NEW CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. 153 found respect for;' and at the beginning of the autumn of 1861 it was painfully evident to their employers that they were making no progress toward obtaining the coveted good of recognition. It was therefore determined to send men of more ability to vindicate and advocate their cause at the two most powerful Courts of Europe, namely, Great Britain and France. For these missions, James Murray Mason' and John Slidell' were appointed. They were original conspirators. The former was a native of Virginia, and the latter of New York, but long a resident of Louisiana. The former was accredited to the Court of St. James, and the latter to the Court of St. Cloud. Both had been prominent members of the Senate of the United States, and both were somewhat known in Europe. Mason was justly supposed to possess a sufficiency of that duplicity (which unfortunately too often characterizes a diplomatist), to cover up the real objects of the conspirators and win for them the good offices of confiding English statesmen. Slidell (whose wife was an accomplished French Creole of Louisiana) was well versed in the French language and habits; and for adroit trickery and reckless disregard of truth, honor, or justice, he was rightly supposed to be a match for the most wily employé of the Emperor of France, honest or dishonest. These men were duly commissioned as " Ambassadors" for the "Confederate States of America," and their proposed work was regarded as of vital importance to the interests of the Confederacy. @ 1861. The blockade of the Southern ports of the Republic was then very stringent, and it was some time before these men found an opportunity to leave the country. They finally went to sea on the 12th of October," in the small steamship Theodore, which left Charleston harbor at a little past midnight, while rain was falling copiously, and in the darkness escaped the notice of the blockading fleet. Mason was accompanied by his secretary (Mr. McFarland), and Slidell by his wife and four children, and his secretary (Mr. Eustis) and his wife, who was a daughter of Corcoran, the eminent banker of Washington City. The Theodore touched first at involved in the question, "If they conquer the Southern States, what will they do with them when they have got them?" He pictured to himself the need of the establishment of a powerful military government to keep them in subjection. He wisely recommended great caution in judging of American affairs. Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech at Edinburgh, in January, 1862, expressed there the opinion that the National Government could never succeed in putting down the Rebellion, and if it should, he said, it "would only be the preface and introduction of political difficulties far greater than even the military difficulties of the war itself." This speech was delivered just after the surrender of Mason and Slidell to the British Government; and Mr. Gladstone, evidently unmindful of the true greatness of fixed principles of action as inseparable from mere worldly interests, was ungenerous enough to make that display of honor, honesty, and consistency on the part of our National Government an occasion for disparaging that Government and the people, by charging them with instability of purpose, if not cowardice. He tauntingly said: "Let us look back to the moment when the Prince of Wales appeared in the United States of America, and when men by the thousand, by tens of thousands, and by hundreds of thousands, trooped together from all parts to give him welcome as enthusiastic, and as obviously proceeding from the depths of the heart, as if those vast countries had still been a portion of the dominions of our Queen. Let us look to the fact that they are of necessity a people subject to quick and violent action of opinion, and liable to great public excitement, intensely agreed on the subject of the war in which they were engaged, until aroused to a high pitch of expectation by hearing that one of their vessels of war had laid hold on the Commissioners of the Southern States, whom they regarded simply as rebels. Let us look to the fact that in the midst of that exultation, and in a country where the prineiples of popular government and democracy are carried to extremes-that even, however, in this struggle of life and death, as they think it to be--that even while ebullitions were taking place all over the country of joy and exultation at this capture-that even there this popular and democratic Government has, under a demand of a foreign Power, written these words, for they are the closing words in the dispatch of Mr. Seward: The four Commissioners will be cheerfully liberated."" See page 231, volume I. 154 WILKES IN SEARCH OF TRAITORS. Nassau, New Providence, a British port, where blockade-runners and Confederate pirate-ships always found a welcome and shelter during the war, and thence went to Cuba. At CHARLES WILKES. ton. • Nov. 7, The National Government heard of the departure of Mason and Slidell, and armed vessels were sent in pursuit. None of these won the prize. That achievement was left for Captain Charles Wilkes, of the navy, to perform, an officer of world-wide fame, as the commander of the American Exploring Expedition to the South Seas, a quarter of a century before. At that time he was on his way home from the coast of Africa, in command of the National steam sloop-of-war San Jacinto, mounting thirteen guns. He put into the port of St. Thomas, and there hearing of the movements of the pirate ship Sumter, he departed on a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and among the West India Islands in search of it. At Havana he was informed of the presence and intentions of the Confederate "Ambassadors," and after satisfying himself that the law of nations, and especially the settled British interpretation of the law concerning neutrals and belligerents, would justify his interception of the Trent, and the seizure on board of it of the two "Ambassadors," he went out' in the track of that vessel Nov. 2. in the Bahama Channel, two hundred and forty miles from Havana, and awaited its appearance. He was gratified with that apparition toward noon on the 8th of November, when off Paredon del Grande, on the north side of Cuba, and less than a dozen miles distant. On the appearance of the Trent, all hands were called to quarters on the San Jacinto, and Lieutenant D. M. Fairfax, a kinsman of Mason by marriage, was ordered to have two boats in readiness, well manned and armed, to board the British steamer, and seize and bring away the "Ambassadors" and their secretaries. When the Trent was within hailing distance, a request was made for it to heave to. It kept on its course, when a shell fired across its bow made a demand that was heeded. Fairfax was sent on board of the Trent, but found he could do nothing in the matter of his errand without the use of physical force. Captain Moir had declined to show his papers and his passenger-list, and the "Ambassadors" had treated with scorn the summons to go on board the San Jacinto, which, like all the other acts of Fairfax, had been done with the greatest courtesy and propriety.' A proper force was 1 The appearance of Lieutenant Fairfax on board the Trent, with a warrant for the arrest of Mason and CAPTURE OF MASON AND SLIDELL. 155 sent, and Mason and Slidell, compelled to yield to circumstances, went quietly on board the San Jacinto with their secretaries. the families of Slidell and Eustis on board, and its large number of passengers, was permitted to proceed on its Voyage, after a detention of only little more than two hours. captives were conveyed first to New York and then to Boston Harbor, where they were furnished with quarters in The FORT WARREN. The Trent, with Fort Warren,' then used as a prison for political offenders, under the charge of Captain Dimick, the defender of Fortress Monroe against the Virginia insurgents.2 The act of Captain Wilkes was universally applauded by loyal men, and filled the land with rejoicings because two of the worst of the conspirators were in the custody of the Government. For the moment men did not stop to consider either the law or the expediency involved in the act. Public honors were tendered to Commander Wilkes, and resolutions of thanks were passed by public bodies. He partook of a public dinner in Boston. The New York Historical Society, while he was present at a stated meeting, elected him an honorary member of that body, by acclamation. Two days afterward, he was publicly received by a Dec. 3, 1861. Slidell, and their secretaries, produced great excitement. The Captain was asked to show his passenger-list. He refused to do so. Fairfax then said that the vessel would not be allowed to proceed until he was satisfied whether the men he was seeking were on board or not. These, hearing their names mentioned, came forward. They protested against arrest, and in this act they were joined by Captain Moir, and by the Mail Agent, Captain Williams, of the Royal Navy, who said he was the "representative of Her Majesty." The Ambassadors" refused to leave the Trent, except by force. Fairfax called to his aid Lieutenant Greer, who came on board with a few marines. The Lieutenant then took Mason by the shoulder, and, with another officer on the opposite side, conducted him to the gangway of the steamer, and handed him over to Greer. He then returned for Slidell, who gave him to understand that a good deal of force would be required to make him go. The passengers gathered around in great commotion, making contemptuons remarks, with threats of violence, and one cried out, "Shoot him!" The wife and daughter of Slidell joined in vehement protests, and the latter struck Fairfax in the face, according to the testimony of Capt. Williams, who told the story of this cabin scene in an after-dinner speech at Plymouth. "Some of the public papers," he said, "have described her as having slapped Mr. Fairfax's face. [Here his audience cried out, 'Served him right if she did,' and Bravo.'] She did strike Mr. Fairfax," he continued, and the audience gave cheers in her honor. "But she did not do it with the vulgarity of gesture which has been attributed to her. Miss Slidell was with her father in the cabin, with her arm encircling his neck, and she wished to be taken to prison with her father. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Fairfax attempted to get into the cabin-I do not say forcibly, for I do not say a word against Mr. Fairfax, so far as his manner is concerned-he attempted to get her away by inducements. In her agony, then, she did strike him in the face three times. I wish that Miss Slidell's little knuckles had struck me in the face. I should like to have the mark forever." Exclamations of " Oh!" and laughter followed this assertion. The marines were called in, and Slidell was compelled to go. McFarland and Eustis went quietly, under protest. 1 Fort Warren is on George's Island, and commands the main entrance to Boston Harbor. It is a strong work of masonry, with five fronts, the southern, eastern, and northern ones being seen in the little sketch. Around the main work is a ditch 30 feet in width. The entire circuit of the fort is 3,136 feet. Against the south front is an outwork of much strength, which is seen in the sketch. 2 See page 498, volume I. The crew of the San Jacinto presented to Lieutenant Fairfax, on board that vessel, in Boston Harbor, a beautiful silver goblet. with national, naval, and military devices on it, and the inscription,-" Presented to Lieutenant Fairfax, by the crew of the San Jacinto, as a slight token of their esteem and love." 156 a Nov. 30, 1861. CAPTAIN WILKES'S ACT APPROVED. the authorities of the City of New York; and on his arrival in Washington City, toward the middle of December, he was made the recipient of special honors. Already the Secretary of the Navy had written to him” a congratulatory letter on the "great public service” he had rendered "in capturing the rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell," who, the Secretary said, "have been conspicuous in the conspiracy to dissolve the Union; and it is well known that, when seized by you, they were on a mission hostile to the Government and the country." He assured him that his conduct had "the emphatic approval of the Department." In his annual report, submitted to Congress three days afterward, the Secretary as emphatically approved Wilkes's course, and at the same time remarked that his generous forbearance in not capturing the Trent must not be "permitted to constitute a precedent hereafter for the treatment of any case of similar infraction of neutral obligations by foreign vessels engaged in commerce or the carrying trade." ¿ Dec. 2. On the first day of the Session of Congress,' the House of Representatives, on motion of Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, tendered "the thanks of Congress to Captain Wilkes, for his arrest of the traitors Slidell and Mason." By a further resolution, the President was requested, in retaliation for the outrageous treatment of Colonel Corcoran, then a prisoner in the hands of the Confederates, in confining him in the cell of a convicted felon, to subject Mason to like treatment in Fort Warren.' By most of the writers on international law in the United States, instructed by the doctrines and practices of Great Britain, the essays of British publicists, the decisions of British courts, and by the law as laid down by the Queen's recent proclamation, the act of Captain Wilkes was decided to be abundantly justified. But there was one thoughtful man, in whom was vested the tremendous executive power of the nation at that time, and whose vision was constantly endeavoring to explore the mysteries of the near future, who had indulged calmer and wiser thoughts than most men at that moment, because his feelings were kept in subjection to his judgment by a sense of heavy responsibility. That man was Abraham Lincoln. The author was in Washington city when the news reached there of the capture of the conspirators, and he was in the office of the Secretary of War when the electrograph containing it was brought in and read. He can never forget the scene that ensued. Led by the Secretary, who was followed by Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, and others, cheer after cheer was given by the company, with a will. Later in the day, the writer, accompanied by the late Elisha Whittlesey, First Comptroller of the Treasury, was favored with a brief interview with the President, when the clear judgment of that far-seeing and sagacious statesman uttered through his lips the words which formed the key-note to the judicious action of the Secretary of State afterward. “I fear the traitors will prove to be white elephants," said Mr. Lincoln. "We must stick to American principles concerning the rights of neutrals. We fought Great Britain for insisting, by theory and practice, on the right to do 1 Report of the Proceedings of Congress in the Congressional Globe, Dec. 2d, 1861. 2 See page 567, volume I. of this work. In that proclamation, after enumerating many acts that would be a violation of the duty of neutrals, the Queen specified that of "carrying officers, soldiers, dispatches," et cetera. Mason and Slidell were civil officers of the Confederacy, and were themselves living dispatches. precisely what Captain Wilkes has done. If Great Britain shall now protest against the act, and demands their release, we must give them up, apologize for the act as a violation of our doctrines, and thus forever bind her over to keep the peace in relation to neutrals, and so acknowledge that she has been wrong for sixty years." That demand speedily came. When intelligence of the affair on board the Trent reached England, and details were given by "Captain Williams, R. N.," in a public communication dated at sea, November 9th (and also in his after-dinner speech already mentioned), in which he so highly colored a few facts that the courteous acts of Lieutenant Fairfax were made to appear For more than a hundred years Great Britain had denied the sanctity of a neutral ship, when her interests seemed to require its violation. That Power had acquired full supremacy of the seas at the middle of the last century, and Thompson had written that offering to British pride, the song of "Rule Britannia," boastingly asserting that When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung the strain Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves! Conscious of its might, Great Britain made a new law of nations, for its own benefit, in 1756. Frederick the Great of Prussia had declared that the goods of an enemy cannot be taken from on board the ships of a friend. A British order in Council was immediately issued, declaring the reverse of this to be “the law of nations,” and forbidding neutral vessels to carry merchandise belonging to those with whom she might be at war. So violative of the golden rule was this order, that the publicists of Great Britain found it necessary, out of respect for the opinions of mankind, to put forth specious sophistries to prove that England was not ambitious! Under what was called “The Rule of 1756,” the British navy began to depredate upon the commerce of the world. The solemn treaty made by Great Britain with Holland, eighty-two years before, in which it was expressly stipulated that free ships should make free goods-that a neutral flag should protect a neutral bottom -that the contraband of war should be strictly limited to arms, artillery, and horses, and to include naval materials," was wantonly violated by the possession of might. The vessels of Holland were not only prohibited from carrying naval stores, but were seized, and their cargoes used for the benefit of the English war-marine. From that time until the present, Great Britain has steadily adhered to "The Rule of 1736," excepting in a few instances, when it suited her interests to make a temporary change in her policy. So injuriously did this "Rule," practically enforced, operate upon the commerce of the world for England's benefit, that in 1780 the northern powers of Europe-Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland-formed a treaty of alliance, called the "Armed Neutrality," to resist the pretensions and evil practices of Great Britain. The doctrine of the league was that of Frederick, but much enlarged. Armaments were prepared to sustain the doctrine, but Great Britain's naval strength was too great, and the effort failed. In 1798, when Great Britain was at war with France, "The Rule of 1756" was again put into active operation. By an order in Council, it was directed that "all vessels laden with goods, the produce of any colony of France, or carrying provisions or supplies for such colony, should be seized and brought in for adjudication." This was aimed at American commerce, which was then exciting the envy of the British. To that commerce France had then opened all her West India ports. The order was secretly circulated among the British cruisers, and captures were made under it before its existence was known in London! For that treachery, English statesmen and publicists offered the selfish excuse that it was "British policy to maintain for that power the supremacy of the seas," that its children might continue to sing "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves." Her These aggressions were soon followed by more serious outrages against the rights of friends, or neutrals. Great Britain declared its right to search any vessel on the high seas, and take therefrom any subject of hers found there. This was a "new law of nations," promulgated by Great Britain to suit her necessities. cruisers roamed the seas, and held no flag to be an absolute protection of what was beneath it. Seamen were continually dragged from American vessels and placed in the British navy. The British cruisers were not very particular when they wanted seamen, and under the pretext of claiming the subjects of His Majesty, about 14,000 American citizens were forced into the British service in the course of twelve or fifteen years. This practice was one of the chief causes of the war declared against Great Britain by the United States in 1812. In the midst of that war, when overtures for peace on righteous terms were offered by the Americans, the right of search and impressment was insisted upon by a carefully prepared manifesto of the acting head of the British Government, in which it was declared that "if America, by demanding this preliminary concession, intends to deny the validity of that right, in that denial Great Britain cannot acquiesce, nor will she give countenance to such pretensions by acceding to its suspension, much less to its abandonment, as a basis on which to treat." The war went on, and when it was ended Great Britain yet maintained the doctrine laid down in "The Rule of 1756," and continued to insist, until 1831, upon the right of a nation at war to enter the ship of a neutral power in search and for the seizure of its subjects, or articles contraband of war, or things intended to be injurious to the British nation. In doctrine and practice, Great Britain justified the act of Captain Wilkes. |