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CHAPTER XX.

WORK FOR A TITAN.

The situation of the nation at the time Stanton became secretary of war was critical. Eleven old and wealthy States in active and enthusiastic rebellion had planted their capital almost within cannon-shot of Washington, which stood on the fringe of rebellious territory. Several border States, the very garden of the Republic, were divided-one side sending thousands of soldiers to fight for the Confederacy and the other side thousands to fight for the Union. The North itself was contentious, a considerable portion of its people sympathizing and siding with secession. Enlistments were on the wane. The Mississippi River was blockaded in the southwest and the Potomac in the east. The streets and resorts of Washington swarmed with military officers who should have been at the front. A majority of the residents of the District of Columbia, the chief banking institution at the Federal capital, and hundreds of Government employes were secret aiders and abettors of secession. The banks of the nation had suspended specie payment. Many divisions of the army had passed several pay-days without meeting the paymaster. Quantities of goods consumed by the armies and the people and even flag materials were purchased abroad, thus sending the product of the California gold mines to European banks which, refusing financial aid to the North, subscribed for all the Confederate securities that were offered.

France and England were watching for an excuse to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation; Government expenditures were a quarter of a billion above the highest estimates and still increasing; national credit was weakening; army contractors and speculators were looting the Treasury and robbing the soldiery; Lincoln was gloomy, and over the rocking Republic shadows hung low and dark.

In the War Office was found a continuation of the chaos that prevailed without, Colonel A. P. Heichold of Pennsylvania says

that "on the day Stanton was sworn in, his Department resembled a great lunatic asylum more than anything else," but Secretary Cameron was not the full author of the chaos. Lincoln had been at logger-heads with his war minister, while Seward, assuming a wide range of military power which belonged exclusively to the War Department, added to the general demoralization by arresting socalled "State prisoners" and formulating the domestic as well as foreign war policy of the administration.* Thus, Stanton found the entire prospect beset with difficulties.

On the day of his confirmation he consulted with the "committee on loyalty of Federal employes" in order to learn who in his Department and who generally in the service could be trusted and who must be arrested or dismissed. On the day he was sworn in he “Ordered: That the War Department will be closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays against all business except that which relates to active military operations in the field. Saturdays will be devoted to the business of senators and representatives; Mondays to the business of the public." Also that "the Secretary of War will transact no business and see no person at his residence." On the same day he met the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War and the military committees of both Houses at his own request, to secure the benefit of whatever information they might impart and bring the legislative into cordial working line with the executive branch of the war-power and keep it there. "We must strike. hands," he said to Chairman Wade, "and, uniting our strength and thought, double the power of the Government to suppress its enemies and restore its integrity."

On the following day, January 22, he requested the cabinet (W. H. Seward, secretary of state; Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury; Gideon Welles, secretary of the navy; Edward Bates, attorney-general; Montgomery Blair, postmaster-general; Caleb B. Smith, secretary of the interior), individually and collectively, to contribute whatever aid or suggestion might be deemed advisable to strengthen his hands, and shouted his first order to the army in

*In his testimony before an investigating committee of Congress, Stanton observed significantly in reply to a question as to Seward's usurpations: "I believe that Mr. Seward at one period of the war, prior to my becoming secretary, exercised considerable military power. I considered myself, as secretary of war, to be in charge of the military department and Mr. Seward in charge of the civil department,"

the form of a message of thanks and praise for the "brilliant victory achieved by the United States forces over a large body of armed traitors and rebels at Mill Spring, in the State of Kentucky."

Thus he went swiftly from point to point, touching them all as with a rod of fire, until the magic of his influence reached every Department of the Government, both branches of Congress, every division and camp of the army, every monetary center,* every community of patriots, and every captive in an insurgent prison.

*The financial reports from New York and the leading monetary journals announced a "marked upward turn and advanced strength" in Government securities "owing to the change in the War Department at Washington and the energetic character of the new incumbent.”

CHAPTER XXI.

OPENING INTERCOURSE WITH MCCLELLAN.

On page 163, Volume II., "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," George B. McClellan says: "I had never met Mr. Stanton before reaching Washington in [July 26] 1861. He at once sought me and professed the utmost personal affection."

McClellan was not sought by Stanton "at once" nor at any other time. He never met him until November, 1861, and then professionally at McClellan's own request. On November 8, 1861, Captain Charles Wilkes of the United States war-ship San Jacinto, boarded the British mail steamship Trent with an armed force and secured the persons and baggage of James M. Mason and John Slidell, envoys of the Confederate "government" to England and France and bearers of contraband despatches, and took them to Fort Warren, near Boston. England, strongly disposed to espouse the cause of the rebellious States, sent ships and soldiers to Canada to reinforce any diplomatic correspondence which might arise with Washington, unofficially threatened to seize Portland, Maine, and demanded the release of the prisoners. S. L. M. Barlow of New York states how this affair brought Stanton and McClellan together:

I was in Washington at the request of General McClellan. The Mason and Slidell imbroglio was under consideration and the General had been asked to attend a cabinet meeting the next day when the question as to their retention or surrender would be determined. He asked my opinion as to our right to hold them. I replied that the matter was so serious that I preferred to ask some other lawyer to aid me. He asked, "Whom would you go to?" I answered, "To Mr. Stanton, who is an able lawyer." He assented to this, though he did not know Mr. Stanton.

I spent the morning with the latter and after a careful examination of the question, we both agreed that our right to hold Mason and Slidell was doubtful; that it was plain we must surrender them unless the Government was prepared for immediate hostilities with England. I made the report to General McClellan, who was much inclined, nevertheless, to hold the envoys and risk a war with England. The same evening I presented Mr. Stanton, which was the beginning of their acquaintance. From that evening for

a week or thereabouts Mr. Stanton was consulted by the General every day and sometimes both in the morning early and in the evening.

One part of Judge Barlow's statement is proven by McClellan's letters to his wife, which mention frequent visits to Stanton's house during November. On the 17th he wrote: "I shall try again. to write a few lines before going to Mr. Stanton to ascertain the law of nations relative to the seizure of Mason and Slidell." On the 24th he wrote: "I am concealed at Stanton's to avoid all enemies in the shape of browsing Presidents," etc.

Thus is the falsity of McClellan's opening statement that in July, 1861, Stanton "at once sought him" established by his own and other private correspondence, together with the further fact that he himself was the seeker "every day and sometimes both in the morning early and in the evening." While this "seeking" was going on, the following correspondence passed:

Dear Sir:

New York, November 21, 1861.

I am glad to learn by the papers of to-day that there has been a collision of sentiment between Cameron and Smith. Such quarrels should be fostered in every proper way, though the General [McClellan] must, if possible, keep entirely free from them.

Since my return home I have met hundreds of our most prominent citizens, and my ability to speak with confidence as to the power of our army, and especially my entire belief in McClellan, have enabled me, I think, to be of real service. I have been of course very careful not in any way to undertake to represent McClellan's views in any respect, while the fact that I saw so much of McClellan most effectually closes my mouth on the subject of his movements, though in fact I really know nothing.

If you learn anything as to the Mason-Slidell case which you can properly communicate, let me hear from you.

Public opinion here is pretty well settled in favor of our right, but at the same time we do not want another war or even a serious diplomatic correspondence, and I would knuckle a little to John Bull, waiting for some time to pay him back.

This is of even more importance, in view of the undoubted fact that Louis Napoleon is inclined to put his finger in our pie, than it otherwise would be.

The Honorable Edwin M. Stanton,

Washington, D. C.

Yours very truly,

S. L. M. Barlow.

Washington, D. C., November 23, 1861.

Dear Sir:

Yours of the 21st reached me this morning. Nothing has transpired

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