LOSS OF ROANOKE ISLAND. 213 without inquiry, the people presuming on the wisdom of their rulers, and having but little curiosity to penetrate the details of their business, or to violate that singular official reserve which was thrown around the military condition of the Confederacy from the first gun of the war down to the final catastrophe. But such a disaster as that referred to, in which improvidence stared out, and in which an army had been put, as it were, in a mash-trap-in a condition in which it could neither hope for success nor extricate itself from a besetting peril-provoked public inquiry, and demanded an investigation.* A committee was accordingly ordered in the Confederate Congress to report upon the affair of Roanoke Island. It declared that the Secretary of War, Mr. J. P. Benjamin, was responsible for an important defeat of our arms, which might have been safely avoided by him; that he had paid no practical attention to the appeals of Gen. Wise; and that he had, by plain acts of omission, permitted that general and an inconsiderable force to remain to meet at least fifteen thousand men, well armed and equipped. No defence to this charge was ever attempted by Secretary Benjamin or his friends; and the unanimous conclusion of the committee, charging one of President Davis' Cabinet with a matter of the gravest offence known to the laws and the interests of the country, was allowed to remain on the public record without commentary or consequence. The Richmond Enquirer had the following commentary on the Roanoke Island affair. It contains a picture of Confederate improvidence, which was to be repeated at many stages of the war, and to put our scantiness and shiftlessness in frightful contrast with the active zeal and munificeut preparations of the enemy: "On the island no preparations whatever had been made. Col. Shaw's regiment, Col. Jordan's, and three companies of Col. Marten's regiment, had been on the island for months. These regiments numbered, all present, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen. Of these, about one thousand seven hundred were soldiers. There were four hundred and fifty absent and sick, leaving one thousand two hundred and fifty for all duty. From these, five batteries had to be manned, leaving, on the morning of the eighth, only eight hundred and three North Carolina infantry reported for duty. These had not been paid, or clothed, or fed, or drilled. The island had no implements for the labour on the works, no teams but two pair of broken-down mules, and no horses for field-artillery. There were but three pieces of field-artillery-one twenty-four pounder, one eighteen pounder, and one brass howitzer-the mules drew the latter, and the men the heavier pieces through the sand. There was only twelve-pounder ammunition for any of the large pieces. The forts, built on the island before Gen. Wise was assigned to the command, were all in the wrong places-at the north end of the island-leaving all the landings on the south end uncovered by a single battery. No breastworks had been made, and there were no tools to make any-the marshes at the south end of the island had no defensive works upon them. But one steam-tug and two barges were provided, and there were no means of retreat either by tugs or ferry. Thus it will be seen there were provided no means of defence, and still less of escape, though timely notice and a providential warning of twenty-five days had been given." CHAPTER XIII. 66 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'CLELLAN'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 HEROIC DEVOTION. SUPRENDER OF THE CONGRESS.--FRIGHTFUL SCENES OF CARNAGE. -PERFIDIOUS CONDUCT CF THE ENEMY.-THE VIRGINIA ENGAGES THE MINNE. SOTA.--WONDERFUL RESULTS OF THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHT.-SECOND DAY'S FIGHT.-APPA• RITION OF THE MONITOR.-A SINGULAR SCENE OF NAVAL COMBAT.-A DRAWN BATTLE.— CONFEDERATE DISASTERS. 215 EXCITEMENT ABOUT IRON VESSELS.-DISCUSSION IN THE NEWSPAPERS.-ADDITION OF IRON- 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 con found 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. 217 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 hosti'ities, 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 institu tions 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 al. 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 |