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at the capital reveal some ugly facts; among others, that the Confederate secretary of war received a proposition to blow up the Capitol with gunpowder that should be conveyed secretly to its crypts, some time between the 4th and 5th of July, when Congress would be in session and possibly the President might be present. The proposition was entertained, and directions were given for a conference between the conspirators and Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate attorney-general. This scheme for wholesale murder was abandoned then, and Congress assembled quietly at the appointed time.

When Congress met (July 4, 1861) the public welfare demanded immediate and energetic action, and that legislation should be confined to providing means for the salvation of the Republic. Our foreign relations were in a critical state. Confederate emissaries at European courts had created a general impression among statesmen and publicists, that our nation was only a league of States that might be dissolved when a member became dissatisfied. They had magnified the power and unity of the Confederacy, and had made the most tempting offer of free-trade in cotton to Great Britain and France. The belief soon became general that the Republic was hopelessly shattered. Foreign representatives at Washington wrote to their respective governments that the United States were hopelessly dismembered; and leaders of public sentiment in Europe affected to be amazed at the seeming folly of Congress in legislating as if the Union, "one and inseparable," had a future. Some of them were anxious to widen the breach, and so diminish the power of the United States by disunity; for they were jealous of our expanding greatness as a nation, and regarded our republican form of government as a standing menace of the unstable thrones.

Our

Great Britain and France seemed to be equally anxious for the overthrow of the Union, and they entered into a secret agreement to act in concert. They even went so far as to apprise other European governments of this understanding, with the expectation that the latter would concur with them. So, at the very beginning of our difficulties, these two professedly friendly powers had clandestinely entered into a combination for arraying all Europe on the side of the insurgents, and giving them moral and material aid. loyal people could not, at first, comprehend the unfriendly acts and tone of the British government and the chief representatives of the British people, until the touchstone of Montesquieu's assertion was applied: "Other nations have made the interests of commerce yield to those of politics; the English, on the tontrary, have ever made political interests give way to those of commerce." And the traditional philanthropy of the English in

CHAP. X.

UNFRIENDLY CONDUCT OF GREAT BRITAIN.

1505

behalf of the slave, made the following notable epigram of the London Punch, appear to us, at first, like a good-natured slander:

"Though with the North we sympathize,

It must not be forgotten,

That with the South we've stronger ties

Which are composed of cotton,
Whereof our imports 'mount unto

A sum of many figures;
And where would be our calico
Without the toil of niggers?

The South enslaves their fellow-men,
Whom we love all so dearly,

The North keeps commerce bound again,
Which touches us more nearly.

Thus a divided duty we

Perceive in this hard matter-
Free-trade or sable brothers free?
O, will we choose the latter?”

This epigram gave the key to the secret motives of the English govern ment. The astute Frenchman, Count Gasparin, clearly perceived them. He knew the seductive influence of the bribe of free cotton on a manufacturing people like those of Great Britain; and nearly two months before her public acts in favor of the insurgents were manifested, he gave this warning: "Let England beware! It were better for her to lose Malta, Corfu and Gibraltar, than the glorious position which her struggle against Slavery and the Slave-trade has secured her in the esteem of the nations. Even in an age of armored frigates and rifled-cannon, the chief of all powers, thank God! is moral power. Woe to the nation that disregards it, and consents to immolate its principles to its interests! From the beginning of the present conflict the enemies of England, and they are numerous, have predicted. that the cause of cotton will weigh heavier in her scales than the cause of justice and liberty. They are preparing to judge her by her conduct in the American crisis. Once more, let her beware!"

The British ministry did not heed the warning. So early as the 9th of May (1861), Lord John Russell, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in Parliament, in reply to the question, What position has the government intended to take? "The Attorney and Solicitor-General and the Queen's Advocate and the Government have come to the opinion that the Southern Confederacy of America, according to those principles which seem to them to be just principles, must be treated as a belligerent." This was prepara

tory to an open recognition of the independence of the Confederacy, a motion for which was then pending in Parliament. The Queen and her beloved husband, the Prince Consort, felt a real friendship for the Americans, who had treated their son, the Prince of Wales, so kindly only a few months before, but she yielded to ministerial pressure, and on the 13th of May, issued a proclamation of neutrality, in which belligerent rights were accorded to the insurgents, and a virtual acknowledgment of the Confederation as a national power. It was followed in the British Parliament, and among the Tory classes and in the Tory newspapers of the realm, by the most dogmatic assertions that the Republic of the West was hopelessly crumbling into ruins, and was unworthy of respectful consideration.

All this was done with unseemly haste, before Mr. Charles Francis Adams, chosen by the new Administration to represent the United States at the Court of St. James, had presented his credentials. When that event occurred, and the tone of Mr. Adams's instructions was known, the British ministry paused, and took counsel of prudence and expediency. Mr. Adams had been instructed by the American Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) especially to counteract the influence of Confederate agents at court. "You will in no case," said the instructions, "listen to any suggestions of compromise by this Government under foreign auspices, with its discontented citizens. If, as the President does not at all apprehend, you shall unhappily find her Majesty's government tolerating the applications of the so-called Confederate States, or wavering about it, you will not leave them to suppose, for a moment, that they can grant that application and remain the friends. of the United States. You may even assure them promptly, in that case, that if they determine to recognize, they may at the same time prepare to enter into an alliance with the enemies of this Republic. You, alone, will represent your country at London, and you will represent the whole of it there. When you are asked to divide that duty with others, diplomatic relations between the government of Great Britain and this Government will be suspended, and will remain so until it shall be seen which of the two is most strongly intrenched in the confidence of their respective nations and of mankind."

The high position taken by Mr. Seward, in the name of his Government, in that able letter of instructions, was doubtless one of the chief causes for the fortunate delay of the British government in the matter of recognizing the independence of the Southern Confederacy. Its puissance was increased by the manifest opposition of the great mass of the "common people" of Great Britain, to the unfriendly conduct of their government and the ruling classes toward the real Government of the United States. The friendly atti

CHAP. X.

MEETING OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.

1507 tude of Russia toward the United States was another cause for delay. The cautious Emperor of the French followed Great Britain, and on the 17th of June, issued a decree according belligerent rights to the Confederates; so also did the Queen of Spain proclaim the neutrality of her government, and entered upon a scheme with Napoleon III. for replanting the seeds of monarchical institutions in America now that the great Republic was about to expire. The King of Portugal also recognized the insurgents as bel ligerents, on the 29th of July; but the enlightened Emperor of Russia (Alexander II.), who was about to strike the shackles from almost forty million slaves in his own dominions, instructed (July 10) his representative at Washington to say: "In every event, the American nation may count upon the most cordial sympathy on the part of our most august master during the important crisis which it is passing through at present." The powers of Western Europe, regarding the Russian Emperor as a promised ally of the Republic of the West, behaved prudently.

It was on Thursday, the 4th of July, 1861, and the eighty-fourth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, when the Thirty-seventh Congress assembled at the National capital, in extraordinary session. It was a critical time in the history of our country. Civil War was kindling over a quarter of a million square miles of the Republic, and enemies of the nation's life were menacing its Capitol and its archives with utter destruction. Within the sound of great guns, armies were then gathering for that purpose; and secret emissaries of the Confederacy, it was believed, intrusted with errands of deadliest mischief, were prowling about the halls of Congress and the President's house. As promptly as the militia of the country, the members of the National Legislature had responded to the President's call. Twentythree States were represented in the Senate, and one hundred and fifty-four members of the Lower House were present on the first day of the session, while ten slave-labor States were not represented. In both Houses there was a large working majority of Unionists; yet there was a considerable faction who sympathized with the Confederates in their application of the doctrine of State-supremacy and in opposition to coercive measures.

The President, in his message, after setting forth the causes of trouble, the acts of the insurgents, and the necessity for giving strength to the Executive arm, said: "It is now recommended, that you give the legal means for making this contest a short and decisive one; that you place at the control of the Government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand men, and four hundred millions of dollars." That number of men consti tuted only one-tenth of those of proper age for military service in the regions where, apparently, all were willing to engage; and the sum of money asked

for, was less than a twenty-third part of the money value owned by the men who seemed willing to devote the whole.

The President's message was accompanied by important reports from three heads of departments. The Secretary of War (Simon Cameron) recommended the enlistment of men for three years; appropriations for extraordinary expenses; the appointment of an Assistant Secretary of War, and an increase of the clerical force in his department. The Secretary of the Treasury (Salmon P. Chase) asked for $240,000,000 for war purposes, and $80,000,000 for the current expenses of the Government. He proposed to raise these amounts by three different methods. For the civil service, he proposed to procure a revenue by increased duties on specified articles and a system of internal taxation; for war purposes, by a National loan in the form of Treasury notes bearing an interest of one cent a day on fifty dollars, or in bonds, made redeemable at the pleasure of the Government after a period not exceeding thirty years, and bearing an interest not exceeding six per centum a year. He further recommended the issue of Treasury notes for a smaller amount.

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The Secretary of the Navy (Gideon Wells), who had been compelled to resort to extraordinary measures to save the Republic, asked Congress to sanction his acts; to authorize the appointment of an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and to appoint commissioners to inquire into the expediency of using iron-clad steamers or floating batteries.

The suggestions of the President and the heads of departments were followed by prompt action on the part of Congress. They at once made provisions for the sinews of war and to strengthen the arm of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic. They approved of the President's call for militia and volunteers. They authorized the raising of five hundred thousand troops; and they made an appropriation of $500,000,000 to defray the expenses of the kindling Civil War. They carried out the suggestions of the Secretary of the Treasury concerning methods for procuring the money, by increased taxes and the issue of interest-bearing Treasury notes or bonds. Each House was purged of disloyal members by the expulsion of ten Senators and one Representative. The Secretary of the Navy was upheld by Congress; and, putting forth extraordinary exertions to increase the naval force of the country, he purchased, before the close of the year, and put into commission, no less than one hundred and thirty-seven vessels, and contracted for the building of a large number of substantial steamships for sea service. He called attention to the importance of iron-clad vessels; and so promptly were his requisitions for recruits complied with, that no vessel was ever detained for more than two or three days by want of men. Two hundred

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