Chap.XVII. ants at every point, and inflicting on them tremendous losses. But these losses could be repaired; whilst his own strength, which there were no means of repairing, was broken down and exhausted by incessant fighting.1 Meanwhile Sherman, descending into Georgia from the hills, had fought his way to Atlanta, a town from which the Confederates had been accustomed to draw their most important supplies; and, after destroying it, had marched on Savannah, leaving the broad track along which his three corps moved on parallel lines a waste behind him. The army which he had overpowered, instead of attempting to join or co-operate with Lee, turned northwards, and was thenceforth of no more service to the Confederate cause. By the 1st February he had commenced his march through the Carolinas, in the face of a Confederate force, swept up from various quarters and headed by an excellent soldier, General Johnson, but only strong enough to harass, without seriously obstructing, his progress. As he advanced, Charleston and Wilmington fell into his hands, with all the Atlantic seaboard. Of the cities of the Confederacy there remained only Richmond and Mobile; and the little army which still fought bravely, without rest or relief, in the lines around the Virginian capital became gradually hemmed in by over

1 General Grant's plan of action was thus described by himself, in a Report dated 22nd July, 1865:-"I was determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and its resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there shall be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the loyal section of our common country to the Constitution and laws of our land. These views have been kept constantly in mind, and orders given and campaigns made to carry them out. Whether they might have been better in conception and execution, is for the people who mourn the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to say."

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

477

whelming numbers, whilst the enemy's cavalry, issuing Chap.XVII. from the hills on the west, destroyed such communications with the interior as Lee had been able to maintain, and cut off all his sources of supply. With the fall, on the 2nd April, of Petersburg, a place due south of Richmond on the Appomattox River, against which Grant's efforts had for a long time been directed, the defence finally gave way; on the 3rd, Richmond surrendered; on the 9th, the handful of troops, wasted by hunger and fatigue, with whom Lee had marched westwards, only to be intercepted by Sheridan, laid down their arms and dispersed to their homes; Grant meeting his vanquished opponent courteously, like a true soldier, and conceding him honourable terms of capitulation. The example of Lee was followed by the other Confederate leaders who had continued to keep the field. Mr. Davis was made prisoner and thrown into Fortress Monroe, and the Southern Confederacy was at an end.

The crime which at this moment threw a deep gloom over the hardly-earned triumph of the North belongs to general history. Mr. Lincoln's cruel death-a death which he would have cheerfully faced for the sake of his country-created a profound sensation in England, where the virtues of his character had become known, and where he had many fervent admirers. In both Houses of Parliament addresses were moved by Ministers of the Crown, expressing sorrow and indignation, abhorrence of the crime and sympathy with the Government and people of the United States. These condolences were fitly acknowledged by the American Government. "This communication," wrote the acting Secretary of State,1 conveying to the Government and people of the United States such emphatic and earnest manifestations of friendship and sympathy from a great and kindred

1 Mr. Hunter to Mr. Adams, 22nd May, 1865. Mr. Seward and his son had also been the objects of a murderous attack, from which they hardly escaped with life.

Chap.XVII. nation, is received with deep sensibility and grateful appreciation."

All that now remained for neutral Powers to do was to recall, as they might judge expedient, the orders they had issued for the protection of a neutrality which had expired with the expiration of the war. Early in May 1865 the British Government cancelled so much of the Instructions of 31st January, 1862, as set a limit to the time during which armed ships of either belligerent were permitted to stay in British waters, and to the supplies which they were suffered to receive.1 On the 25th May a newspaper copy of a Proclamation issued on the 10th by the new President of the United States, declaring that armed resistance to the authority of the Government "might be regarded as virtually at an end," reached London; and on the 30th the Proclamation was officially communicated by Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. News that Mr. Davis was a prisoner had arrived on the 26th. On the 2nd June Instructions were issued announcing that "Her Majesty's Government recognize that peace has been restored within the whole territory of which the United States of North America, before the commencement of the civil war, were in undisturbed possession." Vessels of war carrying the Confederate flag were therefore to be no longer permitted to enter or remain in British ports. These orders were accompanied by some temporary reservations, which are sufficiently explained in the following extract from a despatch to the British Minister at Washington :

"Her Majesty's Government, having, in common with all the maritime Powers of Europe, acknowledged the belligerent right of blockade on the part of the United States, and having recognized the existence of a belligerent against whom that right was exercised, in conformity, as they are convinced, with the law of nations and the practice of centuries, could not be expected on their part to shrink from the consequences of the course they had deliberately adopted. Her

Majesty's Government, therefore, considered that a due regard for Chap.XVII. national faith and honour required that any Confederate vessel-of-war called upon to depart from Her Majesty's ports, harbours, or waters should have the benefit of the twenty-four hours' rule. But you will observe to Mr. Seward that this rule is then to be enforced for the last time.

"Consequently no Confederate vessel-of-war, taking advantage of this rule, could ever again have the benefit of it.

"Her Majesty's Government have, in a like spirit, allowed that vessels lying in Her Majesty's harbours or waters, or which, during the space of a month, shall come into these harbours or waters, shall be permitted to disarm and assume a peaceful character. Otherwise vessels at sea, ignorant of the termination of the war, might be driven without coals or sails to perish on the neighbouring rocks, or to founder at sea. Such inhospitality would not become the character of the ration for good faith and honour, or for humanity.

"But you will observe that Her Majesty's Government have instructed their authorities in distant ports distinctly to apprise the Commander of any such Confederate vessel, that he is to expect no further protection from Her Majesty's Government, except such as he may be entitled to in the ordinary course of the administration of the law in time of peace. The twenty-four hours' rule would not be applicable to such case.

"The Government of the United States will, therefore, be entitled to maintain that such vessels are forfeited, and ought to be delivered to the United States upon reasonable application in such cases made. Only such application must be made good in a British court of law if the vessel is found in British waters.

"In the case of a vessel captured at sea by a naval force of the United States, under whatever flag, the claim ought to be made good in a court of law of the United States."1

The American Government, bent on being consistent to the last, found some fault with these reservations, but forbore to enter into a useless discussion. "This Government freely admits that the normal relations between the two countries being practically restored to the condition in which they stood before the civil war, the right to search British vessels has come to an end by an arrangement satisfactory in every material respect between the two nations."2

1 Earl Russell to Sir F. Bruce, 6th July, 1865. For the Instructions themselves, see above, p. 142.

2 Mr. Seward to Sir F. Bruce, 19th June, 1865.

Chap.XVII.

The French Government issued, on the 5th June, 1865, a Circular substantially the same as the British Instructions, except that it contained no provision for allowing Confederate ships to remain in port disarmed. The Spanish Government abrogated on the 4th June, by Royal Decree, its regulations published at the beginning of the war.

The end of the struggle left the South in a very miserable condition. Its population had been thinned by the sword and ruined by the drying up of every source of wealth; in many places the people were on the very brink of starvation. For a long time after all resistance had ceased they were held under military rule ; and the question how soon and under what conditions it was expedient to restore them to the enjoyment of civil and political rights became the subject of vehement and protracted dissensions between the Federal Executive and Congress. In January 1870, after nearly five years of peace, we learn that the great State of Virginia has at last been emancipated from the condition of a subject territory and re-admitted to representation in Congress. So jealous has been the distrust of the vanquished people, and so stern the measures of repression judged necessary to subdue in them the spirit of disaffection. That national feeling may revive throughout the South with reviving prosperity, and that the deep and painful wounds which have been inflicted may be perfectly, if slowly, healed, must be the warm desire of all who feel an interest in the future of America.

I have said that the complaints urged against England by the American Government during the war, and the claims founded on them, were renewed after its close. Hence arose a fresh correspondence and a negotiation, unhappily abortive, which demand a very few words. Some extracts from the correspondence will show with what views and in what manner the two Governments approached the subject.