VOLUNTEERS. 3 mos. Connecticut 2,775 84,941 Illinois.. 80.000 Iowa.... 968 20,768 Maine... 768 .... both cases the contest was The report of the SecreImportant Action of Congress. with the Slave propagand- tary of War engrossed much Report of the Secro tary of War. ists. It was well to meet attention. It was an able both on one field, to settle forever, if possible, and lucid document. We give those sections the tremendous question lying at the very base which must retain a permanent interest in a of the rebellion—the right of the Slave States record of the war. Upon their statistics and to a separate confederacy, or, if defeated and statements the future commentator and esbrought back into the old Union, their right sayist must rely, to a considerable extent, for to their old representation on "property." data; and no present reader, who would beThe President shrank from courting the double come well informed upon the subject, can afcontest, but this session of Congress assumed ford to pass such official documents with the initiative in its acts—Chapter CXCV. for slight notice. They merit the most attentive Punishment of Treason, Confiscation and Am- consideration. nesty; CXI. for Securing Freedom to all Per- The Secretary presented the following tabusons within the Territories of the United | lar estimate of the forces which were, or had States; LIV. for Abolishing Slavery in the been, in the field: District of Columbia ; XL. for Prohibiting STATES. the Army from Catching Slaves. The first The war. åg'gate. act cited covered the whole ground. Although California... 4,688 4,688 professedly a "military necessity," it is use 2,236 12,400 14.636 Delaware 775 2,000 less to deny that it was any other than the 4,941 expression of the anti-slavery sentiment of Indiana. 4,686 57,332 62,018 the country--it was the final triumph of the 19,800 Kentucky. 15,000 15,000 contest for supremacy inaugurated on the 14,239 15,007 soil of Kansas in 1856-it was the culminat Daryland... 7,000 7,000 ing point in the history of American Slavery. Massachusetts. 3,435 26,760 30,195 The Southern opposition in struggling against Michigan.. 28,550 29,531 4,160 4,160 this Congressional and Executive procedure, Missouri 9,356 22,130 31,456 sought to maintain the old status of Slave New Hampshire.. 10,379 3,063 9,342 12,410 representation, and they registered their de- New Jersey. New York .......... 10,188 100,200 voticn to the South as they had before regis- Ohio..... 110,308 10,236 81,205 tered it in the repeal of the Missouri Compro- Pennsylvania.. 19,199 94,760 113,950 mise act, and in the support of Breckenridge Rhode Island. 1,285 5,898 8,000 8,780 for the Presidency. Virginia 12,000 12,779 We introduce these observations, at this 14,153 point, to indicate the nature of the opposi- Kansas......... 5,000 Colorado......... 1,000 1.000 tion to the Administration which took form Nebraska........ early in the session of 1861–62, as well as to Nevada..... 1,000 1,000 advise the reader of the changes in sentiment New Mexico...... 1,000 1,000 which transpired as the war progressed. District of Columbia.. 2,823 1,000 3,823 Total....... 77,875 640,637 718,313 half the representation of Connecticut. The seven Estimated strength of the “ original”' States of the Confederacy together had regular army, including the a white population of 2,656,481, and for this had new enlistments under act 20,384 thirty-two representatives. The six New England 660,971 States had a population of 3,135,301, yet they had but twenty-five representatives! Here, then, we have The several arms of the service were estimated as follows: Arms of the service. Volunteers. Regulars. Ag gata. fuct of Slave, or “property,' representation in Con. Infantry... 557,208 11,175 gress to the extent of adding fully fifty per cent, to Cavalry... the representation on the actual white population. | Artillery.... 20,380 4,308 [See Vol. I.-pages 27–28 for tables giving the figures Rifles and Sharpshooters.... 8,395 at length, from which each reader may deduce bus Engineers.. own inferences ] 781 Minnesota .... 770 9,600 91,441 7.153 069.383 59,395 24,633 8.305 107 107 Total. 610,637 20,334 660,471 .... men." This constituted the "Ar-1 from our grasp. This reverse, Report of the Secre Report of the Secremy of the Union”—a force however, gave no discouragetary of War. tary of War. one-half greater than Napo ment to our gallant people ; leon called into the field in 1815 to resist the they have crowded into our ranks, and although combined armies of Great Britain, Russia, Aus- large numbers have been necessarily rejected, a tria, Prussia, the German States, &c. In regard cipitate itself upon the foe. The check that we have mighty army in invincible array stands eager to pre. to enlistments the report said: received upon the Potomac has, therefore, but post“At the commencement of this rebellion, inaugu• poned the campaign for a few months. The other rated by the attack upon Fort Sumter, the entire successes of the rebels, though dearly won, were military force at the disposal of the Government was mere affairs, with no important or permanent ad16,006 regulars, principally employed in the West vantages. The possession of Western Virginia and to hold in check marauding Indians. In April, 75,000 the occupation of Hatteras and Beaufort have nobly volunteers were called upon to enlist for three redeemed our transient reverses." months service, and responded with such alacrity This embodied a true statement of those that 77,875 were immediately obtained. Under the “glorious victories vouchsafed to the Southanthority of the act of Congress of July 22, 1861, the States were asked to furnish 500,000 volunteers to ern arms,” so piously referred to by Mr. Daserve for three years, or during the war; and by vis. In regard to the progress of affairs in the act approved the 29th of the same month, the the Border Slave States the Secretary said : addition of 25,000 men to the Regular Army of the " At the date of my last report, the States of Del. United States was authorized. The result is, that aware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri were we have now an army of upwards of 600,000 men. threatened with rebellion. In Delaware, the good If we add to this the number of the discharged three sense and patriotism of the people have triumphed months volunteers, the aggregate force furnished over the unholy schemes of traitors. The people of to the Government since April last exceeds 700,000 Kentucky early pronounced themselves, by an une quivocal declaration at the ballot-box, in favor of Mr. Cameron then referred, with a sense of the Union; and Maryland, notwithstanding the efpride, to the fact that in the war of the Re- forts of bad men in power in the city of Baltimore, volution Massachusetts supplied troops to the when the opportunity of a general election was afextent of 56,000—or more than one in six of forded, under the lead of her brave and patriotio Governor, rebuked by an overwhelming majority her entire population. Should the loyal the traitors who would have led her to destruction. States now furnish forces in that proportion In Missouri, a loyal State Government has been esthe Federal army would embrace over three tablished by the people, thousands of whom have millions of men. He added : rallied to the support of the Federal authority, and, “ The conspiracy against the Government extend in conjunction with troops from other portions of ed over an area of 733,144 square miles, possessing the country, have forced the rebels to retire iuto a coast line of 3,523 miles, and a shore line of 25,414 | the adjoining State. The Government established miles, with an interior boundary line of 7,031 miles in Virginia by the loyal portion of her population is in length. This conspiracy stripped us of arms and in successful operation, and I have no doubt will be munitions, and scattered our Navy to the most dis- sustained by the people of the entire State when. tant quarters of the globe. The effort to restore the ever the thraldom of the rebel forces shall have been Union, which the Government entered on in April removed." last, was the most gigantic endeavor in the history The Secretary, recommending a reconstrucof civil war. The interval of seven months has been tion of the boundaries of the States surroundspent in preparation. ing the National capitals, said: • The history of this rebellion, in common with all “ The geographical position of the metropolis of others, for obvious causes, records the first successes the nation, menaced by the rebels, and required to in favor of the insurgents. The disaster of Bull Run be defended by thousands of our troops, induces me was but the natural consequence of the premature to suggest for consideration the propriety and expe. advance of our brave but undisciplined troops, which diency of a reconstruction of the boundaries of the the impatience of the country demanded. The be- States of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Wistrayal also of our movements hy traitors in our dom and true statesmanship would dictate that the midst enabled the rebels to choose and intrench seat of the National Government for all time to come their position, and by a reenforcement in great should be placed beyond reasonable danger of seiz strength, at the inomeut of victory, to snatch it ure by enemies within, as well as from capture by foes from without. By agree-| they should not be turned over to the enemy is too Report of the Secre. ment between the States nam. plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a lary of War. ed, such as was effected for blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce similar purposes Michigan and Ohio, and by Mis- supplies? The disposition to be made of the slaves souri and Iowa, their boundaries could be so chang- of rebels after the close of the war, can be safely ed as to render the capital more remote than at left to the wisdom and patrotism of Congress. The present from the influence of State Governments representatives of the people will, unquestionably, which have arrayed themselves in rebellion against secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to the Federal authority. To this end, the limits of which they are entitled under the Constitution of the Virginia must be so altered as to make her bounda-country." ries consist of the Blue Ridge on the east and Penn- The Report of the Navy sylvania on the north, leaving those on the south Department possessed an Report of the Nary Department. and west as at present. By this arrangement two interest scarcely second to counties of Maryland (Alleghany and Washington) that claimed for the War Department's exwould be transferred to the jurisdiction of Virginia. position. It stated, at considerable length, All that portion of Virginia which lies between the the extraordinary obstacles encountered in Blue Ridge and Chesapeake Bay could then be added to Maryland, while that portion of the peninsula almost utter paralyzation by secession defec reorganizing that arm of the service after its between the waters of the Chesapeake and the Atlantic, now jointly held by Maryland and Virginia , tion; it reviewed the labor performed during could be incorporated into the State of Delaware the summer and fall of 1861 in blockading A reference to the map will show that these are the coast from Virginia to the Rio Grandegreat natural boundaries, which for all time to in co-operating in the several expeditions come would serve to mark the limits of these which had resulted so gloriously to the cause States. of our arms—in chasing privateers, whose “ To make the protection of the capital com flag, though unrecognized by the nations of plete, in consideration of the large accession of earth, still found admission and all necessary territory which Maryland would receive under the assistance in English ports to render them arrangement proposed, it would be necessary that that State should consent so to modify her constitu- the capture of the rebel emissaries, Mason and exceedingly dangerous and troublesome. To tion as to limit the basis of her representation to her white population. Slidell, the Secretary referred approvingly-“ In this connection, it would be the part of wis- in that respect sanctioning an act which the dom to reannex to the District of Columbia that Executive repudiated. The report gave a portion of its original limits which by act of Congress summary statement of the vessels employed was retroceded to the State of Virginia." up to December 1st. We quote its tables : The conclusion of the Report, as amended “ When the vessels now bollding and purchased, of every by the President,* read : class, are armed, equipped and ready for service, the condi tion of the Navy will be as follows: “ It is already a grave question what shall be done by the slaves who are abandoned by their Number of Vessels. owners on the advance of our troops into South- 6 Ships-of-Line.. 16,094 7 Frigates. . 350 ern territory, as at Beaufort District, in South Caro. 12,104 17 Sloops lina. The number left within our control at that 2 Brigs point is very considerable, and similar cases will 3 Storeships....... probably occur. What shall be done with them? 6 Receiving ships, &c...... 6,340 Can we afford to send them forward to their mas- 6 Screw frigates... 21,400 ters, to be by them armed against us, or used in in 6 First class screw sloops. 11,953 4 First-class side-wheel steam-sloops. 8,003 troducing supplies to maintain the rebellion! Their 8 Second-class screw-sloops 7,593 labor may be useful to us ; withheld from the enemy, 5 Third-class screw-sloops..... 2,406 it lessens his military resources, and withholding 4 Third-class side-wheel steamers.... 1,808 them has no tendency to induce the horrors of in- 2 Steam tenders..... surrection even in the rebel communities. They 1,783 105,271 constitute a rebel resource, and, being such, that Tuns. * See Appendix, page -, for the excised para 26,630 graphs. 20,403 OLD XAVY. Tuns. Guns. 504 16.031 539 342 842 7 8 599 79 PURCHASED VESSEIS. Guns. 166 13 Screw-steamers 175 THE NAVY ESTIMATES. 447 52 49 78 4 460 618 136 Tuns. 52 256 now not less than 22.000 » The Iron Clads' Birth. 18 Ships .... 9,998 | the Mississippi river, was a 24 Schooners... 5,324 The Iron Clads' Birth. success when the Monitor 18 Barks.. 8,432 2 Brigg........ was yet in embryo; and the celebrated Mere rimac, at the Gosport Navy Yard, was a ter71,297 ror strong enough to encourage the Federal VESSKIS CONSTRUCTED. Government to unusual exertions in order to Number of Veggels. Guns. 14 Screw-sloops 98 16,787 complete a battery powerful enough to en23 Gunboats..... 92 11,681 counter the formidable monster puffing and 12 Side-wheel steamers. 48 8,400 3 Iron-clad steamers.......... 18 4,600 snorting around the bay. The sudden ap pearance of the untried Monitor, at a moment 41,448 when the Merrimac was crashing through Making a total of 264 vessels, 2,567 guns, and 218,016 tuns. frigates-of-the-line at her leisure, was one of The aggregate number of seamen in the service on the 4th the most exciting and providential episodes of March last was 7,600. The number of the war. The trial of vulnerability which These figures included followed—the vanquishment of the monster those ordered to be built by the turret of two guns—was the deciding by the special session of Congress. Only three moment in the destiny of naval structures. “ iron clads” were specified. It scarcely seems The little Monitor steamed back to Fortress credible that, with but three of these experi- Monroe, from the contest with her antagonist mental batteries in course of construction, in in the Roads, to give law to the world. December, 1861, the month of December, 1862 To the credit and honor of Secretary should behold, in that species of craft, the Welles be it said, the ideas of Erricson renation's hope against both domestic and ceived full endorsement; and, to his hearty foreign foes. The three iron clads, or, as the co-operation did the country owe the rapid Secretary called them—“armor steamers," completion of the little craft which was deswere the embodiments of ideas which soon tined to revolutionize the navies of the seas. changed the entire aspect of the navies of the With her triumph it may je said with truth world. As in most instances, where a great that the Iron Age had come again. change was to be introduced to the moral The Secretary's estimates The Navy Estimatos. and physical forces of civilization, American for his wants we may apskill and sagacity were the pioneers. Yet, it pend: is to be written that, to the navy proper does * The amount appropriated at the last regular not belong the idea of iron clad vessels. Na- session of Congress for the naval service for the cur. val officers and naval boards reported against rent year was $13,168,675.86. To this was added at the special session in July last $30,446,875.91 – their feasibility. The “Stevens' battery," king for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1862, an ag. which had been constructing for many years, gregate of $43,615,551.77. This sum will not be was rejected, and the examining commission sufficient, however, for the purpose, and therefore of eminent naval men in their report upon it additional appropriations will be necessary. There declared against the practicability of iron will be required to pay for vessels purchased, and clads. The genius of the country, led by for necessary alterations incurred in fitting them for such men as John Erricson, thoroughly naval purposes, the sum of $2,530,000 ; for the puraroused by the great demands of the bour, chase of additional vessels. $2,000,000 ; and for the listened in quiet to the rejection of their iron construction and completion of twenty iron-clad ideas, but pressed their views nevertheless to vessels, $12,000,000—making a total of $ 16,530,00-). their final brilliant endorsement. Naval This sum is independent of the estimates subinitted gun for the next fiscal year, and being required for cornery, naval engineer science, naval construc rent expenses as well as objects of immediate im. tion, naval prejudices—all were cast to the portance, it is desirable should receive early atten. wind in the new era inaugurated. Nor, were tion from Congress. the Confederates behind the mechanics of the • The estimates submitted by this Department for North in skill and foresight. Their “ram,” the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1863, amount to at New Orleans, which had sent such conster- $44,625,665.02, viz : nation to the fleet blockading the passes of For the navy proper... $41,006,630 25 -- For the marine corps........... 1,105,656 77 And there must be added also the For nary yards, hospitals, magazines and mis amount anticipated from the di. cellaneous objects..... 2,423,478 00 20,000,000 00 The Treasury DepartThe Treasury Depart ment report did not make Making the total receipts...... $329,501,994 38 ment Report. its appearance until Dec. On the other hand: 10th, owing to the labor required in its pre- For the first quarter the actual exparation. It was a lengthy document setting penditures were. $98,239,733 09 forth without reserve the condition of the For the second, third and fourth the estimated expenditures, unnation's finances, The Secretary acknow der appropriations already made ledged his great obligations to the bankers for public service, including civil of the country and to the people investing in list, Interior, War and Navy dethe National Loan (7.30 per cents). His partments, and public debt and summary of expenses and estimates were thus interest, are...... 302,035,761 21 tabularized : And the estimated expenditures un“ To obtain a clear understanding of the amount der the additional appropriations for which it will become necessary to resort to fur- now asked for are : ther loans, it is requisite to review the financial For civil service and movement of the Treasury during the whole of the increased interest.$5,166,438 99 last and the first quarter of the current fiscal year, And for the War and and compare, somewhat more closely than has al- Navy Departm'ts. 137,964,488 77 ready been done, the probable wants and probable 143,130,927 76 resources of the Government for the remaining Making a total of actual and esti. three quarters of the current and the whole of the mated expenditures under exfollowing year. isting and asked appropriations “In the July report the Secretary submitted a de of...... ... $543,406,422 07 tailed statement, in part estimated, showing the From which deduct actual and es. receipts for the last fiscal year, ending on the 30th timated receipt, as above stated 329,501,994 38 June, 1861, including the balance in the Treasury at its commencement, to have been $86,972,893.81, Making an apparent amount for and the expenditures to have been $84,577,258.60, which recourse must be had to and the balance to have been $2,355,635.21. Actual loans of...... $213,904,427 68 returns show that the receipt, including balance, “For the fiscal year 1863, commencing on the 1st were $86,835,900.27, the expenditures $84,578,834.47, of July, 1862, and ending on the 30th of June, 1863, and the balance $2,257,065.80. no reliable estimates can be made. It is earnestly “ For the first quarter of the current fiscal year, to be hoped, and, in the judgment of the Secretary, commencing 1st July, 1861, the receipts and expen- not without sufficient grounds, that the present war ditures are ascertained, and for the remaining three may be brought to an auspicious termination before quarters, ending 30th June, 1862, are estimated as midsummer. In that event the provision of rev. follows: enue by taxation, which he has recommended, will For the first quarter the actual re amply suffice for all financial exigencies, without ceipts from customs, lands and resort to additional loans; and not only so, but will miscellaneous sources, including enable the Government to begin at once the redac. the balance of $2,257,065.80, tion of the existing debt. were.... $9,809,731 24 “ It is the part of wisdom, however, to be preFor the second, third and fourth pared for all eventualities, and the Secretary, there. quarters the estimated receipts fore, submits the estimates of the several depart. are.. 27,000,000 00ments for the fiscal year 1863, based on the sup: To these sums must be added the posed continuance of the war, as follows: amount realized from loans in all “ The estimated expenditures are: forms prior to December 1,1861, For the civil list, including foreign intercourse and as already stated...... 197,242,588 14 miscellaneous expenses other than on account of And there must be added also the the public debt.... $23,086,971 23 amount to be realized from addi. For the Interior Department, (Intional loans already authorized.. 75,43 9,975 00 dians and pensions).. 4,102,962 96 |
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