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and in holding conquered territory.

that thus far the portions of territory which, once recov ered, we have most firmly held, are precisely those in which the greatest proportion of colored men are found.. By their assistance our armies will be able permanently to operate in and occupy the country; and in labor for the army in raising its and their own supplies, full occupation can be given them, and with this there will be neither occasion nor temptation to them to emigrate to a northern and less congenial climate. Judging by experience, no colored man will leave his home in the South if protected in that home. All possibility of competition from negro labor in the North is avoided by giving colored men protection and employment upon the soil which they have thus far cultivated, and the right to which has been vacated by the original proprietors, deeply involved in the crimes of treason and rebellion. No great territory has been permanently reduced without depriving the leaders of its people of their lands and property. It is these that give power and influence. Few men have the commanding genius and talent to exercise dangerous influence over their fellow-men without the adventitious aid of money and of property. By striking down this system of compulsory labor, which enables the leaders of the rebellion to control the resources of the people, the rebellion would die of itself.

Slaves employed on
their masters'
lands.

Universal loyalty of the slaves.

"Under no circumstances has any disposition to servile insurrection been exhibited by the colored population in any Southern State, while a strong loyalty to the federal government has been displayed on every occasion and against every discouragement. By the means suggested, the rebellion may be disarmed and subdued swiftly and effectually, and the lives of our own people saved from slaughter on the battle-field. By the occupation of all their ports on the Mis

CHAP. LXIII.]

WEAKNESS OF THE SOUTH.

585

sissippi and the sea-coast, a market will be opened in every rebel state for the industry of our people to supply the wants of the army, and also of a loyal population, in exchange for the valuable products of their labor. Another point of attack is by armed settlements upon the vacant government lands in Florida and Texas. Thousands in the Northern and Western States are impatiently waiting the signal of military movements to plant their homes in the best territory of this continent, and bring it back to the Union as loyal states. So far from the Southern States being invincible, no enemy was ever so vulnerable, if the means at hand are employed against them. If your (the President's) proposition for compensated emancipation and a voluntary return to loyalty be blindly rejected, still the proper appli cation of the means at command of the government can not fail to accomplish the suppression of the rebellion and a restoration of those peaceful relations which were designed to be established forever on this continent by the Union of the States."

Political weakness of the South.

Navy report of 1862.

As respects the navy. Mr. Welles was the Secretary of the Navy during the war. He made a report of its condition on December 1st, 1862, to the following effect:

"Since the commencement of our national difficulties Four great squadfour powerful squadrons have been collectrons collected. ed, organized, and stationed for duty on our maritime frontier, with a rapidity and suddenness which finds no approach to a parallel in previous naval history, and which it is believed no country but our own could have achieved. These squadrons have been incessantly maintaining a strict blockade of such gigantic proportions that eminent foreign statesmen in the highest scenes of legislation did not hesitate, at its commencement, pub

They have comthe South.

Proofs of the completeness of the blockade.

licly to denounce it as a 'material impossibility;' and yet, after this most imposing naval undertaking had been for a period of eighteen months in operation, and after its reach had been effectively extended along pletely blockaded the entire sweep of our Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from the outlet of the Chesapeake to the mouth of the Rio Grande, the same eminent authori ties, with a list in their hands of all the vessels which had evaded or escaped the vigilance of our blockading forces, could not refuse, in their official statements, to admit, with reluctant candor, that the proof of the efficiency of the blockade was conspicuous and wholly conclusive, and that in no previous war had the ports of an enemy's country been so effectively closed by a naval force. But even such testimony was not needed. The proof of the fact abounds in the current price of our Southern staples in the great commercial marts of the world, and more especially in the whole industrial and commercial condition of the insurgent region. It should not be forgotten that no cir cumstance is wanting to attest the magnitude of this greatest of all naval triumphs. The industrial necessi ties and the commercial cupidity of all the principal maritime nations, armed and empowered as they are by the resources of modern invention, are kept at bay. A mul titude of island harbors under foreign jurisdiction, looking nearly upon our shores, and affording the most convenient lurking-places from which illicit commerce may leap forth to its prohibited destination and purpose, are so closely watched as to render the peril of all such ventures far greater than even their enormous gains when successful. And, finally, a vast line of sea-coast, nearly three thousand miles in extent, much of it with a double shore, and nearly honeycombed with inlets and harbors, has been so beleaguered and locked up that the whole

CHAP. LXIII.] SUCCESS OF THE NAVAL OPERATIONS.

Southern commerce no longer exists.

587

immense foreign commerce which was the very life of the industry and opulence of the vast region which it borders has practically ceased to exist."

The secretary then reports that the navy has been organized into, (1), the North Atlantic squadron; (2), the South Atlantic squadron; (3), the Eastern Gulf squadron; (4), the Western Gulf squadron. These great squadrons were on the maritime frontier. Besides them, there were on the interior waters, (5), the Mississippi flotilla; (6), the Potomac flotilla.

nearly opened.

A succinct account is then given of the expeditions undertaken and operations executed by these squadrons, the remark being premised that these were undertaken in addition to the unrelaxing labors of the blockade; the The Mississippi general result being that the Mississippi, the main artery of the great central valley of the Union, with its principal tributaries, embracing many thousand miles of inland navigation, which had been interrupted, was brought under control, except at Vicksburg. Nearly the entire sea-board of the insurgent region, on its main points of commercial and strategic importance, from Norfolk and the outlet of the Chesapeake, through Roanoke, Newbern, and Beaufort, N. C., Port Royal, Tybee, Fernandina, Key West, Pensacola, to New Orleans and Galveston, is practically in our hands, held fast and irrecoverably under the guns of our navy, or else garrisoned and governed by military force.

The Atlantic seaboard nearly seized.

Referring then to the naval operations of the enemy, Naval operations the secretary says: "The rebel armed steamof the enemy. er Sumter, which, after committing depreda tions, was, at the date of my last report, fleeing to escape our cruisers, crossed the Atlantic. She was tracked to Gibraltar, where she has since remained, one of our cruisers

or 290.

vigilantly guarding her from Algeziras. With this exception, no other armed vessel had plundered our commerce or inflicted injury on our countrymen until within The Alabama, a recent period, when a steamer known as 290, or Alabama, built and fitted out in England, her crew composed almost exclusively of British subjects, went forth to prey on our shipping. She has no register, no record, no regular ship's papers, no evidence of transfer. Built in England, she was permitted by the authorities of that country to sail from one of their ports, though informed by the recognized official agents of this government of her character and purposes. As regards the development of the naval force of the Rapid development Republic, the secretary says: "When I entered upon the discharge of my public duties in March, 1861, there were but 42 vessels in commission, and but 76 then attached to the navy have been made available. Most of those in commission were abroad; and of the 7600 seamen in pay of the government, there were, on the 10th of March, 1861, but 207 men in all the ports and receiving-ships on the Atlantic coast to man our ships and protect the navy yards and dépôts, and to aid in suppressing the rising insurrection.

of the navy.

"Neither the expiring administration nor Congress, which had been in session until the 4th of March, had taken measures to increase or strengthen our naval power, notwithstanding the lowering aspect of our public affairs, so that when, a few weeks after the inauguration, I desired Its deficiencies at troops for the protection of the public property at Norfolk and Annapolis, or sailors to man and remove the vessels, neither soldiers nor sailors could be procured. There were no men to man our ships, nor were the few ships at our yards in a condition to be put into immediate service.

the outset.

"The proclamation of April, placing our entire coast,

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