The Great Conspiracy, Complete - John Alexander Logan
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CHAPTER XVI.
"COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE--SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM--ASSERTION BY
CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS--THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY
"MARCHING ON"--ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.--SECRETARY CAMERON
FAVORS ARMING THEM--THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES--HE MODIFIES
CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT--THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT
SEA"--COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS--HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS
PROCLAMATION, 1862--BUELL'S LETTER--CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK,
BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY--LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE--HE
PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION--INTERVIEW
BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--INTERESTING
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT--MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES--VIEWS, ON
COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES,
WICKLIFFE, AND HALL--ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH
HOUSES--HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER--MARYLAND FUGITIVE--SLAVE HUNTERS
PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP--UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED--SICKLES ORDERS THE
SLAVE HUNTERS OFF--DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS
LINES--TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"
CHAPTER XVII.
BORDER--STATE OPPOSITION.
APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL EMANCIPATION
--DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT--THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
OF APPROVAL--GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN
PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION--HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL
TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES--HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL
COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION--GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY
NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE--LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING
FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"--GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS
"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT--"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF
SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"--SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862--GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE THEME
--COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT--THE ABOLITION PRESSURE
UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING--HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE
HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL--THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES
CHAPTER XVIII.
FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN--HE BEGS THEM TO
HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE--PROPOSED AFRICAN COLONY IN
CENTRAL AMERICA--EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862--EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES
FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION--JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES--MCCLELLAN
PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN--HORACE
GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN--THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
"SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS--AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED--MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY--HIS "PARAMOUNT
OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY SLAVERY"
--VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM CHICAGO
--MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION--THE
PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION--"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
COMET"--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY--"A PROCLAMATION OF
LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"--THE PROCLAMATION OF
EMANCIPATION ISSUED--ITS POPULAR RECEPTION--MEETING OF LOYAL GOVERNORS
AT ALTOONA--THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS--HOMAGE TO OUR SOLDIERS--PLEDGED
SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO TRIUMPHANT END--PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF EMANCIPATION--HE SUGGESTS TO
CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE EMANCIPATED BY BORDER STATES
--ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING
THE PROCLAMATION--SUPPLEMENTAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORICAL REVIEW.
COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT--THEIR EVERLASTING GREED AND
RAPACITY--BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS--THEIR UNIFORM GAINS
UNTIL 1861--UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF--FREE TRADE, SLAVERY,
STATES-RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY--"INDEPENDENCE"
THE FIRST OBJECT OF THE WAR--DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE
CONSPIRATORS--LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE--"RIGHT
MAKES MIGHT"--THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD--THE 37TH CONGRESS
--ITS WAR MEASURES--PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY AND REBELLION
CHAPTER XX.
LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR--EDWARD EVERETT'S OPINION
--BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN--IMPOSSIBILITY OF SATISFYING THEIR
REPRESENTATIVES--THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
--PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING--STORMY CONTENTION IN CONGRESS
--CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN--BORDER--STATES "BID" FOR
MR. LINCOLN--THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM--LOVEJOY'S
ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST--SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
--THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED--SNUBBED BY BORDER STATESMEN
--MCCLELLAN'S THREAT--ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT--ARMING THE BLACKS--HOW THE
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN--CABINET SUGGESTIONS--MILITARY
SITUATION--REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD--LINCOLN, AND THE BREAST-WORKS
--WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED--ANTIETAM, AND THE FIAT OF FREEDOM
--BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION--KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ARMED--NEGRO.
"WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"--THE COLORED TROOPS
AT PORT HUDSON--THEIR HEROISM--STIRRING INCIDENTS--AT MILLIKEN'S BEND
--AT FORT WAGNER--AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT RICHMOND--THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS
FURIOUS--OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL BUTLER, ETC.--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO
THE REBEL CONGRESS--ATROCIOUS, COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT BODY
--DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED FREEMAN--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY
ORDER--THE BLOODY BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW--SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE REBELS
--A COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED--ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE REBELS
--SIMILAR SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778--REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
CONSCRIPTING NEGROES--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION--GENERAL LEE'S LETTER
TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT
CHAPTER XXII.
FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING--GLORIOUS
NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST--FALL OF VICKSBURG--GETTYSBURG--LINCOLN'S
GETTYSBURG ORATION--THE DRAFT--THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"--DRAFT RIOTS
IN NEW YORK--LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE SITUATION
--CHATTANOOGA--THE CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS--VALLANDIGHAM'S DEFEAT
--EMANCIPATION AS A "POLITICAL" MEASURE--"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED
IN THE SENATE--THADDEUS STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE
HOUSE--LOVEJOY'S DEATH--ELOQUENT TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE,
GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER
CHAPTER XXIII.
"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION--THE WHOLE VILLANOUS
HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE--SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY WILSON,
HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS--BRILLIANT
ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"--U. S. GRANT, NOW "GENERAL
IN CHIEF"--HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA FRONT--MR.
LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--BORDER--STATE
OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN--MR.
LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A WAR
MEASURE--THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)--THE DEBATE ABLY CLOSED
--THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE
CHAPTER XXIV.
TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
EMANCIPATION TEST--VOTES IN THE HOUSE--ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION--BLUE
PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--LINCOLN'S ANXIETY--CONGRESSIONAL
COPPERHEADS--THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON--SPEECHES OF VOORHEES, WASHBURNE,
AND KELLEY--SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION--"THE UNION AS IT
WAS"--PEACE ON ANY TERMS--VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS--ATTITUDE OF COX,
DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS--NORTHERN
ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS--CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
LEE--500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"--RITUAL AND OATHS OF
THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."--COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT THE NORTH
AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES--SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS DENOUNCE
TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS
CHAPTER XXV.
THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."
THE REBEL MANDATE--"AGITATE THE NORTH!"--OBEDIENT COPPERHEADS--THEIR
DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT--BROOKS, FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON
THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION--EDGERTON'S PEACE RESOLUTIONS
--ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY--ALEXANDER LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND
THEM ALL"--HE PROPOSES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE
--GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON--LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES
IT--SPEAKER COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG--COX AND JULIAN'S
VERBAL DUEL--HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION--EXTRAORDINARY SCENE
IN THE HOUSE--FERNANDO WOOD'S BID--HE SUBSEQUENTLY "WEAKENS"--EXCITING
DEBATE--LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE
CHAPTER XXVI.
"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION--"BEGINNING OF THE END"--THE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT--HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"--KELLOGG
SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY--CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN BOTH
HOUSES--THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED--THE ADMINISTRATION ATTACKED
--THE TARIFF ATTACKED--SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND COX
--PEACE-RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS--GRINNELL AND STEVENS, SCORE COX
AND WOOD--HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT--"ON" TO RICHMOND AND ATLANTA--VIOLENT
DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN--FARNSWORTH'S REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND
OTHERS--ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY--INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENT BURST
--RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE--THE THIRTEENTH
AMENDMENT DEFEATED--ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER--CONGRESS ADJOURNS
CHAPTER XXVII.
SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY--MR. LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION
--ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY--HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE--HORATIO
SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS--THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE
WAR "A FAILURE"--THEIR COPPERHEAD PLATFORM, AND UNION CANDIDATE
--MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE--VICTORIES AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE--FREMONT'S
THIRD PARTY--SUCCESSES OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN--DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE
TANEY--MARYLAND BECOMES "FREE"--MORE UNION VICTORIES--REPUBLICAN
"TIDAL-WAVE" SUCCESS--LINCOLN RE-ELECTED--HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES--AMAZING
CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS--THE DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED--IT BECOMES SIMPLY A
MATTER OF TIME
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
THE WINTER OF 1864--THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE "MARCH TO THE SEA"
--THOMAS AND HOOD--LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT--VICTORIES OF
NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH--MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON THIRTEENTH
AMENDMENT--CONGRESSIONAL RECESS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN STILL WORKING WITH,
THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--ROLLINS'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--THE
THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN--VIGOROUS AND ELOQUENT
DEBATE--SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY, HOLMAN, WOOD, AND
PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT--SPEECHES OF CRESWELL, SCOFIELD,
ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT--RECONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE VOTE
--THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED--EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE--THE GRAND SALUTE TO
LIBERTY--SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN--"THIS ENDS THE JOB"
CHAPTER XXIX.
LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"--PEACE COMMISSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS
--EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR--LINCOLN'S ADVANCES
--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM--THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL
COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET
CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES--FAILURE
--THE MILITARY OUTLOOK--THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE--REBEL DESERTIONS
--"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS--DECLINED--CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.--THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
LINCOLN--A STRANGE OMEN--HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL
CHAPTER XXX.
COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
PROGRESS OF THE WAR--CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865--MEETING, AT CITY
POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN--SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED
--GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"--THE BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE
COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS--UNION ASSAULT ON THE PETERSBURG WORKS--UNION
VICTORY EVERYWHERE--PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND EVACUATED--LEE'S RETREAT CUT
OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK--GRANT ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER--LEE DELAYS
--SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS ARMY, IN A TRAP--THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT
APPOMATTOX--GRANT'S GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS--THE STARVING REBELS
FED WITH UNION RATIONS--SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY--OTHER REBEL FORCES
SURRENDER--THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT--CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--THE
REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"--THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES
CHAPTER XXXI.
ASSASSINATION!
PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND--HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON DAVIS'S
MANSION--RETURN TO WASHINGTON--THE NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER--LINCOLN'S
LAST PUBLIC SPEECH--HIS THEME, "RECONSTRUCTION"--GRANT ARRIVES AT THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING--HIS FOND
HOPES OF THE FUTURE--AN UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT--AT FORD'S THEATRE--THE
LAST ACCLAMATION OF THE PEOPLE--THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE
WORLD--SCULKING, RED HANDED TREASON--THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY
OF THE REBEL AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN--TESTIMONY
AS TO THREE ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN--THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS
"RECEIVE PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"--A NATION'S WRATH--ANDREW
JOHNSON'S VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS--"TREASON MUST BE MADE ODIOUS"
--RECONSTRUCTION
CHAPTER XXXII.
TURNING BACK THE HANDS
"RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH--MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT--THE
FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS--THE SOUTHERN STATES REHABILITATED
BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.--REMOVAL OF REBEL DISABILITIES
--CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS--THE OLD CONSPIRATORS HATCH A NEW CONSPIRACY
--THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED--THE MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN--FRAUD,
BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE PURPOSE--THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID"
BY BLOOD--PEONAGE REPLACES SLAVERY--THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876
--THE TILDEN "BARREL," AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"--THE "FRAUD" CRY--THE OLD
LEADERS DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880--THEIR
FREE-TRADE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN--SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION--EFFECT OF SUCH EFFORTS
--REPUBLICAN MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF--THE "SOLID
SOUTH" SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
--IS THIS STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?
CHAPTER XXXIII.
WHAT NEXT?
THE PRESENT OUTLOOK--COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT--WHAT THE PEOPLE OF
THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE--WHAT IS A "REPUBLICAN FORM OF
GOVERNMENT?"--WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT--THE REASON FOR THE
GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION--PURPOSES OF "THE PEOPLE" IN
CREATING THIS REPUBLIC--THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN" OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE
PURPOSES--THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION
OF THINGS--THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL--THEY
GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST BY THE REBELLION--THEIR GROWING
AGGRESSIVENESS--THE FUTURE--"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
PORTRAITS.
MAPS.
SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.
FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.
FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, SHOWING POSITION OF ARMIES.
EDWARD D. BAKER,
BENJ. F. BUTLER,
J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,
JOHN C. CALHOUN,
HENRY CLAY,
J. J. CRITTENDEN,
HENRY WINTER DAVIS,
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
SIMON CAMERON,
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,
JOHN C. FREMONT,
H. W. HALLECK,
ISAAC W. HAYNE,
PATRICK HENRY,
DAVID HUNTER,
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
THAD. STEVENS,
WM. H. SEWARD,
LYMAN TRUMBULL,
BENJ. F. WADE,
DANIEL WEBSTER,
LOUIS T. WIGFALL.
CHAPTER I.
A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war
of the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to,
and even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the
Independence of the United States of America was at last conceded by
Great Britain. At that time the population of the United States was
about 2,500,000 free whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had
gained our Independence of the Mother Country, but she had left fastened
upon us the curse of Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in
1620 been implanted on the soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was
pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the
Revolution, with greater or less rapidity, according to the surrounding
adaptations of soil, production and climate, to every one of the
thirteen Colonies.
But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as
an existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in
the South and North, who looked upon it as an evil--an inherited evil
--and were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was
that even as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the
Colonies and the Home Government, upon the African Slavery question
--a controversy continuing with more or less vehemence down to the
Declaration of Independence itself.
It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous
evil, that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that
Declaration a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade--a
clause afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance
to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the
importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to
continue it," as well as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern
people, who, though having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty
considerable carriers of them to others" a clause of the great
indictment of King George III., which, since it was not omitted for any
other reason than that just given, shows pretty conclusively that where
the fathers in that Declaration affirmed that "all men are created
equal," they included in the term "men," black as well as white, bond as
well as free; for the clause ran thus: "Determined to keep open a market
where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no
fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise
in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying
of former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of our people with
crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."
[Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a
Royal Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly
prohibited by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775
declared not only a "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural
practice of Slavery in America" as "a practice founded in injustice
and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our Liberties (as well as
lives) but a determination to use our utmost efforts for the
manumission of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and
equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]
During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of
peril to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by
hostile British armies, while in the North-comparatively free of this
element of weakness--disaster after disaster met them. At last,
however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.
The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims
of jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the
Ohio; and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select
Committee appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government
therefor, reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to
govern the territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States
to the United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of
north latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the
thirteen original States and those newly described" as embryo States
thereafter--to be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to
the United States, not only that "they shall forever remain a part of
the United States of America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the
Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
in any of the said States"--and that those fundamental conditions were
"unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress
assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration
is proposed to be made."
But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the
clause prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain
the prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was
equally divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to
retain it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State,
and the Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more"
delegates to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost;
and, as the same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of
all the States--and not simply of those present--the retention of the
clause prohibiting Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great
opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States,
and of settling the question peaceably for all time. Three years
afterward a similar Ordinance, since become famous as "the Ordinance of
'87," for the government of the North-west Territory (from which the
Free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have
since been carved and admitted to the Union) was adopted in Congress by
the unanimous vote of all the eight States present. And the sixth
article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of Compact," which it was
stipulated should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common
consent," was in these words:
"Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person
escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in
any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed,
and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as
aforesaid."
But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the
framing of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different
from the Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the
latter included the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that
north-west of it, this did not; and as a direct consequence of this
failure to include in it the territory south of that river, the States
of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were
subsequently admitted to the Union as Slave States, and thus greatly
augmented their political power. And at a later period it was this
increased political power that secured the admission of still other
Slave States--as Florida, Louisiana and Texas--which enabled the Slave
States to hold the balance of such power as against the original States
that had become Free, and the new Free States of the North-west.