ANTI-COMPROMISE A FINALITY. 363 The Democracy favoring Secession. present condition of the country is owing to the sectional spirit of a great Northern party denying the equality of rights; that the doctrine of coercion, instead of conciliation, is pernicious, and should be resisted, as leading to civil war, and destruction of the moral and commercial interests of the people, and will destroy the Union, and prevent its reconstruction; that the Crittenden Compromise, or something like it, will harmonize opinions; that our Senators and Representatives have failed to meet the requirements of their position; that the Personal Liberty bills should be repealed," &c., &c. So, also, of the Michigan State Democratic Convention, February 7th. In nominating a candidate for Supreme Judge, resolutions were adopted declaring devotion to the Union, opposing coercion, and favoring compromise. But, the drift of public sentiment threatened to overwhelm this class of temporizers. The voice of the people became too stern to doubt its purpose; and, in saying that all hopes of compromise had expired by the middle of February, we feel that the statement will bear the test of any denial which may be made. Speaking for the North-west, an influential journal of Chicago said, (February 11th :) It is important, in tracing the progress of the revolution, to note carefully the gradual changes of public opinion, and the causes which led to those changes; for, in those causes are to be found at once the reasons for the conflict which followed, and the justification for it. If "conciliation" and compromise" failed, there was a reason for it, and that reason will be found in the invincible public opinion of the North gradually brought to bear on Congress and the Peace Convention. "No compromise" soon became the paramount idea in view of the persistent attitude of hostility assumed by the Seceded States, not only in the formation of a new General Government, but in the organizations of armies with which to force the Unionists to an acceptance of the terms which the Slave States might offer. To " conciliate" and "compromise" in the face of force, was to cower before revolution. A prominent DemAnti-Compromise a west, we bid the Reconstruc-ocrat from New York said [see page 348] on tionists defiance. If they want the floors of Congress, "I say, in the presence revolution, they shall have it. If they insist upon of this new and last phase of the secession disunion, they may succeed. But they cannot immovement, that it can have no friends in the prove upon, and they shall not tamper with, the North, it can have no apologists in the North; Constitution, which our forefathers made. Liberty but there will soon be no exception to the with us, and with those for whom we speak, is something more than a sentiment or an idea; it is a general denunciation which it must meet reality-an embodied form-with whom, and for with from the loyal and patriotic citizens of whom, we and they are willing to do battle with this country." He but heralded the uprising tyranny, in whatever form it may appear. The which was soon to marshal its millions under Constitution, as it is, is sufficient for all. That in- the rallying-cry of "The Union, the Constistrument which has borne such beneficent fruit in tution, and the enforcement of the laws!" Finality. "Speaking for the North CHAPTER XXVI. GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE OF DEFENCE. ᎷᎡ. HOLT'S LETTER THE PRESIDENT. ARMY AND NAVY RESIGNATIONS. COMMODORE PORTER'S PATRIOTISM. то INTERESTING STATEMENT. results, if the conspirators were not thwarted. To circumvent them was the purpose had in view by the War Department and General Scott in their disposition of the troops above referred to; and the enemies of the Government saw, by the middle of February, that, as the hope of forcing the North to terms of settlement died out, the ability and determination of the Administration to resist further aggressions increased. If hopes were entertained that Mr. Lincoln never would be inaugurated, they proved delusive in the face of the vigor now manifesting itself in the War and Treasury Departments, as well as in the gathering strength of the spirit of resist ance in the Northern States.. THE centralization of troops at Washing-| to look far enough into the future to read ton, Baltimore, Fortress Monroe, St. Louis, the reinforcements thrown into Pickens and the defences on the Tortugas and at Key West, gave the "friends of the South" extreme unrest. "Coercion" then became their ceaseless cry. It burdened every dispatch to the revolutionary sections, to arouse animosities, and, if possible, to concentrate the still divided sentiment of the South to the one point of "cooperation" and resistance to Federal obstructions to their demands. The Virginia election of delegates to the State Convention, held February 4th, resulted in a large "Union" majority; but, so sedulously had the poison been sown by the conspirators, that many Unionists were only pledged to the Union in event of all demands of the South being complied with. The failure of the Peace Congress was to be the signal for Virginia's secession. That she was predestined to secede, from the earliest stages of the movement, is not more evident in the hearty cooperation given to the plotters against the Government by the Virginian, Floyd, than from the attitude of her two United States Senators, Messrs. Hunter and Mason, as well as of several of her representatives in the Lower House. Though these persons refused to be identified, at first, with the secessionists, their masks soon fell away, and the Southern scheme of confederation found in them its ablest coadjutors-Virginia found in them her most inveterate enemies. The state of the defences and the feeling at the Capital, February 18th, we learn from a communication addressed by Mr. Holt to the President, on that date, in answer to the House resolution of February 11th. It read as follows: "WAR DEPARTMENT, February 18, 1861. 66 } Mr Holt's Letter to the Presivent. "SIR-On the 11th February tion of the President-elect.' and report, I have the honor to state that the body The Charleston Mercury, February 5th, said: "When Virginia comes to our side, she will bring with her the landward-pointing guns of Fortress Monroe and the intrenched City of Washington. The question, we believe, is becoming-on account of the weak position we occupy a military one." An expression which led to their being assembled here will now be which lifted the veil and allowed the North | briefly stated. of troops temporarily transferred to this city is not large, as is assumed by the resolution, though it is a well-appointed corps, and admirably adapted for the preservation of the public peace. The reasons . MR. HOLT'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. Mr. Holt's Letter to the President. "I shall make no comment upon the origin of the revolution which, for the last three months, has been in progress in several of the Southern States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have hastened its advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of the question submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by dealing with the facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause from which they have proceeded. That revolution has been distinguished by a boldness and completeness of success, rarely equaled in the history of civil commotions. Its overthrow of the Federal authority has not only been sudden and widespread, but has been marked by excesses which have alarmed all, and been sources of profound humiliation to a large portion of the American people. Its history is a history of surprises, and treacheries, and ruthless spoliations. The forts of the United States have been captured and garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their ramparts. Its arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public arms they contained appropriated to the use of the captors, while more than half a million of dollars, found in the mint at New Orleans, has been unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana. Officers in command of revenue cutters of the United States have been prevailed on to violate their trusts and surrender the property in their charge; and instead of being branded for their crimes, they, and the vessels they betrayed, have been cordially received into the service of the Seceded States. These movements were attended by yet more discouraging indications of immorality. It was generally believed that this revolution was guided and urged on by men occupying the highest positions in the public service, and, with the responsibilities of an oath to support the Constitution still resting upon their consciences, did not hesitate secretly to plan, and openly to labor for, the dismemberment of the Republic whose honors they enjoyed, and upon whose treasury they were living. As examples of evil are always more potent than those of good, this spectacle of demoralization, on the part of States and statesmen, could not fail to produce the most deplorable consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took courage; in other States adjacent to, and supposed to sympathize, in sense of political wrong, with those referred to, revolutionary schemes were set on foot, and forts and arms of the United States seized; the unchecked prevalence of the revolution, and the intoxication which its triumphs inspired, naturally suggested wilder and yet more desperate enterprises than the conquest of ungarrisoned forts or the plunder of an unguarded mint. At what time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the revolutionary 365 Mr. Holt's Letter to the President. programme is not certainly known; more than six weeks ago the impression had already extensively obtained that a conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors made by men known to be devoted to the revolution to hurry Virginia and Maryland out of the Union were regarded as preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed designs of the revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the conquest of the capital within their limits. It seemed not very indistinctly prefigured in a proclamation made upon the floor of the Senate, without qualification, if not exultantly, that the Union was already dissolved-a proclamation which, however intended, was certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of desperate fortunes or of revolutionary States, a raid upon the capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was entertained by multitudes there can be no doubt, and this belief I fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts of the country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion that such an organization had been formed, but also often furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based. Superadded to these proofs were the oft-repeated declarations of men in high political positions here, and who were known to have intimate affiliations with the revolution, if, indeed, they did not hold its reins in their hands, to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would not, or should not, be inaugurated at Washington. Such declarations from such men could not be treated as empty bluster. They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary victories gained over their country's flag in the South, felt assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a Southern journal of large cir culation and influence, and which is published near the City of Washington, advocated its seizure as a possible political necessity. "The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best estimated by the effect pro Mr. Holt's Letter to the President. Mr. Holt's Letter to the President. duced upon the popular mind. | destruction of the Republic, the Apprehensions for the safety of presence of these troops is nethe capital were communicated cessarily offensive; but those from points near and remote by men unquestionably who sincerely love our institutions cannot fail to rereliable and loyal. The resident population became joice that, by this timely precaution, they have pos disquieted, and the repose of many families in the sibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must city was known to be disturbed by painful anxieties. have suffered had the Capital, like the forts and arMembers of Congress, too, men of calm and com- senals of the South, fallen into the hands of revolu prehensive views, and of undoubted fidelity to their tionists, who have found this great Government weak country, frankly expressed their solicitude to the only because, in the exhaustless beneficence of its President and to this department, and formally in- spirit, it has refused to strike even in-its own desisted that the defences of the capital should be fence, lest it should wound the aggressors. "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your strengthened. With such warnings, it could not be forgotten that, had the late Secretary of War heeded obedient servant, the anonymous letter which he received, the tragedy at Harper's Ferry would have been avoided; nor could I fail to remember that had the early admonitions which reached here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon the forts of Charleston harbor been acted on by sending forward adequate reenforcements before the revolution begun, the disastrous political complications that ensued might not have occurred. Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly besought you to allow the concentration at this city of a sufficient military force to preserve the public peace from all the dangers that seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation on the part of the Administration of a determination as well as of the ability to maintain the laws would, I was convinced, prove the surest, as also the most pacific means of baffling and dissolving any conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believed, too, that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his successor a peaceful inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did this duty concern the whole country and the fair "THE PRESIDENT." "J. HOLT, Secretary of War. Army and Navy The continued resignations in both army and navy excited so much distrust of both services, in the popular mind, that doubts were entertained regarding the standing of every officer who had not taken an open position. The defection of Southern men was general-the cases of Southern-born men expressing loyalty to the Government to which they owed their very education being very rare. One such exception was Commander Porter, whose reply to a proposition made by Lieutenant J. H. Hamilton, a South Carolinian, to surrender his ship, not only affords a relief to the long category of desertions of duty, but shows in its language to what an extent some of the deserting officers sought to carry their baseness. The letter deserves to be embalmed in history. It was dated from the United states ship St. Marys, Panama Bay, February 3d, 1861, and read in part as follows: "You, sir, have called upon your brother officers not only to become traitors to their coun Commander Porter's Patriotism. fame of our institutions, that to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete. The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet on the propositions submitted to you by this depart-try, but to betray their sacred trust, and deliver up ment. Already this display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration has produced the happiest effects. Public confidence has been restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their purposes has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned, in view of preparations which announce more impressively than words that this Administration is alike able and resolved to transfer in peace to the President-elect the authority that, under the Constitution, belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the the ships under their command. This infamous ap peal would, in ordinary times, be treated with the contempt it deserves. But I feel it a duty I owe to myself and brother-officers with whom I am associ ated to reply, and state that all under my command are true and loyal to the Stars and Stripes, and to the Constitution. My duty is plain before me. The constitutional Government of the United States has entrusted me with the command of this beautiful ship, and before I will permit any other flag to fly at her peak than the Stars and Stripes, I will fire a pistol in her magazine and blow her up. This is my answer to your infamous letter. You were one of those Commander Porter's Patriotism. SECRETARY DIX'S NERVE. men who were retained on the active list by the late detestable Retiring Board.' In doing this you were endorsed as one mentally, physically and morally fit to occupy the station you hold as an officer in the Navy. And you are one of the first to prove this decision of that Board was as erroneous in your case as it was in mine, whom they retired from the Navy.' I was then in the deepest trouble, and I never dreamed of becoming a traitor to my country; and now that my country has recalled me to active service and intrusted me with an important command, I will not betray the trust. The Constitution of the United States defines 'treason' to be bearing arms against the United States. You have frequently heard this read on the quarter-deck of these vessels of the Navy, and yet you would persuade the gallant men of the Navy to place themselves alongside of the traitor Arnold and yourself. It has ever been the boast of the Navy that she has never had one traitor within her corps. You, sir, are the first to destroy the proud boast! Future history will place you alongside of Arnold, and you will be the first to blot the page of naval history, illuminated by the example of Decatur, Porter, Hull, Bainbridge, Jones, Caldwell, and other gallant and patriotic officers. "You also boast of the Star of the West, having been driven back by the rebels of South Carolina, and relief prevented that gallant officer, Col. Anderson. "There are in the employment of the Government sons of a gallant officer, late of the Navy, who carried on the seas the Stars and Stripes with honor to himself, and glory to his country, and the third within call.' Had either of them commanded the Star of the West, the gallant Colonel would have been relieved; and at any time the Government wants this done, it will only be necessary to send one of those sons. You, sir, have not much to boast of in driving off an unarmed steamer, commanded by a merchant captain! "Whatever right the Southern people had under the Constitution, those States that have chosen rebellion have forfeited their rights, and the only means for them to obtain justice will be to return to their allegiance. No one, for a moment, who has been born and brought up on Southern soil can approve of the course of Northern fanatics. But, on the other hand, a true patriot will not approve of dismembering his country merely because a few fanatics on the other side have been guilty of wrong, which can be righted by legislation To fly to revolution is to seek the very worst of evils, and the people of the United States must be aware that 'revolution is simply rapine, murder, bloodsned;' that nothing but distress ever follows in its train. 367 "I am still in hope the good sense of all parties may cease to trust to traitors and wily politicians, and retrace their steps, and that harmony may yet be restored to my distracted country. "W. D. PORTER, Secretary of the Navy's Weakness. "Commander United States Navy." Lieutenant Berryman, in command of the United States steam gun-boat Wyandotte, lying off Fort Pickens, wrote to a Pensacola paper, after the delivery of the navy-yard and forts into the hands of the revolutionists by their commanding officers, [see page 194,] as follows: "My orders from the proper authorities of a Government I have loved and served as faithfully as I could, I still respect, and when that Government shall be dissolved by the decision of my great and noble State, (Virginia,) I hope to prove myself worthy of holding a commission, even under a Southern Confederacy." And this man, after this declaration was pub lished, was allowed to "resign," honorably, from the service! Mr. Toucey, though a Northern man, was a weak vessel, so far as patriotism and nerve were implied. His acceptance of resignations when arrests should have been made, did not crown his name with the "odor of excellence;" and he must live in history as an illustrious example of the misfortune which ever awaits those who act from policy rather than principle. “To serve his friends," he tainted his own fair fame with the stigma of having dealt leniently with treason and desertion.* Secretary Dix's Nerve. The revenue cutters being in the Customs' service, were under charge of the Treasury Department. How Secretary Dix dealt with the unfaithful officers of the Lewis Cass and McClelland, surrendered at Mobile and New Orleans, [see page 199,] is a subject upon which the loyal heart will ever dwell with satisfaction. His orders to the secret agent, Hemphill Jones, dispatched to relieve Captains Morrison and Breshwood of their commands, viz., “to shoot down on the spot any man who attempted to haul down the *The Report of the Special (House) Committee ⚫ of Five, on the Secretary's conduct in this matter, (made Feb. 21st,) will be given in a future chapter. |