LINCOLN'S THEORY; THE WADE-DAVIS BILL. necessary to deny or affirm Sumner's theory, for he considered that the discussion as to whether a State had been out of the Union was academic, vain and profitless. In his proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction issued on December 8, 1863, and in his message of the same day to Congress, he outlined his plan of reconstruction, stating that whenever 10 per cent. of the qualified voters according to the election laws existing before secession should take an oath of fealty to the Constitution and promise to abide by the acts of Congress and by the President's proclamations respecting slaves and should reëstablish a State government republican in form and in no wise contravening said oath, they should be recognized as the true government of the State.* While a large number of the members of Congress approved of this message, it met opposition from the extreme radicals, which did not, however develop in Congress for some time after the reading of the message. The beginning of opposition was started by Henry Winter Davis who moved that the passages in the message relating to reconstruction should be sent to a special committee of which he himself was chairman, and from this committee on February 15, 1864, came a bill requiring a majority of *For the proclamation and message see Richardson, Messages and Papers, vol. vi., pp. 189191, 213-215. See also Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 104-108. For some expressions of approval see Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., p. 109 et seq. 7 the white male citizens to constitute the new State and exacting that the State constitution should prohibit slavery forever. This bill provided also for the election of State officers and of Representatives to Congress practically taking the work out of the President's hands and placing it under Congressional supervision.* On March 22 Davis supported his bill in an energetic speech. He said that Congress alone had the power to revive the National laws in the Southern States and that until Congress recognized a State government organized under its auspices there was no government in the Confederate States except the authority of Congress. There were only three ways of bringing about a reorganization. One was to remove the cause of the war by the prohibition of slavery, but this did not meet with his approval; the next was the President's amnesty proclamation which he denounced as utterly lacking in all the guarantees required; and the third was the plan outlined in his bill for which he made a powerful plea. The bill was extensively debated in the House and on May 4 was passed by a vote of 73 to 59. It was called up in the Senate by Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, who, in supporting it, used much the same argument advanced by Davis in the House. After amendment the bill was returned to *C. E. Chadsey, Struggle between President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction, in Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, vol. viii., No. 1, pp. 18-20. 8 THE WADE-DAVIS MANIFESTO. the House, but that body declined to concur in the Senate amendment and asked for a committee of conference. The Senate then receded from its amendment and on July 4 gave its assent to the bill. Lincoln declined to sign it because he doubted that Congress had authority to act with regard to slavery. A Senator stated that the President himself had prohibited slavery, whereupon Lincoln replied: "I conceive that I may in an emergency do things on military grounds which cannot be done constitutionally by Congress." The Senator afterward asserted to the members of the Cabinet who were with him: "I do not see how any of us can deny and contradict what we have always said, that Congress has no constitutional power over slavery in the States." After full deliberation Lincoln concluded that the bill was too rigid and too restrictive in its provisions to accomplish the work desired. However, being unwilling to reject whatever of practical good might be effected by it, he resolved, a few days after Congress had adjourned, to allow the people to choose from among the methods proposed. Accordingly on July 8 he issued a proclamation stating that he would recognize any State organized under the provisions of the Wade-Davis Bill.* On The great mass of the Republican voters regarded Lincoln's proclamation as the wisest and most practical method of handling the question, but the indignation of the extreme radicals at seeing their work brought to nothing could not be restrained. August 5 Wade and Davis published. a protest addressed "To the Supporters of the Government," bitterly attacking the President. They stated that the President's act was "rash and fatal" that the "authority of Congress is paramount and must be respected; that the whole body of Union men of Congress would not submit to be impeached by him of rash and unconstitutional legislation" and that he must "confine himself to his executive duties - to obey and execute not make the laws. If the supporters of the government fail to insist on this they become responsible for the usurpations which they fail to rebuke, and are justly liable to the indignation of the people whose rights and security, committed to their keeping, they sacrifice. Let them consider the remedy of these usurpations, and, having found it, fearlessly execute it."* tions of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet, vol. i., pp. 359-361; Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress from Lincoln to Garfield, vol. ii., pp. 41-44; Curtis, Constitutional History, vol. ii., pp. 348-349; McCarthy, Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction. * See E. G. Scott, Reconstruction during the Civil War, pp. 274-305 and for text pp. 412-425. The text will be found also in Appleton's Annual Encyclopedia for 1864, pp. 307-310. Excerpts will be found in Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., p. 487 and in Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 125–127. ADAMS PROTEST TO ENGLAND. 9 CHAPTER XXXIX. 1862-1865. NAVAL OPERATIONS. Adams unavailing protest at the building of the Florida — The course of the British ministry in the case of the Alabama The capture of the Florida by the Wachusett - The cruise of the Alabama and her destruction by the Kearsarge - Farragut's victory at the battle of Mobile Bay - The capture of Forts Gaines and Morgan -The surrender of Mobile. * Early in February of 1862 the American minister at London, Charles Francis Adams, called the attention of Earl Russell to the fact that a steam gunboat called the Oreto (afterwards the Florida) was being built in a Liverpool shipyard for the service of the Confederate government.* Russell answered that the vessel was intended for use in Sicily and that there was no good reason to suppose that she was meant for any service hostile to the United States. Adams furnished evidence to show that the claim of being designed for Sicilian service was a mere pretext, but he could not induce Earl Russell to take any steps for the detention of the vessel. Late in March of 1862, the * On Adams' services abroad see Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Life of Charles Francis Adams (1900). On England's attitude in general see Thomas C. Grattan, England and the Disrupted States of America; Montague Bernard, Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain during the American Civil War; Goldwin Smith, England and the War of Secession, in Atlantic Monthly, vol. lxxxix., pp. 303-311 (1902); Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., chap. xxii. Much of the history of the Florida and Alabama is given in the docu ments relating to the Alabama claims which will be spoken of later. Florida was permitted to leave the harbor without interruption, her clearance papers being adroitly made out for the island of Sicily. Once upon the high seas, however, the vessel changed her course and went to Nassau where the authorities were favorable to the Confederacy. The evidence of the Florida's character was so conclusive that in spite of their disinclination to perform the duty, it was impossible to avoid the seizure of the vessel. Judicial proceedings were instituted for her condemnation but she was released, made her way to Mobile in September, and at the close of the year set forth as a privateer under command of J. N. Maffit.* Meanwhile a more serious violation of the friendly obligations of England had taken place. On June 23 Adams notified Earl Russell that a powerful war vessel called the " 290 " was under construction at Liverpool and was nearly ready for departure. One of her owners was Mr. Laird, a member of Parliament, who had * Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. vi., pp. 51-52; Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., pp. 80-81. 10 ENGLAND'S COURSE REGARDING THE ALABAMA. agreed with the Confederate government to build the vessel at Birkenhead on the Mersey at a cost of $250,000. The facts presented by Adams were referred to the Lords' Commissioners who reported in due time that while it was apparent that the vessel was intended for a ship-of-war and was to be sent to some foreign government, there was not sufficient evidence of her destination to warrant detention. Adams then ordered the American consul at Liverpool, Mr. Dudley, to secure all the evidence possible and to submit it to the collector of the port. This was done but the British authorities still claimed that the evidence was insufficient to detain the vessel.* Adams then sent the affidavits, the opinion of a Queen's counsel which he had obtained, and many other papers relating to the case to Earl Russell. These papers were submitted to the law officers of the crown on July 23 and July 26. Sir John Harding, then the Queen's advocate, had been ill and incapacitated for business for some time, and not until July 28 were the papers in the case given attention by the proper officials. On that day the attorney-general and solicitor-general examined the papers and in a report the next day recommended that the Alabama be seized at once. It was then too late for under pretense of a trial trip the "290" had left her moorings and had gone Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., pp. 85-87; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. vi., pp. 53-54. to sea. Adams thereupon telegraphed Captain Craven in command of the United States steamer Tuscarora at Southampton to intercept the "290" at sea but the latter evaded the Tuscarora by passing through the channel to the north of Ireland while her pursuer lay in wait in St. George's channel. The Alabama then proceeded undisturbed to one of the Azore Islands, where, according to a previous arrangment, she awaited the arrival of two British vessels carrying her armament, stores, etc. Meanwhile Captain Raphael Semmes and 24 young naval officers from the Confederacy arrived in Liverpool with commissions to take command. For the sake of prudence Captain Semmes ordered the Alabama to sail for the Azores under command of Captain Butcher while he himself immediately followed as a passenger on an English ship. At the rendezvous the Alabama ran up the Confederate colors, took her name as ordered by the Confederate government, CAPTURE OF THE FLORIDA BY THE WACHUSETT In the spring and summer of 1863 the Florida under J. N. Maffit captured a large number of trading vessels along the American coast and in June one of her tenders entered the harbor of Portland, Maine, and destroyed a United States revenue cutter lying there. The Florida then crossed the Atlantic and took refuge in the harbor of Brest. Late in February of 1864, under command of Lieutenant C. M. Morris, she began another cruise in the West Indies, but captured few prizes and on October 4 anchored in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil. At dawn of the next day the United States steam corvette Wachusett, in command of Napoleon Collins, anchored in the harbor and immediately challenged the Florida to fight, which was declined. Accordingly at 3 o'clock on the morning of October 7 the Wachusett slipped her cable, steered for the Florida and struck her starboard quarter, cutting down her bulwarks, carrying away her mizzen-mast and breaking her main yard. The Wa *See Sinclair, Two Years on the Alabama; Semmes, The Cruise of the Alabama. Other vessels were constructed in England but were not launched in time to be of service to the Confederates. See Bullock, Secret Service of the Confederate States; Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., p. 365 et seq.; Callahan, Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy (1901); Mason, Public Life and Diplomatic Correspondence of James M. Mason (1903). 11 chusett then backed away believing that the Florida would sink from the effects of the blow. A Confederate lieutenant came aboard the Wachusett and surrendered and as the Florida had not sunk a hawser was attached to her and she was towed out to sea by the Wachusett. On discovering this a Brazilian naval vessel fired three shots at the Wachusett, none of which struck and then started in pursuit, but the chase was hopeless and by noon the American vessels had made good their escape. Collins arrived at Hampton Roads on November 12 but on the 28th the Florida foundered while at anchor. Though admitting that Collins had transcended the bounds of international law, the Secretary of State administered a severe rebuke to the Brazilian government for harboring the Florida.* After the Alabama had been armed she entered promptly upon her memorable career. On the afternoon of January 11, 1863, the United States steamer Hatteras, while off the harbor of Galveston, Texas, was ordered to chase a strange sail to the southeastward. The Hatteras immediately set out in pursuit and just after dark came up with what appeared to be a British war steamer. When within range the Alabama speedily avowed herself and poured a broadside into the Hatteras. The latter took fire and Maclay, History of the Navy, vol. ii., pp. 554558; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 128-135. |