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CH. VI.]

PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS IN CONGRESS.

tem of national banking, its great feature being "to make use of a portion of the national debt as security for the national currency." In providing for the needs of the treasury in the future, Mr. Chase looked to interest-paying loans, thinking it "clearly inexpedient" to increase the present amount of United States notes or currency as tending inevitably to ruinous depreciations.*

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ious at the same time, not to "subjugate" any of the rebellious states, not to interfere with any of their "domestic institutions," and to allow them, just so soon as they laid down their arms, to send representatives to Congress, and enjoy all the privileges and advantages of loyal states. A number of resolutions were introduced, avowing these views and purposes; they were usually disposed of promptly, by being laid on the table or rejected entirely. On the other hand, strongly worded resolutions were proposed, and adopted by large majorities, in support of the government and its policy. Thus, on the 17th of December, Mr. Smith of Kentucky, offered the following resolutions:

"Resolved, That as our country, and the very existence of the best govern. ment ever instituted by man, are imperilled by the most causeless and wicked rebellion that the world has seen, and believing, as we do, 1863. that the only hope of saving this country and preserving this gov

Congress, as we have stated on a previous page, (p. 388), having completed its organization, appointed the usual committees, etc., entered upon its work. Public attention was very much engaged in watching the progress of military and naval affairs; and during the early part of the session there was no occasion for any action, nor any action of special interest or importance. Various resolutions were introduced, some strongly condemnatory of the policy and course of the government, others of a negative, mixed character, and others again highly approving the measures of the president. The opponents of the administration, while urging forward the prosecution of the war, were anx-ernment is by the power of the sword, we are for the most vigorous prosecu tion of the war until the Constitution and laws shall be enforced and obeyed in all parts of the United States; and to that end we oppose any armistice, or intervention, or mediation, or proposi tion for peace, from any quarter, so long as there shall be found a rebel in arms against the government; and we ignore all party names, lines, and issues, and recognize but two parties in this war

* Jeff. Davis, in a very long message to the rebel congress, which met early in December, 1863, indulged himself, as usual, in charges of "consistent perfidy," "savage ferocity," "horrible barbarities," and such

like, and in denouncing "the plundering ruffians" of which the army of the United States was composed. He also enlarged upon the deplorable condition of the

finances of the insurgent states. All efforts by taxation, imposts, etc., had failed, and "the issues of trea sury notes have been increased, until the currency in circulation amounts to more than $600,000,000, or more

than threefold the amount required by the business of the country." The rebel debt was stated by Mr. Mem

minger, secretary of the treasury, to be, in round numbers, $1,000,000,000, of which $800,000,000 were in

treasury notes; probably another year would raise the patriots and traitors.

debt to more than than $2,500,000,000. For Davis's message, the reader can refer to Appleton's " American An ual Cyclopedia" for 1863, pp. 788-799.

VOI IV.-50.

"Resolved, That we hold it to be the duty of Congress to pass all neces

sary bills to supply men and money, and the duty of the people to render every aid in their power to the constituted authorities of the government in the crushing out of the rebellion, and in bringing the leaders thereof to condign punishment.

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Resolved, That our thanks are tendered to our soldiers in the field for their gallantry in defending and upholding the flag of the Union, and defending the great principles dear to every American patriot."

The first resolution was adopted by a vote of 98 to 65; the second and third were also adopted by a vote of 152 and 166; a Mr. B. G. Harris of Maryland being the only negative.*

On the 7th of January, 1864, Mr. Baldwin of Massachusetts, offered the following preamble and resolution:

Union, and no apology but that of conspiracy and treason for any assumption of authority whatever; therefore,

Resolved, That any proposition to negotiate with the rebel leaders at Richmond (sometimes called 'the authorities at Richmond') for a restoration of loy alty and order in those portions of the Republic which have been disorganized by the rebellion, is, in effect, a proposition to recognize the ringleaders of the rebellion as entitled to represent and bind the loyal citizens of the United States whom they oppress, and to give countenance and support to the preten sions of conspiracy and treason; and, therefore, every such proposition should be rejected without hesitation or delay."

The resolution was adopted, by a vote of ayes 88, nays 24. This and the preceding resolutions furnish a fair indication of the spirit and temper of Congress at the time, and also of the probable course of legislation during its first session. At present, we need not dwell upon the subject, or attempt

"Whereas, the organized treason having its headquarters at Richmond, exists in defiant violation of the national Constitution, and has no claim to be treated otherwise than as an outlaw; and whereas, this Richmond combina- to go into details; on a subsequent tion of conspirators and traitors can page we shall have opportunity of giv. |, have no rightful authority over the ing the substance of the action of people of any portion of the national Congress, and the principal measures Union, and no warrant for assuming adopted. control of the political destiny of the people of any state or section of this * A resolution was subsequently offered to expel Mr. Harris for "treasonable language and gross disrespect to the House;" but on the vote being taken, it lacked

a few votes of the two-thirds required. Immediately

Following the course pursued on a former occasion, in giving a résumé of matters of general interest at the termination of 1862, we shall ask the reader to pause here a moment, and noanother resolution was offered declaring him to be "an tice briefly where the country stood, unworthy member of the House," and deserving its se- and what were its condition and prosverest censures, which passed by a vote of 93 to 18. A pects at the close of 1863. In general, as will have been gathered from preceding pages, the state of affairs was encouraging and hopeful. Our armies

similar course was pursued in the case of Alexander Long, of Ohio. Speaker Colfax offered a resolution for his expulsion; but failing a two-thirds vote, Mr. Long

was declared, by resolution, "to be an unworthy memLer of the House of Representatives."

CH. VI.]

COMMERCE AND TRADE AT DATE.

especially in the West, had obtained great and decisive successes.* Missouri was now placed beyond danger of invasion; the rebel power was broken down in Arkansas; the mouth of the Rio Grande having been occupied (p. 373), it had destroyed one of the principal outlets of the rebels to foreign intercourse and trade; the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson had not only cut off the rebel communications with insurgents beyond the Mississippi, but had thrown the great river wide open for commerce and its uses; and the victory at Chattanooga, and the occupation of Eastern Tennessee, had brought under our control the whole state of Tennessee, and portions of Mississippi and Louisiana on the shores of the river. In Virginia, and the region of the Potomac, no change of moment had occurred since the battle of Gettysburg; and in North Carolina, and the states further south, no operations of magnitude had taken place, except the siege of Charleston and the grand naval attack upon its defences.

The commerce and trade of the country were, on the whole, healthy and prosperous during 1863, although not increased to the extent that was ex

pected in consequence of the opening of the Mississippi, the continued occupation of the Atlantic coast of South and North Carolina, and the penetration of our forces into Texas. Extensive and carefully prepared regulations were adopted by the government with

* These were so marked that Mr. Stanton, in his annual report, December, 1863, was able to say:-"The success of our arms during the last year has enabled the department to make a reduction of over $200,000,60) in the war estimate for the ensuing fiscal year."

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reference to trade with the inhabitants within the lines of the army in the insurgent states; but the results were very limited. Foreign commerce was contracted to a great extent in consequence of the improved harvests in Europe and the less demand for our breadstuffs and provisions. The shipping interests had suffered the most severely, because of the continued success of the rebel privateers in burning and destroying American vessels, and the transfer of a vast carrying trade to foreign flags.* This is made strikingly evident, by examining a few figures on the subject. Our foreign carrying trade, in 1860, was valued, under the American flag, at $234,000,000, under foreign flags, at $150,000,000; but, in 1863, it was valued, under the American flag, at about $110,000,000, and under foreign flags, at nearly $300,000,000. The rebel privateers, increased in number to about twenty, had been carrying on, during the year, plundering and burning on a large scale, and with almost incredible audacity. Up to the close of January, 1864, it was reported that some 200 merchant vessels had been destroyed, of which the aggregate ton

"These rovers," as Secretary Wells remarked,

"sailing sometimes under the English and sometimes under the rebel flag, without a port of their own which they can enter, or to which they can send a single prize for adjudication, have roamed the seas, capturing and destroying the commercial ships of a nation at peace with Great Britain and France; but yet, when these corsairs have needed repairs or supplies, they

have experienced no difficulty in procuring them, be cause it had been deemed expedient to recognize the

rebels as belligerents. Not one of the many vessels captured by these rovers has ever been judicially condemned as a legal capture. Wanton destruction has been the object and Jurpose of the captors, who have burnt and destroyed the property of their merchant victims."

nage was estimated to be not less than 90,000. The value of the vessels and cargoes thus wantonly destroyed, was estimated at $13,500,000.*

friendly and cordial character, unless possibly Louis Napoleon's designs in Mexico may be thought to have given rise to some ill feeling. France disa vowed any intention of establishing a monarchical government in Mexico, of taking any measures which might be i considered inimical to the well-under

The diplomatic correspondence with England and France, during the year, had served to bring out clearly the ground taken by our government on the various subjects noticed by Mr. stood policy of the United States in Lincoln at the beginning of his message regard to foreign interference in Ame to Congress in December (p. 386). As rica. For the present, especially dur to England, her course had been felt to ing the continuance of our own difficul be illegal, unfriendly, and unhandsome, ties in putting down the rebellion, our in the extreme; and more than this, government had determined upon a our government had given a significant course of strict neutrality in the war warning that England would be held between France and Mexico; but there responsible for the damage done to our was no sign of willingness to acquiesce commerce by lawless rovers, like the in the imposition of a foreign prince Alabama, and other vessels built at upon the Mexican people by foreign Liverpool, and allowed to set out from arinies. This was shown very plainly thence to prey upon our unprotected merchant marine. It will be seen, by and by, that this warning was meant to be, and was, a reality, which the Eng. lish ministry had to meet fully and fairly. With the French government our relations had continued to be of a

* The principal agent in these piratical exploits was

the Alabama, of which vessel and her doings we have

spoken on a previous page (p. 268). Pollard is disposed to boast of the "few Confederate cruisers which defied the power (of the United States navy), and burnt Yankee vessels even within sight of their commercial marts." Fully one-third of the captures noted above were made by Semmes in the Alabama. The rebel

chronicler also gives vent to the disappointed hatred and scorn of the insurgents, one and all, towards England and the English government, who, under the

pressure of certain plain-spoken words by the United

by a resolution passed by a unanimous vote in the House of Representatives, which, though not acted on in the Senate, undoubtedly expressed the settled sentiment of the people of the United States. The resolution, adopted April 4th, 1864, was as follows:

"Resolved, That the Congress of the United States are unwilling, by silence, to leave the nations of the world under || the impression that they are indifferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpiring in the Republic of Mexico; therefore, they think it fit to declare that it does not accord with the senti ment of the people of the United States to acknowledge a monarchical government erected on the ruins of any

States government, had refused to allow the rams and iron-clads recently built at Liverpool to be fitted out and enter upon their piratical career.-" Third Year of the War," pp. 141-2. See also, for the "Protest and republican government in America, unRemonstrance" of the English government against der the auspices of any European rebel efforts to get cruisers for their purpose in Engpower.' land, Appleton's "American Annual Cyclopædia" for 1864, pp. 556-7.

On the whole, then, at the close of

CH. VI.]

CLOSE OF THE YEAR FAVORABLE.

1863, national affairs were in an encouraging and hopeful condition. Difficulties and trials there were, it is true; and political disputes and animosities, and sharp and bitter criminations and recriminations, were not only annoying hindrances, but productive of mischief to a large extent. Nevertheless, matters in general were in such a shape as that the people were more ready to believe the final triumph of our arms to be not far distant; and the burden on the country, in the immense expenditures and fearful mountain of debt which was being accumulated for future payment, was submitted to with a degree of readiness highly creditable to the patriotism of the people, and affording the best possible proof of their fixed convictions as to the ultimate result of the struggle through which the republic was passing.

As an illustration of the rebel style of talking at this date, and also of what they themselves thought of the position of their affairs, we may, in concluding the present chapter, refer to the speech of a noted secessionist, Robert Toombs. It was made before the legislature of Georgia, at Atlanta, November 9th,

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1863, and presents anything but a flattering picture of the condition of matters in the "Confederacy," while there are, at the same time, the usual rebel braggadocio, inflation of style, and haughty assumption of superiority and right. "I wish I could tell you," he said, "that the sky is bright; but stern duty demands of me rather to tell you truthful things. Maryland

is overawed and overpowered. Kentucky is in the hands of the enemy. Tennessee is overrun, and the Mississippi, from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Balize, is in the hands of the enemy, and thus cutting in twain the great Valley of the Mississippi. The fall of Vicksburg inflicted a terrible blow upon us, and it fell with scarce a blow in its defence. Our islands are lost, our coasts are ravaged, and our seaports captured or threatened. Let us meet the enemy, and if we are true to our selves, true to our sacred cause, we shall triumph, and our land be free. If the last dollar of the country, and the last drop of blood are necessary, take that; for I would rather see this whole country the cemetery of freemen than the habitation of slaves."

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APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI.

I. THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, In and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the president "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and

loyal state governments of several states have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States; and

Whereas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and libeWhereas, A rebellion now exists, whereby the ration of slaves, all upon terms and conditions

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