The Civil War in America Part 1

The Civil War in America.

by William Howard Russell.

THE MODERN AGE.

In presenting the first number of the _Modern Age_ to the public, I have selected the letters of Mr. Russell, deeming them the most appropriate topic for the times, and worthy of an extensive circulation.

That these letters are written by the most interesting correspondent of the largest, ablest, and most influential paper in the world, is sufficient proof of their merits, and that they come to us "well recommended and properly vouched for."

The universal "desire for more light" in regard to affairs in the South, will find abundant satisfaction in this brilliant and talented correspondence of a writer, whose chirographical experience in the Crimean war, has so eminently fitted him "to render a fair and impartial account" of the Civil War in America.

Number two of the _Modern Age_ will contain another serial of Mr.

Russell's letters, at the close of which I shall introduce popular Orations and occasional Sermons from our most eminent Divines. The princ.i.p.al design of this work is to preserve in the most convenient form the best thoughts, fresh from the lips of our most gifted men: its peculiar character will prevent a regular monthly publication; yet I hope to be able from the many reports, to elect twelve in the course of a year. No pains will be spared in my endeavors to make it the best and most attractive work of its kind in the country, and I trust it will meet with much favor at the hands of a generous public.

G. A. FULLER.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

LETTER I.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, March 29, 1861.

IF the intelligent foreigner, who is supposed to make so many interesting and novel observations on the aspect of the countries he visits, and on the manners of the people among whom he travels, were to visit the United States at this juncture, he would fail to detect any marked indication of the extraordinary crisis which agitates the members of the Great Republic, either at the princ.i.p.al emporium of its commerce, or at the city which claims to be the sole seat of its Government.

Accustomed to the manifestation of violent animosity and great excitement among the nations of Europe during political convulsions, he would be struck with astonishment, if not moved to doubt, when, casting his eyes on the columns of the mult.i.tudinous journals which swarm from every printing-press in the land, he read that the United States were in such throes of mortal agony, that those who knew the const.i.tution of the patient best, were scarce able to prophesy any result except final dissolution. It would require such special acquaintance as only those well versed in the various signs and forms of the dangerous influences which are at work can possess, to appreciate from anything to be seen at New York or Was.h.i.+ngton, the fact that the vast body politic which sprang forth with the thews and sinews of a giant from the womb of rebellion and revolution; which claimed half the New World as its heritage, and reserved the other as the certain reward of future victory; which extended its commerce over every sea, and affronted the antiquity of international law by bold innovations and defiant enumerations of new principles; which seemed to revel in success of doctrines that the experience of the Old World had proved to be untenable, or had rejected as unsuited to the government of mankind; which had developed all the resources of the physical agencies in manufactures, machinery, electricity, and steam, that could give strength, and wealth, and vigor to its frame;--that this mighty Confederation should suddenly be smitten with a desire to tear its limbs asunder, and was only restrained by the palsy that had smitten some of its members. Certainly no notion of the kind could be formed from actual observation of the words and deeds of men in the cities I have visited, or from any source of information, except the casual conversations of fellow travellers, or the startling headings in the newspapers, which have, however, reduced "sensation"

paragraphs and lines to such every-day routine, that the American is no more affected by them than the workman in the proof-house is moved by the constant explosion of cannon. We are accustomed to think the Americans a very excitable people; their personal conflicts, their rapid transitions of feeling, the accounts of their public demonstrations, their energetic expressions, their love of popular a.s.semblies, and the cultivation of the arts, which excite their pa.s.sions, are favorable to that notion. But New York seems full of divine calm and human phlegm. A panic in Wall Street would, doubtless, create greater external disturbance than seemed to me to exist in its streets and pleasant mansions. No doubt there is, and must be, very great agitation of feeling, and much apprehension; but to the stranger they are not very patent or visible. An elegant refinement, which almost a.s.sumes the airs of pococuranteism, reigns in society, only broken by the vehement voices of female patriotism, or the denunciations addressed against the provisions of a tariff, which New York seems unanimous in regarding with hostility and dismay. If Rome be burning, there are hundreds of n.o.ble Romans fiddling away in the Fifth Avenue, and in its dependencies, quite satisfied that they cannot join any of the fire companies, and that they are not responsible for the deeds of the "Nero" or "anti-Nero" who applied the torch. They marry, and are given in marriage; they attend their favorite theatres, dramatic or devotional, as the case may be, in the very best coats or bonnets; they eat the largest oysters, drink the best wines, and enjoy the many goods the G.o.ds provide them, unmoved by the daily announcement that Fort Sumter is evacuated, that the South is arming, and the Morrill tariff is ruining the trade of the country. And, as they say, "What can we do?" "We are," they insinuate, "powerless to avert the march of events. We think everybody is wrong. Things were going on very pleasantly when these Abolitionists disturbed the course of trade, and commerce, and speculation with their furious fantasies; and now the South, availing themselves of the opportunity which the blindness of their enemies has afforded them to do what they have wished in their hearts for many a year, start in business for themselves, and will not be readily brought back by the lure of any concession till they find they are unable to get money to pay their way, and resort to measures which may be ruinous to capital, or lead to reconstruction of the Confederation on both sides."

If, pursuing the researches which such remarks suggest, an investigation is made in the same stratum of thought by careful exploration, it will not be long before the miner comes upon matters which he never could have expected to find in that particular gallery. What are the most cherished inst.i.tutions of the Great Republic? If the intelligent foreigner were asked what were the fundamental principles which, guaranteed by, and guaranteeing, their Const.i.tution, the people of the United States admired the most, he would probably reply, "Universal suffrage (with its incidental exercise of vote by ballot), free citizens.h.i.+p, a free press." Probably he would answer correctly in the main, for he would know more of the matter than I do; but if he visited New York for a few days, what would be his amazement to see his best friends shake their heads at the very mention of these grand s.h.i.+bboleths! How would his faith be disturbed when he learnt from some merchant prince that universal suffrage, in its practical working in that city, had handed over the munic.i.p.al government to the most ignorant, if not the most unprincipled men; that it flooded and submerged the landmarks of respectability and station by a tide of barbarous immigrant foreigners; that the press had subst.i.tuted licentiousness for liberty; and that the evils done in New York by these agencies afflicted the whole State! Ingenious theorists might attempt to convince him that the effect of these mischievous elements had been felt at the very centre of the social system, and had led to the separation which, be it temporary or permanent, all Northern Americans deplore.

Few, however, would admit that the failure of Republican inst.i.tutions is by any means involved in the disasters which have fallen on the Commonwealth, even when they freely confess that they desire to modify the Const.i.tution, while they lament the impossibility of doing so in consequence of the very condition of things it has created. It is my firm conviction, forced on my mind by the words of many men of note with whom I have spoken, that they would gladly, if they could, place some limits to their own liberties as far as their fellow-men are concerned, and that they begin to doubt whether a Const.i.tution founded on abstract principles of the equality of mankind can be worked out in huge cities--veritable _cloacae gentium_--however successful it was in the earlier days of the Republic, and as it is in the spa.r.s.ely inhabited rural districts where every inhabitant represents property. These men may be a small minority, but they certainly represent great wealth, much ability, and high intelligence in the State of which I speak. They a.s.sert there is no recuperative power in the Const.i.tution. The sick physician cannot heal himself, for he has caused his own illness, and a Convention, the great nostrum of the fathers of the Republic, is only an appeal from Philip drunk to Philip mad. "_Volumus leges Americae mutari_," is their despairing aspiration, and they justify the wish by contrasts between the state of things which existed when the Const.i.tution was prepared for the thirteen Confederated States and that which prevails at the present time, when thirty-four States, some two or three of which are equal to the original Republic, and many of which declare they are absolute sovereignties; which have absorbed all the nomads of the Old World, with a fair proportion of Genghis Khans, Attilas, and Timours in embryo, present a spectacle which the most sagacious of the framers of the original compact never could have imagined. They are impatient of the ills they have, and are somewhat indifferent to the wondrous and magnificent results in material prosperity and intellectual development which the old system either promoted or caused. New York, however, would do anything rather than fight; her delight is to eat her bread and honey, and count her dollars, in peace. The vigorous, determined hostility of the South to her commercial eminence, is met by a sort of maudlin sympathy without any action, or intention to act. The only matter in which the great commercial aristocracy take any interest is the Morrill tariff, which threatens to inflict on them the most serious losses and calamity.

There is a general expectation that an extra Session of Congress will be called to amend the obnoxious measure; and it is a.s.serted that the necessity for such a Session is imperious; but, so far as I can judge, all such hopes will be disappointed. There is no desire at Was.h.i.+ngton to complicate matters by stormy debates, and the statesmen so recently elevated to power are sufficiently well read in general and in national history to know that extraordinary Parliaments are generally the executioners of those who call them. The representatives of the great protected interests at the capital deny that the tariff will have the injurious effects attributed to it, or that it augments to any very grievous extent the burdens of the New Yorkers or of the foreign manufacturers. Even if it does, they declare that protection is necessary. The ingenious proposals to evade the operation of the tariff by a jugglery of cargoes between the Southern and Northern ports will, they say, be frustrated by the more rigid application of the Revenue and Customs' system, out of which most serious complications must inevitably arise at no distant period. While at New York all is calm doubtfulness or indolent antic.i.p.ation, at Was.h.i.+ngton there is excitement and activity. The aristocracy of New York has yielded itself unresistingly to a tyranny it hates; it cannot wield at will the fierce democracy, and it abandons all efforts to control it, forgetting the abundant proofs in every history of the power of genius, wealth, and superior intelligence to control the heavier ma.s.ses, however wild and difficult of approach.

At Was.h.i.+ngton there is at this moment such a ferment as no other part of the world could exhibit--a spectacle which makes one wonder that any man can be induced to seek for office, or that any Government can be conducted under such a system. The storm which rolled over the capital has, I am told, subsided; but the stranger, unaccustomed to such tempestuous zones, thinks the gale is quite strong enough even in its diminished intensity. All the hotels are full of keen gray-eyed men, who fondly believe their destiny is to fill for four years some pet appointment under Government. The streets are crowded with them; the steamers and the railway carriages, the public departments, the steps of the senators' dwellings, the lobbies of houses, the President's mansion, are crowded with them. From all parts of the vast Union, not even excepting the South, they have come fast as steam or wind and waves could bear them to concentrate in one focus on the devoted head of the President all the myriad influences which, by letter, testimonial, personal application, unceasing canva.s.s, and sleepless solicitation, they can collect together.

Willard's Hotel, a huge caravanserai, is a curious study of character and inst.i.tutions. Every form of speech and every accent under which the English tongue can be recognized, rings through the long corridors in tones of expostulation, anger, or gratification. Crowds of long-limbed, nervous, eager-looking men, in loose black garments, undulating s.h.i.+rt collars, vast conceptions in hatting and booting, angular with doc.u.ments and pregnant with demand, throng every avenue, in spite of the printed notices directing them "to move on from front of the cigar-stand." They are "senator hunters," and every senator has a _clientelle_ more numerous than the most popular young Roman n.o.ble who ever sauntered down the Via Sacra. If one of them ventures out of cover, the cry is raised, and he is immediately run to earth. The printing-presses are busy with endless copies of testimonials, which are hurled at everybody with reckless profusion.

The writing-room of the hotel is full of people preparing statements or writing for "more testimonials," demanding more places, or submitting "extra certificates." The bar-room is full of people inspiring themselves with fresh confidence, or engaged in plots to surprise some place or find one out; and the ladies who are connected with members of the party in power find themselves the centres of irresistible attraction. "Sir," said a gentleman to whom I had letters of introduction, "I know you must be a stranger, because you did not stop me to present these letters in the street."

At the head of the list of persecuted men is the President himself.

Every one has a right to walk into the White House, which is the President's private as well as his official residence. Mr. Lincoln is actuated by the highest motives in the distribution of office. All the vast patronage of tens of thousands of places, from the highest to the lowest, is his; and, instead of submitting the various claims to the heads of departments, the President seeks to investigate them, and to see all the candidates. Even his iron frame and robust const.i.tution are affected by the process, which lasts all day, and is not over in the night or in the morning. The particular _formula_ which he has adopted to show the impossibility of satisfying everybody is by no means accepted by anybody who is disappointed. What is the use of telling a man he can't have a place because a hundred others are asking for it, if that man thinks he is the only one who has a right to get it?

At the very moment when the President and his Cabinet should be left undisturbed to deal with the tremendous questions which have arisen for their action, the roar of office seekers dins every sense, and almost annihilates them. The Senate, which is now sitting merely to confirm appointments, relieving the monotony of executive reviews with odd skirmishes between old political antagonists now and then, will, it is said, rise this week. Around their chamber is the ever-recurring question heard, "Who has got what?" and the answer is never satisfactory to all. This hunting after office, which destroys self-respect when it is the moving motive of any considerable section of a great party, is an innovation which was introduced by General Jackson; but it is likely to be as permanent as the Republic, inasmuch as no candidate dares declare his intention of reverting to the old system. These "spoils," as they are called, are now being distributed by two Governments--the _de jure_ and _de facto_ Government of Was.h.i.+ngton, and the Government erected by the Southern States at Montgomery.

It is difficult for one who has arrived so recently in this country, and who has been subjected to such a variety of statements to come to any very definite conclusion in reference to the great questions which agitate it. But as far as I can I shall form my opinions from what I see, and not from what I hear; and as I shall proceed South in a few days, there is a probability of my being able to ascertain what is the real state of affairs in that direction. As far as I can judge--my conclusion, let it be understood, being drawn from the prevailing opinions of others--"the South will never go back into the Union." On the same day I heard a gentleman of position among the Southern party say, "No concession, no compromise, nothing that can be done or suggested, shall induce us to join any Confederation of which the New England States are members;" and by another gentleman, well known as one of the ablest of the Abolitionists, I was told, "If I could bring back the Southern States by holding up my little finger, I should consider it criminal to do so." The friends of the Union sometimes endeavor to disguise their sorrow and their humiliation at the prospect presented by the Great Republic under the garb of pride in the peculiar excellence of inst.i.tutions which have permitted such a revolution as Secession without the loss of one drop of blood. But concession averts bloodshed.

If I give up my purse to the footpad who presents a pistol at my head I satisfy all his demands, and he must be a sanguinary miscreant if he pulls trigger afterwards. The policeman has, surely, no business to boast of the peculiar excellence, in such a transaction, of the state of things which allows the transfer to take place without bloodshed. A government may be so elastic as, like an overstretched india-rubber band, to have no compressive force whatever; and that very quality is claimed for the Federal Government as excellence by some eminent men whom I have met, and who maintained the thesis, that the United States Government has no right whatever to a.s.sert its authority by force over the people of any State whatever; that, based on the consent of all, it ceases to exist whenever there is dissent,--a doctrine which no one need a.n.a.lyze who understands what are the real uses and ends of Government.

The friends of the existing administration, on the whole, regard the Secession as a temporary aberration, which a "masterly inactivity," the effects of time, inherent weakness, and a strong reaction, of which, they flatter themselves, they see many proofs in the Southern States, will correct. "Let us," they say, "deal with this matter in our own way.

Do not interfere. A recognition of the Secession would be an interference amounting to hostility. In good time the violent men down South will come to their senses, and the treason will die out." They ignore the difficulties which European States may feel in refusing to recognize the principles on which the United States were founded when they find them embodied in a new Confederation, which, so far as we know, may be to all intents and purposes const.i.tuted in an entire independence, and present itself to the world with claims to recognition to which England, at least, having regard to precedents of _de facto_ Governments, could only present an illogical refusal. The hopes of other sections of the Northerners are founded on the want of capital in the Slave States; on the pressure which will come upon them when they have to guard their own frontiers against the wild tribes who have been hitherto repelled at the expense of the whole Union by the Federal troops; on the exigencies of trade, which will compel them to deal with the North, and thereby to enter into friendly relations and ultimate re-alliance. But most impartial people, at least in New York, are of opinion that the South has shaken the dust off her feet, and will never enter the portals of the Union again. She is confident in her own destiny. She feels strong enough to stand alone. She believes her mission is one of extension and conquest--her leaders are men of singular political ability and undaunted resolution. She has but to stretch forth her hand, as she believes, and the Gulf becomes an American lake closed by Cuba. The reality of these visions the South is ready to test, and she would not now forego the trial, which may, indeed, be the work of years, but which she will certainly make. All the considerations which can be urged against her resolves are as nothing in the way of her pa.s.sionate will, and the world may soon see under its eyes the conflict of two republics founded on the same principles, but subjected to influences that produce repulsion as great as exists in two bodies charged with the same electricity. If ever the explosion come it will be tremendous in its results, and distant Europe must feel the shock.

The authorities seem resolved to make a stand at Fort Pickens, notwithstanding the advice of Mr. Dougla.s.s to give it up. They regard it as an important Federal fortress, as indisputably essential for national purposes as Tortugas or Key West. Although United States property has been "occupied," the store vessels of the State seized, and the sovereignty of the seceding States successfully a.s.serted by the appropriation of a.r.s.enals, and money, and war materials, on the part of the local authorities, the Government of Was.h.i.+ngton are content by non-recognition to reserve their own rights in face of the exercise of _force majeure_.

The Chevalier Bertinnati, who has been Charge d'Affaires for the Government of King Victor Emmanuel, has been raised to the rank of Minister, and in that capacity delivered his letters of credence to the President on Wednesday. The letter addressed to the President by the King of Piedmont was couched in terms of much friendliness and sympathy, and Mr. Lincoln's reply was equally warm. There is no display of military preparation to meet the eye either at Was.h.i.+ngton or along the road to it. General Scott, who was to have dined at the President's Cabinet dinner last night, and who was actually in the White House for that purpose, was compelled to leave by indisposition. Any attempt to relieve Fort Sumter would unquestionably be attended with great loss of life; but most Americans readily admit that if they had a foreign force to deal with, no consideration of that kind would stay the hands of the Government. The fort stands on a sand-bank in shallow water, and batteries have been cast up on both sh.o.r.es effectually commanding the whole of the channels for several miles. The military activity and enterprise--I hear the skill as well--of the South have been displayed in the readiness and completeness of their preparations. In Galveston, Texas, Governor Houston, who has resigned, or been deposed, protests, it is said, against the acts of the new Government, and is likely to give them trouble. The telegraph will, however, antic.i.p.ate any news of this sort which I can send you, though its intelligence should be received with many grains of salt. Some people a.s.sert that "the telegraph has caused the Secession," and there is a strong feeling that some restrictions should be placed upon the misuse of it in disseminating false reports.

LETTER II.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, April 1, 1861.

FROM all I have seen and heard, my belief is that the Southern States have gone from the Union, if not forever, at least for such time as will secure for their Government an absolute independence till it be terminated by war, or, if their opponents be right, by the certain processes of internal decay arising from inherent vices in their system, faulty organization, and want of population, vigor, and wealth. That the causes which have led to their secession now agitate the Border States most powerfully with a tendency to follow them is not to be denied by those who watch the course of events, and as these powerful neutrals oscillate to and fro, under the pressure of contending parties and pa.s.sions, the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton and the authorities of the revolting States regard every motion with anxiety; the former fearful lest by word or deed they may repel them forever, the latter more disposed by active demonstrations to determine the ultimate decision in their own favor, and to attach them permanently to the Slave States by resolute declarations of principle. Whatever the results of the Morrill tariff may be, it is probable they must be endured on both sides of the Atlantic, for there is no power in the Government or in the President, as I understand, to modify its provisions, and there is a strong feeling in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet against the extra session, so loudly demanded in New York, and so confidently expected in some parts of the Union.

Nothing but some overwhelming State necessity will overcome that opposition, and, as the magnitude of such an occasion will have to be estimated by those who are vehemently opposed to an extra Congress, it is not likely that anything can occur which will be considered of sufficient gravity by the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton to induce them to encounter the difficulties and dangers they antic.i.p.ate in consequence of the convocation of an extraordinary a.s.semblage of both Houses. Until next December, then, in all probability, the President and his Cabinet will have such control of affairs as is possible in the system of this Government, or in the circ.u.mstances, together with the far more than coordinate responsibility attached to their position as a Federal Government. It is scarcely possible for an Englishman, far less for the native of any State possessing a powerful Executive, to comprehend the limits which are a.s.signed to the powers of the State in this country, or to the extent to which resistance to its authority can be carried by the action of the States supposed to be consenting parties to its Const.i.tution and supporters of its jurisdiction. Take, for instance, what is occurring within a few miles of the seat of the Central Government, across the Potomac. At a certain iron-foundery guns have been cast for the United States Government, which are about to be removed to Fort Monroe, in the State of Virginia, one of the fortresses for the defence of the United States. The Legislature of Virginia sat all night last Sat.u.r.day, and authorized the Governor of that State to call out the public guard in order to prevent by force, if necessary, the removal of those guns, at the same time offering to the contractor the price which he was to have received for them from the Federal Government. Again, at Mobile, where a writ of _habeas corpus_ is sued out on behalf of the master of a vessel, who was seized because he had a cargo of small stores which he intended to sell to the United States men-of-war on observation off Pensacola, the counsel for the State of Florida resists the application on the ground that the prisoner was carrying supplies to an enemy, and that a state of war exists in consequence of the acts of the Federal Government; and the Court, without deciding on the point, discharge the prisoner, in order that it may be freed from responsibility. On the other hand, the Federal Government remits the penalties of forfeiture and fines on the vessel seized by the Custom House at New York for want of proper clearances from Southern ports. The stereotype plates with the words "Evacuation of Fort Sumter" have apparently been worn out, but it is believed on all sides that it will be abandoned by Major Anderson this week, although I heard a member of the Cabinet declare last week that no orders had been issued to that officer to evacuate it. If the opinions of some of the Northern people prevailed, the fort would be retained until it was taken by a.s.sault. The Southern Confederation, secure of Fort Sumter, are now preparing for active operations against Fort Pickens, which protects the entrance to the quondam United States Navy Yard at Pensacola, now in the possession of the troops of Florida; and certain organs of the extreme party in the South have already demanded that the forts at Tortugas and Key West, which are situated far out at sea from the coast, should be surrendered.

The Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln is understood to contain the representatives of three different courses of policy--that trinity of action which generally produces torpid and uncertain motion or complete rest. First, there are those who would, at any risk, vindicate the rights they claim for the Federal Government, and use force, even though it could only, in its most successful application, overrun the States of the South, and compel a temporary submission, without leading to the reestablishment of Federal authority, or the reincorporation of the States with the Union.

Secondly, there are those, men of intellect and capacity, who, dissenting altogether from the doctrines propounded by the leaders of the revolution, and convinced that the separation will not be permanent, see the surest and safest mode of action in the total abstinence from all aggressive a.s.sertion of rights, and in a policy of _laissez aller_ of indeterminate longitude and lat.i.tude. These statesmen believe that, like most revolutions, the secession is the work of the minority, and that a strong party of reaction exists, which will come to the front by and by, "expel the traitors," and return triumphantly with their repentant States into the bosom of the Union. The gentlemen who hold these views have either a more accurate knowledge than the public, are better read in the signs of the times, or have more faith in the efficacy of inaction on the love of Americans for the Union, than is possessed by most of the outer world. The third party is formed of those who are inclined to take the South at their word; to cut the cord at once, believing that the loss would be a gain, and that the Southern Confederation would inflict on itself a most signal retribution for what they consider as the crime of breaking up the Union. Practically, so far as I have gone, I have failed to meet many people who really exhibited any pa.s.sionate attachment to the Union for its own sake, or who pretended to be animated by any strong feelings of regard or admiration for the Government of the United States in itself. The word "Const.i.tution" is forever ringing in one's ears, its "principles" and its authority are continually appealed to, but the end is no nearer. The other day I bought the whole Const.i.tution of the United States, neatly printed, for three halfpence. But the only conclusion I could draw was, that it was better for States not to have Const.i.tutions which could be bought at such very moderate prices. It is rather an inopportune moment for the Professor of the Harvard Law School to send forth his lecture on the Const.i.tution of the United States, and on the differences between it and that of Great Britain. Just as the learned gentleman is glorying in the supremacy of the Judicial body of the United States over Congress, Presidents, and Legislatures, the course of events exhibits that Supreme Court as a mere nullity in the body politic, unable to take cognizance, or unwilling to act in regard to matters which are tearing the Const.i.tution into atoms. No one thinks of appealing to it, or invoking its decision. And, after all, if the Court were to decide, what would be the use of its judgment, if one or other of the two great parties resisted it? The _ultima ratio_ would be the only means by which the decision could be enforced. In the very midst of the hymns which are offered up around the shrines of the Const.i.tution, whether old or mended, all celebrating the powers of the great priestess of the mysteries, there are heretic voices to be heard, which, in addition to other matters, deny that the Supreme Court was ever intended by the Const.i.tution to exercise the sole and signal right of interpreting the Const.i.tution, that it is competent to do so, or that it would be safe to give it the power. Its powers are judicial, not political, and Mr.

Calhoun on that very point said:

"Let it never be forgotten, that if we should absurdly attribute to the Supreme Court the exclusive right of construing the Const.i.tution, there would be, in fact, between the sovereign and subject under such a Government no Const.i.tution, or at least nothing deserving the name, or serving the legitimate object of so sacred an instrument."

The argument revolves in a circle; it ends nowhere, and there seems no solution except such as concession or a sword cut may give.

There are at present in Was.h.i.+ngton two of the three unrecognized Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Southern Government, Mr. Roman and Mr.

Crawford. Judging from the tone of these gentlemen, all idea of returning to the Union, under any circ.u.mstances whatever, has been utterly abandoned. Mr. Forsyth, the third of the Commissioners, who is at present engaged in adjusting certain business of a very important character at New York, is expected back in a few days, and it will then be seen whether the Commissioners consent to walk up and down in the _salles des pas perdus_ any longer. They are armed with full powers on all questions which can come up for settlement. The Government has refused to receive them, or to take any official notice of them whatever; but there is reason to believe that certain propositions and negotiations have been laid before Mr. Seward in a private and unofficial manner, to which no reply of a definite character has been given. Before this letter reaches you, Mr. Yancey, Mr. Mann, and Mr.

Rort will have arrived in Europe to try the temper of the Governments of England and France in reference to the recognition of the Southern States. Both parties have been somewhat startled by the intelligence of an active movement of Spain to gain political ascendancy in St. Domingo; and the news that France and England are sending a combined fleet to these sh.o.r.es, though coming in a very questionable shape, has excited uneasy feeling and some recrimination.

If the Congress is rea.s.sembled, there is much reason to fear an open rupture; if not, another solution may be arrived at. It is unfortunate for the Government that General Scott is suffering at this moment from the infirmities of age, and the effect of the great demands made upon his strength. Mr. Lincoln gave a dinner to his Cabinet on Thursday last, the first of the season, in honor princ.i.p.ally of General Scott; but the veteran General, who had entered the White House, was obliged to leave before dinner was served. There has been a great emigration of candidates and office-hunters from this since I last wrote, some contented, many more grumbling. It is a.s.serted that there never has been such a clean sweep of office-holders since the practice was introduced by General Jackson. If I am rightly informed, the President has the patronage of one hundred and forty thousand places, great and small--some very small.

NIGHT.--The influence of England and of France on the destinies of the Republic is greater than any American patriot would like to admit. It must not be expected, therefore, that there will be any proof of excessive anxiety afforded by the leaders of either party in reference to the course which may be taken by the European Governments in the present crisis; but it is not the less to be apprehended, that an immediate recognition of the confederated independence of the South, or of the doctrine of absolute individual sovereignty on the part of those States, may precipitate the hostile action which, in the event of absolute final separation, seems to be inevitable. To the North it would be a heavy blow and great discouragement, the consequences of which could only be averted by some very violent remedies. Separation without war is scarcely to be expected. The establishment of an independent Republic in the South may, indeed, be effected peaceably; but it is not, humanly speaking, within the limits of any probability that the diverse questions which will arise out of conflicting interests in regard to revenue and State and Federal rights can be settled without an appeal to arms. At the present minute there is nothing to induce a stranger to believe that an effectual resistance could be offered to a vigorous aggressive movement from the South, supposing the means to make it existed either in the adhesion or permission of the Border States. The North, however, is strong in its population, in its wealth, and in its calm. In the hands of the Border States are all the arbitraments of revolution or union, of war or peace. By an unmeaning euphemism the revolution of the South has been called Secession; but the confusion and mischief caused by the euphemistic timidity of statesmen disappear, when the acts of the South are tested by the standard applicable to revolutionary crises; and by that standard alone are those acts intelligible and coherent. Measured in that way, the seizure of property, the deeds and the language of the leaders of the movement, and the acts of the ma.s.ses, can be properly estimated. Mr. Dougla.s.s, whose mental capacity is a splendid justification of his enormous political activity, and of a high political rank--unattached--is understood to be engaged on a vast system for establis.h.i.+ng duties all over the North American continent in the nature of a Zollverein. It is his opinion that the North, in case of separation, must fight the South on the arena of free trade; that the tariff must be completely altered; and that the duties must be lowered from point to point, in proportion as the South bids against the North for the commerce of Europe, till the reduction reaches such a point that the South, forced to raise revenue for the actual expenses of Government, and unable to struggle against the superior wealth of the North in such a contest, is obliged to come to an understanding with its powerful compet.i.tor, and to submit to a treaty of commerce which shall include all the States of the North American continent, from the Isthmus of Panama to the ice of the Arctic Seas. The Canadas are, of course, included in such a project; indeed, it is difficult to say where the means of escaping from their present embarra.s.sment will not be sought by the leading statesmen of America.

But on one point all are agreed. Whatever may happen, the North will insist on a Free Mississippi. It is the very current of life for the trade of myriads of people hundreds of miles from New Orleans. If Louisiana, either as sovereign State or representative agent of the Southern Confederation, attempts to control the navigation of that river, we shall see a most terrible and ruinous war. Let England look to the contingencies.

APRIL, 5.--One month and one day have elapsed since Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet were installed at Was.h.i.+ngton. Long previous to their accession to power or rather to office, the revolution of the South had a.s.sumed the aspect of an independent Government. When the new Administration tried to direct the horses' heads, they found the reins were cut, and all they could do was to sit on the State coach, and take their chance of falling in a soft place, or of the fiery steeds coming to a standstill from exhaustion. A month ago and the State Treasury was nearly exhausted; only some 370,000 was forthcoming to meet demands and requirements four times as large. The navy was scattered all over the world at stations by no means readily accessible, the army posted along frontier lines, between which and the Northern States was interposed the expanse of the Southern Confederation; the officers disaffected to the Government, or at all events so well affected to their individual sovereign States as to feel indisposed to serve the United States; the whole machinery of Government in the hands of the revolutionary leaders, every trace of Federal existence erased in the South, wiped away by acts which, unless justified by successful revolt, would be called treasonable, or by force or stratagem, and only two forts held on the seaboard, weekly garrisoned, and unhappily situated with reference to operations of relief. In addition to these sources of weakness, came the confusion and apprehension caused by divided counsels, want of cohesion, the disorders of a violent national contest, mistrust of adequate support, and above all the imperious necessities of the place-seekers, whose importunate requisitions distracted the attention of the Government from the more important business which presented itself for adjustment. It was, of course, necessary to fill the posts which were occupied by enemies with men devoted to the interests of a Government which could little brook any indifference or treacherous tendencies on the part of its subordinates. But had the Administration been as strong in all respects as any United States Government ever could or can hope to be, in reference to such emergencies as the present, it really could have done little except precipitate a civil war, in which the Border States would have arranged themselves by the side of the Cotton States.

A considerable portion of the North would have been hostile to coercion, and the theories which have been propounded with much apparent approbation respecting the actual uses of Government, its powers and jurisdiction, show that European doctrines on such points are not at all accepted by statesmen, politicians and jurists in North America. Without the means of enforcing an authority which many of its own adherents, and most of the neutral parties denied to it, Mr. Lincoln's Administration finds itself called upon to propound a policy and to proceed to vigorous action. The demand is scarcely reasonable. The policy of such men suddenly lifted to the head of affairs, which they cannot attempt to guide, must be to wait and watch, and their action must be simply tentative as they have no power to put forth with moderate hope of success any aggressive force.

Be satisfied of this--the United States Government will give up no power or possession which it has at present got. By its voluntary act it will surrender nothing whatever. No matter what reports may appear in the papers or in letters, distrust them if they would lead you to believe that Mr. Lincoln is preparing either to abandon what he has now, or to recover that which he has not.

The United States Government is in an att.i.tude of protest; it cannot strike an offensive blow. But, if any attack is made upon it, the Government hopes that it will be strengthened by the indignation of the North and West, to such an extent that it cannot only repel the aggression, but possibly give a stimulus to a great reaction in its favor.

On these principles Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens are held. They are claimed as Federal fortresses. The Stars and Stripes still float over them. Whatever may be said to the contrary, they will remain there till they are removed by the action of the Confederate States. The Commissioners of Mr. Jefferson Davis's Government "have reason to say that if any attempt be made to throw reenforcements into Fort Pickens, unless they receive previous notice of it as promised, it will be a breach of good faith." From all I can learn, no intention of strengthening the fort is at present entertained; but it may be doubted if the attempt would not be made should any favorable opportunity of doing so present itself. All "the movements of troops," of which you will see accounts, are preparations against--not for--aggression. At most they amount to the march of a few companies and guns to various forts, now all but undefended. Fort Was.h.i.+ngton, of which I shall have a few words to say hereafter, was till lately held by a very inadequate force. As a member of the Cabinet said to me, "I could have taken it last week with a little whisky," that potent artillery being applied to the weak defences of the aged Irish artilleryman who const.i.tuted "the garrison." The "formidable military force concentrated in Was.h.i.+ngton,"

of which you may read in the American journals, consists of about 700 men of all arms, as far as I can see, and four bra.s.s field guns. There is a good deal of drumming, fifing, marching, and music going on daily.

I look on and see a small band in gay uniforms, a small body of men in sombre uniforms, varying from fifteen to thirty rank and file, armed, however, with excellent rifles, and a very large standard, pa.s.s by; and next day I read that such and such a company had a parade, and "attracted much admiration by their efficient and soldierly appearance, and the manner in which," &c. But these military companies have no intention of fighting for the Government. Their sympathies are quite undetermined. Formidable as they would be in skirmis.h.i.+ng in the open country, they would be of comparatively little use against regular troops at the outset of the contest, as they have never learnt to act together, and do not aspire to form even battalions. But their existence indicates the strong military tendencies of the people, and the danger of doing anything which might turn them against the Government. Mr.

Lincoln has no power to make war against the South: the Congress alone could give it to him; and that is not likely to be given, because Congress will not be a.s.sembled before the usual time, unless under the pressure of and imperious necessity.