CHAPTER XIII.

TRUE CAUSES OF THE CONFEDERATE DISASTERS IN THE SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR.-THE ENEMY'S "ANACONDA PLAN."-REBUKES TO THE VANITY OF THE CONFEDERATES.—THE SUM OF THEIR DISASTERS.-INAUGURATION OF THE PERMANENT GOVERNMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.-GLOOMY SCENE IN CAPITOL SQUARE.-PRESIDENT DAVIS' SPEECH. -COMMENTARY OF A RICHMOND JOURNAL.-CAUSES OF POPULAR ANIMATION IN THE CONFEDERACY.-DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENEMY'S DESIGN UPON SLAVERY.-HISTORY OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MEASURES OF LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. HIS EARLY DECLARATION OF NON-INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY.-MR. SEWARD IN 1860.-LINCOLN'S STATEMENT, MARCH 4TH, 1861.-DIPLOMATIO DECLARATION, APRIL, 1861.—EARLY AFFECTATIONS OF LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY.-M'OLELLAN'S ADDRESS.— M'DOWELL'S ORDER.-REVOCATION OF THE EMANCIPATION MEASURES OF FREMONT AND HUNTER. FIRST ACT OF ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION AT WASHINGTON.-LOVEJOY'S RESOLUTION. THE ANTI-SLAVERY CLAUSE IN THE CONFISCATION ACT.-THREE NOTABLE MEASURES OF ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION.-COMMENCEMENT OF THE EMANCIPATION POLICY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.-EXPLANATION OF THE ASCENDANCY OF THE ABOLITION PARTY DURING THE WAR.-THE NEW CONFEDERATE CONGRESS.-ITS VIGOUR.-THE OLD PROVISIONAL CONGRESS.-ITS MEASURES.-ITS ECHOES TO FEDERAL LEGISLATION. THE SEQUESTRATION LAW.-SILLY AND DEMAGOGICAL MILITARY LEGISLATION.—THE SIXTY DAYS' FURLOUGH LAW.-ALARM OF GEN. JOHNSTON.-INDISPOSITION OF CONFEDERATE VOLUNTEERS TO RE-ENLIST.-THE CONSCRIPTION LAW OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.-ITS TIMELY PASSAGE.-ITS PROVISIONS AND EFFECT.-OTHER MILITARY ACTS OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS.-RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY.-DESTRUCTION OF SOUTHERN COTTON AND TOBACCO.-AUTHORIZATION OF PARTISAN SERVICE.-ALTERNATIONS OF CONFEDERATE VICTORY AND DEFEAT.-THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI.-BATTLE OF ELK HORN.-VAN DORN'S COMMAND.-AN OBSTINATE FIGHT.-DEATH OF M'CULLOCH.-THE CONFEDERATE SUCCESS INDECISIVE AND IMPERFECT.-REASONS FOR VAN DORN'S RETREAT.-CONFEDERATE DESIGNS UPON MISSOURI ABANDONED FOR THE PRESENT.-TRANSFER OF VAN DORN'S AND PRICE'S FORCES.-NAVAL FIGHT IN HAMPTON ROADS. THE VIRGINIA AND THE MONITOR.-LACK OF NAVAL ENTERPRISE IN THE CONFEDERACY. THE PRIVATEER SERVICE.-CONSTRUCTION OF THE VIRGINIA.-CONFEDERATE SQUADRON IN THE JAMES RIVER.-FEDERAL FLEET OFF FORTRESS MONROE.-FEARFUL ENTERPRISE OF THE VIRGINIA. SINKING OF THE CUMBERLAND.-GALLANTRY OF HER CREW.-A THRILLING SCENE OF HEROIO DEVOTION.-SURRENDER OF THE CONGRESS.-FRIGHTFUL SCENES OF CARNAGE. PERFIDIOUS CONDUCT OF THE ENEMY.-THE VIRGINIA ENGAGES THE MINNESOTA.-WONDERFUL RESULTS OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHT.-SECOND DAY'S FIGHT.—APPARITION OF THE MONITOR.-A SINGULAR SCENE OF NAVAL COMBAT.-A DRAWN BATTLE.

CONFEDERATE DISASTERS.

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EXCITEMENT ABOUT IRON VESSELS.-DISCUSSION IN THE NEWSPAPERS.-ADDITION OF IRONCLADS TO THE FEDERAL NAVY.—WHAT M'CLELLAN THOUGHT OF THE VIRGINIA.-CAPTURE OF NEWBERN, &C.-OBJECTS OF BURNSIDE'S EXPEDITION.-BRANCH'S COMMAND AT NEW

BERN. THE CONFEDERATE WORKS ON THE NEUSE RIVER.-RETREAT OF BRANCH.-FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF NEWBERN.-CAPTURE OF FORT MACON.-THE ENTIRE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA IN THE POSSESSION OF THE ENEMY.-THE SEA-COAST AN UNIMPORTANT PART OF THE CONFEDERATE DEFENCES.

THE series of disasters that befel the Confederates in the early months of 1862, may be distinctly and sufficiently traced to human causes. Instead of being ascribed to the mysterious dispensations of Providence, they are more properly named as the results of human mismanagement. The first important defeat of the Federal arms on the plains of Manassas was the initial point with the North of an enlarged scheme of war, and it was now simply giving proof of its "Anaconda Plan," and realizing the natural result of those immense preparations it had made by sea and land, to confound its adversary.

The rebukes which were now being administered to the vaingloriousness of the South were neither few nor light. The Confederates had been worsted in almost every engagement that had occurred since the fall of 1861. There had come disaster after disaster, culminating in the fall of Donelson, the occupation of Nashville, the breaking of our centre, the falling back on all sides, the realization of invasion, the imminence of perils which no one dared to name.

No one who lived in Richmond during the war can ever forget these gloomy, miserable days. In the midst of them was to occur the ceremony of the inauguration of the Permanent Government of the Confederate States. It was only a difference of name between two governments, one called Provisional and the other Permanent; for Mr. Davis had been unanimously elected President, and there was no change either of the organic law or of the personnel of the Administration. But the ceremony of the second inauguration of President Davis was one of deep interest to the public; for it was supposed that he might use the occasion to develop a new policy and to reanimate the people. The 22d of February, the day appointed for the inauguration, was memorable for its gloom in Richmond. Rain fell in torrents, and the heavens seemed to be hung with sable. Yet a dense crowd collected, braving the rain-storm in their eager interest to hear the President's speech from the steps of the Capitol. "It was then," said a Richmond paper, "that all eyes were turned to our Chief; that we hung upon his lips, hushing the beating of our heavy hearts that we might catch the word of fire we longed to hear-that syllable of sympathy of which a nation in distress stands so in need. One sentence then of defiance and of cheer-something bold, and warm, and human-had sent a thrill of lightning through the land, and set it ablaze with the fresh and quench

less flame of renewed and never-ending fight. That sentence never came. The people were left to themselves."

The Confederate President offered but little of counsel or encouragement to his distressed countrymen. He declared that the magnified proportions of the war had occasioned serious disasters, and that the effort was impossible to protect the whole of the territory of the Confederate. States, sea-board and inland. To the popular complaint of inefficiency in the departments of the Government, he replied that they had done all which human power and foresight enabled them to accomplish. He lifted up, in conclusion, a piteous, beautiful, appropriate prayer for the favour of Divine providence.

But it is not to be supposed that the people of the Confederacy, although so little cheered or sustained by their rulers, despaired of the war. There were causes, which were rekindling the fiercest flames of war apart from official inspiration at Richmond. The successes of the enemy had but made him more hateful, and strengthened the South in the determination to have done with him forever. They found new causes of animosity; the war had been brought home to their bosoms; they had obtained practical lessons of the enemy's atrocity and his insolent design; and they came to the aid of their Government with new power and a generosity that was quite willing to forget all its short-comings in the past.

One great cause of animated resolution on the part of the Confederate States was the development at Washington of the design upon slavery, now advanced to a point where there could no longer be a doubt of the revengeful and radical nature of the war. The steps by which the Federal Government had reached this point were in a crooked path, and attended by marks of perfidy. It had indeed given to the world on this subject an astounding record of bad faith, calculated to overwhelm the moral sense of the reader as he compares its different parts and approaches its grand conclusion of self-contradiction the most defiant, and deception the most shameless.

Never had there been such an emphatic protest of a political design as that given by Mr. Lincoln on taking the reins of government, declaring that there was no possible intention, no imaginable occasion, no actual desire to interfere with the subject of negro slavery in the States. Mr. Seward, who had been constituted Secretary of State, and who had been Mr. Lincoln's mouth-piece in Congress before the inauguration, had declared there: "Experience in public affairs has confirmed my opinion that domestic slavery existing in any State is wisely left by the Constitution of the United States, exclusively to the care, management, and disposition of that State; and if it were in my power I would not alter the Constitution in that respect." Words could scarcely be more distinct and emphatic; but Mr. Lincoln, in his inauguration address, had seen fit to add to them,

FALSITY OF THE ABOLITIONISTS.

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and, quoting from a former speech, announced to the country: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."

This assurance was again repeated after the commencement of hostilities, as if there was the most anxious purpose to obtain the ear of the Southern people on the subject, and to impress the world with the just and moderate designs of the war. In his letter of April, 1861, to the Federal minister at Paris, intended as a diplomatic circular for the courts of Europe, and an authoritative exposition of the objects and spirit of the war on the Northern side, Mr. Seward, by direction of the President, wrote: "The condition of slavery in the several States will remain just the same, whether it succeeds or fails. The rights of the States, and the condition of every human being in them, will remain subject to exactly the same laws and form of administration, whether the revolution shall succeed or whether it shall fail. Their constitutions and laws and customs, habits and institutions in either case will remain the same. It is hardly necessary to add to this incontestable statement the further fact that the new President, as well as the citizens through whose suffrages he has come into the administration, has always repudiated all designs whatever, and wherever imputed to him and them, of disturbing the system of slavery as it is existing under the Constitution and laws. The case, however, would not be fully presented were I to omit to say that any such effort on his part would be unconstitutional, and all his acts in that direction would be prevented by the judicial authority, even though they were assented to by Congress and the people."

The first acts of the Federal authority in the active prosecution of the war, touching the institution of slavery, were busily conformed to these assurances. They even afforded an extravagant testimony of their sincerity. Fugitive slaves were not only arrested within the Federal military lines and returned to slavery, but were taken in the streets of Washington and returned, by judicial process, to their masters. On the 26th of May, 1861, Gen. McClellan issued an address to the people of Western Virginia, assuring them that not only would the Federal troops abstain from all interference with their slaves, but that they would crush any attempt at servile insurrection. Gen. McDowell issued an order forbidding fugitive slaves from coming into, or being harboured within his lines. When on the 31st of August, 1861, Gen. Fremont, in Missouri, issued an order declaring the negro slaves within his military department to be free men, it was instantly repudiated and nullified at Washington. At a later period, Gen. Hunter, commanding the Department of the South, issued an order putting the States of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida under martial law, and declaring that, as slavery and martial law were incompatible, the

slaves in those States were forever free. Mr. Lincoln set aside this decla ration, and made it an occasion of rebuke to the pragmatical commander, who had thus attempted to extend to political objects the police regulations of armies and camps.

It is remarkable how this affectation of non-interference with slavery was laid aside by successive measures of the Federal Government, until at last it discovered its real purpose of the entire excision of slavery, and Mr. Lincoln fell into the arms of the extreme Abolition party, and adopted the doctrine that the opportunity was to be taken in the prosecution of hostilities to crush out slavery as the main cause of difference, and thus assure the fruit of a permanent peace. The first official display of antislavery sentiment in the war was in the extra session of Congress in July, 1861. Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, proposed a resolution, which was adopted, declaring that it was no part of the duty of Federal soldiers to capture and return fugitive slaves. This measure was apparently reasonable; but it was significant of a badly-disguised sentiment, the consequences of which were soon to be developed. Next to Lovejoy's resolution was that part of the Confiscation Act, which specially provided that any owner of a slave, or any person having a legal claim to his services, who should require or permit such slave to take up arms against, or be in any way employed in military or naval service against the United States, should thereby forfeit all claim to him, any law of a State or of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding.

The advance of the anti-slavery sentiment was now to be rapid and decisive. In the Thirty-seventh Federal Congress, which met at Washington in December, 1861, it accomplished three measures, which put the Government of Mr. Lincoln on the verge of committal to the entire doctrine of Abolitionists, and plainly informed the Southern people of the real animus of the war.

Naval and military officers were prohibited, by an additional article of war, under penalty of dismissal from the service, from employing the forces under their command for the purpose of returning fugitive slaves.

In accordance with the recommendation of the President, a joint resolution was passed, declaring that the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt the gradual abolition of slavery, by giving pecuniary aid to such State.

The third step was the forcible abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. By this act all persons held to service or labour within the District, by reason of African descent, were freed from all claim for such service or labour; and no involuntary servitude, except for crime, and after due conviction, should hereafter exist in the District.

It is not within the design of this chapter or within the period of time which it traverses, to follow further the record of the Washington Govern