others — when  I  say  that,  if  I  belonged 
to  a  party  organized  on  the  basis  of  making  war  on  any  section  or  interest 
in  the  United  States,  if  I  know  myself,  I  would  instantly  quit  it.  We  have 
made  no  war  against  you.  We  have  asked  no  discrimination  in  our  favor. 
We  claim  to  have  but  the  Constitution  fairly  and  equally  administered.  To 
consent  to  less  than  this  would  be  to  sink  in  the  scale  of  manhood ;  would 
be  to  make  our  posterity  so  degraded  that  they  would  curse  this  generation 
for  robbing  them  of  the  rights  their  Eevolutionary  fathers  bequeathed 
them.  .  .  . 

Among  the  great  purposes  declared  in  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution 
is  one  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare.  Provision  for  the  general  welfare 
implies  general  fraternity.  This  Union  was  not  expected  to  be  held  to- 
gether by  coercion;  the  power  of  force  as  a  means  was  denied.  They 
sought,  however,  to  bind  it  perpetually  together  with  that  which  was 
stronger  than  triple  bars  of  brass  and  steel — the  ceaseless  current  of  kind 
offices,  renewing  and  renewed  in  an  eternal  flow,  and  gathering  volume  and 
velocity  as  it  rolled.  It  was  a  function  intended  not  for  the  injury  of  any. 
It  declared  its  purpose  to  be  the  benefit  of  all.  Concessions  which  were 
made  between  the  different  States  in  the  Convention  prove  the  motive. 
Each  gave  to  the  other  what  was  necessary  to  it;  what  each  could  afford  to 
spare.  Young  as  a  nation,  our  triumphs  under  this  system  have  had  no 
parallel  in  human  history.  We  have  tamed  a  wilderness ;  we  have  spanned 
a  continent.  We  have  built  up  a  granary  that  secures  the  commercial  world 
against  the  fear  of  famine.  Higher  than  all  this,  we  have  achieved  a  moral 
triumph.  We  have  received,  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  a  constant  tide  of 
immigrants — energetic,  if  not  well  educated,  fleeing,  some  from  want,  some 
from  oppression,  some  from  the  penalties  of  violated  law — received  them 
into  our  society;  and  by  the  gentle  suasion  of  a  Government  which  exhibits 
no  force,  by  removing  want  and  giving  employment,  they  have  subsided 
into  peaceful  citizens,  and  have  increased  the  wealth  and  power  of  our 
country. 

If,  then,  this  temple  so  blessed,  and  to  the  roof  of  which  we  were  about 
to  look  to  see  it  extended  over  the  continent,  giving  a  protecting  arm  to  in- 
fant republics  that  need  it — if  this  temple  is  tottering  on  its  pillars,  what,  I 
ask,  can  be  a  higher  or  nobler  duty  for  the  Senate  to  perform  than  to  rush 
to  its  pillars  and  uphold  them,  or  be  crushed  in  the  attempt?  We  have 
tampered  with  a  question  which  has  grown  in  magnitude  by  each  year's 
delay.  It  requires  to  be  plainly  met — the  truth  to  be  told.  The  patriotism 
and  the  sound  sense  of  the  people,  whenever  the  Federal  Government  from 
its  high  places  of  authority  shall  proclaim  the  truth  in  unequivocal  language, 
will,  in  my  firm  belief,  receive  and  approve  it.  But  so  long  as  we  deal, 
like  the  Delphic  oracle,  in  words  of  double  meaning,  so  long  as  we  attempt 


APPENDIX  G.  591 

to  escape  from  responsibility,  and  exhibit  our  fear  to  declare  the  truth  by 
the  fact  that  we  do  not  act  upon  it,  we  must  expect  speculative  theory  to 
occupy  the  mind  of  the  public,  and  error  to  increase  as  time  rolls  on.  But, 
if  the  sad  fate  should  be  ours,  for  this  most  minute  cause,  to  destroy  our 
Government,  the  historian  who  shall  attempt  philosophically  to  examine 
the  question  will,  after  he  has  put  on  his  microscopic  glasses  and  discovered 
it,  be  compelled  to  cry  out,  "Veritably  so  the  unseen  insect  in  the  course  of 
time  destroys  the  mighty  oak!"  Now,  I  believe — may  I  not  say  I  believe? 
if  not,  then  I  hope — there  is  yet  time,  by  the  full,  explicit  declaration  of  the 
truth,  to  disabuse  the  popular  mind,  to  arouse  the  popular  heart,  to  ex- 
pose the  danger  from  lurking  treason  and  ill-concealed  hostility ;  to  rally  a 
virtuous  people  to  their  country's  rescue,  who,  circling  closer  and  deeper  as 
the  storm  gathers  fury,  around  the  ark  of  their  fathers'  covenant,  will  place 
it  in  security,  there  happily  to  remain  a  sign  of  fraternity,  justice,  and 
equality,  to  our  remotest  posterity. 


APPENDIX  G. 

Cokkespondence  between  the  Commissioners  of  South  Carolina 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States  (Mr.  Buchanan)  relative  to 
the  forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston. 

Letter  of  the  Commissioners  to  the  President. 

Washington,  December  28,  1860. 

Sir  :  "We  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  a  copy  of  the  full  powers 
from  the  Convention  of  the  People  of  South  Carolina,  under  which  we  are 
"  authorized  and  empowered  to  treat  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  for  the  delivery  of  the  forts,  magazines,  lighthouses,  and  other  real 
estate,  with  their  appurtenances,  within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina,  and 
also  for  an  apportionment  of  the  public  debt,  and  for  a  division  of  all  other 
property  held  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  agent  of  the  con- 
federated States  of  which  South  Carolina  was  recently  a  member;  and 
generally  to  negotiate  as  to  all  other  measures  and  arrangements  proper  to 
be  made  and  adopted  in  the  existing  relation  of  the  parties,  and  for  the 
continuance  of  peace  and  amity  between  this  Commonwealth  and  the  Gov- 
ernment at  Washington." 

In  the  execution  of  this  trust,  it  is  our  duty  to  furnish  you,  as  we  now 
do,  with  an  official  copy  of  the  ordinance  of  secession,  by  which  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  has  resumed  the  powers  she  delegated  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  has  declared  her  perfect  sovereignty  and  inde- 
pendence. 


592      RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

It  would  also  have  been  our  duty  to  have  informed  you  that  we  were 
ready  to  negotiate  with  you  upon  all  such  questions  as  are  necessarily  raised 
by  the  adoption  of  this  ordinance,  and  that  we  were  prepared  to  enter  upon 
this  negotiation  with  the  earnest  desire  to  avoid  all  unnecessary  and  hostile 
collision,  and  so  to  inaugurate  our  new  relations  as  to  secure  mutual  re- 
spect, general  advantage,  and  a  future  of  good- will  and  harmony  beneficial 
to  all  the  parties  concerned. 

But  the  events  of  the  last  twenty -four  hours  render  such  an  assurance 
impossible.  We  came  here  the  representatives  of  an  authority  which  could, 
at  any  time  within  the  past  sixty  days,  have  taken  possession  of  the  forts  in 
Charleston  Harbor,  but  which,  upon  pledges  given  in  a  manner  that,  we  can 
not  doubt,  determined  to  trust  to  your  honor  rather  than  to  its  own  power. 
Since  our  arrival  here  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  acting,  as  we  are  as- 
sured, not  only  without  but  against  your  orders,  has  dismantled  one  fort 
and  occupied  another,  thus  altering,  to  a  most  important  extent,  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  under  which  we  came. 

Until  these  circumstances  are  explained  in  a  manner  which  relieves  us 
of  all  doubt  as  to  the  spirit  in  which  these  negotiations  shall  be  conducted, 
we  are  forced  to  suspend  all  discussion  as  to  any  arrangements  by  which  our 
mutual  interests  might  be  amicably  adjusted. 

And,  in  conclusion,  we  would  urge  upon  you  the  immediate  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  from  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  Under  present  circumstances, 
they  are  a  standing  menace  which  renders  negotiation  impossible,  and,  as 
our  recent  experience  shows,  threatens  speedily  to  bring  to  a  bloody  issue 
questions  which  ought  to  be  settled  with  temperance  and  judgment. 

We  have  the  honor,  sir,  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

R.  W.  BARNWELL, ) 
J.  H.  ADAMS,  >  Commissioners. 

JAMES  L.  ORR,         ) 

To  the  Pkesident  of  the  United  States. 

Reply  of  the  President  to  the  Commissioners. 

"Washington  City,  December  30,  1860. 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  the  honor  to  receive  your  communication  of  28th  inst., 
together  with  a  copy  of  your  "  full  powers  from  the  Convention  of  tbe  People 
of  South  Carolina,"  authorizing  you  to  treat  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  on  various  important  subjects  therein  mentioned,  and  also  a 
copy  of  the  ordinance  bearing  date  on  the  20th  inst.,  declaring  that  "the 
union  now  subsisting  between  South  Carolina  and  other  States,  under  the 
name  of  '  The  United  States  of  America,'  is  hereby  dissolved." 

In  answer  to  this  communication,  I  have  to  say  that  my  position  as] 
President  of  the  United  States  was  clearly  defined  in  the  message  to  Con- 
gress of  the  3d  instant.  In  that  I  stated  that,  "  apart  from  the  execution 
of  the  laws,  so  far  as  this  may  be  practicable,  the  Executive  has  no  author- 


APPENDIX  G.  593 

ity  to  decide  what  shall  be  the  relations  between  the  Federal  Government 
and  South  Carolina.  He  has  been  invested  with  no  such  discretion.  He 
possesses  no  power  to  change  the  relations  heretofore  existing  between 
them,  much  less  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  that  State.  This 
would  be  to  invest  a  mere  executive  officer  with  the  power  of  recognizing 
the  dissolution  of  the  confederacy  among  our  thirty-three  sovereign  States. 
It  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  recognition  of  a  foreign  de  facto  govern- 
ment— involving  no  such  responsibility.  Any  attempt  to  do  this  would,  on 
his  part,  be  a  naked  act  of  usurpation.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty  to  submit 
to  Congress  the  whole  question,  in  all  its  bearings." 

Such  is  my  opinion  still.  I  could,  therefore,  meet  you  only  as  private 
gentlemen  of  the  highest  character,  and  was  entirely  willing  to  communi- 
cate to  Congress  any  proposition  you  might  have  to  make  to  that  body 
upon  the  subject.  Of  this  you  were  well  aware.  It  was  ray  earnest  desire 
that  such  a  disposition  might  be  made  of  the  whole  subject  by  Congress, 
who  alone  possess  the  power,  as  to  prevent  the  inauguration  of  a  civil  war 
between  the  parties  in  regard  to  the  possession  of  the  Federal  forts  in  the 
harbor  of  Charleston ;  and  I  therefore  deeply  regret  that,  in  your  opinion, 
"  the  events  of  the  last  twenty-four  hours  render  this  impossible."  In  con- 
clusion, you  urge  upon  me  "  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from 
the  harbor  of  Charleston,"  stating  that,  "  under  present  circumstances,  they 
are  a  standing  menace,  which  renders  negotiation  impossible,  and,  as  our 
present  experience  shows,  threatens  speedily  to  bring  to  a  bloody  issue 
questions  which  ought  to  be  settled  with  temperance  and  judgment." 

The  reason  for  this  change  in  your  position  is  that,  since  your  arrival 
in  Washington,  "an  officer  of  the  United  States,  acting  as  we  (you)  are 
assured,  not  only  without  your  (my)  orders,  has  dismantled  one  fort  and 
occupied  another,  thus  altering,  to  a  most  important  extent,  the  condition 
of  affairs  under  which  we  (you)  came."  You  also  allege  that  you  came  here 
"  the  representatives  of  an  authority  which  could  at  any  time  within  the 
past  sixty  days  have  taken  possession  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  Harbor,  but 
which,  upon  pledges  given  in  a  manner  that  we  (you)  can  not  doubt,  deter- 
mined to  trust  to  your  (my)  honor  rather  than  to  its  own  power." 

This  brings  me  to  a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  those  alleged  pledges, 
and  in  what  manner  they  have  been  observed.  In  my  message  of  the  3d 
of  December  last,  I  stated,  in  regard  to  the  property  of  the  United  States  in 
South  Carolina,  that  it  "has  been  purchased  for  a  fair  equivalent  'by  the 
consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines, 
arsenals,'  etc.,  and  over  these  the  authority  '  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation ' 
has  been  expressly  granted  by  the  Constitution  to  Congress.  It  is  not  be- 
lieved that  any  attempt  will  be  made  to  expel  the  United  States  from  this 
property  by  force ;  but,  if  in  this  I  should  prove  to  bo  mistaken,  the  officer 
in  command  of  the  forts  has  received  orders  to  act  strictly  on  the  defensive. 
In  such  a  contingency,  the  responsibility  for  consequences  would  rightfully 
38 


594      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

rest  upon  the  heads  of  the  assailants."  This  being  the  condition  of  the 
parties  on  Saturday,  8th  December,  four  of  the  representatives  from  South 
Carolina  called  upon  me  and  requested  an  interview.  We  had  an  earnest 
conversation  on  the  subject  of  these  forts,  and  the  best  means  of  preventing 
a  collision  between  the  parties,  for  the  purpose  of  sparing  the  effusion  of 
blood.  I  suggested,  for  prudential  reasons,  that  it  would  be  best  to  put  in 
writing  what  they  said  to  me  verbally.  They  did  so  accordingly,  and  on 
Monday  morning,  the  10th  instant,  three  of  them  presented  to  me  a  paper 
signed  by  all  the  representatives  from  South  Carolina,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

"To  his  Excellency  James  Buchanan,  President  of  the  United  States : 

"In  compliance  with  our  statement  to  you  yesterday,  we  now  express 
to  you  our  strong  convictions  that  neither  the  constituted  authorities,  nor 
any  body  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  will  either  attack  or 
molest  the  United  States  forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  previously  to 
the  action  of  the  Convention,  and,  we  hope  and  believe,  not  until  an  offer 
has  been  made,  through  an  accredited  representative,  to  negotiate  for  an 
amicable  arrangement  of  all  matters  between  the  State  and  the  Federal 
Government,  provided  that  no  reinforcements  shall  be  sent  into  those  forts, 
and  their  relative  military  status  shall  remain  as  at  present. 

"John  McQueen, 
"  William  Poechee  Miles, 
"  M.  L.  Bonham, 
"  W.  W.  Boyce, 
"  Lawrence  M.  Keitt. 
"  Washington,  December  9,  1860." 

And  here  I  must,  in  justice  to  myself,  remark  that,  at  the  time  the  pa- 
per was  presented  to  me,  I  objected  to  the  word  "  provided,"  as  it  might 
be  construed  into  an  agreement,  on  my  part,  which  I  never  would  make. 
They  said  that  nothing  was  further  from  their  intention ;  they  did  not  so 
understand  it,  and  I  should  not  so  consider  it.  It  is  evident  they  could 
enter  into  no  reciprocal  agreement  with  me  on  the  subject.  They  did  not 
profess  to  have  authority  to  do  this,  and  were  acting  in  their  individual 
character.  I  considered  it  as  nothing  more,  in  effect,  than  the  promise  of 
highly  honorable  gentlemen  to  exert  their  influence  for  the  purpose  ex- 
pressed. The  event  has  proved  that  they  have  faithfully  kept  this  promise, 
although  1  have  never  since  received  a  line  from  any  one  of  them,  or  from 
any  member  of  the  Convention  on  the  subject.  It  is  well  known  that  it 
was  my  determination,  and  this  I  freely  expressed,  not  to  reenforce  the 
forts  in  the  harbor,  and  thus  produce  a  collision,  until  they  had  been  actu- 
ally attacked,  or  until  I  had  certain  evidence  that  they  were  about  to  be 
attacked.    This  paper  I  received  most  cordially,  and  considered  it  as  a  happy 


APPENDIX  G.  595 

omen  that  peace  might  still  be  preserved,  and  that  time  might  thus  be 
gained  for  reflection.    This  is  the  whole  foundation  for  the  alleged  pledge. 

But  I  acted  in  the  same  manner  I  would  have  done  had  I  entered  into  a 
positive  and  formal  agreement  with  parties  capable  of  contracting,  although 
such  an  agreement  would  have  been,  on  my  part,  from  the  nature  of  my 
official  duties,  impossible. 

The  world  knows  that  I  have  never  sent  any  reinforcements  to  the  forts 
in  Charleston  Harbor,  and  I  have  certainly  never  authorized  any  change  to 
be  made  "  in  their  relative  military  status." 

Bearing  upon  this  subject,  I  refer  you  to  an  order  issued  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  on  the  11th  instant,  to  Major  Anderson,  but  not  brought  to 
my  notice  until  the  21st  instant.     It  is  as  follows  : 

"  Memorandum  of  verbal  instructions  to  Major  Anderson,  First  Artillery, 
commanding  Fort  Moultrie,  South  Carolina : 

"  You  are  aware  of  the  great  anxiety  of  the  Secretary  of  War  that  a 
collision  of  the  troops  with  the  people  of  this  State  shall  be  avoided,  and  of 
his  studied  determination  to  pursue  a  course,  with  reference  to  the  military 
force  and  forts  in  this  harbor,  which  shall  guard  against  such  a  collision. 
He  has,  therefore,  carefully  abstained  from  increasing  the  force  at  this 
point,  or  taking  any  measures  which  might  add  to  the  present  excited  state 
of  the  public  mind,  or  which  would  throw  any  doubt  on  the  confidence  he 
feels  that  South  Carolina  will  not  attempt  by  violence  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  public  works,  or  to  interfere  with  their  occupancy.  But,  as  the 
counsel  of  rash  and  impulsive  persons  may  possibly  disappoint  these  expec- 
tations of  the  Government,  he  deems  it  proper  that  you  should  be  prepared 
with  instructions  to  meet  so  unhappy  a  contingency.  He  has,  therefore, 
directed  me,  verbally,  to  give  you  such  instructions. 

"  You  are  carefully  to  avoid  every  act  which  would  needlessly  tend  to 
provoke  aggression  ;  and,  for  that  reason,  you  are  not,  without  evident  and 
imminent  necessity,  to  take  up  any  position  which  could  be  construed  into 
the  assumption  of  a  hostile  attitude ;  but  you  are  to  hold  possession  of  the 
forts  in  this  harbor,  and,  if  attacked,  you  are  to  defend  yourself  to  the  last 
extremity.  The  smallness  of  your  force  will  not  permit  you,  perhaps,  to  oc- 
cupy more  than  one  of  the  three  forts ;  but  an  attack  on  or  attempt  to  take 
possession  of  either  of  them  will  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  hostility,  and  you 
may  then  put  your  command  into  either  of  them  which  you  may  deem  most 
proper,  to  increase  its  power  of  resistance.  You  are  also  authorized  to  take 
similar  defensive  steps  whenever  you  have  tangible  evidence  of  a  design  to 
proceed  to  a  hostile  act. 

D.  P.  Butler,  Assistant  Adjutant-  General. 
Fort  Moultrie,  South  Carolina,  December  11,  18G0. 

"This  is  in  conformity  to  my  instructions  to  Major  Buel. 

"John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War." 


596   R^E  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

These  were  the  last  instructions  transmitted  to  Major  Anderson  before 
his  removal  to  Fort  Sumter,  with  a  single  exception  in  regard  to  a  particu- 
lar which  does  not,  in  any  degree,  affect  the  present  question.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  clear  that  Major  Anderson  acted  upon  his  own  responsi- 
bility, and  without  authority,  unless,  indeed,  he  had  "  tangible  evidence  of  a 
design  to  proceed  to  a  hostile  act  "  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  of  South 
Carolina,  which  has  not  yet  been  alleged.  Still  he  is  a  brave  and  honorable 
officer,  and  justice  requires  that  he  should  not  be  condemned  without  a  fair 
hearing. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  when  I  learned  that  Major  Anderson  had  left  Fort 
Moultrie,  and  proceeded  to  Fort  Sumter,  my  first  promptings  were  to  com- 
mand him  to  return  to  his  former  position,  and  there  to  await  the  contin- 
gencies presented  in  his  instructions.  This  could  only  have  been  done,  with 
any  degree  of  safety  to  the  command,  by  the  concurrence  of  the  South  Car- 
olina authorities.  But,  before  any  steps  could  possibly  have  been  taken  in 
this  direction,  we  received  information,  dated  on  the  28th  instant,  that  "the 
Palmetto  flag  floated  out  to  the  breeze  at  Castle  Pinckney,  and  a  large  mili- 
tary force  went  over  last  night  (the  27th)  to  Fort  Moultrie."  Thus  the  au- 
thorities of  South  Carolina,  without  waiting  or  asking  for  any  explanation, 
and  doubtless  believing,  as  you  have  expressed  it,  that  the  officer  had  acted 
not  only  without,  but  against  my  orders,  on  the  very  next  day  after  the 
night  when  the  removal  was  made,  seized,  by  a  military  force,  two  of  the 
three  Federal  forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and  have  covered  them  under 
their  own  flag,  instead  of  that  of  the  United  States.  At  this  gloomy  period 
of  our  history,  startling  events  succeed  each  other  rapidly.  On  the  very 
day  (the  27th  instant)  that  possession  of  these  two  forts  was  taken,  the 
Palmetto  flag  was  raised  over  the  Federal  Custom-House  and  Post-Office  in 
Charleston ;  and  on  the  same  day  every  officer  of  the  customs — collector, 
naval  officers,  surveyor,  and  appraisers — resigned  their  offices.  And  this, 
although  it  was  well  known,  from  the  language  of  my  message,  that  as  an 
executive  officer  I  felt  myself  bound  to  collect  the  revenue  at  the  port  of 
Charleston  under  the  existing  laws.  In  the  harbor  of  Charleston  we  now 
find  three  forts  confronting  each  other,  over  all  of  which  the  Federal  flag 
floated  only  four  days  ago  ;  but  now  over  two  of  them  this  flag  has  been 
supplanted,  and  the  Palmetto  flag  has  been  substituted  in  its  stead.  It  is 
under  all  these  circumstances  that  I  am  urged  immediately  to  withdraw  the 
troops  from  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and  am  informed  that,  without  this, 
negotiation  is  impossible.  This  I  can  not  do ;  this  I  will  not  do.  Such  an 
idea  was  never  thought  of  by  me  in  any  possible  contingency.  No  allusion 
to  it  had  ever  been  made  in  any  communication  between  myself  and  any 
human  being.  But  the  inference  is,  that  I  am  bound  to  withdraw  the 
troops  from  the  only  fort  remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  United  States 
in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  because  the  officer  then  in  command  of 
all  the  forts  thought  proper,  without  instructions,  to  change  his  position 


APPENDIX  G.  597 

from  one  of  them  to  another.     I  can  not  admit  the  justice  of  any  such 
inference. 

At  this  point  of  writing  I  have  received  information,  by  telegram,  from 
Captain  Humphreys,  in  command  of  the  arsenal  at  Charleston,  that  "  it 
has  to-day  (Sunday,  the  30th)  been  taken  by  force  of  arms."  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  munitions  of  war  belonging  to  the  United  States  in  this 
arsenal  are  worth  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

Comment  is  needless.  After  this  information,  I  have  only  to  add  that, 
while  it  is  my  duty  to  defend  Fort  Sumter,  as  a  portion  of  the  public  prop- 
erty of  the  United  States,  against  hostile  attacks  from  whatever  quarter 
they  may  come,  by  such  means  as  I  may  possess  for  this  purpose,  I  do  not 
perceive  how  such  a  defense  can  be  construed  into  a  menace  against  the 
city  of  Charleston. 

With  great  personal  regard,  I  remain 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

To  Honorable  Kobert  W.  Barnwell,  James  H.  Adams,  James  L.  Ore. 

Reply  of  the  Commissioners  to  the  President. 

Washington,  D.  C,  January  1,  1861. 

Sie  :  We  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of 
the  30th  December,  in  reply  to  a  note  addressed  by  us  to  you  on  the  28th 
of  the  same  month,  as  commissioners  from  South  Carolina. 

In  reference  to  the  declaration  with  which  your  reply  commences,  that 
"your  position  as  President  of  the  United  States  was  clearly  defined  in  the 
message  to  Congress  of  the  3d  instant,"  that  you  possess  "no  power  to 
change  the  relations  heretofore  existing"  between  South  Carolina  and  the 
United  States,  much  less  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  that  State"  ; 
and  that,  consequently,  you  could  meet  us  only  as  private  gentlemen  of  the 
highest  character,  with  an  entire  willingness  to  communicate  to  Congress 
any  proposition  we  might  have  to  make,  we  deem  it  only  necessary  to  say 
that,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  having,  in  the  exercise  of  that  great  right 
of  self-government  which  underlies  all  our  political  organizations,  declared 
herself  sovereign  and  independent,  we,  as  her  representatives,  felt  no  spe- 
cial solicitude  as  to  the  character  in  which  you  might  recognize  us.  Satis- 
fied that  the  State  had  simply  exercised  her  unquestionable  right,  we  were 
prepared,  in  order  to  reach  substantial  good,  to  waive  the  formal  consid- 
erations which  your  constitutional  scruples  might  have  prevented  you  from 
extending.  We  came  here,  therefore,  expecting  to  be  received  as  you  did 
receive  us,  and  perfectly  content  with  that  entire  willingness  of  which  you 
assured  us,  to  submit  any  proposition  to  Congress  which  wo  might  have  to 
make  upon  the  subject  of  the  independence  of  the  State.  That  willingness 
was  ample  recognition  of  the  condition  of  public  affairs  which  rendered  our 


598      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

presence  necessary.  In  this  position,  however,  it  is  our  duty,  both  to  the 
State  which  we  represent  and  to  ourselves,  to  correct  several  important 
misconceptions  of  our  letter  into  which  you  have  fallen. 

You  say,  "It  was  my  earnest  desire  that  such  a  disposition  might  be 
made  of  the  whole  subject  by  Congress,  who  alone  possesses  the  power  to 
prevent  the  inauguration  of  a  civil  war  between  the  parties  in  regard  to 
the  possession  of  the  Federal  forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston ;  and  I, 
therefore,  deeply  regret  that,  in  your  opinion,  'the  events  of  the  last 
twenty-four  hours  render  this  impossible.'  "  We  expressed  no  such  opin- 
ion, and  the  language  which  you  quote  as  ours  is  altered  in  its  sense  by 
the  omission  of  a  most  important  part  of  the  sentence.  What  we  did  say 
was,  "But  the  events  of  the  last  twenty-four  hours  render  such  an  as- 
surance impossible."  Place  that  "  assurance,"  as  contained  in  our  letter, 
in  the  sentence,  and  we  are  prepared  to  repeat  it. 

Again,  professing  to  quote  our  language,  you  say:  "Thus  the  authori- 
ties of  South  Carolina,  without  waiting  or  asking  for  any  explanation,  and 
doubtless  believing,  as  you  have  expressed  it,  that  the  officer  had  acted  not 
only  without,  but  against  my  orders,"  etc.  We  expressed  no  such  opinion 
in  reference  to  the  belief  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina.  The  language 
which  you  have  quoted  was  applied  solely  and  entirely  to  our  assurance, 
obtained  here,  and  based,  as  you  well  know,  upon  your  own  declaration — 
a  declaration  which,  at  that  time,  it  was  impossible  for  the  authorities  of 
South  Carolina  to  have  known.  But,  without  following  this  letter  into  all 
its  details,  we  propose  only  to  meet  the  chief  points  of  the  argument. 

Some  weeks  ago,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  declared  her  intention,  in 
the  existing  condition  of  public  affairs,  to  secede  from  the  United  States. 
She  called  a  convention  of  her  people  to  put  her  declaration  in  force.  The 
Convention  met  and  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession.  All  this  you  an- 
ticipated, and  your  course  of  action  was  thoroughly  considered.  In  your 
annual  message  you  declared  that  you  had  no  right,  and  would  not  attempt, 
to  coerce  a  seceding  State,  but  that  you  were  bound  by  your  constitutional 
oath,  and  would  defend  the  property  of  the  United  States  within  the  bor- 
ders of  South  Carolina,  if  an  attempt  was  made  to  take  it  by  force.  Seeing 
very  early  that  this  question  of  property  was  a  difficult  and  delicate  one, 
you  manifested  a  desire  to  settle  it  without  collision.  You  did  not  reen- 
force  the  garrisons  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  You  removed  a  distin- 
guished and  veteran  officer  from  the  command  of  Fort  Moultrie,  because 
he  attempted  to  increase  his  supply  of  ammunition.  You  refused  to  send 
additional  troops  to  the  same  garrison  when  applied  for  by  the  officer  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  him.  You  accepted  the  resignation  of  the  oldest  and 
most  eminent  member  of  your  Cabinet,  rather  than  allow  these  garrisons 
to  be  strengthened.  You  compelled  an  officer  stationed  at  Fort  Sumter  to 
return  immediately  to  the  arsenal  forty  muskets  which  he  had  taken  to 
arm  his  men.     You  expressed,  not  to  one,  but  to  many,  of  the  most  dis- 


APPENDIX  G.  599 

tinguished  of  our  public  characters,  whose  testimony  will  be  placed  upon 
the  record  whenever  it  is  necessary,  your  anxiety  for  a  peaceful  termina- 
tion of  this  controversy,  and  your  willingness  not  to  disturb  the  military 
status  of  the  forts,  if  commissioners  should  be  sent'  to  the  Government, 
whose  communications  you  promised  to  submit  to  Congress.  You  received 
and  acted  on  assurances  from  the  highest  official  authorities  of  South  Caro- 
lina, that  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  disturb  your  possession  of  the  forts 
and  property  of  the  United  States,  if  you  would  not  disturb  their  existing 
condition  until  commissioners  had  been  sent,  and  the  attempt  to  negotiate 
had  failed.  You  took  from  the  members  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  a 
written  memorandum  that  no  such  attempt  should  be  made,  "  provided  that 
no  reinforcements  shall  be  sent  into  those  forts,  and  their  relative  military 
status  shall  remain  as  at  present."  And,  although  you  attach  no  force  to 
the  acceptance  of  such  a  paper,  although  you  "  considered  it  as  nothing 
more  in  effect  than  the  promise  of  highly  honorable  gentlemen,"  as  an  ob- 
ligation on  one  side  without  corresponding  obligation  on  the  other,  it  must 
be  remembered  (if  we  are  rightly  informed)  that  you  were  pledged,  if  you 
ever  did  send  reinforcements,  to  return  it  to  those  from  whom  you  had  re- 
ceived it  before  you  executed  your  resolution.  You  sent  orders  to  your 
officers,  commanding  them  strictly  to  follow  a  line  of  conduct  in  conformity 
with  such  an  understanding. 

Besides  all  this,  you  had  received  formal  and  official  notice,  from  the 
Governor  of  South  Carolina,  that  we  had  been  appointed  commissioners 
and  were  on  our  way  to  Washington.  You  knew  the  implied  condition 
under  which  we  came ;  our  arrival  was  notified  to  you,  and  an  hour  ap- 
pointed for  an  interview.  We  arrived  in  Washington  on  Wednesday,  at 
three  o'clock,  and  you  appointed  an  interview  with  us  at  one  the  next  day. 
Early  on  that  day,  Thursday,  the  news  was  received  here  of  the  move- 
ment of  Major  Anderson.  That  news  was  communicated  to  you  immedi- 
ately, and  you  postponed  our  meeting  until  half -past  two  o'clock  on  Friday, 
in  order  that  you  might  consult  your  Cabinet.  On  Friday  we  saw  you,  and 
we  called  upon  you  then  to  redeem  your  pledge.  You  could  not  deny  it. 
With  the  facts  we  have  stated,  and  in  the  face  of  the  crowning  and  conclu- 
sive fact  that  your  Secretary  of  War  had  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Cabinet, 
upon  the  publicly  avowed  ground  that  the  action  of  Major  Anderson  had 
violated  the  pledged  faith  of  the  Government,  and  that  unless  the  pledge 
was  instantly  redeemed  he  was  dishonored,  denial  was  impossible ;  you  did 
not  deny  it.  You  do  not  deny  it  now,  but  you  seek  to  escape  from  its  obli- 
gations on  two  grounds:  1.  That  we  terminated  all  negotiation  by  demand- 
ing, as  a  preliminary,  the  withdrawal  of  the  United  States  troops  from  the 
harbor  of  Charleston ;  and,  2.  That  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  in- 
stead of  asking  explanation  and  giving  you  the  opportunity  to  vindicate 
yourself,  took  possession  of  other  property  of  the  United  States.  We  will 
examine  both. 


600      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  first  place,  we  deny  positively  that  we  have  ever,  in  any  way, 
made  any  such  demand.  Our  letter  is  in  your  possession  ;  it  will  stand  by 
this  on  the  record.  In  it  we  inform  you  of  the  objects  of  our  mission. 
"We  say  that  it  would  have  been  our  duty  to  assure  you  of  our  readiness 
to  commence  negotiations  with  the  most  earnest  and  anxious  desire  to 
settle  all  questions  between  us  amicably,  and  to  our  mutual  advantage,  but 
that  events  had  rendered  that  assurance  impossible.  "We  stated  the  events, 
and  we  said  that,  until  some  satisfactory  explanation  of  these  events  was 
given  us,  we  could  not  proceed  ;  and  then,  having  made  this  request  for  ex- 
planation, we  added :  "  And,  in  conclusion,  we  would  urge  upon  you  the  im- 
mediate withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  Under  pres- 
ent circumstances  they  are  a  standing  menace,  which  renders  negotiation 
impossible,"  etc.  "Under  present  circumstances!  "  What  circumstances? 
"Why,  clearly  the  occupation  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  dismantling  of  Fort 
Moultrie  by  Major  Anderson,  in  the  face  of  your  pledges,  and  without  ex- 
planation or  practical  disavowal.  And  there  is  nothing  in  the  letter  which 
would  or  could  have  prevented  you  from  declining  to  withdraw  the  troops, 
and  offering  the  restoration  of  the  status  to  which  you  were  pledged,  if 
such  had  been  your  desire.  It  would  have  been  wiser  and  better,  in  our 
opinion,  to  have  withdrawn  the  troops,  and  this  opinion  we  urged  upon 
you,  but  we  demanded  nothing  but  such  an  explanation  of  the  events  of  the 
last  twenty-four  hours  as  would  restore  our  confidence  in  the  spirit  with 
which  the  negotiation  should  be  conducted.  In  relation  to  this  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  from  the  harbor,  we  are  compelled,  however,  to  notice  one 
passage  of  your  letter.  Referring  to  it,  you  say:  "This  I  can  not  do  ;  this 
I  will  not  do.  Such  an  idea  was  never  thought  of  by  me  in  any  possible 
contingency.  No  allusion  to  it  had  ever  been  made  in  any  communication 
between  myself  and  any  human  being." 

In  reply  to  this  statement,  we  are  compelled  to  say  that  your  conversa- 
tion with  us  left  upon  our  minds  the  distinct  impression  that  you  did  seri- 
ously contemplate  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  Charleston  Harbor. 
And,  in  support  of  this  impression,  we  would  add  that  we  have  the  positive 
assurance  of  gentlemen  of  the  highest  possible  public  reputation  and  the 
most  unsullied  integrity — men  whose  name  and  fame,  secured  by  long 
service  and  patriotic  achievement,  place  their  testimony  beyond  cavil — 
that  such  suggestions  had  been  made  to  and  urged  upon  you  by  them,  and 
had  formed  the  subject  of  more  than  one  earnest  discussion  with  you.  And 
it  was  this  knowledge  that  induced  us  to  urge  upon  you  a  policy  which  had 
to  recommend  it  its  own  wisdom  and  the  weight  of  such  authority.  As 
to  the  second  point,  that  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  instead  of  ask- 
ing explanations,  and  giving  you  the  opportunity  to  vindicate  yourself,  took 
possession  of  other  property  of  the  United  States,  we  would  observe,  first, 
that,  even  if  this  were  so,  it  does  not  avail  you  for  defense,  for  the  oppor- 
tunity for  decision   was  afforded  you  before   these  facts  occurred.     We 


APPENDIX   G.  601 

arrived  in  Washington  on  Wednesday.  The  news  from  Major  Anderson 
reached  here  early  on  Thursday,  and  was  immediately  communicated  to 
you.  All  that  day,  men  of  the  highest  consideration — men  who  had  striven 
successfully  to  lift  you  to  your  great  office — who  had  been  your  tried  and 
true  friends  through  the  troubles  of  your  Administration — sought  you  and 
entreated  you  to  act — to  act  at  once.  They  told  you  that  every  hour  com- 
plicated your  position.  They  only  asked  you  to  give  the  assurance  that,  if 
the  facts  were  so — if  the  commander  had  acted  without  and  against  your 
orders,  and  in  violation  of  your  pledges — -you  would  restore  the  status  you 
had  pledged  your  honor  to  maintain. 

You  refused  to  decide.  Your  Secretary  of  War — your  immediate  and 
proper  adviser  in  this  whole  matter — waited  anxiously  for  your  decision, 
until  he  felt  that  delay  was  becoming  dishonor.  More  than  twelve  hours 
passed,  and  two  Cabinet  meetings  had  adjourned  before  you  knew  what 
the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  had  done,  and  your  prompt  decision  at 
any  moment  of  that  time  would  have  avoided  the  subsequent  complications. 
But,  if  you  had  known  the  acts  of  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  should 
that  have  prevented  your  keeping  your  faith  ?  What  was  the  condition  of 
things?  For  the  last  sixty  days,  you  have  had  in  Charleston  Harbor  not 
force  enough  to  hold  the  forts  against  an  equal  enemy.  Two  of  them 
were  empty ;  one  of  those  two,  the  most  important  in  the  harbor.  It 
could  have  been  taken  at  any  time.  You  ought  to  know,  better  than  any 
man,  that  it  would  have  been  taken,  but  for  the  efforts  of  those  who  put 
their  trust  in  your  honor.  Believing  that  they  were  threatened  by 
Fort  Sumter  especially,  the  people  were,  with  difficulty,  restrained  from 
securing,  without  blood,  the  possession  of  this  important  fortress.  After 
many  and  reiterated  assurances  given  on  your  behalf,  which  we  can  not 
believe  unauthorized,  they  determined  to  forbear,  and  in  good  faith  sent 
on  their  commissioners  to  negotiate  with  you.  They  meant  you  no  harm, 
wished  you  no  ill.  They  thought  of  you  kindly,  believed  you  true,  and 
were  willing,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  duty,  to  spare  you  unneces- 
sary and  hostile  collision.  Scarcely  had  their  commissioners  left,  than 
Major  Anderson  waged  war.  No  other  words  will  describe  his  action.  It 
was  not  a  peaceful  change  from  one  fort  to  another ;  it  was  a  hostile  act  in 
the  highest  sense — one  only  justified  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  enemy 
and  in  imminent  peril.  He  abandoned  his  position,  spiked  his  guns,  burned 
his  gun-carriages,  made  preparations  for  the  destruction  of  his  post,  and 
withdrew  under  cover  of  the  night  to  a  safer  position.  This  was  war.  No 
man  could  have  believed  (without  your  assurance)  that  any  officer  could 
have  taken  such  a  step,  "not  only  without  orders,  but  against  orders." 
What  the  State  did  was  in  simple  self-defense;  for  this  act,  with  all  its 
attending  circumstances,  was  as  much  war  as  firing  a  volley;  and,  war 
being  thus  begun,  until  those  commencing  it  explained  their  action,  and 
disavowed  their  intention,  there  was  no  room  for  delay ;  and,  even  at  this 


602      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

moment,  while  we  are  writing,  it  is  more  than  probable,  from  the  tenor  of 
your  letter,  that  reinforcements  are  hurrying  on  to  the  conflict,  so  that, 
when  the  first  gun  shall  be  fired,  there  will  have  been,  on  your  part,  one 
continuous  consistent  series  of  actions  commencing  in  a  demonstration 
essentially  warlike,  supported  by  regular  reenforcement,  and  terminating  in 
defeat  or  victory.  And  all  this  without  the  slightest  provocation ;  for, 
among  the  many  things  which  you  have  said,  there  is  one  thing  you  can  not 
say — you  have  waited  anxiously  for  news  from  the  seat  of  war,  in  hopes 
that  delay  would  furnish  some  excuse  for  this  precipitation.  But  this  "  tan- 
gible evidence  of  a  design  to  proceed  to  a  hostile  act,  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities  of  South  Carolina"  (which  is  the  only  justification  of  Major 
Anderson),  you  are  forced  to  admit  "  has  not  yet  been  alleged."  But  you 
have  decided.  You  have  resolved  to  hold  by  force  what  you  have  obtained 
through  our  misplaced  confidence,  and,  by  refusing  to  disavow  the  action  of 
Major  Anderson,  have  converted  his  violation  of  orders  into  a  legitimate 
act  of  your  Executive  authority.  Be  the  issue  what  it  may,  of  this  we  are 
assured,  that,  if  Fort  Moultrie  has  been  recorded  in  history  as  a  memorial 
of  Carolina  gallantry,  Fort  Sumter  will  live  upon  the  succeeding  page  as  an 
imperishable  testimony  of  Carolina  faith. 

By  your  course  you  have  probably  rendered  civil  war  inevitable.  Be 
it  so.  If  you  choose  to  force  this  issue  upon  us,  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
will  accept  it,  and,  relying  upon  Him  who  is  the  God  of  justice  as  well  as 
the  God  of  hosts,  will  endeavor  to  perform  the  great  duty  which  lies  before 
her,  hopefully,  bravely,  and  thoroughly. 

Our  mission  being  one  for  negotiation  and  peace,  and  your  note  leaving 
us  without  hope  of  a  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  Fort  Sumter,  or  of 
the  restoration  of  the  status  quo  existing  at  the  time  of  our  arrival,  and 
intimating,  as  we  think,  your  determination  to  reenforce  the  garrison  in  the 
harbor  of  Charleston,  we  respectfully  inform  you  that  we  propose  returning 
to  Charleston  on  to-morrow  afternoon. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

E.  W.  BAENWELL,  ") 
J.  H.  ADAMS,  j>  Commissioners. 

JAMES  L.  OEE,        j 

To  his  Excellency  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  last  communication  is  endorsed  as  follows  : 

Executive  Mansion,  31  o'clock,  Wednesday. 
This  paper,  just  presented  to  the  President,  is  of  such  a  character  that 
he  declines  to  receive  it. 


APPENDIX  H.  ^03 


APPENDIX  H. 

Speech  on  the  state  of  the  country,  by  Mr.  Davis,  of  Mississippi, 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  January  10,  1861 — a  motion 
to  print  the  special  message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
of  January  9th,  being  under  consideration. 

Mr.  Davis  :  Mr.  President,  when  I  took  the  floor  yesterday,  I  intended 
to  engage  somewhat  in  the  argument  which  has  heretofore  prevailed  in  the 
Senate  upon  the  great  questions  of  constitutional  right,  which  have  divided 
the  country  from  the  beginning  of  the  Government.  I  intended  to  adduce 
some  evidences,  which  I  thought  were  conclusive,  in  favor  of  the  opinions 
which  I  entertain ;  but  events,  with  a  current  hurrying  on  as  it  progresses, 
have  borne  me  past  the  point  where  it  would  be  useful  for  me  to  argue,  by 
the  citing  of  authorities,  the  question  of  rights.  To-day,  therefore,  it  is  my 
purpose  to  deal  with  events.  Abstract  argument  has  become  among  the 
things  that  are  past.  We  have  to  deal  now  with  facts;  and,  in  order  that 
we  may  meet  those  facts  and  apply  them  to  our  present  condition,  it  is  well 
to  inquire  what  is  the  state  of  the  country.  The  Constitution  provides  that 
the  President  shall,  from  time  to  time,  communicate  information  on  the 
state  of  the  Union.  The  message  which  is  now  under  consideration  gives 
us  very  little,  indeed,  beyond  that  which  the  world — less,  indeed,  than  read- 
ing men  generally — knew  before  it  was  communicated. 

What,  Senators,  to-day  is  the  condition  of  the  country  ?  From  every 
corner  of  it  comes  the  wailing  cry  of  patriotism,  pleading  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  great  inheritance  we  derived  from  our  fathers.  Is  there  a  Sen- 
ator who  does  not  daily  receive  letters  appealing  to  him  to  use  even  the 
small  power  which  one  man  here  possesses  to  save  the  rich  inheritance  our 
fathers  gave  us?  Tears  are  trickling  down  the  stern  faces  of  men  who 
have  bled  for  the  flag  of  their  country,  and  are  willing  now  to  die  for  it; 
but  patriotism  stands  powerless  before  the  plea  that  the  party  about  to  come 
into  power  laid  down  a  platform,  and  that  come  what  will,  though  ruin 
stare  us  in  the  face,  consistency  must  be  adhered  to,  even  though  the  Gov- 
ernment be  lost. 

In  this  state  of  the  case,  then,  we  turn  and  ask,  What  is  the  character 
of  the  Administration?  What  is  the  Executive  department  doiug?  What 
assurance  have  we  there  for  the  safety  of  the  country?  But  we  come  back 
from  that  inquiry  with  a  mournful  conviction  that  feeble  hands  now  hold 
the  reins  of  state ;  that  drivelers  are  taken  in  as  counselors,  not  provided  by 
the  Constitution ;  that  vacillation  is  the  law ;  and  the  policy  of  this  great 
Government  is  changed  with  every  changing  rumor  of  the  day ;  nay,  more, 
it  is  changing  with  every  new  phase  of  causeless  fear.  In  this  state  of  the 
case,  after  complications  have  been  introduced  into  the  question,  after  we 


G04      RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

were  brought  to  the  verge  of  war,  after  we  were  hourly  expecting  by  tele- 
graph to  learn  that  the  conflict  had  commenced,  after  nothing  had  been 
done  to  insure  the  peace  of  the  land,  we  are  told  in  this  last  hour  that  the 
question  is  thrown  at  the  door  of  Congress,  and  here  rests  the  responsi- 
bility. 

Had  the  garrison  at  Charleston,  representing  the  claim  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  hold  the  property  in  a  fort  there,  been  called  away  thirty  days,  nay, 
ten  days  ago,  peace  would  have  spread  its  pinions  over  this  land,  and  calm 
negotiation  would  have  been  the  order  of  the  day.  Why  was  it  not  re- 
called? No  reason  yet  has  been  offered,  save  that  the  Government  is 
bound  to  preserve  its  property ;  and  yet  look  from  North  to  South,  from 
East  to  West,  wherever  we  have  constructed  forts  to  defend  States  against  a 
foreign  foe,  and  everywhere  you  find  them  without  a  garrison,  except  at  a 
few  points  where  troops  are  kept  for  special  purposes ;  not  to  coerce  or  to 
threaten  a  State,  but  stationed  in  seacoast  fortifications,  there  merely  for 
the  purposes  of  discipline  and  instruction  as  artillerists.  You  find  all  the 
other  forts  in  the  hands  of  fort-keepers  and  ordnance-sergeants,  and,  before 
a  moral  and  patriotic  people,  standing  safely  there  as  the  property  of  the 
country. 

I  asked  in  this  Senate,  weeks  ago  :  "  What  causes  the  peril  that  is  now 
imminent  at  Fort  Moultrie;  is  it  tl^e  weakness  of  the  garrison?  "  and  then 
I  answered,  "  No,  it  is  its  presence,  not  its  weakness."  Had  an  ordnance- 
sergeant  there  represented  the  Federal  Government,  had  there  been  no 
troops,  no  physical  power  to  protect  it,  I  would  have  pledged  my  life  upon 
the  issue  that  no  question  ever  would  have  been  made  as  to  its  seizure. 
Now,  not  only  there,  but  elsewhere,  we  find  movements  of  troops  further 
to  complicate  this  question,  and  probably  to  precipitate  us  upon  the  issue  of 
civil  war ;  and,  worse  than  all,  this  Government,  reposing  on  the  consent 
of  the  governed ;  this  Government,  strong  in  the  affections  of  the  people  ; 
this  Government  (I  describe  it  as  our  fathers  made  it)  is  now  furtively  send- 
ing troops  to  occupy  positions  lest  "  the  mob  "  should  seize  them.  When 
before  in  the  history  of  our  land  was  it  that  a  mob  could  resist  the  sound 
public  opinion  of  the  country?  When  before  was  it  that  an  unarmed 
magistrate  had  not  the  power,  by  crying,  "  I  command  the  peace,"  to  quell 
a  mob  in  any  portion  of  the  land  ?  Yet  now  we  find,  under  cover  of  night, 
troops  detached  from  one  position  to  occupy  another.  Fort  Washington, 
standing  in  its  lonely  grandeur,  'and  overlooking  the  home  of  the  Father  of 
his  Country,  near  by  the  place  where  the  ashes  of  Washington  repose,  built 
there  to  prevent  a  foreign  foe  from  coming  up  the  Potomac  with  armed 
ships  to  take  the  capital— Fort  Washington  is  garrisoned  by  marines  sent 
secretly  away  from  the  navy- yard  at  Washington.  And  Fort  McHenry, 
memorable  in  our  history  as  the  place  where,  under  bombardment,  the 
star-spangled  banner  floated  through  the  darkness  of  night,  the  point  which 
was  consecrated  by  our  national  song— Fort  McHenry,  too,  has  been  garri- 


APPENDIX   H.  605 

soned  by  a  detachment  of  marines,  sent  from  this  place  in  an  extra  train, 
and  sent  under  cover  of  the  night,  so  that  even  the  mob  should  not  know  it. 

Senators,  the  responsibility  is  thrown  at  the  door  of  Congress.  Let  us 
take  it.  It  is  our  duty  in  this  last  hour  to  seize  the  pillars  of  our  Govern- 
ment and  uphold  them,  though  we  be  crushed  in  the  fall.  Then  what  is 
our  policy  ?  Are  we  to  drift  into  war  ?  Are  we  to  stand  idly  by,  and  allow 
war  to  be  precipitated  upon  the  country  ?  Allow  an  officer  of  the  army  to 
make  war  ?  Allow  an  unconfirmed  head  of  a  department  to  make  war  ? 
Allow  a  general  of  the  army  to  make  war  ?  Allow  a  President  to  make 
war  ?  No,  sir.  Our  fathers  gave  to  Congress  the  power  to  declare  war, 
and  even  to  Congress  they  gave  no  power  to  make  war  upon  a  State  of  the 
Union.  It  could  not  have  been  given,  except  as  a  power  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  When,  then,  we  see,  as  is  evident  to  the  whole  country,  that  we 
are  drifting  into  a  war  between  the  United  States  and  an  individual  State, 
does  it  become  the  Senate  to  sit  listlessly  by  and  discuss  abstract  questions, 
and  read  patchwork  from  the  opinions  of  men  now  mingled  with  the  dust  ? 
Are  we  not  bound  to  meet  events  as  they  come  before  us,  manfully  and 
patriotically  to  struggle  with  the  difficulties  which  now  oppress  the  country  ? 

In  the  message  yesterday,  we  were  even  told  that  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia was  in  danger.  In  danger  of  what  ?  From  whom  comes  the  danger  ? 
Is  there  a  man  here  who  dreads  that  the  deliberations  of  this  body  are  to 
be  interrupted  by  an  armed  force  ?  Is  there  one  who  would  not  prefer  to 
foil  with  dignity  at  his  station,  the  representative  of  a  great  and  peaceful 
Government,  rather  than  to  be  protected  by  armed  bands  ?  And  yet  the 
rumor  is — and  rumors  seem  now  to  be  so  authentic  that  we  credit  thera 
rather  than  other  means  of  information — that  companies  of  artillery  are  to 
be  quartered  in  this  city  to  preserve  peace,  where  the  laws  have  heretofore 
been  supreme,  and  that  this  District  is  to  become  a  camp  by  calling  out 
every  able-bodied  man  within  its  limits  to  bear  arms  under  the  militia  law. 
Are  we  invaded  ?  Is  there  an  insurrection  ?  Are  there  two  Senators  here 
who  would  not  be  willing  to  go  forth  as  a  file,  and  put  down  any  resistance 
which  showed  itself  in  this  District  against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States?  Is  the  reproach  meant  against  these,  my  friends  from  the  South, 
who  advocate  Southern  rights  and  State  rights  ?  If  so,  it  is  a  base  slander. 
We  claim  our  rights  under  the  Constitution  ;  we  claim  our  rights  reserved 
to  the  States  ;  and  we  seek  by  no  brute  force  to  gain  any  advantage  which 
the  law  and  the  Constitution  do  not  give  us.  We  have  never  appealed  to 
mobs.  We  have  never  asked  for  the  army  and  the  navy  to  protect  us.  On 
the  soil  of  Mississippi,  not  the  foot  of  a  Federal  soldier  has  been  impressed 
dnce  1819,  when,  flying  from  the  yellow  fever,  they  sought  refuge  within 
the  limits  of  our  State  ;  and  on  the  soil  of  Mississippi  there  breathes  not  a 
man  who  asks  for  any  other  protection  than  that  which  our  Constitution 
gives  us,  that  which  our  strong  arms  afford,  and  the  brave  hearts  of  our 
people  will  insure  in  every  contingency. 


QOQ      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Senators,  we  are  rapidly  drifting  into  a  position  in  which  this  is  to 
become  a  government  of  the  army  and  navy ;  in  which  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  is  to  be  maintained,  not  by  law,  not  by  constitutional  agree- 
ment between  the  States,  but  by  physical  force;  and  will  you  stand  still 
and  see  this  policy  consummated  ?  Will  you  fold  your  arms,  the  degenerate 
descendants  of  those  men  who  proclaimed  the  eternal  principle  that  gov- 
ernment rests  on  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  and  that  every  people  have  a 
right  to  change,  modify,  or  abolish  a  government  when  it  ceases  to  answer 
the  ends  for  which  it  was  established,  and  permit  this  Government  imper- 
ceptibly to  slide  from  the  moorings  where  it  was  originally  anchored,  and 
become  a  military  despotism  ?  It  was  well  said  by  the  Senator  from  New 
York  [Mr.  Sewaed],  whom  I  do  not  now  see  in  his  seat — well  said  in  a  speech 
wherein  I  found  but  little  to  commend — that  this  Union  could  not  be  main- 
tained by  force,  and  that  a  Union  of  force  was  a  despotism.  It  was  a  great 
truth,  come  from  what  quarter  it  may.  That  was  not  the  Government  in- 
stituted by  our  fathers ;  and  against  it,  so  long  as  I  live,  with  heart  and 
hand,  I  will  rebel. 

This  brings  me  to  a  passage  in  the  message  which  says : 

"  I  certainly  had  no  right  to  make  aggressive  war  upon  any  State ;  and 
I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  Constitution  has  wisely  withheld  that 
power  even  from  Congress  " — very  good — "  but  the  right  and  the  duty  to 
use  military  force  defensively  against  those  who  resist  the  Federal  officers 
in  the  exercise  of  their  legal  functions,  and  against  those  who  assail  the 
power  of  the  Federal  Government,  are  clear  and  undeniable." 

Is  it  so?  Where  does  he  get  it?  Our  fathers  were  so  jealous  of  a 
standing  army,  that  they  scarcely  would  permit  the  organization  and  main- 
tenance of  any  army!  Where  does  he  get  the  "clear  and  undeniable '' 
power  to  use  the  force  of  the  United  States  in  the  manner  he  there  pro- 
poses? To  execute  a  process,  troops  may  be  summoned  in  a  posse  comi- 
tatus  ;  and  here,  in  the  history  of  our  Government,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten 
that  in  the  earlier  and,  as  it  is  frequently  said,  the  better  days  of  the  re- 
public— and  painfully  we  feel  that  they  were  better  indeed — a  President  of 
the  United  States  did  not  recur  to  the  army ;  he  went  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Vaguely  and  confusedly,  indeed,  did  the  Senator  from 
Tennessee  [Mr.  Johnson]  bring  forward  the  case  of  the  great  man,  Wash- 
ington, as  one  in  which  he  had  used  a  means  which,  he  argued,  was  equiva- 
lent to  the  coercion  of  a  State ;  for  he  said  that  Washington  used  the 
military  power  against  a  portion  of  a  people  of  the  State  ;  and  why  might 
he  not  as  well  have  used  it  against  the  whole  State?  Let  me  tell  that 
Senator  that  the  case  of  General  Washington  has  no  such  application  as  he 
supposes.  It  was  a  case  of  insurrection  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania;  and 
the  very  message  from  which  he  read  communicated  the  fact  that  Governor 
Mifflin  thought  it  was  necessary  to  call  the  militia  of  the  adjoining  States 
to  aid  him.     President  Washington  cooperated  with  Governor  Mifflin  ;  he 


APPENDIX  H.  607 

called  the  militia  of  adjoining  States  to  cooperate  with  those  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  nsed  the  militia,  not  as  a  standing  army.  It  was  by  the  consent 
of  the  Governor ;  it  was  by  his  advice.  It  was  not  the  invasion  of  the 
State ;  it  was  not  the  coercion  of  the  State ;  but  it  was  aiding  the  State  to 
put  down  insurrection,  and  in  the  very  manner  provided  for  in  the  Consti- 
tution itself. 

But,  I  ask  again,  what  power  has  the  President  to  use  the  army  and 
navy  except  to  execute  process  ?  Are  we  to  have  drum-head  courts  substi- 
tuted for  those  which  the  Constitution  and  laws  provide  ?  Are  we  to  have 
sergeants  sent  over  the  land  instead  of  civil  magistrates?  Not  so  thought 
the  elder  Adams;  and  here,  in  passing,  I  will  pay  him  a  tribute  he  deserves, 
as  the  one  to  whom,  more  than  any  other  man  among  the  early  founders  of 
this  Government,  credit  is  due  for  the  military  principles  which  prevail  in 
its  organization.  Associated  with  Mr.  Jefferson  originally,  in  preparing  the 
rules  and  articles  of  war,  Mr.  Adams  reverted  through  the  long  pages  of 
history  back  to  the  empire  of  Kome,  and  drew  from  that  foundation  the 
very  rules  and  articles  of  war  which  govern  in  our  country  to-day,  and 
drew  them  thence  because  he  said  they  had  brought  two  nations  to  the 
pinnacle  of  glory — referring  to  the  Romans  and  the  Britons,  whose  military 
law  was  borrowed  from  them.  Mr.  Adams,  however,  when  an  insurrec- 
tion occurred  in  the  same  State  of  Pennsylvania,  not  only  relied  upon  the 
militia,  but  his  orders,  through  Secretary  McHenry,  required  that  the 
militia  of  the  vicinage  should  be  employed ;  and,  though  he  did  order  troops 
from  Philadelphia,  he  required  the  militia  of  the  northern  counties  to  be 
employed  as  long  as  they  were  able  to  execute  the  laws ;  and  the  orders 
given  to  Colonel  McPherson,  then  in  New  Jersey,  were,  that  Federal  troops 
should  not  go  across  the  Jersey  line  except  in  the  last  resort.  I  say,  then, 
when  we  trace  our  history  to  its  early  foundation,  under  the  first  two 
Presidents  of  the  United  States,  we  find  that  this  idea  of  using  the  army 
and  the  navy  to  execute  the  laws  at  the  discretion  of  the  President  was  one 
not  even  entertained,  still  less  acted  upon,  in  any  case. 

Then,  Senators,  we  are  brought  to  consider  passing  events.  A  little  gar- 
rison in  the  harbor  of  Charleston  now  occupies  a  post  which,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  it  gained  by  the  perfidious  breach  of  an  understanding  between  the 
parties  concerned ;  and  here,  that  I  may  do  justice  to  one  who  had  not  the 
power,  on  this  floor  at  least,  to  right  himself — who  has  no  friend  here  to 
represent  him — let  me  say  that  remark  does  not  apply  to  Major  Anderson; 
for  I  hold  that,  though  his  orders  were  not  so  designed,  as  I  am  assured, 
they  did  empower  him  to  go  from  one  post  to  another,  and  to  take  his 
choice  of  the  posts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston ;  but  in  so  doing  he  com- 
mitted an  act  of  hostility.  When  he  dismantled  Fort  Moultrie,  when  he 
burned  the  carriages  and  spiked  the  guns  bearing  upon  Fort  Sumter,  he  put 
Carolina  in  the  attitude  of  an  enemy  of  the  United  States  ;  and  yet  he  has 
not  shown  that  there  was  any  just  cause  for  apprehension.    Vague  rumors 


(308      KISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

had  reached  him — and  causeless  fear  seems  now  to  be  the  impelling  motive 
of  every  public  act — vague  rumors  of  an  intention  to  take  Fort  Moultrie. 
But,  sir,  a  soldier  should  be  confronted  by  an  overpowering  force  before  he 
spikes  his  guns  and  burns  his  carriages.  A  soldier  should  be  confronted  by 
a  public  enemy  before  he  destroys  the  property  of  the  United  States  lest  it 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  such  an  enemy.  "Was  that  fort  built  to  make 
■war  upon  Carolina?  Was  an  armament  put  into  it  for  such  a  purpose ? 
Or  was  it  built  for  the  protection  of  Charleston  Harbor ;  and  was  it  armed 
to  make  that  protection  effective  ?  If  so,  what  right  had  any  soldier  to  de- 
stroy that  armament  lest  it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  Carolina? 

Some  time  since  I  presented  to  the  Senate  resolutions  which  embodied 
my  views  upon  this  subject,  drawing  from  the  Constitution  itself  the  data 
on  which  I  based  those  resolutions.  I  then  invoked  the  attention  of  the 
Senate  in  that  form  to  the  question  as  to  whether  garrisons  should  be  kept 
within  a  State  against  the  consent  of  that  State.  Clear  was  I  then,  as  I  am 
now,  in  my  conclusion.  No  garrison  should  be  kept  within  a  State,  during 
a  time  of  peace,  if  the  State  believes  the  presence  of  that  garrison  to  be 
either  offensive  or  dangerous.  Our  army  is  maintained  for  common  de- 
fense ;  our  forts  are  built  out  of  the  common  Treasury,  to  which  every  State 
contributes ;  and  they  are  perverted  from  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
erected  whenever  they  are  garrisoned  with  a  view  to  threaten,  to  intimi- 
date, or  to  control  a  State  in  any  respect. 

Yet,  we  are  told  this  is  no  purpose  to  coerce  a  State ;  we  are  told  that 
the  power  does  not  exist  to  coerce  a  State ;  but  the  Senator  from  Ten- 
nessee [Mr.  Johnson]  says  it  is  only  a  power  to  coerce  individuals ;  and 
the  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Wade]  seems  to  look  upon  this  latter  power 
as  a  very  harmless  power  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  though  the  results 
of  such  coercion  might  be  to  destroy  the  State.  What  is  a  State?  Is  it 
land  and  houses?  Is  it  taxable  property?  Is  it  the  organization  of  the 
local  government?  Or  is  it  all  these  combined  with  the  people  who  pos- 
sess them?  Destroy  the  people,  and  yet  not  make  war  upon  the  State! 
To  state  the  proposition  is  to  answer  it,  by  reason  of  its  very  absurdity. 
It  is  like  making  desolation,  and  calling  it  peace.  There  being,  as  it  is  ad- 
mitted on  every  hand,  no  power  to  coerce  a  State,  I  ask  what  is  the  use  of 
a  garrison  within  a  State  where  it  needs  -no  defense?  The  answer  from 
every  candid  mind  must  be,  there  is  none.  The  answer  from  every  patriotic 
breast  must  be,  peace  requires  under  all  such  circumstances  that  the  garri- 
son should  be  withdrawn.  Let  the  Senate  to-day,  as  the  responsibility  is 
thrown  at  our  door,  pass  those  resolutions,  or  others  which  better  express 
the  idea  contained  in  them,  and  you  have  taken  one  long  step  toward 
peace,  one  long  stride  toward  the  preservation  of  the  Government  of  our 
fathers. 

The  President's  message  of  December,  however,  has  all  the  characteris- 
tics of  a  diplomatic  paper,  for  diplomacy  is  said  to  abhor  certainty  as  Nature 


APPENDIX  H.  609 

abhors  a  vacuum ;  and  it  was  not  within  the  power  of  man  to  reach  any 
fixed  conclusion  from  that  message.  When  the  country  was  agitated,  when 
opinions  were  being  formed,  when  we  were  drifting  beyond  the  power  ever 
to  return,  this  was  not  what  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate. One  policy  or  the  other  he  ought  to  have  taken.  If  believing  this 
to  be  a  government  of  force,  if  believing  it  to  be  a  consolidated  mass,  and 
not  a  confederation  of  States,  he  should  have  said:  "No  State  has  a  right 
to  secede ;  every  State  is  subordinate  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  the 
Federal  Government  must  empower  me  with  physical  means  to  reduce  to 
subjugation  the  State  asserting  such  a  right."  If  not,  if  a  State-rights  man 
and  a  Democrat — as  for  many  years  it  has  been  my  pride  to  acknowledge 
our  venerable  Chief  Magistrate  to  be — then  another  line  of  policy  should 
have  been  taken.  The  Constitution  gave  no  power  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  coerce  a  State  ;  the  Constitution  gave  an  army  for  the  purposes  of 
common  defense,  and  to  preserve  domestic  tranquillity ;  but  the  Constitution 
never  contemplated  using  that  army  against  a  State.  A  State  exercising 
the  sovereign  function  of  secession  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, unless  we  woo  her  with  the  voice  of.  fraternity,  and  bring  her 
back  to  the  enticements  of  affection.  One  policy  or  the  other  should  have 
been  taken ;  and  it  is  not  for  me  to  say  which,  though  my  opinion  is  well 
known ;  but  one  policy  or  the  other  should  have  been  pursued.  He  should 
have  brought  his  opinion  to  one  conclusion  or  another,  and  to-day  our 
country  would  have  been  safer  than  it  is. 

What  is  the  message  before  us  ?  Does  it  benefit  the  case  ?  Is  there  a 
solution  offered  here  ?  We  are  informed  in  it  of  propositions  made  by  com- 
missioners from  South  Carolina.  We  are  not  informed  even  as  to  how  they 
terminated.  No  countervailing  proposition  is  presented  ;  no  suggestion  is 
made.     We  are  left  drifting  loosely,  without  chart  or  compass. 

There  is  in  our  recent  history,  however,  an  event  which  might  have  sug- 
gested a  policy  to  be  pursued.  When  foreigners  having  no  citizenship  within 
the  United  States  declared  war  against  it  and  made  war  upon  it ;  when  the 
inhabitants  of  a  Territory,  disgraced  by  institutions  offensive  to  the  laws  of 
every  State  of  the  Union,  held  this  attitude  of  rebellion  ;  when  the  Execu- 
tive there  had  power  to  use  troops,  he  first  sent  commissioners  of  peace  to 
win  them  back  to  their  duty.  When  South  Carolina,  a  sovereign  State, 
resumes  the  grants  she  had  delegated ;  when  South  Carolina  stands  in  an 
attitude  which  threatens  within  a  short  period  to  involve  the  country  in  a 
civil  war  unless  the  policy  of  the  Government  be  changed,  no  suggestion  is 
made  to  us  that  this  Government  might  send  commissioners  to  her;  no  sug- 
gestion is  made  to  us  that  better  information  should  be  sought ;  there  is  no 
policy  of  peace,  but  we  are  told  the  army  and  navy  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  be  used  against  those  who  assail  the  power 
of  the  Federal  Government. 

Then,  my  friends,  are  we  to  allow  events  to  drift  onward  to  this  fatal 


(310      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

consummation?  Are  we  to  do  nothing  to  restore  peace ?  Shall  we  not,  in 
addition  to  the  proposition  I  have  already  made,  to  withdraw  the  force 
which  complicates  the  question,  send  commissioners  there  in  order  that  we 
may  learn  what  this  community  desire,  what  this  community  will  do,  and 
put  the  two  Governments  upon  friendly  relations? 

I  will  not  weary  the  Senate  by  going  over  the  argument  of  coercion. 
My  friend  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Pugh],  I  may  say,  has  exhausted  the  subject.  I 
thank  him,  because  it  came  appropriately  from  one  not  identified  by  his 
position  with  South  Carolina.  It  came  more  effectively  from  him  than  it 
would  have  done  from  me,  had  I  (as  I  have  not)  a  power  to  present  it  as 
forcibly  as  he  has  done.  Sirs,  let  me  say,  among  the  painful  reflections 
which  have  crowded  upon  me  by  day  and  by  night,  none  have  weighed 
more  heavily  upon  my  heart  than  the  reflection  that  our  separation  severs 
the  ties  which  have  so  long  bound  us  to  our  Northern  friends,  of  whom  we 
are  glad  to  recognize  the  Senator  as  a  type. 

]STow  let  us  return  a  moment  to  consider  what  would  have  been  the  state 
of  the  case  if  the  garrison  at  Charleston  had  been  withdrawn.  The  fort 
would  have  stood  there,  not  dismantled,  but  unoccupied.  It  would  have 
stood  there  in  the  hands  of  an  ordnance-sergeant.  Commissioners  would 
have  come  to  treat  of  all  questions  with  the  Federal  Government,  of  these 
forts  as  well  as  others.  They  would  have  remained  there  to  answer  the 
ends  for  which  they  were  constructed — the  ends  of  defense.  If  South  Caro- 
lina was  an  independent  State,  then  she  might  hold  to  us  such  a  relation  as 
Ehode  Island  held  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Confederation  and  before  the 
formation  of  the  Union,  when  Ehode  Island  appealed  to  the  spmpathies  ex- 
isting between  the  States  connected  in  the  struggles  of  the  Revolution,  and 
asked  that  a  commercial  war  should  not  be  waged  upon  her.  These  forts 
would  have  stood  there  then  to  cover  the  harbor  of  a  friendly  State ;  and,  if 
the  feeling  which  once  existed  among  the  people  of  the  States  had  subsisted 
still,  and  that  fort  had  been  attacked,  brave  men  from  every  section  would 
have  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and  there  imperiled  their  lives  in  the  defense  of  a 
State  identified  with  their  early  history,  and  still  associated  in  their  breasts 
with  affectionate  memories ;  the  first  act  of  this  kiud  would  have  been  one 
appealing  to  every  generous  motive  of  those  people,  again  to  reconsider  the 
question  of  how  we  could  live  together,  and  through  that  bloody  ordeal  to 
have  brought  us  into  the  position  in  which  our  fathers  left  us.  There  need 
have  been  no  collision,  as  there  could  have  been  no  question  of  property 
which  that  State  was  not  ready  to  meet.  If  it  was  a  question  of  dollars 
and  cents,  they  came  here  to  adjust  it.  If  it  was  a  question  of  covering  an 
interior  State,  their  interests  were  identical.  In  whatever  way  the  question 
could  have  been  presented,  the  consequence  would  have  been  to  relieve  the 
Government  of  the  charge  of  maintaining  the  fort,  and  to  throw  it  upon  the 
State  which  had  resolved  to  be  independent. 

Thus  we  see  that  no  evil  could  have  resulted.     We  have  yet  to  learn 


APPENDIX  H.  611 

what  evil  the  opposite  policy  may  bring.  Telegraphic  intelligence,  by  the 
man  who  occupied  the  seat  on  the  right  of  me  in  the  old  Chamber,  was 
never  relied  on.  He  was  the  wisest  statesman  I  ever  knew — a  man  whose 
prophetic  vision  foretold  all  the  trials  through  which  we  are  now  passing ; 
whose  clear  intellect,  elaborating  everything,  borrowing  nothing  from  any- 
body, seemed  to  dive  into  the  future,  and  to  unveil  those  things  which  are 
hidden  to  other  eyes.  Need  I  say  I  mean  Calhoun?  No  other  man  than 
he  would  have  answered  this  description.  I  say,  then,  not  relying  upon 
telegraphic  dispatches,  we  still  have  information  enough  to  notify  us  that 
we  are  on  the  verge  of  civil  war ;  that  civil  war  is  in  the  hands  of  men 
irresponsible,  as  it  seems  to  us ;  their  acts  unknown  to  us ;  their  discretion 
not  covered  by  any  existing  law  or  usage ;  and  we  now  have  the  responsi- 
bility thrown  upon  us,  which  justifies  us  in  demanding  information  to  meet 
an  emergency  in  which  the  country  is  involved. 

Is  there  any  point  of  pride  which  prevents  us  from  withdrawing  that 
garrison  ?  I  have  heard  it  said  by  a  gallant  gentleman,  to  whom  I  make  no 
special  reference,  that  the  great  objection  was  an  unwillingness  to  lower 
the  flag.  To  lower  the  flag!  Under  what  circumstances?  Does  any 
man's  courage  impel  him  to  stand  boldly  forth  to  take  the  life  of  his  breth- 
ren? Does  any  man  insist  upon  going  upon  the  open  field  with  deadly 
weapons  to  fight  his  brother  on  a  question  of  courage  ?  There  is  no  point 
of  pride.  These  are  your  brethren ;  and  they  have  shed  as  much  glory 
upon  that  flag  as  any  equal  number  of  men  in  the  Union.  They  are  the 
men,  and  that  is  the  locality,  where  the  first  Union  flag  was  unfurled,  and 
where  was  fought  a  gallant  battle  before  our  independence  was  declared — 
not  the  flag  with  thirteen  stripes  and  thirty-three  stars,  but  a  flag  with  a 
cross  of  St.  George,  and  the  long  stripes  running  through  it.  When  the 
gallant  Moultrie  took  the  British  Fort  Johnson  and  carried  it,  for  the  first 
time,  I  believe,  did  the  Union  flag  fly  in  the  air;  and  that  was  in  October, 
1775.  When  he  took  the  position  and  threw  up  a  temporary  battery  with 
palmetto-logs  and  sand,  upon  the  site  called  Fort  Moultrie,  that  fort  was 
assailed  by  the  British  fleet,  and  bombarded  until  the  old  logs,  clinging 
with  stern  tenacity,  were  filled  with  balls,  but  the  flag  still  floated  there, 
and,  though  many  bled,  the  garrison  conquered.  Those  old  logs  are  gone ; 
the  eroding  current  is  even  taking  away  the  site  where  Fort  Moultrie  stood ; 
the  gallant  men  who  held  it  now  mingle  with  the  earth ;  but  their  memo- 
ries live  in  the  hearts  of  a  brave  people,  and  their  sons  yet  live,  and  they, 
like  their  fathers,  are  ready  to  bleed  and  to  die  for  the  cause  in  which  their 
fathers  triumphed.  Glorious  are  the  memories  clinging  around  that  old 
fort  which  now,  for  the  first  time,  has  been  abandoned — abandoned  not 
even  in  the  presence  of  a  foe,  but  under  the  imaginings  that  a  foe  might 
come ;  and  guns  spiked  and  carriages  burned  where  the  band  of  Moultrie 
bled,  and,  with  an  insufficient  armament,  repelled  the  common  foe  of  all 
the  colonies.     Her  ancient  history  compares  proudly  with  the  present. 


612      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Can  there,  then,  be  a  point  of  pride  upon  so  sacred  a  soil  as  this,  where 
the  blood  of  the  fathers  cries  to  heaven  against  civil  war  ?  Can  there  be 
a  point  of  pride  against  laying  upon  that  sacred  soil  to-day  the  flag  for 
which  our  fathers  died?  My  pride,  Senators,  is  different.  My  pride  is 
that  that  flag  shall  not  set  between  contending  brothers;  and  that,  when  it 
shall  no  longer  be  the  common  flag  of  the  country,  it  shall  be  folded  up  and 
laid  away  like  a  vesture  no  longer  used ;  that  it  shall  be  kept  as  a  sacred 
memento  of  the  past,  to  which  each  of  us  can  make  a  pilgrimage  and  re- 
member the  glorious  days  in  which  we  were  born. 

In  the  answer  of  the  commissioners  which  I  caused  to  be  read  yester- 
day, I  observed  that  they  referred  to  Fort  Sumter  as  remaining  a  memento 
of  Carolina  faith.  It  is  an  instance  of  the  accuracy  of  the  opinion  which 
I  have  expressed.  It  stood  without  a  garrison.  It  commanded  the  harbor, 
and  the  fort  was  known  to  have  the  armament  in  it  capable  of  defense. 
Did  the  Carolinians  attack  it?  Did  they  propose  to  seize  it?  It  stood 
there  safe  as  public  property  ;  and  there  it  might  have  stood  to  the  end  of 
the  negotiations  without  a  question,  if  a  garrison  had  not  been  sent  into  it. 
It  was  the  faith  on  which  they  relied,  that  the  Federal  Government  would 
take  no  position  of  hostility  to  them,  that  constituted  its  safety,  and  by 
which  they  lost  the  advantage  they  would  have  had  in  seizing  it  when 
unoccupied. 

I  think  that  something  is  due  to  faith  as  well  as  fraternity ;  and  I  think 
one  of  the  increasing  and  accumulative  obligations  upon  us  to  withdraw  the 
garrison  from  that  fort  is  from  the  manner  in  which  it  was  taken — taken, 
as  we  heard  by  the  reading  of  the  paper  yesterday,  while  Carolina  re- 
mained under  the  assurance  that  the  status  would  not  be  violated  ;  while 
I  was  under  that  assurance,  and  half  a  dozen  other  Senators  now  within 
the  sound  of  my  voice  felt  secure  under  the  same  pledge,  that  nothing 
would  be  done  until  negotiations  had  terminated,  unless  it  was  to  withdraw 
the  garrison.  Then  we,  the  Federal  Government,  broke  the  faith;  we 
committed  the  first  act  of  hostility  ;  and  from  this  first  act  of  hostility  arose 
all  those  acts  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  message  as  unprovoked 
aggressions — the  seizing  of  forts  elsewhere.  "Why  were  they  seized?  Self- 
preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature  ;  and  when  they  no  longer  had  con- 
fidence that  this  Federal  Government  would  not  seize  the  forts  constructed 
for  their  defense,  and  use  them  for  their  destruction,  they  only  obeyed  the 
dictates  of  self-preservation  when  they  seized  the  forts  to  prevent  the 
enemy  from  taking  possession  of  them  as  a  means  of  coercion,  for  they  then 
were  compelled  to  believe  this  Federal  Government  had  become  an  enemy. 

Now,  what  is  the  remedy  ?  To  assure  them  that  you  do  not  intend  to 
use  physical  force  against  them  is  your  first  remedy;  to  assure  them  that 
you  intend  to  consider  calmly  all  the  propositions  which  they  make,  and  to 
recognize  the  rights  which  the  Union  was  established  to  secure ;  that  you 
intend  to  settle  with  them  upon  a  basis  in  accordance  with  the  Declaration 


APPENDIX  H.  613 

of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  "When  you  do 
that,  peace  will  prevail  over  the  land,  and  force  become  a  thing  that  no 
man  will  consider  necessary. 

I  am  here  confronted  with  a  question  which  I  will  not  argue.  The 
position  which  I  have  taken  necessarily  brings  me  to  its  consideration. 
Without  arguing  it,  I  will  merely  state  it.  It  is  the  right  of  a  State  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union.  The  President  says  it  is  not  a  constitutional 
right.  The  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Wade],  and  his  ally,  the  Senator  from 
Tennessee  [Mr.  Johnson],  argued  it  as  no  right  at  all.  Well,  let  us  see. 
What  is  meant  by  a  constitutional  right?  Is  it  meant  to  be  a  right  derived 
from  the  Constitution — a  grant  made  in  the  Constitution  ?  If  that  is  what 
is  meant,  of  course  we  all  see  at  once  that  we  do  not  derive  it  in  that  way. 
Is  it  intended  that  it  is  not  a  constitutional  right,  because  it  is  not  granted 
in  the  Constitution  ?  That  shows,  indeed,  but  a  poor  appreciation  of  the 
nature  of  our  Government.  All  that  is  not  granted  in  the  Constitution 
belongs  to  the  States ;  and  nothing  but  what  is  granted  in  the  Constitution 
belongs  to  the  Federal  Government;  and,  keeping  this  distinction  in  view, 
it  requires  but  little  argument  to  see  the  conclusion  at  which  we  necessarily 
arrive.  Did  the  States  surrender  their  sovereignty  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment? Did  the  States  agree  that  they  never  could  withdraw  from  the 
Federal  Union  ? 

I  know  it  has  been  argued  here  that  the  Confederation  said  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation  were  to  be  a  perpetual  bond  of  union,  and  that  the 
Constitution  was  made  to  form  a  more  perfect  union;  that  is  to  say,  a 
Government  beyond  perpetuity,  or  one  day,  or  two  or  three  days,  after 
doomsday.  But  that  has  no  foundation  in  the  Constitution  itself;  it  has  no 
basis  in  the  nature  of  our  Government.  The  Constitution  was  a  compact 
between  independent  States;  it  was  not  a  national  Government;  and  hence 
Mr.  Madison  answered  with  such  effectiveness  to  Patrick  Henry,  in  the 
Convention  of  Virginia,  which  ratified  the  Constitution,  denying  his  propo- 
sition that  it  was  to  form  a  nation,  and  stating  to  him  the  conclusive  fact 
that  u  we  sit  here  as  a  convention  of  the  State  to  ratify  or  reject  that  Con- 
stitution; and  how,  then,  can  you  say  that  it  forms  a  nation,  and  is  adopted 
by  the  mass  of  the  people? "  It  was  not  adopted  by  the  mass  of  the  people, 
as  we  all  know  historically ;  it  was  adopted  by  each  State ;  each  State,  vol- 
untarily ratifying  it,  entered  the  Union;  and  that  Union  was  formed  when- 
ever nine  States  should  enter  it ;  and,  in  abundance  of  caution,  it  was  stated, 
in  the  resolutions  of  ratification  of  three  of  the  States,  that  they  still  pos- 
sessed the  power  to  withdraw  the  grants  which  they  had  delegated,  when- 
ever they  should  be  used  to  their  injury  or  oppression.  I  know  it  is  said 
that  this  meant  the  people  of  all  the  States ;  but  that  is  such  an  absurdity 
that  I  suppose  it  hardly  necessary  to  answer  it — for  to  speak  of  an  elective 
Government  rendering  itself  injurious  and  oppressive  to  the  whole  body  of 
the  people  by  whom  it  is  elected  is  such  an  absurdity  that  no  man  can 


614      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

believe  it ;  and  to  suppose  that  a  State  convention,  speaking  for  a  State, 
and  having  no  authority  to  speak  for  anybody  else,  would  say  that  it  was 
declaring  what  the  people  of  the  other  States  would  do,  would  be  an  as- 
sumption altogether  derogatory  to  the  sound  sense  and  well-known  senti- 
ments of  the  men  who  formed  the  Constitution  and  of  those  who  ratified  it. 

But  in  abundance  of  caution  not  only  was  this  done,  but  the  tenth 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  declared  that  all  which  had  not  been  dele- 
gated was  reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people.  Now,  I  ask,  where 
among  the  delegated  grants  to  the  Federal  Government  do  you  find  any 
power  to  coerce  a  State ;  where  among  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
do  you  find  any  prohibition  on  the  part  of  a  State  to  withdraw ;  and,  if  you 
find  neither  one  nor  the  other,  must  not  this  power  be  in  that  great  deposi- 
tory, the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  ?  How  was  it  ever  taken  out  of 
that  source  of  all  power  to  be  given  to  the  Federal  Government  ?  It  was 
not  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government ;  it  was  not  prohibited  to  the 
States;  it  necessarily  remains,  then,  among  the  reserved  powers  of  the 
States. 

This  question  has  been  so  forcibly  argued  by  the  Senator  from  Louisiana 
[Mr.  Benjamin]  that  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  pursue  it.  Three  times  the 
proposition  was  made  to  give  power  to  coerce  the  States,  in  the  Conven- 
tion, and  as  often  refused — opposed  as  a  proposition  to  make  war  on  a 
State,  and  refused  on  the  ground  that  the  Federal  Government  could  not 
make  war  upon  a  State.  The  Constitution  was  to  form  a  Government  for 
such  States  as  should  unite ;  it  had  no  application  beyond  those  who  should 
voluntarily  adopt  it.  Among  the  delegated  powers  there  is  none  which  in- 
terferes with  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  secession  by  a  State.  As  a  right 
of  sovereignty  it  remained  to  the  States  under  the  Confederation  ;  and,  if 
it  did  not,  you  arraign  the  faith  of  the  men  who  framed  the  Constitution  to 
which  you  appeal,  for  they  provided  that  nine  States  should  secede  from 
thirteen.  Eleven  did  secede  from  the  thirteen,  and  put  themselves  in  the 
very  position  which,  by  a  great  abuse  of  language,  is  to-day  called  treason, 
against  the  two  States  of  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island;  they  still 
claiming  to  adhere  to  the  perpetual  Articles  of  Confederation,  these  eleven 
States  absolving  themselves  from  the  obligations  which  arose  under 
them. 

The  Senator  from  Tennessee,  to  whom  I  must  refer  again — and  I  do  so 
because  he  is  a  Southern  Senator — taking  the  most  hostile  ground  against 
us,  refers  to  the  State  of  Tennessee,  and  points  to  the  time  when  that  State 
may  do  those  things  which  he  has  declared  it  an  absurdity  for  any  State  to 
perform.  I  will  read  a  single  paragraph  from  his  speech,  showing  what 
his  language  is,  in  order  that  I  may  not,  by  any  possibility,  produce  an  im- 
pression upon  others  which  his  language  does  not  justify.  Here  are  the 
expressions  to  which  I  refer.     I  call  the  Senator's  attention  to  them : 

"  If  there  are  grievances,  why  can  not  we  all  go  together,  and  write  them 


APPENDIX  H.  615 

down  and  point  them  out  to  our  Northern  friends  after  we  have  agreed  on 
what  those  grievances  were,  and  say :  '  Here  is  what  we  demand ;  here  our 
wrongs  are  enumerated  ;  upon  these  terms  we  have  agreed ;  and  now,  after 
we  have  given  you  a  reasonable  time  to  consider  these  additional  guaran- 
tees in  order  to  protect  ourselves  against  these  wrongs,  if  you  refuse  them, 
then,  having  made  an  honorable  effort,  having  exhausted  all  other  means, 
we  may  declare  the  association  to  be  broken  up,  and  we  may  go  into  an  act 
of  revolution.'  "We  can  then  say  to  them,  '  You  have  refused  to  give  us 
guarantees  that  we  think  are  needed  for  the  protection  of  our  institutions 
and  for  the  protection  of  our  other  interests.'  When  they  do  this,  I  will  go 
as  far  as  he  who  goes  the  farthest." 

ISTow,  it  does  appear  that  he  will  go  that  far  ;  and  he  goes  a  little  further 
than  anybody,  I  believe,  who  has  spoken  in  vindication  of  the  right,  for  he 
says: 

"  We  do  not  intend  that  you  shall  drive  us  out  of  this  House  that  was 
reared  by  the  hands  of  our  fathers.  It  is  our  House.  It  is  the  constitutional 
House.  We  have  a  right  here ;  and  because  you  come  forward  and  violate 
the  ordinances  of  this  House,  I  do  not  intend  to  go  out ;  and,  if  you  persist 
in  the  violation  of  the  ordinances  of  the  House,  we  intend  to  eject  you  from 
the  building  and  retain  the  possession  ourselves." 

I  wonder  if  this  is  what  caused  the  artillery  companies  to  be  ordered 
here,  and  the  militia  of  this  city  to  be  organized  ?  I  think  it  was  a  mere  fig- 
ure of  speech.  I  do  not  believe  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  intended  to  kick 
you  out  of  the  House ;  and,  if  he  did,  let  me  say  to  you,  in  all  sincerity,  we 
who  claim  the  constitutional  right  of  a  State  to  withdraw  from  the  Union 
do  not  intend  to  help  him.     He  says,  however,  and  this  softens  it  a  little : 

"  We  do  not  think,  though,  that  we  have  just  cause  for  going  out  of  the 
Union  now.  We  have  just  cause  of  complaint ;  but  we  are  for  remaining 
in  the  Union,  and  fighting  the  battle  like  men." 

What  does  that  mean  ?  In  the  name  of  common  sense,  I  ask  how  are 
we  to  fight  in  the  Union?  We  take  an  oath  of  office  to  maintain  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
formed  for  domestic  tranquillity ;  and  how,  then,  are  we  to  fight  in  the 
Union  ?  I  have  heard  the  proposition  from  others  ;  but  I  have  not  under- 
stood it.  I  understand  how  men  fight  when  they  assume  attitudes  of  hos- 
tility ;  but  I  do  not  understand  how  men,  remaining  connected  together  in 
a  bond  as  brethren,  sworn  to  mutual  aid  and  protection,  still  propose  to  fight 
each  other.  I  do  not  understand  what  the  Senator  means.  If  he  chooses 
to  answer  my  question,  I  am  willing  to  hear  him,  for  I  do  not  understand 
how  we  are  to  fight  in  the  Union. 

Mr.  Johnson,  of  Tennessee:  When  my  speech  is  taken  altogether,  I 
think  my  meaning  can  be  very  easily  understood.  What  I  mean  by  fighting 
the  battle  in  the  Union  is,  I  think,  very  distinctly  and  clearly  set  forth  in 
my  speech  ;  and,  if  the  Senator  will  take  it  from  beginning  to  end,  I  appre- 


616      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

hend  that  he  will  have  no  difficulty  in  ascertaining  what  I  meant.  But,  for 
his  gratification  upon  this  particular  point,  I  will  repeat,  in  substance,  what 
I  then  said  as  to  fighting  the  battle  in  the  Union.  I  meant  that  we  should 
remain  here  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  contend  for  all 
its  guarantees ;  and  by  preserving  the  Constitution  and  all  its  guarantees 
we  would  preserve  the  Union.  Our  true  place,  to  maintain  these  guarantees 
and  to  preserve  the  Constitution,  is  in  the  Union,  there  to  fight  our  battle. 
How  ?  By  argument ;  by  appeals  to  the  patriotism,  to  the  good  sense,  and 
to  the  judgment  of  the  whole  country ;  by  showing  the  people  that  the 
Constitution  had  been  violated ;  that  all  its  guarantees  were  not  complied 
with ;  and  I  have  entertained  the  hope  that,  when  they  were  possessed  of 
that  fact,  there  would  be  found  patriotism  and  honesty  enough  in  the  great 
mass  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  to  come  forward  and  do  what  was  just 
and  right  between  the  contending  sections  of  the  country.  I  meant  that  the 
true  way  to  fight  the  battle  was  for  us  to  remain  here  and  occupy  the  places 
assigned  to  us  by  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  Why  did  I  make  that 
statement?  It  was  because  on  the  4th  day  of  March  next  we  shall  have 
six  majority  in  this  body ;  and  if,  as  some  apprehended,  the  incoming  Ad- 
ministration shall  show  any  disposition  to  make  encroachments  upon  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  the  States,  or  any 
other  violation  of  the  Constitution,  we,  by  remaining  in  the  Union,  and 
standing  at  our  places,  will  have  the  power  to  resist  all  these  encroach- 
ments. How?  We  have  the  power  even  to  reject  the  appointment  of  the 
Cabinet  officers  of  the  incoming  President.  Then,  should  we  not  be  fighting 
the  battles  in  the  Union,  by  resisting  even  the  organization  of  the  Admin- 
istration in  a  constitutional  mode,  and  thus,  at  the  very  start,  disable  an 
Administration  which  was  likely  to  encroach  on  our  rights  and  to  violate 
the  Constitution  of  the  country?  So  far  as  appointing  even  a  Minister 
abroad  is  concerned,  the  incoming  Administration  will  have  no  power  with- 
out our  consent,  if  we  remain  here.  It  comes  into  office  handcuffed,  power- 
less to  do  harm.  We,  standing  here,  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  our 
hands;  we  can  resist  it  at  the  very  threshold  effectually;  and  do  it  inside 
of  the  Union,  and  in  our  House.  The  incoming  Administration  has  not  even 
the  power  to  appoint  a  postmaster  whose  salary  exceeds  one  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year,  without  consultation  with  and  the  acquiescence  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  The  President  has  not  even  the  power  to  draw  his 
salary — his  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  per  annum — unless  we  appropriate 
it.  I  contend,  then,  that  the  true  place  to  fight  the  battle  is  in  the  Union, 
and  within  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  The  army  and  navy  cannot 
be  sustained  without  appropriations  by  Congress;  and,  if  we  were  appre- 
hensive that  encroachments  would  be  made  on  the  Southern  States  and  on 
their  institutions,  in  violation  of  the  Constitution,  we  could  prevent  him 
from  having  a  dollar  even  to  feed  his  army  or  his  navy. 

Mr.  Davis  :  I  receive  the  answer  from  the  Senator,  and  I  think  1  com- 


APPENDIX  H.  617 

prehend  now  that  he  is  not  going  to  use  any  force,  but  it  is  a  sort  of  fight- 
ing that  is  to  be  done  by  votes  and  words ;  and  I  think,  therefore,  the 
President  need  not  bring  artillery  and  order  out  the  militia  to  suppress 
them.  I  think,  altogether,  we  are  not  in  danger  of  much  bloodshed  in  the 
mode  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Johnson  :  I  had  not  quite  done  ;  but  if  the  Senator  is  satisfied — 

Mr.  Davis  :  Quite  satisfied.  I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  the  answer  of 
the  Senator  shows  me  he  did  not  intend  to  fight  at  all ;  that  it  was  a  mere 
figure  of  speech,  and  does  not  justify  converting  the  Federal  capital  into  a 
military  camp.  But  it  is  a  sort  of  revolution  which  he  proposes ;  it  is  a 
revolution  under  the  forms  of  the  Government.  Now,  I  have  to  say,  once 
for  all,  that,  as  long  as  I  am  a  Senator  here,  I  will  not  use  the  powers  I 
possess  to  destroy  the  very  Government  to  which  I  am  accredited.  I  will 
not  attempt,  in  the  language  of  the  Senator,  to  handcuff  the  President.  I 
will  not  attempt  to  destroy  the  Administration  by  refusing  any  officers  to 
administer  its  functions.  I  should  vote,  as  I  have  done  in  Administrations 
to  which  I  stood  in  nearest  relation,  against  a  bad  nomination ;  but  I  never 
would  agree,  under  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  and  with  the  powers  I 
bear  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  to  employ  those  powers  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  Government  I  was  sent  to  support.  I  leave  that  to  gentle- 
men who  take  the  oath  with  a  mental  reservation.  It  is  not  my  policy.  If 
I  must  have  revolution,  I  say  let  it  be  a  revolution  such  as  our  fathers  made 
when  they  were  denied  their  natural  rights. 

So  much  for  that.  It  has  quieted  apprehension  ;  and  I  hope  that  the 
artillery  will  not  be  brought  here  *,  that  the  militia  will  not  be  called  out ; 
and  that  the  female  schools  will  continue  their  sessions  as  heretofore. 
[Laughter.]  The  authority  of  Mr.  Madison,  however,  was  relied  on  by  the 
Senator  from  Tennessee ;  and  he  read  fairly  an  extract  from  Mr.  Madison's 
letter  to  Mr.  Webster,  and  I  give  him  credit  for  reading  what  it  seems  to  me 
destroys  his  whole  argument.     It  is  this  clause : 

"  The  powers  of  the  Government  being  exercised,  as  in  other  elective 
and  responsible  governments,  under  the  control  of  its  constituents,  the 
people,  and  the  Legislatures  of  the  States,  and  subject  to  the  revolutionary 
rights  of  the  people  in  extreme  cases." 

Now,  sir,  we  are  confusing  language  very  much.  Men  speak  of  revolu- 
tion ;  and  when  they  say  revolution  they  mean  blood.  Our  fathers  meant 
nothing  of  the  sort.  When  they  spoke  of  revolution  they  meant  an  unal- 
ienable right.  When  they  declared  as  an  unalienable  right  the  power  of  the 
people  to  abrogate  and  modify  their  form  of  government  whenever  it  did 
not  answer  the  ends  for  which  it  was  established,  they  did  not  mean  that 
they  were  to  sustain  that  by  brute  force.  They  meant  that  it  was  a  right; 
and  force  could  only  be  invoked  when  that  right  was  wrongfully  denied. 
Great  Britain  denied  the  right  in  the  case  of  the  colonies,  and  therefore 
our  revolution  for  independence  was  bloody.     If  Great  Britain  had  ad- 


618      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

mitted  the  great  American  doctrine,  there  would  have  been  no  blood  shed ; 
and  does  it  become  the  descendants  of  those  who  proclaimed  this  as  the 
great  principle  on  which  they  took  their  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  now  to  proclaim,  if  that  is  a  right,  it  is  one  which  you  can  only  get 
as  the  subjects  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  may  get  their  rights,  by  force 
overcoming  force?  Are  we,  in  this  age  of  civilization  and  political  prog- 
ress, when  political  philosophy  had  advanced  to  the  point  which  seemed 
to  render  it  possible  that  the  millennium  should  now  be  seen  by  prophetic 
eyes — are  we  now  to  roll  back  the  whole  current  of  human  thought,  and 
again  to  return  to  the  mere  brute  force  which  prevails  between  beasts  of 
prey,  as  the  only  method  of  settling  questions  between  men? 

If  the  Declaration  of  Independence  be  true  (and  who  here  gainsays  it?), 
every  community  may  dissolve  its  connection  with  any  other  community 
previously  made,  and  have  no  other  obligation  than  that  which  results  from 
the  breach  of  an  alliance  between  States.  Is  it  to  be  supposed ;  could  any 
man,  reasoning  a  priori,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  men  who  fought 
the  battles  of  the  Eevolution  for  community  independence — that  the  men 
who  struggled  against  the  then  greatest  military  power  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  in  order  that  they  might  possess  those  unalienable  rights  which  they 
had  declared — terminated  their  great  efforts  by  transmitting  posterity  to  a 
condition  in  which  they  could  only  gain  those  rights  by  force  ?  If  so,  the 
blood  of  the  Eevolution  was  shed  in  vain ;  no  great  principles  were  estab- 
lished ;  for  force  was  the  law  of  nature  before  the  battles  of  the  Eevolution 
were  fought. 

I  see,  then — if  gentlemen  insist  on  using  the  word  "  revolution  "  in  the 
sense  of  a  resort  to  force — a  very  great  difference  between  their  opinion 
and  that  of  Mr.  Madison.  Mr.  Madison  put  the  rights  of  the  people  over 
and  above  everything  else,  and  he  said  this  was  the  Government  de  jure 
and  de  facto.  Call  it  by  what  name  you  will,  he  understood  ours  to  be  a 
Government  of  the  people.  The  people  never  have  separated  themselves 
from  those  rights  which  our  fathers  had  declared  to  be  unalienable.  They 
did  not  delegate  to  the  Federal  Government  the  powers  which  the  British 
Crown  exercised  over  the  colonies;  they  did  not  achieve  their  indepen- 
dence for  any  purpose  so  low  as  that.  They  left  us  to  the  inheritance  of 
freemen,  living  in  independent  communities,  the  States  united  for  the  pur- 
poses which  they  thought  would  bless  posterity.  It  is  in  the  exercise  of 
this  reserved  right  as  defined  by  Mr.  Madison,  as  one  to  which  all  the 
powers  of  Government  are  subject,  that  the  people  of  a  State  in  conven- 
tion have  claimed  to  resume  the  functions  which  in  like  manner  they  had 
made  to  the  Federal  Government.  .  .  . 

The  question  which  now  presents  itself  to  the  country  is,  "What  shall  we 
do  with  events  as  they  stand ?  Shall  we  allow  this  separation  to  be  total? 
Shall  we  render  it  peaceful,  with  a  view  to  the  chance  that,  when  hunger 
shall  brighten  the  intellects  of  men,  and  the  teachings  of  hard  experience 


APPENDIX  H.  619 

shall  have  tamed  them,  they  may  come  back,  in  the  spirit  of  our  fathers, 
to  the  task  of  reconstruction?  Or  will  they  have  that  separation  partial ; 
will  they  give  to  each  State  all  its  military  power ;  will  they  give  to  each 
State  its  revenue  power ;  will  they  still  preserve  the  common  agent,  and 
will  they  thus  carry  on  a  Government  different  from  that  which  now 
exists,  yet  not  separating  the  States  so  entirely  as  to  make  the  work  of  re- 
construction equal  to  a  new  creation ;  not  separating  them  so  as  to  render 
it  utterly  impossible  to  administer  any  functions  of  the  Government  in  secu- 
rity and  peace  ? 

I  waive  the  question  of  duality,  considering  that  a  dual  Executive  would 
be  the  institution  of  a  King  Log.  I  consider  a  dual  legislative  department 
would  be  to  bring  into  antagonism  the  representatives  of  two  different 
countries,  to  war  perpetually,  and  thus  to  continue,  not  union,  but  the  irre- 
pressible conflict.  There  is  no  duality  possible  (unless  there  be  two  con- 
federacies) which  seems  to  me  consistent  with  the  interests  of  either  or  of 
both.  It  might  be  that  two  confederacies  could  be  so  organized  as  to  an- 
swer jointly  many  of  the  ends  of  our  present  Union ;  it  might  be  that 
States,  agreeing  with  each  other  in  their  internal  policy — having  a  similarity 
of  interests  and  an  identity  of  purpose — might  associate  together,  and  that 
these  two  confederacies  might  have  relations  to  each  other  so  close  as 
to  give  them  a  united  power  in  time  of  war  against  any  foreign  nation. 
These  things  are  possibilities ;  these  things  it  becomes  us  to  contemplate ; 
these  things  it  devolves  on  the  majority  section  to  consider  now ;  for  with 
every  motion  of  that  clock  is  passing  away  your  opportunity.  •  It  was 
greater  when  we  met  on  the  first  Monday  in  December  than  it  is  now ;  it 
is  greater  now  than  it  will  be  on  the  first  day  of  next  week.  We  have 
waited  long ;  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  mean  to  do  nothing. 
In  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  where  the  resolutions  of  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky  [Mr.  Ceittenden]  were  considered,  various  attempts  were  made, 
but  no  prospect  of  any  agreement  on  which  it  was  possible  for  us  to  stand, 
in  security  for  the  future,  could  be  matured.  I  offered  a  proposition,  which 
was  but  the  declaration  of  that  which  the  Constitution  announces;  but 
that  which  the  Supreme  Court  had,  from  time  to  time,  and  from  an  early 
period  asserted;  but  that  which  was  necessary  for  equality  in  the  Union. 
Not  one  single  vote  of  the  Eepublican  portion  of  that  committee  was  given 
for  the  proposition. 

Looking,  then,  upon  separation  as  inevitable,  not  knowing  how  that 
separation  is  to  occur,  or  at  least  what  States  it  is  to  embrace,  there  remains 
to  us,  I  believe,  as  the  consideration  which  is  most  useful,  the  inquiry,  How 
can  this  separation  be  effected  so  as  to  leave  to  us  the  power,  whenever  we 
shall  have  the  will,  to  reconstruct?  It  can  only  be  done  by  adopting  a 
policy  of  peace.  It  can  only  be  done  by  denying  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment all  power  to  coerce.  It  can  only  be  done  by  returning  to  the  point 
from  which  we  started,  and  saying,  "  This  is  a  Government  of  fraternity,  a 


620      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

Government  of  consent,  and  it  shall  not  be  administered  in  a  departure 
from  those  principles." 

I  do  not  regard  the  failure  of  our  constitutional  Union,  as  very  many- 
do,  to  be  the  failure  of  self-government — to  be  conclusive  in  all  future  time 
of  the  "unfitness  of  man  to  govern  himself.  Our  State  governments  have 
charge  of  nearly  all  the  relations  of  person  and  property.  This  Federal 
Government  was  instituted  mainly  as  a  common  agent  for  foreign  purposes, 
for  free  trade  among  the  States,  and  for  common  defense.  Eepresentative 
liberty  will  remain  in  the  States  after  they  are  separated.  Liberty  was  not 
crushed  by  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother-country,  then 
the  most  constitutional  monarchy  and  the  freest  Government  known.  Still 
less  will  liberty  be  destroyed  by  the  separation  of  these  States,  to  prevent 
the  destruction  of  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  by  the  mal-administration 
of  it.  There  will  be  injury — injury  to  all ;  differing  in  degree,  differing  in 
manner.  The  injury  to  the  manufacturing  and  navigating  States  will  be  to 
their  internal  prosperity.  The  injury  to  the  Southern  States  will  be  mainly 
to  their  foreign  commerce.  All  will  feel  the  deprivation  of  that  high  pride 
and  power  which  belong  to  the  flag  now  representing  the  greatest  repub- 
lic, if  not  the  greatest  Government,  upon  the  face  of  the  globe.  I  would 
that  it  still  remained  to  consider  what  we  might  calmly  have  considered  on 
the  first  Monday  in  December — how  this  could  be  avoided ;  but  events  have 
rolled  past  that  point.  You  would  not  make  propositions  when  they  would 
have  been  effective.  I  presume  you  will  not  make  them  now ;  and  I  know 
not  what  effect  they  would  have  if  you  did.  Your  propositions  would  have 
been  most  welcome  if  they  had  been  made  before  any  question  of  coercion, 
and  before  any  vain  boasting  of  power ;  for  pride  and  passion  do  not  often 
take  counsel  of  pecuniary  interest,  at  least  among  those  whom  I  represent. 
But  you  have  chosen  to  take  the  policy  of  clinging  to  words  [the  Chicago 
platform],  in  disregard  of  passing  events,  and  have  hastened  them  onward. 
It  is  true,  as  shown  by  the  history  of  all  revolutions,  that  they  are  most 
precipitated  and  intensified  by  obstinacy  and  vacillation.  The  want  of  a 
policy,  the  obstinate  adherence  to  unimportant  things,  have  brought  us  to 
a  condition  where  I  close  my  eyes,  because  I  can  not  see  anything  that 
encourages  me  to  hope. 

In  the  long  period  which  elapsed  after  the  downfall  of  the  great  repub- 
lics of  the  East,  when  despotism  seemed  to  brood  over  the  civilized  world, 
and  only  here  and  there  constitutional  monarchy  even  was  able  to  rear  its 
head — when  all  the  great  principles  of  republican  and  representative  gov- 
ernment had  sunk  deep,  fathomless,  into  the  sea  of  human  events — it  was 
then  that  the  storm  of  our  Revolution  moved  the  waters.  The  earth,  the 
air,  and  the  sea  became  brilliant ;  and  from  the  foam  of  ages  rose  the  con- 
stellation which  was  set  in  the  political  firmament,  as  a  sign  of  unity  and 
confederation  and  community  independence,  coexistent  with  confederate 
strength.     That  constellation  has  served  to  bless  our  people.     Nay,  more ; 


APPENDIX  H.  621 

its  light  has  been  thrown  on  foreign  lands,  and  its  regenerative  power  will 
outlive,  perhaps,  the  Government  as  a  sign  for  which  it  was  set.  It  may 
be  pardoned  to  me,  sir,  who,  in  my  boyhood,  was  given  to  the  military  ser- 
vice, and  who  have  followed,  under  tropical  suns  and  over  northern  snows, 
the  flag  of  the  Union,  if  I  here  express  the  deep  sorrow  which  always  over- 
whelms me  when  I  think  of  taking  a  last  leave  of  that  object  of  early  affec- 
tion and  proud  association;  feeling  that  henceforth  it  is  not  to  be  the 
banner  which,  by  day  and  by  night,  I  was  ready  to  follow ;  to  hail  with  the 
rising  and  bless  with  the  setting  sun.  But  God,  who  knows  the  hearts  of 
men,  will  judge  between  you  and  us,  at  whose  door  lies  the  responsibility. 
Men  will  see  the  efforts  made,  here  and  elsewhere ;  that  we  have  been  silent 
when  words  would  not  avail,  and  have  curbed  an  impatient  temper,  and 
hoped  that  conciliatory  counsels  might  do  that  which  could  not  be  effected 
by  harsh  means.  And  yet,  the  only  response  which  has  come  from  the 
other  side  has  been  a  stolid  indifference,  as  though  it  mattered  not :  "Let  the 
temple  fall,  we  do  not  care !  "  Sirs,  remember  that  such  conduct  is  offensive, 
and  that  men  may  become  indifferent  even  to  the  objects  of  their  early 
attachments. 

If  our  Government  should  fail,  it  will  not  be  from  the  defect  of  the  sys- 
tem, though  each  planet  was  set  to  revolve  in  an  orbit  of  its  own,  each 
moving  by  its  own  impulse,  yet  being  all  attracted  by  the  affections  and 
interests  which  countervailed  each  other;  there  was  no  inherent  tendency 
to  disruption.  It  has  been  the  perversion  of  the  Constitution  ;  it  has  been 
the  substitution  of  theories  of  morals  for  principles  of  government-;  it  has 
been  forcing  crude  opinions  upon  the  domestic  institutions  of  others,  which 
has  disturbed  these  planets  in  their  orbit ;  it  is  this  which  threatens  to  de- 
stroy the  constellation  which,  in  its  power  and  its  glory,  had  been  gather- 
ing stars  one  after  another,  until,  from  thirteen,  it  had  risen  to  thirty-three. 

If  we  accept  the  argument  of  to-day  in  favor  of  coercion  as  the  theory 
of  our  Government,  its  only  effect  will  be  to  precipitate  men  who  have 
pride  and  self-reliance  into  the  assertion  of  the  freedom  and  independence 
to  which  they  were  born.  Our  fathers  would  never  have  entered  into  a 
confederate  Government  which  had  within  itself  the  power  of  coercion, 
would  not  agree  to  remain  one  day  in  such  a  Government  after  I  had  the 
power  to  get  out  of  it.  To  argue  that  the  man  who  follows  the  mandate  of 
his  State,  resuming  her  sovereign  jurisdiction  and  power,  is  disloyal  to  his 
allegiance  to  the  United  States,  which  allegiance  he  only  owed  through  his 
State,  is  such  a  confusion  of  ideas  as  does  not  belong  to  an  ordinary  com- 
prehension of  our  Government.  It  is  treason  to  the  principle  of  community 
independence.  It  is  to  recur  to  that  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  which, 
in  England,  cost  one  monarch  his  head  and  drove  another  into  exile ;  a 
doctrine  which,  since  the  Eevolution  of  1688,  has  obtained  nowhere  where 
men  speak  the  English  tongue.  Yet  all  this  it  is  needful  to  admit,  before 
we  accept  this  doctrine  of  coercion,  which  is  to  send  an  army  and  a  navy 


622   RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

to  do  that  which  there  are  no  courts  to  perform ;  to  execute  the  law  with- 
out a  judicial  decision,  and  without  an  officer  to  serve  process.  This,  I  say, 
would  degrade  us  to  the  basest  despotism  under  which  man  could  live — the 
despotism  of  a  many-headed  monster,  without  the  sensibility  or  regardful 
consideration  which  might  belong  to  an  hereditary  king.* 

There  is  a  strange  similarity  in  the  position  of  affairs  at  the  present  day 
to  that  which  the  colonies  occupied.  Lord  North  asserted  the  right  to  col- 
lect the  revenue,  and  insisted  on  collecting  it  by  force.  He  sent  troops  to 
Boston  Harbor  and  to  Oharlestown,  and  he  quartered  troops  in  those  towns. 
The  result  was,  collision ;  and  out  of  that  collision  came  the  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  the  mother-country.  The  same  thing  is  being  attempted 
to-day.  Not  the  law,  not  the  civil  magistrate,  but  troops,  are  relied  upon 
now  to  execute  the  laws.  To  gather  taxes  in  the  Southern  ports,  the 
army  and  navy  must  be  sent  to  perform  the  functions  of  magistrates.  It 
is  the  old  case  over  again.  Senators  of  the  North,  you  are  reenacting  the 
blunders  which  statesmen  in  Great  Britain  committed ;  but  among  you 
there  are  some  who,  like  Chatham  and  Burke,  though  not  of  our  section, 
yet  are  vindicating  our  rights# 

I  have  heard,  with  some  surprise,  for  it  seemed  to  me  idle,  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  assertion  heretofore  made,  that  the  cause  of  the  separation  was 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  may  be  a  source  of  gratification  to  some 
gentlemen  that  their  friend  is  elected ;  but  no  individual  had  the  power  to 
produce  the  existing  state  of  things.  It  was  the  purpose,  the  end,  it  was 
the  declaration  by  himself  and  his  friends,  which  constitute  the  necessity  of 
providing  new  safeguards  for  ourselves.  The  man  was  nothing,  save  as  he 
was  the  representative  of  opinions,  of  a  policy,  of  purposes,  of  power,  to 
inflict  upon  us  those  wrongs  to  which  freemen  never  tamely  submit. 

Senators,  I  have  spoken  longer  than  I  desired.  I  had  supposed  it  was 
possible,  avoiding  argument  and  not  citing  authority,  to  have  made  to  you  I 
a  brief  address.  It  was  thought  useless  to  argue  a  question  which  now 
belongs  to  the  past.  The  time  is  near  at  hand  when  the  places  which  have 
known  us  as  colleagues  laboring  together  can  know  us  in  that  relation  no 
more  for  ever.  I  have  striven  to  avert  the  catastrophe  which  now  impends 
over  the  country,  unsuccessfully ;  and  I  regret  it.  For  the  few  days  which 
I  may  remain,  I  am  willing  to  labor  in  order  that  that  catastrophe  shall  be 
as  little  as  possible  destructive  to  public  peace  and  prosperity.  If  you  de- 
sire at  this  last  moment  to  avert  civil  war,  so  be  it ;  it  is  better  so.  If  you 
will  but  allow  us  to  separate  from  you  peaceably,  since  we  can  not  live 
peaceably  together,  to  leave  with  the  rights  we  had  before  we  were  united, 
since  we  can  not  enjoy  them  in  the  Union,  then  there  are  many  relations 

*  Here  occurred  a  colloquy  with  another  Senator,  followed  by  some  paragraphs 
not  essential  to  the  completeness  of  the  subject. 


APPENDIX  H.  623 

which  may  still  subsist  between  us,  drawn  from  the  associations  of  our 
struggles  from  the  Revolutionary  era  to  the  present  day,  which  may  be 
beneficial  to  you  as  well  as  to  us. 

If  you  will  not  have  it  thus — if  in  the  pride  of  power,  if  in  contempt  of 
reason,  and  reliance  upon  force,  you  say  we  shall  not  go,  but  shall  remain 
as  subjects  to  you — then,  gentlemen  of  the  North,  a  war  is  to  be  inaugurated 
the  like  of  which  men  have  not  seen.  Sufficiently  numerous  on  both  sides, 
in  close  contact,  with  only  imaginary  lines  of  division,  and  with  many 
means  of  approach,  each  sustained  by  productive  sections,  the  people  of 
which  will  give  freely  both  of  money  and  of  store,  the  conflicts  must  be 
multiplied  indefinitely,  and  masses  of  men,  sacrificed  to  the  demon  of  civil 
war,  will  furnish  hecatombs,  such  as  the  recent  campaign  in  Italy  did  not 
offer.  At  the  end  of  all  this  what  will  you  have  effected  ?  Destruction 
upon  both  sides;  subjugation  upon  neither  ;  a  treaty  of  peace  leaving  both 
torn  and  bleeding ;  the  wail  of  the  widow  and  the  cry  of  the  orphan  substi- 
tuted for  those  peaceful  notes  of  domestic  happiness  that  now  prevail 
throughout  the  land ;  and  then  you  will  agree  that  each  is  to  pursue  his 
separate  course  as  best  he  may.  This  is  to  be  the  end  of  war.  Through  a 
long  series  of  years  you  may  waste  your  strength,  distress  your  people,  and 
yet  at  last  must  come  to  the  position  which  you  might  have  had  at  first, 
had  justice  and  reason,  instead  of  selfishness  and  passion,  folly  and  crime, 
dictated  your  course. 

Is  there  wisdom,  is  there  patriotism  in  the  land?  If  so,  easy  must  be 
the  solution  of  this  question.  If  not,  then  Mississippi's  gallant  sons  will 
stand  like  a  wall  of  fire  around  their  State;  and  I  go  hence,  not  in  hostility 
to  you,  but  in  love  and  allegiance  to  her,  to  take  my  place  among  her  sons, 
be  it  for  good  or  for  evil. 

I  shall  probably  never  again  attempt  to  utter  here  the  language  either  of 
warning  or  of  argument.  I  leave  the  case  in  your  hands.  If  you  solve  it 
not  before  I  go,  you  will  have  still  to  decide  it.  Toward  you  individually, 
as  well  as  to  those  whom  you  represent,  I  would  that  I  had  the  power  now 
to  say  there  shall  be  peace  between  us  for  ever.  I  would  that  I  had  the 
power  now  to  say  the  intercourse  and  the  commerce  between  the  States,  if 
they  can  not  live  in  one  Union,  shall  still  be  uninterrupted;  that  all  the 
social  relations  shall  remain  undisturbed ;  that  the  son  in  Mississippi  shall 
visit  freely  his  father  in  Maine,  and  the  reverse ;  and  that  each  shall  be 
welcomed  when  he  goes  to  the  other,  not  by  himself  alone,  but  also  by  his 
neighbors ;  and  that  all  that  kindly  intercourse  which  has  subsisted  between 
the  different  sections  of  the  Union  shall  continue  to  exist.  This  is  not  only 
for  the  interest  of  all,  but  it  is  my  profoundest  wish,  my  sincerest  desire, 
that  such  remnant  of  that  which  is  passing  away  may  grace  the  memory  of 
a  glorious  though  too  brief  existence. 

Day  by  day  you  have  become  more  and  more  exasperated.  False  reports 
have  led  you  to  suppose  there  was  in  our  section  hostility  to  you  with  ruani- 


024:      RISE  AND  PALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

festations  which  did  not  exist.  In  one  case,  I  well  remember  when  the 
Senator  from  Vermont  [Mr.  Collamee]  was  serving  with  me  on  a  special 
committee,  it  was  reported  that  a  gentleman  who  had  gone  from  a  com- 
mercial house  in  New  York  had  been  inhumanly  treated  at  Vicksburg,  and 
this  embarrassed  a  question  which  we  then  had  pending.  I  wrote  to  Vicks- 
burg for  information,  and  my  friends  could  not  learn  that  such  a  man  had 
ever  been  there ;  but,  if  he  had  been  there,  no  violence  certainly  had  been 
offered  to  him.  Falsehood  and  suspicion  have  thus  led  you  on  step  by  step 
in  the  career  of  crimination,  and  perhaps  has  induced  to  some  part  of  your 
aggression.  Such  evil  effects  we  have  heretofore  suffered,  and  the  conse- 
quences now  have  their  fatal  culmination.  On  the  verge  of  war,  distrust 
and  passion  increase  the  danger.  To-day  it  is  in  the  power  of  two  bad 
men,  at  the  opposite  ends  of  the  telegraphic  line  between  Washington  and 
Charleston,  to  precipitate  the  State  of  South  Carolina  and  the  United  States 
into  a  conflict  of  arms  without  other  cause  to  have  produced  it. 

And  still  will  you  hesitate ;  still  will  you  do  nothing?  Will  you  sit  with 
sublime  indifference  and  allow  events  to  shape  themselves?  No  longer  can 
you  say  the  responsibility  is  upon  the  Executive.  He  has  thrown  it  upon 
you.  He  has  notified  you  that  he  can  do  nothing;  and  you  therefore  know 
he  will  do  nothing.  He  has  told  you  the  responsibility  now  rests  with 
Congress;  and  I  close  as  I  began,  by  invoking  you  to  meet  that  responsi- 
bility, bravely  to  act  the  patriot's  part.  If  you  will,  the  angel  of  peace  may 
spread  her  wings,  though  it  be  over  divided  States;  and  the  sons  of  the 
sires  of  the  Revolution  may  still  go  on  in  friendly  intercourse  with  each 
other,  ever  renewing  the  memories  of  a  common  origin;  the  sections,  by 
the  diversity  of  their  products  and  habits,  acting  and  reacting  beneficially, 
the  commerce  of  each  may  swell  the  prosperity  of  both,  and  the  happiness 
of  all  be  still  interwoven  together.  Thus  may  it  be;  and  thus  it  is  in  your 
power  to  make  it. 


APPENDIX  I. 

Correspondence  and  extracts  from  correspondence  relative 
to  Port  Sumter,  from  the  affair  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  January 
9,  1861,  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  envoy  of  South  Carolina  from 
Washington,  February  8,  1861. 

Major  Anderson  to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina. 

To  his  Excellency  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina. 

Sie:  Two  of  your  batteries  fired  this  morning  upon  an  unarmed  vessel 
bearing  the  flag  of  my  Government.  As  I  have  not  been  notified  that  war 
has  been  declared  by  South  Carolina  against  the  Government  of  the  United 


APPENDIX  I.  625 

States,  I  cannot  but  think  that  this  hostile  act  was  committed  without  your 
sanction  or  authority.  Under  that  hope,  and  that  alone,  did  I  refrain  from 
opening  fire  upon  your  batteries. 

I  have  the  honor,  therefore,  respectfully  to  ask  whether  the  above- 
mentioned  act — one  I  believe  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  our 
country,  or  of  any  other  civilized  Government — was  committed  in  obe- 
dience to  your  instructions,  and  to  notify  you,  if  it  be  not  disclaimed,  that 
I  must  regard  it  as  an  act  of  war,  and  that  I  shall  not,  after  a  reasonable 
time  for  the  return  of  my  messenger,  permit  any  vessels  to  pass  within 
range  of  the  guns  of  my  fort. 

In  order  to  save  as  far  as  in  my  power  the  shedding  of  blood,  I  beg  that 
you  will  have  due  notification  of  this  my  decision  given  to  all  concerned. 

Hoping,  however,  that  your  answer  may  be  such  as  will  justify  a  further 
continuance  of  forbearance  on  my  part,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  ANDERSON, 
Major  First  Artillery  U.  S.  A.,  commanding. 
Fort  Sumter,  South  Carolina,  January  9, 1861. 

Extracts  from  reply  of  the  Governor  to  Major  Anderson. 

State  of  South  Carolina,  Executive  Office,  Headquarters, 

Charleston,  January  9,  1861. 

Sie  :  Your  letter  has  been  received.  In  it  you  make  certain  statements 
which  very  plainly  show  that  you  have  not  been  fully  informed  .by  your 
Government  of  the  precise  relations  which  now  exist  between  it  and  the 
State  of  South  Carolina.  Official  information  has  been  communicated  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  political  connection  hereto- 
fore existing  between  the  State  of  South  Carolina  and  the  States  which 
were  known  as  the  United  States  had  ceased,  and  that  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  had  resumed  all  the  power  it  had  delegated  to  the  United  States 
under  the  compact  known  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
right  which  the  State  of  South  Carolina  possessed  to  change  the  political 
relations  it  held  with  other  States,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  has  been  solemnly  asserted  by  the  people  of  this  State,  in  conven- 
tion, and  now  does  not  admit  of  discussion. 

The  attempt  to  reenforce  the  troops  now  at  Fort  Sumter,  or  to  retake 
and  resume  possession  of  the  forts  within  the  waters  of  this  State,  which 
you  have  abandoned,  after  spiking  the  guns  placed  there,  and  doing  other- 
wise much  damage,  can  not  be  regarded  by  the  authorities  of  this  State  as 
indicative  of  any  other  purpose  than  the  coercion  of  the  State  by  the  armed 
force  of  the  Government.  To  repel  such  an  attempt  is  too  plainly  its  duty 
to  allow  it  to  be  discussed.  But,  while  defending  its  waters,  the  authori- 
ties of  the  State  have  been  careful  so  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  State  that 
40 


626      RISE  AND  FALL  0F  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

no  act,  however  necessary  for  its  defense,  should  lead  to  a  useless  waste  of 
life.  Special  agents,  therefore,  have  been  off  the  bar,  to  warn  all  approach- 
ing vessels,  if  armed,  or  unarmed  and  having  troops  to  reenforce  the  forts 
on  board,  not  to  enter  the  harbor  of  Charleston ;  and  special  orders  have 
been  given  to  the  commanders  of  all  the  forts  and  batteries  not  to  fire  at 
such  vessels  until  a  shot  fired  across  their  bows  would  warn  them  of  the 
prohibition  of  the  State. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Star  of  the  West,  it  is  understood,  this 
morning  attempted  to  enter  this  harbor,  with  troops  on  board ;  and,  having 
been  notified  that  she  could  not  enter,  was  fired  into.  The  act  is  perfectly 
justified  by  me. 

In  regard  to  your  threat  in  relation  to  vessels  in  the  harbor,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say,  that  you  must  judge  of  your  responsibilities.  Your  posi- 
tion in  this  harbor  has  been  tolerated  by  the  authorities  of  the  State.  And, 
while  the  act  of  which  you  complain  is  in  perfect  consistency  with  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  State,  it  is  not  perceived  how  far  the  conduct  which 
you  propose  to  adopt  can  find  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  any  country,  or 
be  reconciled  with  any  other  purpose  of  your  Government  than  that  of  im- 
posing upon  this  State  the  condition  of  a  conquered  province. 

F.  W.  PICKENS. 

To  Major  Eobert  Anderson,  commanding  Fort  Sumter. 

Major  Anderson  to  the  Governor. 

Headquarters,  Fort  S  outer,  South  Carolina,  January  9,  1861. 
To  his  Excellency  F.  W.  Pickens, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communica- 
tion of  to-day,  and  to  say  that,  under  the  circumstances,  I  have  deemed  it 
proper  to  refer  the  whole  matter  to  my  Government;  and  that  I  intend 
deferring  the  course  indicated  in  my  note  of  this  morning  until  the  arrival 
from  Washington  of  the  instructions  I  may  receive.  I  have  the  honor  also 
to  express  a  hope  that  no  obstructions  will  be  placed  in  the  way  of,  and 
that  you  will  do  me  the  favor  to  afford  every  facility  to,  the  departure  and 
return  of  the  bearer,  Lieutenant  T.  Talbot,  U.  S.  Army,  who  has  been 
directed  to  make  the  journey. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

ROBERT  ANDERSON, 
Major  V.  S.  Army,  commanding. 


The  Governor  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

State  of  South  Carolina,  Executive  Office, 
Headquarters,  Charleston,  January  11,  18G1. 

Sir  :  At  the  time  of  the  separation  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  from 
the  United  States,  Fort  Sumter  was,  and  still  is,  in  the  possession  of  troops 


APPENDIX  I.  627 

of  the  United  States,  under  the  command  of  Major  Anderson.  I  regard 
that  possession  as  not  consistent  with  the  dignity  or  safety  of  the  State  of 
South  Carolina ;  and  I  have  this  day  addressed  to  Major  Anderson  a  com- 
munication to  obtain  from  him  the  possession  of  that  fort,  by  the  authori- 
ties of  this  State.  The  reply  of  Major  Anderson  informs  me  that  he  has  no 
authority  to  do  what  I  required,  but  he  desires  a  reference  of  the  demand 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Under  the  circumstances  now  existing,  and  which  need  no  comment  by 
me,  I  have  determined  to  send  to  you  the  Hon.  I.  "W.  Hayne,  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  have  instructed  him  to  demand 
the  delivery  of  Fort  Sumter,  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  to  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

The  demand  I  have  made  of  Major  Anderson,  and  which  I  now  make  of 
you,  is  suggested  because  of  my  earnest  desire  to  avoid  the  bloodshed  which 
a  persistence  in  your  attempt  to  retain  the  possession  of  that  fort  will 
cause,  and  which  will  be  unavailing  to  secure  you  that  possession,  but  in- 
duce a  calamity  most  deeply  to  be  deplored. 

If  consequences  so  unhappy  shall  ensue,  I  will  secure  for  this  State,  in 
the  demand  which  I  now  make,  the  satisfaction  of  having  exhausted  every 
attempt  to  avoid  it. 

In  relation  to  to  the  public  property  of  the  United  States  within  Fort 
Sumter,  the  Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne,  who  will  hand  you  this  communication,  is 
authorized  to  give  you  the  pledge  of  the  State  that  the  valuation  of  such 
property  will  be  accounted  for,  by  this  State,  upon  the  adjustment  of  its  re- 
lations with  the  United  States,  of  which  it  was  a  part. 

F.  W.  PICKENS. 

To  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Extracts  from  instructions  of  the  State  Department  of  South  Carolina  to 

Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne. 

State  of  South  Carolina,  Executive  Office, 
State  Department,  Charleston,  January  12,  1861. 

Sie  :  The  Governor  has  considered  it  proper,  in  view  of  the  grave  ques- 
tions which  now  affect  the  State  of  South  Carolina  and  the  United  States, 
to  make  a  demand  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  for  the  delivery 
to  the  State  of  South  Carolina  of  Fort  Sumter,  now  within  the  territorial 
limits  of  this  State  and  occupied  by  troops  of  the  United  States. 

You  are  now  instructed  to  proceed  to  Washington,  and  there,  in  the 
name  of  the  government  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  inquire  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  whether  it  was  by  his  order  that  troops  of 
the  United  States  were  sent  into  the  harbor  of  Charleston  to  reenforce  Fort 
Sumter;  if  he  avows  that  order,  you  will  then  inquire  whether  he  asserts 
a  right  to  introduce  troops  of  the  United  States  within  the  limits  of  this 


628      RISE  AND  FALL   0F  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

State,  to  occupy  Fort  Sumter  ;  and  you  will,  in  case  of  his  avowal,  inform 
him  that  neither  will  be  permitted,  and  either  will  be  regarded  as  his  dec- 
laration of  war  against  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

The  Governor,  to  save  life,  and  determined  to  omit  no  course  of  pro- 
ceeding usual  among  civilized  nations,  previous  to  that  condition  of  general 
hostilities  which  belongs  to  war,  and  not  knowing  under  what  order,  or  by 
what  authority,  Fort  Sumter  is  now  held,  demanded  from  Major  Kobert 
Anderson,  now  in  command  of  that  fort,  its  delivery  to  the  State.  That 
officer,  in  his  reply,  has  referred  the  Governor  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  at  Washington.  You  will,  therefore,  demand  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  of  the  United  States 
from  that  fort,  and  its  delivery  to  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

You  are  instructed  not  to  allow  any  question  of  property  claimed  by  the 
United  States  to  embarrass  the  assertion  of  the  political  right  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  to  the  possession  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  possession  of  that 
fort  by  the  State  is  alone  consistent  with  the  dignity  and  safety  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina ;  but  such  possession  is  not  inconsistent  with  a  right  to 
compensation  in  money  in  another  Government,  if  it  has  against  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  any  just  claim  connected  with  that  fort.  But  the  pos- 
session of  the  fort  can  not,  in  regard  to  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  be 
compensated  by  any  consideration  of  any  kind  from  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  when  the  possession  of  it  by  the  Government  is  invasive  of 
the  dignity  and  affects  the  safety  of  the  State.  That  possession  can  not 
become  now  a  matter  of  discussion  or  negotiation.  You  will,  therefore, 
require  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  a  positive  and  distinct  an- 
swer to  your  demand  for  the  delivery  of  the  fort.  And  you  are  further 
authorized  to  give  the  pledge  of  the  State  to  adjust  all  matters  which 
may  be,  and  are  in  their  nature,  susceptible  of  valuation  in  money,  in  the 
manner  most  usual,  and  upon  the  principles  of  equity  and  justice  always 
recognized  by  independent  nations,  for  the  ascertainment  of  their  relative 
rights  and  obligations  in  such  matters.  .  .  . 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  A.  G.  MAGEATH. 

To  Hon.  W.  Hatne,  special  envoy  from  the  State  of  South  Carolina  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Letter  of  Senators  of  seceding  States  to  Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne. 

Washingtoh  City,  January  15,  1SG1. 
Hon.  Isaac  W.  Hatne. 

Sie  :  We  are  apprised  that  you  visit  Washington,  as  an  envoy  from  the 
State  of  South  Carolina,  bearing  a  communication  from  the  Governor  of 
your  State  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  Fort  Sumter. 
Without  knowing  its  contents,  we  venture  to  request  you  to  defer  its  deliv- 
ery to  the  President  for  a  few  days,  or  until  you  and  he  have  considered 
the  suggestions  which  we  beg  leave  to  submit. 


APPENDIX  I.  629 

We  know  that  the  possession  of  Fort  Sumter  by  troops  of  the  United 
States,  coupled  with  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  taken,  is  the 
chief,  if  not  only,  source  of  difficulty  between  the  government  of  South 
Carolina  and  that  of  the  United  States.  "We  would  add  that  we,  too, 
think  it  a  just  cause  of  irritation  and  of  apprehension  on  the  part  of  your 
State.  But  we  have  also  assurances,  notwithstanding  the  circumstances 
under  which  Major  Anderson  left  Fort  Moultrie  and  entered  Fort  Sumter 
with  the  forces  under  his  command,  that  it  was  not  taken,  and  is  not  held, 
with  any  hostile  or  unfriendly  purpose  toward  your  State,  but  merely  as 
property  of  the  United  States,  which  the  President  deems  it  his  duty  to 
protect  and  preserve. 

We  will  not  discuss  the  question  of  right  or  duty  on  the  part  of  either 
Government  touching  that  property,  or  the  late  acts  of  either  in  relation 
thereto ;  but  we  think  that,  without  any  compromise  of  right  or  breach  of 
duty  on  either  side,  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  matter  of  differences  may 
and  should  be  adopted.  We  desire  to  see  such  an  adjustment,  and  to  pre- 
vent war  or  the  shedding  of  blood.  We  represent  States  which  have  already 
seceded  from  the  United  States,  or  will  have  done  so  before  the  1st  of 
February  next,  and  which  will  meet  your  State  in  convention  on  or  before 
the  15th  of  that  month.  Our  people  feel  that  they  have  a  common  des- 
tiny with  your  people,  and  expect  to  form  with  them,  in  that  Convention, 
a  new  Confederation  and  Provisional  Government.  We  must  and  will 
share  your  fortunes,  suffering  with  you  the  evils  of  war  if  it  can  not  be 
avoided ;  and  enjoying  with  you  the  blessings  of  peace,  if  it  can  be  pre- 
served. We,  therefore,  think  it  especially  due  from  South  Carolina  to  our 
States — to  say  nothing  of  other  slaveholding  States — that  she  should,  as  far 
as  she  can,  consistently  with  her  honor,  avoid  initiating  hostilities  between 
her  and  the  United  States  or  any  other  power.  We  have  the  public  declara- 
tion of  the  President  that  he  has  not  the  constitutional  power  or  the  will 
to  make  war  on  South  Carolina,  and  that  the  public  peace  shall  not  be  dis- 
turbed by  any  act  of  hostility  toward  your  State. 

We,  therefore,  see  no  reason  why  there  may  not  be  a  settlement  of  ex- 
isting difficulties,  if  time  be  given  for  calm  and  deliberate  counsel  with 
those  States  which  are  equally  involved  with  South  Carolina.  We,  there- 
fore, trust  that  an  arrangement  will  be  agreed  on  between  you  and  the 
President,  at  least  till  the  15th  of  February  next ;  by  which  time  your  and 
our  States  may,  in  convention,  devise  a  wise,  just,  and  peaceable  solution 
of  existing  difficulties. 

In  the  mean  time,  we  think  your  State  should  suffer  Major  Anderson  to 
obtain  necessary  supplies  of  food,  fuel,  or  water,  and  enjoy  free  communi- 
cation, by  post  or  special  messenger,  with  the  President ;  upon  the  under- 
standing that  the  President  will  not  send  him  reinforcements  during  the 
same  period.  We  propose  to  submit  this  proposition  and  your  answer  to 
the  President. 


630      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

If  not  clothed  with  power  to  make  such  arrangement,  then  we  trust 
that  you  will  submit  our  suggestions  to  the  Governor  of  your  State  for 
his  instructions.  Until  you  have  received  and  communicated  his  response 
to  the  President,  of  course  your  State  will  not  attack  Fort  Sumter,  and  the 
President  will  not  offer  to  reenforce  it. 

"We  most  respectfully  submit  these  propositions,  in  the  earnest  hope 
that  you,  or  the  proper  authority  of  your  State,  may  accede  to  them. 
We  have,  the  honor  to  be,  with  profound  esteem, 
Your  obedient  servants, 

LOUIS  T.  WIGFALL, 
JOHN  HEMPHILL, 
D.  L.  YULEE, 
S.  E.  MALLOEY, 
JEFFEESON  DAVIS, 
0.  0.  CLAY,  Jb., 
BENJAMIN"  FITZPATEICK, 
A.  IVEBSON, 
JOHN  SLIDELL, 
J.  P.  BENJAMIN. 

Letter  of  Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne  in  reply  to  Senators  from  seceding  States. 

Washington,  January,  1861. 

Gentlemen:  I  have  just  received  your  communication,  dated  the  15th 
instant.  You  represent,  you  say,  States  which  have  already  seceded  from 
the  United  States,  or  will  hate  done  so  before  the  1st  of  February  next,  and 
which  will  meet  South  Carolina  in  convention,  on  or  before  the  15th  of  that 
month  ;  that  your  people  feel  they  have  a  common  destiny  with  our  peo- 
ple, and  expect  to  form  with  them  in  that  Convention  a  new  Confederacy 
and  Provisional  Government ;  that  you  must  and  will  share  our  fortunes, 
suffering  with  us  the  evils  of  war,  if  it  can  not  be  avoided,  and  enjoying 
with  us  the  blessings  of  peace,  if  it  can  be  preserved. 

I  feel,  gentlemen,  the  force  of  this  appeal,  and,  so  far  as  my  authority 
extends,  most  cheerfully  comply  with  your  request. 

I  am  not  clothed  with  power  to  make  the  arrangements  you  suggest, 
but  provided  you  can  get  assurances,  with  which  you  are  entirely  satisfied, 
that  no  reinforcements  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  in  the  interval,  and  that 
public  peace  shall  not  be  disturbed  by  any  act  of  hostility  toward  South 
Carolina,  I  will  refer  your  communication  to  the  authorities  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and,  withholding  their  communication,  with  which  I  am  at  present 
charged,  will  wait  for  their  instructions. 

Major  Anderson  and  his  command,  let  me  assure  you,  do  now  obtain 
all  necessary  supplies  of  food  (including  fresh  meat  and  vegetables),  and,  I 
believe,  fuel  and  water ;  and  do  now  enjoy  free  communication,  by  post 


APPENDIX  I.  631 

and  special  messengers,  with  the  President,  and  will  continue  to  do  so,  cer- 
tainly, until  the  door  of  negotiation  shall  be  closed. 

If  your  proposition  is  acceded  to,  you  may  assure  the  President  that  no 
attack  will  be  made  on  Fort  Sumter  until  a  response  from  the  Governor  of 
South  Carolina  has  been  received  by  me,  and  communicated  to  him. 
With  great  consideration  and  profound  esteem, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

ISAAC  W.  HAYNE, 
•     Envoy  from  the  Governor  and  Council  of  South  Carolina. 

Letter  of  Senators  of  seceding  States  to  the  President. 

Senate-Chamber,  January  19,  1861. 
Sib:  We  have  been  requested  to  present  to  you  copies  of  a  correspond- 
ence between  certain  Senators  of  the  United  States  and  Colonel  Isaac  W. 
Hayne,  now  in  this  city,  in  behalf  of  the  government  of  South  Carolina, 
and  to  ask  that  you  will  take  into  consideration  the  subject  of  said  corre- 
spondence.    Yery  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

BENJAMIN  FITZPATRICK, 
S.  R.  MALLORY, 
JOHN  SLIDELL. 
To  his  Excellency  James  Buchanan,  President  United  States. 

To  the  letter  above,  an  evasive  reply  was  returned  on  the  22d 
by  the  Hon.  Joseph  Holt,  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,  on  be- 
half of  the  President,  the  material  points  of  which  are  contained 
in  the  following  paragraph  : 

In  regard  to  the  proposition  of  Colonel  Hayne,  that  "  no  reinforcements 
will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  in  the  interval,  and  that  the  public  peace  will 
not  be  disturbed  by  any  act  of  hostility  toward  South  Carolina,"  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  give  you  any  such  assurances.  The  President  has  no  au- 
thority to  enter  into  such  an  agreement  or  understanding.  As  an  executive 
officer,  he  is  simply  bound  to  protect  the  public  property,  so  far  as  this  may 
be  practicable ;  and  it  would  be  a  manifest  violation  of  his  duty  to  place 
himself  under  engagements  that  he  would  not  perform  this  duty  either  for 
an  indefinite  or  limited  period.  At  the  present  moment  it  is  not  deemed 
necessary  to  reenforce  Major  Anderson,  because  he  makes  no  such  request, 
and  feels  quite  secure  in  his  position.  Should  his  safety,  however,  require 
reinforcements,  every  effort  will  be  made  to  supply  them. 

Mr.  Holt  concludes  his  letter  by  saying  : 

Major  Anderson  is  not  menacing  Charleston  ;  and  I  am  convinced  that 
the  happiest  result  which  can  be  attained  is,  that  both  he  and  the  authori- 
ties of  South  Carolina  shall  remain  on  their  present  amicable  footing,  neither 
party  being  bound  by  any  obligations  whatever,  except  the  high  Christian 


632      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

and  moral  duty  to  keep  the  peace,  and  to  avoid  all  causes  of  mutual  irrita- 
tion.    Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  HOLT,  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim. 

Letter  of  Senators  of  seceding  States  to  Hon.  I.  W.  Hayne. 

Hon.  Isaac  W.  HAYNE.  Washington,  January  23, 1861. 

Sir:  In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  17th  inst.  we  have  now  to  inform 
you  that,  after  communicating  with  the  President,  we  have  received  a  let- 
ter signed  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  addressed  to  Messrs.  Fitzpatrick, 
Mallory,  and  Slidell,  on  the  subject  of  our  proposition,  which  letter  we  now 
inclose  to  you.  Although  its  terms  are  not  as  satisfactory  as  we  could  have 
desired,  in  relation  to  the  ulterior  purposes  of  the  Executive,  we  have  no 
hesitation  in  expressing  our  entire  confidence  that  no  reinforcements  will 
be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter,  nor  will  the  public  peace  be  disturbed  within  the 
period  requisite  for  full  communication  between  yourself  and  your  govern- 
ment; and  we  trust,  therefore,  that  you  will  feel  justified  in  applying  for 
further  instructions  before  delivering  to  the  President  any  message  with 
which  you  may  have  been  charged. 

We  take  this  occasion  to  renew  the  expression  of  an  earnest  hope  that 
South  Carolina  will  not  deem  it  incompatible  with  her  safety,  dignity,  or 
bonor  to  refrain  from  initiating  any  hostilities  against  any  power  what- 
soever, or  from  taking  any  steps  tending  to  produce  collision,  until  our 
States,  which  are  to  share  her  fortunes,  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  joining 
their  counsels  with  hers. 

We  are,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servants, 

LOUIS  T.  WIGFALL, 
D.  L.  YULEE, 
J.  P.  BENJAMIN, 
A.  IVEKSON, 
JOHN  HEMPHILL, 
JOHN  SLIDELL, 
C.  C.  CLAY,  Je. 

p.  s. — Some  of  the  signatures  to  the  former  letter  addressed  to  you  are 
not  affixed  to  the  foregoing  communication,  in  consequence  of  the  depart- 
ure of  several  Senators,  now  on  their  way  to  their  respective  States. 

Letter  of  Eon.  L  W.  Eayne  to  Senators  of  seceding  States. 

To  the  Honorable  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  D.  L.  Yuxee,  J.  P.  Benjamin,  A. 
Iveeson,  John  Hemphill,  John  Slidell,  and  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr. 
Gentlemen  :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  23d  inst.,  inclosing  a 
communication  dated  the  22d  inst.,  addressed  to  Messrs.  Fitzpatrick,  Mal- 
lory, and  Slidell,  from  the  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim.  This  communi- 
cation from  the  Secretary  is  far  from  being  satisfactory  to  me.  But,  inas- 
much as  you  state  that  "  we  (you)  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  an  entire 


APPENDIX  I.  633 

confidence  that  no  reenforcement  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter,  nor  will  the 
public  peace  be  disturbed  within  the  period  requisite  for  full  communica- 
tion between  yourself  (myself)  and  your  (my)  Government,"  in  compliance 
with  our  previous  understanding,  I  withhold  the  communication  with  which 
I  am  at  present  charged,  and  refer  the  whole  matter  to  the  authorities  of 
South  Carolina,  and  will  await  their  reply. 

Mr.  Gourdin,  of  South  Carolina,  now  in  this  city,  will  leave  here  by  the 
evening's  train,  and  will  lay  before  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  and  his 
Council  the  whole  correspondence  between  yourselves  and  myself,  and  be- 
tween you  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  with  a  communica- 
tion from  me,  asking  further  instructions. 

I  can  not,  in  closing,  but  express  my  deep  regret  that  the  President 
should  deem  it  necessary  to  keep  a  garrison  of  troops  at  Fort  Sumter  for 
the  protection  of  the  "property"  of  the  United  States.  South  Carolina 
scorns  the  idea  of  appropriating  to  herself  the  property  of  another,  whether 
of  a  government  or  an  individual,  without  accounting,  to  the  last  dollar, 
for  everything  which,  for  the  protection  of  her  citizens  and  in  vindication 
of  her  own  honor  and  dignity,  she  may  deem  it  necessary  to  take  into  her 
own  possession.  As  property,  Fort  Sumter  is  in  far  greater  jeopardy  occu- 
pied by  a  garrison  of  United  States  troops  than  it  would  be  if  delivered 
over  to  the  State  authorities,  with  the  pledge  that,  in  regard  to  that  and  all 
other  property  claimed  by  the  United  States  within  the  jurisdiction  of  South 
Carolina,  they  would  fully  account,  upon  a  fair  adjustment. 

Upon  the  other  point  of  the  preservation  of  the  peace,  and  the  avoid- 
ance of  bloodshed — is  it  supposed  that  the  occupation  of  a  fort  in  the  midst 
of  a  harbor,  with  guns  bearing  upon  every  position  of  it,  by  a  Government 
no  longer  acknowledged,  can  be  other  than  the  occasion  of  constant  irrita- 
tion, excitement,  and  indignation?  It  creates  a  condition  of  things  which 
I  fear  is  but  little  calculated  to  advance  the  observance  of  the  "high  Chris- 
tian and  moral  duty  to  keep  the  peace,  and  to  avoid  all  causes  of  mutual 
irritation,"  recommended  by  the  Secretary  of  "War  in  his  communication. 

In  my  judgment,  to  continue  to  hold  Fort  Sumter,  by  United  States 
troops,  is  the  worst  possible  means  of  protecting  it  as  property,  and  the 
worst  possible  means  for  effecting  a  peaceful  solution  of  present  difficulties. 

I  beg  leave,  in  conclusion,  to  say  that  it  is  in  deference  to  the  unanimous 
opinion  expressed  by  the  Senators  present  in  Washington,  "representing 
States  which  have  already  seceded  from  the  United  States,  or  will  have 
done  so  before  the  1st  of  February  next,"  that  I  comply  with  your  sugges- 
tions. And  I  feel  assured  that  suggestions  from  such  a  quarter  will  be  con- 
sidered with  profound  respect  by  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  and 
will  have  great  weight  in  determining  their  action. 

With  high  consideration,  I  have  the  honor  to  bo,  very  respectfully,  your 
obedient  servant,  ISAAC  W.  IIAYNE, 

Envoy  from  the  Governor  and  Council  of  South  Carolina. 


634      PJSE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Mr.  Hayne  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Washington,  January  31,  1861. 
To  his  Excellency  James  Buchanan,  President. 

Sie  :  I  Lad  the  honor  to  hold  a  short  interview  with  you  on  the  14th  inst., 
informal  and  unofficial.  Having  previously  been  informed  that  you  desired 
that  whatever  was  official  should  be,  on  both  sides,  conducted  by  written 
communications,  I  did  not  at  that  time  present  my  credentials,  but  verbally 
informed  you  that  I  bore  a  letter  from  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  in 
regard  to  the  occupation  of  Fort  Sumter,  which  I  would  deliver  the  next 
day  under  cover  of  a  written  communication  from  myself.  The  next  day, 
before  such  communication  could  be  made,  I  was  waited  upon  by  a  Senator 
from  Alabama,  who  stated  that  he  came  on  the  part  of  all  the  Senators  then 
in  "Washington  from  the  States  which  had  already  seceded  from  the  United 
States,  or  would  certainly  have  done  so  before  the  1st  day  of  February 
next.  The  Senator  from  Alabama  urged  that  he  and  they  were  interested 
in  the  subject  of  my  mission  in  almost  an  equal  degree  with  the  authorities 
of  South  Carolina.  He  said  that  hostilities  commenced  between  South  Car- 
olina and  your  Government  would  necessarily  involve  the  States  represented 
by  themselves  in  civil  strife,  and,  fearing  that  the  action  of  South  Carolina 
might  complicate  the  relations  of  your  Government  to  the  seceded  and 
seceding  States,  and  thereby  interfere  with  a  peaceful  solution  of  existing 
difficulties,  these  Senators  requested  that  I  would  withhold  my  message  to 
yourself  until  a  consultation  among  themselves  could  be  had.  To  this  I 
agreed,  and  the  result  of  the  consultation  was  the  letter  of  these  Senators 
addressed  to  me,  dated  15th  January,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  your  possession. 
To  this  letter  I  replied  on  the  17th,  and  a  copy  of  that  reply  is  likewise  in 
your  possession.  This  correspondence,  as  I  am  informed,  was  made  the 
subject  of  a  communication  from  Senators  Fitzpatrick,  Mallory,  and  Slidell, 
addressed  to  you,  and  your  attention  called  to  the  contents.  These  gentlemen 
received  on  the  22d  day  of  January  a  reply  to  their  application,  conveyed  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  them,  dated  the  22d,  signed  by  the  Hon.  J.  Holt,  Sec- 
retary of  War  ad  interim.  Of  this  letter  you  of  course  have  a  copy.  This 
letter  from  Mr.  Holt  was  communicated  to  me  under  the  cover  of  a  letter 
from  all  the  Senators  of  the  seceded  and  seceding  States,  who  still  remained 
in  Washington ;  and  of  this  letter,  too,  I  am  informed  you  have  been  fur- 
nished with  a  copy. 

This  reply  of  yours  through  the  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim  to  the 
application  made  by  the  Senators,  was  entirely  unsatisfactory  to  me.  It 
appeared  to  me  to  be  not  only  arejection  in  advance  of  the  main  propo- 
sition made  by  these  Senators,  to  wit,  that  "  an  arrangement  should  be 
agreed  on  between  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  and  your  Government, 
at  least  until  the  15th  of  February  next,  by  which  time  South  Carolina  and 
the  States  represented  by  the  Senators  might,  in  convention,  devise  a  wise, 
just,  and  peaceable  solution  of  existing  difficulties  " ;  "  in  the  mean  time," 


APPENDIX  I.  635 

they  say,  "we  think"  (that  is,  these  Senators)  "that  your  State"  (South 
Carolina)  "  should  suffer  Major  Anderson  to  obtain  necessary  supplies  of 
food,  fuel,  or  water,  and  enjoy  free  communication,  by  post  or  special  mes- 
senger, with  the  President,  upon  the  understanding  that  the  President  will 
not  send  him  reinforcements  during  the  same  period  " ;  but,  besides  this 
rejection  of  the  main  proposition,  there  was  in  Mr.  Holt's  letter  a  distinct 
refusal  to  make  any  stipulation  on  the  subject  of  reenforcement,  even  for 
the  short  time  that  might  be  required  to  communicate  with  my  govern- 
ment. 

This  reply  to  the  Senators  was,  as  I  have  stated,  altogether  unsatisfac- 
tory to  me,  and  I  felt  sure  that  it  would  be  so  to  the  authorities  whom  I 
represented.  It  was  not,  however,  addressed  to  me,  or  to  the  authorities 
of  South  Carolina;  and,  as  South  Carolina  had  addressed  nothing  to  your 
Government,  and  had  asked  nothing  at  your  hands,  I  looked  not  to  Mr. 
Holt's  letter  but  to  the  note  addressed  to  me  by  the  Senators  of  the  seceded 
and  seceding  States.  I  had  consented  to  withhold  my  message  at  their 
instance,  provided  they  could  get  assurances  satisfactory  to  them  that  no 
reinforcements  would  be  sent  to  Port  Sumter  in  the  interval,  and  that  the 
peace  should  not  be  disturbed  by  any  act  of  hostility.  The  Senators  ex- 
pressed, in  their  note  to  me  of  the  23d  instant,  their  "  entire  confidence 
that  no  reinforcements  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter,  nor  will  the  public 
peace  be  disturbed  within  the  period  requisite  for  full  communication 
between  you  (myself)  and  your  (my)  Government " ;  and  renewed  their 
request  that  I  would  withhold  the  communication  with  which  I  stood 
charged,  and  await  further  instructions.  This  I  have  done.  The  further 
instructions  arrived  on  the  30th  instant  and  bear  date  the  26th.  I  now 
have  the  honor  to  make  to  you  my  first  communication  as  special  envoy 
from  the  government  of  South  Carolina.  You  will  find  inclosed  the  ori- 
ginal communication  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  from  the  Gov- 
ernor of  South  Carolina,  with  which  I  was  charged  in  Charleston  on  the 
12th  day  of  January,  instant,  the  day  on  which  it  bears  date.  I  am  now 
instructed  by  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  to  say  that  "  his  opinion  as 
to  the  propriety  of  the  demand  which  is  contained  in  this  letter  has  not 
only  been  confirmed  by  the  circumstances  which  your  (my)  mission  has 
developed,  but  is  now  increased  to  a  conviction  of  its  necessity.  The  safety 
of  the  State  requires  that  the  position  of  the  President  should  be  distinctly 
understood.  The  safety  of  all  secediDg  States  requires  it  as  much  as  the 
safety  of  South  Carolina.  If  it  be  so,  that  Fort  Sumter  is  held  as  property, 
then  as  property,  the  rights,  whatever  they  may  be,  of  the  United  States 
can  be  ascertained,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  these  rights  the  pledge  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina  you  are "  (I  am)  "authorized  to  give.  If  Fort 
Sumter  is  not  held  as  property,  it  is  held,"  say  my  instructions,  "  as  a  mili- 
tary post,  and  such  a  post  within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina  can  not  be 
tolerated." 


636      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

You  will  perceive  that  it  is  upon  the  presumption  that  it  is  solely  as 
property  that  you  continue  to  hold  Fort  Sumter  that  I  have  been  selected 
for  the  performance  of  the  duty  upon  which  I  have  entered.  I  do  not  come 
as  a  military  man  to  demand  the  surrender  of  a  fortress,  but  as  the  legal 
officer  of  the  State,  its  Attorney-General,  to  claim  for  the  State  the  exercise 
of  its  undoubted  right  of  eminent  domain,  and  to  pledge  the  State  to  make 
good  all  injury  to  the  rights  of  property  which  may  arise  from  the  exercise 
of  the  claim. 

South  Carolina,  as  a  separate,  independent  sovereignty,  assumes  the 
right  to  take  into  her  possession  everything  within  her  limits  essential  to 
maintain  her  honor  or  her  safety,  irrespective  of  the  question  of  property, 
subject  only  to  the  moral  duty  requiring  that  compensation  should  be  made 
to  the  owner.  This  right  she  can  not  permit  to  be  drawn  into  discussion. 
As  to  compensation  for  any  property,  whether  of  an  individual  or  a  Govern- 
ment, which  she  may  deem  it  necessary  for  her  honor  or  safety  to  take  into 
her  possession,  her  past  history  gives  ample  guarantee  that  it  will  be  made, 
upon  a  fair  accounting,  to  the  last  dollar.  The  proposition  now  is,  that  her 
law  officer  should,  under  authority  of  the  Governor  and  his  Council,  dis- 
tinctly pledge  the  faith  of  South  Carolina  to  make  such  compensation  in 
regard  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  its  appurtenances  and  contents,  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  money  value  of  the  property  of  the  United  States  delivered 
over  to  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  by  your  command. 

I  will  not  suppose  that  a  pledge  like  this  can  be  considered  insufficient 
security.  Is  not  the  money  value  of  the  property  of  the  United  States  in 
this  fort,  situated  where  it  can  not  be  made  available  to  the  United  States 
for  any  one  purpose  for  which  it  was  originally  constructed,  worth  more  to 
the  United  States  than  the  property  itself  ?  "Why,  then,  as  property,  insist 
on  holding  it  by  an  armed  garrison  ?  Yet  such  has  been  the  ground  upon 
which  you  have  invariably  placed  your  occupancy  of  this  fort  by  troops ; 
beginning,  prospectively,  with  your  annual  message  of  the  4th  December ; 
again  in  your  special  message  of  the  9th  [8th]  January,  and  still  more  em- 
phatically in  your  message  of  the  '28th  January.  The  same  position  is  set 
forth  in  your  reply  to  the  Senators,  through  the  Secretary  of  War  ad 
interim.  It  is  there  virtually  conceded  that  Fort  Sumter  "  is  held  merely 
as  property  of  the  United  States,  which  you  deem  it  your  duty  to  protect 
and  preserve." 

Again,  it  is  submitted  that  the  continuance  of  an  armed  possession  act- 
ually jeopards  the  property  you  desire  to  protect.  It  is  impossible  but  that 
such  a  possession,  if  continued  long  enough,  must  lead  to  collision.  No 
people,  not  completely  abject  and  pusillanimous,  could  submit,  indefinitely, 
to  the  armed  occupation  of  a  fortress  in  the  midst  of  the  harbor  of  its  princi- 
pal city,  and  commanding  the  ingress  and  egress  of  every  ship  that  enters 
the  port,  the  daily  ferry-boats  that  ply  upon  the  waters  moving  but  at  the 
sufferance  of  aliens.     An  attack  upon  this  fort  would  scarcely  improve  it  as 


APPENDIX  I.  637 

property,  whatever  the  result ;  and,  if  captured,  it  would  no  longer  be  the 
subject  of  account. 

To  protect  Fort  Sumter,  merely  as  property,  it  is  submitted  that  an 
armed  occupancy  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  that  it  is  manifestly  the  worst 
possible  means  which  can  be  resorted  to  for  such  an  object. 

Your  reply  to  the  Senators,  through  Mr.  Holt,  declares  it  to  be  your  sole 
object  "  to  act  strictly  on  the  defensive,  and  to  authorize  no  movement 
against  South  Carolina  unless  justified  by  a  hostile  movement  on  their  part," 
yet,  in  reply  to  the  proposition  of  the  Senators  that  no  reenforoements 
should  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter,  provided  South  Carolina  agrees  that  during 
the  same  period  no  attack  should  be  made,  you  say  :  "  It  is  impossible  for 
me  (your  Secretary)  to  give  you  (the  Senators)  any  such  assurance,"  that  it 
"  would  be  a  manifest  violation  of  his  (your)  duty  to  place  himself  (yourself) 
under  engagements  that  he  (you)  would  not  perform  the  duty  either  for  an 
indefinite  or  a  limited  period." 

In  your  message  of  the  28th  inst.,  in  expressing  yourself  in  regard  to 
a  similar  proposition,  you  say :  "  However  strong  may  be  my  desire  to 
enter  into  such  an  agreement,  I  am  convinced  that  I  do  not  possess  the 
power.  Congress,  and  Congress  alone,  under  the  war-making  power,  can 
exercise  the  discretion  of  agreeing  to  abstain  *  from  any  and  all  acts  calcu- 
lated to  produce  a  collision  of  arms  '  between  this  and  other  governments. 
It  would,  therefore,  be  a  usurpation  for  the  Executive  to  attempt  to  re- 
strain their  hands  by  an  agreement  in  regard  to  matters  over  which  he  has 
no  constitutional  control.  If  he  were  thus  to  act,  they  might. pass  laws 
which  he  should  be  bound  to  obey,  though  in  conflict  with  his  agree- 
ment." The  proposition,  it  is  suggested,  was  addressed  to  you  under  the 
laws  as  they  now  are,  and  was  not  intended  to  refer  to  a  new  condition  of 
things  arising  under  new  legislation.  It  was  addressed  to  the  Executive 
discretion,  acting  under  existing  laws.  If  Congress  should,  under  the  war- 
making  power,  or  in  any  other  way,  legislate  in  a  manner  to  affect  the 
peace  of  South  Carolina,  her  interests  or  her  rights,  it  would  not  be  ac- 
complished in  secret.  South  Carolina  would  have  timely  notice,  and  she 
would,  I  trust,  endeavor  to  meet  the  emergency. 

It  is  added  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Holt  that  "  at  the  present  moment  it  is 
not  deemed  necessary  to  reenforce  Major  Anderson,  because  he  makes  no 
such  request,  and  feels  quite  secure  in  his  position.  But,  should  his  safety 
require  it,  every  effort  will  be  made  to  supply  reinforcements."  This 
would  seem  to  ignore  the  other  branch  of  the  proposition  made  by  the 
Senators,  viz.,  that  no  attack  was  to  be  made  on  Fort  Sumter  during  the 
period  suggested,  and  that  Major  Anderson  should  enjoy  the  facilities  of 
communication,  etc. 

I  advert  to  this  point,  however,  for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  to  send 
reinforcements  to  Fort  Sumter  could  not  serve  as  a  means  of  protecting  and 
preserving  peoperty,  for,  as  must  be  known  to  your  Government,  it  would 


638      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

inevitably  lead  to  immediate  hostilities,  in  which  property  on  all  sides 
would  necessarily  suffer. 

South  Carolina  has  every  disposition  to  preserve  the  public  peace,  and 
feels,  I  am  sure,  in  full  force,  those  high  "Christian  and  moral  duties" 
referred  to  by  your  Secretary ;  and  it  is  submitted  that  on  her  part  there  is 
scarcely  any  consideration  of  mere  property,  apart  from  honor  and  safety, 
which  could  induce  her  to  do  aught  to  jeopard  that  peace,  still  less  to  inau- 
gurate a  protracted  and  bloody  civil  war.  She  rests  her  position  on  some- 
thing higher  than  mere  property.  It  is  a  consideration  of  her  own  dignity 
as  a  sovereign,  and  the  safety  of  her  people,  which  prompts  her  to  demand 
that  this  property  should  not  longer  be  used  as  a  military  post  by  a  Gov- 
ernment she  no  longer  acknowledges.  She  feels  this  to  be  an  imperative 
duty.     It  has,  in  fact,  become  an  absolute  necessity  of  her  condition. 

Eepudiating,  as  you  do,  the  idea  of  coercion,  avowing  peaceful  inten- 
tions, and  expressing  a  patriot's  horror  for  civil  war  and  bloody  strife 
among  those  who  once  were  brethren,  it  is  hoped  that  on  further  consider- 
ation you  will  not,  on  a  mere  question  of  property,  refuse  the  reasonable 
demand  of  South  Carolina,  which  honor  and  necessity  alike  compel  her  to 
vindicate.  Should  you  disappoint  this  hope,  the  responsibility  for  the 
result  surely  does  not  rest  with  her.  If  the  evils  of  war  are  to  be  encoun- 
tered, especially  the  calamities  of  civil  war,  an  elevated  statesmanship 
would  seem  to  require  that  it  should  be  accepted  as  the  unavoidable  alter- 
native of  something  still  more  disastrous,  such  as  national  dishonor  or 
measures  materially  affecting  the  safety  or  permanent  interests  of  a  people 
— that  it  should  be  a  choice  deliberately  made,  and  entered  upon  as  war, 
and  of  set  purpose.  But  that  war  should  be  the  incident  or  accident,  at- 
tendant on  a  policy  professedly  peaceful,  and  not  required  to  effect  the 
object  which  is  avowed  as  the  only  end  intended,  can  only  be  -excused 
when  there  has  been  no  warning  given  as  to  the  consequences. 

I  am  further  instructed  to  say  that  South  Carolina  can  not,  by  her 
silence,  appear  to  acquiesce  in  the  imputation  that  she  was  guilty  of  an  act 
of  unprovoked  aggression  in  firing  on  the  Star  of  the  West.  Though  an 
unarmed  vessel,  she  was  filled  with  armed  men  entering  her  territory 
against  her  will,  with  the  purpose  of  reenforcing  a  garrison  held,  within 
her  limits,  against  her  protest.  She  forbears  to  recriminate  by  discussing 
the  question  of  the  propriety  of  attempting  such  a  reinforcement  at  all,  as 
well  as  of  the  disguised  and  secret  manner  in  which  it  was  intended  to  be 
effected.  And  on  this  occasion  she  will  say  nothing  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  Fort  Sumter  was  taken  into  the  possession  of  its  present  occu- 
pants. 

The  interposition  of  the  Senators  who  have  addressed  you  was  a  cir- 
cumstance unexpected  by  my  government,  and  unsolicited  certainly  by  me. 
The  Governor,  while  he  appreciates  the  high  and  generous  motives  by  which 
they  were  prompted,  and  while  he  fully  approves  the  delay  which,  in  defer- 


APPENDIX  I.  (339 

ence  to  them,  has  taken  place  in  the  presentation  of  this  demand,  feels  that 
it  can  not  longer  be  withheld. 

I  conclude  with  an  extract  from  the  instructions  just  received  by  me 
from  the  government  of  South  Carolina: 

"  The  letter  of  the  President,  through  Mr.  Holt,  may  be  received  as  the 
reply  to  the  question  you  were  instructed  to  ask,  as  to  his  assertion  of  his 
right  to  send  reinforcements  to  Fort  Sumter.  You  were  instructed  to  say 
to  him,  if  he  asserted  that  right,  that  the  State  of  South  Carolina  regarded 
such  a  right  when  asserted,  or  with  an  attempt  at  its  exercise,  as  a  declara- 
tion of  war. 

"If  the  President  intends  it  shall  not  be  so  understood,  it  is  proper,  to 
avoid  any  misconception  hereafter,  that  he  should  be  informed  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  Governor  will  feel  bound  to  regard  it. 

"If  the  President,  when  you  have  stated  the  reasons  which  prompt  the 
Governor  in  making  the  demand  for  the  delivery  of  Sumter,  shall  refuse  to 
deliver  the  fort  upon  the  pledge  you  have  been  authorized  to  make,  you 
will  communicate  that  refusal  without  delay  to  the  Governor.  If  the 
President  shall  not  be  prepared  to  give  you  an  immediate  answer,  you  will 
communicate  to  him  that  his  answer  may  be  transmitted  within  a  reasonable 
time  to  the  Governor  at  this  place  (Charleston,  South  Carolina). 

"  The  Governor  does  not  consider  it  necessary  that  you  (I)  should  re- 
main longer  in  Washington  than  is  necessary  to  execute  this,  the  closing 
duty  of  your  (my)  mission,  in  the  manner  now  indicated  to  you  (me).  As 
soon  as  the  Governor  shall  receive  from  you  information  that  .you  have 
closed  your  mission,  and  the  reply,  whatever  it  may  be,  of  the  President, 
he  will  consider  the  conduct  which  may  be  necessary  on  his  part." 

Allow  me  to  request  that  you  would,  as  soon  as  possible,  inform  me 
whether,  under  these  instructions,  I  need  await  your  answer  in  Washing- 
ton ;  and,  if  not,  I  would  be  pleased  to  convey  from  you,  to  my  government, 
information  as  to  the  time  when  an  answer  may  be  expected  in  Charleston. 
With  high  consideration, 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

ISAAC  W.  HAYNE,  Special  Envoy. 

Some  further  correspondence  ensued,  but  without  the  pres- 
entation of  any  new  feature  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of 
the  case.  The  result  was  to  leave  it  as  much  unsettled  in  the  end 
as  it  had  been  in  the  beginning,  and  the  efforts  at  negotiation  were 
terminated  by  the  retirement  from  Washington  of  Colonel  Hayne 
on  the  8th  of  February,  1861. 


640      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

APPENDIX  K. 

THE    CONSTITUTIONS. 

The  Provisional  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States,  adopt- 
ed on  the  8th  of  February,  1861,  is  here  presented,  followed  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  all  its  amendments  to 
the  period  of  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  and  the  per- 
manent Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States  (adopted  on  the 
11th  of  March,  1861),  in  parallel  columns.  The  variations  from 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  permanent  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Confederate  States,  are  indicated  by  italics  ;  the  parts 
omitted  by  periods. 

Constitution  foe  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States  of  America. 

We,  the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and  independent  States  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  invoking 
the  favor  of  Almighty  God,  do  hereby,  in  behalf  of  these  States,  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  provisional  Government  of  the 
same:  to  continue  one  year  from  the  inauguration  of  the  President, 
or  until  a  permanent  Constitution  or  Confederation  between  the  said 
States  shall  be  put  in  operation,  whichsoever  shall  first  occur. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Section  1. — All  legislative  powers  herein  delegated  shall  be  vested  in 
this  Congress  now  assembled  until  otherwise  ordained. 

Section  2. — When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any 
State,  the  same  shall  be  filled  in  such  manner  as  the  proper  authorities  of 
the  State  shall  direct. 

Section  3. — 1.  The  Congress  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  members ;  any  number  of  deputies  from  a  majority 
of  the  States  being  present,  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business ;  but 
a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to 
compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members ;  upon  all  questions  before  the 
Congress  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  one  vote,  and  shall  be  represented 
by  any  one  or  more  of  its  deputies  who  may  be  present. 

2.  The  Congress  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its 
members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

3.  The  Congress  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time 
to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in  their  judgment 


APPENDIX  K.  641 

require  secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  on  any  question 
shall,  at  the  desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  present,  or  at  the  instance  of  any 
one  State,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

Section  4. — The  members  of  Congress  shall  receive  a  compensation  for 
their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
Confederacy.  They  shall  in  all  cases,  except  treason,  felony,  and  breach 
of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session 
of  the  Congress,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same ;  and  for  any 
speech  or  debate  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

Section  5. — 1.  Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  Congress  shall, 
before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  Confederacy ; 
if  he  approve,  he  shall  sign  it;  but,  if  not,  he  shall  return  it  with  his  objec- 
tions to  the  Congress,  who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their 
journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If,  after  such  reconsideration,  two 
thirds  of  the  Congress  shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  become  a  law. 
But  in  all  such  cases  the  votes  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays ;  and 
the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on 
the  journal.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten 
days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same 
shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress, 
by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a 
law.  The  President  may  veto  any  appropriation  or  appropriations,  and 
approve  any  other  appropriation  or  appropriations,  in  the  same  bilk 

2.  Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  intended  to  have  the  force  and  effect 
of  a  law,  shall  be  presented  to  the  President,  and,  before  the  same  shall  take 
effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or,  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be 
repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  Congress,  according  to  the  rules  and  limita- 
tions prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

3.  Until  the  inauguration  of  the  President,  all  bills,  orders,  resolutions, 
and  votes  adopted  by  the  Congress  shall  be  of  full  force  without  approval 
by  him. 

Section  6.— 1.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes, 
duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  for  the  revenue  necessary  to  pay  the  debts  and 
carry  on  the  Government  of  the  Confederacy ;  and  all  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  States  of  the  Confederacy. 

2.  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  Confederacy. 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes. 

4.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization  and  uniform  laws  on  the 
subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  Confederacy. 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign  coin,  and 
fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures. 

6.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and 
current  coin  of  the  Confederacy. 

41 


642      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

7.  To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads. 

8.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts  by  securing  for 
limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respec- 
tive writings  and  discoveries. 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

10.  To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high- 
seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations. 

11.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make 
rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water. 

12.  To  raise  and  support  armies ;  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that 
use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years. 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy. 

14.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces. 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Confederacy,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasion. 

16.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and 
for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
Confederacy,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the 
officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress. 

17.  To  make  all  laws  that  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  foregoing  powers  and  all  other  powers  expressly  dele- 
gated by  this  Constitution  to  this  provisional  Government. 

18.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  admit  other  States. 

19.  This  Congress  shall  also  exercise  executive  powers  until  the  Presi- 
dent is  inaugurated. 

Section"  7. — 1.  The  importation  of  African  negroes  from  any  foreign 
country,  other  than  the  slaveholding  States  of  the  United  States,  is  hereby 
forbidden ;  and  Congress  are  required  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  effectually 
prevent  the  same. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  also  have  power  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of 
slaves  from  any  State  not  a  member  of  this  Confederacy. 

3.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended  un- 
less, when  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

4.  No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

5.  No  preference  shall  be  given,  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  reve- 
nue, to  the  ports, of  one  State  over  those  of  another;  nor  shall  vessels  bound 
to  or  from  one  State  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

6.  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from  time 
to  time. 

7.  Congress  shall  appropriate  no  money  from  the  Treasury  unless  it  be 


APPENDIX    K.  643 

asked  and  estimated  for  by  the  President  or  some  one  of  the  heads  of  de- 
partments, except  for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  own  expenses  and  contin- 
gencies. 

8.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  Confederacy ;  and  no  per- 
son holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  it  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or  title  of  any 
kind  whatever  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

9.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  .people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  to 
petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  such  grievances  as  the  delegated 
powers  of  this  Government  may  warrant  it  to  consider  and  redress. 

10.  A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free 
state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

11.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be 
prescribed  by  law. 

12.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures  shall  not  be  violated ; 
and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or 
affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the 
persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

13.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  in- 
famous crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  ex- 
cept in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces  or  in  the  militia,  when  in 
actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  be 
subject  for  the  same  offense  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb ;  nor 
shall  be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself;  nor 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor 
shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compen- 
sation. 

14.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  where- 
in the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  pre- 
viously ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of 
the  accusation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witness  against  him ;  to  have 
compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor  ;  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

15.  In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved;  and  no  fact 
tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  reexamined  in  any  court  of  the  Confed- 
eracy than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

16.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishment  inflicted. 


644      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

17.  The  enumeration,  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights  shall  not  be 
construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

18.  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  Confederacy  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively, 
or  to  the  people. 

19.  The  judicial  power  of  the  Confederacy  shall  not  be  construed  to 
extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one 
of  the  States  of  the  Confederacy,  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens 
or  subjects  of  any  foreign  state. 

Section  8. — 1.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  con- 
federation ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money ;  emit  bills 
of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts ;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the 
obligation  of  contracts  ;  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

2.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or 
duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for 
executing  its  inspection  laws  ;  and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts, 
laid  by  any  State  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and 
control  of  the  Congress.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress, 
lay  any  duty  on  tonnage,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  an- 
other State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war  unless  actually 
invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Section  1. — 1.  The  Executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America.  He,  together  with  the  Vice-President, 
shall  hold  his  office  for  one  year,  or  until  this  Provisional  Government  shall 
be  superseded  by  a  permanent  Government,  whichsoever  shall  first  occur. 

2.  The  President  and  Vice-President  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  by  the 
States  represented  in  this  Congress,  each  State  casting  one  vote,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  the  whole  being  requisite  to  elect. 

3.  No  person  except  a  natural-born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  one  of  the 
States  of  this  Confederacy  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President;  neither  shall  any  person  be 
eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty-five 
years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident  of  one  of  the  States  of  this  Con- 
federacy. 

4.  In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his  death, 
resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said 
office  (which  inability  shall  be  determined  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the 
Congress),  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President ;  and  the  Congress 
may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability 


APPENDIX  K.  645 

both  of  the  President  and  Vice-President,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then 
act  as  President ;  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability 
be  removed  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

5.  The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services  during 
the  period  of  the  Provisional  Government  a  compensation  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  per  annum ;  and  he  shall  not  receive  during 
that  period  any  other  emolument  from  this  Confederacy,  or  any  of  the 
States  thereof. 

6.  Before  he  enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the  fol- 
lowing oath  or  affirmation : 

I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office 
of  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  and  will,  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  thereof. 

Section  2. — 1.  The  President  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  Confederacy,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  Confederacy ;  he  may  require  the  opinion 
in  writing  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments, 
upon  subjects  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  ;  and  he  shall 
have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses  against  the  Confed- 
eracy, except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Congress,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Congress  concur ; 
and  he  shall  nominate  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Con- 
gress, shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and  consuls,  judges 
of  the  courts,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  Confederacy  whose  appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by 
law.  But  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior 
officers  as  they  think  proper  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or 
in  the  heads  of  departments. 

3.  The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  hap- 
pen during  the  recess  of  the  Congress,  by  granting  commissions  which 
shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

Section  3. — 1.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  informa- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  Confederacy,  and  recommend  to  their  considera- 
tion such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  he  may,  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  convene  the  Congress  at  such  times  as  he  shall 
think  proper;  he  shall  receive  ambassadors  and  other  public  ministers;  he 
shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed ;  and  shall  commission 
all  the  officers  of  the  Confederacy. 

2.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  Confed- 
eracy shall  be  removed  from  office  on  conviction  by  the  Congress  of  treason, 
bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors;  a  vote  of  two  thirds  shall 
be  necessary  for  such  conviction. 


64:6      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

ARTICLE    III. 

Section  1. — 1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  Confederacy  shall  be  vested  in 
one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as  are  herein  directed,  or  as 
the  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish. 

2.  Each  State  shall  constitute  a  district  in  which,  there  shall  be  a  court 
called  a  District  Court,  which,  until  otherwise  provided  by  the  Congress, 
shall  have  the  jurisdiction  vested  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  as  far 
as  applicable,  in  both  the  District  and  Circuit  Courts  of  the  United  States, 
for  that  State ;  the  judge  whereof  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Congress,  and  shall,  until  other- 
wise provided  by  the  Congress,  exercise  the  power  and  authority  vested  by 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  in  the  judges  of  the  District  and  Circuit 
Courts  of  the  United  States  for  that  State,  and  shall  appoint  the  times  and 
places  at  which  the  courts  shall  be  held.  Appeals  may  be  taken  directly 
from  the  District  Courts  to  the  Supreme  Court,  under  similar  regulations  to 
those  which  are  provided  in  cases  of  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  or  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  provided  by  the  Con- 
gress. The  commissions  of  all  the  judges  shall  expire  with  this  provisional 
Government. 

3.  The  Supreme  Court  shall  be  constituted  of  all  the  district  judges,  a 
majority  of  whom  shall  be  a  quorum,  and  shall  sit  at  such  times  and  places 
as  the  Congress  shall  appoint. 

4.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  make  laws  for  the  transfer  of  any 
causes  which  were  pending  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  to  the  courts 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  for  the  execution  of  the  orders,  decrees,  and 
judgments  heretofore  rendered  by  the  said  courts  of  the  United  States ;  and 
also  all  laws  which  may  be  requisite  to  protect  the  parties  to  all  such  suits, 
orders,  judgments,  or  decrees,  their  heirs,  personal  representatives,  or  as- 
signees. 

Section  2. — 1.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  of  law  and 
equity  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of 
this  Confederacy,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  its  au- 
thority ;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  con- 
suls; to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction  ;  to  controversies 
to  which  the  Confederacy  shall  be  a  party;  controversies  between  two  or 
more  States;  between  citizens  of  different  States;  between  citizens  of  the 
same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different  States. 

2.  In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls, 
and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 
exceptions  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

3.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by 


APPENDIX   K.  647 

jury,  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall 
have  been  committed ;  but,  when  not  committed  within  any  State,  the  trial 
shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

Section  3. — 1.  Treason  against  this  Confederacy  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  war  against  it,  or  in  adhering  to  its  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort.  No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony 
of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason ; 
but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture, 
except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

AKTICLE    IV. 

Section  1. — 1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the 
public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State.  And  the 
Congress  may  by  general  laws  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts, 
records,  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  of  such  proof. 

Section  2. — 1.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privi- 
leges and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime, 
who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand 
of  the  Executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up 
to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

3.  A  slave  in  one  State  escaping  to  another  shall  be  delivered  up,  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  said  slave  may  belong,  by  the  Executive  au- 
thority of  the  State  in  which  such  slave  shall  be  found,  and,  in  case  of  any 
abduction  or  forcible  rescue,  full  compensation,  including  the  value  of  the 
slave  and  all  costs  and  expenses,  shall  be  made  to  the  party  by  the  State  in 
which  such  abduction  or  rescue  shall  take  place. 

Section  3. — 1.  The  Confederacy  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion ;  and  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Execu- 
tive (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened),  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE   V. 

1.  The  Congress,  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds,  may  at  any  time  alter  or  amend 
this  Constitution. 

ARTICLE    VI. 

1.  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  Confederacy  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  Confederacy,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land;  and  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

2.  The  Government  hereby  instituted  shall  take  immediate  steps  for  the 


048      RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

settlement  of  all  matters  between  the  States  forming  it,  and  their  other 
late  confederates  of  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  the  public  property  and 
public  debt  at  the  time  of  their  withdrawal  from  them  ;  these  States  hereby 
declaring  it  to  be  their  wish  and  earnest  desire  to  adjust  everything  pertain- 
ing to  the  common  property,  common  liability,  and  common  obligations  of 
that  Union  upon  the  principles  of  right,  justice,  equity,  and  good  faith. 

3.  Until  otherwise  provided  by  the  Congress,  the  city  of  Montgomery,  in 
in  the  State  of  Alabama,  shall  be  the  seat  of  government. 

4.  The  members  of  the  Congress  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers 
of  the  Confederacy  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support  this 
Constitution  ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  or  public  trust  under  this  Confederacy. 


Constitution   of  the  United 
States  of  America.* 

We  the  People  of  the  United  States, 
in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
Union,  establish  Justice,  insure 
domestic  Tranquillity,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the 
general  "Welfare,  and  secure  the 
Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  Posterity,  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  Constitution  for 
the  United  States  of  America. 


Constitution  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  of  America. 

We,  the  People  of  the  Confederate 
States,  each  State  acting  in  its 
sovereign  and  independent  char- 
acter, in  order  to  form  a  'perma- 
nent Federal  Government,  estab- 
lish justice,  insure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity — invoicing  the  favor  and 
guidance  of  Almighty  God — do 
ordain  and  establish  this  Consti- 
tution for  the  Confederate  States 
of  America. 


AETICLE  I. 

Section  1.  All  legislative  Powers 
herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which 
shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House 
of  Eepresentatives. 

Section  2.  The  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives shall  be  composed  of  Mem- 
bers chosen  every  second  Year  by 
the  People  of  the  several  States,  and 
the  Electors  in  each  State  shall  have 
the  Qualifications  requisite  for  Elec- 


AETICLE  I. 

Section  1.  All  legislative  powers 
herein  delegated  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  Confederate  States, 
which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Eepresentatives. 

Section  2.  The  House  of  Eep- 
resentatives shall  be  composed  of 
members  chosen  every  second  year 
by  the  people  of  the  several  States  ; 
and  the  electors  in  each  State  shall 
he  citizens  of  the  Confederate  States, 


This  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  original  in  punctuation,  spelling,  capitals,  etc. 


APPENDIX  K. 


649 


tors  of  tli3  most  numerous  Branch  of 
the  State  Legislature. 


No  Person  shall  be  a  Representa- 
tive who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  Age  of  twenty-five  Years,  and 
been  seven  Years  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not, 
when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of 
that  State  in  which  he  shall  be 
chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  Taxes 
shall  be  apportioned  among  the  sev- 
eral States  which  may  be  included 
within  this  Union,  according  to  their 
respective  Numbers,*  which  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  the  whole 
Number  of  free  Persons,  including 
those  bound  to  Service  for  a  Term 
of  Years,  and  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  Per- 
sons.! The  actual  Enumeration 
shall  be  made  within  three  Years 
after  the  first  meeting  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  and  within 
every  subsequent  Term  of  ten  Years, 
in  such  Manner  as  they  shall  by  Law 
direct.  The  Number  of  Representa- 
tives shall  not  exceed  one  for  every 
thirty  Thousand,  but  each  State  shall 
have  at  Least  one  Representative ; 
and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be 
made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire 
shall  be  entitled  to  chuse  three,  Mas- 
sachusetts eight,  Rhode-Island  and 


and  have  the  qualifications  requisite 
for  electors  of  the  most  numerous 
branch  of  the  State  Legislature ;  but 
no  person  of  foreign  birth,  not  a  citi- 
zen of  the  Confederate  States,  shall  be 
allowed  to  vote  for  any  officer,  civil  or 
political,  State  or  Federal. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Represent- 
ative who  shall  not  have  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  be 
a  citizen  of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be 
an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which 
he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes 
shall  be  apportioned  among  the  sev- 
eral States,  which  may  be  included 
within  this  Confederacy,  according 
to  their  respective  numbers,  which 
shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the 
whole  number  of  free  persons,  in- 
cluding those  bound  to  service  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  slaves. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be 
made  within  three  years  after  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the 
Confederate  States,  and  within  every 
subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such 
manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct. 
The  number  of  Representatives  shall 
not  exceed  one  for  every  fifty  thou- 
sand, but  each  State  shall  have  at 
least  one  Representative ;  and  until 
such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the 
State  of  South  Carolina  shall  be  en- 
titled to  choose  six,  the  State  of 
Georgia  ten,  the  State  of  Alabama 


*  Under  the  census  of  1S60  one  representative  is  allowed  for  every  127,381  per- 


sons. 


f  "  Other  persons  "  refers  to  slaves.     See  Amendments,  Art.  XIV.,  Sections  1 
and  2. 


650      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


Providence  Plantations  one,  Connect- 
icut five,  New  York  six,  New  Jersey 
four,  Pennsylvania  eight,  Delaware 
one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North 
Carolina  five,  South  Carolina  five, 
and  Georgia  three. 

"When  vacancies  happen  in  the 
Representation  from  any  State,  the 
Executive  Authority  thereof  shall 
issue  Writs  of  Election  to  fill  such 
Vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives 
shall  chuse  their  Speaker  and  other 
officers ;  *  and  shall  have  the  sole 
Power  of  Impeachment. 


Section  3.  The  Senate  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  composed  of 
two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen 
by  the  Legislature  thereof,  for  six 
Years ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have 
one  Vote. 


Immediately  after  they  shall  be 
assembled  in  Consequence  of  the  first 
Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as 
equally  as  may  be  into  three  Classes. 
The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first 
Class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  Expira- 
tion of  the  second  Year,  of  the  second 
Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  fourth 
Year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the 
Expiration  of  the  sixth  Year,  so  that 
one-third  may  be  chosen  every  second 
year ;  and  if  Vacancies  happen  by 
Resignation,  or  otherwise,  during  the 


nine,  the  State  of  Florida  two,  the 
State  of  Mississippi  seven,  the  State 
of  Louisiana  six,  and  the  State  of 
Texas  six. 


"When  vacancies  happen  in  the 
representation  from  any  State,  the 
Executive  authority  thereof  shall  is- 
sue writs  of  election  to  fill  such  va- 
cancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives 
shall  choose  their  Speaker  and  other 
officers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole 
power  of  impeachment,  except  that 
any  judicial  or  other  Federal  officer, 
resident  and  acting  solely  within  the 
limits  of  any  State,  may  be  impeached 
by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  doth  branches 
of  the  Legislature  thereof 

Section"  3.  The  Senate  of  the 
Confederate  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  Senators  from  each  State, 
chosen  for  six  years  by  the  Legisla- 
ture thereof,  at  the  regular  session 
next  immediately  preceding  the  com- 
mencement of  the  term  of  service;  and 
each  Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be 
assembled,  in  consequence  of  the  first 
election,  they  shall  be  divided  as 
equally  as  may  be  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first 
class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  second  year ;  of  the  second 
class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year;  and  of  the  third  class  at  the 
expiration  of  the  sixth  year;  so  that 
one  third  may  be  chosen  every  second 
year;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by 
resignation  or  otherwise,  during  the 


*  The  principal  of  these  are  the  clerk,  sergeant-at-arms,  door-keeper,  and  post- 
master. 


APPENDIX  K. 


651 


Recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State, 
the  Executive  thereof  may  make  tem- 
porary Appointments  until  the  next 
Meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which 
shall  then  fill  such  Vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who 
shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of 
thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a 
Citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  In- 
habitant of  that  State  for  which  he 
shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  President  of  the  Sen- 
ate, but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless 
they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  oth- 
er Officers,  and  also  a  President  pro 
tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice 
President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  Office  of  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole 
Power  to  try  all  Impeachments. 
"When  sitting  for  that  Purpose,  they 
shall  be  on  Oath  or  Affirmation. 
"When  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall 
preside :  And  no  Person  shall  be  con- 
victed without  the  Concurrence  of 
two-thirds  of  the  Members  present. 

Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeach- 
ment shall  not  extend  further  than 
to  removal  from  Office,  and  Disquali- 
fication to  hold  and  enjoy  any  Office 
of  Honour,  Trust  or  Profit  under  the 
United  States :  but  the  Party  con- 
victed shall  nevertheless  be  liable 
and  subject  to  Indictment,  Trial, 
Judgment  and  Punishment,  accord- 
ing to  Law. 

Section  4.  The  Times,  Places  and 
Manner  of  holding  Elections  for  Sena- 
tors and  Represenatives,  shall  be  pre- 


recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State, 
the  Executive  thereof  may  make  tem- 
porary appointments  until  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which 
shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who 
shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of 
thirty  years,  and  be  a  citizen  of  the 
Confederate  States ;  and  who  shall 
not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant 
of  the  State  for  which  he  shall  be 
chosen. 

The  Vice-President  of  the  Con- 
federate States  shall  be  President  of 
the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote 
unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their 
other  officers ;  and  also  a  President 
pro  tempore  in  the  absence  of  the 
Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall  ex- 
ercise the  office  of  President  of  the 
Confederate  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole 
power  to  try  all  impeachments. 
When  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they 
shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  "When 
the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  is  tried,  the  Chief- Justice  shall 
preside ;  and  no  person  shall  be  con- 
victed without  the  concurrence  of 
two  thirds  of  the  members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment shall  not  extend  further  than 
to  removal  from  office,  and  disquali- 
fication to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office 
of  honor,  trust,  or  profit,  under  the 
Confederate  States ;  but  the  party 
convicted  shall,  nevertheless,  be  lia- 
ble and  subject  to  indictment,  trial, 
judgment,  and  punishment  according 
to  law. 

Section  4.  The  times,  place,  and 
manner  of  holding  elections  for  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives,  shall  be 


652      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


scribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legisla- 
ture thereof:  but  the  Congress  may 
at  any  time  by  Law  make  or  alter 
such  Kegulations,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  chusing  Senators. 


The  Congress  shall  assemble  at 
least  once  in  every  Year,  and  such 
Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday 
in  December,  unless  they  shall  by 
Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

Section  5.  Each  House  shall  be 
the  Judge  of  the  Elections,  Returns 
and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Mem- 
bers, and  a  Majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business ; 
but  a  smaller  Number  may  adjourn 
from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  author- 
ized to  compel  the  Attendance  of 
absent  Members,  in  such  Manner,  and 
under  such  Penalties  as  each  House 
may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the 
Rules  of  its  Proceedings,  punish  its 
Members  for  disorderly  Behaviour, 
and,  with  the  Concurrence  of  two- 
thirds,  expel  a  Member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal 
of  its  Proceedings,  and  from  time 
to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting 
such  Parts  as  may  in  their  Judg- 
ment require  Secrecy ;  and  the  Yeas 
and  Nays  of  the  Members  of  either 
House  on  any  question  shall,  at  the 
Desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  Present, 
be  entered  on  the  Journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  Ses- 
sion of  Congress,  shall,  without  the 
Consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for 
more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any 
other  Place  than  that  in  which  the 
two  Houses  shall  be  sitting. 


prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legis- 
lature thereof,  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  this  Constitution ;  but  the  Con- 
gress may,  at  any  time,  by  law,  make 
or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as 
to  the  times  and  places  of  choosing 
Senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at 
least  once  in  every  year;  and  such 
meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday 
in  December,  unless  they  shall,  by 
law,  appoint  a  different  day. 

Section  5.  Each  House  shall  be 
the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  own  mem- 
bers, and  a  majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business; 
but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn 
from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  author- 
ized to  compel  the  attendance  of  ab- 
sent members,  in  such  manner  and 
under  such  penalties  as  each  House 
may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the 
rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its 
members  for  disorderly  behavior, 
and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  number,  expel  a 
member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal 
of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such 
parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  re- 
quire secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and 
nays  of  the  members  of  either  House, 
on  any  question,  shall,  at  the  desire 
of  one  fifth  of  those  present,  be  en- 
tered on  the  journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  ses- 
sion of  Congress,  shall,  without  the 
consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for 
more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any 
other  place  than  that  in  which  the 
two  Houses  shall  be  sitting. 


APPENDIX  K. 


653 


Section  6.  The  Senators  and 
Eepresentatives  shall  receive  a  Com- 
pensation for  their  Services,  to  be 
ascertained  by  Law,  and  paid  out  of 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 
They  shall  in  all  Oases,  except  Trea- 
son, Felony  and  Breach  of  the  Peace, 
be  privileged  from  Arrest  during 
their  Attendance  at  the  Session  of 
their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going 
to  and  returning  from  the  same ;  and 
for  any  Speech  or  Debate  in  either 
House,  they  shall  not  be  questioned 
in  any  other  Place. 

No  Senator  or  Eepresentative 
shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he 
was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any 
civil  Office'  under  the  Authority  of 
the  United  States,  which  shall  have 
been  created,  or  the  Emoluments 
whereof  shall  have  been  increased 
during  such  time ;  and  no  Person 
holding  any  Office  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  a  Member  of  either 
House  during  his  Continuance  in 
Office. 


Section  7.  All  Bills  for  raising 
Eevenue  shall  originate  in  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives ;  but  the  Senate 
may  propose  or  concur  with  Amend- 
ments as  on  other  Bills. 

Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives  and  the 
Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law, 
be  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  If  he  approve  he  shall 
sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it, 
with  his  Objections  to  that  House  in 


Section  6.  The  Senators  and 
Eepresentatives  shall  receive  a  com- 
pensation for  their  services,  to  be 
ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of 
the  Treasury  of  the  Confederate  States. 
They  shall,  in  all  cases,  except  trea- 
son, felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace, 
be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their 
attendance  at  the  session  of  their  re- 
spective Houses,  and  in  going  to  and 
returning  from  the  same ;  and,  for 
any  speech  or  debate  in  either  House, 
they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any 
other  place. 

No  Senator  or  Eepresentative 
shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he 
was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any 
civil  office  under  the  authority  of 
the  Confederate  States,  which  shall 
have  been  created,  or  the  emolu- 
ments whereof  shall  have  been  in- 
creased during  such  time ;  and  no 
person  holding  any  office  under  the 
Confederate  States  shall  be*a  member 
of  either  House  during  his  continu- 
ance in  office.  But  Congress  may, 
~by  law,  grant  to  the  principal  officer 
in  each  of  the  executive  departments 
a  seat  upon  the  floor  of  either  House, 
with  the  privilege  of  discussing  any 
measures  appertaining  to  his  depart- 
ment. 

Section  7.  All  bills  for  raising 
the  revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives ;  but  the 
Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with 
amendments,  as  on  other  bills. 

Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed 
loth  Houses,  shall,  before  it  becomes 
a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President 
of  the  Confederate  States ;  if  he  ap- 
prove, he  shall  sign  it ;  but  if  not,  he 
shall  return  it,  with  his  objections, 
to  that  House  in  which  it  shall  have 


65i      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


which  it  shall  have  originated,  who 
shall  enter  the  Objections  at  large  on 
their  Journal,  and  proceed  to  recon- 
sider it.  If  after  such  Reconsidera- 
tion  two-thirds  of  that  House  shall 
agree  to  pass  the  Bill,  it  shall  be  sent, 
together  with  the  Objections,  to  the 
other  House,  by  which  it  shall  like- 
wise be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall 
become  a  Law.  But  in  all  such  Cases 
the  Votes  of  Both  Houses  shall  be 
determined  by  Yeas  and  Nays,  and 
the  Names  of  the  Persons  voting  for 
and  against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered 
on  the  Journal  of  each  House  respec- 
tively. If  any  Bill  shall  not  be  re- 
turned by  the  President  within  ten 
Days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it 
shall  have  been  presented  to  him, 
the  Same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  Man- 
ner as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the 
Congress  by  their  Adjournment  pre- 
vent its  Return,  in  which  Case  it 
shall  not  be  a  Law. 


Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote 
to  which  the  Concurrence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  ques- 
tion of  Adjournment)  shall  be  pre- 
sented to  the  President  of  the  United 
States ;  and  before  the  Same  shall 
take  Effect,   shall  be  approved  by 


originated,  who  shall  enter  the  ob- 
jections at  large  on  their  journal,  and 
proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If,  after 
such  reconsideration,  two  thirds  of 
that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the 
bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with 
the  objections,  to  the  other  House, 
by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  recon- 
sidered, and,  if  approved  by  two 
thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  become 
a  law.  But,  in  all  such  cases,  the 
votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the 
names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and 
against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on 
the  journal  of  each  House,  respec- 
tively. If  any  bill  shall  not  be  re- 
turned by  the  President  within  ten 
days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall 
have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same 
shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if 
he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress, 
by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  re- 
turn ;  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a 
law.  The  President  may  approve 
any  appropriation  and  disapprove 
any  other  appropriation  in  the  same 
till.  In  such  case  he  shall,  in  sign- 
ing the  Mil,  designate  the  appropria- 
tions disapproved ;  and  shall  return 
a  copy  of  such  appropriations,  with 
Ms  objections,  to  the  House  in  which 
the  Mil  shall  have  originated;  and 
the  same  proceedings  shall  then  be  had 
as  in  case  of  other  Mils  disapproved 
by  the  President. 

Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote, 
to  which  the  concurrence  of  both 
Houses  may  be  necessary  (except  on 
a  question  of  adjournment),  shall  be 
presented  to  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States ;  and,  before  the 
same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  ap- 
proved  by  him  ;    or,   being   disap- 


APPENDIX  K. 


655 


him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him, 
shall  be  repassed  by  two-thirds  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Kepresent- 
atives,  according  to  the  Kules  and 
Limitations  prescribed  in  the  Case 
of  a  BiU. 

Section  8.  The  Congress  shall 
have  Power 

To  lay  and  collect  Taxes,  Duties, 
Imposts  and  Excises,  to  pay  the  Debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  Defence 
and  general  Welfare  of  the  United 
States ;  but  all  Duties,  Imposts  and 
Excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout 
the  United  States ; 


To  borrow  Money  on  the  credit 
of  the  United  States ; 

To  regulate  Commerce  with  for- 
eign Nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  Tribes ; 


To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of 
Naturalization,  and  uniform  Laws  on 


proved,  shall  be  repassed  by  two 
thirds  of  both  Houses,  according  to 
the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed 
in  case  of  a  bill. 


Section  8.  The  Congress  shall 
have  power — 

To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties, 
imposts,  and  excises,  for  revenue  ne- 
cessary to  pay  the  debts,  provide  for 
the  common  defense,  and  carry  on 
the  Government  of  the  Confederate 
States ;  out  no  bounties  shall  be 
granted  from  the  Treasury  ;  nor  shall 
any  duties  or  taxes  on  importations 
from  foreign  nations  be  laid  to  pro- 
mote  or  foster  any  branch  of  industry; 
and  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises 
shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  Con- 
federate States : 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit 
of  the  Confederate  States : 

To  regulate  commerce  with  for- 
eign nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 
but  neither  this,  nor  any  other  clause 
contained  in  the  Constitution,  shall 
ever  be  construed  to  delegate  the  power 
to  Congress  to  appropriate  money  for 
any  internal  improvement  intended 
to  facilitate  commerce;  except  for  the 
purpose  of  furnishing  lights,  beacons, 
and  buoys,  and  other  aid  to  naviga- 
tion upon  the  coasts,  and  the  improve- 
ment of  harbors  and  the  removing  of 
obstructions  in  river  navigation,  in 
all  which  cases,  such  duties  shall  be 
laid  on  the  navigation  facilitated 
thereby,  as  may  be  necessary  to  pay 
the  costs  and  expenses  thereof: 

To  establish  uniform  laws  of  natu- 
ralization, and  uniform  laws  on  the 


656      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  through- 
out the  United  States ; 


To  coin  Money,  regulate  the  Value 
thereof,  and  of  foreign  Coin,  and  fix 
the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Meas- 
ures ; 

To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of 
counterfeiting  the  Securities  and  cur- 
rent Coin  of  the  United  States ; 

To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post 
Roads ; 


To  promote  the  progress  of  Sci- 
ence and  useful  Arts,  by  securing  for 
limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Invent- 
ors the  exclusive  Right  to  their  re- 
spective "Writings  and  Discoveries ; 

To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior 
to  the  supreme  Court ; 

To  define  and  punish  Piracies  and 
Felonies  committed  on  the  high  Seas, 
and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Na- 
tions ; 

To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of 
Marque  and  Reprisal,  and  make  Rules 
concerning  Captures  on  Land  and 
Water ; 

To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but 
no  Appropriation  of  Money  to  that 
Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than 
two  Years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy ; 

To  make  Rules  for  the  Govern- 
ment and  Regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  Forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the 
Militia  to  execute  the  Laws  of  the 


subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout 
the  Confederate  States ;  out  no  law 
of  Congress  shall  discharge  any  debt 
contracted  defore  the  passage  of  the 
same : 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value 
thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures: 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of 
counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  Confederate  States : 

To  establish  post-offices  and  post 
routes ;  out  the  expenses  of  the  Post- 
Office  Department,  after  the  first  day 
of  March,  in  the  year  of  out  Lord 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty -three, 
shall  oe  paid  out  of  its  own  reve- 
nue: 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science 
and  useful  arts,  by  securing  for  lim- 
ited times  to  authors  and  inventors 
the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries : 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to 
the  Supreme  Court : 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and 
felonies  committed  on  the  high-seas, 
and  offenses  against  the  law  of  na- 
tions : 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  on 
water : 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but 
no  appropriation  of  money  to  that 
use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than 
two  years : 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy: 

To  make  rules  for  the  government 
and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces : 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the 
militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 


APPENDIX  K. 


657 


Union,    suppress    Insurrections   and 
repel  Invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arm- 
ing, and  disciplining,  the  Militia,  and 
for  governing  such  Part  of  them  as 
may  be  employed  in  the  Service  of 
the  United  States,  reserving  to  the 
States  respectively,  the  Appointment 
of  the  Officers,  and  the  Authority  of 
training  the  Militia  according  to  the 
Discipline  prescribed  by  Congress ; 

To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation 
in  all  Cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles 
square)  as  may,  by  Cession  of  par- 
ticular States,  and  the  Acceptance  of 
Congress,  become  the  Seat  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  exercise  like  Authority  over 
all  Places  purchased  by  the  Consent 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
which  the  Same  shall  be,  for  the 
Erection  of  Forts,  Magazines,  Arse- 
nals, Dock- Yards,  and  other  needful 
Buildings ; — And 

To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers, 
and  all  other  Powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  or  in  any  Depart- 
ment or  Officer  thereof. 

Section  9.  The  Migration  or  Im- 
portation of  such  Persons  as  any  of 
the  States  now  existing  shall  think 
proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohib- 
ited by  the  Congress  prior  to  the 
Year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or  Duty  may  be 
imposed  on  such  Importation,  not  ex- 
ceeding ten  dollars  for  each  Person. 


42 


Confederate  States,  suppress  insur- 
rections, and  repel  invasions  : 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arm- 
ing, and  disciplining  the  militia,  and 
for  governing  such  part  of  them  as 
may  be  employed  in  the  service  of 
the  Confederate  States,  reserving  to 
the  States,  respectively,  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  officers,  and  the  author- 
ity of  training  the  militia  according 
to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Con- 
gress : 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation 
in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles 
square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  one  or 
more  States,  and  the  acceptance  of 
Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  to  exercise  like  authority  over 
all  places  purchased  by  the  consent 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erec- 
tion of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals, 
dock-yards,  and  other  needful  build- 
ings; and 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  foregoing  powers, 
and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of 
the  Confederate  States,  or  in  any  de- 
partment or  officer  thereof. 

Section  9.  The  importation  of  ne- 
groes of  the  African  race,  from  any 
foreign  country  other  than  the  slave- 
holding  States  or  Territories  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  is  hereby 
forbidden ;  and  Congress  is  required 
to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  effectually 
prevent  the  same. 

Congress  shall  also  have  power  to 
prohibit  the  introduction  of  slaves 
from  any  State  not  a  member  of,  or 


658      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 


The  Privilege  of  tlie  Writ  of  Ha- 
beas Corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or 
Invasion  the  public  Safety  may  re- 
quire it. 

No  Bill  of  Attainder  or  ex  post 
facto  Law  shall  be  passed. 


No  Capitation,  or  other  direct, 
Tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  Propor- 
tion to  the  Census  or  Enumeration 
herein  before  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on 
Articles  exported  from  any  State. 


No  Preference  shall  be  given  by 
any  Kegulation  of  Commerce  or  Rev- 
enue to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over 
those  of  another:  nor  shall  Vessels 
bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be 
obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  Duties 
in  another. 

No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from 
the  Treasury,  but  in  Consequence  of 
Appropriations  made  by  Law ;  and 
a  regular  Statement  and  Account  of 
the  Eeceipts  and  Expenditures  of  all 
public  Money  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 


Territory  not  belonging  to,  this  Con- 
federacy. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  ha- 
beas corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when,  in  case  of  rebellion  or 
invasion,  the  public  safety  may  re- 
quire it. 

No  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto 
law,  or  law  denying  or  impairing  the 
right  of  property  in  negro  slaves  shall 
be  passed. 

No  capitation  or  other  direct  tax 
shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to 
the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbe- 
fore directed  to  be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on 
articles  exported  from  any  State  ex- 
cept by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  both 
Mouses. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by 
any  regulation  of  commerce  or  reve- 
nue to  the  ports  of  one  State  over 
those  of  another. 


No  money  shall  be  drawn  from 
the  Treasury,  but  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law ;  and  a 
regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  pub- 
lic money  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 

Congress  shall  appropriate  no 
money  from  the  Treasury,  except  by  a 
vote  of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses, 
talcen  by  yeas  and  nays,  unless  it  be 
asJced  and  estimated  for  by  some  one 
of  the  heads  of  departments,  and  sub- 
mitted to  Congress  by  the  President ; 
or  for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  own 
expenses  and  contingencies ;  or  for 
the  payment  of  claims  against  the 
Confederate    States,    the  justice   of 


APPENDIX  K. 


659 


No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be 
granted  by  the  United  States :  And 
no  Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit 
or  Trust  under  them,  shall,  without 
the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  accept 
of  any  present,  Emolument,  Office, 
or  Title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from 
any  King,  Prince,  or  foreign  State. 


which  shall  have  been  judicially  de- 
clared by  a  tribunal  for  the  investi- 
gation of  claims  against  the  Govern- 
ment, which  it  is  hereby  made'  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  establish. 

All  bills  appropriating  money 
shall  specify,  in  Federal  currency,  the 
exact  amount  of  each  appropriation, 
and  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  made  ; 
and  Congress  shall  grant  no  extra 
compensation  to  any  public  contractor, 
officer,  agent,  or  servant,  after  such 
contract  shall  have  been  made  or  such 
service  rendered. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  grant- 
ed by  the  Confederate  States;  and 
no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit 
or  trust  under  them  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Congress,  accept 
of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or 
title  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any 
king,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  re- 
specting an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  there- 
of; or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the 
people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  pe- 
tition the  Government  for  a  redress 
of  grievances. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  ne- 
cessary to  the  security  of  a  free  state, 
the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and 
bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace, 
be  quartered  in  any  house  without 
the  consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in 
time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be 
prescribed  by  law. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  se- 
cure in  their  persons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects,  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be 
violated  ;  and  no  warrants  shall  issue 


660      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 

but  upon  probable  cause,  supported 
by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particu- 
larly describing  the  place  to  be 
searched,  and  the  persons  or  things 
to  be  seized. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer 
for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous 
crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or 
indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except 
,  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval 

forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in 
actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  pub- 
lic danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  be 
subject,  for  the  same  offense,  to  be 
twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ; 
nor  be  compelled,  in  any  criminal 
case,  to  be  a  witness  against  himself; 
nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property,  without  due  process  of  law ; 
nor  shall  private  property  be  taken 
for  public  use  without  just  compen- 
sation. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the 
accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impar- 
tial jury  of  the  State  and  district 
wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been 
committed,  which  district  shall  have 
been  previously  ascertained  by  law, 
and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  con- 
fronted with  the  witnesses  against 
him  ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for 
obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor ;  and 
to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for 
his  defense. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where 
the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by 
jury  shall  be  preserved  ;  and  no  fact 
so  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise 
reexamined  in  any  court  of  the  Con- 
federacy, than  according  to  the  rules 
of  the  common  law. 


APPENDIX  K. 


661 


Section  10.  No  State  shall  enter 
into  any  Treaty,  Alliance,  or  Con- 
federation ;  grant  Letters  of  Marque 
and  Reprisal;  coin  Money;  emit  Bills 
of  Credit ;  make  any  Thing  but  gold 
and  silver  Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment 
of  Debts ;  pass  any  Bill  of  Attainder, 
ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law  impairing 
the  Obligation  of  Contracts,  or  grant 
any  Title  of  Nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Congress,  lay  any  Imposts 
or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exports,  ex- 
cept what  may  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  executing  its  inspection 
Laws:  and  the  net  Produce  of  all 
Duties  and  Imposts,  laid  by  any  State 
on  Imports  or  Exports,  shall  be  for 
the  Use  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States;  and  all  such  Laws  shall  be 
subject  to  the  Revision  and  Controul 
of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Con- 
sent of  Congress,  lay  any  Duty  of 
Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  or  Ships  of 
War  in  time  of  Peace,  enter  into  any 
Agreement  or  Compact  with  another 
State,  or  with  a  foreign  Power,  or 
engage  in  War,  unless  actually  in- 
vaded, or  in  such  imminent  Danger 
as  will  not  admit  of  Delay. 


Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  re- 
quired, nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishment  in- 
flicted. 

Every  law,  or  resolution  having 
the  force  of  law,  shall  relate  to  out 
one  subject,  and  that  shall  be  expressed 
in  the  title. 

Section  10.  No  State  shall  enter 
into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confed- 
eration ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal ;  coin  money ;  make  any- 
thing but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  ten- 
der in  payment  of  debts;  pass  any 
bill  of  attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  law, 
or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of 
contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  no- 
bility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Congress,  lay  any  imposts 
or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  ex- 
cept what  may  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  executing  its  inspection  laws ; 
and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and 
imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  imports 
or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  Confederate  States ; 
and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to 
the  revision  and  control  of  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  Congress,  lay  any  duty  on 
tonnage,  except  on  sea-going  vessels 
for  the  improvement  of  its  rivers  and 
harbors  navigated  by  the  said  vessels  ; 
but  such  duties  shall  not  conflict  with 
any  treaties  of  the  Confederate  States 
with  foreign  nations.  And  any  sur- 
plus revenue  thus  derived  shall,  after 
malting  such  improvement,  be  paid 
into  the  common  Treasury ;  nor  shall 
any  State  keep  troops  or  ships  of 
war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any 
agreement  or  compact  with  another 


662      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


ARTICLE  II. 

Section  1.  The  executive  Power 
shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  He  shall 
hold  his  Office  during  the  Term  of 
four  Years,  and,  together  with  the 
Vice  President,  chosen  for  the  same 
Term,  be  elected,  as  follows : 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such 
Manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors, 
equal  to  the  whole  Number  of  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  to  which 
the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Con- 
gress :  but  no  Senator  or  Represent- 
ative, or  Person  holding  an  Office  of 
Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  appointed  an  Elector. 

*  The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their 
respective  States,  and  vote  by  Ballot 
for  two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at 
least  shall  not  be  an  Inhabitant  of 
the  same  State  with  themselves. 
And  they  shall  make  a  List  of  all  the 
Persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  Num- 
ber of  Votes  for  each;  which  List 
they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  trans- 
mit sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  directed 
to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the 
Presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 


State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or 
engage  in  war  unless  actually  invad- 
ed, or  in  such  imminent  danger  as 
will  not  admit  of  delay.  But  when 
any  river  divides  or  flows  through 
two  or  more  States,  they  may  enter 
into  compacts  with  each  other  to  im- 
prove the  navigation  thereof. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Section  1.  The  Executive  power 
shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America.  He 
and  the  Vice-President  shall  hold 
their  offices  for  the  term  of  six  years ; 
hut  the  President  shall  not  oe  reeli- 
gible.  The  President  and  the  Vice- 
President  shall  be  elected  as  follows : 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such 
manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors, 
equal  to  the  whole  number  of  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  to  which 
the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Con- 
gress ;  but  no  Senator  or  Represent- 
ative, or  person  holding  an  office  of 
trust  or  profit  under  the  Confederate 
States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their 
respective  States  and  vote  by  ballot 
for  President  and  Vice-President, 
one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be 
an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with 
themselves ;  they  shall  name  in  their 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Presi- 
dent, and  in  distinct  ballots  the  per- 
son voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and 
they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all 
persons  voted  for  as  President,  and 
of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-Pres- 
ident, and  of  the  number  of  votes  for 
each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and 


*  Superseded  by  the  twelfth  amendment. 


APPENDIX    K. 


663 


Eepresentatives,  open  all  the  Certifi- 
cates, and  the  Votes  shall  then  be 
counted.  The  Person  having  the 
greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall  be 
the  President,  if  such  Number  be  a 
Majority  of  the  whole  Number  of 
Electors  appointed ;  and  if  there  be 
more  than  one  who  have  such  Ma- 
jority and  have  an  equal  Number  of 
Votes,  then  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives shall  immediately  chuse  by 
Ballot  one  of  them  for  President ; 
and  if  no  Person  have  a  Majority, 
then  from  the  five  highest  on  the 
List  the  said  House  shall  in  like 
Manner  chuse  the  President.  But 
in  chusing  the  President,  the  Votes 
shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  Eepre- 
sentatiou  from  each  State  having  one 
Vote ;  a  Quorum  for  this  Purpose 
shall  consist  of  a  Member  or  Mem- 
bers from  two-thirds  of  the  States, 
and  a  Majority  of  all  the  States  shall 
be  necessary  to  a  Choice.  In  every 
Case,  after  the  Choice  of  the  Presi- 
dent, the  Person  having  the  greatest 
Number  of  Votes  of  the  Electors 
shall  be  the  Vice  President.  But  if 
there  should  remain  two  or  more 
who  have  equal  Votes,  the  Senate 
shall  chuse  from  them  by  Ballot  the 
Vice  President. 


certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the 
seat  of  the  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  directed  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Senate.     The  President 
of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives, open  all  the  certificates, 
and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted. 
The  person  having  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  for  President  shall  be 
the  President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number   of 
electors  appointed  ;  and  if  no  person 
have  such  majority,  then  from  the 
persons  having  the  highest  numbers 
not  exceeding  three  on  the  list  of 
those  voted    for  as   President,   the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  shall  choose 
immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President. 
But  in  choosing  the  President,  the 
votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the 
representation  from  each  State  hav- 
ing one   vote;    a  quorum  for  this 
purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member 
or  members  from  two  thirds  of  the 
States,    and  a  majority  of  all   the 
States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Eepresentatives 
shall  not  choose  a  President  when- 
ever the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve 
upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of 
March  next  following,  then  the  Vice- 
President  shall  act  as  President,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  con- 
stitutional disability  of  the  President. 
The  person  having  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  as  Vice-President, 
shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed;  and 
if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then 
from  the  two   highest   numbers  on 
the  list  the  Senate  shall  choose  the 
Vice-President.     A  quorum  for  the 


664:      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 


The  Congress  may  determine  the 
Time  of  chusing  the  Electors,  and  the 
Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their 
Votes ;  which  Day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States. 

No  Person  except  a  natural  born 
Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of  the  United 
States,  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption 
of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible 
to  the  Office  of  President;  neither 
shall  any  Person  be  eligible  to  that 
Office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  Age  of  thirty-five  Years,  and  been 
fourteen  Years  a  Eesident  within  the 
United  States. 


In  Case  of  the  Eemoval  of  the 
President  from  Office,  or  of  his  Death, 
Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge 
the  Powers  and  Duties  of  the  said 
office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the 
Vice  President,  and  the  Congress 
may  by  Law  provide  for  the  Case  of 
Removal,  Death,  Resignation,  or  In- 
ability, both  of  the  President  and 
Vice  President,  declaring  what  Offi- 
cer shall  then  act  as  President,  and 
such  Officer  shall  act  accordingly, 
until  the  Disability  be  removed,  or  a 
President  shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated 
Times,   receive  for  his   Services,   a 


purpose  shall  consist  of  two  thirds 
of  the  whole  number  of  Senators, 
and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

But  no  person  constitutionally  in- 
eligible to  the  office  of  President  shall 
be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President 
of  the  Confederate  States. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the 
time  of  choosing  the  electors,  and 
the  day  on  which  they  shall  give 
their  votes ;  which  day  shall  be  the 
same  throughout  the  Confederate 
States. 

No  person  except  a  natural  born 
citizen  of  the  Confederate  States,  or 
a  citizen  thereof  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  this  Constitution,  or  a 
citizen  thereof  torn  in  the  United 
States  prior  to  the  20th  of  December, 
I860,  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of 
President;  neither  shall  any  person 
be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall 
not  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty- 
five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years 
a  resident  within  the  limits  of  the 
Confederate  States,  as  they  may  exist 
at  the  time  of  his  election. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the 
President  from  office,  or  of  his  death, 
resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge 
the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said 
office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the 
Vice-President;  and  the  Congress 
may,  by  law,  provide  for  the  case  of 
removal,  death,  resignation,  or  in- 
ability, both  of  the  President  and 
Vice-President,  declaring  what  offi- 
cer shall  then  act  as  President ;  and 
such  officer  shall  act  accordingly, 
until  the  disability  be  removed  or  a 
President  shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated 
times,  receive  for  his  services  a  com- 


APPENDIX  K. 


665 


Compensation,  which  shall  neither 
be  enereased  nor  diminished  during 
the  Period  for  which  he  shall  have 
been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive 
within  that  Period  any  other  Emolu- 
ment from  the  United  States,  or  any 
of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution 
of  his  Office,  he  shall  take  the  follow- 
ing Oath  or  Affirmation: 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm) 
"  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the 
"Office  of  President  of  the  United 
"  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my 
"Ability,  preserve,  protect  and  de- 
"  fend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
"  States." 

Section  2.  The  President  shall 
be  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  Militia  of  the  several  States, 
when  called  into  the  actual  Service 
of  the  United  States ;  he  may  require 
the  Opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  prin- 
cipal Officer  in  each  of  the  executive 
Departments,  upon  any  Subject  re- 
lating to  the  Duties  of  their  respec- 
tive Offices,  and  he  shall  have  Power 
to  grant  Keprieves  and  Pardons  for 
Offences  against  the  United  States, 
except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with 
the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate, to  make  Treaties,  provided  two- 
thirds  of  the  Senators  present  con- 
cur; and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by 
and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of 
the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Ambassa- 
dors, other  public  Ministers  and  Con- 
suls, Judges  of  the  supreme  Court, 
and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United 
States,  whose  Appointments  are  not 
herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and 


pensation,  which  shall  neither  be  in- 
creased nor  diminished  during  the 
period  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected ;  and  he  shall  not  receive 
within  that  period  any  other  emolu- 
ment from  the  Confederate  States, 
or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enters  on  the  execution 
of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the  follow- 
ing oath  or  affirmation : 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm) 
that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the 
office  of  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  and  will  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect, 
and  defend  the  Constitution  thereof." 

Section  2.  The  President  shall 
be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  of  the  militia  of  the  several 
States,  when  called  into  the  actual 
service  of  the  Confederate  States; 
he  may  require  the  opinion,  in  writ- 
ing, of  the  principal  officer  in  each 
of  the  executive  departments,  upon 
any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of 
their  respective  offices,  and  he  shall 
have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and 
pardons  for  offenses  against  the  Con- 
federacy,  except  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
to  make  treaties,  provided  two  thirds 
of  the  Senators  present  concur ;  and 
he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  pub- 
lic ministers  and  consuls,  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  and  all  other 
officers  of  the  Confederate  States, 
whose  appointments  are  not  herein 
otherwise  provided  for,  and  which 


QQQ      RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


which  shall  be  established  by  Law : 
but  the  Congress  may  by  Law  vest 
the  Appointment  of  such  inferior 
Officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the 
President  alone,  in  the  Courts  of 
Law,  or  in  the  Heads  of  Departments. 


The  President  shall  have  Power 
to  fill  up  all  Vacancies  that  may  hap- 
pen during  the  Recess  of  the  Senate, 
by  granting  Commissions  which  shall 
expire  at  the  End  of  their  next  Ses- 
sion. 


Section  3.  He  shall  from  time  to 
time  give  to  the  Congress  Informa- 
tion of  the  State  of  the  Union,  and 
recommend  to  their  Consideration 
such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  ne- 
cessary and  expedient;  he  may,  on 
extraordinary  Occasions,  convene 
both  Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and 
in  Case  of  Disagreement  between 
them,  with  Respect  to  the  time  of 
Adjournment,  he  may  adjourn  them 
to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think  prop- 
er ;  he  shall  receive  Ambassadors 
and  other  public  Ministers  ;  he  shall 


shall  be  established  by  law ;  but  the 
Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  ap- 
pointment of  such  inferior  officers, 
as  they  think  proper,  in  the  Presi- 
dent alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or 
in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  principal  officer  in  each  of 
the  executive  departments,  and  all 
persons  connected  with  the  diplomatic 
service,  may  oe  removed  from  office 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  President.  All 
other  civil  officers  of  the  executive 
department  may  oe  removed  at  any 
time  oy  the  President,  or  other  ap- 
pointing power,  when  their  services 
are  unnecessary,  or  for  dishonesty, 
incapacity,  inefficiency,  misconduct, 
or  neglect  of  duty ;  and,  when  so  re- 
moved, the  removal  shall  oe  reported 
to  the  Senate,  together  with  the  rea- 
sons therefor. 

The  President  shall  have  power 
to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  hap- 
pen during  the  recess  of  the  Senate, 
by  granting  commissions  which  shall 
expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  ses- 
sion. But  no  person  rejected  oy  the 
Senate  shall  oe  reappointed  to  the 
same  office  during  their  ensuing  re- 
cess. 

Section  3.  The  President  shall 
from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Con- 
gress information  of  the  state  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  recommend  to  their 
consideration  such  measures  as  he 
shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient : 
he  may  on  extraordinary  occasions 
convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of 
them;  and  in  case  of  disagreement 
between  them,  with  respect  to  the 
time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn 
them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think 
proper ;  he  shall  receive  ambassadors 
and  other  public  ministers ;  he  shall 


APPENDIX  K. 


667 


take  Care  that  the  Laws  be  faithfully 
executed,  and  shall  Commission  all 
the  officers  of  the  United  States. 

Section  4.  The  President,  Vice 
President  and  all  civil  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  removed  from 
Office  on  Impeachment  for,  and  Con- 
viction of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other 
high  Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 


take  care  that  the  laws  be  faith- 
fully executed,  and  shall  commis- 
sion all  the  officers  of  the  Confederate 
States. 

Section  4.  The  President,  Vice- 
President,  and  all  civil  officers  of 
the  Confederate  States,  shall  be  re- 
moved from  office  on  impeachment 
for  and  conviction  of,  treason,  bri- 
bery, or  other  high  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanors. 


ARTICLE  III. 

Section  1.  The  Judicial  Power 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  vested 
in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such 
inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may 
from  time  to  time  ordain  and  estab- 
lish. The  Judges,  both  of  the  su- 
preme and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold 
their  Offices  during  good  Behavior, 
and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for 
their  Services,  a  Compensation  which 
shall  not  be  diminished  during  their 
Continuance  in  Office. 

Section  2.  The  judicial  Power 
shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in  Law  and 
Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitu- 
tion, the  Laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be 
made,  under  their  Authority ; — to  all 
Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other 
public  Ministers  and  Consuls  ; — to 
all  Cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
Jurisdiction  ; — to  Controversies  to 
which  the  United  States  shall  be  a 
Party  ; — to  Controversies  between 
two  or  more  States; — between  a 
State  and  Citizens  of  another  State ; 
—  between  Citizens  of  different 
States, — between  Citizens  of  the  same 
State  claiming  Lands  under  Grants 
of  different  States,  and  between  a 


ARTICLE  III. 

Section  1.  The  judicial  power  of 
the  Confederate  States  shall  be  vested 
in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such 
inferior  courts  as  the  Congress  may 
from  time  to  time  ordain  and  estab- 
lish. The  Judges,  both  of  the  Su- 
preme and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold 
their  officers  during  good  behavior, 
and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for 
their  services  a  compensation,  which 
shall  not  be  diminished  during  their 
continuance  in  office. 

Section  2.  The  judicial  power 
shall  extend  to  all  cases  arising  un- 
der this  Constitution,  the  laws  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under 
their  authority;  to  all  cases  affect- 
ing ambassadors,  other  public  minis- 
ters, and  consuls;  to  all  cases  of  ad- 
miralty and  maritime  jurisdiction; 
to  controversies  to  which  the  Con- 
federate States  shall  be  a  party ;  to 
controversies  between  two  or  more 
States ;  between  a  State  and  citizens 
of  another  State,  where  the  State  is 
plaintiff;  between  citizens  claiming 
lands  under  grants  of  different  States, 
and  between  a  State  or  the  citizens 
thereof,  and  foreign  states,  citizens, 


C68      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


State,  or  the  Citizens  thereof,  and 
foreign  States,  Citizens  or  Subjects. 

In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassa- 
dors, other  public  Ministers  and  Con- 
suls, and  those  in  which  a  State  shall 
be  Party,  the  supreme  Court  shall 
have  original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the 
other  Cases  before  mentioned,  the 
supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate 
Jurisdiction,  both  as  to  Law  and 
Fact,  with  such  Exceptions,  and  un- 
der such  Kegulations  as  the  Congress 
shall  make. 

The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in 
Cases  of  Impeachment,  shall  be  by 
Jury;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held 
in  the  State  where  the  said  Crimes 
shall  have  been  committed ;  but  when 
not  committed  within  any  State,  the 
Trial  shall  be  at  such  Place  or  Places 
as  the  Congress  may  by  Law  have 
directed. 

Section  3.  Treason  against  the 
United  States,  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  War  against  them,  or  in  ad- 
hering to  their  Enemies,  giving  them 
Aid  and  Comfort.  No  Person  shall 
be  convicted  of  Treason  unless  on 
the  Testimony  of  two  Witnesses  to 
the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession 
in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to 
declare  the  Punishment  of  Treason, 
but  no  Attainder  of  Treason  shall 
work  Corruption  of  Blood,  or  For- 
feiture except  during  the  Life  of  the 
Person  attainted. 

AKTICLE  IV. 

Section  1.  Full  Faith  and  Cred- 
it shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the 
public  Acts,  Eecords,  and  judicial 
Proceedings   of  every   other   State. 


or  subjects.  But  no  State  shall  oe 
sued  by  a  citizen  or  subject  of  any 
foreign  state. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors, 
other  public  ministers  and  consuls, 
and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be 
party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  oth- 
er cases  before  mentioned,  the  Su- 
preme Court  shall  have  appellate 
jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact, 
with  such  exceptions  and  under  such 
regulations  as  the  Congress  shall 
make. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in 
cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by 
jury,  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in 
the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall 
have  been  committed ;  but  when  not 
committed  within  any  State  the  trial 
shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the 
Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

Section  3.  Treason  against  the 
Confederate  States  shall  consist  only 
in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in 
adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving 
them  aid  and  comfort.  No  person 
shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless 
on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to 
the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession 
in  open  court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  declare  the  punishment  of  trea- 
son; but  no  attainder  of  treason 
shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or 
forfeiture,  except  during  the  life  of 
the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Section  1.  Full  faith  and  credit 
shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the 
public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  pro- 
ceedings of  every  other  State.     And 


APPENDIX  K. 


669 


And  the  Congress  may  by  general 
Laws  prescribe  the  Manner  in  which 
such  Acts,  Eecords  and  Proceed- 
ings shall  be  proved,  and  the  Effect 
thereof. 

Section  2.  The  Citizens  of  each 
State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  Privi- 
leges and  Immunities  of  Citizens  in 
the  several  States. 


A  Person  charged  in  any  State 
with  Treason,  Felony,  or  other 
Crime,  who  shall  flee  from  Justice, 
and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall 
on  Demand  of  the  executive  Author- 
ity of  the  State  from  which  he  fled, 
be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to 
the  State  having  Jurisdiction  of  the 
Crime. 

!No  Person  held  to  Service  or  La- 
bour in  one  State,  under  the  Laws 
thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall, 
in  Consequence  of  any  Law  or  Kegu- 
lation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  Service  or  Labour,  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  on  Claim  of  the  Party 
to  whom  such  Service  or  Labour  may 
be  done. 


Section"  3.  New  States  may  be 
admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union;  but  no  new  State  shall  be 
formed  or  erected  within  the  Juris- 
diction of  any  other  State;  nor  any 
State  be  formed  by  the  Junction  of 
two  or  more  States,  or  Parts  of 
States,  without  the  Consent  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned 
as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 


the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws, 
prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such 
acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

Section  2.  The  citizens  of  each 
State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  priv- 
ileges and  immunities  of  citizens  in 
the  several  States,  and  shall  have  the 
right  of  transit  and  sojourn  in  any 
State  of  this  Confederacy,  with  their 
slaves  and  other  property  ;  and  the 
right  of  property  in  said  slaves  shall 
not  be  thereby  impaired. 

A  person  charged  in  any  State 
with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime 
against  the  laws  of  such  State,  who 
shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found 
in  another  State,  shall  on  demand  of 
the  Executive  authority  of  the  State 
from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up, 
to  be  removed  to  the  State  having 
jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

2Fo  slave  or  other  person  held  to 
service  or  labor  in  any  State  or  Ter- 
ritory of  the  Confederate  States,  un- 
der the  laws-thereof,  escaping  or  law- 
fully carried  into  another,  shall,  in 
consequence  of  any  law  or  regula- 
tion therein,  be  discharged  from  such 
service  or  labor;  but  shall  be  deliv- 
ered up  on  claim  of  the  party  to 
whom  such  slave  belongs,  or  to  whom 
such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

Section  3.  Other  States  may  be 
admitted  into  this  Confederacy  by  a 
vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  whole  House 
of  Representatives  and  two  thirds  of 
the  Senate,  the  Senate  voting  by 
States;  but  no  new  State  shall  be 
formed  or  erected  within  the  juris- 
diction of  any  other  State ;  nor  any 
State  be  formed  by  the  junction  of 
two   or    more    States,   or    parts  of 


670      RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT. 


The  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  Rules 
and  Regulations  respecting  the  Ter- 
ritory or  other  Property  belonging 
to  the  United  States;  and  nothing 
in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  Prejudice  any  Claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particu- 
lar State. 


Section  4.  The  United  States 
shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union  a  Republican  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment, and  shall  protect  each  of 
them  against  Invasion,  and  on  Ap- 
plication of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the 
Executive  (when  the  Legislature  can- 
not be  convened)  against  domestic 
Violence. 


States,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned, 
as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
rules-  and  regulations  concerning  the 
property  of  the  Confederate  States, 
including  the  lands  thereof. 


The  Confederate  States  may  ac- 
quire new  territory ;  and  Congress 
shall  ham  power  to  legislate  and  pro- 
vide governments  for  the  inhabitants 
of  all  territory  belonging  to  the  Con- 
federate  States,  lying  without  the 
limits  of  the  several  States  ;  and  may 
permit  them,  at  such  times  and  in 
such  manner  as  it  may  by  law  pro- 
vide, to  form  States  to  be  admitted 
into  the  Confederacy \  In  all  such 
territory,  the  institution  of  negro 
slavery,  as  it  now  exists  in  the  Confed- 
erate States,  shall  be  recognized  and 
protected  by  Congress  and  by  the  ter- 
ritorial government ;  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  several  Confederate 
States  and  Territories  shall  have  the 
right  to  take  to  such  Territory  any 
slaves  lawfully  held  by  them  in  any 
of  the  States  or  Territories  of  the 
Confederate  States. 

The  Confederate  States  shall  guar- 
antee to  every  State  that  now  is,  or 
hereafter  may  become,  a  member  of 
this  Confederacy,  a  republican  form 
of  government;  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion ;  and 
on  application  of  the  Legislature  (or 
of  the  Executive  when  the  Legisla- 
ture is  not  in  session),  against  domes- 
tic violence. 


APPENDIX  K. 


671 


ARTICLE  Y. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two- 
thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem  it 
necessary,  shall  propose  Amendments 
to  this  Constitution,  or,  on  the  Ap- 
plication of  the  Legislatures  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call 
a  Convention  for  proposing  Amend- 
ments, which,  in  either  Case,  shall 
be  valid  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes, 
as  Part  of  this  Constitution,  when 
ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by 
Conventions  in  three-fourths  thereof, 
as  the  one  or  the  other  Mode  of  Rati- 
fication may  be  proposed  by  the  Con- 
gress :  Provided  that  no  Amendment 
which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  Year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first 
and  fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth  Sec- 
tion of  the  first  Article ;  and  that  no 
State,  without  its  Consent,  shall  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage  in  the 
Senate. 

ARTICLE  YI. 
All  Debts  contracted  and  Engage- 
ments entered  into,  before  the  Adop- 
tion of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as 
valid  against  the  United  States  under 
this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Con- 
federation. 


ARTICLE  Y. 

Section  1.  Upon  the  demand  of 
any  three  States,  legally  assembled  in 
their  several  conventions,  the  Con- 
gress shall  summon  a  Convention  of 
all  the  States,  to  take  into  considera- 
tion such  amendments  to  the  Consti- 
tution as  the  said  States  shall  concur 
in  suggesting  at  the  time  when  the 
said  demand  is  made;  and  should 
any  of  the  proposed  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  be  agreed  on  by  the 
said  Convention — voting  by  States — 
and  the  same  be  ratified  by  the  Legis- 
latures of  two  thirds  of  the  several 
States,  or  by  conventions  in  two- 
thirds  thereof— as  the  one  or  the 
other>  mode  of  ratification  may  be 
proposed  by  the  general  Convention 
— they  shall  thenceforward  form  a 
part  of  this  Constitution.  But  no 
State  shall,  without  its  consent,  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  representation 
in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  YI. 

The  Government  established  by 
this  Constitution  is  the  successor  of 
the  Provisional  Government  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  and 
all  the  laws  passed  by  the  latter  shall 
continue  in  force  until  the  same  shall 
be  repealed  or  modified ;  and  all  the 
officers  appointed  by  the  same  shall 
remain  in  office  until  their  successors 
are  appointed  and  qualified,  or  the 
offices  abolished. 

All  debts  contracted  and  engage- 
ments entered  into  before  the  adop- 
tion of  this  Constitution  shall  be  as 
valid  against  the  Confederate  States 
under  this  Constitution  as  under  the 
Provisional  Government. 


672      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 


This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws 
of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  Pursuance  thereof ;  find  all 
Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be 
made,  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme 
Law  of  the  Land ;  and  the  Judges  in 
every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby, 
any  Thing  in  the  Constitution  or 
Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary 
not  withs  tanding. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives 
before  mentioned,  and  the  Members 
of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and 
all  executive  and  judicial  Officers, 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
several  States,  shall  be  bound  by 
Oath  or  Affirmation,  to  support  this 
Constitution;  but  no  religious  Test 
shall  ever  be  required  as  a  Qualifi- 
cation to  any  Office  or  public  Trust 
under  the  United  States. 


This  Constitution,  and  the  laws 
of  the  Confederate  States  made  in 
pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties 
made  or  which  shall  be  made  under 
the  authority  of  the  Confederate 
States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land;  and  the  Judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  tbereby,  any- 
thing in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of 
any  State  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

The  Senators  and  Eepresentatives 
before  mentioned,  and  the  members 
of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and 
all  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
both  of  the  Confederate  States  and 
of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound 
by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support 
this  Constitution;  but  no  religious 
test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  quali- 
fication to  any  office  or  public  trust 
under  the  Confederate  States. 

The  enumeration,  in  the  Consti- 
tution, of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be 
construed  to  deny  or  disparage  oth- 
ers retained  by  the  people  of  the  sev- 
eral States. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the 
Confederate  States  by  the  Consti- 
tution, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the 
States,  are  reserved  to  the  States, 
respectively,  or  to  the  people  thereof 


ARTICLE  VII. 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conven- 
tions of  nine  States,  shall  be  sufficient 
for  the  Establishment  of  this  Con- 
stitution between  the  States  so  rati- 
fying the  Same. 


ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratification  of  the  Conven- 
tions of  five  States  shall  be  sufficient 
for  the  establishment  of  this  Con- 
stitution between  the  States  so  rati- 
fying the  same. 

When  five  States  shall  have  rati- 
fied this  Constitution,  in  the  manner 
before  specified,  the  Congress  under 
the  Provisional  Constitution  shall 
prescribe   the  time  for   holding  the 


APPENDIX  K.  673 

election  of  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  for  the  meeting  of  the  elec- 
toral college,  and  for  counting  the 
votes,  and  inaugurating  the  Presi- 
dent. They  shall  also  prescribe  the 
time  for  holding  the  first  election  of 
members  of  Congress  under  this  Con- 
stitution, and  the  time  for  assembling 
the  same.  Until  the  assembling  of 
such  Congress,  the  Congress  under  the 
Provisional  Constitution  shall  con- 
tinue to  exercise  the  legislative  pow- 
ers granted  them;  not  extending  be- 
yond the  time  limited  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Provisional  Government. 

Articles  in  Addition  to,  and  Amendment  of,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  Proposed  by  Congress,  and  ratified  by  the  Legisla- 
tures of  the  several  States,  pursuant  to  the  fifth  article  of  the  original 
Constitution. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to 
petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE   II. 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  State, 
the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall  not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE   III. 

No  Soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  iu  any  house,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  pre- 
scribed by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and 
effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated, 
and  no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  Oath 
or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the 
persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 
43 


674      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

AETICLE  Y. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise  infamous 
crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand  Jury,  except  in 
cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  Militia,  when  in  actual 
service  in  time  of  War  or  public  danger ;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject 
for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor  shall 
be  compelled  in  any  Criminal  Case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compensation. 

ARTICLE  YI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy 
and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  wherein  the 
crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previously 
ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accu- 
sation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  ;  to  have  Compul- 
sory process  for  obtaining  Witnesses  in  his  favour,  and  to  have  the  Assist- 
ance of  Counsel  for  his  defence. 

ARTICLE  YII. 

In  Suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved,  and  no  fact 
tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United 
States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor 
cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE   XII.* 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
President  and  Yice  President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  same  state  with  themselves  ;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the 
person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for 
as  Yice  President,  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for 
as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Yice  President,  and  of  the 
number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  trans- 
mit sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to 
the  President  of  the  Senate  ; — The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  presence 

*  This  article  is  substituted  for  Clause  3,  Sec.  I.,  Art.  II.,  page  662,  and  annuls 
it.     It  was  declared  adopted  in  1804. 


APPENDIX   L.  675 

of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates  and 
the  votes  shall  then  be  counted  ; — The  person  having  the  greatest  number 
of  votes  for  President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority 
of  the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed ;  and  if  no  person  have  such  ma- 
jority, then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding 
three  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choosing 
the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representation  from 
each  state  having  one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a 
member  or  members  from  two- thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the 
states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve 
upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  following,  then  the  Vice 
President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  consti- 
tutional disability  of  the  President. — The  person  having  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  as  Yice  President,  shall  be  the  Vice  President,  if  such  number 
be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person 
have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate 
shall  choose  the  Vice  President ;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  inel- 
igible to  the  office  of  President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States. 


APPENDIX  L. 

CORRESPONDENCE     BETWEEN     THE     CONFEDERATE     COMMISSIONERS, 
MR.    SECRETARY    SEWARD    AND    JUDGE    CAMPBELL. 

The  Commissioners  to  Mr.  Seward. 

Washington  City,  March  12,  1861. 
Hon.  William  H.  Sewaed,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States. 

Sir:  The  undersigned  have  been  duly  accredited  by  the  Government  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America  as  commissioners  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and,  in  pursuance  of  their  instructions,  have  now  the 
honor  to  acquaint  you  with  that  fact,  and  to  make  known,  through  you  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  objects  of  their  presence  in  this 
capital. 

Seven  States  of  the  late  Federal  Union,  having  in  the  exercise  of  the 
inherent  right  of  every  free  people  to  change  or  reform  their  political  in- 
stitutions, and  through  conventions  of  their  people,  withdrawn  from  the 


676       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

United  States  and  reassumed  the  attributes  of  sovereign  power  delegated  to 
it,  have  formed  a  government  of  their  own.  The  Confederate  States  con- 
stitute an  independent  nation,  de  facto  and  de  jure,  and  possess  a  govern- 
ment perfect  in  all  its  parts,  and  endowed  with  all  the  means  of  self-support. 

With  a  view  to  a  speedy  adjustment  of  all  questions  growing  out  of  this 
political  separation,  upon  such  terms  of  amity  and  good-will  as  the  respec- 
tive interests,  geographical  contiguity,  and  future  welfare  of  the  two  na- 
tions may  render  necessary,  the  undersigned  are  instructed  to  make  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  overtures  for  the  opening  of  negotiations, 
assuring  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  that  the  President,  Congress, 
and  people  of  the  Confederate  States  earnestly  desire  a  peaceful  solution 
of  these  great  questions ;  that  it  is  neither  their  interest  nor  their  wish  to 
make  any  demand  which  is  not  founded  in  strictest  justice,  nor  do  any  act 
to  injure  their  late  confederates. 

The  undersigned  have  now  the  honor,  in  obedience  to  the  instructions 
of  their  Government,  to  request  you  to  appoint  as  early  a  day  as  possible, 
in  order  that  they  may  present  to  the  President  of  the  United  -States  the 
credentials  which  they  bear  and  the  objects  of  the  mission  with  which  they 
are  charged. 

We  are,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 
(Signed)  JOHN  FORSYTH. 

(Signed)  MARTIN  J.  CRAWFORD. 

Memorandum. 
Department  of  State,  Washington,  March  15,  1861. 

Mr.  John  Forsyth,  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  Mr.  Martin  J.  Crawford, 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  on  the  11th  inst.,  through  the  kind  offices  of  a  dis- 
tinguished Senator,  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  State  their  desire  for  an 
unofficial  interview.  This  request  was,  on  the  12th  inst.,  upon  exclusively 
public  considerations,  respectfully  declined. 

On  the  13th  inst,  while  the  Secretary  was  preoccupied,  Mr.  A.  D. 
Banks,  of  Virginia,  called  at  this  department,  and  was  received  by  the 
Assistant  Secretary,  to  whom  he  delivered  a  sealed  communication,  which 
he  had  been  charged  by  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  to  present  to  the 
Secretary  in  person. 

In  that  communication  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  inform  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  that  they  have  been  duly  accredited  by  the  Government  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America  as  commissioners  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  they  set  forth  the  objects  of  their  attendance  at 
Washington.  They  observe  that  seven  States  of  the  American  Union,  in 
the  exercise  of  a  right  inherent  in  every  free  people,  have  withdrawn, 
through  conventions  of  their  people,  from  the  United  States,  reassumed  the 
attributes  of  sovereign  power,  and  formed  a  government  of  their  own,  and 


APPENDIX  L.  677 

that  those  Confederate  States  now  constitute  an  independent  nation,  de 
facto  and  de  jure,  and  possess  a  government  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  and 
fully  endowed  with  all  the  means  of  self-support. 

Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford,  in  their  aforesaid  communication,  there- 
upon proceeded  to  inform  the  Secretary  that,  with  a  view  to  a  speedy 
adjustment  of  all  questions  growing  out  of  the  political  separation  thus 
assumed,  upon  such  terms  of  amity  and  good-will  as  the  respective  inter- 
ests, geographical  contiguity,  and  the  future  welfare  of  the  supposed  two 
nations  might  render  necessary,  they  are  instructed  to  make  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  overtures  for  the  opening  of  negotiations,  assur- 
ing this  Government  that  the  President,  Congress,  and  the  people  of  the 
Confederate  States  earnestly  desire  a  peaceful  solution  of  these  great  ques- 
tions, and  that  it  is  neither  their  interest  nor  their  wish  to  make  any  de- 
mand which  is  not  founded  in  the  strictest  justice,  nor  do  any  act  to  injure 
their  late  confederates. 

After  making  these  statements,  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  close 
their  communication,  as  they  say,  in  obedience  to  the  instructions  of  their 
Government,  by  requesting  the  Secretary  of  State  to  appoint  as  early  a  day 
as  possible,  in  order  that  they  may  present  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  the  credentials  which  they  bear  and  the  objects  of  the  mission  with 
which  they  are  charged. 

The  Secretary  of  State  frankly  confesses  that  he  understands  the  events 
which  have  recently  occurred,  and  the  condition  of  political  affairs  which 
actually  exists  in  the  part  of  the  Union  to  which  his  attention  has  thus  been 
directed,  very  differently  from  the  aspect  in  which  they  are  presented  by 
Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford.  He  sees  in  them,  not  a  rightful  and  accom- 
plished revolution  and  an  independent  nation,  with  an  established  Govern- 
ment, but  rather  a  perversion  of  a  temporary  and  partisan  excitement  to 
the  inconsiderate  purposes  of  an  unjustifiable  and  unconstitutional  aggres- 
sion upon  the  rights  and  the  authority  vested  in  the  Federal  Government, 
and  hitherto  benignly  exercised,  as  from  their  very  nature  they  always 
must  so  be  exercised,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  the  preservation  of 
liberty,  and  the  security,  peace,  welfare,  happiness,  and  aggrandizement  of 
the  American  people.  The  Secretary  of  State,  therefore,  avows  to  Messrs. 
Forsyth  and  Crawford  that  he  looks  patiently,  but  confidently,  for  the  cure 
of  evils  which  have  resulted  from  proceedings  so  unnecessary,  so  unwise, 
so  unusual,  and  so  unnatural,  not  to  irregular  negotiations,  having  in  view 
new  and  untried  relations  with  agencies  unknown  to  and  acting  in  deroga- 
tion of  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  to  regular  and  considerate  action  of 
the  people  of  those  States,  in  cooperation  with  their  brethren  in  the  other 
States,  through  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  such  extraordinary 
conventions,  if  there  shall  be  need  thereof,  as  the  Federal  Constitution  con- 
templates and  authorizes  to  be  assembled. 

It  is,  however,  the  purpose  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  on  this  occasion, 


678      RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

not  to  invite  or  engage  in  any  discussion  of  these  subjects,  but  simply  to 
set  forth  his  reasons  for  declining  to  comply  with  the  request  of  Messrs. 
Forsyth  and  Crawford. 

On  the  4th  of  March  instant,  the  then  newly  elected  President  of  the 
United  States,  in  view  of  all  the  facts  bearing  on  the  present  question,  as- 
sumed the  Executive  Administration  of  the  Government,  first  delivering,  in 
accordance  with  an  early,  honored  custom,  an  inaugural  address  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  The  Secretary  of  State  respectfully  submits  a 
copy  of  this  address  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford. 

A  simple  reference  to  it  will  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  these  gentlemen  that 
the  Secretary  of  State,  guided  by  the  principles  therein  announced,  is  pre- 
vented altogether  from  admitting  or  assuming  that  the  States  referred  to  by 
them  have,  in  law  or  in  fact,  withdrawn  from  the  Federal  Union,  or  that 
they  could  do  so  in  the  manner  described  by  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford, 
or  in  any  other  manner  than  with  the  consent  and  concert  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  given  through  a  National  Convention,  to  be  assem- 
bled in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Of  course,  the  Secretary  of  State  can  not  act  upon  the  assumption, 
or  in  any  way  admit  that  the  so-called  Confederate  States  constitute  a  for- 
eign power,  with  whom  diplomatic  relations  ought  to  be  established. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Secretary  of  State,  whose  official  duties 
are  confined,  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  President,  to  the  conducting  of 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  country,  and  do  not  at  all  embrace  domestic 
questions,  or  questions  arising  between  the  several  States  and  the  Federal 
Government,  is  unable  to  comply  with  the  request  of  Messrs.  Forsyth  and 
Crawford,  to  appoint  a  day  on  which  they  may  present  the  evidences  of 
their  authority  and  the  objects  of  their  visit  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  obliged  to  state  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and 
Crawford  that  he  has  no  authority,  nor  is  he  at  liberty,  to  recognize  them 
as  diplomatic  agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other  communication  with 
them. 

Finally,  the  Secretary  of  State  would  observe  that,  although  he  has  sup- 
posed that  he  might  safely  and  with  propriety  have  adopted  these  conclu- 
sions, without  making  any  reference  of  the  subject  to  the  Executive,  yet, 
so  strong  has  been  his  desire  to  practice  entire  directness,  and  to  act  in  a 
spirit  of  perfect  respect  and  candor  toward  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford, 
and  that  portion  of  the  people  of  the  Union  iu  whose  name  they  present 
themselves  before  him,  that  he  has  cheerfully  submitted  this  paper  to  the 
President,  who  coincides  generally  in  the  views  it  expresses,  and  sanctions 
the  Secretary's  decision  declining  official  intercourse  with  Messrs.  Forsyth 
and  Crawford. 

April  8, 1861. 

The  foregoing  memorandum  was  filed  in  this  department  on  the  15th  of 
March  last.   A  delivery  of  the  same  to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  was  de- 


APPENDIX  L.  679 

layed,  as  was  understood,  with  their  consent.  They  have  now,  through  their 
secretary,  communicated  their  desire  for  a  definite  disposition  of  the  subject. 
The  Secretary  of  State  therefore  directs  that  a  duly  verified  copy  of  the 
paper  be  now  delivered. 

The  Commissioners  in  reply  to  Mr.  Seward. 

"Washington,  April  9,  1861. 
Hon.  William  H.  Sewaed, 

Secretary  of  State  for  the  United  States,  Washington: 

The  "  memorandum  "  dated  Department  of  State,  "Washington,  March 
15, 1861,  with  postscript  under  date  of  8th  instant,  has  been  received  through 
the  hands  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Pickett,  secretary  of  this  commission,  who,  by  the  in- 
structions of  the  undersigned,  called  for  it  on  yesterday  at  the  department. 

In  that  memorandum  you  correctly  state  the  purport  of  the  official  note 
addressed  to  you  by  the  undersigned  on  the  12th  ultimo.  Without  repeat- 
ing the  contents  of  that  note  in  full,  it  is  enough  to  say  here  that  its  object 
was  to  invite  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  a  friendly  considera- 
tion of  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  seven  States  lately 
the  Federal  Union,  but  now  separated  from  it  by  the  sovereign  will  of 
their  people,  growing  out  of  the  pregnant  and  undeniable  fact  that  those 
people  have  rejected  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  established  a 
government  of  their  own.  Those  relations  had  to  be  friendly  or  hostile. 
The  people  of  the  old  and  new  Governments,  occupying  contiguous  terri- 
tories, had  to  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  good  neighbors,  each 
seeking  their  happiness  and  pursuing  their  national  destinies  in  their  own 
way,  without  interference  with  the  other ;  or  they  had  to  be  rival  and  hos- 
tile nations.  The  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  had  no  hesitation 
in  electing  its  choice  in  this  alternative.  Frankly  and  unreservedly,  seek- 
ing the  good  of  the  people  who  had  intrusted  them  with  power,  in  the  spirit 
of  humanity,  of  the  Christian  civilization  of  the  age,  and  of  that  Ameri- 
canism which  regards  the  true  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people,  the 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States,  among  its  first  acts,  commissioned 
the  undersigned  to  approach  the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  the 
olive-branch  of  peace,  and  to  offer  to  adjust  the  great  questions  pending 
between  them  in  the  only  way  to  be  justified  by  the  consciences  and  com- 
mon sense  of  good  men  who  had  nothing  but  the  welfare  of  the  people  of 
the  two  confederacies  at  heart. 

Your  Government  has  not  chosen  to  meet  the  undersigned  in  the  con- 
ciliatory and  peaceful  spirit  in  which  they  are  commissioned.  Persistently 
wedded  to  those  fatal  theories  of  construction  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
always  rejected  by  the  statesmen  of  the  South,  and  adhered  to  by  those  of 
the  Administration  school,  until  they  have  produced  their  natural  and  often 
predicted  result  of  the  destruction  of  the  Union,  under  which  we  might  have 
continued  to  live  happily  and  gloriously  together,  had  the  spirit  of  the  an- 


680      RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

cestry  who  framed  the  common  Constitution  animated  the  hearts  of  all  their 
sons,  you  now,  with  a  persistence  untaught  and  uncured  by  the  ruin  which 
has  been  wrought,  refuse  to  recognize  the  great  fact  presented  to  you  of  a 
completed  and  successful  revolution ;  you  close  your  eyes  to  the  existence  of 
the  Government  founded  upon  it,  and  ignore  the  high  duties  of  modera- 
tion and  humanity  which  attach  to  you  in  dealing  with  this  great  fact. 
Had  you  met  these  issues  with  the  frankness  and  manliness  with  which  the 
undersigned  were  instructed  to  present  them  to  you  and  treat  them,  the 
undersigned  had  not  now  the  melancholy  duty  to  return  home  and  tell 
their  Government  and  their  countrymen  that  their  earnest  and  ceaseless 
efforts  in  behalf  of  peace  had  been  futile,  and  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  meant  to  subjugate  them  by  force  of  arms.  Whatever  may 
be  the  result,  impartial  history  will  record  the  innocence  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Confederate  States,  and  place  the  responsibility  of  the  blood 
and  mourning  that  may  ensue  upon  those  who  have  denied  the  great  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  American  liberty,  that  "  governments  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  and  who  have  set  naval  and 
land  armaments  in  motion  to  subject  the  people  of  one  portion  of  this  land 
to  the  will  of  another  portion.  That  that  can  never  be  done,  while  a  free- 
man survives  in  the  Confederate  States  to  wield  a  weapon,  the  undersigned 
appeal  to  past  history  to  prove.  These  military  demonstrations  against  the 
people  of  the  seceded  States  are  certainly  far  from  being  in  keeping  and 
consistency  with  the  theory  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  maintained  in  his 
memorandum,  that  these  States  are  still  component  parts  of  the  late  Amer- 
ican Union,  as  the  undersigned  are  not  aware  of  any  constitutional  power 
in  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  levy  war,  without  the  consent  of 
Congress,  upon  a  foreign  people,  much  less  upon  any  portion  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States. 

The  undersigned,  like  the  Secretary  of  State,  have  no  purpose  to  "  in- 
vite or  engage  in  discussion  "  of  the  subject  on  which  their  two  Gov- 
ernments are  so  irreconcilably  at  variance.  It  is  this  variance  that  has 
broken  up  the  old  Union,  the  disintegration  of  which  has  only  begun.  It  is 
proper,  however,  to  advise  you  that  it  were  well  to  dismiss  the  hopes  you 
seem  to  entertain  that,  by  any  of  the  modes  indicated,  the  people  of  the 
Confederate  States  will  ever  be  brought  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  You  are  dealing  with  delusions,  too, 
when  you  seek  to  separate  our  people  from  our  Government,  and  to  charac- 
terize the  deliberate  sovereign  act  of  that  people  as  a  u  perversion  of  a 
temporary  and  partisan  excitement."  If  you  cherish  these  dreams,  you 
will  be  awakened  from  them  and  find  them  as  unreal  and  unsubstantial  as 
others  in  which  you  have  recently  indulged.  The  undersigned  would  omit 
the  performance  of  an  obvious  duty,  were  they  to  fail  to  make  known  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  have  declared  their  independence  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the 


APPENDIX  L.  681 

responsibilities  of  that  act,  and  with  as  firm  a  determination  to  maintain 
it  by  all  the  means  with  which  nature  has  endowed  them  as  that  which 
sustained  their  fathers  when  they  threw  off  the  authority  of  the  British 
Crown. 

The  undersigned  clearly  understand  that  you  have  declined  to  appoint 
a  day  to  enable  them  to  lay  the  objects  of  the  mission  with  which  they 
are  charged  before  the  President  of  the  United  States,  because  so  to  do 
would  be  to  recognize  the  independence  and  separate  nationality  of  the 
Confederate  States.  This  is  the  vein  of  thought  that  pervades  the  memo- 
randum before  us.  The  truth  of  history  requires  that  it  should  distinctly 
appear  upon  the  record  that  the  undersigned  did  not  ask  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  Confederate 
States.  They  only  asked  audience  to  adjust,  in  a  spirit  of  amity  and  peace, 
the  new  relations  springing  from  a  manifest  and  accomplished  revolution  in 
the  Government  of  the  late  Federal  Union.  Your  refusal  to  entertain  these 
overtures  for  a  peaceful  solution,  the  active  naval  and  military  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  provision  Fort  Sumter  by  forcible  means,  if  necessary,  are  viewed  by  the 
undersigned,  and  can  only  be  received  by  the  world,  as  a  declaration  of 
war  against  the  Confederate  States ;  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
knows  that  Fort  Sumter  can  not  be  provisioned  without  the  effusion  of 
blood.  The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  their  Government  and  people,  accept 
the  gage  of  battle  thus  thrown  down  to  them;  and,  appealing  to- God  and 
the  judgment  of  mankind  for  the  righteousness  of  their  cause,  the  people 
of  the  Confederate  States  will  defend  their  liberties  to  the  last,  against  this 
flagrant  and  open  attempt  at  their  subjugation  to  sectional  power. 

This  communication  can  not  be  properly  closed  without  adverting  to 
the  date  of  your  memorandum.  The  official  note  of  the  undersigned,  of  the 
12th  of  March,  was  delivered  to  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  on  the  13th 
of  that  month,  the  gentleman  who  delivered  it  informing  him  that  the 
secretary  of  this  commission  would  call  at  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  on  the 
next  day,  for  an  answer.  At  the  appointed  hour  Mr.  Pickett  did  call,  and 
was  informed  by  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  that  the  engagements  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  had  prevented  him  from  giving  the  note  his  attention. 
The  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  then  asked  for  the  address  of  Messrs. 
Crawford  and  Forsyth,  the  members  of  the  commission  then  present  in  this 
city,  took  note  of  the  address  on  a  card,  and  engaged  to  send  whatever 
reply  might  be  made  to  their  lodgings.  Why  this  was  not  done,  it  is  proper 
should  be  here  explained.  The  memorandum  is  dated  March  15th,  and  was 
not  delivered  until  April  8th.  Why  was  it  withheld  during  the  intervening 
twenty-three  days?  In  the  postscript  to  your  memorandum  you  say  it 
"  was  delayed,  as  was  understood,  with  their  (Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Craw- 
ford's) consent."     This  is  true  ;  but  it  is  also  true  that,  on  the  15th  of  March, 


682      RISE  AND  FALL  0F  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  were  assured  by  a  person  occupying  a  Ligh 
official  position  in  the  Government,  and  who,  as  they  believed,  was  speaking 
by  authority,  that  Fort  Sumter  would  be  evacuated  in  a  very  few  days,  and 
that  no  measure  changing  the  existing  status  prejudicially  to  the  Confeder- 
ate States,  as  respects  Fort  Pickens,  was  then  contemplated,  and  these  assur- 
ances were  subsequently  repeated,  with  the  addition  that  any  contemplated 
change  as  respects  Pickens  would  be  notified  to  us.  On  the  1st  of  April 
we  were  again  informed  that  there  might  be  an  attempt  to  supply  Fort 
Sumter  with  provisions,  but  that  Governor  Pickens  should  have  previous 
notice  of  this  attempt.  There  was  no  suggestion  of  any  reenforcement. 
The  undersigned  did  not  hesitate  to  believe  that  these  assurances  expressed 
the  intentions  of  the  Administration  at  the  time,  or  at  all  events  of  prominent 
members  of  that  Administration.  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  dedu- 
ctible from  the  date  of  your  memorandum,  that  the  undersigned  had,  of 
their  own  volition  and  without  cause,  consented  to  this  long  hiatus  in  the 
grave  duties  with  which  they  were  charged,  is  therefore  not  consistent 
with  a  just  exposition  of  the  facts  of  the  case.  The  intervening  twenty- 
three  days  were  employed  in  active  unofficial  efforts,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  smooth  the  path  to  a  pacific  solution,  the  distinguished  personage 
alluded  to  cooperating  with  the  undersigned  ;  and  every  step  of  that  effort 
is  recorded  in  writing  and  now  in  the  possession  of  the  undersigned  and  of 
their  Government.  It  was  only  when  all  those  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  re- 
sumed the  official  negotiation  temporarily  suspended,  and  sent  their  secre- 
tary for  a  reply  to  their  official  note  of  March  12th. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that,  during  these  twenty -three  days,  two  gentlemen, 
of  official  distinction  as  high  as  that  of  the  personage  hitherto  alluded  to, 
aided  the  undersigned  as  intermediaries  in  these  unofficial  negotiations  for 
peace. 

The  undersigned,  commissioners  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
having  thus  made  answer  to  all  they  deem  material  in  the  memorandum 
filed  in  the  department  on  the  15th  of  March  last,  have  the  honor  to  be 

JOHN  FORSYTH, 
MARTIN"  J.  CRAWFORD, 
A.  B.  ROMAN. 

Mr.  Seward  in  reply  to  the  Commissioners. 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  April  10, 1861. 
Messrs.  Forsyth,  Crawford,   and  Roman,  having  been  apprised  by  a 
memorandum,  which  has  been  delivered  to  them,  that  the  Secretary  of  State 


APPEXDIX  L.  683 

is  not  at  liberty  to  hold  official  intercourse  with  them,  will,  it  is  presumed, 
expect  no  notice  from  him  of  the  new  communication  which  they  have  ad- 
dressed to  him  under  date  of  the  9th  inst.,  beyond  the  simple  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  receipt  thereof,  which  he  hereby  very  cheerfully  gives. 

Judge  Campbell  to  Mr.  Seward. 

"Washington  City,  Saturday,  April  13,  1861. 

Sir  :  On  the  15th  of  March,  ultimo,  I  left  with  Judge  Crawford,  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  the  Confederate  States,  a  note  in  writing,  to  the  effect 
following : 

"  I  feel  entire  confidence  that  Fort  Sumter  will  be  evacuated  in  the  next 
ten  days.  And  this  measure  is  felt  as  imposing  great  responsibility  on  the 
Administration. 

"  I  feel  entire  confidence  that  no  measure  changing  the  existing  status 
prejudicially  to  the  Southern  Confederate  States  is  at  present  contemplated. 

"  I  feel  an  entire  confidence  that  an  immediate  demand  for  an  answer  to 
the  communication  of  the  commissioners  will  be  productive  of  evil  and  not 
of  good.     I  do  not  believe  that  it  ought,  at  this  time,  to  be  pressed." 

The  substance  of  this  statement  I  communicated  to  you  the  same  even- 
ing by  letter.  Five  days  elapsed,  and  I  called  with  a  telegram  from  General 
Beauregard,  to  the  effect  that  Sumter  was  not  evacuated,  but  that  Major 
Anderson  was  at  work  making  repairs. 

The  next  day,  after  conversing  with  you,  I  communicated  to  Judge 
Crawford  in  writing  that  the  failure  to  evacuate  Sumter  was  not-  the  result 
of  bad  faith,  but  was  attributable  to  causes  consistent  with  the  intention  to 
fulfill  the  engagement,  and  that,  as  regarded  Pickens,  I  should  have  notice  of 
any  design  to  alter  the  existing  status  there.  Mr.  Justice  Nelson  was  pres- 
ent at  these  conversations,  three  in  number,  and  I  submitted  to  him  each  of 
my  written  communications  to  Judge  Crawford,  and  informed  Judge  Craw- 
ford that  they  had  his  (Judge  Nelson's)  sanction.  I  gave  you,  on  the  22d 
of  March,  a  substantial  copy  of  the  statement  I  had  made  on  the  15th. 

The  30th  of  March  arrived,  and  at  that  time  a  telegram  came  from  Gov- 
ernor Pickens,  inquiring  concerning  Colonel  Lamon,  whose  visit  to  Charles- 
ton he  supposed  had  a  connection  with  the  proposed  evacuation  of  Fort 
Sumter.  I  left  that  with  you,  and  was  to  have  an  answer  the  following 
Monday  (1st  of  April).  On  the  1st  of  April  I  received  from  you  the 
statement  in  writing,  "  I  am  satisfied  the  Government  will  not  undertake 
to  supply  Fort  Sumter  without  giving  notice  to  Governor  P."  The  words 
"lam  satisfied  "  were  for  me  to  use  as  expressive  of  confidence  in  the  re- 
mainder of  the  declaration. 

The  proposition,  as  originally  prepared,  was,  "  The  President  may  desire 
to  supply  Sumter,  but  will  not  do  so,"  etc.,  and  your  verbal  explanation 
was,  that  you  did  not  believe  any  such  attempt  would  be  made,  and  that 
there  was  no  design  to  reenforce  Sumter. 


684      RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT. 

There  was  a  departure  here  from  the  pledges  of  the  previous  month,  but, 
with  the  verbal  explanation,  I  did  not  consider  it  a  matter  then  to  com- 
plain of.     I  simply  stated  to  you  that  I  had  that  assurance  previously. 

On  the  7th  of  April  I  addressed  you  a  letter  on  the  subject  of  the  alarm 
that  the  preparations  by  the  Government  had  created,  and  asked  you  if  the 
assurances  I  had  given  were  well  or  ill-founded.  In  respect  to  Sumter, 
your  reply  was,  "  Faith  as  to  Sumter  fully  kept — wait  and  see."  In  the 
morning's  paper  I  read,  "An  authorized  messenger  from  President  Lin- 
coln informed  Governor  Pickens  and  General  Beauregard  that  provisions 
will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter — peaceably,  or  otherwise  1y  force"  This  was 
the  8th  of  April,  at  Charleston,  the  day  following  your  last  assurance,  and 
is  the  last  evidence  of  the  full  faith  I  was  invited  to  loait  for  and  see.  In 
the  same  paper  I  read  that  intercepted  dispatches  disclosed  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Fox,  who  had  been  allowed  to  visit  Major  Anderson,  on  the  pledge  that 
his  purpose  was  pacific,  employed  his  opportunity  to  devise  a  plan  for  sup- 
plying the  fort  by  force,  and  that  this  plan  had  been  adopted  by  the  Wash- 
ington Government,  and  was  in  process  of  execution.  My  recollection  of 
the  date  of  Mr.  Fox's  visit  carries  it  to  a  day  in  March.  I  learn  he  is  a 
near  connection  of  a  member  of  the  Cabinet.  My  connection  with  the 
commissioners  and  yourself  was  superinduced  by  a  conversation  with  Jus- 
tice Nelson.  He  informed  me  of  your  strong  disposition  in  favor  of  peace, 
and  that  you  were  oppressed  with  a  demand  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
Confederate  States  for  a  reply  to  their  first  letter,  and  that  you  desired  to 
avoid  it,  if  possible,  at  that  time. 

I  told  him  I  might  perhaps  be  of  some  service  in  arranging  the  diffi- 
culty. I  came  to  your  office  entirely  at  his  request,  and  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  either  of  the  commissioners.  Your  depression  was  obvious  to 
both  Judge  Nelson  and  myself.  I  was  gratified  at  the  character  of  the 
counsels  you  were  desirous  of  pursuing,  and  much  impressed  with  your 
observation  that  a  civil  war  might  be  prevented  by  the  success  of  my  media- 
tion. You  read  a  letter  of  Mr.  Weed,  to  show  how  irksome  and  respon- 
sible the  withdrawal  of  troops  from  Sumter  w-as.  A  portion  of  my  commu- 
nication to  Judge  Crawford,  on  the  15th  of  March,  was  founded  upon  these 
remarks,  and  the  pledge  to  evacuate  Sumter  is  less  forcible  than  the  words 
you  employed.  These  words  were,  "Before  this  letter  reaches  you  [a pro- 
posed letter  by  me  to  President  Davis],  Sumter  will  have  been  evacuated." 

The  commissioners  who  received  those  communications  conclude  they 
have  been  abused  and  overreached.  The  Montgomery  Government  hold 
the  same  opinion.  The  commissioners  have  supposed  that  my  communica- 
tions were  with  you,  and  upon  the  [that]  hypothesis  were  prepared  to  arraign 
you  before  the  country,  in  connection  with  the  President.  I  placed  a  per- 
emptory prohibition  upon  this,  as  being  contrary  to  the  terms  of  my  com- 
munications with  them.  I  pledged  myself  to  them  to  communicate  infor- 
mation, upon  what  I  considered  as  the  best  authority,  and  they  were,  to 


APPENDIX  L.  685 

confide  in  the  ability  of  myself,  aided  by  Judge  Nelson,  to  determine  upon 
the  credibility  of  my  informant. 

I  think  no  candid  man,  who  will  read  over  what  I  have  written,  and 
considers  for  a  moment  what  is  going  on  at  Sumter,  but  will  agree  that  the 
equivocating  conduct  of  the  Administration,  as  measured  and  interpreted 
in  connection  with  these  promises,  is  the  proximate  cause  of  the  great 
calamity. 

I  have  a  profound  conviction  that  the  telegrams  of  the  8th  of  April,  of 
General  Beauregard,  and  of  the  10th  of  April,  of  General  Walker,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  can  be  referred  to  nothing  else  than  their  belief  that 
there  has  been  systematic  duplicity  practiced  on  them  through  me.  It  is 
under  an  impressive  sense  of  the  weight  of  this  responsibility  that  I  sub- 
mit to  you  these  things  for  your  explanation. 

Yery  respectfully, 
(Signed)  JOHN  A.  CAMPBELL, 

Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  United  States. 

Hon.  William  H  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 

Judge  Campbell  to  Mr.  Secretary  Seward. 

Washington,  April  20,  1801. 
Sie:  I  inclose  you  a  letter,  corresponding  very  nearly  with  one  I  ad- 
dressed to  you  one  week  ago  (April  13th),  to  which  I  have  not  had  any 
reply.  The  letter  is  simply  one  of  inquiry  in  reference  to  facts  concerning 
which,  I  think,  I  am  entitled  to  an  explanation.  I  have  not  adopted  any 
opinion  in  reference  to  them  which  may  not  be  modified  by  explanation ; 
nor  have  I  affirmed  in  that  letter,  nor  do  I  in  this,  any  conclusion  of  my 
own  unfavorable  to  your  integrity  in  the  whole  transaction.  All  that  I 
have  said  and  mean  to  say  is,  that  an  explanation  is  due  from  you  to  my- 
self. I  will  not  say  what  I  shall  do  in  case  this  request  is  not  complied 
with,  but  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  I  shall  feel  at  liberty  to  place  these 
letters  before  any  person  who  is  entitled  to  ask  an  explanation  of  myself. 

Very  respectfully, 

JOHN  A.  CAMPBELL, 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  United  States. 
Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 

No  reply  has  been  made  to  this  letter,  April  24,  1861. 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


Abolition  of  African  servitude  ;  its  first 
public  agitation,  33 ;  activity  of  the 
propagandists,  34 ;  misuse  of  the  sacred 
word  liberty,  34. 

Absurdity  of  the  construction,  attempted 
to  be  put  on  expressions  of  the  Con- 
stitution, 175  ;  a  brief  analysis,  175. 

Accede,  discussions  on  the  word,  136  ;  its 
former  use,  137. 

Adams,  James  II,  commissioner  from 
South  Carolina  to  Washington,  213. 

Adams,  John,  stumbled  at  the  preamble 
of  the  Constitution,  121. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  his  declaration  of 
the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  States, 
190,  191. 

African  servitude,  its  aid  to  the  Confed- 
eracy in  the  war,  303 ;  confidence  of 
the  people  in  the  Africans,  303. 

Agreement,  between  Generals  Harney  and 
Price,  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  416. 

Agricultural  products,  Southern,  mainly 
for  export,  302  ;  a  change  of  habits  in 
the  planters  required,  302  ;  our  success 
largely  due  to  African  servitude,  303  ; 
condition  of  the  Africans,  303  ;  dimin- 
ished every  year  during  the  war,  505. 

Alabama,  withdraws  from  the  Union, 
220. 

All  powers  not  delegated,  etc.,  what  does 
it  mean?  175. 

Allegiance,  inconsistent  ideas  of,  182; 
paramount  to  the  Government,  a  mon- 
strous view,  182;  the  sovereign  is  the 
people,  182 ;  obligation  to  support  a 
Constitution  derived  from  the  allegi- 
ance due  to  the  sovereign,  183 ;  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution  based  on 
the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  183 ;  the 
oath  of  military  and  naval  officers,  183  ; 
how  false  to  attribute  "  treason  "  to  the 
Southern  States,  183  ;  an  oath  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution,  183. 

Amendment  of  the  Constitution,  distinct 
from  the  delegation  of  power,  196. 

Anderson,  Robert,  commands   forts  in 


Charleston  Harbor,  212;  instructions 
from  the  War  Department  of  the 
United  States,  212;  removes  to  Fort 
Sumter,  213 ;  acquaintance  and  past 
associations  with  the  author,  216 ;  his 
protest  against  relieving  Fort  Sumter, 
281;  the  letter  of  protest,  282;  reply 
to  the  demand  for  evacuation,  286. 

Annapolis,  Maryland,  first  meeting  of  the 
commissioners  to  revise  Articles  of 
Confederation  held  there,  87 ;  how  re- 
vision was  effected,  88. 

Anti-slavery  and  pro-slavery,  terms  mis- 
leading the  sympathies  and  opinions  of 
the  world,  6. 

Armories,  the  chief,  where  located,  480. 

Armory  at  Harpers  Ferry,  burned  by  or- 
der of  the  United  States  Government, 
317;  a  breach  of  pledges,  -317;  ma- 
chinery and  materials  largely  saved, 
317;  removed  to  Richmond,  317;  and 
Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  317  ;  Ar- 
morer Ball,  his  skill  and  fate,  318. 

Arms  and  ammunition,  arrangements 
for  the  purchase  of,  311;  agent  sent 
to  Europe,  311 ;  do.  sent  North,  311 ; 
letter  to  Admiral  Semmes,  311. 

Army  officers  choose  their  future  place  of 
service  in  disintegration  of  the  army, 
306  ;  act  of  Confederate  Congress  rela- 
tive to,  307. 

Arms  within  the  limits  of  the  Confed- 
eracy in  1861,  471 ;  do.  powder,  472; 
do.  arsenals,  472 ;  cannon-foundries, 
472  ;  the  increased  supply,  476. 

Army,  Confederate,  its  organization,  in- 
struction, and  equipment,  the  first  ob- 
ject, 303 ;  provisions  of  the  first  bill 
of  Congress,  304 ;  its  modification  for 
twelve  months'  men,  304  ;  fifth  section 
of  the  act,  304 ;  system  of  organization, 
305  ;  acts  of  Congress  providing  for  it3 
organization,  305 ;  act  to  establish 
army  of  Confederate  States,  306 ;  its 
provisions,  306 ;  the  army  belongs  to 
the  States,  and  its  officers  return  to  the 


688 


INDEX   TO   VOL.  I. 


States  on  its  disintegration,  306  ;  pro- 
vision securing  rank  to  officers  of  the 
United  States  Army,  307  ;  the  consti- 
tutional view,  307  ;  how  observed,  307 ; 
Generals  appointed,  308 ;  efforts  to  in- 
crease the  efficiency  of,  384 ;  desire 
to  employ  the  available  force,  384 ;  or- 
ganization of — early  circumstances  re- 
lating to  it,  443  ;  the  largest  army  in 
1861  that  of  the  Potomac,  443  ;  act  of 
Congress  relating  to  organization,  444 ; 
the  right  to  preserve  for  volunteers  the 
character  of  State  troops  surrendered 
by  the  States,  444 ;  efforts  to  comply 
with  the  law,  444  ;  obstruction  to  its 
execution,  444 ;  correspondence,  444. 

Arrest,  threats  of,  against  Senators  with- 
drawing from  Congress,  226. 

Arrest  and  imprisonment  of  police  au- 
thorities of  Baltimore,  334. 

Arsenals,  contents  of,  in  1861,  471 ;  do. 
in  Richmond,  479. 

Artillery,  extent  of  its  manufacture,  473. 

Assault  on  us,  The,  made  by  the  hostile 
descent  of  the  fleet  to  relieve  Fort 
Sumter,  292. 

Assertions,  of  Everett  and  Motley  exam- 
ined, 130. 

Baker,  Edward,  Colonel,  killed  at  Ball's 
Bluff,  437. 

Ball,  Armistead,  master  armorer  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  317;  his  gallant  ser- 
vices, 317 ;  his  capacity  and  fidelity, 
318. 

Ball's  Bluff,  defeat  of  the  enemy  at,  437  ; 
losses,  437. 

Baltimore,  manly  effort  of  her  citizens  to 
resist  the  progress  of  the  armies  of 
invasion,  299 ;  occupied  by  United 
States  troops,  333 ;  the  city  disarmed, 
334 ;  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  po- 
lice commissioners  by  General  Banks, 
334-'35 ;  provost-marshal  appointed, 
384 ;  search  for  and  seizure  of  arms, 
335  ;  report  of  a  committee  of  the  Leg- 
islature on  the  arrests,  335. 

Banks,  Major-General,  unlawful  pro- 
ceeding of,  in  Baltimore,  334. 

Bargain  A,  can  not  be  broken  on  one 
side,  says  Webster,  and  still  bind  the 
other  side,  167. 

Barnwell,  Robert  W.,  commissioner 
from  South  Carolina  to  Washington, 
213  ;  offered  the  place  of  Secretary  of 
State  under  Provisional  Constitution, 
241. 

Bartow,  Colonel,  killed  at  Manassas,  357. 

Beauregard,    General   P.  G.  T.,   corre- 


spondence with  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment relative  to  Fort  Sumter,  285, 
286-287,  demands  its  evacuation ;  com- 
mands army  at  Manassas,  340 ;  orders 
troops  from  left  to  right  at  Manassas, 
352;  his  promotion,  859;  his  state- 
ment of  the  defenses  of  Washington, 
360  ;  report  of  the  battle  of  Manassas, 
368  ;  endorsement  of  the  President, 
369. 

Bee,  General  Bernard,  wounded  at  Ma- 
nassas, 357. 

Bell,  John,  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1860,  50;  offers  to  withdraw, 
52. 

Belmont,  Missouri,  occupied  by  Federal 
troops,  403 ;  afterward  garrisoned  by 
Confederate  troops,  403;  Grant  at- 
tempts to  surprise  the  garrison,  403  ; 
the  battle  that  ensued,  404. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  Attorney-General 
under  Provisional  Constitution,  242. 

"Bible  and  Sharpens  rifles"  declaration 
of  a  famous  preacher,  29. 

"  Bloodletting,  A  little  more,"  the  letter 
recommending,  249. 

Bond  of  Union,  A,  necessary  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  193  ;  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation  followed,  193 ; 
how  amended,  193;  difference  in  the 
new  form  of  government  from  the  old 
one,  194;  the  same  principle  for  ob- 
taining grants  of  power  in  both,  194; 
amendments  made  more  easy,  195. 

Border  States  promptly  accede  to  the 
proposition  of  Virginia  for  a  Congress 
to  adjust  controversies,  248 ;  secession 
of  the,  328. 

Bonham,  General,  marches  to  Virginia 
with  his  brigade  on  her  secession,  300 ; 
commands  brigade  at  Manassas,  353 ; 
proposal  that  he  shall  pursue  the  ene- 
my, 353. 

Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  occupied  by 
General  Johnston,  406. 

Breckinridge,  John  C,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  in  1860,  50;  willing  to 
withdraw,  52 ;  ex- Vice-President  of 
United  States,  399 ;  his  address  to  the 
citizens  of  Kentucky,  399. 

Brown,  John,  his  raid  into  Virginia,  41 ; 
how  viewed,  41  ;  report  oi  United 
States  Senate  committee,  41. 

Brown,  Mayor  of  Baltimore,  visits  with 
citizens  President  Lincoln,  332 ;  his 
report,  332. 

Buchanan,  President,  his  views  and  ac- 
tion in  1860,  54;  his  objection  to 
withdrawing  the    garrison    from  the 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


689 


forts  in  Charleston  Harbor,  215;  op- 
posed to  the  coercion  of  States,  216  ; 
view  of  the  cession  of  a  site  for  a  fort, 
21V;  hope  to  avert  a  collision,  217 ; 
message  to  Congress,  with  letter  of 
South  Carolina  commissioners,  and  his 
answer,  218 ;  his  alarm  at  the  state 
of  affairs,  265. 
Butler,  Major-General  B.  F.,  occupies 
Baltimore  with  troops,  333. 

Cabell,  W.  L.,  statement  of  field  trans- 
portation at  Manassas,  383. 

Cabinet  of  the  President  under  the  Pro- 
visional Constitution,  241. 

Cabinet,  Mr.  Lincoln's,  a  transaction  in, 
276. 

Calhoun,  John  ft,  his  death,  17 ;  re- 
marks of  Mr.  Webster,  17;  anecdote, 
17  ;  extract  from  his  speech,  "  How  to 
save  the  Union,"  55. 

California,  circumstances  of  its  admis- 
sion to  the  Union,  16. 

Campbell,  J.  A.  P.,  letter  relative  to  the 
views  of  the  Provisional  President, 
238. 

Camp  Jackson  surrounded  by  General 
Lyon's  force,  414;  massacre  at,  416. 

Campbell,  Judge,  his  statement  relative 
to  the  intercourse  between  our  com- 
missioners and  the  Federal  State  De- 
partment, 267,  268 ;  his  own  views, 
268,  269. 

Capon  Springs,  speech  of  Webster  at, 
167. 

Cass,  Lewis,  his  "  Nicholson  letter,"  38 ; 
resigns  as  United  States  Secretary  of 
State,  214  ;  his  reason,  214. 

Causes  which  led  the  Southern  States 
into  the  position  they  held  at  the  close 
of  1860,  recapitulation  of,  77. 

Centralism,  its  fate  in  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  161. 

Centreville,  conflagration  at,  467  ;  retreat 
from,  468. 

Change  of  government,  a  question  that 
the  States  had  the  power  to  decide,  by 
virtue  of  the  unalienable  rights  an- 
nounced in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, 438. 

Chandler,  Z.,  his  letter  on  a  "  little  more 
bloodletting,"  249. 

Charleston  Harbor  defenses,  a  subject  of 
anxiety  in  the  secession  of  the  State, 
212;  Representatives  in  Congress  call 
on  the  President,  212  ;  proposal  to  ob- 
serve a  peaceful  military  status,  212; 
secret  preparations  for  reenforcemcnt 
by  United   States    Government,   212; 

44 


instructions  to  the  commander,  212; 
modified,  213 ;  commissioners  sent  by 
the  State  to  treat  for  the  delivery  of 
the  forts,  213 ;  change  of  military  con- 
dition in  the  harbor,  213  ;  how  regard- 
ed, 213 ;  interview  of  commissioners 
with  President,  214 ;  sharp  correspond- 
ence, 214. 

Chesnut,  James,  letter  on  the  election  of 
Provisional  President,  239. 

Clark,  John  B.,  of  Missouri,  letter  from 
President  Davis,  427. 

Clause  second  of  Article  VI  of  the  Con- 
stitution, adduced  by  the  friends  of 
centralism,  149 ;  how  magnified  and 
perverted,  150. 

Cavils,  verbal,  relative  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  135, 
136. 

Clay,  C.  ft,  letter  relative  to  certain  mis- 
statements relative  to  the  author,  206- 
208. 

Clayton,  Alexander  M.,  letter  relative  to 
the  election  of  Provisional  President, 
237. 

Coercion  of  a  State,  views  in  1850,  55  ; 
do.  1860,  55  ;  declaration  of  the  Con- 
vention that  framed  the  Constitution, 
56  ;  other  declarations,  56 ;  the  idea 
absolutely  excluded,  101  ;  the  alterna- 
tive of  secession,  if  no  such  right  ex- 
ists, 177  ;  the  proposition  before  the 
Convention,  177 ;  views  of  the  dele- 
gates, 177;  coercion  military,  treated 
with  abhorrence,  179  ;  the  right  to,  re- 
pudiated, 252,  253 ;  language  of  the 
New  York  press,  253  ;  do.  of  Northern 
speeches,  254  ;  do.  of  Thayer,  254 ; 
remarks  of  Governor  Seymour,  255  ;  do. 
of  Chancellor  Walworth,  255  ;  do.  of 
the  Northern  press,  256  ;  words  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  his  inaugural,  256  ;  views  of 
Southern  people,  257. 

Columbus,  Kentucky,  occupation  by  Con- 
federate forces,  402. 

Commissioners  to  the  United  States  ap- 
pointed, 246 ;  nature  of,  246 ;  how 
treated,  247 ;  negotiations  of  Judges 
Nelson  and  Campbell,  267 ;  statement 
of  Judge  Campbell,  268 ;  his  views, 
268  ;  declarations  of  Mr.  Seward,  268  ; 
his  assurances,  269  ;  expectations  of 
the  commissioners  and  of  the  Confed- 
erate Government,  269  ;  pledge  given 
by  Federal  authorities,  270  ;  telegram 
to  General  Beauregard,  270  ;  his  reply, 
270  ;  explanations  of  Mr.  Seward,  270 ; 
plan  to  reenforce  and  supply  Sumter, 
271;  proceedings  for  its  execution  by 


690 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


Secretary  Fox,  271  ;  facts  presented  to 
Mr.  Seward,  273  ;  the  point  of  honor, 
273 ;  further  declarations  of  Mr.  Sew- 
ard, 273;  official  notification  fromWash- 
ington  to  Governor  Pickens  and  Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  274 ;  letter  to  Presi- 
dent Buchanan,  264 ;  their  arrival,  264 ; 
incidents,  265 ;  letter  of  Judge  Craw- 
ford describing  his  reception,  265  ;  ar- 
rival of  Mr.  Forsyth — their  letter  to 
Mr.  Seward,  266;  no  answer  received 
for  twenty-seven  days,  266 ;  a  paper 
filed  in  the  State  Department,  266 ;  an 
oral  answer,  266  ;  state  of  affairs  rela- 
tive to  Fort  Sumter,  266,  267 ;  their 
letters  to  General  Beauregard,  277,  278; 
failure  of  their  mission,  296. 

Commissioners  from  South  Carolina  to 
President  Buchanan  relative  to  the  de- 
livery of  the  forts  in  Charleston  Har- 
bor, 213. 

Community  independence,  its  origin  and 
development,  116. 

Compact,  The  original,  causes  that  blight- 
ed its  fair  prospects,  48 ;  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  a  compact,  135  ;  been 
denied  of  the  Constitution,  135  ;  denied 
by  Webster,  135;  cavils  on  the  words 
of  the  Constitution  compared  with  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  136;  the 
wood  accede  considered,  136;  use  of 
the  words  "  compact,  accede,  Confed- 
eracy," 137;  compact  used  by  Gerry, 
Morris,  Madison,  Washington,  Martin, 
and  others,  138  ;  in  the  ratification  of 
Massachusetts,  137;  the  Constitution 
shown  to  be  one  by  its  structure,  140; 
provisions,  140  ;  representation  in  the 
Senate,  etc.,  140. 

Compromise  measures  of  1850,  their  ori- 
gin, 14 ;  bear  the  impress  of  the  sec- 
tional spirit,  14. 

Compromise,  Missouri,  how  constituted, 
13 ;  votes  on,  13. 

Confederacies,  the  first  local  formed  in 
New  England,  115. 

Confederacy,  the  growth  of,  485  ;  finan- 
cial system  of,  485  ;  the  state  of  the 
finances  in  1862,  485. 

Confederate  Government,  its  instructions 
to  General  Beauregard  relative  to  Fort 
Sumter,  284  ;  the  correspondence,  285, 
286 ;  aid  given  to  Missouri,  429. 

Confederation,  The  old,  declares  indepen- 
dence of  each  State,  86 ;  its  articles, 
86 ;  affairs,  how  managed,  87 ;  the 
first  idea  of  reorganization,  87  ;  conse- 
quences, 87  ;  term  applied  to  the  arti- 
cles, 88  ;  revision,  how  effected,   88 ; 


how  could  it  be  superseded  without  se- 
cession? 100. 

Conference  of  the  President  and  generals, 
after  the  victory  at  Manassas,  352  ; 
order  to  pursue  the  enemy,  353  ;  letter 
of  the  President  respecting,  353  ;  an- 
swer from  General  Beauregard,  354, 
355  ;  subjects  considered,  356 ;  second 
do.  of  the  President  and  generals,  af- 
ter the  victory  at  Manassas,  inquiry  as 
as  to  what  more  it  was  practicable  to 
do,  360 ;  fortifications  said  to  exist  at 
Washington,  360 ;  subsequent  reports, 
360;  at  variance  with  the  information 
then  possessed,  360 ;  why  an  advance 
was  not  contemplated  to  south  bank  of 
Potomac,  360 ;  returns  to  Eichmond  to 
increase  army,  361 ;  charge  of  prevent- 
ing the  pursuit,  361. 

Congress  of  the  Confederation,  its  distinc- 
tion from  the  United  States  Congress, 
26 ;  language  of  its  resolution  for  a 
revision  of  its  articles,  88  ;  its  recom- 
mendation, 89 ;  instructions  to  the  com- 
missioners to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention by  the  several  States,  89  ; 
early  acts  of,  243 ;  laws  of  United 
States  not  inconsistent  continued  in 
force  till  altered,  243  ;  financial  officers 
continued  in  office,  243 ;  early  steps 
required  to  be  taken  for  a  settlement 
with  United  States,  244 ;  act  relative 
to  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  245 ;  coasting  trade  opened  to 
foreign  vessels,  245  ;  resolutions  after 
the  victory  at  Manassas,  383. 

Congress,  Provisional,  of  seceding  States 
assembles  at  Montgomery,  220;  reso- 
lution to  remove  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Richmond,  339. 

Congress  of  the  Confederation  and  that  of 
the  United  States,  difference  between, 
10,11. 

Congress,  United  States,  decision  on  first 
abolition  petition,  5 ;  prohibits  importa- 
tion of  slaves,  vote  on  the  bill,  5 ;  its 
action  on  the  petition  of  Indiana  Terri- 
tory for  the  suspension  of  the  ordinance 
prohibiting  slavery,  8;  report  of  the 
committee,  8  ;  future  action  on  resolu- 
tions, 10;  has  only  delegated  powers, 
26 ;  action  in  the  Senate  in  1860-61, 
68 ;  action  of  its  committee,  69 ;  fail- 
ures of  adjustment  in  the  House,  70. 

Connecticut,  instructions  to  her  delegates 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  92  ; 
her  ratification  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, 107. 
"  Constitution,  Tlic,  a  covenant  with  hell," 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


691 


use  of  the  expression,  56 ;  signifi- 
cation of  the  word,  88 ;  the  seventh 
article,  a  provision  for  secession,  101 ; 
not  established  by  the  people  in  the 
aggregate,  nor  by  the  States  in  the  ag- 
gregate, 101 ;  delegates  were  chosen  by 
the  States  as  States,  and  voted  as 
States,  102 ;  object  for  which  they 
were  sent,  102 ;  terms  used  then  in 
the  same  sense  as  now,  102 ;  a  national 
Government  distinctly  rejected,  102  ; 
final  words  of  the  Constitution,  102 ; 
not  adopted  by  the  people  in  the  aggre- 
gate, 114;  the  assertion  a  monstrous 
fiction,  114;  as  British  colonies  they 
did  not  constitute  one  people,  114; 
confused  views  of  Judge  Story,  115; 
exposition  of  them,  115;  some  facts, 
115;  local  confederacies,  115;  the 
form  of  the  first,  115;  its  existence, 
115 ;  assertion  of  Edward  Everett, 
116;  unsustainable,  116;  his  quota- 
tions, 11*7;  letter  of  General  Gage  to 
Congress  in  1774, 117;  extract,  117;  a 
citation  from  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, 118;  a  palpable  misconcep- 
tion, 118;  as  united  States  Indepen- 
dence was  achieved,  118;  as  united 
States  they  entered  into  a  new  com- 
pact, 119;  in  no  single  instance  was 
the  action  by  the  people  in  the  aggre- 
gate or  as  one  body,  119;  facts,  119, 
120;  by  what  authority  was  it  or- 
dained ?  131 ;  denied  by  Webster  to  be 
a  compact,  135. 

Constitution,  Confederate,  the  permanent 
of  the  Confederate  States,  prepared  and 
ratified,  258  ;  remarks  of  Mr.  Stephens, 
258  ;  followed  the  model  of  the  United 
States  Constitution,  259 ;  some  of  its 
distinctive  features,  259,  260 ;  term  of 
the  President's  office,  259;  removals 
from  office,  259 ;  admission  of  Cabinet 
officers  to  seats  on  floor  of  Congress, 
259;  protective  duties  prohibited,  260; 
two-thirds  vote  for  appropriations, 
260 ;  impeachment  by  State  Legisla- 
ture, 260 ;  the  States  make  a  compact 
for  improvement  of  navigation,  260  ; 
amendments  obligatory  by  convention, 
260;  260;  provisions  relative  to  sla- 
very, 261 ;  other  provisions,  261 ;  words 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  262;  words  of  "New 
York  Herald,"  263. 

Constitution,  Provisional,  for  the  Confed- 
eracy, adopted,  229 ;  officers  elected, 
230. 

Constitutional  Convention,  the  original, 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  coercion 


of  a  State,  56 ;  conclusions  drawn  from 
the  instructions  of  the  States  to  their 
delegates,  93 ;  assembling  of  the  Con- 
vention, 94;  the  work  takes  a  wider 
range  than  was  contemplated,  94; 
diversity  of  opinion  among  the  mem- 
bers, 95;  Luther  Martin's  description 
of  the  three  parties  in  the  Convention, 
95 ;  the  equality  of  the  States,  how 
adjusted,  96 ;  plan  of  government  of 
Edmund  Randolph,  96  ;  how  the  word 
"  national "  was  treated,  97. 

Constitutional  questions  involved  in  the 
position  of  the  Southern  States,  re- 
capitulation of,  77. 

Constitutional  Union  parti/  of  1860,  its 
principles,  51. 

Constitutional  Union  Convention  in  1860, 
its  nominations  and  resolutions,  60. 

Convention,  the  original  idea  of  calling, 
98 ;  its  powers  merely  advisory,  103 ; 
how  its  work  was  approved,  103. 

Conventions,  State,  representatives  of  sov- 
ereignty, 97. 

Cooper,  Samuel,  resigns  in  United  States 
Army,  308 ;  his  rank,  308 ;  appoint- 
ment in  the  Confederate  Army,  308. 

Count  op  Paris,  his  travesty  of  history, 
200,  201 ;  libels  the  memory  of  Major 
Anderson,  283. 

Coxe,  Tench,  words  relative  to  separate 
sovereignties,  128. 

Crawford,  Martin  J.,  appointed  com- 
missioner to  United  States,  246 ;  com- 
missioner to  Washington  arrives,  246  ; 
describes  the  incidents  and  his  recep- 
tion, 265  ;  other  proceedings,  266. 

Crittenden,  J.  C,  offers  in  the  Senate  a 
joint  resolution  proposing  amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  60 ;  now  received, 
60. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  reelected  to  United 
States  Senate  in  1851,  18 ;  subject  of 
the  compromise  measures  agitating  Mis- 
sissippi, 18  ;  division  of  opinion,  18  ;  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence of  more  value  than  the  Union,  18 ; 
his  position  and  views,  19 ;  invited  to 
become  candidate  for  Governor,  19  ;  not 
accepted,  20 ;  active  canvass,  20 ;  nomi- 
nated again  on  the  withdrawal  of  the 
former  nominee,  20 ;  resigns  as  United 
States  Senator,  20 ;  his  position  rela- 
tive to  the  Union,  21 ;  letter  to  W.  J. 
Brown,  21 ;  enters  the  Cabinet  of  Presi- 
dent Pierce,  22 ;  charge  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad  survey,  23  ;  charge  of  the  Cap- 
itol extension,  23  ;  charge  of  changes 


692 


INDEX  TO   VOL.   I. 


in  the  model  of  arms,  23  ;  increase  of 
the  army,  23 ;  its  officers,  24 ;  clerk- 
ships, 24 ;  anecdote  of  General  Jesup, 
24 ;  again  elected  Senator  from  Mis- 
sissippi, 25 ;  no  change  in  President 
Pierce's  Cabinet  during  his  term,  25 ; 
extract  from  a  speech  in  the  Senate  on 
the  relation  of  master  and  servant  in 
a  Territory,  30 ;  remarks  in  the  Senate 
on  the  "  Nicholson  letter  "  of  General 
Cass,  37  ;  offers  a  series  of  resolutions 
in  United  States  Senate,  42 ;  the  reso- 
lutions, 42  ;  discussion  and  vote  in  the 
Senate,  43  ;  position  of  the  mover  shown 
in  extract  from  his  speech,  44-46 ; 
meets  with  the  Congressional  represent- 
atives and  Governor  of  Mississippi  in 
consultation,  57 ;  his  views,  57 ;  sum- 
moned to  Washington,  58 ;  state  of 
affairs  there  and  his  proceedings,  59; 
extract  from  a  speech  in  December, 
1860,  in  the  Senate,  showing  his  posi- 
tion, 61-68 ;  position  and  feelings  at 
the  beginning  of  1861,  205 ;  previous 
life,  205 ;  office  of  Senator,  206 ;  in 
the  Cabinet,  206 ;  letter  of  C.  C.  Clay, 
relative  to  misstatements  respecting, 
206  ;  conversation  .with  President  Bu- 
chanan relative  to  the  forts  in  Charles- 
ton Harbor,  214  ;  advises  him  to  with- 
draw the  garrison,  215;  his  objections, 
215  ;  presents  rejoinder  of  South  Caro- 
lina Commissioners  to  President  Bu- 
chanan in  the  Senate,  218  ;  his  speech, 
219 ;  notified  of  the  secession  of  Mis- 
sissippi, 220 ;  states  the  position  of 
the  State  in  his  final  address  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  221-224 ;  elect- 
ed President  of  the  Confederate  States, 
230 ;  engaged  at  home,  230 ;  diappoint- 
ed,  230 ;  better  fitted  for  command  in 
the  field,  230 ;  anecdote  of  W.  L.  Shar- 
key, 230  ;  addresses  on  the  way  to  Mont- 
gomery, 231 ;  inaugural  address,  232  ; 
letter  to  President  Buchanan,  264 ;  mes- 
sage to  Congress  on  April  28th,  278, 
279  ;  writes  to  Governor  Letcher  to  sus- 
tain Baltimore,  300 ;  remained  in  the 
Senate  after  Mississippi  called  her  con- 
vention, in  order  to  obtain  such  meas- 
ures as  would  prevent  the  final  step, 
302;  when  her  ordinance  was  enacted 
the  question  was  no  longer  open,  and 
her  Senator  could  only  retire  from  the 
United  States  Senate,  302  ;  letter  of  in- 
structions to  Captain  Semmes,  311;  mes- 
sage to  Congress  in  April,  1861,  326  ;  re- 
ply to  the  Maryland  Commissioners,  333; 
answer  to  Johnston  relative  to  the  rank 


of  the  latter,  348  ;  goes  to  the  Manas- 
sas battle-field,  348  ;  scenes  witnessed 
and  described,  348,349;  arrives  at  Beau- 
regard's headquarters,  349  ;  meets  Gen- 
eral Johnston,  350;  appearance  of  the 
enemy,  350 ;  the  field  on  the  left,  351 ; 
meets  General  Beauregard,  352 ;  con- 
ference with  the  generals  after  Ma- 
nassas battle,  352 ;  subject  of  confer- 
ence, 356  ;  necessity  of  pursuit,  356  ; 
condition  of  the  troops,  356 ;  meets 
the  wounded,  357 ;  letter  promoting 
General  Beauregard,  359  ;  charged  with 
preventing  the  pursuit  at  Manassas, 
361 ;  letter  to  General  Johnston  on  the 
subject,  362 ;  answer  of  Johnston,  363  ; 
reference  to  another  conference,  363 ; 
letter  to  General  Beauregard  relative  to 
the  plea  of  a  want  of  transportation  for 
not  pursuing  the  enemy,  365  ;  endorse- 
ment on  the  report  of  General  John- 
ston, 366 ;  remarks  upon  it,  366 ;  let- 
ter to  Beauregard  relative  to  his  report, 
366;  the  objectionable  point  reviewed, 
367  ;  the  part  of  the  report  and  objec- 
tions suppressed  by  Congress,  367  ;  the 
report,  368;  the  endorsement  of  the 
President,  369  ;  letter  calling  for  infor- 
mation on  the  wants  of  the  army,  384 ; 
reply  to  the  letter  of  the  Governor  of 
Kentucky,  390;  anxiety  about  affairs 
in  Missouri,  426 ;  letter  to  John  B. 
Clark,  427 ;  answer  to  the  request  of 
General  J.  E.  Johnston  for  re  enforce- 
ments, 442 ;  letter  to  General  G.  W. 
Smith  on  the  reorganization  of  the 
army,  445 ;  letter  to  General  Beaure- 
gard, 446 ;  letter  to  General  Beaure- 
gard, 447 ;  letter  to  General  J.  E.  John- 
ston, 448 ;  letter  to  General  J.  E.  John- 
ston on  enemy's  movements,  452 ;  let- 
ter to  General  G.  W.  Smith  on  move- 
ments against  the  enemy,  453  ;  letter 
to  General  J.  E.  Johnston  on  inspec- 
tion of  the  line  between  Dumfries  and 
Fredericksburg,  454 ;  letter  to  General 
J.  E.  Johnston  on  Jackson's  movement 
in  the  Valley,  457 ;  letter  to  General 
J.  E.  Johnston  on  the  order  of  the  Sec- 
retai'y  of  War  for  the  troops  to  retire 
to  the  Valley,  460  ;  letter  to  General  J. 
E.  Johnston  on  the  complaint  of  irreg- 
ular action  by  the  Secretary  of  War, 
461 ;  letter  to  General  J.  E.  Johnston 
in  answer  to  a  letter  stating  that  his 
position  was  considered  unsafe,  462 ; 
letter  to  General  J.  E.  Johnston  on 
mobilizing  his  army,  463 ;  letter  to 
General  J.  E.  Johnston  in  answer  to  a 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


693 


notice  that  the  army  was  in  retreat, 
464 ;  visit  to  General  Johnston's  head- 
quarters, 465  ;  reconnaissance,  466  ;  ex- 
tract from  the  inaugural  address  in 
1S62,  484;  message  on  the  employ- 
ment of  slaves  in  the  army,  515. 

Debt,  Foreign,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
496  ;  attempts  to  discredit  the  Gov- 
ernment abroad,  497 ;  reference  to 
Union  bank-bonds,  497. 

Delaware,  instructions  to  her  delegates  to 
the  Constitutional  Convention,  93  ;  her 
words  of  ratification  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  104. 

Delicate  truth,  A,  to  be  veiled,  101. 

Democratic  Convention  of  1860,  disagree- 
ment, 50;  adjournment  of  divisions, 
50 ;  nominations  by  the  friends  of  pop- 
ular sovereignty,  50 ;  nominations  by 
the  Conservatives,  50. 

Democratic  party,  dissensions  in,  36. 

D'Wolf,  James,  president  of  a  slave-trad- 
ing company,  anecdote  of,  84. 

Disguise  with  Confederate  Commissioners 
thrown  off  on  the  reduction  of  Sumter, 
297. 

Dissolution  and  secession  from  the  first 
Union  gave  existence  to  the  present 
Union,  171 ;  the  right  to  withdraw  in 
either  case  results  from  the  same  prin- 
ciples, 171. 

Dogma,  A  new,  created  at  the  Chicago 
Convention  in  1860,  49. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  on  the  doctrine  of 
squatter  sovereignty,  38 ;  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  in  1860,  50;  unwill- 
ing to  withdraw,  52 ;  his  resolution  in 
the  Senate  recommending  evacuation  of 
the  forts,  281 ;  his  remarks,  281. 

Dred  Scott  case ;  the  question,  83 ;  the 
salient  points  established,  84 ;  remarks 
of  the  Chief-Justice,  84. 

Early,  General  Jubal,  commands  regi- 
ment at  Manassas,  351 ;  extracts  rela- 
tive to  the  first  battle  of  Manassas 
written  by  him,  372  ;  sketch  of  him, 
372-378  ;  remarks  on  the  retreat  from 
Centreville,  468 ;  do.  on  the  loss  of 
supplies,  468. 

Election,  Presidential,  of  I860,  votes  and 
result,  53. 

Ellis,  Governor,  of  North  Carolina,  re- 
ply to  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops, 
412  ;  sketch  of  Governor  Ellis,  413  ; 
letter  to  President  Buchanan  restoring 
Forts  Johnson  and  Caswell,  413. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  views  of,  on  the  coer- 
cion of  a  State,  178. 


Elzy,  General,  commands  brigade  at  Ma- 
nassas, 351. 

Endorsement  of  the  President,  on  the  re- 
port of  the  victory  at  Manassas,  by 
General  Beauregard,  369. 

Equality  of  the  States  a  condition  of  the 
Union,  180,  181. 

Equilibrium  between  the  sections  destroyed 
by  the  action  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment, 32. 

Equipments  for  armies,  the  supply  of, 
478  ;  their  manufacture,  478. 

Everett,  Edward,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  in  1860,  50 ;  his  as- 
sertions relative  to  the  Constitution, 
129 ;  views  on  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States,  148. 

Evans,  General  N.  S.,  his  force  near  Lees- 
burg,  437 ;  fight  at  Ball's  Bluff,  437. 

Expedition,  Naval,  to  reenf orce  Fort  Sum- 
ter, 274 ;  the  circumstances,  274 ;  its 
arrival  delayed  by  a  storm,  274 ;  dis- 
sensions in  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  274  ; 
impossible  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the 
communications  of  the  Secretary,  275  ; 
yet  the  Secretary  was  not  impeached, 
275  ;  a  transaction  in  the  Cabinet,  275 ; 
letter  of  Mr.  Blair,  277 ;  letters  of  the 
Commissioners,  277,  278 ;  message  of 
President  Davis  to  Congress,  277  ;  the 
relief  squadron,  284 ;  correspondence 
of  Major  Anderson,  288  ;  arrival  of  the 
fleet  off  Charleston  Harbor,  289  ;  its 
failure  to  relieve  the  fort,  289 ;  report 
of  Captain  McGowan,  291. 

Fairfax  Court-House,  The  conference  at, 
445  ;  circumstances,  449  ;  questions 
considered  at  the  conference,  449  ;  a 
paper  relating  to  the  conference,  450  ; 
details  respecting  it,  450  ;  position  un- 
favorable for  defense,  452  ;  establish- 
ment of  a  battery  near  Acquia  Creek, 
452  ;  possibilities  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Shenandoah,  452 ;  correspondence,  452 ; 
reference  to,  464. 

"Faith  as  to  Sumter  fully  kept" — the 
written  answer  of  Secretary  Seward, 
273 ;  official  notification  of  reenforce- 
ment  served  on  Governor  Pickens  on 
the  same  day,  274. 

False  representations  made  of  us  at  the 
close  of  1860,  77. 

Federal  Constitution,  how  the  term  was 
freely  used,  93. 

Federal  Government,  the  tendency  to  per- 
vert the  functions  delegated  to  it,  and 
to  use  them  with  sectional  discrimina- 
tion against  the  minority,  32. 


694 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


Federalist,  TJie,  its  use  of  the  word  "  sov- 
ereign" as  applied  to  the  States,  144. 

"Fighting  in  the  Union"  what  was  meant 
by  it,  225. 

Financial  system  of  the  Confederacy 
adopted  from  necessity,  485 ;  its  opera- 
tion during  eighteen  months,  485  ;  issue 
of  notes  and  bonds,  486,  487 ;  efforts 
to  fund  Treasury  notes,  487 ;  provisions 
of  Congress  relative  to,  488 ;  measure 
to  reduce  the  currency,  489 ;  a  review 
of  the  financial  legislation,  489  ;  a  war- 
tax,  490 ;  internal  taxation  a  partial 
failure,  490 ;  compulsory  reduction  of 
the  currency,  491  ;  its  success,  492 ; 
financial  condition  of  the  Government 
at  its  close,  492  ;  amount  of  the  public 
debt,  493  ;  taxation,  493. 

uFiring  on  the  flag"  the  disingenuous 
rant  of  demagogues,  292. 

"Flaunting  lie,  A,"  the  compact  of  Union, 
326. 

Florida  withdraws  from  the  Union,  220. 

Floyd,  General  John  B.,  resigns  as 
United  States  Secretary  of  War,  214 ; 
his  reason,  214 ;  advances  to  the  sup- 
port of  General  Wise,  433  ;  his  skir- 
mishes with  the  enemy,  433 ;  defeats 
them,  435 ;  assailed  by  General  Rose- 
crans,  433  ;  Rosecrans  falls  back,  433. 

Foote,  Samuel  A.,  states  the  true  issue 
relative  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  to 
the  Union,  12. 

Foreign  relations,  efforts  at  recognition, 
469  ;  seizure  of  our  commissioners  on 
board  the  Trent,  469 ;  indignation  in 
England,  469  ;  their  restoration,  469. 

Forsyth,  John,  appointed  commissioner 
to  United  States,  246. 

Forts  and  arsenals,  course  of  United 
States  Government  relative  to,  281  ; 
resolution,  202 ;  do.  taken  possession 
of  by  the  Southern  States,  202  ;  asser- 
tion made  that  the  absence  of  troops 
was  the  result  of  collusion,  202 ;  this 
absence  was  the  ordinary  condition  of 
peace,  203 ;  as  defenseless  now  as  in 
1861,  203 ;  some  exceptions,  203  ;  the 
situation  long  maintained  at  Pensacola 
Bay,  203  ;  conditional  cession  to  United 
States,  209 ;  condition  of  the  cession  of 
Massachusetts,  209 ;  do.  of  New  York, 
209  ;  do.  of  South  Carolina,  210 ;  stip- 
ulations made  by  Virginia  in  ceding  the 
ground  for  Fortress  Monroe,  210 ;  act  of 
cession,  211. 

Fox,  G.  V.,  his  plan  to  reenforce  and  fur- 
nish supplies  to  Fort  Sumter,  271 ;  de- 
scribes the  details,  271. 


Framework  of  the  Government,  how  con- 
structed, 97. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  his  use  of  the  word 
"  sovereignties "  as  applied  to  the 
States,  144. 

Freedom  and  slavery,  terms  misleading 
the  opinions  and  sympathies  of  the 
world,  6. 

Fremont,  General  John  C,  his  confisca- 
tion proclamation  in  Missouri,  430. 

Frost,  General  D.  M.,  commands  militia 
at  Camp  Jackson,  415 ;  surrenders  to 
Captain  Lyon,  415  ;  efforts  for  release, 
415 ;  his  letter  to  General  Harney, 
415,  416. 

Fugitives,  laAv  for  the  rendition  of,  oc- 
casion of  its  passage,  16 ;  tended  to 
lead  other  States  to  believe  they  might 
evade  their  constitutional  obligations, 
16  ;  action  of  the  States  which  had 
passed  personal  liberty  laws,  16  ;  the 
rendition  of,  not  the  proper  subject  for 
the  legislation  of  Congress,  81 ;  how  it 
was  in  early  times,  82. 

Garnett,  General  Robert,  killed  at  Rich 
Mountain,  338 ;  biographical  notice, 
338. 

General  Government,  its  claim  of  a  right 
to  judge  of  the  extent  of  its  own  au- 
thority, 191. 

Georgia,  efforts  to  prohibit  importation 
of  slaves,  4 ;  instructions  to  her  depu- 
ties to  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
91 ;  her  ratification  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, 106  ;  withdraws  from  the  Un- 
ion, 220. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  objects  to  the  provision 
for  nine  States  to  ratify,  as  a  virtual 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  100 ;  his  use 
of  the  word  "  compact,"  137. 

Gorgas,  General,  appointed  chief  of  ord- 
nance, 310;  states  the  growth  of  his 
department,  481 ;  statement  relative  to 
the  charge  against  Secretary  of  War 
Floyd,  482. 

Government,  TJie  United  States,  exalted 
above  the  States  which  created  it,  127  ; 
no  such  unit  as  United  States  ever 
mentioned,  127;  instances,  127;  words 
of  Tench  Coxe,  128  ;  forgotten  miscon- 
ceptions revived  by  Daniel  Webster, 
128 ;  his  assertions  in  debate,  128 ; 
specimen  of  views  of  sectionists,  129  ; 
assertion  of  Edward  Everett,  129  ;  do. 
of  J.  L.  Motley,  129  ;  most  remarkable 
of  these  assertions,  130;  Constitution 
mentions  the  States  as  States  seventy 
times,   130 ;  what   authority  ordained 


INDEX  TO   VOL.   I. 


695 


and  established  the  Constitution,  131 
statements  of  Everett  and  Motley,  131 
question  of  Story  and  its  answer,  132 
views  of  Madison  on   the  nature   of 
the   ratification,   133 ;   legislation  can 
not  alter  a  fact,  134 ;  its  treatment  of 
citizens  of    Kentucky,   398 ;    not   su- 
preme, but  subject  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws,  151 ;  accepted  of  sites  for 
forts  on  the  conditions  prescribed  by 
the  State,  211 ;  confounded  with  the 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  151. 

Government,  Confederate,  seat  of,  re- 
moved to  Richmond,  340  ;  reasons  for 
the  removal,  340. 

Governments  only  agents  of  the  sover- 
eign, 142  ;  responsible  to  it,  and  sub- 
ject to  its  control,  154. 

Grant,  General,  attempts  to  capture  the 
garrison  at  Belmont,  403  ;  his  defeat, 
404  ;  became  willing  to  exchange  pris- 
oners, 405. 

Grants  to  the  Federal  Government,  not 
surrenders,  says  Hamilton,  but  delega- 
tions of  power,  163. 

Great  Britain,  charge  preferred  against 
the  Government  of,  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  82. 

Green,  James  S.,  offers  a  resolution  in 
the  United  States  Senate  relative  to 
preserving  peace  between  the  States, 
61. 

Grievance,  the  intolerable,  83. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  his  use  of  the 
word  "  sovereignty  "  as  applied  to  the 
States,  144 ;  on  the  supremacy  of  the 
Constitution,  150;  on  a  confederated 
republic,  162;  extract  from  "The  Fed- 
eralist," 162;  further  views,  162;  his 
views  on  the  coercion  of  a  State,  178 ; 
on  the  omission  of  a  State  to  appoint 
Senators,  179. 

Harney,  Major-General,  removed  from 
command  in  Missouri,  421. 

Harper's  Ferry,  burned  and  evacuated, 
328 ;  President  Lincoln  expresses  his 
approbation,  328 ;  destruction  caused, 
329  ;  an  important,  position  for  milita- 
ry and  political  considerations,  340 ;  its 
occupation  needful  for  the  removal  of 
machinery,  341. 

Harris,  Governor  of  Tennessee,  reply  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops,  413. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  Governor  of 
Indiana  Territory,  8 ;  letter  to  Congress 
with  resolutions  requesting  the  sus- 
pension of  the  ordinance  prohibiting  sla- 
very, 9. 


Hartford  Convention,  proceedings  relative 
to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  74. 

Hayne,  I.  W.,  Commissioner  from  South 
Carolina  to  Washington,  219. 

Hemp,  bales  of,  used  for  a  breastwork, 
430. 

Henry,  Patrick,  asks  what  right  had 
they  to  say,  "We  the  people,"  121; 
his  objection  to  "  one  people,"  174. 

Hicks,  Governor  of  Maryland,  his  decla- 
rations, 331 ;  his  proclamation,  331. 

Hill,  Colonel  A.  P.,  orders  the  affair  near 
Romney,  343  ;  sketch  of,  344. 

Hill,  Colonel  D.  H.,  afterward  lieuten- 
ant-general, 342 ;  report  of  the  com- 
bat at  Bethel  Church,  342. 

Honor  of  the  United  States  Government, 
how  maintained  relative  to  the  forts  in 
Charleston  Harbor,  217 ;  a  point  easy 
to  concede,  217. 

Hope  of  reconciliation,  the  last  expires, 
250. 

Hostile  expedition,  the,  made  the  reduc- 
tion of  Sumter  necessary  before  it 
should  be  reenforced,  297. 

Howard,  Charles,  arrest  and  imprison- 
ment by  General  Banks,  335. 

Huger,  General,  commands  a  force  at 
Norfolk,  340. 

Hurlburt,  a  captive  prisoner,  361 ;  bis 
career,  361. 

Huse,  Major  Caleb,  sent  to.  Europe  for 
the  purchase  of  munitions  of  war,  311 ; 
our  agent  in  Europe,  482 ;  his  letter 
relative  to  the  shipment  of  supplies, 
482. 

Immigration,  causes  which  combined  for 
its  direction  to  the  Northern  States, 
32. 

Inaction  of  the  Army  of  the  Potom,ac,  the 
President  alleged  to  be  responsible  for 
it,  449  ;  the  question  for  consideration 
at  the  Fairfax  conference,  449 ;  a  pa- 
per relative  to  the  conference,  450 ; 
proceedings  at  the  Conference,  451, 
452  ;  correspondence,  452,  453  ;  appli- 
cation of  General  Jackson,  454;  cor- 
respondence relative  to,  455,  456  ;  fur- 
ther correspondence,  457,  etc. 

Inaugural  address  of  the  author  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Confederate  States,  232. 

Incendiaries,  trained  in  scenes  of  Kansas 
strife,  31. 

Independence  of  North  Carolina  and  Rhode 
Island  while  not  members  of  the  Union, 
112;  relations  between  them  and  the 
United  States,  112 ;  letter  from  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Rhode  Island,  112. 

Indiana  Territory,  petitions  for  the  sus- 


696 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


pension  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  pro- 
hibiting slavery,  8  ;  action  on  the  peti- 
tions, 8 ;  subsequent  action  and  reso- 
lutions, 9. 

Insurrection,  An,  was  it?  325. 

Iitroduction,  The,  1. 

Irrepressible  conflict,  how  the  declaration 
of,  arose,  34. 

"Is  thy  servant  a  dog?"  its  use  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  34. 

Invasions  of  Stales,  no  right  in  the  Fed- 
eral government  to,  411 ;  words  of  the 
Constitution,  411 ;  deemed  a  high  crime, 
411;  response  of  Governors  to  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  call  for  troops,  411. 

Invention  exhausted  itself  in  the  creation 
of  imaginary  "  cabals,"  "  conspira- 
cies," and  "  intrigues,"  200 ;  examples, 
209. 

Jackson,  General  T.  J.,  skill  and  daring 
in  checking  the  enemy's  forces  in  June, 
1861,  344;  character,  454;  letter  pro- 
posing a  movement  into  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley,  455 ;  letter  of  the  Presi- 
dent, 457. 

Jackson,  Governor  of  Missouri,  reply  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops,  412; 
issues  a  call  for  fifty  thousand  volun- 
teers, 421;  words  of  the  Governor, 
421 ;  his  efforts  to  preserve  the  peace, 
422 ;  his  declarations,  422 ;  demands 
of  the  Federal  officers,  422 ;  his  march, 
459  ;  its  results,  459. 

Jersey  Plan,  The,  States  rights,  and  op- 
posed to  national,  as  proposed  in  the 
Federal  Constitutional  Convention,  105; 
arguments  for  it,  106. 

Johnston,  General  Albert  Sidney,  re- 
signs in  United  States  Army,  308 ; 
rank,  308  ;  appointment  in  Confeder- 
ate Army,  309 ;  his  early  career,  405  ; 
resigns  in  United  States  army,  406 ; 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Con- 
federate Department  of  the  West,  406  ; 
destitution  at  Nashville,  406 ;  his  move- 
ments, 406 ;  his  military  positions,  406  ; 
takes  command  at  Bowling  Green,  406  ; 
his  force,  407 ;  force  of  the  enemy, 
407 ;  efforts  to  procure  arms  and  men, 
407 ;  letter  to  the  Governor  of  Ala- 
bama, 407;  letter  to  the  Governor  of 
Georgia,  407 ;  telegram  to  Richmond, 
407 ;  answer  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
407 ;  aid  from  the  Governor  and 
Legislature  of  Tennessee,  408 ;  meas- 
ures taken  to  concentrate  and  recruit 
his  forces,  408 ;  the  result,  408 ;  re- 
solves on  a  levy  en  masse,  409  ;  letters 


to  the  Governors  of  States,  409 ;  reen- 
forced  from  Virginia,  410. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  1860,  50. 

Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.,  commands 
army  near  Harper's  Ferry,  340 ;  de- 
sires to  retire,  341 ;  official  letter  ad- 
dressed to  him,  341 ;  apparent  effort 
of  the  enemy  to  detain  him  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  344;  his 
junction  with  Beauregard  becomes  ne- 
cessary, 344 ;  extract  from  official 
letter,  345 ;  urged  to  join  General 
Beauregard,  345  ;  correspondence  lost, 
346 ;  telegram  sent  to,  by  General 
Cooper,  346 ;  confidence  reposed  in 
him,  346 ;  the  meaning  of  an  order, 
347 ;  the  junction  made  with  marked 
skill,  347 ;  answer  to  telegram  to  join 
Beauregard,  347 ;  his  telegram  asking 
his  position  relative  to  Beauregard, 
348 ;  answer,  348 ;  his  rank  in  the 
Confederate  Army,  848 ;  letter  relative 
to  obstacles  to  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy 
at  Manassas,  363 ;  his  report,  and  the 
endorsement  put  on  it  by  the  Presi- 
dent, 366 ;  remonstrates  against  the 
movement  of  General  Jackson  in  the 
valley,  454 ;  letter,  456 ;  reconnais- 
sance, 465. 

Johnson,  John  M.,  chairman  of  commit- 
tee of  Kentucky  Senate  on  military  oc- 
cupation, 393  ;  letter  to  General  Polk, 
393. 

Jordan,  Colonel  Thomas,  letter  respect- 
ing the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  after 
battle  at  Manassas,  354;  his  order, 
355. 

Judiciary,  The  Federal,  views  of  Marshall 
on  the  power  of,  166. 

Justification,  A,  efforts  of  President  Lin- 
coln to  make  out  his,  322 ;  words  of 
his  message,  322;  his  question,  322; 
its  answer  very  plain,  322;  his  sup- 
posed answer,  322 ;  nothing  more  er- 
roneous than  such  views,  323 ;  the  be- 
ginning and  end  of  all  the  powers  of 
government  are  to  be  found  in  the 
instrument  of  delegation,  323  ;  for 
what  purpose  must  he  call  out  the  war 
power?  324;  his  blockade  proclamation, 
324;  its  scheme,  324 ;  how  based,  324; 
its  assumption  of  an  insurrection,  325  ; 
was  it  an  insurrection  ?  325. 

Kane,  Police  Marshal,  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned at  Baltimore,  334. 

Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill,  some  facts  con- 
nected with  it,  26 ;  declaration  of  1850, 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


697 


26  ;  its  discussion,  27  ;  proceedings  rel- 
ative to,  28  ;  not  inspired  by  President 
Pierce's  Cabinet,  28 ;  true  intent  and 
meaning  of  the  act,  28  ;  its  terms,  29. 

Kansas  Territory,  its  organization,  26. 

Kenner,  Duncan  F.,  letter  on  the  elec- 
tion of  Provisional  President,  238. 

Kentucky,  the  principles  announced  by 
her,  385;  resolutions,  385;  her  posi- 
tion in  the  conflict,  386;  the  question 
of  neutrality,  386 ;  how  could  it  be 
maintained,  386 ;  correspondence  be- 
tween Governor  Magoffin  and  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  387 ;  correspondence 
with  President  Davis,  389,  390;  ad- 
vance of  General  Polk,  391 ;  the  oc- 
casion of  it,  390 ;  correspondence  be- 
tween General  Polk  and  the  authorities 
of  Kentucky,  392 ;  resolutions  of  the 
Legislature  relative  to  the  occupation 
of  points  in  the  State  by  troops,  392  ; 
treatment  of  her  citizens  by  United 
States  Government,  398. 

King,  Rufus,  on  the  danger  to  the  Union, 
186. 

Lamon,  Colonel,  application  to  visit  Fort 
Sumter,  272. 

Lane,  Joseph,  nominated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  in  1860,  50 ;  Senator  from 
Oregon,  some  remarks  relative  to  af- 
fairs, 250. 

Language  of  the  Northern  press,  on  the 
right  to  coerce  a  State,  253-256 ;  lan- 
guage of  Northern  speeches,  on  resist- 
ance to  an  attempt  to  coerce  a  State, 
254. 

Laurel  Hill,  West  Virginia,  the  conflict 
at,  338. 

Lay,  Colonel,  reminiscences  of  the  bat- 
tle of  Manassas,  381,  382. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  resigns  in  the  United 
States  Army,  308  ;  rank,  308  ;  appoint- 
ment in  the  Confederate  Army,  309 ; 
appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
military  forces  of  Virginia,  328  ;  com- 
mands the  Army  of  Virginia,  340 ;  re- 
marks, 340 ;  goes  to  western  Virginia, 
434 ;  his  movements,  434 ;  the  bad 
season,  434 ;  decides  to  attack  the  en- 
campment of  the  enemy,  434 ;  the  in- 
structions, 435 ;  refrains  from  the  at- 
tack, 435 ;  cause,  435 ;  moves  to  the 
support  of  Wise  and  Floyd,  436 ;  the 
enemy  withdraws,  436  ;  Lee  returns  to 
Richmond,  436 ;  sent  to  South  Caro- 
lina, 437. 

Leesburg,  movement  of  the  enemy  to 
cross  the  Potomac  near,  437. 


Letcher,  Governor,  reply  to  Mr.  Lincoln's 
call  for  troops,  412. 

u  Let  the  Union  slide,"  origin  of  the  ex- 
pression, 56. 

Lexington,  Missouri,  the  battle  at,  430 ; 
surrender  of  the  enemy,  431. 

Liberty,  misuse  of  the  word  by  abolition- 
ists, 34. 

Lincoln,  President,  his  language  rela- 
tive to  coercion,  256 ;  approves  the 
plan  of  Fox  to  re  enforce  Sumter,  272  ; 
issues  his  proclamation  introducing 
the  farce  of  combinations,  297 ;  no 
power  to  declare  war,  298 ;  section  4, 
Article  IV,  of  the  Constitution,  298  ;  no 
justification  for  the  invasion  of  a  State, 
298  ;  a  palpable  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution, 298 ;  his  effort  to  justify 
himself  before  the  world  for  attacking 
us,  322 ;  expresses  his  approbation  at 
the  burning  of  Harper's  Ferry,  329 ; 
his  explanation  of  his  policy,  329  ;  let- 
ter relative  to  the  passage  of  troops 
through  Baltimore,  332 ;  reply  to  the 
letter  of  the  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
388 ;  calls  on  the  Governors  of  States 
for  troops,  412  ;  their  answers,  412. 

Louisiana  Territory,  its  purchase  one  of 
the  earliest  occasions  for  the  manifes- 
tation of  sectional  jealousy,  12 ;  with- 
draws from  the  Union,  220. 

Loring,  General,  commands-  at  Valley 
Mountain,  Virginia,  434. 

Lyons,  General,  begins  hostilities  in  Mis- 
souri, 415 ;  announces  the  intention 
of  the  Administration  to  reduce  Mis- 
souri to  the  exact  condition  of  Mary- 
land, 423  ;  killed  at  Springfield,  429  ; 
disposal  of  his  body,  430. 

Madison,  James,  asks  on  what  principle 
the  old  Confederation  can  be  supersed- 
ed, 100  ;  his  answer,  100 ;  says  the  par- 
ties to  the  Constitution  are  the  peo- 
ple as  composing  thirteen  sovereign- 
ties, 122  ;  views  on  the  nature  of  the 
ratification  of  the  Constituion,  133  ;  his 
use  of  the  word  "  compact "  as  ap- 
plied to  the  Constitution,  138  ;  his  use 
of  the  word  "  sovereignties "  as  ap- 
plied to  the  States,  144 ;  on  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Constitution,  150; 
his  interpretation  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Constitution,  164; 
his  argument  to  show  that  the  great 
principles  of  the  Constitution  are  an 
expansion  of  the  principles  in  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation,  171  ;  his  view 
of  "  one  people,"  174  ;  on  the  coercion 


698 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


of  a  State,  177 ;  on  the  danger  to  the 
perpetuity  of  the  Union,  185. 

Magoffin,  B.,  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
287 ;  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  287  ; 
letter  to  President  Davis,  389 ;  reply 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops,  412. 

Magruder,  General,  commands  the  force 
on  the  Peninsula,  340. 

Mallory,  S.  B.,  Secretary  of  State  under 
Provisional  Constitution,  242  ;  Secre- 
tary of  Confederate  Navy,  314 ;  his 
experience,  314. 

Manassas,  first  battle  at,  348  ;  appear- 
ance of  the  field,  348  ;  condition  of 
our  forces  afterward,  356  ;  evidences 
of  the  rout  of  the  enemy,  356  ;  cost  of 
the  victory,  356 ;  dispersion  of  our 
troops  after  the  battle,  357 ;  reasons 
why  it  was  an  extraordinary  victory, 
358 ;  nature  of  the  field,  358  ;  the  line 
of  the  retreating  foe  followed,  359 ; 
articles  abandoned,  359 ;  the  spoils 
gathered,  360;  strength  of  the  two 
armies,  371 ;  amount  of  field  trans- 
portation, 383 ;  dissatisfaction  that 
followed  the  victory,  442  ;  unjust  criti- 
cisms, 442 ;  their  effect  on  the  Gov- 
ernment, 442. 

Manufacturing  industry,  more  extensive 
than  ever,  505. 

Marshall,  John,  on  the  powers  of  the 
States,  165  ;  on  the  power  of  the  Fed- 
eral judiciary,  166. 

Martin,  Luther,  his  use  of  the  word 
"  compact "  as  applied  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, 138. 

Maryland,  instructions  to  her  delegates 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  92 ; 
her  ratification  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, 108 ;  refused  to  be  bound  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  126; 
first  to  be  invaded,  330 ;  warning  to 
all  the  slaveholding  States,  330 ;  views 
of  Governor  Hicks,  330 ;  a  commis- 
sioner from  Mississippi,  330;  declara- 
tions of  Governor  Hicks,  331 ;  Balti- 
more resists  the  passage  of  troops, 
332  ;  efforts  of  the  police  and  Govern- 
or, 332  ;  letter  of  President  Lincoln, 
332  ;  visit  of  the  Mayor  of  Baltimore, 
332;  his  report,  332;  Legislature  ap- 
points commissioners  to  the  Confeder- 
ate Government,  333 ;  also  to  Wash- 
ington, 333  ;  reply  of  President  Davis, 
333 ;  Baltimore  occupied  by  United 
States  troops,  333 ;  the  city  disarmed, 
334;  authorities  arrested  and  impris- 
oned, 334  ;  arrest  of  members  of  the 
Legislature,  336  ;  imprisonment,  336  ; 


Governor  Hicks's  final  message,  336 ; 
her  story  sad  to  the  last  degree,  337  ; 
how  relieved,  337 ;  the  Maryland  line 
of  the  Revolution,  337 ;  tender  minis- 
trations of  her  daughters  to  the  wound- 
ed, 337. 

Mason,  George,  views  on  the  coercion  of 
a  State,  177. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  Messrs.,  sent  as 
Commissioners  to  Europe,  469  ;  seized 
on  their  passage  by  Captain  Wilkes, 
United  States  Navy,  469 ;  their  treat- 
ment and  restoration,  470. 

Massachusetts,  threats  of  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union  in  1844-'45,  76 ;  instruc- 
tions to  her  delegates  to  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention,  92 ;  tenacious  of 
her  State  independence,  107  ;  action  on 
the  ratification  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, 107 ;  her  terms  of  ratification, 
139;  her  use  of  the  word  "  compact," 
as  applied  to  the  Constitution,  139 ; 
use  of  the  word  "  sovereign,"  as  applied 
to  the  State,  143  ;  on  the  reserved  pow- 
ers of  the  States,  146 ;  resolutions  of 
her  Legislature  express  perhaps  too 
decided  a  doctrine  of  nullification,  190 ; 
terms  of  cession  of  land  for  forts  and 
navy-yard  to  the  United  States,  209. 

McClellan,  Major-General  George  B., 
commands  force  in  Western  Virginia, 
338  ;  commands  enemy's  forces  at  Rich 
Mountain  and  Laurel  Hill,  338. 

McDowell,  General,  moves  to  attack 
General  Beauregard,  344. 

Medicines,  declared  by  the  enemy  contra- 
band of  war,  310;  substitutes  sought 
from  the  forest,  310. 

Memminger,  C.  G.,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury under  the  Provisional  Constitution, 
242. 

Michigan,  action  of  her  Senators  relative 
to  the  Peace  Congress,  248,  249 ;  the 
"  bloodletting  "  letter,  249. 

Miles,  W.  Porcher,  letter  on  the  elec- 
tion of  Provisional  President,  240. 

Military  organizations,  quasi,  in  the  North 
in  1860,  55. 

Military  service,  laws  relating  to,  506 ;  a 
constitutional  question  raised,  506  ;  its 
discussion  at  length,  506. 

Mississippi,  agitated  by  compromise  meas- 
ures of  1850,  18 ;  diversity  of  views, 
18;  Governor  calls  special  session  of 
the  Legislature  after  the  Presidential 
election  in  1860,  57 ;  its  Senators  and 
Representatives  in  Congress  convened 
for  consultation,  57 ;  views  of  the  au- 
thor, 57,  58 ;  letter  of  O.  R.  Singleton 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


699 


on  the  consultation,  58 ;  withdraws 
from  the  Union,  220;  State  Conven- 
tion makes  provision  for  a  State  army, 
228 ;  appoints  the  author  major-gen- 
eral, and  other  officers,  228 ;  State 
divided  into  districts,  and  troops  ap- 
portioned, 228 ;  destitution  of  arms 
showed  the  absence  of  expectation  of 
war,  228. 

Mississippi  River,  misrepresentations  rela- 
tive to  the  free  navigation  of,  244 ;  act 
of  Congress  relative  to,  245. 

Mississippi  Union  Bank  bonds,  the  facts 
in  relation  to  them,  497. 

Missouri  Compromise,  without  Constitu- 
tional authority,  11. 

Missouri,  controversy  relative  to  the  ad- 
mission of,  to  the  Union,  12  ;  its  ori- 
gin, 12 ;  history  of  the  excitement  oc- 
casioned, 12;  its  result,  12;  true  issue 
stated  by  Samuel  A.  Foote,  12;  the 
compromise,  how  constituted,  13 ;  votes 
on,  13;  line  obliterated  in  1850,  14; 
its  effect,  14,  15 ;  resistance  to  its  ad- 
mission as  a  State,  owing  merely  to 
political  motives,  33  ;  the  issue  of  sub- 
jugation presented  to  her,  403 ;  her 
condition  similar  to  that  of  Kentucky, 
414;  hostilities  instituted  by  Captain 
Lyon,  414 ;  Camp  Jackson  surrounded, 
414 ;  its  surrender,  415  ;  imprisonment 
of  General  Frost,  415  ;  efforts  to  re- 
store order,  416;  agreement  between 
Generals  Price  and  Harney,  416  ;  sig- 
nification of  the  agreement  between 
Generals  Harney  and  Price,  417;  fa- 
vorable prospect  of  peace  in  the  State, 
418 ;  misrepresentations  by  a  cabal, 
418;  an  incident,  418;  General  Har- 
ney removed,  419  ;  arms  removed  from 
the  United  States  Arsenal  to  St.  Louis, 
419  ;  houses  of  citizens  searched  for 
arms,  419;  the  excitement  in  the 
State,  420 ;  General  Jackson  an  ob- 
ject of  special  persecution,  420 ;  ac- 
tivity of  Lieutenant-Governor  Rey- 
nolds, 420;  position  of  the  State  in 
1860,  420 ;  interference  of  unauthor- 
ized parties,  420 ;  the  volunteers  at- 
tacked at  Booneville  by  General  Lyon 
and  United  States  troops,  424  ;  a  party 
of  the  enemy  routed,  424 ;  General 
Price  moves  to  southwestern  part  of 
the  State,  424;  the  patriot  army  of 
Missouri,  425  ;  rout  of  the  enemy  at 
Carthage,  425 ;  anxiety  about  affairs 
in  Missouri,  426  ;  General  Price's  ef- 
forts, 427,  428  ;  complaints  and  em- 
barrassments in,  427 ;  correspondence 


with  John  B.  Clark,  427 ;  destitution 
of  arms,  428 ;  Missourians  at  Vicks- 
burg,  428 ;  aid  from  Confederate 
States,  429 ;  battle  at  Springfield, 
429 ;  action  of  General  Fremont,  430 ; 
conflict  at  Lexington,  430 ;  asserts  her 
right  to  exercise  supreme  control  over 
her  domestic  affairs,  421  ;  proceedings 
in,  421 ;  attack  of  Kansas  troops,  431 ; 
put  to  flight,  431  ;  increase  of  the  force 
of  the  enemy,  432  ;  General  Price  re- 
tires, 432  ;  evidence  that  the  ordinance 
of  secession  was  the  expression  of  the 
popular  will  of  Missouri,  432. 

Misrepresentations,  inspired  by  a  cabal  in 
St.  Louis,  418. 

Monroe,  Judge,  citizen  of  Kentucky,  his 
treatment  bv  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  398. 

Moore,  Surgeon  L.  P.,  appointed  sur- 
geon-general, 310. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  his  use  of  the  word 
"compact,"  137;  his  remarkable  prop- 
ositions in  the  Convention,  and  their 
fate,  159,  160. 

Motley,  John  L.,  his  assertions  relative 
to  the  Constitution,  129 ;  his  declara- 
tion relative  to  the  words  "  sovereign  " 
and  "  sovereignty,"  143  ;  views  on  the 
second  clause  of  the  sixth  article,  150. 

Munitions  of  war,  preparations  to  pro- 
vide them,  316  ;  prompt  "measures  to 
supply  niter,  saltpeter,  charcoal,  316. 

Myers,  Lieutenant-Colonel  A.  C.,  ap- 
pointed quartermaster-general,  310. 

"National,"  how  the  word  was  treated 
in  the  Convention  that  framed  the  Con- 
stitution, 97. 

Nationalism,  its  fate  in  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  161. 

Naval  officers,  Southern,  view  of  their 
position,  313;  returned  all  vessels  to 
the  North,  314. 

Naval  vessels,  instructions  to  Captain 
Semmes  to  seek  for,  313;  views  rela- 
tive to  Southern  naval  officers,  313; 
officer  sent  to  England,  314. 

Nelson,  Judge,  cooperates  between  the 
Commissioners  and  the  Federal  authori- 
ties, 267  ;  his  own  views,  267. 

Neutrality,  the  position  assumed  by  Ken- 
tucky, 386. 

Neutrality  of  Kentucky  not  respected  by 
United  States  Government,  397 ;  his- 
torical statement,  398. 

New  Hampshire,  instructions  to  her  dep- 
uties to  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
92 ;  her  ratification  of  the  Federal  Con- 


700 


INDEX  TO   VOL.  I. 


i  stitution,  108 ;  use  of  the  word  "  com- 
pact "  as  applied  to  the  Constitution, 
134  ;  use  of  the  word  "sovereign"  as 
applied  to  the  State,  143  ;  on  the  re- 
served powers  of  the  States,  147. 

New  Jersey,  instructions  to  her  delegates 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  90 ; 
her  ratification  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, 106. 

New  States,  practice  of  the  Government 
relative  to  the  admission  of,  38 ;  the 
usual  process  of  transition,  39 ;  ques- 
tion of  sovereignty,  39 ;  Territorial 
Legislatures  the  agents  of  Congress, 
40. 

New  York,  instructions  to  her  delegates 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  92 ; 
how  the  ratification  was  secured,  109  ; 
a  declaration  of  principles,  110;  her 
declaration  on  the  reserved  powers  of 
the  States,  147  ;  conditions  upon  which 
the  land  for  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard  was 
ceded  to  the  United  States,  209  ;  nine 
States  to  ratify,  reason  for  the  adoption 
of  this  number,  98  ;  why  referred  to 
State  Conventions,  99  ;  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union,  100 ;  the  right  of,  to  form 
a  government  for  themselves  under  the 
seventh  article  of  the  Constitution, 
101 ;  a  refutation  of  the  assertion  that 
the  Constitution  was  formed  by  the 
people  in  the  aggregate,  101. 

Niter  and  Mining  Bureau,  organized,477  ; 
its  operation,  477. 

North,  The,  the  cause  of  undue  caution, 
314. 

North  .Carolina,  instructions  to  her  com- 
missioners to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 90  ;  her  declaration  on  the  re- 
served powers  of  the  States,  147. 

Northern  States,  at  the  last  moment,  re- 
fuse to  make  any  concessions,  or  to 
offer  any  guarantees  to  check  the  cur- 
rent toward  secession  of  the  complaining 
States,  438 ;  responsible  for  whatever 
of  bloodshed,  of  devastation,  or  shock 
to  republican  government  has  resulted 
from  the  war,  439. 

Northrop,  Colonel  L.  B.,  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  subsistence  department, 
303  ;  his  experience  and  capacity,  303 ; 
rank,  310 ;  his  efforts  to  provide  for 
present  and  future  supplies,  315;  lack 
of  transportation,  315. 

Nullification  and  secession,  distinction  be- 
tween, 184. 

Oath  required  by  the  Constitution,  some 
took  it  and  made  use  of  the  powers 


and  opportunities  of  the  offices  held 
under  its  sanctions  to  nullify  its  obli- 
gations, 81. 

Object  of  the  war,  our  subjugation  by  the 
North,  321. 

Obstacles  to  the  formation  of  a  more  per- 
fect Union,  31. 

"  On  to  Richmond,"  changed  at  Manassas 
to  "off  to  Washington,"  351. 

Order  of  pursuit,  after  the  victory  at 
Manassas,  details  of,  353,  354 ;  not 
sent,  355  ;  another  order  sent,  855. 

Ordinance  of  Virignia  in  1787,  its  arti- 
cles, 7 ;  urged  as  a  precedent  in  sup- 
port of  the  claim  of  a  power  in  Con- 
gress to  determine  the  question  of  the 
admission  of  slaves  into  the  Territories, 
10;  its  validity  examined,  10,  11. 

Orr,  James  L.,  Commissioner  from  South 
Carolina  to  Washington,  213. 

Pandora's  box,  the  opening  of,  15. 

Paradoxical  theories,  relative  to  sover- 
eignty in  the  United  States,  142 ;  no 
government  is  sovereign,  142. 

Patriot  army  of  Missouri,  description  of, 
425. 

Patterson,  William,  arguments  for  the 
Jersey  plan  in  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 206. 

Patterson,  Major -General,  commands 
force  at  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania, 
337 ;  its  object,  338. 

Pause,  A,  to  consider  the  attitude  of  the 
parties  to  the  contest,  and  the  grounds 
on  which  they  stand,  289. 

Peace  Congress,  it  assembles,  24S  ;  States 
represented,  248  ;  its  officers  and  pro- 
ceedings, 249  ;  the  plan  proposed,  250 ; 
how  treated  by  the  majority,  250 ;  the 
failure  of,  296. 

Pegram,  Colonel,  second  in  command  at 
Rich  Mountain,  338. 

Pendleton,  Captain  W.  N.,  commands 
an  effective  battery  at  Manassas, 
358. 

Peninsula  of  Virginia,  features  for  de- 
fense, 300. 

Pennsylvania,  instructions  to  her  depu- 
ties to  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
90 ;  words  with  which  she  ratified  the 
Federal  Constitution,  105. 

People  in  the  aggregate,  Tlie,  no  instance 
of  the  action  of  the  people  as  one 
body,  119  ;  use  of  the  word  by  Vir- 
ginia, 125;  its  early  use,  125;  do.  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  126  ; 
views  of  Story,  126  ;  speak  as  the  peo- 
ple of  the  States,  152. 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


701 


People  of  the  State,  the  only  sovereign 
political  community  before  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Federal  Constitution,  154. 

People  of  the  United  States,  understood 
to  mean  the  people  of  the  respective 
States,  174 ;  views  of  Virginia,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  others,  174. 

People  of  the  South,  their  hope  and  wish 
that  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  sep- 
aration would  be  peaceably  met,  438  ; 
every  step  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment directed  to  that  end,  439. 

Perpetuity  of  the  Union,  danger  to,  fore- 
shadowed, 185. 

Pickens,  Governor,  his  dispatch  relative 
to  Colonel  Lamon,  272. 

Pickens,  Port,  its  condition  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  203. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  letter  in  1803-'4  on 
a  separation  of  the  Union,  71 ;  his  pre- 
diction, 79. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  President,  his  charac- 
ter, 25. 

Plans  of  the  enemy,  their  development, 
468. 

Pledge  given  by  Federal  authorities  to 
Confederate  Commissioners  and  Gov- 
ernment for  the  evacuation  of  Sumter 
and  unchanged  condition  of  Pickens, 
269. 

Plighted  faith,  the  last  vestige  of,  disap- 
peared, 274. 

Point  of  honor,  the,  raised  by  Secretary 
Seward,  273. 

Political  parties,  the  changes  occurring 
in,  35 ;  their  names  and  signification, 
35. 

Polk,  Major-General  Leonidas,  enters 
Kentucky  and  occupies  Hickman  and 
Columbus,  391  ;  his  dispatch  to  the 
President  and  the  answer,  392  ;  answer 
to  Kentucky  Committee,  394  ;  letter  to 
the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  396 ;  his 
proposition,  397 ;  repulses  the  assail- 
ants at  Belmont,  404 ;  his  report  of  the 
conflict,  405. 

Popular  sovereignty  party  of  1860,  its 
principles,  51. 

Powder,  our  supply  in  1861,  472 ;  first 
efforts  to  obtain,  473 ;  mills  in  exist- 
ence, 472 ;  progress  of  development, 
474;  amount  of  powder  annually  re- 
quired, 474  ;  how  supplied,  474,  475  ; 
Government  mills,  475. 

Powell,  Senator,  offers  a  resolution  in 
the  United  States  Senate  relative  to 
the  state  of  affairs  in  1860,  61  ;  action 
on  the  resolution,  68. 

Power,  Politico].,  the  balance  of,  the  basis 


of  sectional  controversy,  11 ;  its  earlier 
manifestations,  11. 

Power  of  amendment,  special  examination 
of,  195 ;  what  is  the  Constitution  ? 
195  ;  the  States  have  only  intrusted  to 
a  common  agent  certain  functions,  196  ; 
a  power  to  amend  the  delegated  grants, 
196;  the  first  ten  amendments,  196; 
distinction  between  amendment  and 
delegation  of  power,  196 ;  smaller 
power  required  for  amendment  than 
for  a  grant,  196 ;  apprehensions  of 
the  power  of  amendment,  197  ;  restric- 
tions placed  on  the  exercise  of  the 
delegated  powers,  197;  effect  on  New 
England,  198. 

Power  of  the  Confederate  Government 
over  its  own  armies  and  the  militia, 
506 ;  object  of  confederations,  506  ; 
the  war  powers  granted,  507 ;  two 
modes  of  raising  armies  in  the  Confed- 
erate States,  507  ;  is  the  law  necessary 
and  proper?  508 ;  Congress  is  the 
judge,  under  the  grant  of  specific  pow- 
er, 508  ;  what  is  meant  by  militia,  509  ; 
whole  military  strength  divided  into 
two  classes,  510  ;  powers  of  Congress, 
510;  objections  answered,  511;  the 
limitations  enlarged,  512 ;  result  of  the 
operations  of  these  laws,  515  ;  act  for 
the  employment  of  slaves,  515  ;  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  515 ;  died  of  a  the- 
ory, 518 ;  act  passed,  518  ;  not  time  to 
put  it  in  operation,  519. 

Power  to  prohibit  slavery  in  a  Territory, 
argument  for  its  possession  by  the 
United  States  Congress,  26. 

Preamble  to  the  Constitution,  its  words, 
121 ;  the  stronghold  of  the  advocates 
of  consolidation,  121 ;  we,  the  people, 
interpreted  as  a  nation,  121  ;  words  of 
John  Adams,  121  ;  do.  of  Patrick  Hen- 
ry, 121  ;  other  words  of  Henry,  122  ; 
answer  of  Madison  to  Henry,  122  ;  the 
people  were  those  of  the  respective 
States,  123;  proceedings  in  the  Con- 
vention, 123 ;  the  original  words  re- 
ported, 124  ;  vote  on  them  unanimous, 
124;  reason  of  modification,  124;  the 
word  people — its  signification,  125  ;  ex- 
amples from  Scripture,  125  ;  instances 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
126;  revolt  of  Maryland,  126;  do.  of 
North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  126. 

Precipitation,  the  calmness  with  which 
Southern  measures  were  adopted  re- 
futes the  charge  of,  199. 

Prediction  of  Timothy  Pickering,  79.        » 

Presidential  election   of  1800,   the  basis 


702 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


of  the  contest,  189  ;  the  last  contest  on 
them,  189. 

Pretension,  Absurdity  of  the,  by  which  a 
factitious  sympathy  was  obtained  in 
certain  quarters  for  the  war  upon  the 
South,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  war 
in  behalf  of  freedom  against  slavery, 
262  ;  letter  of  Mr.  Seward,  263. 

Price,  General,  agreement  with  General 
Harney,  416 ;  address  to  the  people  of 
Missouri,  421,  422 ;  his  efforts  in  Mis- 
souri, 427,  428  ;  his  enthusiasm,  428  ; 
magnanimity  at  the  battle  of  Spring- 
field, 429. 

Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  on 
April  15,  1861,  an  official  declaration 
of  war,  319  ;  his  words,  319  ;  power 
granted  in  the  Constitution,  how  ex- 
pressed, 320  ;  delegated  to  Congress, 
320  ;  action  of  South  Carolina,  320 ; 
the  State  designated  as  a  combination, 
320;  not  recognized  as  a  State,  320; 
its  effect,  321 ;  reason  of  President 
Lincoln  for  designating  the  State  as  a 
combination,  321 ;  no  authority  to  en- 
ter a  State  on  insurrection  arising,  321 ;' 
words  of  the  Constitution,  321 ;  his 
efforts  to  justify  himself,  322  ;  was  it 
an  insurrection  ?  325. 

Prohibitory  clauses,  relative  to  the  States, 
149. 

Propositions  clearly  established  relative 
to  sovereignty,  157,  158. 

Proposition  of  Major-Gcneral  Polk  to 
the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  397. 

Public  opinion,  how  drifted  from  the 
landmarks  set  up  by  the  sages  and  pa- 
triots who  formed  the  constitutional 
Union,  216. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  member  of  Congress 
from  Massachusetts,  declaration  of  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union  in  1811,  73. 

Quitman,  John  A.,  nominated  for  Gov- 
ernor of  Mississippi,  20;  accepts  and 
subsequently  withdraws,  20. 

Railroads,  insufficient  in  number,  315 ; 
poorly  furnished,  315;  dependent  on 
Northern  foundries,  315. 

Kains,  General  G.  W.,  his  experience, 
316  ;  charged  with  the  manufacture  of 
powder,  316 ;  undertakes  the  manu- 
facture of  powder,  475. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  plan  of  government 
offered  in  the  Convention,  96  ;  his 
views  on  the  coercion  of  a  State,  178. 

Reagan,  J.  H.,  Postmaster-General  under 
Provisional  Constitution,  242. 


Rector,  Governor  of  Arkansas,  reply  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  troops,  412. 

Relay  House,  occupied  by  United  States 
troops,  333. 

Remedy,  The,  invoked  by  Mr.  Calhoun 
189. 

Representatives  of  the  South,  their  pro- 
ceedings at  Washington. 

Republic,  An  American,  nevers  transfers 
or  surrenders  its  sovereignty,  154. 

Republican  {so-called)  Convention  of  I860, 
a  purely  sectional  body,  49  ;  its  selec- 
tion of  candidates,  49  ;  declaration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  49. 

Republican  party,  its  growth,  36 ;  its 
principle,  36;  votes,  36;  of  1860,  its 
principles,  51. 

Republicans,  demand  made  on  them  in 
the  United  States  Senate  for  a  declara- 
tion of  their  policy,  69  ;  no  answer,  69. 

Resolutions,  relating  to  Territories  offered 
by  Senator  Davis,  42 ;  discussion  and 
vote  upon  them,  43 ;  position  of  the 
Senator,  44  ;  adopted  by  Southern  Sen- 
ators, 204  ;  their  significance,  204  ; 
further  efforts  would  be  unavailing, 
205. 

Resolutions  of  1798-99,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  political  edifice  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
385. 

Reserved  poivers  of  the  States,  views  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire, 
146,  147;  declaration  of  New  York, 
147 ;  do.  of  South  Carolina,  147 ;  do. 
of  North  Carolina,  147 ;  do.  of  Rhode 
Island,  148 ;  no  objection  made  to  the 
principle,  148. 

Resumption  of  powers,  etc.,  some  objec- 
tions considered,  180 ;  as  to  new  States, 
180;  every  State  equal,  180;  States 
formed  of  purchased  territory,  181  ; 
allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government 
said  to  be  paramount,  182;  examined, 
182;  the  sovereign  is  the  people,  182; 
the  right  asserted  in  the  ratifications  of 
Virginia,  New  York,  and  Rhode  Island, 
173  ;  effort  to  construe  these  as  declar- 
ing the  right  of  one  people,  174. 

Revolutionary  measures  in  the  extreme, 
acts  of  the  United  States  Government 
in  Missouri,  420. 

Reynolds,  Lieutenant  -  Governor,  ably 
seconds  the  efforts  of  Governor  Jack- 
son in  Missouri,  423. 

Rhode  Island,  the  Constitution  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  the  people,  111;  subse- 
quently ratified,  111;  terms  of  ratifi- 
cation, 111 ;  letter  of  her  Governor  to 
President  Washington  relative  to  her 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


703 


position  as  not  a  member  of  the  new 
Union,  113 ;  her  declaration  on  the 
reserved  powers  of  the  States,  148. 

Rich  Mountain,  West  Virginia,  the  con- 
test at,  338. 

Richmond,  a  campaign  against,  planned 
by  the  enemy,  466. 

Right,  the,  enunciated  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  386 ;  determina- 
tion of  the  States  to  exercise  it,  386 ; 
to  attack  Fort  Sumter,  South  Caro- 
lina a  State,  290 ;  ground  on  which 
the  fort  stood  ceded  in  trust  to  the 
United  States  for  her  defense,  290 ; 
no  other  had  an  interest  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  fort  except  for  aggression 
against  her,  290;  remarks  of  Senator 
Douglas,  290. 

Rights  of  the  States,  assertions  of,  in 
various  quarters,  190;  resolutions  of 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  190;  dec- 
laration on  the  purchase  of  Louisiana, 
190;  on  the  admission  of  the  State, 
190 ;  on  the  annexation  of  Texas,  190. 

Right  of  the  Federal  troops  to  enter  a 
State,  411 ;  words  of  the  Constitution, 
411;  how  could  they  be  sent  to  over- 
rule the  will  of  the  people  ?  411. 

Eoman,  A.  B.,  appointed  Commissioner 
to  United  States,  246. 

Romney,  the  affair  near,  in  June,  1861, 
343. 

"  Rope  of  sand"  the  expression  examined, 
176. 

Scott,  Major-General,  advises  the  evacu- 
ation of  the  forts,  282. 

Seat  of  sovereignty,  never  disturbed  here- 
tofore in  this  country,  154. 

Secession,  the  tendency  of  the  Southern 
movement  to,  60 ;  repeated  instances 
of  the  assertion  of  this  right  in  the 
prior  history  of  the  country,  71 ;  sev- 

*  eral  instances,  71 ;  letters,  71 ;  pro- 
vision made  for,  100;  the  right  of,  to 
be  veiled,  101 ;  a  question  easily  de- 
termined, 168 ;  the  compact  between 
the  States  was  in  the  nature  of  a  part- 
nership, 168 ;  law  of  partnerships, 
168;  formation  of  the  Confederation, 
169  ;  do.  of  the  "  more  perfect  Union," 
169  ;  an  amended  Union  not  a  consoli- 
dation, 169  ;  the  very  powers  of  the 
Federal  Government  and  prohibitions 
to  the  States,  relied  upon  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  centralism  as  incompatible 
with  State  sovereignty,  were  in  force 
under  the  old  Confederation,  170; 
arguments  of   Madison  to  show  that 


the  great  principles  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  Articles  of  Confederation  are 
the  same,  170;  extract,  171 ;  why  was 
it  not  expressly  renounced  if  it  was 
intended  to  surrender  it?  172;  it 
would  have  been  extraordinary  to  put 
in  the  Constitution  a  provision  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  172 ;  in  trea- 
ties there  is  a  provision  for  perpetuity, 
but  the  right  to  dissolve  the  compact 
is  not  less  clearly  understood,  172 ;  the 
movements  which  culminated  in,  began 
before  the  session  of  Congress  of  De- 
cember, 1860,  201 ;  action  of  the  au- 
thor, 201,  202. 

Secession  and  coercion,  views  on,  that  had 
been  held  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
252. 

Secessionists  perse,  number  so  small  as 
not  to  be  felt  in  any  popular  decision, 
301  ;  only  alternative  to  a  surrender  of 
equality  in  the  Union,  301. 

Sectioned  controversy,  the  basis  of,  11 ;  no 
question  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  sla- 
very involved  in  the  earlier,  13. 

Sectional  hostility,  not  the  consequence  of 
any  difference  on  the  abstract  question 
of  slavery,  79 ;  the  offspring  of  sec- 
tional rivalry  and  political  ambition,  79. 

Sectioned  rivalry,  its  efforts  to  prevent 
free  emigration,  29. 

Self-defense,  preparations  for,  326 ;  dec- 
larations of  the  message  to  Congress, 
326;  the  state  of  affairs,  326,  327; 
acts  for  military  purposes  passed,  327 ; 
our  object  and  desire  distinctly  de- 
clared, 327 ;  the  patriotic  devotion  of 
every  portion  of  the  country,  328  ;  se- 
cession of  the  border  States,  328. 

Semmes,  Captain,  afterward  Admiral,  311 ; 
sent  North  to  purchase  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, etc.,  etc.,  311  ;  letter  of  instruc- 
tions, 311. 

Senators,  Southern,  efforts  to  dissuade 
from  aggressive  movements,  204 ;  how 
exerted,  204. 

Separation  made  familiar  to  the  people 
by  agitation,  227. 

Settlement  with  the  United  Stcdes,  views 
relative  to,  245. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  letter  to  Mr.  Dayton  on 
the  views  and  purposes  of  the  United 
States  Government,  262  ;  proceedings 
as  Secretary  of  State  relative  to  our 
Commissioners,  267  ;  his  declarations, 
268 ;  assurances  given,  269  ;  his  rep- 
resentations and  misrepresentations  to 
the  Commissioners,  273,  425  ;  further 
statements,  277. 


704 


INDEX   TO  VOL.   I. 


Seymour,  Horatio,  remarks  relative  to 
coercion,  255. 

Sharkey,  William  L.,  anecdote  of, 
230. 

Sharp  correspondence  between  the  Com- 
missioners from  South  Carolina  and 
President  Buchanan,  214  (see  Appen- 
dix). 

Sherman,  Roger,  his  use  of  the  word 
"  sovereign  "  as  applied  to  the  States, 
144. 

Singleton,  0.  R.,  letter  on  conference  of 
Senators  and  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress from  Mississippi  with  the  Gov- 
ernor, 58. 

Slaves,  importation  forbidden  by  Southern 
States,  4. 

Slave-trade,  interference  with,  by  Congress 
forbidden  in  the  Constitution,  4  ;  im- 
portation forbidden  by  Southern  States, 
4  ;  its  final  abolition,  5. 

Slavery,  a  right  understanding  of  ques- 
tions growing  out  of,  3  ;  existed  at  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
3  ;  occasion  of  diversities,  3  ;  cause  of 
its  abolition,  4 ;  first  petitions  for  abo- 
lition of,  5  ;  question  of  maintenance 
of,  belongs  exclusively  to  the  States, 
6  ;  how  raised  by  zealots  in  the  North, 
6 ;  the  extension  of,  a  term  misleading 
the  opinions  of  the  world,  6 ;  did  not 
imply  the  addition  of  a  single  slave  to 
the  number  existing,  7 ;  signified  dis- 
tribution or  dispersion,  7 ;  no  question 
of  the  right  or  wrong  of,  involved  in 
the  earlier  sectional  controversies,  13  ; 
historical  sketch  of  its  existence  among 
us,  78;  far  from  being  the. cause  of 
the  conflict,  78  ;  only  an  incident,  80; 
a  matter  entirely  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  States,  80  ;  its  existence  and  va- 
lidity distinctly  recognized  by  the  Con- 
stitution, 80. 

Slaves,  message  on  the  employment  of,  in 
the  army,  515  ;  act  passed,  519. 

Smith,  General  E.  K.,  wounded  at  Manas- 
sas, 351. 

South  Carolina  repeals  law  to  prohibit 
importation  of  slaves,  4 ;  instructions 
to  her  representatives  to  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  91 ;  adopts  an  or- 
dinance of  secession,  70 ;  her  repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  withdraw,  70  ; 
action  of  other  States,  71 ;  her  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Federal  Constitution,  108  ; 
her  declaration  on  the  reserved  powers 
of  the  States,  147;  conditions  of  her 
cession  of  sites  for  ports  in  Charleston 
Harbor  to  United  States,  210  ;  any  de- 


lay by  her  to  secede  could  not  have 
changed  the  result,  300  ;  nature  of  her 
act  of  secession,  320. 

South,  Tlie,  growth  of  overweening  con- 
fidence in,  314. 

Southern  manifestations,  cause  of,  after 
the  Presidential  election  of  1860,  53 ; 
their  deliberate  action,  54. 

Southern  people,  in  advance  of  their  lead- 
ers throughout,  199;  their  grounds  to 
hope  there  would  be  no  war,  257 ; 
their  conservative  temper,  258 ;  the 
prevailing  sentiment,  a  cordial  attach- 
ment to  the  Union,  301. 

Southern  States,  only  alternative  to  seek 
security  out  of  the  Union,  85  ;  what 
course  remained  for  them  to  adopt, 
192;  over  sovereigns  there  is  no  com- 
mon judge,  192 ;  their  defenseless  con- 
dition in  1861,  228;  their  calamities  a 
result  of  their  credulous  reliance  on  the 
power  of  the  Constitution,  228 ;  satis- 
fied with  a  Federal  Government  such 
as  their  fathers  had  formed,  439; 
against  the  violations  of  the  Consti- 
tution they  remonstrated,  argued,  and 
finally  appealed  to  the  undelegated 
power  of  the  States,  439 ;  years  of 
fruitless  effort  to  secure  from  their 
Northern  associates  a  faithful  observ- 
ance of  the  compact,  439 ;  a  peaceful 
separation  preferred  to  a  continuance 
in  a  hostile  Union,  439  ;  pleas  for  peace 
met  deceptive  answers,  440. 

Sovereignty  resides  alone  in  the  States, 
26  ;  assertion  of  Story,  141 ;  increased 
the  unnecessary  confusion  of  ideas, 
141 ;  definition  of  Burlamaqui,  141 ; 
sovereignty  seated  in  the  people,  141  ; 
they  can  exercise  it  only  through  the 
State,  141 ;  the  States  were  sovereign 
under  the  articles  of  Confederation, 
142 ;  never  been  divested  of  it,  142 ; 
paradoxical  theories  in  the  United 
States,  142 ;  if  the  people  have  trans- 
ferred their  sovereignty,  to  whom  was 
it  made  ?  143  ;  declaration  of  Motley, 
143 ;  refutation  by  articles  of  Con- 
federation, 143 ;  action  of  Massachu- 
setts, New  Hampshire,  143  ;  declara- 
tions of  Madison,  Hamilton,  and  oth- 
ers, 143,  144 ;  views  of  others,  145  ; 
reservations  in  the  tenth  amendment, 
146 ;  its  meaning,  146  ;  views  of  the 
States  on  signification  of  it,  147,  148. 

Sovereign  will,  two  modes  of  expressing 
known  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
153  ;  an  effort  to  make  it  clear  beyond 
the  possibility  of  misconception,  153; 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


705 


propositions  clearly  established,  157, 
158. 

Special  friends  of  the  Union,  claim  arro- 
gated by  the  abolitionists,  34. 

Springfield,  Missouri,  the  battle  at,  429. 

Squatter  sovereignty,  responsibilities  of 
the  authors  of,  31  ;  its  origin,  36 ; 
when  fully  developed,  38 ;  the  theory 
in  its  application  to  Territories,  40. 

Star  of  the  West,  attempts  to  reenforce 
Fort  Sumter,  217 ;  the  result,  218. 

Statements,  unfounded,  relative  to  the 
election  of  Provisional  President,  236. 

State,  a  suit  against,  views  of  Hamilton, 
162. 

State  seceding,  A,  assumes  control  of  all 
her  defenses  intrusted  to  the  United 
States,  211. 

States,  The,  their  separate  independence 
acknowledged  by  Great  Britain,  47 ;  to 
whom  could  they  have  surrendered 
their  sovereignty,  156 ;  represented  in 
the  Peace  Congress,  248 ;  as  States, 
mentioned  in  the  Constitution  seventy 
times,  130;  ratification  by,  alone  gave 
validity  to  the  Constitution,  132  ;  have 
never  been  divested  of  sovereignty,  142. 

States  Rights  party  of  1860,  its  princi- 
ples, 51. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  elected  Vice- 
President  of  the  Confederate  States, 
230  ;  remarks  on  the  permanent  Consti- 
tution, 258. 

St.  John,  General,  appointed  commissary- 
general  of  subsistence,  318  ;  his  report, 
318. 

Story,  Judge  Joseph,  a  question  asked  by 
him,  132 ;  its  answer,  132. 

Stuart,  General  J.  E.  B.,  activity  and 
vigilance  in  Virginia,  344. 

Subjugation  ;  the  measures  of  the  United 
States  Government  in  Missouri  designed 
for  the  subjugation  of  the  State,  423. 

Sumter,  Fort,  correspondence  relative  to 
occupancy  of,  between  Colonel  I.  W. 
Hayne  and  President  Buchanan,  219  ; 
state  of  affairs  relative  to,  after  the 
inauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  267 ; 
pledges  given  relative  to,  269  ;  proceed- 
ings of  G.  V.  Fox  relative  to  reenforc- 
ing  and  furnishing  supplies  to,  271 ; 
official  notification  from  Washington, 
274 ;  correspondence  relative  to  bom- 
bardment of,  285,  286  ;  do.  relative  to 
evacuation  of,  288 ;  the  right  to  claim 
it  as  public  property  is  untenable,  apart 
from  a  claim  of  coercive  control  over 
the  State,  290  ;  the  right  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  coerce  a  State  to  sub- 

45 


mission,  291 ;  no  hope  of  peaceful 
settlement  existed,  291 ;  repeated  at- 
tempts at  negotiation,  291 ;  met  by  eva- 
sion, prevarication,  and  perfidy,  291 ; 
the  right  to  demand  that  there  should 
be  no  hostile  grip  pending  a  settle- 
ment, 291 ;  the  forbearance  of  the  Con- 
federate Government  unexampled,  292 ; 
he  who  makes  the  assault  is  not  neces- 
sarily the  one  who  strikes  the  first 
blow,  292 ;  the  attempt  to  represent 
us  as  the  aggressors  unfounded,  292 ; 
"  firing  on  the  flag,"  292  ;  idea  of  the 
commander  of  the  Pawnee,  292 ;  re- 
mark of  Greeley,  293 ;  the  conflict, 
293 ;  nobody  injured,  293 ;  extract 
from  Mr.  Lincoln's  message,  294 ;  re- 
ply, 294 ;  a  word  from  him  would  have 
relieved  the  hungry,  294 ;  suppose  the 
Confederate  authorities  had  consent  to 
supplies  for  the  garrison,  294 ;  what 
would  have  been  the  next  step,  294 ; 
what  reliance  could  be  placed  on  his 
assurances,  294 ;  fire  upon,  opened  by 
General  Beauregard,  293  ;  the  conflict, 
293  ;  final  surrender,  293  ;  an  incident 
of  ex-Senator  Wigfall,  293 ;  terms  of 
surrender,  293  ;  bombardment  in  anti- 
cipation of  the  fleet,  296. 

Supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  considera- 
tions conducing  to  a  clearer  under- 
standing of,  150  ;  declared  to  be  in  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  not  in  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  151. 

Supremacy,  State,  the  controlling  idea  in 
the  Confederate  army  bill,  304  ;  arms 
and  munitions  within  the  several  States 
were  considered  as  belonging  to  them, 
305 ;  the  forces  could  only  be  drawn 
from  the  several  States  by  their  con- 
sent, 305  ;  the  system  of  organization, 
305  ;  provision  for  the  discharge  of  the 
forces,  305  ;  the  act  to  provide  for  the 
public  defense,  305 ;  the  law  for  the 
establishment  and  organization  of  the 
army  of  the  Confederate  States,  306  ; 
wish  and  object  of  the  Government  were 
peace,  306 ;  provisions  of  the  act,  306. 

Taney,  Chief -Justice,  remark  in  the  Dred 
Scott  case,  84. 

Tariff  laws,  enacted  for  protection  against 
foreign  competition,  32 ;  a  burden  on 
the  Southern  States,  32 ;  a  most  pro- 
lific source  of  sectional  strife,  498  ;  its 
early  history,  498  ;  policy  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government  with  the  colonies, 
499  ;  a  difficulty  in  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  499 ;    progress   after  the 


706 


INDEX  TO  VOL.   I. 


formation  of  the  Union,  500 ;  all  laws 
based  on  the  principle  of  duties  for 
revenue,  500 ;  the  first  time  a  tariff 
law  had  protection  for  its  object,  it  for 
the  first  time  produced  discontent,  501 ; 
geographical  differences  between  North 
and  South,  501 ;  legislation  for  the 
benefit  of  Northern  manufactures  a 
Northern  policy,  501 ;  the  controversy 
quadrennially  renewed,  502  ;  motion  of 
Mr.  Drayton,  of  South  Carolina,  502 ; 
progress  of  parties,  503 ;  position  of 
Southern  representatives,  503 ;  other 
causes,  503  ;  general  effect  on  the  char- 
acter of  our  institutions,  504. 

Texas,  her  division,  how  effected,  16 ; 
compared  with  California,  16. 

Taxation,  the  system  of  measures  for, 
493  ;  objects  of  taxation,  494 ;  direct 
taxes,  494 ;  obstacle  to  the  levy  of 
these  taxes,  495. 

Thayer,  James  S.,  speech  of,  in  New 
York,  on  the  attempt  to  coerce  a  State, 
254. 

Thirteen,  Senate  Committee  of,  conse- 
quences of  their  failure  to  come  to  an 
agreement,  199. 

Thoroughfare  Gap,  meat-packing  estab- 
lishment at,  462. 

Toombs,  Robert,  Secretary  of  State  under 
Provisional  Constitution,  242. 

Townsend,  Colonel  Frederick,  commands 
Third  Regiment  of  the  enemy's  force  at 
Bethel  Church,  342  ;  his  account  of  the 
combat  at  Bethel  Church,  342. 

Travesty  of  history,  statements  of  a  for- 
eign writer,  201 ;  their  absurdity  shown, 
201. 

Trent,  The  steamer,  seizure  of  our  Com- 
missioners on  board,  470 ;  their  treat- 
ment and  restoration,  470. 

Tribune,  TJie  New  York,  declaration  rela- 
tive to  the  coercion  of  States,  56  ;  its 
declarations  relative  to  coercion,  252. 

Troops,  Southern,  rush  to  Virginia,  300  ; 
also  sent  by  Confederate  Government, 
300. 

Troops  of  the  two  armies,  exemplification 
of  the  difference  before  either  was 
trained  to  war,  342,  343. 

Union,  The,  no  moral  or  sentimental  con- 
siderations involved  in  the  controver- 
sies that  ruptured  the  Union,  6. 

Union,  Dissolution  of  the,  first  threats  or 
warnings  of,  from  New  England,  12  ; 
ground  of  opposition  stated,  12  ;  Colo- 
nel Timothy  Pickering  in  1 803,  71 ;  do. 
in  1804,  72  ;  its  peaceful  character,  72  ; 


declaration  of  Josiah  Quincy  in  Con- 
gress in  1811,  73  ;  action  of  the  House, 
74;  the  celebrated  Hartford  Conven- 
tion, 74 ;  its  proceedings,  74 ;  pub- 
lished report,  74 ;  their  declaration, 
75;  threats  of  Massachusetts  in  1844, 
76. 

Union,  the,  how  to  be  saved,  views  of 
President  Buchanan,  54 ;  declaration 
of  Senator  Calhoun,  55. 

Union,  A  perpetual,  provided  for  in  the 
last  article  of  the  Confederation,  98  ; 
a  serious  difficulty,  98  ;  danger  of  fail- 
ure, 98. 

Union,  A,  necessarily  involves  the  idea 
of  competent  States,  128;  was  not 
formed  to  destroy  the  States,  but  to 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  176;  a 
voluntary  junction  of  free  and  inde- 
pendent States,  439. 

Union  of  the  armies  of  Johnston  and  Beau- 
regard, decided  at  Richmond,  347  ;  or- 
der sent  to  Johnston,  347. 

United  States  Supreme  Court,  decision  of, 
flouted,  denounced,  and  disregarded,85. 

Usurpation,  tendency  to,  in  the  Federal 
Government,  176;  last  effort  to  stay 
the  tide  of,  247  ;  set  on  foot  by  Vir- 
ginia, 247;  an  effort  for  adjustment, 
247  ;  the  Peace  Congress,  248. 

Vattel,  his  views  on  the  sovereignty  of 
a  state,  145. 

Vaughn,  Colonel,  report  of  the  affair 
near  Romney,  in  June,  1861,  343;  a 
notice  of  Vaughn,  344. 

Virginia,  made  efforts  to  prohibit  the 
importation  of  slaves,  4 ;  first  to  pro- 
hibit, 5 ;  her  cession  of  territory  in 
1784,  7;  Ordinance  of  1787,  7;  the 
occasion  of  her  cession  of  territory 
north  of  the  Ohio  River,  47 ;  instruc- 
tions to  her  Commissioners  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  90 ;  long  de- 
bates in  her  Convention,  108 ;  the 
speakers,  108 ;  her  terms  of  ratifica- 
tion, 109  ;  her  cession  of  sites  for  forts 
to  United  States,  210;  act  of  cession, 
211  ;  proposes  a  convention  to  adjust 
existing  controversies,  247 ;  appoints 
commissioners,  247 ;  her  ordinance 
subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  peo- 
ple, 299  ;  forms  a  convention  with  the 
Confederate  States,  299 ;  prompt  to  re- 
claim the  grants  she  had  made  on  the 
appearance  of  President  Lincoln's  proc- 
lamation, 298  ;  passes  an  ordinance  of 
secession,  299 ;  liable  to  be  invaded 
from  north,  east,  and  west,  300 ;  the 


INDEX  TO   VOL.   I. 


707 


forces  assembled  in,  340 ;  divided  into  ' 
three  armies,  340 ;  their  positions,  340 ; 
junction  possible  between  first  and  sec- 
ond, 340 ;  her  history  a  long  course  of 
sacrifices  for  the  benefit  of  her  sister 
States,  440 ;  her  efforts  to  check  disso- 
lution, 440  ;  her  mediations  rejected  in 
the  Peace  Congress,  440 ;  required  to 
furnish  troops  for  subjugation,  or  re- 
claim her  grants  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, 440 ;  one  course  left  consist- 
ent with  her  stainless  reputation,  440  ; 
the  forces  of  the  enemy  around  her, 
440;  Eichmond  threatened,  441. 

Volunteers,  sufficient  secured  during  the 
first  year,  505 ;  laws  relating  to  the 
military  service,  506. 

Walker,  L.  P.,  Secretary  of  War  under 
Provisional  Constitution,  242. 

Walworth,  Chancellor,  remarks  on  the 
coercion  of  the  Southern  States,  255. 

War  of  the  Revolution,  its  causes  were 
grievances  inflicted  on  the  Northern 
colonies,  148  ;  the  South  had  no  mate- 
rial cause  of  complaint,  48. 

War,  the  late  bloody,  the  theory  on  which 
it  was  waged,  160;  proposition  in  the 
Convention  to  incorporate  it  in  the  Con- 
stitution, 160;  not  seconded,  160. 

War  between  the  States,  who  was  respon- 
sible for  ?  440 ;  the  probability  of,  dis- 


cussed by  the  people,  227 ;  opinion 
that  it  would  be  long  and  bloody,  230. 

War-cry,  the,  employed  to  train  the  North- 
ern mind,  29  ;  its  success,  30. 

Washington,  the  great  effort  of  invasion 
to  be  from  that  point,  337 ;  accumula- 
tion of  troops,  337. 

Washington,  George,  his  use  of  the 
word  "  compact  "  as  applied  to  the  Con- 
stitution, 138  ;  repeatedly  refers  to  the 
proposed  Union  as  a  confederacy,  164 ; 
extracts  from  his  letters,  164. 

Washington,  John  A.,  killed  on  a  recon- 
naissance, 436. 

Webster,  Daniel,  remark  of,  at  the  death 
of  Mr.  Calhoun,  1 7  ;  first  to  revive  re- 
futed misconceptions,  128;  a  remark 
of  his,  134  ;  denies  the  Constitution  to 
be  a  compact,  135;  on  the  word  "ac- 
cede," 136;  his  concessions,  137;  de- 
nied what  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire  affirmed,  139 ;  on  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Government,  151;  his 
inconsistent  ideas,  152 ;  his  views 
in  1819,  166;  his  speech  at  Capon 
Springs,  167;  on  the  omission  of  a 
State  to  appoint  Senators,  179. 

Welles,  Gideon,  statement  of  proceed- 
ings in  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  276. 

Wise,  General  Henry  A.,  sent  to  west- 
ern Virginia,  433  ;  his  success,  433. 


END   OF   VOL.    I. 


w 


ELLS  BINDERY  INC. 
ALTWAM,  MASS. 
II  1958