網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

as true, that sooner or later a Southern Confederacy would be established. "I do not come to that conclusion," he said, "so much because I doubt the power of the North to subjugate the South, though the Southern States are unfavorable for an aggressive, and favorable for a defensive war; but the real difficulty seems to be this, supposing the Federal Government to succeed in its object and to reconquer the Southern States, what will they do with them when they have got them? If their rights are not to be restored after the conquest, a powerful military government must be established, and those principles of independence and self-government which are the very basis of American institutions, must for a time at least be in abeyance. At present the position of the rival States is very like the case of a husband instituting legal proceedings in order to bring back his wife to live with him. He may attain his object, but the question is, whether, when he has attained it, he has done much to contribute to his own domestic happiness." Accepting the success of the Southern States as a probable conclusion of the struggle, it was idle, he said, "to talk as some people do, of its leading to an utter breakdown of the American power. The North would still retain eighteen millions of the most intelligent and intellectual population in the world, a territory as large as all Europe, excluding Russia, and unlimited political resources. They would also possess a political Union which they have not had for thirty years, and unless this war was protracted for a series of years, whatever burdens it might impose, they would still continue more lightly taxed than any powerful nation upon earth." In conclusion, he recommended great caution in judging of the affairs of America, and candidly pointed out the causes which tended to bias the judgment of his countrymen, giving in a single sentence the key to the prevailing British opinions. "There are many

classes in this country," he said, "who by their habits, education, social and political position, are naturally disposed to judge unfavorably any thing relating to Republican power: and there are also many persons who have watched with a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety the growth of a power whose increasing wealth and population have been more rapid than that of any European state, who were in point of population, almost the equal of the United Kingdom, and who have shown some disposition to use their power in an arrogant and hostile spirit.

Mr. Layard, the eminent Eastern traveller, now a member of the House of Commons, representing the liberal party, in an address to his constituents at Southwark, on the 21st of November, while he defended the neutrality policy of the country, claimed that the conduct of Parliament showed no lack of sympathy with the national cause in America. The subject had been resolutely kept out of the House of Commons. Nobody at the last session had ventured to bring it forward. "Everybody felt as if it was a domestic calamity, and spoke of it with bated breath." England, he said, sympathized with the American people because Slavery was at the bottom of the struggle, and had led to it. "Let the Americans," he said, "settle their own quarrels. All we can hope is, that when this terrible contest has an end, whatever that end may be, the liberty, happiness and freedom of these magnificent States may not be impaired."

66

The people of the North," admitted Mr. Kinglake, the eminent member of Parliament, in a speech to his constituents at Bridgewater, in one of the last days of December, pending the Trent negotiation, "had some ground for supposing that the strong feeling which this country entertained on the subject of slavery might affect the course which we hould take when the Southern States became separated from the North. They

MR. GLADSTONE'S ADDRESS.

seemed to think that on that ground we should at once have declared for them in order to abolish the evil which we had always denounced. We did nothing of the sort; and from what has happened, I draw a lesson in support of a principle I have always enforced-that in the policy of states, a sentiment never can govern. Depend upon it that the relations between various states will always, or almost always, be governed by their great interests."*

Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in an address before the University of Edinburgh, of which he was Rector, on the 10th of January, 1862, reviewed the American question in its relation to British opinion. Claiming that a general feeling of good will toward America existed in England at the outbreak of the rebellion, he asserted as a fact of which there could be no doubt that when that event occurred, "all the thinking men in the country came to the conclusion, that in the war which had commenced, the party which was apparently the strongest, had committed themselves to an enterprise which would probably prove to be completely beyond their powers. We saw there a military undertaking of tremendous difficulty, and a military undertaking which, if it was to be successful, would only be the preface and introduction to political difficulties far greater than even the military difficulties of the war itself." The opinion he maintained was conscientiously formed, yet it naturally produced irritability and shocked the sensibility of the Northern States. Turning to the demand for redress in the Trent affair, he saw much for congratulation in the spirit in which the difficulty had been adjusted. "Let us look," he said, "at the bright side of that which the Americans have done. 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 thou

* London Times, January 1, 1862.

157

sands, and by hundreds of thousands, trooped together from all parts to give him a 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 principles 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." In conclusion, he deprecated any spirit of hostility which would lead to what "though not a civil war, would be next to a civil war— any conflict between America and England."*

The eminent political economist, Mr. John Stuart Mill, whose opinion we have already cited on the elements of the American Union,† took the first occasion upon the settlement of the right of search question on board of the Trent, to review the origin, history, and some of the probable consequences of the existing rebellion. Choosing for his medium. of communication with the public the pages of Fraser's Magazine, a periodical widely read by the most culti

*London Times, January 13, 1862.

Ante vol. i. p. 13.

66

vated and intellectual classes, he there principle, not merely the perpetuation, presented, with his accustomed strength of analysis, clearness of perception, and felicity of statement, a view of the struggle, strongly in favor of the position taken by the North. Looking at the rise of the insurrection, he found its open avowed cause in the determination to resist the limitation of Slavery, in other words, resolutely to support it, for, in consequence of the exhausting cultivation of the land, it was a well established conclusion, he maintained, that if the institution were kept within its existing limits it would die. "Confine it," said he, "to the present States and the owners of slave property will either be speedily ruined or will have to find means of reforming and renovating their agricultural system, which cannot be done without treating the slaves like human beings, nor without so large an employment of skilled-that is, of free-labor, as will widely displace the unskilled, and so depreciate the pecuniary value of the slave, that the immediate mitigation and ultimate extinction of Slavery would be a nearly inevitable and probably rapid consequence." He looked upon the Republicans, therefore, with their doctrines of restriction, not as an ultra abolition party, (who would interfere with the institution in the States,) but as essentially enlisted in the destruction of a hated evil, and, as such, worthy of respect by the lovers of human freedom in England. But if there were any doubt, he continued, about the position of the North, there could be none whatever about that of the South. They," said he, "make no concealment of their principles. The moment a President was elected of whom it was inferred from his opinions, not that he would take any measures against Slavery where it exists, but that he would oppose its establishment where it exists not-that moment they broke loose from what was, at least, a very solemn contract, and formed themselves into a Confederation, professing as its fundamental

but the indefinite extension of Slavery. And the doctrine is loudly preached through the new Republic, that Slavery, whether black or white, is a good in itself, and the proper condition of the working classes everywhere." He then drew this withering picture of "the peculiar institution." Let me in a few words," he said, "remind the reader what sort of a thing this is which the white oligarchy of the South have banded themselves together to propagate, and establish if they could, universally. When it is wished to describe any portion of the human race as in the lowest state of debasement and under the most cruel oppression, in which it is possible for human beings to live, they are compared to slaves. When words are sought by which to stigmatize the most odious despotism, exercised in the most odious manner and all other comparisons are found inadequate, the despots are said to be like slave masters or slave drivers. What, by a rhetorical license, the worst oppressors of the human race, by way of stamping on them the most hateful character possible, are said to be, these men, in very truth, are. I do not mean that all of them are hateful personally, any more than all the inquisitors, or all the buccaneers. But the position which they occupy, and the abstract excellence which they are in arms to vindicate, is that which the united voice of mankind habitually selects as the type of all hateful qualities. I will not bandy chicanery about the more or less of stripes or other torments which are daily requisite to keep the machine in working order, nor discuss whether the Legrees or the St. Clairs are more numerous among the slave owners of the Southern States. The broad facts of the case suffice. One fact is enough. There are, heaven knows, vicious and tyrannical institutions in ample abundance on the earth. But this institution is the only one of them all which requires, to keep it

JOHN STUART MILL'S DEFENCE OF AMERICA.

159

treated those who did attempt so to apply them ?" In this easy and masterly way the acute dialectician turned the tables upon the accusers of the United States, of the high tory party, who thus saw themselves repudiating the wisdom of their ancestors by which they were accustomed to swear, and contradicting the genius of their order by advocating the lowest pretences of revolutionary license. It was this that made America so impatient of the criticism of England, and judge it to be hypocritical, prejudiced and unfriendly. Looking to Great Brit

going, that human beings should be burned alive. The calm and dispassionate Mr. Olmsted affirms that there has not been a single year, for many years past, in which this horror is not known to have been perpetrated in some part or other of the South. And not upon negroes only; the Edinburgh Review, in a recent number, gave the hideous details of the burning alive of an unfortunate Northern huckster by lynch law, on the mere suspicion of having aided in the escape of a slave. What must American Slavery be, if deeds like these are necessary under it? and if they are not ne-ain as the land of all others where the cessary and are yet done, is not the evi- principles of law and order were underdence against Slavery still more damn- stood and respected, she had reason to ing? The South are in rebellion not for expect that the first grand vindication of simple slavery; they are in rebellion for her violated Constitution, which had been the right of burning human beings alive." forced upon her, would receive, if not Mr. Mill turned next to a common de- admiration, at least sympathy and refence of the Rebellion on the lips of spect. When, on the contrary, the costly many Englishmen, that the South, hav- effort was received with reproach and ing a right to separate, the disunion pretended contempt, there was little should have been consented to at the wonder that the nation felt aggrieved. first demand by the North, who in re- The perplexities and contradictions of sisting it had committed a similar wrong the English mind over this very simple with the England of George III. in the affair, in which there should have been contest with the American colonies. The in their own avowed rules of judgment answer to this was given with a touch room for not a moment's hesitation, preof irony. "This," said he, "is carry- sent one of not the least noticeable pheing the doctrine of the sacred right of nomena of this extraordinary period. insurrection rather far. It is wonderful how easy and liberal and complying people can be in other people's concerns. Because they are willing to surrender their own pact, and have no objection to join in reprobation of their great grandfathers, they never put themselves the question what they themselves would do in circumstances far less trying, under far less pressure of real national calamity. Would those who profess these ardent revolutionary principles consent to this being applied to Ireland, or India, or the Ionian Islands? How have they

We need not here present Mr. Mill's speculations farther. They will be remembered and sought for with the ablest documents of the time, and read not only for their acuteness at a time when the judgments of very many intelligent Englishmen were very much astray, but as an historical memorial of the perverted reason of the hour which they combated. As an aid to the formation of a sound public opinion in Great Britain respecting the national cause in America, the essay was of the highest importance.

[blocks in formation]

GENERAL HALLECK'S DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1861.

the utmost circumspection and vigilance. The line of the Rio Grande on which above and below the important position of Santa Fe the Government posts were located, as a protection of the country against Indian ravages, was beset by armed bands of insurgents from Texas, where by treason and violence, as we have seen, the enemy had early gained possession of the southerly chain of forts or military stations. Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, a rebel officer, in August, claimed possession of Arizona, issuing a Proclamation declaring the country under military government as a part of the Confederate States. By the surrender of Fort Fillmore and the other stations below, the National defence became limited to the Forts more immediately around Santa Fe, of which Fort Craig on the southwest, and Fort Union nearer at hand on the north-east, were the most important.

On the removal of General Fremont | his department of New Mexico required we have seen General Hunter placed in command of the army in Missouri. The arrangement was a temporary one pending the reorganization of the Department meditated at Washington. By a General Order from the War Office, dated the 9th of November, a week after Fremont's dismissal General Halleck was appointed to the command of the new Department of the Missouri, including the States of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, and that portion of Kentucky west of the Cumberland river; the remainder of the last mentioned State being included in the new Department of the Ohio, assigned to General Buel. To General Hunter was given the Department of Kansas, embracing the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory West of Arkansas, and the Territories of Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota. The Department of Mexico, consisting of the Territory of New Mexico, was assigned to Colonel E. R. S. Canby. The last mentioned officer, on whose patriotism and energy the Government relied not in vain for the preservation, under many difficulties of this imperilled region was a native of Kentucky, a graduate of West Point of 1839, in the same class with General Halleck. Entering the 2d Infantry, he was in 1846 promoted to a 1st Lieutenancy. He served with distinction in the war with Mexico, being brevetted Major, and subsequently Lieutenant-Colonel, for his gallantry in the battles before and at the capture of the capitol. In May, 1861, on the increase of the regular army, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the new 19th regiment of Infantry. The management of

Henry Wager Halleck, the new Commander of the Department including Missouri, like his distinguished associate, General McClellan, was one of the officers of the regular army, whose education and experience led the country to anticipate the greatest benefits from their services at the present time. Both highly accomplished, distinguished for the solidity of their attainments in the profession to which they had been brought up, they had enjoyed in a remarkable degree the confidence and favor of the head of the army, General Scott, at whose recommendation they were at once raised to their eminent positions. It happened also, that each had left the army for the pursuits of civil life. Neither, however, had lost sight of his military calling, and

« 上一頁繼續 »