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Title: My Diary: North and South (vol. 1 of 2)
Author: William Howard Russell
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY DIARY: NORTH AND SOUTH (VOL. 1
OF 2) ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
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Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of the book.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
MY DIARY
NORTH AND SOUTH.
BY
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET.
1863.
[_The right of Translation is reserved._]
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS
TO
RICHARD QUAIN, M.D.,
These Volumes are Dedicated
IN TESTIMONY
OF
THE REGARD AND GRATITUDE
OF
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTORY.
A book which needs apologies ought never to have been written.
This is a canon of criticism so universally accepted, that authors
have abstained of late days from attempting to disarm hostility by
confessions of weakness, and are almost afraid to say a prefatory
word to the gentle reader.
It is not to plead in mitigation of punishment or make an appeal
_ad misericordiam_, I break through the ordinary practice, but by
way of introduction and explanation to those who may read these
volumes, I may remark that they consist for the most part of
extracts from the diaries and note-books which I assiduously kept
whilst I was in the United States, as records of the events and
impressions of the hour. I have been obliged to omit many passages
which might cause pain or injury to individuals still living in the
midst of a civil war, but the spirit of the original is preserved
as far as possible, and I would entreat my readers to attribute the
frequent use of the personal pronoun and personal references to
the nature of the sources from which the work is derived, rather
than to the vanity of the author.
Had the pages been literally transcribed, without omitting a word,
the fate of one whose task it was to sift the true from the false
and to avoid error in statements of fact, in a country remarkable
for the extraordinary fertility with which the unreal is produced,
would have excited some commiseration; but though there is much
extenuated in these pages, there is not, I believe, aught set down
in malice. My aim has been to retain so much relating to events
passing under my eyes, or to persons who have become famous in this
great struggle, as may prove interesting at present, though they
did not at the time always appear in their just proportions of
littleness or magnitude.
During my sojourn in the States, many stars of the first order
have risen out of space or fallen into the outer darkness. The
watching, trustful, millions have hailed with delight or witnessed
with terror the advent of a shining planet or a splendid comet,
which a little observation has resolved into watery nebulæ. In the
Southern hemisphere, Bragg and Beauregard have given place to Lee
and Jackson. In the North M‘Dowell has faded away before M‘Clellan,
who having been put for a short season in eclipse by Pope, only to
culminate with increased effulgence, has finally paled away before
Burnside. The heroes of yesterday are the martyrs or outcasts of
to-day, and no American general needs a slave behind him in the
triumphal chariot to remind him that he is a mortal. Had I foreseen
such rapid whirls in the wheel of fortune I might have taken
more note of the men who were below, but my business was not to
speculate but to describe.
The day I landed at Norfolk, a tall lean man, ill-dressed, in a
slouching hat and wrinkled clothes, stood, with his arms folded
and legs wide apart, against the wall of the hotel looking on the
ground. One of the waiters told me it was “Professor Jackson,” and
I have been plagued by suspicions that in refusing an introduction
which was offered to me, I missed an opportunity of making the
acquaintance of the man of the stonewalls of Winchester. But, on
the whole, I have been fortunate in meeting many of the soldiers
and statesmen who have distinguished themselves in this unhappy war.
Although I have never for one moment seen reason to change the
opinion I expressed in the first letter I wrote from the States,
that the Union as it was could never be restored, I am satisfied
the Free States of the North will retain and gain great advantages
by the struggle, if they will only set themselves at work to
accomplish their destiny, nor lose their time in sighing over
vanished empire or indulging in abortive dreams of conquest and
schemes of vengeance; but my readers need not expect from me any
dissertations on the present or future of the great republics,
which have been so loosely united by the Federal band, nor any
description of the political system, social life, manners or
customs of the people, beyond those which may be incidentally
gathered from these pages.
It has been my fate to see Americans under their most unfavourable
aspect; with all their national feelings, as well as the vices of
our common humanity, exaggerated and developed by the terrible
agonies of a civil war, and the throes of political revolution.
Instead of the hum of industry, I heard the noise of cannon through
the land. Society convulsed by cruel passions and apprehensions,
and shattered by violence, presented its broken angles to the
stranger, and I can readily conceive that the America I saw, was no
more like the country of which her people boast so loudly, than the
St. Lawrence when the ice breaks up, hurrying onwards the rugged
drift and its snowy crust of crags, with hoarse roar, and crashing
with irresistible force and fury to the sea, resembles the calm
flow of the stately river on a summer’s day.
The swarming communities and happy homes of the New England
States--the most complete exhibition of the best results of
the American system--it was denied me to witness; but if I
was deprived of the gratification of worshipping the frigid
intellectualism of Boston, I saw the effects in the field, among
the men I met, of the teachings and theories of the political,
moral, and religious professors, who are the chiefs of that
universal Yankee nation, as they delight to call themselves, and
there recognised the radical differences which must sever them for
ever from a true union with the Southern States.
The contest, of which no man can predict the end or result, still
rages, but notwithstanding the darkness and clouds which rest upon
the scene, I place so much reliance on the innate good qualities
of the great nations which are settled on the Continent of North
America, as to believe they will be all the better for the sweet
uses of adversity; learning to live in peace with their neighbours,
adapting their institutions to their necessities, and working
out, not in their old arrogance and insolence--mistaking material
prosperity for good government--but in fear and trembling, the
experiment on which they have cast so much discredit, and the
glorious career which misfortune and folly can arrest but for a
time.
W. H. RUSSELL.
_London, December 8, 1862._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Departure from Cork--The Atlantic in March--Fellow-passengers--
American politics and parties--The Irish in New York--Approach
to New York 1
CHAPTER II.
Arrival at New York--Custom-house--General impressions as to
North and South--Street in New York--Hotel--Breakfast--American
women and men--Visit to Mr. Bancroft--Street-railways 10
CHAPTER III.
“St. Patrick’s day” in New York--Public dinner--American
Constitution--General topics of conversation--Public estimate
of the Government--Evening party at Mons. B----’s 22
CHAPTER IV.
Streets and shops in New York--Literature--A funeral--Dinner
at Mr. H----’s--Dinner at Mr. Bancroft’s--Political and social
features--Literary breakfast: Heenan and Sayers 34
CHAPTER V.
Off to the railway station--Railway carriages--Philadelphia--
Washington--Willard’s Hotel--Mr. Seward--North and South--The
“State Department” at Washington--President Lincoln--Dinner
at Mr. Seward’s 43
CHAPTER VI.
A state dinner at Mr. Abraham Lincoln’s--Mrs. Lincoln--The
Cabinet Ministers--A newspaper correspondent--Good Friday at
Washington 60
CHAPTER VII.
Barbers’ shops--Place-hunting--The Navy Yard--Dinner at Lord
Lyons’--Estimate of Washington among his countrymen--Washington’s
house and tomb--The Southern Commissioners--Dinner with the
Southern Commissioners--Feeling towards England among the
Southerners--Animosity between North and South 73
CHAPTER VIII.
New York Press--Rumours as to the Southerners--Visit to the
Smithsonian Institute--Pythons--Evening at Mr. Seward’s--Rough
draft of official dispatch to Lord J. Russell--Estimate of its
effect in Europe--The attitude of Virginia 99
CHAPTER IX.
Dinner at General Scott’s--Anecdotes of General Scott’s early
life--The startling dispatch--Insecurity of the capital 105
CHAPTER X.
Preparations for war at Charleston--My own departure for
the Southern States--Arrival at Baltimore--Commencement of
hostilities at Fort Sumter--Bombardment of the fort--General
feeling as to North and South--Slavery--First impressions of
the city of Baltimore-- Departure by steamer 111
CHAPTER XI.
Scenes on board an American steamer--The Merrimac--Irish sailors
in America--Norfolk--A telegram on Sunday: news from the seat
of war--American “chaff” and our Jack tars 117
CHAPTER XII.
Portsmouth--Railway journey through the forest--The great Dismal
Swamp--American newspapers--Cattle on the line--Negro labour--On
through the pine forest--The Confederate flag--Goldsborough:
popular excitement--Weldon--Wilmington--The Vigilance
Committee 126
CHAPTER XIII.
Sketches round Wilmington--Public opinion--Approach to Charleston
and Fort Sumter--Introduction to General Beauregard--Ex-Governor
Manning--Conversation on the chances of the war--“King Cotton”
and England--Visit to Fort Sumter--Market-place at Charleston 138
CHAPTER XIV.
Southern Volunteers--Unpopularity of the Press--Charleston--
Fort Sumter--Morris’ Island--Anti-union enthusiasm--Anecdote
of Colonel Wigfall--Interior view of the fort--North versus
South 146
CHAPTER XV.
Slaves, their masters and mistresses--Hotels--Attempted
boat-journey to Fort Moultrie--Excitement at Charleston against
New York-- Preparations for war--General Beauregard--Southern
opinion as to the policy of the North, and estimate of the effect
of the war on England, through the cotton market--Aristocratic
feeling in the South 162
CHAPTER XVI.
Charleston: the Market-place--Irishmen at Charleston--Governor
Pickens: his political economy and theories--Newspaper offices
and counting-houses--Rumours as to the war policy of the
South 173
CHAPTER XVII.
Visit to a plantation; hospitable reception--By steamer to
Georgetown--Description of the town--A country mansion--Masters
and slaves--Slave diet--Humming-birds--Land irrigation-- Negro
quarters--Back to Georgetown 180
CHAPTER XVIII.
Climate of the Southern States--General Beauregard--Risks of the
post-office--Hatred of New England--By railway to Sea Island
plantation--Sporting in South Carolina--An hour on board a
canoe in the dark 195
CHAPTER XIX.
Domestic negroes--Negro oarsmen--Off to the fishing-grounds--The
devil-fish--Bad sport--The drum-fish--Negro quarters--Want of
drainage--Thievish propensities of the blacks--A Southern
estimate of Southerners 204
CHAPTER XX.
By railway to Savannah--Description of the city--Rumours of the
last few days--State of affairs at Washington--Preparations
for war--Cemetery of Bonaventure--Road made of oyster
shells--Appropriate features of the cemetery--The Tatnall
family--Dinner-party at Mr. Green’s--Feeling in Georgia against
the North 216
CHAPTER XXI.
The river at Savannah--Commodore Tatnall--Fort Pulaski--Want of
a fleet to the Southerners--Strong feeling of the women--Slavery
considered in its results--Cotton and Georgia--Off for Montgomery--
The Bishop of Georgia--The Bible and slavery--Macon--Dislike
of United States’ gold 225
CHAPTER XXII.
Slave-pens: negroes on sale or hire--Popular feeling as
to secession--Beauregard and speech-making--Arrival at
Montgomery--Bad hotel accommodation--Knights of the Golden
Circle--Reflections on slavery--Slave auction--The Legislative
Assembly--A “live chattel” knocked down--Rumours from the
North (true and false) and prospects of war 234
CHAPTER XXIII.
Proclamation of war--Jefferson Davis--Interview with the President
of the Confederacy--Passport and safe-conduct--Messrs. Wigfall,
Walker, and Benjamin--Privateering and letters of marque--A
reception at Jefferson Davis’s--Dinner at Mr. Benjamin’s 248
CHAPTER XXIV.
Mr. Wigfall on the Confederacy--Intended departure from the
South--Northern apathy and Southern activity--Future prospects
of the Union--South Carolina and cotton--The theory of slavery--
Indifference at New York--Departure from Montgomery 258
CHAPTER XXV.
The River Alabama--Voyage by steamer--Selma--Our captain and
his slaves--“Running” slaves--Negro views of happiness--
Mobile--Hotel--The city--Mr. Forsyth 265
CHAPTER XXVI.
Visit to Forts Gaines and Morgan--War to the knife the cry of the
South--The “State” and the “States”--Bay of Mobile--The forts and
their inmates--Opinions as to an attack on Washington--Rumours
of actual war 277
CHAPTER XXVII.
Pensacola and Fort Pickens--Neutrals and their friends--Coasting--
Sharks--The blockading fleet--The stars and stripes, and stars
and bars--Domestic feuds caused by the war--Captain Adams and
General Bragg--Interior of Fort Pickens 284
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Bitters before breakfast--An old Crimean acquaintance--Earthworks
and batteries--Estimate of cannons--Magazines--Hospitality--
English and American introductions and leave-takings--Fort
Pickens: its interior--Return towards Mobile--Pursued by a
strange sail--Running the blockade--Landing at Mobile 303
CHAPTER XXIX.
Judge Campbell--Dr. Nott--Slavery--Departure for New
Orleans--Down the river--Fear of cruisers--Approach to New
Orleans--Duelling--Streets of New Orleans--Unhealthiness of
the city--Public opinion as to the war--Happy and contented
negroes 325
CHAPTER XXX.
The first blow struck--The St. Charles Hotel--Invasion of Virginia
by the Federals--Death of Col. Ellsworth--Evening at Mr.
Slidell’s--Public comments on the war--Richmond the capital of
the Confederacy--Military preparations--General society--Jewish
element--Visit to a battle-field of 1815 338
CHAPTER XXXI.
Carrying arms--New Orleans jail--Desperate characters--
Executions--Female maniacs and prisoners--The river and levee--
Climate of New Orleans--Population--General distress--Pressure
of the blockade--Money--Philosophy of abstract rights--The
doctrine of State Rights--Theoretical defect in the
constitution 353
CHAPTER XXXII.
Up the Mississippi--Free negroes and English policy--Monotony
of the river scenery--Visit to M. Roman--Slave quarters--
A slave-dance--Slave-children--Negro hospital--General
opinion--Confidence in Jefferson Davis 366
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Ride through the maize-fields--Sugar plantation; negroes at
work--Use of the lash--Feeling towards France--Silence of the
country--Negroes and dogs--Theory of slavery--Physical formation
of the negro--The defence of slavery--The masses for negro
souls--Convent of the Sacré Cœur--Ferry-house--A large
landowner 378
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Negroes--Sugar-cane plantations--The negro and cheap labour--
Mortality of blacks and whites--Irish labour in Louisiana--A
sugar-house--Negro children--Want of education--Negro diet--Negro
hospital--Spirits in the morning--Breakfast--More slaves--Creole
planters 391
CHAPTER XXXV.
War-rumours, and military movements--Governor Manning’s slave
plantations--Fortunes made by slave-labour--Frogs for the
table--The forest--Cotton and sugar--A thunderstorm 405
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Visit to Mr. M‘Call’s plantation--Irish and Spaniards--The
planter--A Southern sporting man--The creoles--Leave Houmas--
Donaldsonville--Description of the city--Baton Rouge--Steamer
to Natchez--Southern feeling; faith in Jefferson Davis--Rise
and progress of prosperity for the planters--Ultimate issue
of the war to both North and South 410
[Illustration: MAP TO ACCOMPANY “MY DIARY NORTH & SOUTH” WITH THE
AUTHOR’S ROUTE COLOURED]
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
CHAPTER I.
Departure from Cork.--The Atlantic in March--Fellow-passengers--
American politics and parties--The Irish in New York--Approach
to New York.
On the evening of 3rd March, 1861, I was transferred from the
little steam-tender, which plies between Cork and the anchorage of
the Cunard steamers at the entrance of the harbour, to the deck of
the good steamship Arabia, Captain Stone; and at nightfall we were
breasting the long rolling waves of the Atlantic.
The voyage across the Atlantic has been done by so many able hands,
that it would be superfluous to describe mine, though it is certain
no one passage ever resembled another, and no crew or set of
passengers in one ship were ever identical with those in any other.
For thirteen days the Atlantic followed its usual course in the
month of March, and was true to the traditions which affix to it in
that month the character of violence and moody changes, from bad
to worse and back again. The wind was sometimes dead against us,
and then the infelix Arabia with iron energy set to work, storming
great Malakhofs of water, which rose above her like the side
of some sward-coated hill crested with snow-drifts; and having
gained the summit, and settled for an instant among the hissing
sea-horses, ran plunging headlong down to the encounter of another
wave, and thus went battling on with heart of fire and breath of
flame--_igneus est ollis vigor_--hour after hour.
The traveller for pleasure had better avoid the Atlantic in the
month of March. The wind was sometimes with us, and then the
sensations of the passengers and the conduct of the ship were
pretty much as they had been during the adverse breezes before,
varied by the performance of a very violent “yawing” from side to
side, and certain squashings of the paddle-boxes into the yeasty
waters, which now ran a race with us and each other, as if bent on
chasing us down, and rolling their boarding parties with foaming
crests down on our decks. The boss, which we represented in the
stormy shield around us, still moved on; day by day our microcosm
shifted its position in the ever-advancing circle of which it was
the centre, with all around and within it ever undergoing a sea
change.
The Americans on board were, of course, the most interesting
passengers to one like myself, who was going out to visit the
great Republic under very peculiar circumstances. There was,
first, Major Garnett, a Virginian, who was going back to his State
to follow her fortunes. He was an officer of the regular army of
the United States, who had served with distinction in Mexico; an
accomplished, well-read man; reserved, and rather gloomy; full of
the doctrine of States’ Rights, and animated with a considerable
feeling of contempt for the New Englanders, and with the strongest
prejudices in favour of the institution of slavery. He laughed to
scorn the doctrine that all men are born equal in the sense of all
men having equal rights. Some were born to be slaves--some to be
labourers in the lower strata above the slaves--others to follow
useful mechanical arts--the rest were born to rule and to own their
fellow-men. There was next a young Carolinian, who had left his
post as attaché at St. Petersburgh to return to his State: thus,
in all probability, avoiding the inevitable supercession which
awaited him at the hands of the new Government at Washington. He
represented, in an intensified form, all the Virginian’s opinions,
and held that Mr. Calhoun’s interpretation of the Constitution
was incontrovertibly right. There were difficulties in the way of
State sovereignty, he confessed; but they were only in detail--the
principle was unassailable.
To Mr. Mitchell, South Carolina represented a power quite
sufficient to meet all the Northern States in arms. “The North will
attempt to blockade our coast,” said he; “and in that case, the
South must march to the attack by land, and will probably act in
Virginia.” “But if the North attempts to do more than institute a
blockade?--for instance, if their fleet attack your seaport towns,
and land men to occupy them?” “Oh, in that case, we are quite
certain of beating them.” Mr. Julian Mitchell was indignant at the
idea of submitting to the rule of a “rail-splitter,” and of such
men as Seward and Cameron. “No gentleman could tolerate such a
Government.”
An American family from Nashville, consisting of a lady and her son
and daughter, were warm advocates of a “gentlemanly” government,
and derided the Yankees with great bitterness. But they were by
no means as ready to encounter the evils of war, or to break up
the Union, as the South Carolinian or the Virginian; and in that
respect they represented, I was told, the negative feelings of the
Border States, which are disposed to a temporising, moderate course
of action, most distasteful to the passionate seceders.
There were also two Louisiana sugar-planters on board--one owning
500 slaves, the other rich in some thousands of acres; they seemed
to care very little for the political aspects of the question of
Secession, and regarded it merely in reference to its bearing on
the sugar crop, and the security of slave property. Secession was
regarded by them as a very extreme and violent measure, to which
the State had resorted with reluctance; but it was obvious, at
the same time, that, in event of a general secession of the Slave
States from the North, Louisiana could neither have maintained her
connection with the North, nor have stood in isolation from her
sister States.
All these, and some others who were fellow-passengers, might be
termed Americans--_pur sang_. Garnett belonged to a very old family
in Virginia. Mitchell came from a stock of several generations’
residence in South Carolina. The Tennessee family were, in speech
and thought, types of what Europeans consider true Americans
to be. Now take the other side. First there was an exceedingly
intelligent, well-informed young merchant of New York--nephew of
an English county Member, known for his wealth, liberality, and
munificence. Educated at a university in the Northern States, he
had lived a good deal in England, and was returning to his father
from a course of book-keeping in the house of his uncle’s firm in
Liverpool. His father and uncle were born near Coleraine, and he
had just been to see the humble dwelling, close to the Giant’s
Causeway, which sheltered their youth, and where their race was
cradled. In the war of 1812, the brothers were about sailing in a
privateer fitted out to prey against the British, when accident
fixed one of them in Liverpool, where he founded the house which
has grown so greatly with the development of trade between New York
and Lancashire, whilst the other settled in the States. Without
being violent in tone, the young Northerner was very resolute in
temper, and determined to do all which lay in his power to prevent
the “glorious Union” being broken up.
The “Union” has thus founded on two continents a family of princely
wealth, whose originals had probably fought with bitterness in
their early youth against the union of Great Britain and Ireland.
But did Mr. Brown, or the other Americans who shared his views,
unreservedly approve of American institutions, and consider them
faultless? By no means. The New Yorkers especially were eloquent
on the evils of the suffrage, and of the licence of the Press in
their own city; and displayed much irritation on the subject of
naturalisation. The Irish were useful, in their way, making roads
and working hard, for there were few Americans who condescended
to manual labour, or who could not make far more money in higher
kinds of work; but it was absurd to give the Irish votes which
they used to destroy the influence of native-born citizens, and to
sustain a corporation and local bodies of unsurpassable turpitude,
corruption, and inefficiency.
Another young merchant, a college friend of the former, was just
returning from a tour in Europe with his amiable sister. His
father was the son of an Irish immigrant, but he did not at all
differ from the other gentlemen of his city in the estimate in
which he held the Irish element; and though he had no strong bias
one way or other, he was quite resolved to support the abstraction
called the Union, and its representative fact--the Federal
Government. Thus the agriculturist and the trader--the grower of
raw produce and the merchant who dealt in it--were at opposite
sides of the question--wide apart as the Northern and Southern
Poles. They sat apart, ate apart, talked apart--two distinct
nations, with intense antipathies on the part of the South, which
was active and aggressive in all its demonstrations.
The Southerners have got a strange charge de plus against the
Irish. It appears that the regular army of the United States is
mainly composed of Irish and Germans; very few Americans indeed
being low enough, or martially disposed enough, to “take the
shilling.” In case of a conflict, which these gentlemen think
inevitable, “low Irish mercenaries would,” they say, “be pitted
against the gentlemen of the South, and the best blood in the
States would be spilled by fellows whose lives are worth nothing
whatever.” Poor Paddy is regarded as a mere working machine, fit,
at best, to serve against Choctaws and Seminoles. His facility of
reproduction has to compensate for the waste which is caused by the
development in his unhappy head of the organs of combativeness and
destructiveness. Certainly, if the war is to be carried on by the
United States’ regulars, the Southern States will soon dispose of
them, for they do not number 20,000 men, and their officers are not
much in love with the new Government. But can it come to War? Mr.
Mitchell assures me I shall see some “pretty tall fighting.”
The most vehement Northerners in the steamer are Germans, who are
going to the States for the first time, or returning there. They
have become satisfied, no doubt, by long process of reasoning,
that there is some anomaly in the condition of a country which
calls itself the land of liberty, and is at the same time the
potent palladium of serfdom and human chattelry. When they are not
sea-sick, which is seldom, the Teutons rise up in all the might
of their misery and dirt, and, making spasmodic efforts to smoke,
blurt out between the puffs, or in moody intervals, sundry remarks
on American politics. “These are the swine,” quoth Garnett, “who
are swept out of German gutters as too foul for them, and who
come over to the States and presume to control the fate and the
wishes of our people. In their own country they proved they were
incapable of either earning a living, or exercising the duties of
citizenship; and they seek in our country a licence denied them in
their own, and the means of living which they could not acquire
anywhere else.”
And for myself I may truly say this, that no man ever set foot on
the soil of the United States with a stronger and sincerer desire
to ascertain and to tell the truth, as it appeared to him. I had
no theories to uphold, no prejudices to subserve, no interests to
advance, no instructions to fulfil; I was a free agent, bound to
communicate to the powerful organ of public opinion I represented,
my own daily impressions of the men, scenes, and actions around
me, without fear, favour, or affection of or for anything but that
which seemed to me to be the truth. As to the questions which were
distracting the States, my mind was a _tabula rasa_, or, rather,
_tabula non scripta_. I felt indisposed to view with favour a
rebellion against one of the established and recognised governments
of the world, which, though not friendly to Great Britain, nor
opposed to slavery, was without, so far as I could see, any
legitimate cause of revolt, or any injury or grievance, perpetrated
or imminent, assailed by States still less friendly to us, which
the slave States, pure and simple, certainly were and probably are.
At the same time, I knew that these were grounds which I could
justly take, whilst they would not be tenable by an American, who
is by the theory on which he revolted from us and created his own
system of government, bound to recognise the principle that the
discontent of the popular majority with its rulers, is ample ground
and justification for revolution.
It was on the morning of the fourteenth day that the shores of New
York loomed through the drift of a cold wintry sea, leaden-grey
and comfortless, and in a little time more the coast, covered with
snow, rose in sight. Towards the afternoon the sun came out and
brightened the waters and the sails of the pretty trim schooners
and coasters which were dancing around us. How different the
graceful, tautly-rigged, clean, white-sailed vessels from the
round-sterned, lumpish billyboys and nondescripts of the eastern
coast of our isle! Presently there came bowling down towards us a
lively little schooner-yacht, very like the once famed “America,”
brightly painted in green, sails dazzling white, lofty ponderous
masts, no tops. As she came nearer, we saw she was crowded with
men in chimney-pot black hats, and coats, and the like--perhaps a
party of citizens on pleasure, cold as the day was. Nothing of the
kind. The craft was our pilot-boat, and the hats and coats belonged
to the hardy mariners who act as guides to the port of New York.
Their boat was lowered, and was soon under our mainchains; and a
chimney-pot hat having duly come over the side, delivered a mass of
newspapers to the captain, which were distributed among the eager
passengers, when each at once became the centre of a spell-bound
circle.
CHAPTER II.
Arrival at New York--Custom-house--General impressions as to
North and South--Street in New York--Hotel--Breakfast--American
women and men--Visit to Mr. Bancroft--Street-railways.
The entrance to New York, as it was seen by us on 16th March, is
not remarkable for beauty or picturesque scenery, and I incurred
the ire of several passengers, because I could not consistently
say it was very pretty. It was difficult to distinguish through
the snow the villas and country houses, which are said to be so
charming in summer. But beyond these rose a forest of masts close
by a low shore of brick houses and blue roofs, above the level of
which again spires of churches and domes and cupolas announced a
great city. On our left, at the narrowest part of the entrance,
there was a very powerful case-mated work of fine close stone, in
three tiers, something like Fort Paul at Sebastopol, built close to
the water’s edge, and armed on all the faces--apparently a tetragon
with bastions. Extensive works were going on at the ground above
it, which rises rapidly from the water to a height of more than a
hundred feet, and the rudiments of an extensive work and heavily
armed earthen parapets could be seen from the channel. On the right
hand, crossing its fire with that of the batteries and works on
our left, there was another regular stone fort with fortified
enceinte, and higher up the channel, as it widens to the city on
the same side, I could make out a smaller fort on the water’s
edge. The situation of the city renders it susceptible of powerful
defence from the sea-side, and even now it would be hazardous to
run the gauntlet of the batteries unless in powerful iron-clad
ships favoured by wind and tide, which could hold the place at
their mercy. Against a wooden fleet New York is now all but secure,
save under exceptional circumstances in favour of the assailants.
It was dark as the steamer hauled up alongside the wharf on the
New Jersey side of the river; but ere the sun set I could form
some idea of the activity and industry of the people from the
enormous ferry-boats moving backwards and forwards like arks on
the water, impelled by the great walking-beam engines, the crowded
stream full of merchantmen, steamers, and small craft, the smoke
of the factories, the tall chimneys--the net-work of boats and
rafts--all the evidences of commercial life in full development.
What a swarming, eager crowd on the quay-wall! what a wonderful
ragged regiment of labourers and porters, hailing us in broken or
Hibernianized English! “These are all Irish and Germans,” anxiously
explained a New Yorker. “I’ll bet fifty dollars there’s not a
native-born American among them.”
With Anglo-Saxon disregard of official insignia, American Custom
House officers dress very much like their British brethren,
without any sign of authority as faint as even the brass button
and crown, so that the stranger is somewhat uneasy when he sees
unauthorised-looking people taking liberties with his plunder,
especially after the admonitions he has received on board ship to
look sharp about his things as soon as he lands. I was provided
with an introduction to one of the principal officers, and he
facilitated my egress, and at last I was bundled out through a gate
into a dark alley, ankle deep in melted snow and mud, where I was
at once engaged in a brisk encounter with my Irish porter-hood,
and, after a long struggle, succeeded in stowing my effects in
and about a remarkable specimen of the hackney-coach of the last
century, very high in the axle, and weak in the springs, which
plashed down towards the river through a crowd of men shouting out,
“You haven’t paid me yet, yer honour. You haven’t given anything to
your own man that’s been waiting here the last six months for your
honour!” “_I’m_ the man that put the lugidge up, sir,” &c., &c.
The coach darted on board a great steam ferry-boat, which had on
deck a number of similar vehicles, and omnibuses, and the gliding,
shifting lights, and the deep, strong breathing of the engine, told
me I was moving and afloat before I was otherwise aware of it. A
few minutes brought us over to the lights on the New York side--a
jerk or two up a steep incline--and we were rattling over a most
abominable pavement, plunging into mud-holes, squashing through
snow-heaps in ill-lighted, narrow streets of low, mean-looking,
wooden houses, of which an unusual proportion appeared to be
lager-bier saloons, whisky-shops, oyster-houses, and billiard and
smoking establishments.
The crowd on the pavement were very much what a stranger would be
likely to see in a very bad part of London, Antwerp, or Hamburg,
with a dash of the noisy exuberance which proceeds from the high
animal spirits that defy police regulations and are superior to
police force, called “rowdyism.” The drive was long and tortuous;
but by degrees the character of the thoroughfares and streets
improved. At last we turned into a wide street with very tall
houses, alternating with far humbler erections, blazing with
lights, gay with shop-windows, thronged in spite of the mud with
well-dressed people, and pervaded by strings of omnibuses--Oxford
Street was nothing to it for length. At intervals there towered up
a block of brickwork and stucco with long rows of windows lighted
up tier above tier, and a swarming crowd passing in and out of
the portals, which were recognised as the barrack-like glory of
American civilisation--a Broadway monster hotel. More oyster-shops,
lager-bier saloons, concert-rooms of astounding denominations,
with external decorations very much in the style of the booths
at Bartholomew Fair--churches, restaurants, confectioners,
private-houses! again another series--they cannot go on expanding
for ever. The coach at last drives into a large square, and lands
me at the Clarendon Hotel.
Whilst I was crossing the sea, the President’s Inaugural Message,
the composition of which is generally attributed to Mr. Seward,
had been delivered, and had reached Europe, and the causes which
were at work in destroying the cohesion of the Union, had acquired
greater strength and violence.
Whatever force “the declaration of causes which induced the
Secession of South Carolina” might have for Carolinians, it could
not influence a foreigner who knew nothing at all of the rights,
sovereignty, and individual independence of a state, which,
however, had no right to make war or peace, to coin money, or
enter into treaty obligations with any other country. The South
Carolinian was nothing to us, _quoad_ South Carolina--he was merely
a citizen of the United States, and we knew no more of him in any
other capacity than a French authority would know of a British
subject as a Yorkshireman or a Munsterman.
But the moving force of revolution is neither reason nor
justice--it is most frequently passion--it is often interest. The
American, when he seeks to prove that the Southern States have no
right to revolt from a confederacy of states created by revolt,
has by the principles on which he justifies his own revolution,
placed between himself and the European a great gulf in the level
of argument. According to the deeds and words of Americans, it
is difficult to see why South Carolina should not use the rights
claimed for each of the thirteen colonies, “to alter and abolish
a form of government when it becomes destructive of the ends for
which it is established, and to institute a new one.” And the
people must be left to decide the question as regards their own
government for themselves, or the principle is worthless. The
arguments, however, which are now going on are fast tending towards
the _ultima ratio regum_. At present I find public attention is
concentrated on the two Federal forts, Pickens and Sumter, called
after two officers of the revolutionary armies in the old war.
As Alabama and South Carolina have gone out, they now demand
the possession of these forts, as of the soil of their several
states and attached to their sovereignty. On the other hand, the
Government of Mr. Lincoln considers it has no right to give up any
thing belonging to the Federal Government, but evidently desires
to temporize and evade any decision which might precipitate an
attack on the forts by the batteries and forces prepared to act
against them. There is not sufficient garrison in either for an
adequate defence, and the difficulty of procuring supplies is
very great. Under the circumstances every one is asking what the
Government is going to do? The Southern people have declared they
will resist any attempt to supply or reinforce the garrisons, and
in Charleston, at least, have shown they mean to keep their word.
It is a strange situation. The Federal Government, afraid to speak,
and unable to act, is leaving its soldiers to do as they please.
In some instances, officers of rank, such as General Twiggs, have
surrendered everything to the State authorities, and the treachery
and secession of many officers in the army and navy no doubt
paralyze and intimidate the civilians at the head of affairs.
_Sunday, 17th March._--The first thing I saw this morning, after
a vision of a waiter pretending to brush my clothes with a feeble
twitch composed of fine fibre had vanished, was a procession of
men, forty or fifty perhaps, preceded by a small band (by no excess
of compliment can I say, of music), trudging through the cold and
slush two and two: they wore shamrocks, or the best resemblance
thereto which the American soil can produce, in their hats, and
green silk sashes emblazoned with crownless harp upon their coats,
but it needed not these insignia to tell they were Irishmen, and
their solemn mien indicated that they were going to mass. It was
agreeable to see them so well-clad and respectable-looking, though
occasional hats seemed as if they had just recovered from severe
contusions, and others had the picturesque irregularity of outline
now and then observable in the old country. The aspect of the
street was irregular, and its abnormal look was increased by the
air of the passers-by, who at that hour were domestics--very finely
dressed negroes, Irish, or German. The coloured ladies made most
elaborate toilettes, and as they held up their broad crinolines
over the mud looked not unlike double-stemmed mushrooms. “They’re
concayted poor craythures them niggirs, male and faymale,” was the
remark of the waiter as he saw me watching them. “There seem to be
no sparrows in the streets,” said I. “Sparras!” he exclaimed; “and
then how did you think a little baste of a sparra could fly across
the ochean?” I felt rather ashamed of myself.
And so down-stairs where there was a _table d’hôte_ room, with
great long tables covered with cloths, plates, and breakfast
apparatus, and a smaller room inside, to which I was directed by
one of the white-jacketted waiters. Breakfast over, visitors began
to drop in. At the “office” of the hotel, as it is styled, there is
a tray of blank cards and a big pencil, whereby the cardless man
who is visiting is enabled to send you his name and title. There is
a comfortable “reception-room,” in which he can remain and read the
papers, if you are engaged, so that there is little chance of your
ultimately escaping him. And, indeed, not one of those who came had
any but most hospitable intents.
Out of doors the weather was not tempting. The snow lay in
irregular layers and discoloured mounds along the streets, and
the gutters gorged with “snow-bree” flooded the broken pavement.
But after a time the crowds began to issue from the churches,
and it was announced as the necessity of the day, that we were to
walk up and down the Fifth Avenue and look at each other. This is
the west-end of London--its Belgravia and Grosvenoria represented
in one long street, with offshoots of inferior dignity at right
angles to it. Some of the houses are handsome, but the greater
number have a compressed, squeezed-up aspect, which arises from
the compulsory narrowness of frontage in proportion to the height
of the building, and all of them are bright and new, as if they
were just finished to order,--a most astonishing proof of the rapid
development of the city. As the hall-door is made an important
feature in the residence, the front parlour is generally a narrow,
lanky apartment, struggling for existence between the hall and
the partition of the next house. The outer door, which is always
provided with fine carved panels and mouldings, is of some rich
varnished wood, and looks much better than our painted doors. It is
generously thrown open so as to show an inner door with curtains
and plate glass. The windows, which are double on account of the
climate, are frequently of plate glass also. Some of the doors are
on the same level as the street, with a basement story beneath;
others are approached by flights of steps, the basement for
servants having the entrance below the steps, and this, I believe,
is the old Dutch fashion, and the name of “stoop” is still retained
for it.
No liveried servants are to be seen about the streets, the
doorways, or the area-steps. Black faces in gaudy caps, or an
unmistakeable “Biddy” in crinoline are their substitutes. The
chief charm of the street was the living ornature which moved up
and down the _trottoirs_. The costumes of Paris, adapted to the
severity of this wintry weather, were draped round pretty, graceful
figures which, if wanting somewhat in that rounded fulness of the
Medicean Venus, or in height, were _svelte_ and well poised. The
French boot has been driven off the field by the Balmoral, better
suited to the snow; and one must at once admit--all prejudices
notwithstanding--that the American woman is not only well shod and
well gloved, but that she has no reason to fear comparisons in foot
or hand with any daughter of Eve, except, perhaps, the Hindoo.
The great and most frequent fault of the stranger in any land is
that of generalising from a few facts. Every one must feel there
are “pretty days” and “ugly days” in the world, and that his
experience on the one would lead him to conclusions very different
from that to which he would arrive on the other. To-day I am quite
satisfied that if the American women are deficient in stature and
in that which makes us say, “There is a fine woman,” they are easy,
well formed, and full of grace and prettiness. Admitting a certain
pallor--which the Russians, by-the-bye, were wont to admire so much
that they took vinegar to produce it--the face is not only pretty,
but sometimes of extraordinary beauty, the features fine, delicate,
well defined. Ruby lips, indeed, are seldom to be seen, but now and
then the flashing of snowy-white evenly-set ivory teeth dispels the
delusion that the Americans are--though the excellence of their
dentists be granted--naturally ill provided with what they take so
much pains, by eating bon-bons and confectionery, to deprive of
their purity and colour.
My friend R----, with whom I was walking, knew every one in the
Fifth Avenue, and we worked our way through a succession of small
talk nearly as far as the end of the street which runs out among
divers places in the State of New York, through a _débris_ of
unfinished conceptions in masonry. The abrupt transition of the
city into the country is not unfavourable to an idea that the
Fifth Avenue might have been transported from some great workshop,
where it had been built to order by a despot, and dropped among
the Red men: indeed, the immense growth of New York in this
direction, although far inferior to that of many parts of London,
is remarkable as the work of eighteen or twenty years, and is
rendered more conspicuous by being developed in this elongated
street, and its contingents. I was introduced to many persons
to-day, and was only once or twice asked how I liked New York;
perhaps I anticipated the question by expressing my high opinion of
the Fifth Avenue. Those to whom I spoke had generally something to
say in reference to the troubled condition of the country, but it
was principally of a self-complacent nature. “I suppose, sir, you
are rather surprised, coming from Europe, to find us so quiet here
in New York: we are a peculiar people, and you don’t understand us
in Europe.”
In the afternoon I called on Mr. Bancroft, formerly minister to
England, whose work on America must be rather rudely interrupted
by this crisis. Anything with an “ex” to it in America is of
little weight--ex-presidents are nobodies, though they have had
the advantage, during their four years’ tenure of office, of being
prayed for as long as they live. So it is of ex-ministers, whom
nobody prays for at all. Mr. Bancroft conversed for some time on
the aspect of affairs, but he appeared to be unable to arrive
at any settled conclusion, except that the republic, though in
danger, was the most stable and beneficial form of government in
the world, and that as a Government it had no power to coerce
the people of the South or to save itself from the danger. I was
indeed astonished to hear from him and others so much philosophical
abstract reasoning as to the right of seceding, or, what is next to
it, the want of any power in the Government to prevent it.
Returning home in order to dress for dinner, I got into a
street-railway-car, a long low omnibus drawn by horses over a
_strada ferrata_ in the middle of the street. It was filled with
people of all classes, and at every crossing some one or other
rang the bell, and the driver stopped to let out or to take in
passengers, whereby the unoffending traveller became possessed of
much snow-droppings and mud on boots and clothing. I found that by
far a greater inconvenience caused by these street-railways was the
destruction of all comfort or rapidity in ordinary carriages.
I dined with a New York banker, who gave such a dinner as bankers
generally give all over the world. He is a man still young,
very kindly, hospitable, well-informed, with a most charming
household--an American by theory, an Englishman in instincts
and tastes--educated in Europe, and sprung from British stock.
Considering the enormous interests he has at stake, I was
astonished to perceive how calmly he spoke of the impending
troubles. His friends, all men of position in New York society,
had the same dilettante tone, and were as little anxious for
the future, or excited by the present, as a party of _savants_
chronicling the movements of a “magnetic storm.”
On going back to the hotel, I heard that Judge Daly and some
gentlemen had called to request that I would dine with the Friendly
Society of St. Patrick to-morrow at Astor House. In what is
called “the bar,” I met several gentlemen, one of whom said, “the
majority of the people of New York, and all the respectable people,
were disgusted at the election of such a fellow as Lincoln to be
President, and would back the Southern States, if it came to a
split.”
CHAPTER III.
“St. Patrick’s day” in New York--Public dinner--American
Constitution--General topics of conversation--Public estimate
of the Government--Evening party at Mons. B----’s.
_Monday, 18th._--“St. Patrick’s day in the morning” being on the
17th, was kept by the Irish to-day. In the early morning the sounds
of drumming, fifing, and bugling came with the hot water and my
Irish attendant into the room. He told me: “We’ll have a pretty
nice day for it. The weather’s often agin us on St. Patrick’s day.”
At the angle of the square outside I saw a company of volunteers
assembling. They wore bear-skin caps, some turned brown, and rusty
green coatees, with white facings and cross-belts, a good deal
of gold-lace and heavy worsted epaulettes, and were armed with
ordinary muskets, some of them with flintlocks. Over their heads
floated a green and gold flag with mystic emblems, and a harp and
sunbeams. A gentleman, with an imperfect seat on horseback, which
justified a suspicion that he was not to the manner born of Squire
or Squireen, with much difficulty was getting them into line, and
endangering his personal safety by a large infantry-sword, the hilt
of which was complicated with the bridle of his charger in some
inexplicable manner. This gentleman was the officer in command of
the martial body, who were gathering to do honour to the festival
of the old country, and the din and clamour in the streets, the
strains of music, and the tramp of feet outside announced that
similar associations were on their way to the rendezvous. The
waiters in the hotel, all of whom were Irish, had on their best,
and wore an air of pleased importance. Many of their countrymen
outside on the pavement exhibited very large decorations, plates of
metal, and badges attached to broad ribands over their left breasts.
After breakfast I struggled with a friend through the crowd which
thronged Union Square. Bless them! They were all Irish, judging
from speech, and gesture, and look; for the most part decently
dressed, and comfortable, evidently bent on enjoying the day in
spite of the cold, and proud of the privilege of interrupting
all the trade of the principal streets, in which the Yankees
most do congregate, for the day. They were on the door-steps,
and on the pavement men, women, and children, admiring the big
policemen--many of them compatriots--and they swarmed at the
corners, cheering popular town-councillors or local celebrities.
Broadway was equally full. Flags were flying from the windows and
steeples--and on the cold breeze came the hammering of drums, and
the blasts of many wind instruments. The display, such as it was,
partook of a military character, though not much more formidable in
that sense than the march of the Trades Unions, or of Temperance
Societies. Imagine Broadway lined for the long miles of its course
by spectators mostly Hibernian, and the great gaudy stars and
stripes, or as one of the Secession journals I see styles it, the
“Sanguinary United States Gridiron”--waving in all directions,
whilst up its centre in the mud march the children of Erin.
First came the acting Brigadier-General and his staff, escorted
by 40 lancers, very ill-dressed, and worse mounted; horses dirty,
accoutrements in the same condition, bits, bridles, and buttons
rusty and tarnished; uniforms ill-fitting, and badly put on. But
the red flags and the show pleased the crowd, and they cheered
“bould Nugent” right loudly. A band followed, some members of which
had been evidently “smiling” with each other; and next marched a
body of drummers in military uniform, rattling away in the French
fashion. Here comes the 69th N. Y. State Militia Regiment--the
battalion which would not turn out when the Prince of Wales was in
New York, and whose Colonel, Corcoran, is still under court martial
for his refusal. Well, the Prince had no loss, and the Colonel may
have had other besides political reasons for his dislike to parade
his men.
The regiment turned out, I should think, only 200 or 220 men, fine
fellows enough, but not in the least like soldiers or militia.
The United States uniform which most of the military bodies wore,
consists of a blue tunic and trousers, and a kepi-like cap, with
“U. S.” in front for undress. In full dress the officers wear large
gold epaulettes, and officers and men a bandit-sort of felt hat
looped up at one side, and decorated with a plume of black-ostrich
feathers and silk cords. The absence of facings, and the want of
something to finish off the collar and cuffs, render the tunic
very bald and unsightly. Another band closed the rear of the 69th,
and to eke out the military show, which in all was less than 1,200
men, some companies were borrowed from another regiment of State
Militia, and a troop of very poor cavalry cleared the way for the
Napper-Tandy Artillery, which actually had three whole guns with
them! It was strange to dwell on some of the names of the societies
which followed. For instance, there were the “Dungannon Volunteers
of ’82,” prepared of course to vindicate the famous declaration
that none should make laws for Ireland, but the Queen, Lords, and
Commons of Ireland! Every honest Catholic among them ignorant of
the fact that the Volunteers of ’82 were all Protestants. Then
there was the “Sarsfield Guard!” One cannot conceive anything more
hateful to the fiery high-spirited cavalier, than the republican
form of Government, which these poor Irishmen are, they think, so
fond of. A good deal of what passes for national sentiment, is in
reality dislike to England and religious animosity.
It was much more interesting to see the long string of Benevolent,
Friendly and Provident Societies, with bands, numbering many
thousands, all decently clad, and marching in order with banners,
insignia, badges and ribands, and the Irish flag flying alongside
the “stars and stripes.” I cannot congratulate them on the taste or
good effect of their accessories--on their symbolical standards,
and ridiculous old harpers, carried on stages in “bardic costume,”
very like artificial white wigs and white cotton dressing-gowns,
but the actual good done by these societies, is, I am told,
very great, and their charity would cover far greater sins than
incorrectness of dress, and a proneness to “piper’s playing on
the national bagpipes.” The various societies mustered upwards of
10,000 men, some of them uniformed and armed, others dressed in
quaint garments, and all as noisy as music and talking could make
them. The Americans appeared to regard the whole thing very much as
an ancient Roman might have looked on the Saturnalia; but Paddy was
in the ascendant, and could not be openly trifled with.
The crowds remained in the streets long after the procession
had passed, and I saw various pickpockets captured by the big
policemen, and conveyed to appropriate receptacles. “Was there any
man of eminence in that procession,” I asked. “No; a few small
local politicians, some wealthy store-keepers, and beer-saloon
owners perhaps; but the mass were of the small bourgeoisie. Such a
man as Mr. O’Conor, who may be considered at the head of the New
York bar for instance, would not take part in it.”
In the evening I went, according to invitation, to the Astor
House--a large hotel, with a front like a railway terminus, in the
Americo-Classical style, with great Doric columns and portico, and
found, to my surprise, that the friendly party was to be a great
public dinner. The halls were filled with the company, few or none
in evening dress; and in a few minutes I was presented to at least
twenty-four gentlemen, whose names I did not even hear. The use of
badges, medals, and ribands, might, at first, lead a stranger to
believe he was in very distinguished military society; but he would
soon learn that these insignia were the decorations of benevolent
or convivial associations. There is a latent taste for these
things in spite of pure republicanism. At the dinner there were
Americans of Dutch and English descent, some “Yankees,” one or two
Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Welshmen. The chairman, Judge Daly, was
indeed a true son of the soil, and his speeches were full of good
humour, fluency, and wit; but his greatest effect was produced by
the exhibition of a tuft of shamrocks in a flower pot, which had
been sent from Ireland for the occasion. This is done annually,
but, like the miracle of St. Januarius, it never loses its effect,
and always touches the heart.
I confess it was to some extent curiosity to observe the sentiment
of the meeting, and a desire to see how Irishmen were affected
by the change in their climate, which led me to the room. I came
away regretting deeply that so many natives of the British Isles
should be animated with a hostile feeling towards England, and
that no statesman has yet arisen who can devise a panacea for the
evils of these passionate and unmeaning differences between races
and religions. Their strong antipathy is not diminished by the
impossibility of gratifying it. They live in hope, and certainly
the existence of these feelings is not only troublesome to American
statesmen, but mischievous to the Irish themselves, inasmuch as
they are rendered with unusual readiness the victims of agitators
or political intriguers. The Irish element, as it is called, is
much regarded in voting times, by suffraging bishops and others; at
other times, it is left to its work and its toil--Mr. Seward and
Bishop Hughes are supposed to be its present masters. Undoubtedly
the mass of those I saw to-day were better clad than they would
have been if they remained at home. As I said in the speech which I
was forced to make much against my will, by the gentle violence of
my companions, never had I seen so many good hats and coats in an
assemblage of Irishmen in any other part of the world.
_March 19._ The morning newspapers contain reports of last night’s
speeches which are amusing in one respect, at all events, as
affording specimens of the different versions which may be given
of the same matter. A “citizen” who was kind enough to come in
to shave me, paid me some easy compliments, in the manner of the
“Barber of Seville,” on what he termed the “oration” of the night
before, and then proceeded to give his notions of the merits
and defects of the American Constitution. “He did not care much
about the Franchise--it was given to too many he thought. A man
must be five years resident in New York before he is admitted to
the privileges of voting. When an emigrant arrived, a paper was
delivered to him to certify the fact, which he produced after a
lapse of five years, when he might be registered as a voter; if
he omitted the process of registration, he could however vote
if identified by two householders, and a low lot,” observed the
barber, “they are--Irish and such like. I don’t want any of their
votes.”
In the afternoon a number of gentlemen called, and made the
kindest offers of service; letters of introduction to all parts
of the States; facilities of every description--all tendered with
frankness.
I was astonished to find little sympathy and no respect for
the newly installed Government. They were regarded as obscure
or undistinguished men. I alluded to the circumstance that one
of the journals continued to speak of “The President” in the
most contemptuous manner, and to designate him as the great
“Rail-Splitter.” “Oh yes,” said the gentleman with whom I was
conversing, “that must strike you as a strange way of mentioning
the Chief Magistrate of our great Republic, but the fact is, no one
minds what the man writes of any one, his game is to abuse every
respectable man in the country in order to take his revenge on
them for his social exclusion, and at the same time to please the
ignorant masses who delight in vituperation and scandal.”
In the evening, dining again with my friend the banker, I had a
favourable opportunity of hearing more of the special pleading
which is brought to bear on the solution of the gravest political
questions. It would seem as if a council of physicians were
wrangling with each other over abstract dogmas respecting life and
health, whilst their patient was struggling in the agonies of death
before them! In the comfortable and well-appointed house wherein I
met several men of position, acquirements, and natural sagacity,
there was not the smallest evidence of uneasiness on account
of circumstances which, to the eye of a stranger, betokened an
awful crisis, if not the impending dissolution of society itself.
Stranger still, the acts which are bringing about such a calamity
are not regarded with disfavour, or, at least, are not considered
unjustifiable.
Among the guests were the Hon. Horatio Seymour, a former Governor
of the State of New York; Mr. Tylden, an acute lawyer; and Mr.
Bancroft; the result left on my mind by their conversation and
arguments was that, according to the Constitution, the Government
could not employ force to prevent secession, or to compel States
which had seceded by the will of the people to acknowledge the
Federal power. In fact, according to them, the Federal Government
was the mere machine put forward by a Society of Sovereign
States, as a common instrument for certain ministerial acts, more
particularly those which affected the external relations of the
Confederation. I do not think that any of the guests sought to turn
the channel of talk upon politics, but the occasion offered itself
to Mr. Horatio Seymour to give me his views of the Constitution
of the United States, and by degrees the theme spread over the
table. I had bought the “Constitution” for three cents in Broadway
in the forenoon, and had read it carefully, but I could not find
that it was self-expounding; it referred itself to the Supreme
Court, but what was to support the Supreme Court in a contest with
armed power, either of Government or people? There was not a man
who maintained the Government had any power to coerce the people
of a State, or to force a State to remain in the Union, or under
the action of the Federal Government; in other words, the symbol
of power at Washington is not at all analogous to that which
represents an established Government in other countries. _Quid
prosunt leges sine armis?_ Although they admitted the Southern
leaders had meditated “the treason against the Union” years ago,
they could not bring themselves to allow their old opponents, the
Republicans now in power, to dispose of the armed force of the
Union against their brother democrats in the Southern States.
Mr. Seymour is a man of compromise, but his views go farther than
those which were entertained by his party ten years ago. Although
secession would produce revolution, it was, nevertheless, “a
right,” founded on abstract principles, which could scarcely be
abrogated consistently with due regard to the original compact. One
of the company made a remark which was true enough, I dare say.
We were talking of the difficulty of relieving Fort Sumter--an
infallible topic just now. “If the British or any foreign power
were threatening the fort,” said he, “our Government would find
means of relieving it fast enough.” In fact, the Federal Government
is groping in the dark; and whilst its friends are telling it to
advance boldly, there are myriad voices shrieking out in its ears,
“If you put out a foot you are lost.” There is neither army nor
navy available, and the ministers have no machinery of rewards, and
means of intrigue, or modes of gaining adherents known to European
administrations. The democrats behold with silent satisfaction
the troubles into which the republican triumph has plunged the
country, and are not at all disposed to extricate them. The most
notable way of impeding their efforts is to knock them down with
the “Constitution” every time they rise to the surface and begin to
swim out.
New York society, however, is easy in its mind just now, and the
upper world of millionaire merchants, bankers, contractors, and
great traders are glad that the vulgar republicans are suffering
for their success. Not a man there but resented the influence given
by universal suffrage to the mob of the city, and complained of
the intolerable effects of their ascendancy--of the corruption
of the municipal bodies, the venality of electors and elected,
and the abuse, waste, and profligate outlay of the public funds.
Of these there were many illustrations given to me, garnished
with historiettes of some of the civic dignitaries, and of
their coadjutors in the press; but it did not require proof that
universal suffrage in a city of which perhaps three-fourths of the
voters were born abroad or of foreign parents, and of whom many
were the scum swept off the seethings of European populations, must
work most injuriously on property and capital. I confess it is to
be much wondered at that the consequences are not more evil; but no
doubt the time is coming when the mischief can no longer be borne,
and a social reform and revolution must be inevitable.
Within only a very few hundreds of yards from the house and
picture-gallery of Mons. B----, the representative of European
millions, are the hovels and lodgings of his equals in political
power. This evening I visited the house of Mons. B----, where his
wife had a reception, to which nearly the whole of the party went.
When a man looks at a suit of armour made to order by the first
blacksmith in Europe, he observes that the finish of the joints
and hinges is much higher than in the old iron clothes of the
former time. Possibly the metal is better, and the chasings and
garniture as good as the work of Milan, but the observer is not for
a moment led to imagine that the fabric has stood proof of blows,
or that it smacks of ancient watch-fire. If he were asked why it
is so, he could not tell; any more perhaps than he could define
exactly the difference between the lustrous, highly-jewelled,
well-greaved Achaian of New York and the very less effective and
showy creature who will in every society over the world pass
muster as a gentleman. Here was an elegant house--I use the word
in its real meaning--with pretty statues, rich carpets, handsome
furniture, and a gallery of charming Meissoniers and genre pieces;
the saloons admirably lighted--a fair fine large suite, filled
with the prettiest women in the most delightful toilettes, with a
proper fringe of young men, orderly, neat, and well turned-out,
fretting against the usual advanced posts of turbaned and jewelled
dowagers, and provided with every accessory to make the whole good
society; for there was wit, sense, intelligence, vivacity; and yet
there was something wanting--not in host or hostess, or company,
or house--where was it?--which was conspicuous by its absence. Mr.
Bancroft was kind enough to introduce me to the most lovely faces
and figures, and so far enabled me to judge that nothing could be
more beautiful, easy, or natural than the womanhood or girlhood
of New York. It is prettiness rather than fineness; regular,
intelligent, wax-like faces, graceful little figures; none of the
grandiose Roman type which Von Raumer recognised in London, as in
the Holy City, a quarter of a century ago. Natheless, the young
men of New York ought to be thankful and grateful, and try to be
worthy of it. Late in the evening I saw these same young men, Novi
Eboracenses, at their club, dicing for drinks and oathing for
nothing, and all very friendly and hospitable.
The club-house is remarkable as the mansion of a happy man who
invented or patented a waterproof hat-lining, whereby he built a
sort of Sallustian villa, with a central court-yard, à l’Alhambra,
with fountains and flowers, now passed away to the New York Club.
Here was Pratt’s, or the defunct Fielding, or the old C. C. C.’s in
disregard of time and regard of drinks--and nothing more.
CHAPTER IV.
Streets and shops in New York--Literature--A funeral--Dinner
at Mr. H----’s--Dinner at Mr. Bancroft’s--Political and social
features--Literary breakfast; Heenan and Sayers.
_March 20th._--The papers are still full of Sumter and Pickens.
The reports that they are or are not to be relieved are stated
and contradicted in each paper without any regard to individual
consistency. The “Tribune” has an article on my speech at the St.
Patrick’s dinner, to which it is pleased to assign reasons and
motives which the speaker, at all events, never had in making it.
Received several begging letters, some of them apparently with
only too much of the stamp of reality about their tales of
disappointment, distress, and suffering. In the afternoon went down
Broadway, which was crowded, notwithstanding the piles of blackened
snow by the kerbstones, and the sloughs of mud, and half frozen
pools at the crossings. Visited several large stores or shops--some
rival the best establishments in Paris or London in richness and
in value, and far exceed them in size and splendour of exterior.
Some on Broadway, built of marble, or of fine cut stone, cost from
6000_l._ to 8000_l._ a year in mere rent. Here, from the base to
the fourth or fifth story, are piled collections of all the world
can produce, often in excess of all possible requirements of the
country; indeed I was told that the United States have always
imported more goods than they could pay for. Jewellers’ shops are
not numerous, but there are two in Broadway which have splendid
collections of jewels, and of workmanship in gold and silver,
displayed to the greatest advantage in fine apartments decorated
with black marble, statuary, and plate glass.
New York has certainly all the air of a “nouveau riche.” There is
about it an utter absence of any appearance of a grandfather--one
does not see even such evidences of eccentric taste as are afforded
in Paris and London, by the existence of shops where the old
families of a country cast off their “exuviæ” which are sought
by the new, that they may persuade the world they are old; there
is no curiosity shop, not to speak of a Wardour Street, and such
efforts as are made to supply the deficiency reveal an enormous
amount of ignorance or of bad taste. The new arts, however,
flourish; the plague of photography has spread through all the
corners of the city, and the shop-windows glare with flagrant
displays of the most tawdry art. In some of the large book-sellers’
shops--Appleton’s for example--are striking proofs of the activity
of the American press, if not of the vigour and originality of
the American intellect. I passed down long rows of shelves laden
with the works of European authors, for the most part, oh shame!
stolen and translated into American type without the smallest
compunction or scruple, and without the least intention of ever
yielding the most pitiful deodand to the authors. Mr. Appleton
sells no less than one million and a half of Webster’s spelling
books a year; his tables are covered with a flood of pamphlets,
some for, others against coercion; some for, others opposed to
slavery,--but when I asked for a single solid, substantial work
on the present difficulty, I was told there was not one published
worth a cent. With such men as Audubon and Wilson in natural
history, Prescott and Motley in history, Washington Irving and
Cooper in fiction, Longfellow and Edgar Poe in poetry, even Bryant
and the respectabilities in rhyme, and Emerson as essayist, there
is no reason why New York should be a paltry imitation of Leipsig,
without the good faith of Tauchnitz.
I dined with a litterateur well known in England to many people
a year or two ago--sprightly, loquacious, and well-informed, if
neither witty nor profound--now a Southern man with Southern
proclivities, as Americans say; once a Southern man with such
strong anti-slavery convictions, that his expression of them in
an English quarterly had secured him the hostility of his own
people--one of the emanations of American literary life for which
their own country finds no fitting receiver. As the best proof of
his sincerity, he has just now abandoned his connection with one
of the New York papers on the republican side, because he believed
that the course of the journal was dictated by anti-Southern
fanaticism. He is, in fact, persuaded that there will be a civil
war, and that the South will have much of the right on its side in
the contest. At his rooms were Mons. B----, Dr. Gwin, a Californian
ex-senator, Mr. Barlow, and several of the leading men of a certain
clique in New York. The Americans complain, or assert, that we do
not understand them, and I confess the reproach, or statement,
was felt to be well founded by myself at all events, when I heard
it declared and admitted that “if Mons. Belmont had not gone to
the Charleston Convention, the present crisis would never have
occurred.”
_March 22nd._--A snow-storm worthy of Moscow or Riga flew through
New York all day, depositing more food for the mud. I paid a visit
to Mr. Horace Greeley, and had a long conversation with him. He
expressed great pleasure at the intelligence that I was going to
visit the Southern States. “Be sure you examine the slave-pens.
_They_ will be afraid to refuse you, and you can tell the truth.”
As the capital and the South form the chief attractions at present,
I am preparing to escape from “the divine calm” and snows of New
York. I was recommended to visit many places before I left New
York, principally hospitals and prisons. Sing-Sing, the state
penitentiary, is “claimed,” as the Americans say, to be the first
“institution” of its kind in the world. Time presses, however, and
Sing-Sing is a long way off. I am told a system of torture prevails
there for hardened or obdurate offenders--torture by dropping
cold water on them, torture by thumb-screws, and the like--rather
opposed to the views of prison philanthropists in modern days.
_March 23rd._--It is announced positively that the authorities
in Pensacola and Charleston have refused to allow any further
supplies to be sent to Fort Pickens, the United States fleet in
the Gulf, and to Fort Sumter. Everywhere the Southern leaders
are forcing on a solution with decision and energy, whilst the
Government appears to be helplessly drifting with the current
of events, having neither bow nor stern, neither keel nor deck,
neither rudder, compass, sails, or steam. Mr. Seward has declined
to receive or hold any intercourse with the three gentlemen called
Southern Commissioners, who repaired to Washington accredited by
the Government and Congress of the Seceding States now sitting at
Montgomery, so that there is no channel of mediation or means of
adjustment left open. I hear, indeed, that Government is secretly
preparing what force it can to strengthen the garrison at Pickens,
and to reinforce Sumter at any hazard; but that its want of men,
ships, and money compels it to temporise, lest the Southern
authorities should forestall their designs by a vigorous attack on
the enfeebled forts.
There is, in reality, very little done by New York to support or
encourage the Government in any decided policy, and the journals
are more engaged now in abusing each other, and in small party
aggressive warfare, than in the performance of the duties of
a patriotic press, whose mission at such a time is beyond all
question the resignation of little differences for the sake of the
whole country, and an entire devotion to its safety, honour, and
integrity. But the New York people must have their intellectual
drams every morning, and it matters little what the course of
Government may be, so long as the aristocratic democrat can
be amused by ridicule of the Great Rail Splitter, or a vivid
portraiture of Mr. Horace Greeley’s old coat, hat, breeches, and
umbrella. The coarsest personalities are read with gusto, and
attacks of a kind which would not have been admitted into the
“Age” or “Satirist” in their worst days, form the staple leading
articles of one or two of the most largely circulated journals in
the city. “Slang” in its worst Americanised form is freely used
in sensation headings and leaders, and a class of advertisements
which are not allowed to appear in respectable English papers, have
possession of columns of the principal newspapers, few, indeed,
excluding them. It is strange, too, to see in journals which
profess to represent the civilisation and intelligence of the most
enlightened and highly educated people on the face of the earth,
advertisements of sorcerers, wizards, and fortune-tellers by the
score--“wonderful clairvoyants,” “the seventh child of a seventh
child,” “mesmeristic necromancers,” and the like, who can tell your
thoughts as soon as you enter the room, can secure the affections
you prize, give lucky numbers in lotteries, and make everybody’s
fortunes but their own. Then there are the most impudent quack
programmes--very doubtful “personals” addressed to “the young lady
with black hair and blue eyes, who got out of the omnibus at the
corner of 7th Street”--appeals by “a lady about to be confined” to
any “respectable person who is desirous of adopting a child:” all
rather curious reading for a stranger, or for a family.
It is not to be expected, of course, that New York is a very pure
city, for more than London or Paris it is the sewer of nations. It
is a city of luxury also--French and Italian cooks and milliners,
German and Italian musicians, high prices, extravagant tastes and
dressing, money readily made, a life in hotels, bar-rooms, heavy
gambling, sporting, and prize-fighting flourish here, and combine
to lower the standard of the _bourgeoisie_ at all events. Where
wealth is the sole aristocracy, there is great danger of mistaking
excess and profusion for elegance and good taste. To-day as I was
going down Broadway, some dozen or more of the most over-dressed
men I ever saw were pointed out to me as “sports;” that is, men who
lived by gambling-houses and betting on races; and the class is so
numerous that it has its own influence, particularly at elections,
when the power of a hard-hitting prizefighter with a following
makes itself unmistakeably felt. Young America essays to look like
martial France in mufti, but the hat and the coat suited to the
Colonel of Carabiniers _en retraite_ do not at all become the thin,
tall, rather long-faced gentlemen one sees lounging about Broadway.
It is true, indeed, the type, though not French, is not English.
The characteristics of the American are straight hair, keen,
bright, penetrating eyes, and want of colour in the cheeks.
_March 25th._--I had an invitation to meet several members of
the New York press association at breakfast. Among the company
were--Mr. Bayard Taylor, with whose extensive notes of travel his
countrymen are familiar--a kind of enlarged Inglis, full of the
genial spirit which makes travelling in company so agreeable,
but he has come back as travellers generally do, satisfied
there is no country like his own--Prince Leeboo loved his own
isle the best after all--Mr. Raymond, of the “New York Times”
(formerly Lieutenant-Governor of the State); Mr. Olmsted, the
indefatigable, able, and earnest writer, whom to describe simply
as an Abolitionist would be to confound with ignorant if zealous,
unphilosophical, and impracticable men; Mr. Dana, of the “Tribune;”
Mr. Hurlbert, of the “Times;” the Editor of the “Courier des
Etats Unis;” Mr. Young, of the “Albion,” which is the only English
journal published in the States; and others. There was a good
deal of pleasant conversation, though every one differed with
his neighbour, as a matter of course, as soon as he touched on
politics. There was talk _de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis_,
such as Heenan and Sayers, Secession and Sumter, the press,
politicians, New York life, and so on. The first topic occupied a
larger place than it was entitled to, because in all likelihood the
sporting editor of one of the papers who was present expressed,
perhaps, some justifiable feeling in reference to the refusal
of the belt to the American. All admitted the courage and great
endurance of his antagonist, but seemed convinced that Heenan, if
not the better man, was at least the victor in that particular
contest. It would be strange to see the great tendency of Americans
to institute comparisons with ancient and recognised standards, if
it were not that they are adopting the natural mode of judging of
their own capabilities. The nation is like a growing lad who is
constantly testing his powers in competition with his elders. He
is in his youth and nonage, and he is calling down the lanes and
alleys to all comers to look at his muscle, to run against or to
fight him. It is a sign of youth, not a proof of weakness, though
it does offend the old hands and vex the veterans.
Then one finds that Great Britain is often treated very much as an
old Peninsula man may be by a set of young soldiers at a club. He
is no doubt a very gallant fellow, and has done very fine things in
his day, and he is listened to with respectful endurance, but there
is a secret belief that he will never do anything very great again.
One of the gentlemen present said that England might dispute the
right of the United States Government to blockade the ports of
her own States, to which she was entitled to access under treaty,
and might urge that such a blockade was not justifiable; but
then, it was argued, that the President could open and shut ports
as he pleased; and that he might close the Southern ports by a
proclamation in the nature of an Order of Council. It was taken
for granted that Great Britain would only act on sordid motives,
but that the well known affection of France for the United States
is to check the selfishness of her rival, and prevent a speedy
recognition.
CHAPTER V.
Off to the railway station--Railway carriages--Philadelphia--
Washington--Willard’s Hotel--Mr. Seward--North and South--The
“State Department” at Washington--President Lincoln--Dinner
at Mr. Seward’s.
After our pleasant breakfast came that necessity for activity which
makes such meals disguised as mere light morning repasts take their
revenge. I had to pack up, and I am bound to say the moral aid
afforded me by the waiter, who stood with a sympathising expression
of face, and looked on as I wrestled with boots, books, and great
coats, was of a most comprehensive character. At last I conquered,
and at six o’clock P.M. I left the Clarendon, and was conveyed over
the roughest and most execrable pavements through several miles of
unsympathetic, gloomy, dirty streets, and crowded thoroughfares,
over jaw-wrenching street-railway tracks, to a large wooden shed
covered with inscriptions respecting routes and destinations on
the bank of the river, which as far as the eye could see, was
bordered by similar establishments, where my baggage was deposited
in the mud. There were no porters, none of the recognised and
established aides to locomotion to which we are accustomed in
Europe, but a number of amateurs divided the spoil, and carried it
into the offices, whilst I was directed to struggle for my ticket
in another little wooden box, from which I presently received the
necessary document, full of the dreadful warnings and conditions,
which railway companies inflict on the public in all free countries.
The whole of my luggage, except a large bag, was taken charge
of by a man at the New York side of the ferry, who “checked it
through” to the capital--giving me a slip of brass with a number
corresponding with a brass ticket for each piece. When the boat
arrived at the stage at the other side of the Hudson, in my
innocence I called for a porter to take my bag. The passengers were
moving out of the capacious ferry-boat in a steady stream, and the
steam throat and bell of the engine were going whilst I was looking
for my porter; but at last a gentleman passing, said, “I guess
y’ill remain here a considerable time before y’ill get any one to
come for that bag of yours,” and taking the hint, I just got off
in time to stumble into a long box on wheels, with a double row of
most uncomfortable seats, and a passage down the middle, where I
found a place beside Mr. Sanford, the newly-appointed United States
Minister to Belgium, who was kind enough to take me under his
charge to Washington.
The night was closing in very fast as the train started, but such
glimpses as I had of the continuous line of pretty-looking villages
of wooden houses, two stories high, painted white, each with its
Corinthian portico, gave a most favourable impression of the
comfort and prosperity of the people. The rail passed through the
main street of most of these hamlets and villages, and the bell
of the engine was tolled to warn the inhabitants, who drew up on
the side walks, and let us go by. Soon the white houses faded away
into faint blurred marks on the black ground of the landscape, or
twinkled with starlike lights, and there was nothing more to see.
The passengers were crowded as close as they could pack, and as
there was an immense iron stove in the centre of the car, the heat
and stuffiness became most trying, although I had been undergoing
the ordeal of the stove-heated New York houses for nearly a week.
Once a minute, at least, the door at either end of the carriage was
opened, and then closed with a sharp crashing noise, that jarred
the nerves, and effectually prevented sleep. It generally was done
by a man whose sole object seemed to be to walk up the centre of
the carriage in order to go out of the opposite door--occasionally
it was the work of the newspaper boy, with a sheaf of journals and
trashy illustrated papers under his arm. Now and then it was the
conductor; but the periodical visitor was a young gentleman with a
chain and rings, who bore a tray before him, and solicited orders
for “gum drops,” and “lemon drops,” which, with tobacco, apples,
and cakes, were consumed in great quantities by the passengers.
At 10 o’clock, P.M., we crossed the river by a ferry-boat to
Philadelphia, and drove through the streets, stopping for supper a
few moments at the La Pierre Hotel. To judge from the vast extent
of the streets, of small, low, yet snug-looking houses, through
which we passed, Philadelphia must contain in comfort the largest
number of small householders of any city in the world. At the other
terminus of the rail, to which we drove in a carriage, we procured
for a small sum, a dollar I think, berths in a sleeping car, an
American institution of considerable merit. Unfortunately a party
of prize-fighters had a mind to make themselves comfortable, and
the result was anything but conducive to sleep. They had plenty of
whiskey, and were full of song and fight, nor was it possible to
escape their urgent solicitations “to take a drink,” by feigning
the soundest sleep. One of these, a big man, with a broken nose, a
mellow eye, and a very large display of rings, jewels, chains and
pins, was in very high spirits, and informed us he was “Going to
Washington to get a foreign mission from Bill Seward. He wouldn’t
take Paris, as he didn’t care much about French or Frenchmen; but
he’d just like to show John Bull how to do it; or he’d take Japan
if they were very pressing.” Another told us he was “Going to the
bosom of Uncle Abe” (meaning the President)--“that he knew him well
in Kentucky years ago, and a high-toned gentleman he was.” Any
attempts to persuade them to retire to rest made by the conductors
were treated with sovereign contempt, but at last whiskey asserted
its supremacy, and having established the point that they “would
not sleep unless they ---- pleased,” they slept and snored.
At six, A.M., we were roused up by the arrival of the train at
Washington, having crossed great rivers and traversed cities
without knowing it during the night. I looked out and saw a vast
mass of white marble towering above us on the left, stretching out
in colonnaded porticoes, and long flanks of windowed masonry, and
surmounted by an unfinished cupola, from which scaffold and cranes
raised their black arms. This was the Capitol. To the right was a
cleared space of mud, sand, and fields studded with wooden sheds
and huts, beyond which, again, could be seen rudimentary streets
of small red brick houses, and some church-spires above them.
Emerging from the station, we found a vociferous crowd of blacks,
who were the hackney-coachmen of the place; but Mr. Sanford had his
carriage in waiting, and drove me straight to Willard’s Hotel where
he consigned me to the landlord at the bar. Our route lay through
Pennsylvania avenue--a street of much breadth and length, lined
with ælanthus trees, each in a whitewashed wooden sentry-box, and
by most irregularly-built houses in all kinds of material, from
deal plank to marble--of all heights, and every sort of trade. Few
shop-windows were open, and the principal population consisted
of blacks, who were moving about on domestic affairs. At one end
of the long vista there is the Capitol; and at the other, the
Treasury buildings--a fine block in marble, with the usual American
classical colonnades.
Close to these rises the great pile of Willard’s Hotel, now
occupied by applicants for office, and by the members of the
newly-assembled Congress. It is a quadrangular mass of rooms,
six stories high, and some hundred yards square; and it probably
contains at this moment more scheming, plotting, planning heads,
more aching and joyful hearts, that any building of the same size
ever held in the world. I was ushered into a bed-room which had
just been vacated by some candidate--whether he succeeded or not
I cannot tell, but if his testimonials spoke truth, he ought to
have been selected at once for the highest office. The room was
littered with printed copies of letters testifying that J. Smith,
of Hartford, Conn., was about the ablest, honestest, cleverest,
and best man the writers ever knew. Up and down the long passages
doors were opening and shutting for men with papers bulging out of
their pockets, who hurried as if for their life in and out, and the
building almost shook with the tread of the candidature, which did
not always in its present aspect justify the correctness of the
original appellation.
It was a remarkable sight, and difficult to understand unless
seen. From California, Texas, from the Indian Reserves, and the
Mormon territory, from Nebraska, as from the remotest borders of
Minnesota, from every portion of the vast territories of the Union,
except from the Seceded States, the triumphant republicans had
winged their way to the prey.
There were crowds in the hall through which one could scarce make
his way--the writing-room was crowded, and the rustle of pens rose
to a little breeze--the smoking-room, the bar, the barbers, the
reception-room, the ladies’ drawing-room--all were crowded. At
present not less than 2,500 people dine in the public room every
day. On the kitchen floor there is a vast apartment, a hall without
carpets or any furniture but plain chairs and tables, which are
ranged in close rows, at which flocks of people are feeding, or
discoursing, or from which they are flying away. The servants never
cease shoving the chairs to and fro with a harsh screeching noise
over the floor, so that one can scarce hear his neighbour speak. If
he did, he would probably hear as I did, at this very hotel, a man
order breakfast, “Black tea and toast, scrambled eggs, fresh spring
shad, wild pigeon, pigs’ feet, two robins on toast, oysters,” and a
quantity of breads and cakes of various denominations. The waste
consequent on such orders is enormous--and the ability required to
conduct these enormous establishments successfully is expressed by
the common phrase in the States, “Brown is a clever man, but he
can’t manage an hotel.” The tumult, the miscellaneous nature of the
company--my friends the prize-fighters are already in possession
of the doorway--the heated, muggy rooms, not to speak of the great
abominableness of the passages and halls, despite a most liberal
provision of spittoons, conduce to render these institutions by
no means agreeable to a European. Late in the day I succeeded in
obtaining a sitting-room with a small bed-room attached, which
made me somewhat more independent and comfortable--but you must
pay highly for any departure from the routine life of the natives.
Ladies enjoy a handsome drawing-room, with piano, sofas, and easy
chairs, all to themselves.
I dined at Mr. Sanford’s, where I was introduced to Mr. Seward,
Secretary of State; Mr. Truman Smith, an ex-senator, much
respected among the Republican party; Mr. Anthony, a senator of
the United States, a journalist, a very intelligent-looking man,
with an Israelitish cast of face; Colonel Foster of the Illinois
railway, of reputation in the States as a geologist; and one or
two more gentlemen. Mr. Seward is a slight, middle-sized man, of
feeble build, with the stoop contracted from sedentary habits and
application to the desk, and has a peculiar attitude when seated,
which immediately attracts attention. A well-formed and large head
is placed on a long, slender neck, and projects over the chest in
an argumentative kind of way, as if the keen eyes were seeking
for an adversary; the mouth is remarkably flexible, large but
well-formed, the nose prominent and aquiline, the eyes secret,
but penetrating, and lively with humour of some kind twinkling
about them; the brow bold and broad, but not remarkably elevated;
the white hair silvery and fine--a subtle, quick man, rejoicing
in power, given to perorate and to oracular utterances, fond of
badinage, bursting with the importance of state mysteries, and
with the dignity of directing the foreign policy of the greatest
country--as all Americans think--in the world. After dinner he
told some stories of the pressure on the President for place,
which very much amused the guests who knew the men, and talked
freely and pleasantly of many things--stating, however, few facts
positively. In reference to an assertion in a New York paper, that
orders had been given to evacuate Sumter, “That,” he said, “is a
plain lie--no such orders have been given. We will give up nothing
we have--abandon nothing that has been entrusted to us. If people
would only read these statements by the light of the President’s
inaugural, they would not be deceived.” He wanted no extra
session of Congress. “History tells us that kings who call extra
parliaments lose their heads,” and he informed the company he had
impressed the President with his historical parallels.
All through this conversation his tone was that of a man very
sanguine, and with a supreme contempt for those who thought there
was anything serious in secession. “Why,” said he, “I myself, my
brothers, and sisters, have been all secessionists--we seceded
from home when we were young, but we all went back to it sooner
or later. These States will all come back in the same way,” I
doubt if he was ever in the South; but he affirmed that the state
of living and of society there was something like that in the
State of New York sixty or seventy years ago. In the North all was
life, enterprise, industry, mechanical skill. In the South there
was dependence on black labour, and an idle extravagance which
was mistaken for elegant luxury--tumble-down old hackney-coaches,
such as had not been seen north of the Potomac for half a century,
harness never cleaned, ungroomed horses, worked at the mill
one day and sent to town the next, badly furnished houses, bad
cookery, imperfect education. No parallel could be drawn between
them and the Northern States at all. “You are all very angry,”
he said, “about the Morrill tariff. You must, however, let us be
best judges of our own affairs. If we judge rightly, you have no
right to complain; if we judge wrongly, we shall soon be taught
by the results, and shall correct our error. It is evident that
if the Morrill tariff fulfils expectations, and raises a revenue,
British manufacturers suffer nothing, and we suffer nothing, for
the revenue is raised here, and trade is not injured. If the tariff
fails to create a revenue, we shall be driven to modify or repeal
it.”
The company addressed him as “Governor,” which led to Mr. Seward’s
mentioning that when he was in England he was induced to put his
name down with that prefix in a hotel book, and caused a discussion
among the waiters as to whether he was the “Governor” of a prison
or of a public company. I hope the great people of England treated
Mr. Seward with the attention due to his position, as he would
assuredly feel and resent very much any slight on the part of
those in high places. From what he said, however, I infer that he
was satisfied with the reception he had met in London. Like most
Americans who can afford it, he has been up the Nile. The weird old
stream has great fascinations for the people of the Mississippi--as
far at least as the first cataract.
_March 27th._--This morning, after breakfast, Mr. Sanford called,
according to promise, and took me to the State department. It is
a very humble--in fact, dingy--mansion, two stories high, and
situated at the end of the magnificent line of colonnade in white
marble, called the Treasury, which is hereafter to do duty as the
head-quarters of nearly all the public departments. People familiar
with Downing Street, however, cannot object to the dinginess of
the bureaux in which the foreign and state affairs of the American
Republic are transacted. A flight of steps leads to the hall-door,
on which an announcement in writing is affixed, to indicate the
days of reception for the various classes of persons who have
business with the Secretary of State; in the hall, on the right and
left, are small rooms, with the names of the different officers
on the doors--most of them persons of importance; half-way in the
hall a flight of stairs conducts us to a similar corridor, rather
dark, with doors on each side opening into the bureaux of the chief
clerks. All the appointments were very quiet, and one would see
much more bustle in the passages of a Poor Law Board or a parish
vestry.
In a moderately-sized, but very comfortable, apartment, surrounded
with book-shelves, and ornamented with a few engravings, we found
the Secretary of State seated at his table, and enjoying a cigar;
he received me with great courtesy and kindness, and after a time
said he would take occasion to present me to the President, who was
to give audience that day to the minister of the new kingdom of
Italy, who had hitherto only represented the kingdom of Sardinia.
I have already described Mr. Seward’s personal appearance; his son,
to whom he introduced me, is the Assistant-Secretary of State, and
is editor or proprietor of a journal in the State of New York,
which has a reputation for ability and fairness. Mr. Frederick
Seward is a slight delicate-looking man, with a high forehead,
thoughtful brow, dark eyes, and amiable expression; his manner is
very placid and modest, and, if not reserved, he is by no means
loquacious. As we were speaking, a carriage drove up to the door,
and Mr. Seward exclaimed to his father, with something like dismay
in his voice, “Here comes the Chevalier in full uniform!”--and
in a few seconds in effect the Chevalier Bertinatti made his
appearance, in cocked hat, white gloves, diplomatic suit of blue
and silver lace, sword, sash, and riband of the cross of Savoy. I
thought there was a quiet smile on Mr. Seward’s face as he saw his
brilliant companion, who contrasted so strongly with the more than
republican simplicity of his own attire. “Fred, do you take Mr.
Russell round to the President’s, whilst I go with the Chevalier.
We will meet at the White House.” We accordingly set out through
a private door leading to the grounds, and within a few seconds
entered the hall of the moderate mansion, White House, which has
very much the air of a portion of a bank or public office, being
provided with glass doors and plain heavy chairs and forms. The
domestic who was in attendance was dressed like any ordinary
citizen, and seemed perfectly indifferent to the high position of
the great personage with whom he conversed, when Mr. Seward asked
him, “Where is the President?” Passing through one of the doors on
the left, we entered a handsome spacious room, richly and rather
gorgeously furnished, and rejoicing in a kind of “_demi-jour_,”
which gave increased effect to the gilt chairs and ormolu
ornaments. Mr. Seward and the Chevalier stood in the centre of the
room, whilst his son and I remained a little on one side: “For,”
said Mr. Seward, “you are not to be supposed to be here.”
Soon afterwards there entered, with a shambling, loose, irregular,
almost unsteady gait, a tall, lank, lean man, considerably over
six feet in height, with stooping shoulders, long pendulous arms,
terminating in hands of extraordinary dimensions, which, however,
were far exceeded in proportion by his feet. He was dressed in an
ill-fitting, wrinkled suit of black, which put one in mind of an
undertaker’s uniform at a funeral; round his neck a rope of black
silk was knotted in a large bulb, with flying ends projecting
beyond the collar of his coat; his turned-down shirt-collar
disclosed a sinewy muscular yellow neck, and above that, nestling
in a great black mass of hair, bristling and compact like a ruff
of mourning pins, rose the strange quaint face and head, covered
with its thatch of wild republican hair, of President Lincoln. The
impression produced by the size of his extremities, and by his
flapping and wide projecting ears, may be removed by the appearance
of kindliness, sagacity, and the awkward bonhommie of his face; the
mouth is absolutely prodigious; the lips, straggling and extending
almost from one line of black beard to the other, are only kept
in order by two deep furrows from the nostril to the chin; the
nose itself--a prominent organ--stands out from the face, with
an inquiring, anxious air, as though it were sniffing for some
good thing in the wind; the eyes dark, full, and deeply set, are
penetrating, but full of an expression which almost amounts to
tenderness; and above them projects the shaggy brow, running into
the small hard frontal space, the development of which can scarcely
be estimated accurately, owing to the irregular flocks of thick
hair carelessly brushed across it. One would say that, although the
mouth was made to enjoy a joke, it could also utter the severest
sentence which the head could dictate, but that Mr. Lincoln would
be ever more willing to temper justice with mercy, and to enjoy
what he considers the amenities of life, than to take a harsh
view of men’s nature and of the world, and to estimate things in
an ascetic or puritan spirit. A person who met Mr. Lincoln in the
street would not take him to be what--according to the usages of
European society--is called a “gentleman;” and, indeed, since I
came to the United States, I have heard more disparaging allusions
made by Americans to him on that account than I could have expected
among simple republicans, where all should be equals; but, at
the same time, it would not be possible for the most indifferent
observer to pass him in the street without notice.
As he advanced through the room, he evidently controlled a desire
to shake hands all round with everybody, and smiled good-humouredly
till he was suddenly brought up by the staid deportment of Mr.
Seward, and by the profound diplomatic bows of the Chevalier
Bertinatti. Then, indeed, he suddenly jerked himself back, and
stood in front of the two ministers, with his body slightly drooped
forward, and his hands behind his back, his knees touching, and his
feet apart. Mr. Seward formally presented the minister, whereupon
the President made a prodigiously violent demonstration of his body
in a bow which had almost the effect of a smack in its rapidity and
abruptness, and, recovering himself, proceeded to give his utmost
attention, whilst the Chevalier, with another bow, read from a
paper a long address in presenting the royal letter accrediting him
as “minister resident;” and when he said that “the king desired to
give, under your enlightened administration, all possible strength
and extent to those sentiments of frank sympathy which do not cease
to be exhibited every moment between the two peoples, and whose
origin dates back as far as the exertions which have presided over
their common destiny as self-governing and free nations,” the
President gave another bow still more violent, as much as to accept
the allusion.
The minister forthwith handed his letter to the President, who
gave it into the custody of Mr. Seward, and then, dipping his
hand into his coat-pocket, Mr. Lincoln drew out a sheet of paper,
from which he read his reply, the most remarkable part of which
was his doctrine “that the United States were bound by duty not
to interfere with the differences of foreign governments and
countries.” After some words of compliment, the President shook
hands with the minister, who soon afterwards retired. Mr. Seward
then took me by the hand and said--“Mr. President, allow me to
present to you Mr. Russell, of the London ‘Times.’” On which Mr.
Lincoln put out his hand in a very friendly manner, and said, “Mr.
Russell, I am very glad to make your acquaintance, and to see you
in this country. The London ‘Times’ is one of the greatest powers
in the world,--in fact, I don’t know anything which has much more
power,--except perhaps the Mississippi. I am glad to know you as
its minister.” Conversation ensued for some minutes, which the
President enlivened by two or three peculiar little sallies, and I
left agreeably impressed with his shrewdness, humour, and natural
sagacity.
In the evening I dined with Mr. Seward, in company with his son,
Mr. Seward, junior, Mr. Sanford, and a quaint, natural specimen of
an American rustic lawyer, who was going to Brussels as Secretary
of Legation. His chief, Mr. Sanford, did not appear altogether
happy when introduced to his secretary, for he found that he had
a very limited knowledge (if any) of French, and of other things
which it is generally considered desirable that secretaries should
know.
Very naturally, conversation turned on politics. Although no man
can foresee the nature of the crisis which is coming, nor the mode
in which it is to be encountered, the faith of men like Mr. Sanford
and Mr. Seward in the ultimate success of their principles, and in
the integrity of the Republic, is very remarkable; and the boldness
of their language in reference to foreign powers almost amounts
to arrogance and menace, if not to temerity. Mr. Seward asserted
that the Ministers of England or of France had no right to make
any allusion to the civil war which appeared imminent; and that
the Southern Commissioners who had been sent abroad could not be
received by the Government of any foreign power, officially or
otherwise, even to hand in a document or to make a representation,
without incurring the risk of breaking off relations with the
Government of the United States. As regards the great object of
public curiosity, the relief of Fort Sumter, Mr. Seward maintains a
profound silence, beyond the mere declaration, made with a pleasant
twinkle of the eye, that “the whole policy of the Government,
on that and other questions, is put forth in the President’s
inaugural, from which there will be no deviation.” Turning to
the inaugural message, however, there is no such very certain
indication, as Mr. Seward pretends to discover, of the course to
be pursued by Mr. Lincoln and the cabinet. To an outside observer,
like myself, it seems as if they were waiting for events to develop
themselves, and rested their policy rather upon acts that had
occurred, than upon any definite principle designed to control or
direct the future.
I should here add that Mr. Seward spoke in high terms of the
ability, dexterity, and personal qualities of Mr. Jefferson Davis,
and declared his belief that but for him the Secession movement
never could have succeeded as far as it has gone, and would, in
all probability, indeed, have never taken place at all. After
dinner cigars were introduced, and a quiet little rubber of whist
followed. The Secretary is given to expatiate at large, and told us
many anecdotes of foreign travel;--if I am not doing him injustice,
I would say further, that he remembers his visit to England, and
the attention he received there, with peculiar satisfaction. He
cannot be found fault with because he has formed a most exalted
notion of the superior intelligence, virtue, happiness, and
prosperity of his own people. He said that it would not be proper
for him to hold any communication with the Southern Commissioners
then in Washington; which rather surprised me, after what I had
heard from their friend, Mr. Banks. On returning to my hotel,
I found a card from the President, inviting me to dinner the
following day.
CHAPTER VI.
A state dinner at the White House--Mrs. Lincoln--The Cabinet
Ministers--A newspaper correspondent--Good Friday at Washington.
_March 28th._--I was honoured to-day by visits from a great number
of Members of Congress, journalists, and others. Judging from the
expressions of most of the Washington people, they would gladly
see a Southern Cabinet installed in their city. The cold shoulder
is given to Mr. Lincoln, and all kinds of stories and jokes are
circulated at his expense. People take particular pleasure in
telling how he came towards the seat of his Government disguised in
a Scotch cap and cloak, whatever that may mean.
In the evening I repaired to the White House. The servant who
took my hat and coat was particularly inquisitive as to my name
and condition in life; and when he heard I was not a minister,
he seemed inclined to question my right to be there at all:
“for,” said he, “there are none but members of the cabinet, and
their wives and daughters, dining here to-day.” Eventually he
relaxed--instructed me how to place my hat so that it would be
exposed to no indignity, and informed me that I was about to
participate in a prandial enjoyment of no ordinary character. There
was no parade or display, no announcement--no gilded staircase,
with its liveried heralds, transmitting and translating one’s name
from landing to landing. From the unpretending ante-chamber, a walk
across the lofty hall led us to the reception-room, which was the
same as that in which the President held his interview yesterday.
Mrs. Lincoln was already seated to receive her guests. She is of
the middle age and height, of a plumpness degenerating to the
_embonpoint_ natural to her years; her features are plain, her
nose and mouth of an ordinary type, and her manners and appearance
homely, stiffened, however, by the consciousness that her position
requires her to be something more than plain Mrs. Lincoln, the wife
of the Illinois lawyer; she is profuse in the introduction of the
word “sir” in every sentence, which is now almost an Americanism
confined to certain classes, although it was once as common in
England. Her dress I shall not attempt to describe, though it
was very gorgeous and highly coloured. She handled a fan with
much energy, displaying a round, well-proportioned arm, and was
adorned with some simple jewellery. Mrs. Lincoln struck me as being
desirous of making herself agreeable; and I own I was agreeably
disappointed, as the Secessionist ladies at Washington had been
amusing themselves by anecdotes which could scarcely have been
founded on fact.
Several of the Ministers had already arrived; by-and-by all had
come, and the party only waited for General Scott, who seemed
to be the representative man in Washington of the monarchical
idea, and to absorb some of the feeling which is lavished on the
pictures and memory, if not on the monument, of Washington. Whilst
we were waiting, Mr. Seward took me round, and introduced me to
the Ministers, and to their wives and daughters, among the latter,
Miss Chase, who is very attractive, agreeable, and sprightly.
Her father, the Finance Minister, struck me as one of the most
intelligent and distinguished persons in the whole assemblage;
tall, of a good presence, with a well-formed head, fine forehead,
and a face indicating energy and power. There is a peculiar droop
and motion of the lid of one eye, which seems to have suffered from
some injury, that detracts from the agreeable effect of his face;
but, on the whole, he is one who would not pass quite unnoticed in
a European crowd of the same description.
In the whole assemblage there was not a scrap of lace or a piece
of ribbon, except the gorgeous epaulettes of an old naval officer
who had served against us in the last war, and who represented some
branch of the naval department. Nor were the Ministers by any means
remarkable for their personal appearance.
Mr. Cameron, the Secretary for War, a slight man, above the middle
height, with grey hair, deep-set keen grey eyes, and a thin mouth,
gave me the idea of a person of ability and adroitness. His
colleague, the Secretary of the Navy, a small man, with a great
long grey beard and spectacles, did not look like one of much
originality or ability; but people who know Mr. Welles declare
that he is possessed of administrative power, although they admit
that he does not know the stem from the stern of a ship, and are
in doubt whether he ever saw the sea in his life. Mr. Smith, the
Minister of the Interior, is a bright-eyed, smart (I use the word
in the English sense) gentleman, with the reputation of being one
of the most conservative members of the cabinet. Mr. Blair, the
Postmaster-General, is a person of much greater influence than his
position would indicate. He has the reputation of being one of the
most determined republicans in the Ministry; but he held peculiar
notions with reference to the black and the white races, which,
if carried out, would not by any means conduce to the comfort or
happiness of free negroes in the United States. He is a tall,
lean man, with a hard, Scotch, practical-looking head--an anvil
for ideas to be hammered on. His eyes are small and deeply set,
and have a rat-like expression; and he speaks with caution, as
though he weighed every word before he uttered it. The last of the
Ministers is Mr. Bates, a stout, thick-set, common-looking man,
with a large beard, who fills the office of Attorney-General. Some
of the gentlemen were in evening dress; others wore black frock
coats, which it seems, as in Turkey, are considered to be _en
regle_ at a Republican Ministerial dinner.
In the conversation which occurred before dinner, I was amused
to observe the manner in which Mr. Lincoln used the anecdotes
for which he is famous. Where men bred in courts, accustomed to
the world, or versed in diplomacy, would use some subterfuge, or
would make a polite speech, or give a shrug of the shoulders as
the means of getting out of an embarrassing position, Mr. Lincoln
raises a laugh by some bold west-country anecdote, and moves off
in the cloud of merriment produced by his joke. Thus, when Mr.
Bates was remonstrating apparently against the appointment of some
indifferent lawyer to a place of judicial importance, the President
interposed with, “Come now, Bates, he’s not half as bad as you
think. Besides that, I must tell you, he did me a good turn long
ago. When I took to the law, I was going to court one morning, with
some ten or twelve miles of bad road before me, and I had no horse.
The judge overtook me in his waggon. ‘Hollo, Lincoln! Are you not
going to the courthouse? Come in and I’ll give you a seat.’ Well,
I got in, and the judge went on reading his papers. Presently the
waggon struck a stump on one side of the road; then it hopped off
to the other. I looked out, and I saw the driver was jerking from
side to side in his seat; so says I, ‘Judge, I think your coachman
has been taking a little drop too much this morning.’ ‘Well I
declare, Lincoln,’ said he, ‘I should not much wonder if you are
right, for he has nearly upset me half-a-dozen of times since
starting.’ So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted,
‘Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are drunk!’ Upon which, pulling
up his horses, and turning round with great gravity, the coachman
said, ‘By gorra! that’s the first rightful decision you have given
for the last twelvemonth.’” Whilst the company were laughing,
the President beat a quiet retreat from the neighbourhood of the
Attorney-General.
It was at last announced that General Scott was unable to be
present, and that, although actually in the house, he had been
compelled to retire from indisposition, and we moved in to the
banquetting-hall. The first “state dinner,” as it is called, of the
President was not remarkable for ostentation. No liveried servants,
no Persic splendour of ancient plate, or _chefs d’œuvre_ of art
glittered round the board. Vases of flowers decorated the table,
combined with dishes in what may be called the “Gallo-American”
style, with wines which owed their parentage to France, and
their rearing and education to the United States, which abound in
cunning nurses for such productions. The conversation was suited
to the state dinner of a cabinet at which women and strangers
were present. I was seated next Mr. Bates and the very agreeable
and lively Secretary of the President, Mr. Hay, and except when
there was an attentive silence caused by one of the President’s
stories, there was a Babel of small talk round the table, in which
I was surprised to find a diversity of accent almost as great as
if a number of foreigners had been speaking English. I omitted the
name of Mr. Hamlin, the Vice-President, as well as those of less
remarkable people who were present; but it would not be becoming to
pass over a man distinguished for nothing so much as his persistent
and unvarying adhesion to one political doctrine, which has made
him, in combination with the belief in his honesty, the occupant of
a post which leads to the Presidency, in event of any occurrence
which may remove Mr. Lincoln.
After dinner the ladies and gentlemen retired to the drawing-room,
and the circle was increased by the addition of several
politicians. I had an opportunity of conversing with some of the
Ministers, if not with all, from time to time, and I was struck by
the uniform tendency of their remarks in reference to the policy of
Great Britain. They seemed to think that England was bound by her
anti-slavery antecedents to discourage to the utmost any attempts
of the South to establish its independence on a basis of slavery,
and to assume that they were the representatives of an active war
of emancipation. As the veteran Commodore Stewart passed the chair
of the young lady to whom I was speaking, she said, “I suppose,
Mr. Russell, you do not admire that officer?” “On the contrary,” I
said, “I think he is a very fine-looking old man.” “I don’t mean
that,” she replied; “but you know he can’t be very much liked by
you, because he fought so gallantly against you in the last war,
as you must know.” I had not the courage to confess ignorance of
the Captain’s antecedents. There is a delusion among more than the
fair American who spoke to me, that we entertain in England the
sort of feeling, morbid or wholesome as it may be, in reference to
our reverses at New Orleans and elsewhere, that is attributed to
Frenchmen respecting Waterloo.
On returning to Willard’s Hotel, I was accosted by a gentleman
who came out from the crowd in front of the office. “Sir,” he
said, “you have been dining with our President to-night.” I bowed.
“Was it an agreeable party?” said he. “What do you think of Mr.
Lincoln?” “May I ask to whom I have the pleasure of speaking?”
“My name is Mr. ----, and I am the correspondent of the New York
----.” “Then, sir,” I replied, “it gives me satisfaction to tell
you that I think a great deal of Mr. Lincoln, and that I am equally
pleased with my dinner. I have the honour to bid you good evening.”
The same gentleman informed me afterwards that he had created the
office of Washington Correspondent to the New York papers. “At
first,” said he, “I merely wrote news, and no one cared much;
then I spiced it up, squibbed a little, and let off stories of my
own. Congressmen contradicted me--issued cards--said they were
not facts. The public attention was attracted, and I was told to
go on; and so the Washington correspondence became a feature in
all the New York papers by degrees.” The hum and bustle in the
hotel to-night were wonderful All the office-seekers were in the
passages, hungering after senators and representatives, and the
ladies in any way related to influential people, had an _entourage_
of courtiers sedulously paying their respects. Miss Chase, indeed,
laughingly told me that she was pestered by applicants for her
father’s good offices, and by persons seeking introduction to her
as a means of making demands on “Uncle Sam.”
As I was visiting a book-shop to-day, a pert, smiling young fellow,
of slight figure and boyish appearance came up and introduced
himself to me as an artist who had contributed to an illustrated
London paper during the Prince of Wales’s tour, and who had become
acquainted with some of my friends; and he requested permission
to call on me, which I gave without difficulty or hesitation. He
visited me this evening, poor lad! and told me a sad story of his
struggles, and of the dependence of his family on his efforts, as
a prelude to a request that I would allow him to go South when I
was making the tour there, of which he had heard. He was under an
engagement with the London paper, and had no doubt that if he was
with me his sketches would all be received as illustrations of
the places to which my letters were attracting public interest in
England at the time. There was no reason why I should be averse to
his travelling with me in the same train. He could certainly go if
he pleased. At the same time I intimated that I was in no way to be
connected with or responsible for him.
_March 29th, Good Friday._--The religious observance of the day
was not quite as strict as it would be in England. The Puritan
aversion to ceremonials and formulary observances has apparently
affected the American world, even as far south as this. The people
of colour were in the streets dressed in their best. The first
impression produced by fine bonnets, gay shawls, brightly-coloured
dresses, and silk brodequins, on black faces, flat figures, and
feet to match, is singular; but, in justice to the backs of many
of the gaudily-dressed women, who, in little groups, were going to
church or chapel, it must be admitted that this surprise only came
upon one when he got a front view. The men generally affected black
coats, silk or satin waistcoats, and parti-coloured pantaloons.
They carried Missal or Prayer-book, pocket-handkerchief, cane or
parasol, with infinite affectation of correctness.
As I was looking out of the window, a very fine, tall young negro,
dressed irreproachably, save as to hat and boots, passed by. “I
wonder what he is?” I exclaimed inquiringly to a gentleman who
stood beside me. “Well,” he said, “that fellow is not a free
nigger; he looks too respectable. I daresay you could get him for
1500 dollars, without his clothes. You know,” continued he, “what
our Minister said when he saw a nigger at some Court in Europe,
and was asked what he thought of him: ‘Well, I guess,’ said he,
‘if you take off his fixings, he may be worth 1000 dollars down.’”
In the course of the day, Mr. Banks, a corpulent, energetic young
Virginian, of strong Southern views, again called on me. As the
friend of the Southern Commissioners he complained vehemently of
the refusal of Mr. Seward to hold intercourse with him. “These
fellows mean treachery, but we will baulk them.” In answer to a
remark of mine, that the English Minister would certainly refuse
to receive Commissioners from any part of the Queen’s dominions
which had seized upon the forts and arsenals of the empire and
menaced war, he replied: “The case is quite different. The Crown
claims a right to govern the whole of your empire; but the Austrian
Government could not refuse to receive a deputation from Hungary
for an adjustment of grievances; nor could any State belonging to
the German Diet attempt to claim sovereignty over another, because
they were members of the same Confederation.” I remarked “that his
views of the obligations of each State of the Union were perfectly
new to me, as a stranger ignorant of the controversies which
distracted them. An Englishman had nothing to do with a Virginian
and New Yorkist, or a South Carolinian--he scarcely knew anything
of a Texan, or of an Arkansasian; we only were conversant with
the United States as an entity; and all our dealings were with
citizens of the United States of North America.” This, however,
only provoked logically diffuse dissertations on the Articles of
the Constitution, and on the spirit of the Federal Compact.
Later in the day, I had the advantage of a conversation with
Mr. Truman Smith, an old and respected representative in former
days, who gave me a very different account of the matter; and who
maintained that by the Federal Compact each State had delegated
irrevocably the essence of its sovereignty to a Government to be
established in perpetuity for the benefit of the whole body. The
Slave States, seeing that the progress of free ideas, and the
material power of the North, were obtaining an influence which
must be subversive of the supremacy they had so long exercised in
the Federal Government for their own advantage, had developed this
doctrine of States’ Rights as a cloak to treason, preferring the
material advantages to be gained by the extension of their system
to the grand moral position which they would occupy as a portion of
the United States in the face of all the world.
It is on such radical differences of ideas as these, that the
whole of the quarrel, which is widening every day, is founded. The
Federal Compact, at the very outset, was written on a torn sheet of
paper, and time has worn away the artificial cement by which it was
kept together. The corner-stone of the Constitution had a crack in
it, which the heat and fury of faction have widened into a fissure
from top to bottom, never to be closed again.
In the evening I had the pleasure of dining with an American
gentleman who has seen much of the world, travelled far and wide,
who has read much and beheld more, a scholar, a politician, after
his way, a poet, and an ologist--one of those modern Grœculi, who
is unlike his prototype in Juvenal only in this, that he is not
hungry, and that he will not go to heaven if you order him.
Such men never do or can succeed in the United States; they are
far too refined, philosophical, and cosmopolitan. From what I
see, success here may be obtained by refined men, if they are
dishonest, never by philosophical men, unless they be corrupt--not
by cosmopolitan men under any circumstances whatever; for to have
sympathies with any people, or with any nation in the world, except
his own, is to doom a statesman with the American public, unless
it be in the form of an affectation of pity or good will, intended
really as an offence to some allied people. At dinner there was the
very largest naval officer I have ever seen in company, although
I must own that our own service is not destitute of some good
specimens, and I have seen an Austrian admiral at Pola, and the
superintendent of the Arsenal at Tophaneh, who were not unfit to be
marshals of France. This Lieutenant, named Nelson, was certainly
greater in one sense than his British namesake, for he weighed 260
pounds.
It may be here remarked, _passim_ and _obiter_, that the Americans
are much more precise than ourselves in the enumeration of weights
and matters of this kind. They speak of pieces of artillery, for
example, as being of so many pounds weight, and of so many inches
long, where we would use cwts. and feet. With a people addicted to
vertical rather than lateral extension in everything but politics
and morals, precision is a matter of importance. I was amused by a
description of some popular personage I saw in one of the papers
the other day, which after an enumeration of many high mental and
physical attributes, ended thus, “In fact he is a remarkably fine
high-toned gentleman, and weighs 210 pounds.”
The Lieutenant was a strong Union man, and he inveighed fiercely,
and even coarsely, against the members of his profession who had
thrown up their commissions. The superintendent of the Washington
Navy Yard is supposed to be very little disposed in favour of
this present Government; in fact, Capt. Buchanan may be called a
Secessionist, nevertheless, I am invited to the wedding of his
daughter, in order to see the President give away the bride. Mr.
Nelson says, Sumter and Pickens are to be reinforced. Charleston is
to be reduced to order, and all traitors hanged, or he will know
the reason why; and, says he, “I have some weight in the country.”
In the evening, as we were going home, notwithstanding the cold,
we saw a number of ladies sitting out on the door-steps, in white
dresses. The streets were remarkably quiet and deserted; all the
coloured population had been sent to bed long ago. The fire bell,
as usual, made an alarm or two about midnight.
CHAPTER VII.
Barbers’ shops--Place-hunting--The Navy Yard--Dinner at Lord
Lyons’--Estimate of Washington among his countrymen--Washington’s
house and tomb--The Southern Commissioners--Dinner with the
Southern Commissioners--Feeling towards England among the
Southerners--Animosity between North and South.
_March 30th._--Descended into the barber’s shop off the hall of
the hotel; all the operators, men of colour, mostly mulattoes,
or yellow lads, good-looking, dressed in clean white jackets and
aprons, were smart, quick, and attentive. Some seven or eight
shaving chairs were occupied by gentlemen intent on early morning
calls. Shaving is carried in all its accessories to a high degree
of publicity, if not of perfection, in America; and as the poorest,
or as I may call them without offence, the lowest orders in England
have their easy shaving for a penny, so the highest, if there be
any in America, submit themselves in public to the inexpensive
operations of the negro barber. It must be admitted that the
chairs are easy and well-arranged, the fingers nimble, sure, and
light; but the affectation of French names, and the corruption of
foreign languages, in which the hairdressers and barbers delight,
are exceedingly amusing. On my way down a small street near the
Capitol, I observed in a shop window, “Rowland’s make easier
paste,” which I attribute to an imperfect view of the etymology
of the great “Macassar;” on another occasion, I was asked to try
Somebody’s “Curious Elison,” which I am afraid was an attempt to
adapt to a shaving paste, an address not at all suited to profane
uses. It appears that the trade of barber is almost the birthright
of the free negro or coloured man in the United States. There is a
striking exemplification of natural equality in the use of brushes,
and the senator flops down in the seat, and has his noble nose
seized by the same fingers which the moment before were occupied by
the person and chin of an unmistakeable rowdy.
In the midst of the divine calm produced by hard hand rubbing of
my head, I was aroused by a stout gentleman who sat in a chair
directly opposite. Through the door which opened into the hall
of the hotel, one could see the great crowd passing to and fro,
thronging the passage as though it had been the entrance to the
Forum, or the “Salle de pas perdus.” I had observed my friend’s eye
gazing fixedly through the opening on the outer world. Suddenly,
with his face half-covered with lather, and a bib tucked under
his chin, he got up from his seat exclaiming, “Senator! Senator!
hallo!” and made a dive into the passage--whether he received a
stern rebuke, or became aware of his impropriety, I know not, but
in an instant he came back again, and submitted quietly, till the
work of the barber was completed.
The great employment of four-fifths of the people at Willard’s at
present seems to be to hunt senators and congressmen through the
lobbies. Every man is heavy with documents--those which he cannot
carry in his pockets and hat, occupy his hands, or are thrust
under his arms. In the hall are advertisements announcing that
certificates, and letters of testimonial, and such documents, are
printed with expedition and neatness. From paper collars, and
cards of address to carriages, and new suites of clothes, and long
hotel bills, nothing is left untried or uninvigorated. The whole
city is placarded with announcements of facilities for assaulting
the powers that be, among which must not be forgotten the claims
of the “excelsior card-writer,” at Willard’s, who prepares names,
addresses, styles, and titles in superior penmanship. The men who
have got places, having been elected by the people, must submit
to the people, who think they have established a claim on them by
their favours. The majority confer power, but they seem to forget
that it is only the minority who can enjoy the first fruits of
success. It is as if the whole constituency of Marylebone insisted
on getting some office under the Crown the moment a member was
returned to Parliament. There are men at Willard’s who have come
literally thousands of miles to seek for places which can only be
theirs for four years, and who with true American facility have
abandoned the calling and pursuits of a lifetime for this doubtful
canvas; and I was told of one gentleman, who having been informed
that he could not get a judgeship, condescended to seek a place in
the Post Office, and finally applied to Mr. Chase to be appointed
keeper of a “lighthouse,” he was not particular where. In the
forenoon I drove to the Washington Navy Yard, in company with
Lieutenant Nelson and two friends. It is about two miles outside
the city, situated on a fork of land projecting between a creek and
the Potomac river, which is here three-quarters of a mile broad. If
the French had a Navy Yard at Paris it could scarcely be contended
that English, Russians, or Austrians would not have been justified
in destroying it in case they got possession of the city by force
of arms, after a pitched battle fought outside its gates. I confess
I would not give much for Deptford and Woolwich if an American
fleet succeeded in forcing its way up the Thames; but our American
cousins,--a little more than kin and less than kind, who speak with
pride of Paul Jones and of their exploits on the Lakes,--affect
to regard the burning of the Washington Navy Yard by us, in the
last war, as an unpardonable outrage on the law of nations, and
an atrocious exercise of power. For all the good it did, for my
own part, I think it were as well had it never happened, but no
jurisconsult will for a moment deny that it was a legitimate, even
if extreme, exercise of a belligerent right in the case of an
enemy who did not seek terms from the conqueror; and who, after
battle lost, fled and abandoned the property of their state,
which might be useful to them in war, to the power of the victor.
Notwithstanding all the unreasonableness of the American people in
reference to their relations with foreign powers, it is deplorable
such scenes should ever have been enacted between members of the
human family so closely allied by all that shall make them of the
same household.
The Navy Yard is surrounded by high brick walls; in the gateway
stood two sentries in dark blue tunics, yellow facings, with
eagle buttons, brightly polished arms, and white Berlin gloves,
wearing a cap something like a French kepi, all very clean and
creditable. Inside are some few trophies of guns taken from us
at York Town, and from the Mexicans in the land of Cortez. The
interior inclosure is surrounded by red brick houses, and stores
and magazines, picked out with white stone; and two or three green
grass-plots, fenced in by pillars and chains and bordered by
trees, give an air of agreeable freshness to the place. Close to
the river are the workshops: of course there is smoke and noise
of steam and machinery. In a modest office, surrounded by books,
papers, drawings, and models, as well as by shell and shot and
racks of arms of different descriptions, we found Capt. Dahlgren,
the acting superintendent of the yard, and the inventor of the
famous gun which bears his name, and is the favourite armament of
the American navy. By our own sailors they are irreverently termed
“soda-water bottles,” owing to their shape. Capt. Dahlgren contends
that guns capable of throwing the heaviest shot may be constructed
of cast-iron, carefully prepared and moulded so that the greatest
thickness of metal may be placed at the points of resistance, at
the base of the gun, the muzzle and forward portions being of very
moderate thickness.
All inventors, or even adapters of systems, must be earnest
self-reliant persons, full of confidence, and, above all,
impressive, or they will make little way in the conservative,
_status-quo_-loving world. Captain Dahlgren has certainly most
of these characteristics, but he has to fight with his navy
department, with the army, with boards and with commissioners,--in
fact, with all sorts of obstructors. When I was going over the
yard, he deplored the parsimony of the department, which refused to
yield to his urgent entreaties for additional furnaces to cast guns.
No large guns are cast at Washington. The foundries are only
capable of turning out brass field-pieces and boat-guns. Capt.
Dahlgren obligingly got one of the latter out to practice for us--a
12-pounder howitzer, which can be carried in a boat, run on land
on its carriage, which is provided with wheels, and is so light
that the gun can be drawn readily about by the crew. He made some
good practice with shrapnel at a target 1200 yards distant, firing
so rapidly as to keep three shells in the air at the same time.
Compared with our establishments, this dockyard is a mere toy, and
but few hands are employed in it. One steam sloop, the “Pawnee,”
was under the shears, nearly ready for sea: the frame of another
was under the building-shed. There are no facilities for making
iron ships, or putting on plate-armour here. Everything was shown
to us with the utmost frankness. The fuse of the Dahlgren shell is
constructed on the _vis inertiæ_ principle, and is not unlike that
of the Armstrong.
On returning to the hotel, I found a magnificent bouquet of
flowers, with a card attached to them, with Mrs. Lincoln’s
compliments, and another card announcing that she had a “reception”
at 3 o’clock. It was rather late before I could get to the White
House, and there were only two or three ladies in the drawing-room
when I arrived. I was informed afterwards that the attendance was
very scanty. The Washington ladies have not yet made up their minds
that Mrs. Lincoln is the fashion. They miss their Southern friends,
and constantly draw comparisons between them and the vulgar Yankee
women and men who are now in power. I do not know enough to say
whether the affectation of superiority be justified; but assuredly
if New York be Yankee, there is nothing in which it does not far
surpass this preposterous capital. The impression of homeliness
produced by Mrs. Lincoln on first sight, is not diminished by
closer acquaintance. Few women not to the manner born there are,
whose heads would not be disordered, and circulation disturbed,
by a rapid transition, almost instantaneous, from a condition of
obscurity in a country town to be mistress of the White House. Her
smiles and her frowns become a matter of consequence to the whole
American world. As the wife of the country lawyer, or even of the
congress man, her movements were of no consequence. The journals
of Springfield would not have wasted a line upon them. Now, if
she but drive down Pennsylvania Avenue, the electric wire thrills
the news to every hamlet in the Union which has a newspaper; and
fortunate is the correspondent who, in a special despatch, can give
authentic particulars of her destination and of her dress. The lady
is surrounded by flatterers and intriguers, seeking for influence
or such places as she can give. As Selden says, “Those who wish to
set a house on fire begin with the thatch.”
_March 31st, Easter Sunday._--I dined with Lord Lyons and the
members of the Legation; the only stranger present being Senator
Sumner. Politics were of course eschewed, for Mr. Sumner is
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and
Lord Lyons is a very discreet Minister; but still there crept in
a word of Pickens and Sumter, and that was all. Mr. Fox, formerly
of the United States’ Navy, and since that a master of a steamer
in the commercial marine, who is related to Mr. Blair, has been
sent on some mission to Fort Sumter, and has been allowed to
visit Major Anderson by the authorities at Charleston; but it is
not known what was the object of his mission. Everywhere there
is Secession resignation, in a military sense of the word. The
Southern Commissioners declare they will soon retire to Montgomery,
and that any attempt to reinforce or supply the forts will be a
_casus belli_. There is the utmost anxiety to know what Virginia
will do. General Scott belongs to the State, and it is feared he
may be shaken if the State goes out. Already the authorities of
Richmond have intimated they will not allow the foundry to furnish
guns to the seaboard forts, such as Munroe and Norfolk in Virginia.
This concession of an autonomy is really a recognition of States’
Rights. For if a State can vote itself in or out of the Union, why
can it not make war or peace, and accept or refuse the Federal
Government? In fact, the Federal system is radically defective
against internal convulsion, however excellent it is or may be for
purposes of external polity. I walked home with Mr. Sumner to his
rooms, and heard some of his views, which were not so sanguine as
those of Mr. Seward, and I thought I detected a desire to let the
Southern States go out with their slavery if they so desired it.
Mr. Chase, by the way, expressed sentiments of the same kind more
decidedly the other day.
_April 1st._--On Easter Monday, after breakfast with Mr. Olmsted,
I drove over to visit Senator Douglas. Originally engaged in
some mechanical avocation, by his ability and eloquence he has
raised himself to the highest position in the State short of the
Presidency, which might have been his but for the extraordinary
success of his opponent in a fortuitous suffrage scramble. He is
called the Little Giant, being _modo bipedali staturâ_, but his
head entitles him to some recognition of intellectual height. His
sketch of the causes which have led to the present disruption of
parties, and the hazard of civil war, was most vivid and able;
and for more than an hour he spoke with a vigour of thought and
terseness of phrase which, even on such dreary and uninviting
themes as squatter sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska question,
interested a foreigner in the man and the subject. Although his
sympathies seemed to go with the South on the question of slavery
and territorial extension, he condemned altogether the attempt to
destroy the Union.
_April 2nd._--The following day I started early, and performed my
pilgrimage to “the shrine of St. Washington,” at Mount Vernon,
as a foreigner on board called the place. Mr. Bancroft has in
his possession a letter of the General’s mother, in which she
expresses her gratification at his leaving the British army in
a manner which implies that he had been either extravagant, in
his expenses or wild in his manner of living. But if he had any
human frailties in after life, they neither offended the morality
of his age, or shocked the susceptibility of his countrymen; and
from the time that the much maligned and unfortunate Braddock gave
scope to his ability, down to his retirement into private life,
after a career of singular trials and extraordinary successes,
his character acquired each day greater altitude, strength, and
lustre. Had his work failed, had the Republic broken up into small
anarchical states, we should hear now little of Washington. But the
principles of liberty founded in the original Constitution of the
colonies themselves, and in no degree derived from or dependent
on the revolution, combined with the sufferings of the Old and
the bounty of nature in the New World to carry to an unprecedented
degree the material prosperity, which Americans have mistaken for
good government, and the physical comforts which have made some
States in the Union the nearest approach to Utopia. The Federal
Government hitherto “let the people alone,” and they went on their
way singing and praising their Washington as the author of so much
greatness and happiness. To doubt his superiority to any man of
woman born, is to insult the American people. They are not content
with his being great--or even greater than the great: he must be
greatest of all;--“first in peace, and first in war.” The rest of
the world cannot find fault with the assertion, that he is “first
in the hearts of his countrymen.” But he was not possessed of the
highest military qualities, if we are to judge from most of the
regular actions, in which the British had the best of it; and the
final blow, when Cornwallis surrendered at York Town, was struck
by the arm of France, by Rochambeau and the French fleet, rather
than by Washington and his Americans. He had all the qualities for
the work for which he was designed, and is fairly entitled to the
position his countrymen have given him as the immortal czar of the
United States. His pictures are visible everywhere--in the humblest
inn, in the Minister’s bureau, in the millionaire’s gallery. There
are far more engravings of Washington in America than there are of
Napoleon in France, and that is saying a good deal.
What have we here? The steamer, which has been paddling down the
gentle current of the Potomac, here a mile and more in breadth,
banked in by forest, through which can be seen homesteads
and white farm-houses, in the midst of large clearings and
corn-fields--has moved in towards a high bluff, covered with
trees, on the summit of which is visible the trace of some sort
of building--a ruined summer-house, rustic temple--whatever it
may be; and the bell on deck begins to toll solemnly, and some
of the pilgrims uncover their heads for a moment. The boat stops
at a rotten, tumble-down little pier, which leads to a waste of
mud, and a path rudely cut through the wilderness of briars on
the hill-side. The pilgrims, of whom there are some thirty or
forty, of both sexes, mostly belonging to the lower classes of
citizens, and comprising a few foreigners like myself, proceed to
climb this steep, which seemed in a state of nature covered with
primæval forest, and tangled weeds and briars, till the plateau,
on which stands the house of Washington and the domestic offices
around it, is reached. It is an oblong wooden house, of two stories
in height, with a colonnade towards the river face, and a small
balcony on the top and on the level of the roof, over which rises
a little paltry gazebo. There are two windows, a glass door at
one end of the oblong, and a wooden alcove extending towards the
slave quarters, which are very small sentry-box huts, that have
been recently painted, and stand at right angles to the end of the
house, with dog-houses and poultry-hutches attached to them. There
is no attempt at neatness or order about the place; though the
exterior of the house is undergoing repair, the grass is unkempt,
the shrubs untrimmed,--neglect, squalor, and chicken feathers
have marked the lawn for their own. The house is in keeping, and
threatens to fall to ruin. I entered the door, and found myself
in a small hall, stained with tobacco juice. An iron railing ran
across the entrance to the stairs. Here stood a man at a gate,
who presented a book to the visitors, and pointed out the notice
therein, that “no person is permitted to inscribe his name in this
book who does not contribute to the Washington Fund, and that any
name put down without money would be erased.” Notwithstanding the
warning, some patriots succeeded in recording their names without
any pecuniary mulct, and others did so at a most reasonable rate.
When I had contributed in a manner which must have represented an
immense amount of Washingtoniolatry, estimated by the standard of
the day, I was informed I could not go up-stairs as the rooms above
were closed to the public, and thus the most interesting portion of
the house was shut from the strangers. The lower rooms presented
nothing worthy of notice--some lumbering, dusty, decayed furniture;
a broken harpsichord, dust, cobwebs--no remnant of the man himself.
But over the door of one room hung the key of the Bastille.[1]
The gardens, too, were tabooed; but through the gate I could see
a wilderness of neglected trees and shrubs, not unmingled with a
suspicion of a present kitchen-ground. Let us pass to the Tomb,
which is some distance from the house, beneath the shade of some
fine trees. It is a plain brick mausoleum, with a pointed arch,
barred by an iron grating, through which the light penetrates a
chamber or small room containing two sarcophagi of stone. Over the
arch, on a slab let into the brick, are the words: “Within this
enclosure rest the remains of Gen. George Washington.” The fallen
leaves which had drifted into the chamber rested thickly on the
floor, and were piled up on the sarcophagi, and it was difficult to
determine which was the hero’s grave without the aid of an expert,
but there was neither guide nor guardian on the spot. Some four or
five gravestones, of various members of the family, stand in the
ground outside the little mausoleum. The place was most depressing.
One felt angry with a people whose lip service was accompanied by
so little of actual respect. The owner of this property, inherited
from the “Pater Patriæ,” has been abused in good set terms because
he asked its value from the country which has been so very mindful
of the services of his ancestor, and which is now erecting by slow
stages the overgrown Cleopatra’s needle that is to be a Washington
monument when it is finished. Mr. Everett has been lecturing, the
Ladies’ Mount Vernon Association has been working, and every one
has been adjuring everybody else to give liberally; but the result
so lately achieved is by no means worthy of the object. Perhaps
the Americans think it is enough to say--“_Si monumentum quæris,
circumspice_.” But, at all events, there is a St. Paul’s round
those words.
On the return of the steamer I visited Fort Washington, which is
situated on the left bank of the Potomac. I found everything in a
state of neglect--gun carriages rotten, shot piles rusty, furnaces
tumbling to pieces. The place might be made strong enough on the
river front, but the rear is weak, though there is low marshy land
at the back. A company of regulars were on duty. The sentries took
no precautions against surprise. Twenty determined men, armed
with revolvers, could have taken the whole work; and, for all the
authorities knew, we might have had that number of Virginians and
the famous Ben McCullough himself on board. Afterwards, when I
ventured to make a remark to General Scott as to the carelessness
of the garrison, he said: “A few weeks ago it might have been
taken by a bottle of whisky. The whole garrison consisted of an
old Irish pensioner.” Now at this very moment Washington is full
of rumours of desperate descents on the capital, and an attack on
the President and his Cabinet. The long bridge across the Potomac
into Virginia is guarded, and the militia and volunteers of the
District of Columbia are to be called out to resist McCullough and
his Richmond desperadoes.
_April 3rd._--I had an interview with the Southern Commissioners
to-day, at their hotel. For more than an hour I heard, from men
of position and of different sections in the South, expressions
which satisfied me the Union could never be restored, if they truly
represented the feelings and opinions of their fellow-citizens.
They have the idea they are ministers of a foreign power treating
with Yankeedom, and their indignation is moved by the refusal of
Government to negotiate with them, armed as they are with full
authority to arrange all questions arising out of an amicable
separation--such as the adjustment of Federal claims for property,
forts, stores, public works, debts, land purchases, and the like.
One of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr.
Campbell, is their intermediary, and of course it is not known
what hopes Mr. Seward has held out to him; but there is some
imputation of Punic faith against the Government on account of
recent acts, and there is no doubt the Commissioners hear, as I
do, that there are preparations at the Navy Yard and at New York
to relieve Sumter, at any rate, with provisions, and that Pickens
has actually been reinforced by sea. In the evening I dined at
the British Legation, and went over to the house of the Russian
Minister, M. de Stoeckl, in the evening. The diplomatic body in
Washington constitute a small and very agreeable society of their
own, in which few Americans mingle except at the receptions and
large evening assemblies. As the people now in power are _novi
homines_, the wives and daughters of ministers and attachés
are deprived of their friends who belonged to the old society
in Washington, and who have either gone off to Secession, or
sympathise so deeply with the Southern States that it is scarcely
becoming to hold very intimate relations with them in the face of
Government. From the house of M. de Stoeckl I went to a party at
the residence of M. Tassara, the Spanish Minister, where there was
a crowd of diplomats, young and old. Diplomatists seldom or never
talk politics, and so Pickens and Sumter were unheard of; but it
is stated nevertheless that Virginia is on the eve of secession,
and will certainly go if the President attempts to use force in
relieving and strengthening the Federal forts.
_April 4th._--I had a long interview with Mr. Seward to-day at
the State Department. He set forth at great length the helpless
condition in which the President and the cabinet found themselves
when they began the conduct of public affairs at Washington. The
last cabinet had tampered with treason, and had contained traitors;
a miserable imbecility had encouraged the leaders of the South
to mature their plans, and had furnished them with the means of
carrying out their design. One Minister had purposely sent away
the navy of the United States to distant and scattered stations;
another had purposely placed the arms, ordnance, and munitions of
war in undue proportions in the Southern States, and had weakened
the Federal Government so that they might easily fall into the
hands of the traitors and enable them to secure the war _matériel_
of the Union; a Minister had stolen the public funds for traitorous
purposes--in every port, in every department of the State, at home
and abroad, on sea and by land, men were placed who were engaged
in this deep conspiracy--and when the voice of the people declared
Mr. Lincoln President of the United States, they set to work as
one man to destroy the Union under the most flimsy pretexts. The
President’s duty was clearly defined by the Constitution. He had to
guard what he had, and to regain, if possible, what he had lost.
He would not consent to any dismemberment of the Union nor to the
abandonment of one iota of Federal property--nor could he do so if
he desired.
These and many more topics were presented to me to show that the
Cabinet was not accountable for the temporising policy of inaction,
which was forced upon them by circumstances, and that they would
deal vigorously with the Secession movement--as vigorously as
Jackson did with nullification in South Carolina, if they had the
means. But what could they do when such men as Twiggs surrendered
his trust and sacrificed the troops to a crowd of Texans; or when
naval and military officers resigned _en masse_, that they might
accept service in the rebel forces? All this excitement would come
right in a very short time--it was a brief madness, which would
pass away when the people had opportunity for reflection. Meantime
the danger was that foreign powers would be led to imagine the
Federal Government was too weak to defend its rights, and that the
attempt to destroy the Union and to set up a Southern Confederacy
was successful. In other words, again, Mr. Seward fears that, in
this transition state between their forced inaction and the _coup_
by which they intend to strike down Secession, Great Britain may
recognise the Government established at Montgomery, and is ready,
if needs be, to threaten Great Britain with war as the consequence
of such recognition. But he certainly assumed the existence of
strong Union sentiments in many of the seceded States, as a basis
for his remarks, and admitted that it would not become the spirit
of the American Government, or of the Federal system, to use
armed force in subjugating the Southern States against the will
of the majority of the people. Therefore if the majority desire
Secession, Mr. Seward would let them have it--but he cannot believe
in anything so monstrous, for to him the Federal Government and
Constitution, as interpreted by his party, are divine, heaven-born.
He is fond of repeating that the Federal Government never yet
sacrificed any man’s life on account of his political opinions,
but if this struggle goes on it will sacrifice thousands--tens of
thousands, to the idea of a Federal Union. “Any attempt against
us,” he said, “would revolt the good men of the South, and arm all
men in the North to defend their Government.”
But I had seen that day an assemblage of men doing a goose-step
march forth dressed in blue tunics and grey trowsers, shakoes and
cross-belts, armed with musket and bayonet, cheering and hurrahing
in the square before the War Department, who were, I am told, the
District of Columbia volunteers and militia. They had indeed been
visible in various forms parading, marching, and trumpeting about
the town with a poor imitation of French _pas_ and _élan_, but they
did not, to the eye of a soldier, give any appearance of military
efficiency, or to the eye of the anxious statesman any indication
of the _animus pugnandi_. Starved, washed-out creatures most of
them, interpolated with Irish and flat-footed, stumpy Germans. It
was matter for wonderment that the Foreign Minister of a nation
which was in such imminent danger in its very capital, and which,
with its chief and his cabinet, was almost at the mercy of the
enemy, should hold the language I was aware he had transmitted
to the most powerful nations of Europe. Was it consciousness of
the strength of a great people, who would be united by the first
apprehension of foreign interference, or was it the peculiar
emptiness of a bombast which is called Buncombe? In all sincerity I
think Mr. Seward meant it as it was written.
When I arrived at the hotel, I found our young artist waiting for
me, to entreat I would permit him to accompany me to the South.
I had been annoyed by a paragraph which had appeared in several
papers, to the effect that “The talented young artist, our gifted
countryman, Mr. Deodore F. Moses, was about to accompany Mr. &c.
&c., in his tour through the South.” I had informed the young
gentleman that I could not sanction such an announcement, whereupon
he assured me he had not in any way authorised it, but having
mentioned incidentally to a person connected with the press that
he was going to travel southwards with me, the injudicious zeal of
his friend had led him to think he would do a service to the youth
by making the most of the very trifling circumstance.
I dined with Senator Douglas, where there was a large party,
among whom were Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. Smith,
Secretary of the Interior; Mr. Forsyth, Southern Commissioner;
and several members of the Senate and Congress. Mrs. Douglas did
the honours of her house with grace and charming good nature. I
observe a great tendency to abstract speculation and theorising
among Americans, and their after-dinner conversation is apt to
become didactic and sententious. Few men speak better than Senator
Douglas: his words are well chosen, the flow of his ideas even
and constant, his intellect vigorous, and thoughts well cut,
precise, and vigorous--he seems a man of great ambition, and he
told me he is engaged in preparing a sort of Zollverein scheme for
the North American continent, including Canada, which will fix
public attention everywhere, and may lead to a settlement of the
Northern and Southern controversies. For his mind, as for that
of many Americans, the aristocratic idea embodied in Russia is
very seductive; and he dwelt with pleasure on the courtesies he
had received at the court of the Czar, implying that he had been
treated differently in England, and perhaps France. And yet, had
Mr. Douglas become President of the United States, his goodwill
towards Great Britain might have been invaluable, and surely it
had been cheaply purchased by a little civility and attention to a
distinguished citizen and statesman of the Republic. Our Galleos
very often care for none of these things.
_April 5th._--Dined with the Southern Commissioners and a small
party at Gautier’s, a French restaurateur in Pennsylvania Avenue.
The gentlemen present were, I need not say, all of one way of
thinking; but as these leaves will see the light before the civil
war is at an end, it is advisable not to give their names, for
it would expose persons resident in Washington, who may not be
suspected by the Government, to those marks of attention which they
have not yet ceased to pay to their political enemies. Although
I confess that in my judgment too much stress has been laid in
England on the severity with which the Federal authorities have
acted towards their political enemies, who were seeking their
destruction, it may be candidly admitted, that they have forfeited
all claim to the lofty position they once occupied as a Government
existing by moral force, and by the consent of the governed, to
which Bastilles and _lettres de cachêt_, arbitrary arrests, and
doubtful, illegal, if not altogether unconstitutional, suspension
of _habeas corpus_ and of trial by jury were unknown.
As Col. Pickett and Mr. Banks are notorious Secessionists, and
Mr. Phillips has since gone South, after the arrest of his wife
on account of her anti-federal tendencies, it may be permitted to
mention that they were among the guests. I had pleasure in making
the acquaintance of Governor Roman. Mr. Crawford, his brother
commissioner, is a much younger man, of considerably greater
energy and determination, but probably of less judgment. The third
commissioner, Mr. Forsyth, is fanatical in his opposition to any
suggestions of compromise or reconstruction; but, indeed, upon
that point, there is little difference of opinion amongst any of
the real adherents of the South. Mr. Lincoln they spoke of with
contempt; Mr. Seward they evidently regarded as the ablest and most
unscrupulous of their enemies; but the tone in which they alluded
to the whole of the Northern people indicated the clear conviction
that trade, commerce, the pursuit of gain, manufacture, and the
base mechanical arts, had so degraded the whole race, they would
never attempt to strike a blow in fair fight for what they prized
so highly in theory and in words. Whether it be in consequence of
some secret influence which slavery has upon the minds of men, or
that the aggression of the North upon their institutions has been
of a nature to excite the deepest animosity and most vindictive
hate, certain it is there is a degree of something like ferocity
in the Southern mind towards New England which exceeds belief. I
am persuaded that these feelings of contempt are extended towards
England. They believe that we, too, have had the canker of peace
upon us. One evidence of this, according to Southern men, is the
abolition of duelling. This practice, according to them, is highly
wholesome and meritorious; and, indeed, it may be admitted that in
the state of society which is reported to exist in the Southern
States, it is a useful check on such men as it restrained in our
own islands in the last century. In the course of conversation,
one gentleman remarked, that he considered it disgraceful for any
man to take money for the dishonour of his wife or his daughter.
“With us,” he said, “there is but one mode of dealing known. The
man who dares tamper with the honour of a white woman, knows what
he has to expect. We shoot him down like a dog, and no jury in the
South will ever find any man guilty of murder for punishing such a
scoundrel.” An argument which can scarcely be alluded to was used
by them, to show that these offences in slave States had not the
excuse which might be adduced to diminish their gravity when they
occurred in States where all the population were white. Indeed, in
this, as in some other matters of a similar character, slavery is
their _summum bonum_ of morality, physical excellence, and social
purity. I was inclined to question the correctness of the standard
which they had set up, and to inquire whether the virtue which
needed this murderous use of the pistol and the dagger to defend
it, was not open to some doubt; but I found there was very little
sympathy with my views among the company.
The gentlemen at table asserted that the white men in the slave
States are physically superior to the men of the free States; and
indulged in curious theories in morals and physics to which I
was a stranger. Disbelief of anything a Northern man--that is, a
Republican--can say, is a fixed principle in their minds. I could
not help remarking, when the conversation turned on the duplicity
of Mr. Seward, and the wickedness of the Federal Government in
refusing to give the assurance Sumter would not be relieved by
force of arms, that it must be of very little consequence what
promises Mr. Seward made, as, according to them, not the least
reliance was to be placed on his word. The notion that the Northern
men are cowards is justified by instances in which Congressmen have
been insulted by Southern men without calling them out, and Mr.
Sumner’s case was quoted as the type of the affairs of the kind
between the two sides.
I happened to say that I always understood Mr. Sumner had been
attacked suddenly and unexpectedly, and struck down before he could
rise from his desk to defend himself; whereupon a warm refutation
of that version of the story was given, and I was assured that Mr.
Brooks, who was a very slight man, and much inferior in height to
Mr. Sumner, struck him a slight blow at first, and only inflicted
the heavier strokes when irritated by the Senator’s cowardly
demeanor. In reference to some remark made about the cavaliers and
their connection with the South, I reminded the gentlemen that,
after all, the descendants of the Puritans were not to be despised
in battle: and that the best gentry in England were worsted at last
by the train-bands of London, and the “rabbledom” of Cromwell’s
Independents.
Mr., or Colonel, Pickett, is a tall good-looking man, of pleasant
manners, and well educated. But this gentleman was a professed
buccaneer, a friend of Walker, the grey-eyed man of destiny--his
comrade in his most dangerous razzie. He was a newspaper writer,
a soldier, a filibuster; and he now threw himself into the cause
of the South with vehemence; it was not difficult to imagine he
saw in that cause the realisation of the dreams of empire in the
south of the Gulf, and of conquest in the islands of the sea, which
have such a fascinating influence over the imagination of a large
portion of the American people. He referred to Walker’s fate with
much bitterness, and insinuated he was betrayed by the British
officer who ought to have protected him.
The acts of Mr. Floyd and Mr. Howell Cobb, which must be esteemed
of doubtful morality, are here justified by the States’ Rights
doctrine. If the States had a right to go out, they were quite
right in obtaining their quota of the national property which would
not have been given to them by the Lincolnites. Therefore, their
friends were not to be censured because they had sent arms and
money to the South.
Altogether the evening, notwithstanding the occasional warmth of
the controversy, was exceedingly instructive; one could understand
from the vehemence and force of the speakers the full meaning of
the phrase of “firing the Southern heart,” so often quoted as an
illustration of the peculiar force of political passion to be
brought to bear against the Republicans in the Secession contest.
Mr. Forsyth, struck me as being the most astute, and perhaps most
capable, of the gentlemen whose mission to Washington seems likely
to be so abortive. His name is historical in America--his father
filled high office, and his son has also exercised diplomatic
function. Despotisms and Republics of the American model approach
each other closely. In Turkey the Pasha unemployed sinks into
insignificance, and the son of the Pasha deceased is literally
nobody. Mr. Forsyth was not selected as Southern Commissioner
on account of the political status acquired by his father; but
the position gained by his own ability, as editor of “The Mobile
Register,” induced the Confederate authorities to select him for
the post. It is quite possible to have made a mistake in such
matters, but I am almost certain that the coloured waiters who
attended us at table looked as sour and discontented as could be,
and seemed to give their service with a sort of protest. I am told
that the tradespeople of Washington are strongly inclined to
favour the southern side.
_April 6th._--To-day I paid a second visit to General Scott, who
received me very kindly, and made many inquiries respecting the
events in the Crimea and the Indian mutiny and rebellion. He
professed to have no apprehension for the safety of the capital;
but in reality there are only some 700 or 800 regulars to protect
it and the Navy Yard, and two field-batteries, commanded by an
officer of very doubtful attachment to the Union. The head of the
Navy Yard is openly accused of treasonable sympathies.
Mr. Seward has definitively refused to hold any intercourse
whatever with the Southern Commissioners, and they will retire
almost immediately from the capital. As matters look very
threatening, I must go South and see with my own eyes how affairs
stand there, before the two sections come to open rupture. Mr.
Seward, the other day, in talking of the South, described them
as being in every respect behind the age, with fashions, habits,
level of thought, and modes of life, belonging to the worst part
of the last century. But still he never has been there himself!
The Southern men come up to the Northern cities and springs, but
the Northerner rarely travels southwards. Indeed, I am informed,
that if he were a well-known Abolitionist, it would not be safe for
him to appear in a Southern city. I quite agree with my thoughtful
and earnest friend, Olmsted, that the United States can never be
considered as a free country till a man can speak as freely in
Charleston as he can in New York or Boston.
I dined with Mr. Riggs, the banker, who had an agreeable party to
meet me. Mr. Corcoran, his former partner, who was present, erected
at his own cost, and presented to the city, a fine building, to
be used as an art gallery and museum; but as yet the arts which
are to be found in Washington are political and feminine only.
Mr. Corcoran has a private gallery of pictures, and a collection,
in which is the much-praised Greek Slave of Hiram Powers. The
gentry of Columbia are thoroughly Virginian in sentiment, and look
rather south than north of the Potomac for political results. The
President, I hear this evening, is alarmed lest Virginia should
become hostile, and his policy, if he has any, is temporising and
timid. It is perfectly wonderful to hear people using the word
“Government” at all, as applied to the President and his cabinet--a
body which has no power “according to the constitution” to save
the country governed or itself from destruction. In fact, from
the circumstances under which the constitution was framed, it
was natural that the principle point kept in view should be the
exhibition of a strong front to foreign powers, combined with the
least possible amount of constriction on the internal relations of
the different States.
In the hotel the roar of office-seekers is unabated. Train after
train adds to their numbers. They cumber the passages. The hall is
crowded to such a degree that suffocation might describe the degree
to which the pressure reaches, were it not that tobacco-smoke
invigorates and sustains the constitution. As to the condition of
the floor it is beyond description.
CHAPTER VIII.
New York Press--Rumours as to the Southerners--Visit to the
Smithsonian Institute--Pythons--Evening at Mr. Seward’s--Rough
draft of official dispatch to Lord J. Russell--Estimate of its
effect in Europe--The attitude of Virginia.
_April 7th._--Raining all day, cold and wet. I am tired and weary
of this perpetual jabber about Port Sumter. Men here who know
nothing at all of what is passing send letters to the New York
papers, which are eagerly read by the people in Washington as soon
as the journals reach the city, and then all these vague surmises
are taken as gospel, and argued upon as if they were facts. The
“Herald” keeps up the courage and spirit of its Southern friends
by giving the most florid accounts of their prospects, and making
continual attacks on Mr. Lincoln and his Government; but the
majority of the New York papers are inclined to resist Secession
and aid the Government. I dined with Lord Lyons in the evening,
and met Mr. Sumner, Mr. Blackwell, the manager of the Grand Trunk
Railway of Canada, his wife, and the members of the Legation.
After dinner I visited M. de Stoeckl, the Russian Minister, and M.
Tassara, the Minister of Spain, who had small receptions. There
were few Americans present. As a rule, the diplomatic circle, which
has, by-the-by, no particular centre, radii, or circumference,
keeps its members pretty much within itself. The great people
here are mostly the representatives of the South American powers,
who are on more intimate relations with the native families in
Washington than are the transatlantic ministers.
_April 8th._--How it does rain! Last night there were torrents of
water in the streets literally a foot deep. It still runs in muddy
whirling streams through the channels, and the rain is falling
incessantly from a dull leaden sky. The air is warm and clammy.
There are all kind of rumours abroad, and the barbers’ shops
shook with “shaves” this morning. Sumter, of course, was the main
topic. Some reported that the President had promised the Southern
Commissioners, through their friend Mr. Campbell, Judge of the
Supreme Court, not to use force in respect to Pickens or Sumter. I
wrote to Mr. Seward, to ask him if he could enable me to make any
definite statement on these important matters. The Southerners are
alarmed at the accounts they have received of great activity and
preparations in the Brooklyn and Boston navy yards, and declare
that “treachery” is meant. I find myself quite incapable of
comprehending their position. How can the United States Government
be guilty of “treachery” towards subjects of States which are
preparing to assert their independence, unless that Government has
been guilty of falsehood or admitted the justice of the decision to
which the States had arrived?
As soon as I had finished my letters, I drove over to the
Smithsonian Institute, and was most kindly received by Professor
Henry, who took me through the library and museum, and introduced
me to Professor Baird, who is great in natural history, and more
particularly in ornithology. I promised the professors some
skins of Himalayan pheasants, as an addition to the collection.
In the library we were presented to two very fine and lively rock
snakes, or pythons, I believe, some six feet long or more, which
moved about with much grace and agility, putting out their forked
tongues and hissing sharply when seized by the hand or menaced with
a stick. I was told that some persons doubted if serpents hissed;
I can answer for it that rock snakes do most audibly. They are
not venomous, but their teeth are sharp and needle like. The eye
is bright and glistening; the red forked tongue, when protruded,
has a rapid vibratory motion, as if it were moved by the muscles
which produce the quivering hissing noise. I was much interested
by Professor Henry’s remarks on the large map of the continent of
North America in his study: he pointed out the climatic conditions
which determined the use, profits, and necessity of slave-labour,
and argued that the vast increase of population anticipated in the
valley of the Mississippi, and the prophecies of imperial greatness
attached to it, were fallacious. He seems to be of opinion that
most of the good land of America is already cultivated, and that
the crops which it produces tend to exhaust it, so as to compel
the cultivators eventually to let it go fallow or to use manure.
The fact is, that the influence of the great mountain-chain in the
west, which intercepts all the rain on the Pacific side, causes an
immense extent of country between the eastern slope of the chain
and the Mississippi, as well as the district west of Minnesota, to
be perfectly dry and uninhabitable; and, as far as we know, it is
as worthless as a moor, except for the pasturage of wild cattle and
the like.
On returning to my hotel, I found a note from Mr. Seward, asking me
to visit him at nine o’clock. On going to his house, I was shown to
the drawing-room, and found there only the Secretary of State, his
son, and Mrs. Seward. I made a _parti carré_ for a friendly rubber
of whist, and Mr. Seward, who was my partner, talked as he played,
so that the score of the game was not favourable. But his talk was
very interesting. “All the preparations of which you hear mean
this only. The Government, finding the property of the State and
Federal forts neglected and left without protection, are determined
to take steps to relieve them from that neglect, and to protect
them. But we are determined in doing so to make no aggression.
The President’s inaugural clearly shadows out our policy. We will
not go beyond it--we have no intention of doing so--nor will we
withdraw from it.” After a time Mr. Seward put down his cards, and
told his son to go for a portfolio which he would find in a drawer
of his table. Mrs. Seward lighted the drop light of the gas, and on
her husband’s return with the paper left the room. The Secretary
then lit his cigar, gave one to me, and proceeded to read slowly
and with marked emphasis, a very long, strong, and able dispatch,
which he told me was to be read by Mr. Adams, the American Minister
in London, to Lord John Russell. It struck me that the tone of the
paper was hostile, that there was an undercurrent of menace through
it, and that it contained insinuations that Great Britain would
interfere to split up the Republic, if she could, and was pleased
at the prospect of the dangers which threatened it.
At all the stronger passages Mr. Seward raised his voice, and
made a pause at their conclusion as if to challenge remark or
approval. At length I could not help saying, that the despatch
would, no doubt, have an excellent effect when it came to light in
Congress, and that the Americans would think highly of the writer;
but I ventured to express an opinion that it would not be quite
so acceptable to the Government and people of Great Britain. This
Mr. Seward, as an American statesman, had a right to make but a
secondary consideration. By affecting to regard Secession as a mere
political heresy which can be easily confuted, and by forbidding
foreign countries alluding to it, Mr. Seward thinks he can
establish the supremacy of his own Government, and at the same time
gratify the vanity of the people. Even war with us may not be out
of the list of those means which would be available for re-fusing
the broken union into a mass once more. However, the Secretary is
quite confident in what he calls “re-action.” “When the Southern
States,” he says, “see that we mean them no wrong--that we intend
no violence to persons, rights, or things--that the Federal
Government seeks only to fulfil obligations imposed on it in
respect to the national property, they will see their mistake, and
one after another they will come back into the union.” Mr. Seward
anticipates this process will at once begin, and that Secession
will all be done and over in three months--at least, so he says. It
was after midnight ere our conversation was over, much of which of
course I cannot mention in these pages.
_April 9th._--A storm of rain, thunder, and lightning. The streets
are converted into water-courses. From the country we hear of
bridges washed away by inundations, and roads rendered impassable.
Accounts from the South are gloomy, but the _turba Remi_ in
Willard’s are as happy as ever, at least as noisy and as greedy
of place. By-the-by, I observe that my prize-fighting friend of
the battered nose has been rewarded for his exertions at last. He
has been standing drinks all round till he is not able to stand
himself, and he has expressed his determination never to forget
all the people in the passage. I dined at the Legation in the
evening, where there was a small party, and returned to the hotel
in torrents of rain.
CHAPTER IX.
Dinner at General Scott’s--Anecdotes of General Scott’s early
life--The startling dispatch--Insecurity of the Capital.
_April 10th._--To-day I devoted to packing up such things as
I did not require, and sending them to New York. I received a
characteristic note from General Scott, asking me to dine with him
to-morrow, and apologising for the shortness of his invitation,
which arose from his only having just heard that I was about to
leave so soon for the South. The General is much admired by his
countrymen, though they do not spare some “amiable weaknesses;”
but, in my mind, he can only be accused of a little vanity, which
is often found in characters of the highest standard. He likes
to display his reading, and is troubled with a desire to indulge
in fine writing. Some time ago he wrote a long letter to the
“National Intelligencer,” in which he quoted Shakspere and Paley
to prove that President Buchanan ought to have garrisoned the
forts at Charleston and Pensacola, as he advised him to do; and he
has been the victim of poetic aspirations. The General’s dinner
hour was early; and when I arrived at his modest lodgings, which,
however, were in the house of a famous French cook, I found a
troop of mounted volunteers of the district, parading up and down
the street. They were not bad of their class, and the horses,
though light, were active, hardy, and spirited; but the men put
on their uniforms badly, wore long hair, their coats and buttons
and boots were unbrushed, and the horses’ coats and accoutrements
bore evidence of neglect. The General, who wore an undress blue
frock-coat, with eagle-covered brass buttons, and velvet collar and
cuffs, was with Mr. Seward and Mr. Bates, the Attorney-General, and
received me very courteously. He was interrupted by cheering from
the soldiers in the street, and by clamours for “General Scott.” He
moves with difficulty, owing to a fall from his horse, and from the
pressure of increasing years; and he evidently would not have gone
out if he could have avoided it. But there is no privacy for public
men in America.
Out the General went to them, and addressed a few words to his
audience in the usual style about “rallying round,” and “dying
gloriously,” and “old flag of our country,” and all that kind of
thing; after which, the band struck up “Yankee Doodle.” Mr. Seward
called out “General, make them play the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’
and ‘Hail Columbia.’” And so I was treated to the strains of the
old bacchanalian chant, “When Bibo,” &c., which the Americans
have impressed to do duty as a national air. Then came an attempt
to play “God save the Queen,” which I duly appreciated as a
compliment; and then followed dinner, which did credit to the
cook, and wine, which was most excellent, from France, Spain,
and Madeira. The only addition to our party was Major Cullum,
aide-de-camp to General Scott, an United States’ engineer, educated
at West Point. The General underwent a little badinage about the
phrase “a hasty plate of soup,” which he used in one of his
despatches during the Mexican War, and he appealed to me to decide
whether it was so erroneous or ridiculous as Mr. Seward insisted.
I said I was not a judge, but certainly similar liberal usage of a
well-known figure of prosody might be found to justify the phrase.
The only attendants at table were the General’s English valet and
a coloured servant; and the table apparatus which bore such good
things was simple and unpretending. Of course the conversation was
of a general character, and the General, evidently picking out his
words with great precision, took the lead in it, telling anecdotes
of great length, graced now and then with episodes, and fortified
by such episodes as--“Bear with me, dear sir, for a while, that I
may here diverge from the main current of my story, and proceed to
mention a curious----” &c., and so on.
To me his conversation was very interesting, particularly that
portion which referred to his part in the last war, where he was
wounded and taken prisoner. He gave an account of the Battle of
Chippewa, which was, he said, fought on true scientific principles;
and in the ignorance common to most Englishmen of reverses to their
arms, I was injudicious enough, when the battle was at its height,
and whole masses of men were moving in battalions and columns over
the table, to ask how many were engaged. The General made the most
of his side: “We had, sir, twenty-one hundred and seventy-five men
in the field.” He told us how, when the British men-of-war provoked
general indignation in Virginia by searching American vessels for
deserters in the Chesapeake, the State of Virginia organised a
volunteer force to guard the shores, and, above all things, to
prevent the country people sending down supplies to the vessels,
in pursuance of the orders of the Legislature and Governor. Young
Scott, then reading for the bar, became corporal of a troop of
these patrols. One night, as they were on duty by the banks of the
Potomac, they heard a boat with muffled oars coming rapidly down
the river, and soon saw her approaching quite close to the shore
under cover of the trees. When she was abreast of the troopers,
Scott challenged “What boat is that?” “It’s His Majesty’s ship
‘Leopard,’ and what the d---- is that to you? Give way, my lads!”
“I at once called on him to surrender,” said the General, “and
giving the word to charge, we dashed into the water. Fortunately,
it was not deep, and the midshipman in charge, taken by surprise
by a superior force, did not attempt to resist us. We found the
boat manned by four sailors, and filled with vegetables and other
supplies, and took possession of it; and I believe it is the first
instance of a man-of-war’s boat being captured by cavalry. The
Legislature of Virginia, however, did not approve of the capture,
and the officer was given up accordingly.
“Many years afterwards, when I visited Europe, I happened to be
dining at the hospitable mansion of Lord Holland, and observed
during the banquet that a gentleman at table was scrutinising my
countenance in a manner indicative of some special curiosity.
Several times, as my eye wandered in his direction, I perceived
that he had been continuing his investigations, and at length I
rebuked him by a continuous glance. After dinner, this gentleman
came round to me and said, ‘General Scott, I hope you will pardon
my rudeness in staring at you, but the fact is that you bear a
most remarkable resemblance to a great overgrown, clumsy, country
fellow of the same name, who took me prisoner in my boat when I was
a midshipman in the “Chesapeake,” at the head of a body of mounted
men. He was, I remember quite well, Corporal Scott,’ ‘That Corporal
Scott, sir, and the individual who addresses you, are identical
one with the other.’ The officer whose acquaintance I thus so
auspiciously renewed, was Captain Fox, a relation of Lord Holland,
and a post-captain in the British navy.”
Whilst he was speaking, a telegraphic dispatch was brought in,
which the General perused with evident uneasiness. He apologised
to me for reading it by saying the dispatch was from the President
on Cabinet business, and then handed it across the table to Mr.
Seward. The Secretary read it, and became a little agitated, and
raised his eyes inquiringly to the General’s face, who only shook
his head. Then the paper was given to Mr. Bates, who read it, and
gave a grunt, as it were, of surprise. The General took back the
paper, read it twice over, and then folded it up and put it in his
pocket. “You had better not put it there, General,” interposed Mr.
Seward; “it will be getting lost, or into some other hands.” And so
the General seemed to think, for he immediately threw it into the
fire, before which certain bottles of claret were gently mellowing.
The communication was evidently of a very unpleasant character. In
order to give the Ministers opportunity for a conference, I asked
Major Cullum to accompany me into the garden, and lighted a cigar.
As I was walking about in the twilight, I observed two figures at
the end of the little enclosure, standing as if in concealment
close to the wall. Major Cullum said “The men you see are sentries
I have thought it expedient to place there for the protection of
the General. The villains might assassinate him, and would do it in
a moment if they could. He would not hear of a guard, nor anything
of the sort, so, without his knowing it, I have sentries posted
all round the house all night.” This was a curious state of things
for the commander of the American army, in the midst of a crowded
city, the capital of the free and enlightened Republic, to be
placed in! On our return to the sitting-room, the conversation was
continued some hour or so longer. I retired with Mr. Seward in his
carriage. As we were going up Pennsylvania Avenue--almost lifeless
at that time--I asked Mr. Seward whether he felt quite secure
against any irruption from Virginia, as it was reported that one
Ben McCullough, the famous Texan desperado, had assembled 500 men
at Richmond for some daring enterprise: some said to carry off the
President, cabinet, and all. He replied that, although the capital
was almost defenceless, it must be remembered that the bold bad men
who were their enemies were equally unprepared for active measures
of aggression.
CHAPTER X.
Preparations for war at Charleston--My own departure for
the Southern States--Arrival at Baltimore--Commencement of
hostilities at Fort Sumter--Bombardment of the Fort--General
feeling as to North and South--Slavery--First impressions of the
City of Baltimore--Departure by steamer.
_April 12th._--This morning I received an intimation that the
Government had resolved on taking decisive steps which would lead
to a development of events in the South and test the sincerity of
Secession. The Confederate general at Charleston, Beauregard, has
sent to the Federal officer in command at Sumter, Major Anderson,
to say, that all communication between his garrison and the city
must cease; and, at the same time, or probably before it, the
Government at Washington informed the Confederate authorities that
they intended to forward supplies to Major Anderson, peaceably if
permitted, but at all hazards to send them. The Charleston people
are manning the batteries they have erected against Sumter, have
fired on a vessel under the United States flag, endeavouring to
communicate with the fort, and have called out and organised a
large force in the islands opposite the place and in the city of
Charleston.
I resolved therefore to start for the Southern States to-day,
proceeding by Baltimore to Norfolk instead of going by Richmond,
which was cut off by the floods. Before leaving, I visited Lord
Lyons, Mr. Seward, the French and Russian Ministers; left cards
on the President, Mrs. Lincoln, General Scott, Mr. Douglas, Mr.
Sumner, and others. There was no appearance of any excitement in
Washington, but Lord Lyons mentioned, as an unusual circumstance,
that he had received no telegraphic communication from Mr. Bunch,
the British Consul at Charleston. Some ladies said to me that when
I came back I would find some nice people at Washington, and that
the rail-splitter, his wife, the Sewards, and all the rest of them,
would be driven to the place where they ought to be: “Varina Davis
is a lady, at all events, not like the other. We can’t put up with
such people as these!” A naval officer whom I met, told me, “if the
Government are really going to try force at Charleston, you’ll see
they’ll be beaten, and we’ll have a war between the gentlemen and
the Yankee rowdies; if they attempt violence, you know how that
will end.” The Government are so uneasy that they have put soldiers
into the Capitol, and are preparing it for defence.
At 6 P.M. I drove to the Baltimore station in a storm of rain,
accompanied by Mr. Warre, of the British Legation. In the
train there was a crowd of people, many of them disappointed
place-hunters, and much discussion took place respecting the
propriety of giving supplies to Sumter by force, the weight of
opinion being against the propriety of such a step. The tone
in which the President and his cabinet were spoken of was very
disrespectful. One big man, in a fur coat, who was sitting near
me, said, “Well, darn me if I wouldn’t draw a bead on Old Abe,
Seward--aye, or General Scott himself, though I’ve got a perty
good thing out of them, if they due try to use their soldiers and
sailors to beat down States’ Rights. If they want to go they’ve a
right to go.” To which many said, “That’s so! That’s true!”
When we arrived at Baltimore, at 8 P.M., the streets were deep in
water. A coachman, seeing I was a stranger, asked me two dollars,
or 8_s._ 4_d._, to drive to the Eutaw House, a quarter of a mile
distance; but I was not surprised, as I had paid three-and-a-half
and four dollars to go to dinner and return to the hotel in
Washington. On my arrival, the landlord, no less a person than a
major or colonel, took me aside, and asked me if I had heard the
news. “No, what is it?” “The President of the Telegraph Company
tells me he has received a message from his clerk at Charleston
that the batteries have opened fire on Sumter because the
Government has sent down a fleet to force in supplies.” The news
had, however, spread. The hall and bar of the hotel were full,
and I was asked by many people whom I had never seen in my life,
what my opinions were as to the authenticity of the rumour. There
was nothing surprising in the fact that the Charleston people had
resented any attempt to reinforce the forts, as I was aware, from
the language of the Southern Commissioners, that they would resist
any such attempt to the last, and make it a _casus_ and _causa
belli_.
_April 14._--The Eutaw House is not a very good specimen of an
American hotel, but the landlord does his best to make his guests
comfortable, when he likes them. The American landlord is a despot
who regulates his dominions by ukases affixed to the walls, by
certain state departments called “offices” and “bars,” and who
generally is represented, whilst he is away on some military,
political, or commercial undertaking, by a lieutenant; the deputy
being, if possible, a greater man than the chief. It requires so
much capital to establish a large hotel, that there is little
fear of external competition in the towns. And Americans are so
gregarious that they will not patronise small establishments.
I was the more complimented by the landlord’s attention this
morning when he came to the room, and in much excitement informed
me the news of Fort Sumter being bombarded by the Charleston
batteries was confirmed, “And now,” said he, “there’s no saying
where it will all end.”
After breakfast I was visited by some gentlemen of Baltimore, who
were highly delighted with the news, and I learned from them there
was a probability of their State joining those which had seceded.
The whole feeling of the landed and respectable classes is with
the South. The dislike to the Federal Government at Washington is
largely spiced with personal ridicule and contempt of Mr. Lincoln.
Your Marylander is very tenacious about being a gentleman, and what
he does not consider gentlemanly is simply unfit for anything, far
less for place and authority.
The young draftsman, of whom I spoke, turned up this morning,
having pursued me from Washington. He asked me whether I would
still let him accompany me. I observed that I had no objection,
but that I could not permit such paragraphs in the papers again,
and suggested there would be no difficulty in his travelling by
himself, if he pleased. He replied that his former connection
with a Black Republican paper might lead to his detention or
molestation in the South, but that if he was allowed to come with
me, no one would doubt that he was employed by an illustrated
London paper. The young gentleman will certainly never lose
anything for the want of asking.
At the black barber’s I was meekly interrogated by my attendant as
to my belief in the story of the bombardment. He was astonished to
find a stranger could think the event was probable. “De gen’lmen
of Baltimore will be quite glad ov it. But maybe it’l come bad
after all.” I discovered my barber had strong ideas that the days
of slavery were drawing to an end. “And what will take place then,
do you think?” “Wall, sare,’spose coloured men will be good as
white men.” That is it. They do not understand what a vast gulf
flows between them and the equality of position with the white
race which most of those who have aspirations imagine to be meant
by emancipation. He said the town slave-owners were very severe
and harsh in demanding larger sums than the slaves could earn. The
slaves are sent out to do jobs, to stand for hire, to work on the
quays and docks. Their earnings go to the master, who punishes them
if they do not bring home enough. Sometimes the master is content
with a fixed sum, and all over that amount which the slave can get
may be retained for his private purposes.
Baltimore looks more ancient and respectable than the towns I have
passed through, and the site on which it stands is undulating, so
that the houses have not that flatness and uniformity of height
which make the streets of New York and Philadelphia resemble
those of a toy city magnified. Why Baltimore should be called
the “Monumental City” could not be divined by a stranger. He
would never think that a great town of 250,000 inhabitants could
derive its name from an obelisk cased in white marble to George
Washington, even though it be more than 200 feet high, nor from the
grotesque column called “Battle Monument,” erected to the memory
of those who fell in the skirmish outside the city in which the
British were repulsed in 1814. I could not procure any guide to the
city worth reading, and strolled about at discretion, after a visit
to the Maryland Club, of which I was made an honorary member. At
dark I started for Norfolk, in the steamer “Georgianna.”
CHAPTER XI.
Scenes on board an American steamer--The “Merrimac”--Irish
sailors in America--Norfolk--A telegram on Sunday; news from the
seat of war--American “chaff” and our Jack Tars.
_Sunday, April 14._--A night of disturbed sleep, owing to the
ponderous thumping of the walking-beam close to my head, the
whizzing of steam, and the roaring of the steam-trumpet to warn
vessels out of the way--musquitoes, too, had a good deal to say to
me in spite of my dirty gauze curtains. Soon after dawn the vessel
ran alongside the jetty at Fortress Monroe, and I saw indistinctly
the waterface of the work which is in some danger of being
attacked, it is said, by the Virginians. There was no flag on the
staff above the walls, and the place looked dreary and desolate.
It has a fine bastioned profile, with moat and armed lunettes--the
casemates were bricked up or occupied by glass windows, and all the
guns I could make out were on the parapets. A few soldiers were
lounging on the jetty, and after we had discharged a tipsy old
officer, a few negroes, and some parcels, the steam-pipe brayed--it
does not whistle--again, and we proceeded across the mouth of the
channel and James’ River towards Elizabeth River, on which stand
Portsmouth and Gosport.
Just as I was dressing, the door opened, and a tall, neatly
dressed negress came in and asked me for my ticket. She told me she
was ticket-collector for the boat, and that she was a slave. The
latter intelligence was given without any reluctance or hesitation.
On my way to the upper deck I observed the bar was crowded by
gentlemen engaged in consuming, or waiting for, cocktails or
mint-juleps. The latter, however, could not be had just now in
such perfection as usual, owing to the inferior condition of the
mint. In the matter of drinks, how hospitable the Americans are! I
was asked to take as many as would have rendered me incapable of
drinking again; my excuse on the plea of inability to grapple with
cocktails and the like before breakfast, was heard with surprise,
and I was urgently entreated to abandon so bad a habit.
A clear, fine sun rose from the waters of the bay up into the
purest of pure blue skies. On our right lay a low coast fringed
with trees, and wooded densely with stunted forest, through
which creeks could be seen glinting far through the foliage.
Anxious-looking little wooden lighthouses, hard set to preserve
their equilibrium in the muddy waters, and bent at various angles,
marked the narrow channels to the towns and hamlets on the banks,
the principal trade and occupation of which are oyster selling and
oyster eating. We are sailing over wondrous deposits and submarine
crops of the much-loved bivalve. Wooden houses painted white appear
on the shores, and one large building with wings and a central
portico surmounted by a belvedere, destined for the reception of
the United States’ sailors in sickness, is a striking object in the
landscape.
The steamer in a few minutes came alongside a dirty, broken-down,
wooden quay, lined with open booths, on which a small crowd, mostly
of negroes, had gathered. Behind the shed there rose tiled and
shingled roofs of mean dingy houses, and we could catch glimpses of
the line of poor streets, narrow, crooked, ill-paved, surmounted by
a few church-steeples, and the large sprawling advertisement-boards
of the tobacco-stores and oyster-sellers, which was all we could
see of Portsmouth or Gosport. Our vessel was in a narrow creek;
at one side was the town--in the centre of the stream the old
“Pennsylvania,” intended to be of 120 guns, but never commissioned,
and used as receiving-ship, was anchored--alongside the wall of the
Navy Yard below us, lay the “Merrimac,” apparently in ordinary. The
only man-of-war fit for sea was a curiosity--a stumpy bluff-bowed,
Dutch-built-looking sloop, called the “Cumberland.” Two or three
smaller vessels, dismasted, were below the “Merrimac,” and we could
just see the building-sheds in which were one or two others, I
believe, on the stocks. A fleet of oyster-boats anchored, or in
sail-less observance of the Sunday, dotted the waters. There was an
ancient and fish-like smell about the town worthy of its appearance
and of its functions as a seaport. As the vessel came close
alongside, there was the usual greeting between friends, and many a
cry, “Well, you’ve heard the news? The Yankees out of Sumter! Isn’t
it fine!” There were few who did not participate in that sentiment,
but there were some who looked black as night and said nothing.
Whilst we were waiting for the steam ferry-boat, which plies
to Norfolk at the other side of the creek to take us over, a
man-of-war boat pulled alongside, and the coxswain, a handsome,
fine-looking sailor, came on deck, and, as I happened to be next
him, asked me if Captain Blank had come down with us? I replied,
that I did not know, but that the captain could tell him no doubt.
“He?” said the sailor, pointing with great disgust to the skipper
of the steamer, “Why he knows nothin’ of his passengers, except
how many dollars they come to,” and started off to prosecute his
inquiries among the other passengers. The boat alongside was clean,
and was manned by six as stout fellows as ever handled an oar. Two
I made sure of were Englishmen, and when the coxswain was retiring
from his fruitless search, I asked him where he hailed from. “The
Cove of Cork. I was in the navy nine years, but when I got on the
West Ingy Station, I heerd how Uncle Sam treated his fellows, and
so I joined him.” “Cut and run, I suppose?” “Well, not exactly. I
got away, sir. Emigrated, you know!” “Are there any other Irishmen
or Englishmen on board?” “I should think there was. That man in the
bow there is a mate of mine, from the sweet Cove of Cork; Driscoll
by name, and there’s a Belfast man pulls number two; and the
stroke, and the chap that pulls next to him is Englishmen, and fine
sailors they are, Bates and Rookey. They were in men-of-war too.”
“What! five out of seven, British subjects!” “Oh, aye, that is--we
onst was--most of us now are ’Mericans, I think. There’s plenty
more of us aboard the ship.”
The steam ferry was a ricketty affair, and combined with the
tumble-down sheds and quays to give a poor idea of Norfolk. The
infliction of tobacco juice on board was remarkable. Although it
was but seven o’clock every one had his quid in working order,
and the air was filled with yellowish-brown rainbows and liquid
parabolas, which tumbled in spray or in little flocks of the
weed on the foul decks. As it was Sunday, some of the numerous
flagstaffs which adorn the houses in both cities displayed the
United States’ bunting; but nothing could relieve the decayed air
of Norfolk. The omnibus which was waiting to receive us must have
been the earliest specimen of carriage building in that style on
the Continent; and as it lunged and flopped over the prodigious
bad pavement, the severe nature of which was aggravated by a
street-railway, it opened the seams as if it were going to fall
into firewood. The shops were all closed, of course; but the
houses, wooden and brick, were covered with signs and placards
indicative of large trade in tobacco and oysters.
Poor G. P. R. James, who spent many years here, could have scarce
caught a novel from such a place, spite of great oysters, famous
wild fowl, and the lauded poultry and vegetables which are produced
in the surrounding districts. There is not a hill for the traveller
to ascend towards the close of a summer’s day, nor a moated castle
for a thousand miles around. An execrable, tooth-cracking drive
ended at last in front of the Atlantic Hotel, where I was doomed
to take up my quarters. It is a dilapidated, uncleanly place, with
tobacco-stained floor, full of flies and strong odours. The waiters
were all slaves: untidy, slip-shod, and careless creatures. I was
shut up in a small room, with the usual notice on the door, that
the proprietor would not be responsible for anything, and that you
were to lock your doors for fear of robbers, and that you must take
your meals at certain hours, and other matters of the kind. My
_umbra_ went over to Gosport to take some sketches, he said; and
after a poor meal, in a long room filled with “citizens,” all of
them discussing Sumter, I went out into the street.
The people, I observe, are of a new and marked type,--very tall,
loosely yet powerfully made, with dark complexions, strongly-marked
features, prominent noses, large angular mouths in square jaws,
deep-seated bright eyes, low, narrow foreheads,--and are all of
them much given to ruminate tobacco. The bells of the churches were
tolling, and I turned into one; but the heat, great enough outside,
soon became nearly intolerable; nor was it rendered more bearable
by my proximity to some blacks, who were, I presume, servants or
slaves of the great people in the forward pews. The clergyman
or minister had got to the Psalms, when a bustle arose near the
door which attracted his attention, and caused all to turn round.
Several persons were standing up and whispering, whilst others were
stealing on tiptoe out of the church. The influence extended itself
gradually and all the men near the doors were leaving rapidly. The
minister, obviously interested, continued to read, raising his eyes
towards the door. At last the persons near him rose up and walked
boldly forth, and I at length followed the example, and getting
into the street, saw men running towards the hotel. “What is it?”
exclaimed I to one. “Come along, the telegraph’s in at the Day
Book. The Yankees are whipped!” and so continued. I came at last to
a crowd of men, struggling, with their faces toward the wall of a
shabby house, increased by fresh arrivals, and diminished by those
who, having satisfied their curiosity, came elbowing forth in a
state of much excitement, exultation, and perspiration. “It’s all
right enough!” “Didn’t I tell you so?” “Bully for Beauregard and
the Palmetto State!” I shoved on, and read at last the programme
of the cannonade and bombardment, and of the effects upon the
fort, on a dirty piece of yellowish paper on the wall. It was a
terrible writing. At all the street corners men were discussing the
news with every symptom of joy and gratification. Now I confess I
could not share in the excitement at all. The act seemed to me the
prelude to certain war.
I walked up the main street, and turned up some of the alleys
to have a look at the town, coming out on patches of water and
bridges over the creeks, or sandy lanes shaded by trees, and
lined here and there by pretty wooden villas, painted in bright
colours. Everywhere negroes, male and female, gaudily dressed
or in rags; the door-steps of the narrow lanes swarming with
infant niggerdom--big-stomached, curve-legged, rugged-headed, and
happy--tumbling about dim-eyed toothless hags, or thick-lipped
mothers. Not a word were they talking about Sumter. “Any news
to-day?” said I to a respectable-looking negro in a blue coat
and brass buttons, wonderful hat, and vest of amber silk, check
trowsers, and very broken-down shoes. “Well, sare, I tink nothin’
much occur. Der hem a fire at Squire Nichol’s house last night;
leastway so I hear, sare.” Squire, let me say parenthetically,
is used to designate justices of the peace. Was it a very stupid
_poco-curante_, or a very cunning, subtle Sambo?
In my walk I arrived at a small pier, covered with oyster shells,
which projected into the sea. Around it, on both sides, were hosts
of schooners and pungys, smaller half-decked boats, waiting for
their load of the much-loved fish for Washington, Baltimore, and
Richmond. Some brigs and large vessels lay alongside the wharves
and large warehouses higher up the creek. Observing a small group
at the end of the pier I walked on, and found that they consisted
of fifteen or twenty well-dressed mechanical kind of men, busily
engaged in “chaffing,” as Cockneys would call it, the crew of
the man-of-war boat I had seen in the morning. The sailors were
stretched on the thwarts, some rather amused, others sullen at the
ordeal. “You better just pull down that cussed old rag of yours,
and bring your old ship over to the Southern Confederacy. I guess
we can take your ‘Cumberland’ whenever we like! Why don’t you go,
and touch off your guns at Charleston?” Presently the coxswain came
down with a parcel under his arm, and stepped into the boat. “Give
way, my lads;” and the oars dipped in the water. When the boat
had gone a few yards from the shore, the crowd cried out: “Down
with the Yankees! Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy!” and some
among them threw oyster shells at the boat, one of which struck
the coxswain on the head. “Back water! Back water all. Hard!” he
shouted; and as the boat’s stern neared the land, he stood up and
made a leap in among the crowd like a tiger. “You cowardly d----d
set. Who threw the shells?” No one answered at first, but a little
wizened man at last squeaked out: “I guess you’ll have shells of
another kind if you remain here much longer.” The sailor howled
with rage: “Why, you poor devils, I’d whip any half dozen of
you,--teeth, knives, and all--in five minutes; and my boys there in
the boat would clear your whole town. What do you mean by barking
at the Stars and Stripes? Do you see that ship?” he shouted,
pointing towards the “Cumberland.” “Why the lads aboard of her
would knock every darned seceder in your State into a cocked hat
in a brace of shakes! And now who’s coming on?” The invitation was
not accepted, and the sailor withdrew, with his angry eyes fixed on
the people, who gave him a kind of groan; but there were no oyster
shells this time. “In spite of his blowing, I tell yer,” said one
of them, “there’s some good men from old Virginny abo’rd o’ that
ship that will never fire a shot agin us.” “Oh, we’ll fix her right
enough,” remarked another, “when the time comes.” I returned to
my room, sat down, and wrote for some hours. The dinner in the
Atlantic Hotel was of a description to make one wish the desire for
food had never been invented. My neighbour said he was not “quite
content about this Sumter business. There’s nary one killed nor
wownded.”
Sunday is a very dull day in Norfolk--no mails, no post, no
steamers; and, at the best, Norfolk must be dull exceedingly.
The superintendent of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railway, having
heard that I was about proceeding to Charleston, called upon me
to offer every facility in his power. Sent Moses with letters to
post-office. At night the musquitoes were very aggressive and
successful. This is the first place in which the bedrooms are
unprovided with gas. A mutton dip almost made me regret the fact.
CHAPTER XII.
Portsmouth--Railway journey through the forest--The great Dismal
Swamp--American newspapers--Cattle on the line--Negro labour--On
through the Pine Forest--The Confederate flag--Goldsborough;
popular excitement--Weldon--Wilmington--The Vigilance Committee.
_Monday, April 15._--Up at dawn. Crossed by ferry to Portsmouth,
and arrived at railway station, which was at no place in
particular, in a street down which the rails were laid. Mr.
Robinson, the superintendent, gave me permission to take a seat in
the engine car, to which I mounted accordingly, was duly introduced
to, and shook hands with the engineer and the stoker, and took my
seat next the boiler. Can any solid reason be given why we should
not have those engine sheds or cars in England? They consist of a
light frame placed on the connection of the engine with the tender,
and projecting so as to include the end of the boiler and the
stoke-hole. They protect the engineer from rain, storm, sun, or
dust. Windows at each side afford a clear view in all directions,
and the engineer can step out on the engine itself by the doors on
the front part of the shed. There is just room for four persons to
sit uncomfortably, the persons next the boiler being continually
in dread of roasting their legs at the furnace, and those next the
tender being in danger of getting logs of wood from it shaken
down on their feet. Nevertheless I rarely enjoyed anything more
than that trip. It is true one’s enjoyment was marred by want of
breakfast, for I could not manage the cake of dough and the cup of
bitter, sour, greasy nastiness, called coffee, which were presented
to me in lieu of that meal this morning.
But the novelty of the scene through which I passed atoned for the
small privation. I do not speak of the ragged streets and lines
of sheds through which the train passed, with the great bell of
the engine tolling as if it were threatening death to the early
pigs, cocks, hens, and negroes and dogs which walked between the
rails--the latter, by-the-bye, were always the first to leave--the
negroes generally divided with the pigs the honour of making the
nearest stand to the train--nor do I speak of the miserable suburbs
of wooden shanties, nor of the expanse of inundated lands outside
the town. Passing all these, we settled down at last to our work:
the stoker fired up, the engine rattled along over the rugged lane
between the trees which now began to sweep around us from the
horizon, where they rose like the bank of a river or the shores
of a sea, and presently we plunged into the gloom of the primæval
forest, struggling as it were, with the last wave of the deluge.
The railroad, leaving the land, boldly leaped into the air, and
was carried on frailest cobweb-seeming tracery of wood far above
black waters, from which rose a thick growth and upshooting of
black stems of dead trees, mingled with the trunks and branches of
others still living, throwing out a most luxuriant vegetation. The
trestle-work over which the train was borne, judged by the eye, was
of the slightest possible construction. Sometimes one series of
trestles was placed above another, so that the cars ran on a level
with the tops of the trees; and, looking down, we could see before
the train passed the inky surface of the waters, broken into rings
and agitated, round the beams of wood. The trees were draped with
long creepers and shrouds of Spanish moss, which fell from branch
to branch, smothering the leaves in their clammy embrace, or waving
in pendulous folds in the air. Cypress, live oak, the dogwood,
and pine struggled for life with the water, and about their stems
floated balks of timber, waifs and strays carried from the rafts
by flood or the forgotten spoils of the lumberer. On these lay
tortoises, turtles, and enormous frogs, which lifted their heads
with a lazy curiosity when the train rushed by, or flopped into the
water as if the sight and noise were too much for their nerves.
Once a dark body of greater size plashed into the current which
marked the course of a river. “There’s many allygaitors come up
here at times,” said the engineer, in reply to my question; “but I
don’t take much account of them.”
When the trestle-work ceased, the line was continued through the
same description of scenery, generally in the midst of water, on
high embankments which were continually cut by black rapid streams,
crossed by bridges on trestles of great span. The strange tract
we are passing through is the “Dismal Swamp,” a name which must
have but imperfectly expressed its horrors before the railway had
traversed its outskirts, and the canal, which is constructed in its
midst, left traces of the presence of man in that remnant of the
world’s exit from the flood. In the centre of this vast desolation
there is a large loch, called “Lake Drummond,” in the jungle and
brakes around which the runaway slaves of the plantations long
harboured, and once or twice assembled bands of depredators, which
were hunted down, broken up, and destroyed like wild beasts.
Mr. Robinson, a young man some twenty-seven years of age, was
an excellent representative of the young American--full of
intelligence, well-read, a little romantic in spite of his
practical habits and dealing with matters of fact, much attached
to the literature, if not to the people, of the old country; and
so far satisfied that English engineers knew something of their
business, as to be anxious to show that American engineers were not
behind them. He asked me about Washington politics with as much
interest as if he had never read a newspaper. I made a remark to
that effect. “Oh, sir, we can’t believe,” exclaimed he, “a word we
read in our papers. They tell a story one day, to contradict it
the next. We never know when to trust them, and that’s one reason,
I believe, you find us all so anxious to ask questions and get
information from gentlemen we meet travelling.” Of the future he
spoke with apprehension; “but,” said he, “I am here representing
the interests of a large number of Northern shareholders, and I
will do my best for them. If it comes to blows after this, they
will lose all, and I must stand by my own friends down South,
though I don’t belong to it.”
So we rattle on, till the scene, at first so attractive, becomes
dreary and monotonous, and I tire of looking out for larger turtles
or more alligators. The silence of these woods is oppressive. There
is no sign of life where the train passes through the water,
except among the amphibious creatures. After a time, however,
when we draw out of the swamp and get into a dry patch, wild,
ragged-looking cattle may be seen staring at us through the trees,
or tearing across the rail, and herds of porkers, nearly in the
wild-boar stage, scuttle over the open. Then the engineer opens the
valve; the sonorous roar of the engine echoes through the woods,
and now and then there is a little excitement caused by a race
between a pig and the engine, and piggy is occasionally whipped off
his legs by the cow-lifter, and hoisted volatile into the ditch
at one side. When a herd of cattle, however, get on the line and
show fight, the matter is serious. The steam horn is sounded, the
bell rung, and steam is eased off, and every means used to escape
collision; for the railway company is obliged, to pay the owner for
whatever animals the trains kill, and a cow’s body on one of these
poor rails is an impediment sufficient to throw the engine off, and
“send us to immortal smash.”
It was long before we saw any workmen or guards on the line; but
at one place I got out to look at a shanty of one of the road
watchmen. It was a building of logs, some 20ft. long by 12ft.
broad, made in the rudest manner, with an earthen roof, and mud
stuffed and plastered between the logs to keep out the rain.
Although the day was exceedingly hot, there were two logs blazing
on the hearth, over which was suspended a pot of potatoes. The air
inside was stifling, and the black beams of the roof glistened with
a clammy sweat from smoke and unwholesome vapours. There was not an
article of furniture, except a big deal chest and a small stool,
in the place; a mug and a tea-cup stood on a rude shelf nailed
to the wall. The owner of this establishment, a stout negro, was
busily engaged with others in “wooding up” the engine from the pile
of cut timber by the roadside. The necessity of stopping caused by
the rapid consumption is one of the _désagréments_ of wood fuel.
The wood is cut down and stacked on platforms, at certain intervals
along the line; and the quantity used is checked off against the
company at the rate of so much per chord. The negro was one of many
slaves let out to the company. White men would not do the work, or
were too expensive; but the overseers and gangsmen were whites.
“How can they bear that fire in the hut?” “Well. If you went into
it in the very hottest day in summer, you would find the niggers
sitting close up to blazing pine logs, and they sleep at night, or
by day when they’ve fed to the full, in the same way.” My friend,
nevertheless, did not seem to understand that any country could get
on without negro labourers.
By degrees we got beyond the swamps, and came upon patches of
cleared land--that is, the forest had been cut down, and the only
traces left of it were the stumps, some four or five feet high,
“snagging” up above the ground; or the trees had been girdled
round, so as to kill them, and the black trunks and stiff arms
gave an air of meagre melancholy and desertion to the place, which
was quite opposite to their real condition. Here it was that the
normal forest and swamp had been subjugated by man. Presently we
came in sight of a flag fluttering from a lofty pine, which had
been stripped of its branches, throwing broad bars of red and white
to the air, with a blue square in the upper quarter containing
seven stars. “That’s our flag,”--said the engineer, who was a
quiet man, much given to turning steam cocks, examining gauges,
wiping his hands in fluffy impromptu handkerchiefs, and smoking
tobacco--“That’s our flag! And long may it wave--o’er the land of
the free and the home of the ber-rave!” As we passed, a small crowd
of men, women, and children, of all colours, in front of a group
of poor broken-down shanties or log huts, cheered--to speak more
correctly--whooped and yelled vehemently. The cry was returned by
the passengers in the train. “We’re all the right sort hereabouts,”
said the engineer. “Hurrah for Jeff Davis!” The right sort were
not particularly flourishing in outward aspect, at all events. The
women, pale-faced, were tawdry and ragged; the men, yellow, seedy
looking. For the first time in the States, I noticed barefooted
people.
Now began another phase of scenery--an interminable pine forest,
far as the eye could reach, shutting out the light on each side
by a wooden wall. From this forest came the strongest odour of
turpentine; presently black streaks of smoke floated out of
the wood, and here and there we passed cleared spaces, where
in rude-looking furnaces and factories people more squalid
and miserable looking than before were preparing pitch, tar,
turpentine, resin, and other naval stores, for which this part of
North Carolina is famous. The stems of the trees around are marked
by white scars, where the tappings for the turpentine take place,
and many dead trunks testified how the process ended.
Again, over another log village, a Confederate flag floated in
the air; and the people ran out, negroes and all, and cheered as
before. The new flag is not so glaring and gaudy as the Stars and
Stripes; but, at a distance, when the folds hang together, there
is a considerable resemblance in the general effect of the two. If
ever there is a real _sentiment du drapeau_ got up in the South, it
will be difficult indeed for the North to restore the Union. These
pieces of coloured bunting seem to twine themselves through heart
and brain.
The stations along the roadside now gradually grew in proportion,
and instead of a small sentry-box beside a wood pile, there were
three or four wooden houses, a platform, a booking office, an
“exchange” or drinking room, and general stores, like the shops
of assorted articles in an Irish town. Around these still grew
the eternal forest, or patches of cleared land dotted with black
stumps. These stations have very grand names, and the stores are
dignified by high-sounding titles; nor are “billiard saloons” and
“restaurants” wanting. We generally found a group of people waiting
at each; and it really was most astonishing to see well-dressed,
respectable-looking men and women emerge out of the “dismal swamp,”
and out of the depths of the forest, with silk parasols and
crinoline, bandboxes and portmanteaux, in the most civilised style.
There were always some negroes, male and female, in attendance
on the voyagers, handling the baggage or the babies, and looking
comfortable enough, but not happy. The only evidence of the good
spirits and happiness of these people which I saw was on the part
of a number of men who were going off from a plantation for the
fishing on the coast. They and their wives and sisters, arrayed in
their best--which means their brightest, colours--were grinning
from ear to ear as they bade good-bye. The negro likes the mild
excitement of sea fishing, and in pursuit of it he feels for the
moment free.
At Goldsborough, which is the first place of importance on the
line, the wave of the secession tide struck us in full career. The
station, the hotels, the street through which the rail ran was
filled with an excited mob, all carrying arms, with signs here and
there of a desire to get up some kind of uniform--flushed faces,
wild eyes, screaming mouths, hurrahing for “Jeff Davis” and “the
Southern Confederacy,” so that the yells overpowered the discordant
bands which were busy with “Dixie’s Land.” Here was the true
revolutionary furor in full sway. The men hectored, swore, cheered,
and slapped each other on the backs; the women, in their best,
waved handkerchiefs and flung down garlands from the windows. All
was noise, dust, and patriotism.
It was a strange sight and a wonderful event at which we were
assisting. These men were a levy of the people of North Carolina
called out by the Governor of the State for the purpose of seizing
upon forts Caswell and Macon, belonging to the Federal Government,
and left unprotected and undefended. The enthusiasm of the
“citizens” was unbounded, nor was it quite free from a taint of
alcohol. Many of the Volunteers had flint firelocks, only a few had
rifles. All kinds of head-dress were visible, and caps, belts and
pouches of infinite variety. A man in a large wide-awake, with a
cock’s feather in it, a blue frock-coat, with a red sash and a pair
of cotton trowsers thrust into his boots, came out of Griswold’s
hotel with a sword under his arm, and an article, which might have
been a napkin of long service, in one hand. He waved the article
enthusiastically, swaying to and fro on his legs, and ejaculating
“H’ra for Jeff Dav’s--H’ra for S’thern E’r’rights!” and tottered
over to the carriage through the crowd amid the violent vibration
of all the ladies’ handkerchiefs in the balcony. Just as he got
into the train, a man in uniform dashed after him, and caught him
by the elbow, exclaiming, “Them’s not the cars, General! The cars
this way, General!” The military dignitary, however, felt that if
he permitted such liberties in the hour of victory he was degraded
for ever, so, screwing up his lips and looking grave and grand, he
proceeded as follows: “Sergeant, you go be ----. I say these are my
cars! They’re _all_ my cars! I’ll send them where I please--to ----
if I like, sir. They shall go where I please--to New York, sir, or
New Orleans, sir! And ---- sir, I’ll arrest you.” This famous idea
distracted the General’s attention from his project of entering the
train, and muttering, “I’ll arrest you,” he tacked backwards and
forwards to the hotel again.
As the train started on its journey, there was renewed yelling,
which split the ear--a savage cry many notes higher than the most
ringing cheer. At the wayside inn, where we dined--_pièce de
résistance_ being pig--the attendants, comely, well-dressed, clean
negresses were slaves--“worth a thousand dollars each.” I am not
favourably impressed by either the food or the mode of living, or
the manners of the company. One man made very coarse jokes about
“Abe Lincoln” and “negro wenches,” which nothing but extreme party
passion and bad taste could tolerate. Several of the passengers
had been clerks in Government offices at Washington, and had been
dismissed because they would not take the oath of allegiance. They
were hurrying off full of zeal and patriotism to tender their
services to the Montgomery Government.
* * * * *
I had been the object of many attentions and civilities from
gentlemen in the train during my journey. One of them, who told me
he was a municipal dignitary of Weldon, having exhausted all the
inducements that he could think of to induce me to spend some time
there, at last, in desperation, said he would be happy to show
me “the antiquities of the place.” Weldon is a recent uprising
in wood and log houses from the swamps, and it would puzzle the
archæologists of the world to find anything antique about it.
At nightfall the train stopped at Wilmington, and I was shot out on
a platform under a shed, to do the best I could. In a long, lofty,
and comfortless room, like a barn, which abutted on the platform,
there was a table covered with a dirty cloth, on which lay little
dishes of pickles, fish, meat, and potatoes, at which were seated
some of our fellow-passengers. The equality of all men is painfully
illustrated when your neighbour at table eats with his knife, dips
the end of it into the salt, and disregards the object and end of
napkins. But it is carried to a more disagreeable extent when it
is held to mean that any man who comes to an inn has a right to
share your bed. I asked for a room, but I was told that there were
so many people moving about just now that it was not possible to
give me one to myself; but at last I made a bargain for exclusive
possession. When the next train came in, however, the woman very
coolly inquired whether I had any objection to allow a passenger
to divide my bed, and seemed very much displeased at my refusal;
and I perceived three big-bearded men snoring asleep in one bed
in the next room to me as I passed through the passage to the
dining-room.
The ‘artist’ Moses, who had gone with my letter to the post,
returned, after a long absence, pale and agitated. He said he had
been pounced upon by the Vigilance Committee, who were rather
drunk, and very inquisitive. They were haunting the precincts of
the Post-office and the railway station, to detect Lincolnites and
Abolitionists, and were obliged to keep themselves wide awake by
frequent visits to the adjacent bars, and he had with difficulty
dissuaded them from paying me a visit. They cross-examined him
respecting my opinion of secession, and desired to have an audience
with me in order to give me any information which might be
required. I cannot say what reply was given to their questioning;
but I certainly refused to have any interview with the Vigilance
Committee of Wilmington, and was glad they did not disturb me.
Rest, however, there was little or none. I might have as well slept
on the platform of the railway station outside. Trains coming
in and going out shook the room and the bed on which I lay, and
engines snorted, puffed, roared, whistled, and rang bells close to
my keyhole.
CHAPTER XIII.
Sketches round Wilmington--Public opinion--Approach to Charleston
and Fort Sumter--Introduction to General Beauregard--Ex-Governor
Manning--Conversation on the chances of the war--“King Cotton”
and England--Visit to Fort Sumter--Market-place at Charleston.
Early next morning, soon after dawn, I crossed the Cape Fear
River, on which Wilmington is situated, by a steam ferry-boat. On
the quay lay quantities of shot and shell. “How came these here?”
I inquired. “They’re anti-abolition pills,” said my neighbour;
“they’ve been waiting here for two months back, but now that
Sumter’s taken, I guess they won’t be wanted.” To my mind, the
conclusion was by no means legitimate. From the small glance I
had of Wilmington, with its fleet of schooners and brigs crowding
the broad and rapid river, I should think it was a thriving
place. Confederate flags waved over the public buildings, and I
was informed that the Forts had been seized without opposition
or difficulty. I can see no sign here of the “affection to the
Union,” which, according to Mr. Seward, underlies all “secession
proclivities.”
As we traversed the flat and uninteresting country, through which
the rail passes, Confederate flags and sentiments greeted us
everywhere; men and women repeated the national cry; at every
station militiamen and volunteers were waiting for the train, and
the everlasting word “Sumter” ran through all the conversation in
the cars.
The Carolinians are capable of turning out a fair force of cavalry.
At each stopping-place I observed saddle-horses tethered under the
trees, and light driving vehicles, drawn by wiry muscular animals,
not remarkable for size, but strong-looking and active. Some
farmers in blue jackets, and yellow braid and facings, handed round
their swords to be admired by the company. A few blades had flashed
in obscure Mexican skirmishes--one, however, had been borne against
“the Britishers.” I inquired of a fine, tall, fair-haired young
fellow whom they expected to fight. “That’s more than I can tell,”
quoth he. “The Yankees ain’t such cussed fools as to think they can
come here and whip us, let alone the British.” “Why, what have the
British got to do with it?” “They are bound to take our part: if
they don’t, we’ll just give them a hint about cotton, and that will
set matters right.” This was said very much with the air of a man
who knows what he is talking about, and who was quite satisfied “he
had you there.” I found it was still displeasing to most people,
particularly one or two of the fair sex, that more Yankees were not
killed at Sumter. All the people who addressed me prefixed my name,
which they soon found out, by “Major” or “Colonel”--“Captain” is
very low, almost indicative of contempt. The conductor who took our
tickets was called “Captain.”
At the Peedee River the rail is carried over marsh and stream on
trestle-work for two miles. “This is the kind of country we’ll
catch the Yankees in, if they come to invade us. They’ll have
some pretty tall swimming, and get knocked on the head, if ever
they gets to land. I wish there was ten thousand of the cusses
in it this minute.” At Nichol’s station on the frontiers of South
Carolina, our baggage was regularly examined at the Custom House,
but I did not see any one pay duties. As the train approached the
level and marshy land near Charleston, the square block of Fort
Sumter was seen rising above the water with the “stars and bars”
flying over it, and the spectacle created great enthusiasm among
the passengers. The smoke was still rising from an angle of the
walls. Outside the village-like suburbs of the city a regiment was
marching for old Virginny amid the cheers of the people--cavalry
were picketed in the fields and gardens--tents and men were visible
in the byways.
It was nearly dark when we reached the station. I was recommended
to go to the Mills House, and on arriving there found Mr. Ward,
whom I had already met in New York and Washington, and who gave me
an account of the bombardment and surrender of the fort. The hotel
was full of notabilities. I was introduced to ex-Governor Manning,
Senator Chesnut, Hon. Porcher Miles, on the staff of General
Beauregard, and to Colonel Lucas, aide-de-camp to Governor Pickens.
I was taken after dinner and introduced to General Beauregard,
who was engaged, late as it was, in his room at the Head Quarters
writing despatches. The General is a small, compact man, about
thirty-six years of age, with a quick, and intelligent eye and
action, and a good deal of the Frenchman in his manner and look. He
received me in the most cordial manner, and introduced me to his
engineer officer, Major Whiting, whom he assigned to lead me over
the works next day.
After some general conversation I took my leave; but before
I went, the General said, “You shall go everywhere and see
everything; we rely on your discretion, and knowledge of what is
fair in dealing with what you see. Of course you don’t expect to
find regular soldiers in our camps or very scientific works.” I
answered the General, that he might rely on my making no improper
use of what I saw in this country, but, “unless you tell me to the
contrary, I shall write an account of all I see to the other side
of the water, and if, when it comes back, there are things you
would rather not have known, you must not blame me.” He smiled, and
said, “I dare say we’ll have great changes by that time.”
That night I sat in the Charleston club with John Manning. Who that
has ever met him can be indifferent to the charms of manner and of
personal appearance, which render the ex-Governor of the State so
attractive? There were others present, senators or congressmen,
like Mr. Chesnut, and Mr. Porcher Miles. We talked long, and at
last angrily, as might be between friends, of political affairs.
I own it was a little irritating to me to hear men indulge in
extravagant broad menace and rhodomontade, such as came from their
lips. “They would welcome the world in arms with hospitable hands
to bloody graves.” “They never could be conquered.” “Creation
could not do it,” and so on. I was obliged to handle the question
quietly at first--to ask them “if they admitted the French were
a brave and warlike people!” “Yes, certainly.” “Do you think you
could better defend yourselves against invasion than the people of
France?” “Well, no; but we’d make it a pretty hard business for
the Yankees.” “Suppose the Yankees, as you call them, come with
such preponderance of men and matériel, that they are three to
your one, will you not be forced to submit?” “Never,” “Then either
you are braver, better disciplined, more warlike than the people
and soldiers of France, or you alone, of all the nations in the
world, possess the means of resisting physical laws which prevail
in war, as in other affairs of life.” “No. The Yankees are cowardly
rascals. We have proved it by kicking and cuffing them till we are
tired of it; besides, we know John Bull very well. He will make a
great fuss about non-interference at first, but when he begins to
want cotton he’ll come off his perch.” I found this was the fixed
idea everywhere. The doctrine of “cotton is king,”--to us who
have not much considered the question a grievous delusion or an
unmeaning babble--to them is a lively all-powerful faith without
distracting heresies or schisms. They have in it enunciated their
full belief, and indeed there is some truth in it, in so far as we
year after year by the stimulants of coal, capital, and machinery
have been working up a manufacture on which four or five millions
of our population depend for bread and life, which cannot be
carried on without the assistance of a nation, that may at any time
refuse us an adequate supply, or be cut off from giving it by war.
Political economy, we are well aware, is a fine science, but its
followers are capable of tremendous absurdities in practice. The
dependence of such a large proportion of the English people on this
sole article of American cotton is fraught with the utmost danger
to our honour and to our prosperity. Here were these Southern
gentlemen exulting in their power to control the policy of Great
Britain, and it was small consolation to me to assure them they
were mistaken; in case we did not act as they anticipated, it could
not be denied Great Britain would plunge an immense proportion of
her people--a nation of manufacturers--into pauperism, which must
leave them dependent on the national funds, or more properly on the
property and accumulated capital of the district.
About 8·30 P.M. a deep bell began to toll. “What is that?” “It’s
for all the coloured people to clear out of the streets and go
home. The guards will arrest any who are found out without passes
in half an hour.” There was much noise in the streets, drums
beating, men cheering, and marching, and the hotel is crammed full
with soldiers.
_April 17th._--The streets of Charleston present some such aspect
as those of Paris in the last revolution. Crowds of armed men
singing and promenading the streets. The battle-blood running
through their veins--that hot oxygen which is called “the flush of
victory” on the cheek; restaurants full, revelling in bar-rooms,
club-rooms crowded, orgies and carousings in tavern or private
house, in tap-room, from cabaret--down narrow alleys, in the broad
highway. Sumter has set them distraught; never was such a victory;
never such brave lads; never such a fight. There are pamphlets
already full of the incident. It is a bloodless Waterloo or
Solferino.
After breakfast I went down to the quay, with a party of the
General’s staff, to visit Fort Sumter. The senators and governors
turned soldiers wore blue military caps, with “palmetto” trees
embroidered thereon; blue frock-coats, with upright collars, and
shoulder-straps edged with lace, and marked with two silver
bars, to designate their rank of captain; gilt buttons, with the
palmetto in relief; blue trowsers, with a gold-lace cord, and brass
spurs--no straps. The day was sweltering, but a strong breeze
blew in the harbour, and puffed the dust of Charleston, coating
our clothes, and filling our eyes with powder. The streets were
crowded with lanky lads, clanking spurs, and sabres, with awkward
squads marching to and fro, with drummers beating calls, and
ruffles, and points of war; around them groups of grinning negroes
delighted with the glare and glitter, a holiday, and a new idea
for them--secession flags waving out of all the windows--little
Irish boys shouting out, “Battle of Fort Sumter! New edishun!”--As
we walked down towards the quay, where the steamer was lying,
numerous traces of the unsettled state of men’s minds broke out
in the hurried conversations of the various friends who stopped
to speak for a few moments. “Well, governor, the old Union is
gone at last!” “Have you heard what Abe is going to do?” “I don’t
think Beauregard will have much more fighting for it. What do you
think?” And so on. Our little Creole friend, by-the-bye, is popular
beyond description. There are all kinds of doggerel rhymes in his
honour--one with a refrain--
“With cannon and musket, with shell and petard,
We salute the North with our Beau-regard”--
is much in favour.
We passed through the market, where the stalls are kept by fat
negresses and old “unkeys.” There is a sort of vulture or buzzard
here, much encouraged as scavengers, and--but all the world has
heard of the Charleston vultures--so we will leave them to their
garbage. Near the quay, where the steamer was lying, there is a
very fine building in white marble, which attracted our notice. It
was unfinished, and immense blocks of the glistening stone destined
for its completion, lay on the ground. “What is that?” I inquired.
“Why, it’s a custom-house Uncle Sam was building for our benefit,
but I don’t think he’ll ever raise a cent for his treasury out of
it.” “Will you complete it?” “I should think not. We’ll lay on
few duties; and what we want is free-trade, and no duties at all,
except for public purposes. The Yankees have plundered us with
their custom-houses and duties long enough.” An old gentleman here
stopped us. “You will do me the greatest favour,” he said to one of
our party who knew him, “if you will get me something to do for our
glorious cause. Old as I am, I can carry a musket--not far, to be
sure, but I can kill a Yankee if he comes near.” When he had gone,
my friend told me the speaker was a man of fortune, two of whose
sons were in camp at Morris’ Island, but that he was suspected of
Union sentiments, as he had a Northern wife, and hence his extreme
vehemence and devotion.
CHAPTER XIV.
Southern volunteers--Unpopularity of the press--Charleston--Fort
Sumter--Morris’ Island--Anti-union enthusiasm--Anecdote of
Colonel Wigfall--Interior view of the fort--North versus South.
There was a large crowd around the pier staring at the men in
uniform on the boat, which was filled with bales of goods,
commissariat stores, trusses of hay, and hampers, supplies for
the volunteer army on Morris’ Island. I was amused by the names
of the various corps, “Tigers,” “Lions,” “Scorpions,” “Palmetto
Eagles,” “Guards,” of Pickens, Sumter, Marion, and of various
other denominations, painted on the boxes. The original formation
of these volunteers is in companies, and they know nothing of
battalions or regiments. The tendency in volunteer outbursts is
sometimes to gratify the greatest vanity of the greatest number.
These companies do not muster more than fifty or sixty strong. Some
were “dandies,” and “swells,” and affected to look down on their
neighbours and comrades. Major Whiting told me there was difficulty
in getting them to obey orders at first, as each man had an idea
that he was as good an engineer as anybody else, “and a good deal
better, if it came to that.” It was easy to perceive it was the old
story of volunteer and regular in this little army.
As we got on deck, the major saw a number of rough,
long-haired-looking fellows in coarse gray tunics, with pewter
buttons and worsted braid lying on the hay-bales smoking their
cigars. “Gentlemen,” quoth he, very courteously, “You’ll oblige
me by not smoking over the hay. There’s powder below.” “I don’t
believe we’re going to burn the hay this time, kernel,” was
the reply, “and anyway, we’ll put it out afore it reaches the
’bustibles,” and they went on smoking. The major grumbled, and
worse, and drew off.
Among the passengers were some brethren of mine belonging to
the New York and local papers. I saw a short time afterwards a
description of the trip by one of these gentlemen, in which he
described it as an affair got up specially for himself, probably
in order to avenge himself on his military persecutors, for he had
complained to me the evening before, that the chief of General
Beauregard’s staff told him, to go to ----, when he applied at
head-quarters for some information. I found from the tone and looks
of my friends, that these literary gentlemen were received with
great disfavour, and Major Whiting, who is a bibliomaniac, and has
a very great liking for the best English writers, could not conceal
his repugnance and antipathy to my unfortunate confrères. “If I
had my way, I would fling them into the water; but the General has
given them orders to come on board. It is these fellows who have
brought all this trouble on our country.”
The traces of dislike of the freedom of the press, which I, to my
astonishment, discovered in the North, are broader and deeper in
the South, and they are not accompanied by the signs of dread of
its power which exist in New York, where men speak of the chiefs
of the most notorious journals very much as people in Italian
cities of past time might have talked of the most infamous bravo or
the chief of some band of assassins. Whiting comforted himself by
the reflection that they would soon have their fingers in a vice,
and then pulling out a ragged little sheet, turned suddenly on the
representative thereof, and proceeded to give the most unqualified
contradiction to most of the statements contained in “the full and
accurate particulars of the Bombardment and Fall of Fort Sumter,”
in the said journal, which the person in question listened to with
becoming meekness and contrition. “If I knew who wrote it,” said
the major, “I’d make him eat it.”
I was presented to many judges, colonels, and others of the mass of
society on board, and, “after compliments,” as the Orientals say,
I was generally asked, in the first place, what I thought of the
capture of Sumter, and in the second, what England would do when
the news reached the other side. Already the Carolinians regard the
Northern States as an alien and detested enemy, and entertain, or
profess, an immense affection for Great Britain.
When we had shipped all our passengers, nine-tenths of them in
uniform, and a larger proportion engaged in chewing, the whistle
blew, and the steamer sidled off from the quay into the yellowish
muddy water of the Ashley River, which is a creek from the sea,
with a streamlet running into the head waters some distance up.
The shore opposite Charleston is more than a mile distant, and is
low and sandy, covered here and there with patches of brilliant
vegetation, and long lines of trees. It is cut up with creeks,
which divide it into islands, so that passages out to sea exist
between some of them for light craft, though the navigation is
perplexed and difficult. The city lies on a spur or promontory
between the Ashley and the Cooper rivers, and the land behind it
is divided in the same manner by similar creeks, and is sandy
and light, bearing, nevertheless, very fine crops, and trees
of magnificent vegetation. The steeples, the domes of public
buildings, the rows of massive warehouses and cotton stores on the
wharfs, and the bright colours of the houses, render the appearance
of Charleston, as seen from the river front, rather imposing.
From the mastheads of the few large vessels in harbour floated
the Confederate flag. Looking to our right, the same standard was
visible, waving on the low, white parapets of the earthworks which
had been engaged in reducing Sumter.
That much-talked-of fortress lay some two miles ahead of us now,
rising up out of the water near the middle of the passage out to
sea between James’ Island and Sullivan’s Island. It struck me at
first as being like one of the smaller forts off Cronstadt, but a
closer inspection very much diminished its importance; the material
is brick, not stone, and the size of the place is exaggerated
by the low back ground, and by contrast with the sea-line. The
land contracts on both sides opposite the fort, a projection of
Morris’ Island, called “Cumming’s point,” running out on the left.
There is a similar promontory from Sullivan’s Island, on which is
erected Fort Moultrie, on the right from the sea entrance. Castle
Pinckney, which stands on a small island at the exit of the Cooper
River, is a place of no importance, and it was too far from Sumter
to take any share in the bombardment: the same remarks apply to
Fort Johnson on James’ Island, on the right bank of the Ashley
River below Charleston. The works which did the mischief were the
batteries of sand on Morris’ Island, at Cumming’s Point, and Fort
Moultrie. The floating battery, covered with railroad-iron, lay a
long way off, and could not have contributed much to the result.
As we approached Morris’ Island, which is an accumulation of sand
covered with mounds of the same material, on which there is a
scanty vegetation alternating with salt-water marshes, we could
perceive a few tents in the distance among the sand-hills. The
sand-bag batteries, and an ugly black parapet, with guns peering
through port-holes as if from a ship’s side, lay before us. Around
them men were swarming like ants, and a crowd in uniform were
gathered on the beach to receive us as we landed from the boat of
the steamer, all eager for news, and provisions, and newspapers,
of which an immense flight immediately fell upon them. A guard
with bayonets crossed in a very odd sort of manner, prevented any
unauthorised persons from landing. They wore the universal coarse
gray jacket and trousers, with worsted braid and yellow facings,
uncouth caps, lead buttons stamped with the palmetto-tree. Their
unbronzed firelocks were covered with rust. The soldiers lounging
about were mostly tall, well-grown men, young and old, some with
the air of gentlemen; others coarse, long-haired fellows, without
any semblance of military bearing, but full of fight, and burning
with enthusiasm, not unaided, in some instances, by coarser
stimulus.
The day was exceedingly warm and unpleasant, the hot wind blew the
fine white sand into our faces, and wafted it in minute clouds
inside eyelids, nostrils, and clothing; but it was necessary to
visit the batteries, so on we trudged into one and out of another,
walked up parapets, examined profiles, looked along guns, and
did everything that could be required of us. The result of the
examination was to establish in my mind the conviction, that if
the commander of Sumter had been allowed to open his guns on the
island, the first time he saw an indication of throwing up a
battery against him, he could have saved his fort. Moultrie, in
its original state, on the opposite side, could have been readily
demolished by Sumter. The design of the works was better than
their execution--the sand-bags were rotten, the sand not properly
revetted or banked up, and the traverses imperfectly constructed.
The barbette guns of the fort looked into many of the embrasures,
and commanded them.
The whole of the island was full of life and excitement.
Officers were galloping about as if on a field-day or in action.
Commissariat carts were toiling to and fro between the beach
and the camps, and sounds of laughter and revelling came from
the tents. These were pitched without order, and were of all
shapes, hues, and sizes, many being disfigured by rude charcoal
drawings outside, and inscriptions such as “The Live Tigers,”
“Rattlesnake’s-hole,” “Yankee Smashers,” &c. The vicinity of the
camps was in an intolerable state, and on calling the attention of
the medical officer who was with me, to the danger arising from
such a condition of things, he said with a sigh, “I know it all.
But we can do nothing. Remember they’re all volunteers, and do
just as they please.”
In every tent was hospitality, and a hearty welcome to all comers.
Cases of champagne and claret, French pâtés, and the like, were
piled outside the canvas walls, when there was no room for them
inside. In the middle of these excited gatherings I felt like a
man in the full possession of his senses coming in late to a wine
party. “Won’t you drink with me, sir, to the--(something awful)--of
Lincoln and all Yankees?” “No! if you’ll be good enough to excuse
me.” “Well, I think you’re the only Englishman who won’t.” Our
Carolinians are very fine fellows, but a little given to the
Bobadil style--hectoring after a cavalier fashion, which they
fondly believe to be theirs by hereditary right. They assume that
the British crown rests on a cotton bale, as the Lord Chancellor
sits on a pack of wool.
In one long tent there was a party of roystering young men,
opening claret, and mixing “cup” in large buckets; whilst others
were helping the servants to set out a table for a banquet
to one of their generals. Such heat, tobacco-smoke, clamour,
toasts, drinking, hand-shaking, vows of friendship! Many were the
excuses made for the more demonstrative of the Edonian youths by
their friends. “Tom is a little cut, sir; but he’s a splendid
fellow--he’s worth half-a-million of dollars.” This reference to
a money standard of value was not unusual or perhaps unnatural,
but it was made repeatedly; and I was told wonderful tales of
the riches of men who were lounging round, dressed as privates,
some of whom at that season, in years gone by, were looked for
at the watering places as the great lions of American fashion.
But Secession is the fashion here. Young ladies sing for it; old
ladies pray for it; young men are dying to fight for it; old men
are ready to demonstrate it. The founder of the school was St.
Calhoun. Here his pupils carry out their teaching in thunder and
fire. States’ Rights are displayed after its legitimate teaching,
and the Palmetto flag and the red bars of the Confederacy are its
exposition. The utter contempt and loathing for the venerated Stars
and Stripes, the abhorrence of the very words United States, the
intense hatred of the Yankee on the part of these people, cannot
be conceived by anyone who has not seen them. I am more satisfied
than ever that the Union can never be restored as it was, and that
it has gone to pieces, never to be put together again, in the old
shape, at all events by any power on earth.
After a long and tiresome promenade in the dust, heat, and fine
sand, through the tents, our party returned to the beach, where
we took boat, and pushed off for Fort Sumter. The Confederate
flag rose above the walls. On near approach the marks of the shot
against the _pain coupé_, and the embrasures near the salient were
visible enough; but the damage done to the hard brickwork was
trifling, except at the angles: the edges of the parapets were
ragged and pock-marked, and the quay-wall was rifted here and there
by shot; but no injury of a kind to render the work untenable could
be made out. The greatest damage inflicted was, no doubt, the
burning of the barracks, which were culpably erected inside the
fort, close to the flank wall facing Cumming’s Point.
As the boat touched the quay of the fort, a tall, powerful-looking
man came through the shattered gateway, and with uneven steps
strode over the rubbish towards a skiff which was waiting to
receive him, and into which he jumped and rowed off. Recognising
one of my companions as he passed our boat, he suddenly stood up,
and with a leap and a scramble tumbled in among us, to the imminent
danger of upsetting the party. Our new friend was dressed in the
blue frock-coat of a civilian, round which he had tied a red silk
sash--his waist-belt supported a straight sword, something like
those worn with Court dress. His muscular neck was surrounded
with a loosely-fastened silk handkerchief; and wild masses of
black hair, tinged with grey, fell from under a civilian’s hat
over his collar; his unstrapped trousers were gathered up high on
his legs, displaying ample boots, garnished with formidable brass
spurs. But his face was one not to be forgotten--a straight, broad
brow, from which the hair rose up like the vegetation on a river
bank, beetling black eyebrows--a mouth coarse and grim, yet full
of power, a square jaw--a thick argumentative nose--a new growth
of scrubby beard and moustache--these were relieved by eyes of
wonderful depth and light, such as I never saw before but in the
head of a wild beast. If you look some day when the sun is not too
bright into the eye of the Bengal tiger, in the Regent’s Park,
as the keeper is coming round, you will form some notion of the
expression I mean. It was flashing, fierce, yet calm--with a well
of fire burning behind and spouting through it, an eye pitiless in
anger, which now and then sought to conceal its expression beneath
half-closed lids, and then burst out with an angry glare, as if
disdaining concealment.
This was none other than Louis T. Wigfall, Colonel (then of his
own creation) in the Confederate army, and Senator from Texas in
the United States--a good type of the men whom the institutions
of the country produce or throw off--a remarkable man, noted for
his ready, natural eloquence; his exceeding ability as a quick,
bitter debater; the acerbity of his taunts; and his readiness
for personal encounter. To the last he stood in his place in the
Senate at Washington, when nearly every other Southern man had
seceded, lashing with a venomous and instant tongue, and covering
with insults, ridicule, and abuse, such men as Mr. Chandler, of
Michigan, and other Republicans: never missing a sitting of the
House, and seeking out adversaries in the bar-rooms or the gambling
tables. The other day, when the fire against Sumter was at its
height, and the fort, in flames, was reduced almost to silence, a
small boat put off from the shore, and steered through the shot and
the splashing waters right for the walls. It bore the colonel and
a negro oarsman. Holding up a white handkerchief on the end of his
sword, Wigfall landed on the quay, clambered through an embrasure,
and presented himself before the astonished Federals with a
proposal to surrender, quite unauthorised, and “on his own hook,”
which led to the final capitulation of Major Anderson.
I am sorry to say, our distinguished friend had just been paying
his respects _sans bornes_ to Bacchus or Bourbon, for he was
decidedly unsteady in his gait and thick in speech; but his head
was quite clear, and he was determined I should know all about his
exploit. Major Whiting desired to show me round the work, but he
had no chance. “Here is where I got in,” quoth Colonel Wigfall.
“I found a Yankee standing here by the traverse, out of the way of
our shot. He was pretty well scared when he saw me, but I told him
not to be alarmed, but to take me to the officers. There they were,
huddled up in that corner behind the brickwork, for our shells
were tumbling into the yard, and bursting like,”--&c. (The Colonel
used strong illustrations and strange expletives in narrative.)
Major Whiting shook his military head, and said something uncivil
to me, in private, in reference to volunteer colonels and the
like, which gave him relief; whilst the martial Senator--I forgot
to say that he has the name, particularly in the North, of having
killed more than half-a-dozen men in duels--(I had an escape of
being another)--conducted me through the casemates with uneven
steps, stopping at every traverse to expatiate on some phase of his
personal experiences, with his sword dangling between his legs, and
spurs involved in rubbish and soldiers’ blankets.
In my letter I described the real extent of the damage inflicted,
and the state of the fort as I found it. At first the batteries
thrown up by the Carolinians were so poor, that the United States’
officers in the fort were mightily amused at them, and anticipated
easy work in enfilading, ricocheting, and battering them to pieces,
if they ever dared to open fire. One morning, however, Capt.
Foster, to whom really belongs the credit of putting Sumter into
a tolerable condition of defence with the most limited means, was
unpleasantly surprised by seeing through his glass a new work in
the best possible situation for attacking the place, growing up
under the strenuous labours of a band of negroes. “I knew at once,”
he said, “the rascals had got an engineer at last.” In fact, the
Carolinians were actually talking of an escalade when the officers
of the regular army, who had “seceded,” came down and took the
direction of affairs, which otherwise might have had very different
results.
There was a working party of Volunteers clearing away the rubbish
in the place. It was evident they were not accustomed to labour.
And on asking why negroes were not employed, I was informed: “The
niggers would blow us all up, they’re so stupid; and the State
would have to pay the owners for any of them who were killed and
injured.” “In one respect, then, white men are not so valuable as
negroes?” “Yes, sir,--that’s a fact.”
Very few shell craters were visible in the terre-plein; the
military mischief, such as it was, showed most conspicuously on
the parapet platforms, over which shells had been burst as heavily
as could be, to prevent the manning of the barbette guns. A very
small affair, indeed, that shelling of Fort Sumter. And yet who
can tell what may arise from it? “Well, sir,” exclaimed one of
my companions, “I thank God for it, if it’s only because we are
beginning to have a history for Europe. The universal Yankee nation
swallowed us up.”
Never did men plunge into unknown depth of peril and trouble more
recklessly than these Carolinians. They fling themselves against
the grim, black future, as the cavaliers under Rupert may have
rushed against the grim, black Ironsides. Will they carry the image
farther? Well! The exploration of Sumter was finished at last, not
till we had visited the officers of the garrison, who lived in
a windowless, shattered room, reached by a crumbling staircase,
and who produced whiskey and crackers, many pleasant stories and
boundless welcome. One young fellow grumbled about pay. He said:
“I have not received a cent, since I came to Charleston for this
business.” But Major Whiting, some days afterwards, told me he
had not got a dollar on account of his pay, though on leaving
the United States’ army he had abandoned nearly all his means of
subsistence. These gentlemen were quite satisfied it would all be
right eventually; and no one questioned the power or inclination of
the Government, which had just been inaugurated under such strange
auspices, to perpetuate its principles and reward its servants.
After a time our party went down to the boats, in which we were
rowed to the steamer that lay waiting for us at Morris’ Island. The
original intention of the officers was to carry us over to Fort
Moultrie, on the opposite side of the Channel, and to examine it
and the floating iron battery; but it was too late to do so when we
got off, and the steamer only ran across and swept around homewards
by the other shore. Below, in the cabin, there was spread a lunch
or quasi dinner; and the party of Senators, past and present,
aides-de-camp, journalists, and flaneurs, were not indisposed to
join it. For me there was only one circumstance which marred the
pleasure of that agreeable reunion. Colonel and Senator Wigfall,
who had not sobered himself by drinking deeply, in the plenitude
of his exultation alluded to the assault on Senator Sumner as a
type of the manner in which the Southerners would deal with the
Northerners generally, and cited it as a good exemplification of
the fashion in which they would bear their “whipping.” Thence, by
a natural digression, he adverted to the inevitable consequences
of the magnificent outburst of Southern indignation against the
Yankees on all the nations of the world, and to the immediate
action of England in the matter as soon as the news came. Suddenly
reverting to Mr. Sumner, whose name he loaded with obloquy, he
spoke of Lord Lyons in terms so coarse, that, forgetting the
condition of the speaker, I resented the language applied to the
English Minister, in a very unmistakeable manner; and then rose
and left the cabin. In a moment I was followed on deck by Senator
Wigfall: his manner much calmer, his hair brushed back, his eye
sparkling. There was nothing left to be desired in his apologies,
which were repeated and energetic. We were joined by Mr. Manning,
Major Whiting, and Senator Chesnut, and others, to whom I expressed
my complete contentment with Mr. Wigfall’s explanations. And so we
returned to Charleston. The Colonel and Senator, however, did not
desist from his attentions to the good--or bad--things below. It
was a strange scene--these men, hot and red-handed in rebellion,
with their lives on the cast, trifling and jesting, and carousing
as if they had no care on earth--all excepting the gentlemen of the
local press, who were assiduous in note and food taking. It was
near nightfall before we set foot on the quay of Charleston. The
city was indicated by the blaze of lights, and by the continual
roll of drums, and the noisy music, and the yelling cheers which
rose above its streets. As I walked towards the hotel, the evening
drove of negroes, male and female, shuffling through the streets
in all haste, in order to escape the patrol and the last peal
of the curfew bell, swept by me; and as I passed the guardhouse
of the police, one of my friends pointed out the armed sentries
pacing up and down before the porch, and the gleam of arms in the
room inside. Further on, a squad of mounted horsemen, heavily
armed, turned up a bye-street, and with jingling spurs and sabres
disappeared in the dust and darkness. That is the horse patrol.
They scour the country around the city, and meet at certain places
during the night to see if the niggers are all quiet. Ah, Fuscus!
these are signs of trouble.
“Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis neque arcu,
Nec venenatis gravidâ sagittis,
Fusce, pharetrâ.”
But Fuscus is going to his club; a kindly, pleasant, chatty,
card-playing, cocktail-consuming place. He nods proudly to an old
white-woolled negro steward or head-waiter--a slave--as a proof
which I cannot accept, with the curfew tolling in my ears, of the
excellencies of the domestic institution. The club was filled with
officers; one of them, Mr. Ransome Calhoun,[2] asked me what was
the object which most struck me at Morris’ Island; I tell him--as
was indeed the case--that it was a letter copying-machine, a case
of official stationery, and a box of Red Tape, lying on the beach,
just landed and ready to grow with the strength of the young
independence.
But listen! There is a great tumult, as of many voices coming up
the street, heralded by blasts of music. It is a speech-making from
the front of the hotel. Such an agitated, lively multitude! How
they cheer the pale, frantic man, limber and dark-haired, with
uplifted arms and clenched fists, who is perorating on the balcony!
“What did he say?” “Who is he?” “Why it’s he again!” “That’s Roger
Pryor--he says that if them Yankee trash don’t listen to reason,
and stand from under, we’ll march to the North and dictate the
terms of peace in Faneuil Hall! Yes, sir--and so we will, certa-i-n
su-re!” “No matter, for all that; we have shown we can whip the
Yankees whenever we meet them--at Washington or down here.” How
much I heard of all this to-day--how much more this evening! The
hotel as noisy as ever--more men in uniform arriving every few
minutes, and the hall and passages crowded with tall, good-looking
Carolinians.
CHAPTER XV.
Slaves, their masters and mistresses--Hotels--Attempted
boat-journey to Fort Moultrie--Excitement at Charleston against
New York--Preparations for war--General Beauregard--Southern
opinion as to the policy of the North, and estimate of the effect
of the war on England, through the cotton market--Aristocratic
feeling in the South.
_April 18th._--It is as though we woke up in a barrack. No! There
is the distinction, that in the passages slaves are moving up
and down with cups of iced milk or water for their mistresses
in the early morning, cleanly dressed, neatly clad, with the
conceptions of Parisian millinery adumbrated to their condition,
and transmitted by the white race, hovering round their heads and
bodies. They sit outside the doors, and chatter in the passages;
and as the Irish waiter brings in my hot water for shaving, there
is that odd, round, oily, half-strangled, chuckling, gobble of a
laugh peculiar to the female Ethiop, coming in through the doorway.
Later in the day, their mistresses sail out from the inner
harbours, and launch all their sails along the passages, down
the stairs, and into the long, hot, fluffy salle-à-manger,
where, blackened with flies which dispute the viands, they take
their tremendous meals. They are pale, pretty, svelte--just as I
was about to say they were rather small, there rises before me
the recollection of one Titanic dame--a Carolinian Juno, with
two lovely peacock daughters--and I refrain from generalising.
Exceedingly proud these ladies are said to be--for a generation or
two of family suffice in this new country, if properly supported
by the possession of negroes and acres, to give pride of birth,
and all the grandeur which is derived from raising raw produce,
cereals, and cotton--suâ terrâ. Their enemies say that the
grandfathers of some of these noble people were mere pirates and
smugglers, who dealt in a cavalier fashion with the laws and with
the flotsam and jetsam of fortune on the seas and reefs hereabouts.
Cotton suddenly--almost unnaturally, as far as the ordinary laws of
commerce are concerned, grew up whilst land was cheap, and slaves
were of moderate price--the pirates, and piratesses had control of
both, and in a night the gourd swelled and grew to a prodigious
size. These are Northern stories. What the Southerners say of their
countrymen and women in the upper part of this “blessed Union” I
have written for the edification of people at home.
The tables in the eating-room are disposed in long rows, or
detached so as to suit private parties. When I was coming down
to Charleston, one of my fellow-passengers told me he was quite
shocked the first time he saw white people acting as servants; but
no such scruples existed in the Mills House, for the waiters were
all Irish, except one or two Germans. The carte is much the same
at all American hotels, the variations depending on local luxuries
or tastes. Marvellous exceedingly is it to see the quantities of
butter, treacle, and farinaceous matters prepared in the heaviest
form--of fish, of many meats, of eggs scrambled or scarred or
otherwise prepared, of iced milk and water, which an American will
consume in a few minutes in the mornings. There is, positively, no
rest at these meals--no repose. The guests are ever passing in and
out of the room, chairs are for ever pushed to and fro with a harsh
grating noise that sets the teeth on edge, and there is a continual
clatter of plates and metal. Every man is reading his paper, or
discussing the news with his neighbour. I was introduced to a vast
number of people and was asked many questions respecting my views
of Sumter, or what I thought “old Abe and Seward would do?” The
proclamation calling out 75,000 men issued by said old Abe, they
treat with the most profound contempt or unsparing ridicule, as the
case may be. Five out of six of the men at table wore uniforms this
morning.
Having made the acquaintance of several warriors, as well as that
of a Russian gentleman, Baron Sternberg, who was engaged in looking
about him in Charleston, and was, like most foreigners, impressed
with the conviction that _actum est de Republicâ_, I went out with
Major Whiting[3] and Mr. Ward, the former of whom was anxious
to show me Fort Moultrie and the left side of the Channel, in
continuation of my trip yesterday. It was arranged that we should
go off as quietly as possible, “so as to prevent the newspapers
knowing anything about it.” The major has a great dislike to the
gentlemen of the press, and General Beauregard had sent orders for
the staff-boat to be prepared, so as to be quiet and private, but
the fates were against us. On going down to the quay, we learned
that a gentleman had come down with an officer and had gone off
in our skiff, the boat-keepers believing they were the persons for
whom it was intended. In fact, our Russian friend, Baron Sternberg,
had stolen a march upon us.
After a time, the major succeeded in securing the services of the
very smallest, most untrustworthy, and ridiculous-looking craft
ever seen by mortal eyes. If Charon had put a two-horse power
engine into his skiff, it might have borne some resemblance to
this egregious cymbalus, which had once been a flat-bottomed,
open decked cutter or galley, into the midst of which the owner
had forced a small engine and paddle-wheels, and at the stern had
erected a roofed caboose, or oblong pantry, sacred to oil-cans
and cockroaches. The crew consisted of the first captain and the
second captain, a lad of tender years, and that was all. Into the
pantry we scrambled, and sat down knee to knee, whilst the engine
was getting up its steam: a very obstinate and anti-caloric little
engine it was--puffing and squeaking, leaking, and distilling drops
of water, and driving out blasts of steam in unexpected places.
As long as we lay at the quay all was right. The major was
supremely happy, for he could talk about Thackeray and his
writings--a theme of which he never tired--nay, on which his
enthusiasm reached the height of devotional fervour. Did I ever
know any one like Major Pendennis? Was it known who Becky Sharp
was? Who was the O’Mulligan? These questions were mere hooks on
which to hang rhapsodies and delighted dissertation. He might
have got down as far as Pendennis himself, when a lively swash of
water flying over the preposterous little gunwales, and dashing
over our boots into the cabin, announced that our bark was under
weigh. There is, we were told, for several months in the year, a
brisk breeze from the southward and eastward in and off Charleston
Harbour, and there was to-day a small joggle in the water which
would not have affected anything floating except our steamer;
but as we proceeded down the narrow channel by Castle Pinckney,
the little boat rolled as if she would capsize every moment, and
made no pretence at doing more than a mile an hour at her best;
and it became evident that our voyage would be neither pleasant,
prosperous, nor speedy. Still the major went on between the
lurches, and drew his feet up out of the water, in order to have “a
quiet chat,” as he said, “about my favourite author.” My companion
and myself could not condense ourselves or foreshorten our nether
limbs quite so deftly.
Standing out from the shelter towards Sumter, the sea came rolling
on our beam, making the miserable craft oscillate as if some great
hand had caught her by the funnel--Yankeeicé, smokestack--and was
rolling her backwards and forwards, as a preliminary to a final
keel over. The water came in plentifully, and the cabin was flooded
with a small sea: the latter partook of the lively character of
the external fluid, and made violent efforts to get overboard to
join it, which generally were counteracted by the better sustained
and directed attempts of the external to get inside. The captain
seemed very unhappy; the rest of the crew--our steerer--had
discovered that the steamer would not steer at all, and that we
were rolling like a log on the water. Certainly neither Pinckney,
nor Sumter, nor Moultrie altered their relative bearings and
distances towards us for half an hour or so, though they bobbed
up and down continuously. “But it is,” said the major, “in the
character of Colonel Newcome that Thackeray has, in my opinion,
exhibited the greatest amount of power; the tenderness, simplicity,
love, manliness, and ----” Here a walloping muddy green wave came
“all aboard,” and the cymbalus gave decided indications of turning
turtle. We were wet and miserable, and two hours or more had now
passed in making a couple of miles. The tide was setting more
strongly against us, and just off Moultrie, in the tideway between
its walls and Sumter, could be seen the heads of the sea-horses
unpleasantly crested. I know not what of eloquent disquisition I
lost, for the major was evidently in his finest moment and on his
best subject, but I ventured to suggest that we should bout ship
and return--and thus aroused him to a sense of his situation. And
so we wore round--a very delicate operation, which, by judicious
management in getting side bumps of the sea at favourable moments,
we were enabled to effect in some fifteen or twenty minutes; and
then we became so parboiled by the heat from the engine, that
conversation was impossible.
How glad we were to land once more I need not say. As I gave the
captain a small votive tablet of metal, he said, “I’m thinkin’
it’s very well yes turned back. Av we’d gone any further, devil
aback ever we’d have come.” “Why didn’t you say so before?” “Sure I
didn’t like to spoil the trip.” My gifted countryman and I parted
to meet no more.
* * * * *
Second and third editions and extras! News of Secession meetings
and of Union meetings! Every one is filled with indignation
against the city of New York, on account of the way in which the
news of the reduction of Fort Sumter has been received there. New
England has acted just as was expected, but better things were
anticipated on the part of the Empire city. There is no sign of
shrinking from a contest: on the contrary, the Carolinians are full
of eagerness to test their force in the field. “Let them come!” is
their boastful _mot d’ordre_.
The anger which is reported to exist in the North only adds to the
fury and animosity of the Carolinians. They are determined now to
act on their sovereign rights as a state, cost what it may, and
uphold the ordinance of secession. The answers of several State
Governors to President Lincoln’s demand for troops, have delighted
our friends. Beriah Magoffin, of Kentucky, declares he won’t give
any men for such a wicked purpose; and another gubernatorial
dignitary laconically replied to the demand for so many thousand
soldiers, “Nary one.” Letcher, Governor of Virginia, has also sent
a refusal. From the North comes news of mass-meetings, of hauling
down Secession colours, mobbing Secession papers, of military
bodies turning out, banks subscribing and lending.
Jefferson Davis has met President Lincoln’s proclamation by a
counter manifesto, issuing letters of marque and reprisal--on
all sides preparations for war. The Southern agents are buying
steamers, but they fear the Northern states will use their navy
to enforce a blockade, which is much dreaded, as it will cut off
supplies and injure the commerce, on which they so much depend.
Assuredly Mr. Seward cannot know anything of the feeling of the
South, or he would not be so confident as he was that all would
blow over, and that the states, deprived of the care and fostering
influences of the general Government, would get tired of their
Secession ordinances, and of their experiment to maintain a
national life, so that the United States will be re-established
before long.
I went over and saw General Beauregard at his quarters. He was
busy with papers, orderlies, and despatches, and the outer room
was crowded with officers. His present task, he told me, was to
put Sumter in a state of defence, and to disarm the works bearing
on it, so as to get their fire directed on the harbour approaches,
as “the North in its madness” might attempt a naval attack on
Charleston. His manner of transacting business is clear and rapid.
Two vases filled with flowers on his table, flanking his maps and
plans; and a little hand bouquet of roses, geraniums, and scented
flowers lay on a letter which he was writing as I came in, by way
of paper weight. He offered me every assistance and facility,
relying, of course, on my strict observance of a neutral’s duty. I
reminded him once more, that as the representative of an English
journal, it would be my duty to write freely to England respecting
what I saw; and that I must not be held accountable if on the
return of my letters to America, a month after they were written,
it was found they contained information to which circumstances
might attach an objectionable character. The General said, “I quite
understand you. We must take our chance of that, and leave you to
exercise your discretion.”
In the evening I dined with our excellent Consul, Mr. Bunch, who
had a small and very agreeable party to meet me. One very venerable
old gentleman, named Huger (pronounced as Hugeē), was particularly
interesting in appearance and conversation. He formerly held some
official appointment under the Federal Government, but had gone
out with his state, and had been confirmed in his appointment by
the Confederate Government. Still he was not happy at the prospect
before him or his country. “I have lived too long,” he exclaimed;
“I should have died ’ere these evil days arrived.” What thoughts,
indeed, must have troubled his mind when he reflected that his
country was but little older than himself; for, he was one who had
shaken hands with the framers of the Declaration of Independence.
But though the tears rolled down his cheeks when he spoke of the
prospect of civil war, there was no symptom of apprehension for
the result, or indeed of any regret for the contest, which he
regarded as the natural consequence of the insults, injustice, and
aggression of the North against Southern rights.
Only one of the company, a most lively, quaint, witty old lawyer
named Petigru, dissented from the doctrines of Secession; but he
seems to be treated as an amiable, harmless person, who has a
weakness of intellect or a “bee in his bonnet” on this particular
matter.
It was scarcely very agreeable to my host or myself to find that
no considerations were believed to be of consequence in reference
to England except her material interests, and that these worthy
gentlemen regarded her as a sort of appanage of their cotton
kingdom. “Why, sir, we have only to shut off your supply of cotton
for a few weeks, and we can create a revolution in Great Britain.
There are four millions of your people depending on us for their
bread, not to speak of the many millions of dollars. No, sir, we
know that England must recognise us,” &c.
Liverpool and Manchester have obscured all Great Britain to the
Southern eye. I confess the tone of my friends irritated me. I said
so to Mr. Bunch, who laughed, and remarked, “You’ll not mind it
when you get as much accustomed to this sort of thing as I am.” I
could not help saying, that if Great Britain were such a sham as
they supposed, the sooner a hole was drilled in her, and the whole
empire sunk under water, the better for the world, the cause of
truth, and of liberty.
These tall, thin, fine-faced Carolinians are great materialists.
Slavery perhaps has aggravated the tendency to look at all the
world through parapets of cotton bales and rice bags, and though
more stately and less vulgar, the worshippers here are not less
prostrate before the “almighty dollar” than the Northerners. Again
cropping out of the dead level of hate to the Yankee, grows its
climax in the profession from nearly every one of the guests, that
he would prefer a return to British rule to any reunion with New
England. “The names in South Carolina show our origin--Charleston,
and Ashley, and Cooper, &c. Our Gadsden, Sumter and Pinckney were
true cavaliers,” &c. They did not say anything about Peedee, or
Tombigee, or Sullivan’s Island, or the like. We all have our little
or big weaknesses.
I see no trace of cavalier descent in the names of Huger, Rose,
Manning, Chesnut, Pickens; but there is a profession of faith in
the cavaliers and their cause among them because it is fashionable
in Carolina. They affect the agricultural faith and the belief of
a landed gentry. It is not only over the wine glass--why call it
cup?--that they ask for a Prince to reign over them; I have heard
the wish repeatedly expressed within the last two days that we
could spare them one of our young Princes, but never in jest or in
any frivolous manner.
On my way home again I saw the sentries on their march, the
mounted patrols starting on their ride, and other evidences that
though the slaves are “the happiest and most contented race in
the world,” they require to be taken care of like less favoured
mortals. The city watch-house is filled every night with slaves,
who are confined there till reclaimed by their owners, whenever
they are found out after nine o’clock, P.M., without special passes
or permits. Guns are firing for the Ordinance of Secession of
Virginia.
CHAPTER XVI.
Charleston; the Market-place--Irishmen at Charleston--Governor
Pickens: his political economy and theories--Newspaper offices
and counting-houses--Rumours as to the war policy of the South.
_April 19th._--An exceeding hot day. The sun pours on the broad
sandy street of Charleston with immense power, and when the wind
blows down the thoroughfare it sends before it vast masses of
hot dust. The houses are generally detached, surrounded by small
gardens, well provided with verandahs to protect the windows from
the glare, and are sheltered with creepers and shrubs and flowering
plants, through which flit humming-birds and fly-catchers. In some
places the streets and roadways are covered with planking, and as
long as the wood is sound they are pleasant to walk or drive upon.
I paid a visit to the markets; the stalls are presided over by
negroes, male and female; the coloured people engaged in selling
and buying are well clad; the butchers’ meat by no means tempting
to the eye, but the fruit and vegetable stalls well-filled. Fish
is scarce at present, as the boats are not permitted to proceed
to sea lest they should be whipped up by the expected Yankee
cruisers, or carry malcontents to communicate with the enemy.
Around the flesh-market there is a skirling crowd of a kind of
turkey-buzzard; these are useful as scavengers and are protected
by law. They do their nasty work very zealously, descending on
the offal thrown out to them with the peculiar crawling, puffy,
soft sort of flight which is the badge of all their tribe, and
contending with wing and beak against the dogs which dispute the
viands with the harpies. It is curious to watch the expression of
their eyes as with outstretched necks they peer down from the ledge
of the market roof on the stalls and scrutinise the operations of
the butchers below. They do not prevent a disagreeable odour in the
vicinity of the markets, nor are they deadly to a fine and active
breed of rats.
Much drumming and marching through the streets to-day. One very
ragged regiment which had been some time at Morris’ Island halted
in the shade near me, and I was soon made aware they consisted,
for the great majority, of Irishmen. The Emerald Isle, indeed,
has contributed largely to the population of Charleston. In the
principal street there is a large and fine red sandstone building
with the usual Greek-Yankee-composite portico, over which is
emblazoned the crownless harp and the shamrock wreath proper to a
St. Patrick’s Hall, and several Roman Catholic churches also attest
the Hibernian presence.
I again called on General Beauregard, and had a few moments’
conversation with him. He told me that an immense deal depended
on Virginia, and that as yet the action of the people in that
State had not been as prompt as might have been hoped, for the
President’s proclamation was a declaration of war against the
South, in which all would be ultimately involved. He is going to
Montgomery to confer with Mr. Jefferson Davis. I have no doubt
there is to be some movement made in Virginia. Whiting is under
orders to repair there, and he hinted that he had a task of no
common nicety and difficulty to perform. He is to visit the forts
which had been seized on the coast of North Carolina, and probably
will have a look at Portsmouth. It is incredible that the Federal
authorities should have neglected to secure this place.
Later I visited the Governor of the State, Mr. Pickens, to
whom I was conducted by Colonel Lucas, his aide-de-camp. His
palace was a very humble shed-like edifice with large rooms,
on the doors of which were pasted pieces of paper with sundry
high-reading inscriptions, such as “Adjutant General’s Dept.,
Quartermaster-General’s Dept., Attorney-General of State,” &c.,
and through the doorways could be seen men in uniform, and grave,
earnest people busy at their desks with pen, ink, paper, tobacco,
and spittoons. The governor, a stout man, of a big head, and a
large important looking face, with watery eyes and flabby features,
was seated in a barrack-like room, furnished in the plainest way
and decorated by the inevitable portrait of George Washington,
close to which was the “Ordinance of Secession of the State of
South Carolina” of last year.
Governor Pickens is considerably laughed at by his subjects, and
I was amused by a little middy, who described with much unction
the governor’s alarm on his visit to Fort Pickens, when he was
told that there were a number of live shells and a quantity of
powder still in the place. He is said to have commenced one of his
speeches with “Born insensible to fear,” &c. To me the governor
was very courteous, but I confess the heat of the day did not
dispose me to listen with due attention to a lecture on political
economy with which he favoured me. I was told, however, that he
had practised with success on the late Czar when he was United
States Minister to St. Petersburg, and that he does not suffer his
immediate staff to escape from having their minds improved on the
relations of capital to labour, and on the vicious condition of
capital and labour in the North.
“In the North, then, you will perceive, Mr. Russell, they have
maximised the hostile condition of opposed interests in the
accumulation of capital and in the employment of labour, whilst
we in the South, by the peculiar excellence of our domestic
institution, have minimised their opposition and maximised the
identity of interest by the investment of capital in the labourer
himself,” and so on, or something like it. I could not help
remarking it struck me there was “another difference betwixt the
North and the South which he had overlooked--the capital of the
North is represented by gold, silver, notes, and other exponents,
which are good all the world over and are recognised as such;
your capital has power of locomotion, and ceases to exist the
moment it crosses a geographical line.” “That remark, sir,” said
the Governor, “requires that I should call your attention to the
fundamental principles on which the abstract idea of capital should
be formed. In order to clear the ground, let us first inquire into
the soundness of the ideas put forward by your Adam Smith”----I
had to look at my watch and to promise I would come back to be
illuminated on some other occasion, and hurried off to keep an
engagement with myself to write letters by the next mail.
The Governor writes very good proclamations, nevertheless, and his
confidence in South Carolina is unbounded. “If we stand alone, sir,
we must win. They can’t whip us.” A gentleman named Pringle, for
whom I had letters of introduction, has come to Charleston to ask
me to his plantation, but there will be no boat from the port till
Monday, and it is uncertain then whether the blockading vessels, of
which we hear so much, may not be down by that time.
_April 20th._--I visited the editors of the _Charleston Mercury_
and the _Charleston Courier_ to-day at their offices. The Rhett
family have been active agitators for secession, and it is said
they are not over well pleased with Jefferson Davis for neglecting
their claims to office. The elder, a pompous, hard, ambitious
man, possesses ability. He is fond of alluding to his English
connections and predilections, and is intolerant of New England to
the last degree. I received from him, ere I left, a pamphlet on
his life, career, and services. In the newspaper offices there was
nothing worthy of remark; they were possessed of that obscurity
which is such a characteristic of the haunts of journalism--the
clouds in which the lightning is hiding. Thence to haunts more
dingy still where Plutus lives--to the counting-houses of the
cotton brokers, up many pairs of stairs into large rooms furnished
with hard seats, engravings of celebrated clippers, advertisements
of emigrant agencies and of lines of steamers, little flocks of
cotton, specimens of rice, grain, and seed in wooden bowls, and
clerks living inside railings, with secluded spittoons, and
ledgers, and tumblers of water.
I called on several of the leading merchants and bankers, such
as Mr. Rose, Mr. Muir, Mr. Trenholm, and others. With all it was
the same story. Their young men were off to the wars--no business
doing. In one office I saw an announcement of a company for a
direct communication by steamers between a southern port and
Europe. “When do you expect that line to be opened?” I asked. “The
United States’ cruisers will surely interfere with it.” “Why,
I expect, sir,” replied the merchant, “that if those miserable
Yankees try to blockade us, and keep you from our cotton, you’ll
just send their ships to the bottom and acknowledge us. That will
be before autumn, I think.” It was in vain I assured him he would
be disappointed. “Look out there,” he said, pointing to the wharf,
on which were piled some cotton bales; “there’s the key will open
all our ports, and put us into John Bull’s strong box as well.”
I dined to-day at the hotel, notwithstanding many hospitable
invitations, with Messrs. Manning, Porcher Miles, Reed, and
Pringle. Mr. Trescot, who was Under-Secretary-of-State in Mr.
Buchanan’s Cabinet, joined us, and I promised to visit his
plantation as soon as I have returned from Mr. Pringle’s. “We heard
much the same conversation as usual, relieved by Mr. Trescot’s
sound sense and philosophy. He sees clearly the evils of slavery,
but is, like all of us, unable to discover the solution and means
of averting them.”
The Secessionists are in great delight with Governor Letcher’s
proclamation, calling out troops and volunteers, and it is hinted
that Washington will be attacked, and the nest of Black Republican
vermin which haunt the capital driven out. Agents are to be at once
despatched to get up a navy, and every effort made to carry out
the policy indicated in Jeff Davis’s issue of letters of marque
and reprisal. Norfolk harbour is blocked up to prevent the United
States ships getting away; and at the same time we hear that the
United States officer commanding at the arsenal of Harper’s Ferry
has retired into Pennsylvania, after destroying the place by fire.
How “old John Brown” would have wondered and rejoiced had he lived
a few months longer!
CHAPTER XVII.
Visit to a plantation; hospitable reception--By steamer to
Georgetown--Description of the town--A country mansion--Masters
and slaves--Slave diet--Humming-birds--Land irrigation--Negro
quarters--Back to Georgetown.
_April 21st._--In the afternoon I went with Mr. Porcher Miles
to visit a small farm and plantation, some miles from the city,
belonging to Mr. Crafts. Our arrival was unexpected, but the
planter’s welcome was warm. Mrs. Crafts showed us round the place,
of which the beauties were due to nature rather than to art, and so
far the lady was the fitting mistress of the farm.
We wandered through tangled brakes and thick Indian-like jungle,
filled with disagreeable insects, down to the edge of a small
lagoon. The beach was perforated with small holes, in which Mrs.
Crafts said little crabs, called “fiddlers” from their resemblance
_in petto_ to a performer on the fiddle make their abode; but
neither them nor “spotted snakes” did we see. And so to dinner,
for which our hostess made needless excuses. “I am afraid I shall
have to ask you to eke out your dinner with potted meats, but I can
answer for Mr. Crafts giving you a bottle of good old wine.” “And
what better, madam,” quoth Mr. Miles, “what better can you offer a
soldier? What do we expect but grape and canister?”
Mr. Miles, who was formerly member of the United States Congress,
and who has now migrated to the Confederate States of America,
rendered himself conspicuous a few years ago when a dreadful
visitation of yellow fever came upon Norfolk and destroyed one-half
of the inhabitants. At that terrible time, when all who could move
were flying from the plague-stricken spot, Mr. Porcher Miles flew
to it, visited the hospitals, tended the sick; and although a
weakly, delicate man, gave an example of such energy and courage as
materially tended to save those who were left. I never heard him
say a word to indicate that he had been at Norfolk at all.
At the rear of the cottage-like residence (to the best of my belief
built of wood), in which the planter’s family lived, was a small
enclosure, surrounded by a palisade, containing a number of wooden
sheds, which were the negro quarters; and after dinner, as we sat
on the steps, the children were sent for to sing for us. They came
very shyly, and by degrees; first peeping round the corners and
from behind trees, oftentimes running away in spite of the orders
of their haggard mammies, till they were chased, captured, and
brought back by their elder brethren. They were ragged, dirty,
shoeless urchins of both sexes; the younger ones abdominous as
infant Hindoos, and wild as if just caught. With much difficulty
the elder children were dressed into line; then they began to
shuffle their flat feet, to clap their hands, and to drawl out in a
monotonous sort of chant something about the “River Jawdam,” after
which Mrs. Crafts rewarded them with lumps of sugar, which were as
fruitful of disputes as the apple of discord. A few fathers and
mothers gazed at the scene from a distance.
As we sat listening to the wonderful song of the mocking-birds,
when these young Sybarites had retired, a great, big, burly
red-faced gentleman, as like a Yorkshire farmer in high perfection
as any man I ever saw in the old country, rode up to the door, and,
after the usual ceremony of introduction and the collating of news,
and the customary assurance “They can’t whip us, sir!” invited me
then and there to attend a fête champêtre at his residence, where
there is a lawn famous for trees dating from the first settlement
of the colony, and planted by this gentleman’s ancestor.
Trees are objects of great veneration in America if they are of any
size. There are perhaps two reasons for this. In the first place,
the indigenous forest trees are rarely of any great magnitude. In
the second place, it is natural to Americans to admire dimension
and antiquity; and a big tree gratifies both organs--size and
veneration.
I must record an astonishing feat of this noble Carolinian. The
heat of the evening was indubitably thirst-compelling, and we
went in to “have a drink.” Among other things on the table were
a decanter of cognac and a flask of white curaçao. The planter
filled a tumbler half full of brandy. “What’s in that flat bottle,
Crafts?” “That’s white curaçao.” The planter tasted a little, and
having smacked his lips and exclaimed “first-rate stuff,” proceeded
to _water_ his brandy with it, and tossed off a full brimmer of
the mixture without any remarkable ulterior results. They are a
hard-headed race. I doubt if cavalier or puritan ever drank a more
potent bumper than our friend the big planter.
_April 22nd._--To-day was fixed for the visit to Mr. Pringle’s
plantation, which lies above Georgetown near the Peedee River.
Our party, which consisted of Mr. Mitchell, an eminent lawyer of
Charleston, Colonel Reed, a neighbouring planter, Mr. Ward of New
York, our host, and myself, were on board the Georgetown steamer at
seven o’clock, A.M., and started with a quantity of commissariat
stores, ammunition, and the like, for the use of the troops
quartered along the coast. There was, of course, a large supply
of newspapers also. At that early hour invitations to the “bar”
were not uncommon, where the news was discussed by long-legged,
grave, sallow men. There was a good deal of joking about “old Abe
Lincoln’s paper blockade,” and the report that the Government had
ordered their cruisers to treat the crew of Confederate privateers
as “pirates” provoked derisive and menacing comments. The full
impulses of national life are breathing through the whole of this
people. There is their flag flying over Sumter, and the Confederate
banner is waving on all the sand-forts and headlands which guard
the approaches to Charleston.
A civil war and persecution have already commenced. “Suspected
Abolitionists” are ill-treated in the South, and “Suspected
Secessionists” are mobbed and beaten in the North. The news of the
attack on 6th Massachusetts, and the Pennsylvania regiment, by
the mob in Baltimore, has been received with great delight; but
some long-headed people see that it will only expose Baltimore and
Maryland to the full force of the Northern States. The riot took
place on the anniversary of Lexington.
The “Nina” was soon in open sea, steering northwards and keeping
four miles from shore in order to clear the shoals and banks which
fringe the low sandy coasts, and effectually prevent even light
gunboats covering a descent by their ordnance. This was one of the
reasons why the Federal fleet did not make any attempt to relieve
Fort Sumter during the engagement. On our way out we could see the
holes made in the large hotel and other buildings on Sullivan’s
Island behind Fort Moultrie, by the shot from the fort, which
caused terror among the negroes “miles away.” There was no sign
of any blockading vessel, but look-out parties were posted along
the beach, and as the skipper said we might have to make our
return-journey by land, every sail on the horizon was anxiously
scanned through our glasses.
Having passed the broad mouth of the Santee, the steamer in three
hours and a-half ran up an estuary, into which the Waccamaw River
and the Peedee River pour their united waters.
Our vessel proceeded along shore to a small jetty, at the end
of which was a group of armed men, some of them being part of a
military post, to defend the coast and river, established under
cover of an earthwork and palisades constructed with trunks of
trees, and mounting three 32-pounders. Several posts of a similar
character lay on the river banks, and from some of these we were
boarded by men in boats hungry for news and newspapers. Most of the
men at the pier were cavalry troopers, belonging to a volunteer
association of the gentry for coast defence, and they had been out
night and day patrolling the shores, and doing the work of common
soldiers--very precious material for such work. They wore grey
tunics, slashed and faced with yellow, buff belts, slouched felt
hats, ornamented with drooping cocks’ plumes, and long jack-boots,
which well became their fine persons and bold bearing, and were
evidently due to “Cavalier” associations. They were all equals. Our
friends on board the boat hailed them by their Christian names,
gave and heard the news. Among the cases landed at the pier were
certain of champagne and pâtés, on which Captain Blank was wont
to regale his company daily at his own expense, or that of his
cotton broker. Their horses picketed in the shade of trees close to
the beach, the parties of women riding up and down the sands, or
driving in light tax-carts, suggested images of a large pic-nic,
and a state of society quite indifferent to Uncle Abe’s cruisers
and “Hessians.” After a short delay here, the steamer proceeded on
her way to Georgetown, an ancient and once important settlement
and port, which was marked in the distance by the little forest
of masts rising above the level land, and the tops of the trees
beyond, and by a solitary church-spire.
As the “Nina” approaches the tumble-down wharf of the old town, two
or three citizens advance from the shade of shaky sheds to welcome
us, and a few country vehicles and light phaetons are drawn forth
from the same shelter to receive the passengers, while the negro
boys and girls who have been playing upon the bales of cotton and
barrels of rice, which represent the trade of the place on the
wharf, take up commanding positions for the better observation of
our proceedings.
There is about Georgetown, an air of quaint simplicity and
old-fashioned quiet, which contrasts refreshingly with the bustle
and tumult of American cities. While waiting for our vehicle
we enjoyed the hospitality of Colonel Reed, who took us into
an old-fashioned, angular, wooden mansion, more than a century
old, still sound in every timber, and testifying, in its quaint
wainscotings, and the rigid framework of door and window, to the
durability of its cypress timbers and the preservative character
of the atmosphere. In early days it was the grand house of the old
settlement, and the residence of the founder of the female branch
of the family of our host, who now only makes it his halting-place
when passing to and fro between Charleston and his plantation,
leaving it the year round in charge of an old servant and her
grandchild. Rose-trees and flowering shrubs clustered before the
porch and filled the garden in front, and the establishment gave
one a good idea of a London merchant’s retreat about Chelsea a
hundred and fifty years ago.
At length we were ready for our journey, and, in two light covered
gigs, proceeded along the sandy track which, after a while, led us
to a road cut deep in the bosom of the woods, where silence was
only broken by the cry of a woodpecker, the scream of a crane,
or the sharp challenge of the jay. For miles we passed through
the shades of this forest, meeting only two or three vehicles
containing female planterdom on little excursions of pleasure or
business, who smiled their welcome as we passed. Arrived at a deep
chocolate-coloured stream, called Black River, full of fish and
alligators, we find a flat large enough to accommodate vehicles and
passengers, and propelled by two negroes pulling upon a stretched
rope, in the manner usual in the ferry-boats of Switzerland.
Another drive through a more open country, and we reach a fine
grove of pine and live oak, which melts away into a shrubbery
guarded by a rustic gateway: passing through this, we are brought
by a sudden turn to the planter’s house, buried in trees, which
dispute with the green sward and with wild flower-beds the space
between the hall-door and the waters of the Peedee; and in a few
minutes, as we gaze over the expanse of fields marked by the
deep-water cuts, and bounded by a fringe of unceasing forest,
just tinged with green by the first life of the early rice crops,
the chimneys of the steamer we had left at Georgetown, gliding
as it were through the fields, indicate the existence of another
navigable river still beyond.
Leaving the verandah which commanded this agreeable foreground,
we enter the mansion, and are reminded by its low-browed,
old-fashioned rooms, of the country houses yet to be found in parts
of Ireland or on the Scottish border, with additions, made by the
luxury and love of foreign travel, of more than one generation
of educated Southern planters. Paintings from Italy illustrate
the walls, in juxtaposition with interesting portraits of early
colonial governors and their lovely womankind, limned with no
uncertain hand, and full of the vigour of touch and naturalness of
drapery, of which Copley has left us too few exemplars; and one
portrait of Benjamin West claims for itself such honour as his own
pencil can give. An excellent library--filled with collections of
French and English classics, and with those ponderous editions of
Voltaire, Rousseau, the “Mémoires pour Servir,” books of travel
and history which delighted our forefathers in the last century,
and many works of American and general history--affords ample
occupation for a rainy day.
It was five o’clock before we reached our planter’s house--White
House Plantation. My small luggage was carried into my room by
an old negro in livery, who took great pains to assure me of my
perfect welcome, and who turned out to be a most excellent valet.
A low room hung with coloured mezzotints, windows covered with
creepers, and an old-fashioned bedstead and quaint chairs, lodged
me sumptuously; and after such toilette as was considered necessary
by our host for a bachelor’s party, we sat down to an excellent
dinner, cooked by negroes and served by negroes, and aided by
claret mellowed in Carolinian suns, and by Madeira brought down
stairs cautiously, as in the days of Horace and Mæcenas, from the
cellar between the attic and the thatched roof.
Our party was increased by a neighbouring planter, and after dinner
the conversation returned to the old channel--all the frogs praying
for a king--anyhow a prince--to rule over them. Our good host is
anxious to get away to Europe, where his wife and children are, and
all he fears is being mobbed at New York, where Southerners are
exposed to insult, though they may get off better in that respect
than Black Republicans would down South. Some of our guests talked
of the duello, and of famous hands with the pistol in these parts.
The conversation had altogether very much the tone which would have
probably characterised the talk of a group of Tory Irish gentlemen
over their wine some sixty years ago, and very pleasant it was.
Not a man--no, not one--will ever join the Union again! “Thank
God!” they say, “we are freed from that tyranny at last.” And yet
Mr. Seward calls it the most beneficent government in the world,
which never hurt a human being yet!
But alas! all the good things which the house affords, can be
enjoyed but for a brief season. Just as nature has expanded every
charm, developed every grace, and clothed the scene with all
the beauty of opened flower, of ripening grain, and of mature
vegetation, on the wings of the wind the poisoned breath comes
borne to the home of the white man, and he must fly before it or
perish. The books lie unopened on the shelves, the flower blooms
and dies unheeded, and, pity ’tis, ’tis true, the old Madeira
garnered ’neath the roof, settles down for a fresh lease of life,
and sets about its solitary task of acquiring a finer flavour
for the infrequent lips of its banished master and his welcome
visitors. This is the story, at least, that we hear on all sides,
and such is the tale repeated to us beneath the porch, when the
moon while softening enhances the loveliness of the scene, and the
rich melody of mocking-birds fills the grove.
Within these hospitable doors Horace might banquet better than he
did with Nasidienus, and drink such wine as can be only found among
the descendants of the ancestry who, improvident enough in all
else, learnt the wisdom of bottling up choice old Bual and Sercial,
ere the demon of oidium had dried up their generous sources for
ever. To these must be added excellent bread, ingenious varieties
of the _galette_, compounded now of rice and now of Indian meal,
delicious butter and fruits, all good of their kind. And is
there anything better rising up from the bottom of the social
bowl? My black friends who attend on me are grave as Mussulman
Khitmutgars. They are attired in liveries and wear white cravats
and Berlin gloves. At night when we retire, off they go to their
outer darkness in the small settlement of negro-hood, which is
separated from our house by a wooden palisade. Their fidelity is
undoubted. The house breathes an air of security. The doors and
windows are unlocked. There is but one gun, a fowling-piece, on the
premises. No planter hereabouts has any dread of his slaves. But I
have seen, within the short time I have been in this part of the
world, several dreadful accounts of murder and violence, in which
masters suffered at the hands of their slaves. There is something
suspicious in the constant never-ending statement that “we are
not afraid of our slaves.” The curfew and the night patrol in the
streets, the prisons and watch-houses, and the police regulations,
prove that strict supervision, at all events, is needed and
necessary. My host is a kind man and a good master. If slaves are
happy anywhere, they should be so with him.
These people are fed by their master. They have half a pound per
diem of fat pork, and corn in abundance. They rear poultry and sell
their chickens and eggs to the house. They are clothed by their
master. He keeps them in sickness as in health. Now and then there
are gifts of tobacco and molasses for the deserving. There was
little labour going on in the fields, for the rice has been just
exerting itself to get its head above water. These fields yield
plentifully; the waters of the river are fat, and they are let in
whenever the planter requires it by means of floodgates and small
canals, through which the flats can carry their loads of grain to
the river for loading the steamers.
_April 23rd._--A lovely morning grew into a hot day. After
breakfast, I sat in the shade watching the vagaries of some little
tortoises, or terrapins, in a vessel of water close at hand, or
trying to follow the bee-like flight of the humming-birds. Ah
me! one wee brownie, with a purple head and red facings, managed
to dash into a small grape or flower conservatory close at hand,
and, innocent of the ways of the glassy wall, he or she--I am much
puzzled as to the genders of humming-birds, and Mr. Gould, with his
wonderful mastery of Greek prefixes and Latin terminations, has not
aided me much--dashed up and down from pane to pane, seeking to
perforate each with its bill, and carrying death and destruction
among the big spiders and their cobweb-castles which for the time
barred the way.
The humming-bird had, as the Yankees say, a bad time of it, for
its efforts to escape were incessant, and our host said tenderly,
through his moustaches, “Pooty little thing, don’t frighten it!” as
if he was quite sure of getting off to Saxony by the next steamer.
Encumbered by cobwebs and exhausted, now and then our little friend
toppled down among the green shrubs, and lay panting like a living
nugget of ore. Again he, she, or it took wing and resumed that
mad career; but at last on some happy turn the bright head saw an
opening through the door, and out wings, body, and legs dashed, and
sought shelter in a creeper, where the little flutterer lay, all
but dead, so inanimate, indeed, that I could have taken the lovely
thing and put it in the hollow of my hand. What would poets of
Greece and Rome have said of the humming-bird? What would Hafiz,
or Waller, or Spenser have sung, had they but seen that offspring
of the sun and flowers?
Later in the day, when the sun was a little less fierce, we walked
out from the belt of trees round the house on the plantation
itself. At this time of year there is nothing to recommend to the
eye the great breadth of flat fields, surrounded by small canals,
which look like the bottoms of dried-up ponds, for the green rice
has barely succeeded in forcing its way above the level of the rich
dark earth. The river bounds the estate, and when it rises after
the rains, its waters, loaded with loam and fertilising mud, are
let in upon the lands through the small canals, which are provided
with sluices and banks and floodgates to control and regulate the
supply.
The negroes had but little to occupy them now. The children of
both sexes, scantily clad, were fishing in the canals and stagnant
waters, pulling out horrible-looking little catfish. They were so
shy that they generally fled at our approach. The men and women
were apathetic, neither seeking nor shunning us, and I found that
their master knew nothing about them. It is only the servants
engaged in household duties who are at all on familiar terms with
their masters.
The bailiff or steward was not to be seen. One big slouching negro,
who seemed to be a gangsman or something of the kind, followed
us in our walk, and answered any questions we put to him very
readily. It was a picture to see his face when one of our party,
on returning to the house, gave him a larger sum of money than he
had probably ever possessed before in a lump. “What will he do
with it?” Buy sweet things,--sugar, tobacco, a penknife, and such
things. “They have few luxuries, and all their wants are provided
for.” Took a cursory glance at the negro quarters, which are not
very enticing or cleanly. They are surrounded by high palings, and
the _entourage_ is alive with their poultry.
Very much I doubt whether Mr. Mitchell is satisfied the Southerners
are right in their present course, but he and Mr. Petigru are
lawyers, and do not take a popular view of the question. After
dinner the conversation again turned on the resources and power
of the South, and on the determination of the people never to go
back into the Union. Then cropped out again the expression of
regret for the rebellion of 1776, and the desire that if it came
to the worst, England would receive back her erring children, or
give them a prince under whom they could secure a monarchical form
of government. There is no doubt about the earnestness with which
these things are said.
As the “Nina” starts down the river on her return voyage from
Georgetown to-night, and Charleston Harbour may be blockaded at
any time, thus compelling us to make a long _détour_ by land, I
resolve to leave by her, in spite of many invitations and pressure
from neighbouring planters. At midnight our carriage came round,
and we started in a lovely moonlight to Georgetown, crossing the
ferry after some delay, in consequence of the profound sleep of
the boatmen in their cabins. One of them said to me, “Musn’t go
too near de edge ob de boat, massa.” “Why not?” “Becas if massa
fall ober, he not come up agin likely,--a bad ribber for drowned,
massa.” He informed me it was full of alligators, which are always
on the look-out for the planters’ and negroes’ dogs, and are hated
and hunted accordingly.
The “Nina” was blowing the signal for departure, the only sound
we heard all through the night, as we drove through the deserted
streets of Georgetown, and soon after three o’clock, A.M., we were
on board and in our berths.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Climate of the Southern States--General Beauregard--Risks of the
post-office--Hatred of New England--By railway to Sea Island
plantation--Sporting in South Carolina--An hour on board a canoe
in the dark.
_April 24th._--In the morning we found ourselves in chopping little
sea-way for which the “Nina” was particularly unsuited, laden as
she was with provisions and produce. Eyes and glasses anxiously
straining seawards for any trace of the blockading vessels. Every
sail scrutinised, but no ‘stars and stripes’ visible.
Our captain--a good specimen of one of the inland-water navigators,
shrewd, intelligent, and active--told me a good deal about the
country. He laughed at the fears of the whites as regards the
climate. “Why, here am I,” said he, “going up the river, and down
the river all times of the year, and at times of day and night when
they reckon the air is most deadly, and I’ve done so for years
without any bad effects. The planters whose houses I pass all run
away in May, and go off to Europe, or to the piney wood, or to the
springs, or they think they’d all die. There’s Captain Buck, who
lives above here,--he comes from the State of Maine. He had only a
thousand dollars to begin with, but he sets to work and gets land
on the Waccamaw River at twenty cents an acre. It was death to go
nigh it, but it was first-rate rice land, and Captain Buck is now
worth a million of dollars. He lives on his estate all the year
round, and is as healthy a man as ever you seen.”
To such historiettes my planting friends turn a deaf ear. “I tell
you what,” said Pringle, “just to show you what kind our climate
is. I had an excellent overseer once, who would insist on staying
near the river, and wouldn’t go away. He fought against it for more
than five-and-twenty years, but he went down with fever at last.”
As the overseer was more than thirty years of age when he came to
the estate, he had not been cut off so very suddenly. I thought of
the quack’s advertisement of the “bad leg of sixty years standing.”
The captain says the negroes on the river plantations are very well
off. He can buy enough of pork from the slaves on one plantation to
last his ship’s crew for the whole winter. The money goes to them,
as the hogs are their own. One of the stewards on board had bought
himself and his family out of bondage with his earnings. The State
in general, however, does not approve of such practices.
At three o’clock P.M., ran into Charleston harbour, and landed soon
afterwards.
I saw General Beauregard in the evening; he was very lively and
in good spirits, though he admitted he was rather surprised by
the spirit displayed in the North. “A good deal of it is got up,
however,” he said, “and belongs to that washy sort of enthusiasm
which is promoted by their lecturing and spouting.” Beauregard is
very proud of his personal strength, which for his slight frame
is said to be very extraordinary, and he seemed to insist on it
that the Southern men had more physical strength, owing to their
mode of life and their education, than their Northern “brethren.”
In the evening held a sort of _tabaks consilium_ in the hotel,
where a number of officers--Manning, Lucas Chesnut, Calhoun,
&c.--discoursed of the affairs of the nation. All my friends,
except Trescot, I think were elated at the prospect of hostilities
with the North, and overjoyed that a South Carolinian regiment had
already set out for the frontiers of Virginia.
_April 25th._--Sent off my letters by an English gentleman,
who was taking despatches from Mr. Bunch to Lord Lyons, as the
post-office is becoming a dangerous institution. We hear of letters
being tampered with on both sides. Adams’s Express Company, which
acts as a sort of express post under certain conditions, is more
trustworthy; but it is doubtful how long communications will be
permitted to exist between the two hostile nations, as they may now
be considered.
Dined with Mr. Petigru, who had most kindly postponed his dinner
party till my return from the plantations, and met there General
Beauregard, Judge King, and others, among whom, distinguished
for their _esprit_ and accomplishments, were Mrs. King and Mrs.
Carson, daughters of my host. The dislike, which seems innate,
to New England is universal, and varies only in the form of its
expression. It is quite true Mr. Petigru is a decided Unionist,
but he is the sole specimen of the genus in Charleston, and he is
tolerated on account of his rarity. As the witty, pleasant old man
trots down the street, utterly unconscious of the world around
him, he is pointed out proudly by the Carolinians as an instance
of forbearance on their part, and as a proof at the same time of
popular unanimity of sentiment.
There are also people who regret the dissolution of the Union--such
as Mr. Huger, who shed tears in talking of it the other night; but
they regard the fact very much as they would the demolition of some
article which never can be restored and reunited, which was valued
for the uses it rendered and its antiquity.
General Beauregard is apprehensive of an attack by the Northern
“fanatics” before the South is prepared, and he considers they will
carry out coercive measures most rigorously. He dreads the cutting
of the levées, or high artificial works, raised along the whole
course of the Mississippi, for many hundreds of miles above New
Orleans, which the Federals may resort to in order to drown the
plantations and ruin the planters.
We had a good-humoured argument in the evening about the ethics
of burning the Norfolk navy yard. The Southerners consider the
appropriation of the arms, moneys, and stores of the United States
as rightful acts, inasmuch as they represent, according to them,
their contribution, or a portion of it, to the national stock in
trade. When a State goes out of the Union she should be permitted
to carry her forts, armaments, arsenals, &c., along with her, and
it was a burning shame for the Yankees to destroy the property of
Virginia at Norfolk. These ideas, and many like them, have the
merit of novelty to English people, who were accustomed to think
there were such things as the Union and the people of the United
States.
_April 26th._--Bade good-by to Charleston at 9·45 A.M. this day,
and proceeded by railway, in company with Mr. Ward, to visit Mr.
Trescot’s Sea Island Plantation. Crossed the river to the terminus
in a ferry steamer. No blockading vessels in sight yet. The water
alive with small silvery fish, like mullet, which sprang up and
leaped along the surface incessantly. An old gentleman, who was
fishing on the pier, combined the pursuit of sport with instruction
very ingeniously by means of a fork of bamboo in his rod, just
above the reel, into which he stuck his inevitable newspaper, and
read gravely in his cane-bottomed chair till he had a bite, when
the fork was unhitched and the fish was landed. The negroes are
very much addicted to the contemplative man’s recreation, and they
were fishing in all directions.
On the move again. Took our places in the Charleston and Savannah
Railway for Pocotaligo, which is the station for Barnwell Island.
Our fellow-passengers were all full of politics--the pretty women
being the fiercest of all--no! the least good-looking were the
most bitterly patriotic, as if they hoped to talk themselves into
husbands by the most unfeminine expressions towards the Yankees.
The country is a dead flat, perforated by rivers and water-courses,
over which the rail is carried on long and lofty trestle-work.
But for the fine trees, the magnolias and live oak, the landscape
would be unbearably hideous, for there are none of the quaint,
cleanly, delightful villages of Holland to relieve the monotonous
level of rice-swamps and wastes of land and water and mud. At the
humble little stations there were invariably groups of horsemen
waiting under the trees, and ladies with their black nurses and
servants who had driven over in the odd-looking old-fashioned
vehicles, which were drawn up in the shade. Those who were going
on a long journey, aware of the utter barrenness of the land,
took with them a viaticum and bottles of milk. The nurses and
slaves squatted down by their side in the train, on perfectly
well-understood terms. No one objected to their presence--on the
contrary, the passengers treated them with a certain sort of
special consideration, and they were on the happiest terms with
their charges, some of which were in the absorbent condition of
life, and dived their little white faces against the tawny bosom of
their nurses with anything but reluctance.
The train stopped, at 12·20, at Pocotaligo; and there we found Mr.
Trescot and a couple of neighbouring planters, famous as fishers
for “drum,” of which more by-and-bye. I had met old Mr. Elliot in
Charleston, and his account of this sport, and of the pursuit of
an enormous sea monster called the devil-fish, which he was one of
the first to kill in these waters, excited my curiosity very much.
Mr. Elliot has written a most agreeable account of the sports of
South Carolina, and I had hoped he would have been well enough to
have been my guide, philosopher, and friend in drum fishing in Port
Royal; but he sent over his son to say that he was too unwell to
come, and had therefore dispatched most excellent representatives
in two members of his family. It was arranged that they should row
down from their place and meet us to-morrow morning at Trescot’s
Island, which lies above Beaufort, in Port Royal Sound and river.
Got into Trescot’s gig, and plunged into a shady lane with wood on
each side, through which we drove for some distance. The country,
on each side and beyond, perfectly flat--all rice lands--few houses
visible--scarcely a human being on the road--drove six or seven
miles without meeting a soul. After a couple of hours or so, I
should think, the gig turned up by an open gateway on a path or
road made through a waste of rich black mud, “glorious for rice,”
and landed us at the door of a planter, Mr. Heyward, who came out
and gave us a most hearty welcome, in the true Southern style. His
house is charming, surrounded with trees, and covered with roses
and creepers, through which birds and butterflies are flying. Mr.
Heyward took it as a matter of course that we stopped to dinner,
which we were by no means disinclined to do, as the day was hot,
the road was dusty, and his reception frank and kindly. A fine
specimen of the planter man; and, minus his broad-brimmed straw hat
and loose clothing, not a bad representative of an English squire
at home.
Whilst we were sitting in the porch, a strange sort of booming
noise attracted my attention in one of the trees. “It is a
rain-crow,” said Mr. Heyward; “a bird which we believe to foretell
rain. I’ll shoot it for you.” And, going into the hall, he took
down a double-barreled fowling-piece, walked out, and fired into
the tree; whence the rain-crow, poor creature, fell fluttering to
the ground and died. It seemed to me a kind of cuckoo--the same
size, but of darker plumage. I could gather no facts to account for
the impression that its call is a token of rain.
My attention was also called to a curious kind of snake-killing
hawk, or falcon, which makes an extraordinary noise by putting its
wings point upwards, close together, above its back, so as to offer
no resistance to the air, and then, beginning to descend from a
great height, with fast-increasing rapidity, makes, by its rushing
through the air, a strange loud hum, till it is near the ground,
when the bird stops its downward swoop and flies in a curve over
the meadow. This I saw two of these birds doing repeatedly to-night.
After dinner, at which Mr. Heyward expressed some alarm lest
Secession would deprive the Southern States of “ice,” we continued
our journey towards the river. There is still a remarkable absence
of population or life along the road, and even the houses are
either hidden or lie too far off to be seen. The trees are much
admired by the people, though they would not be thought much of in
England.
At length, towards sundown, having taken to a track by a forest,
part of which was burning, we came to a broad muddy river, with
steep clay banks. A canoe was lying in a little harbour formed by
a slope in the bank, and four stout negroes, who were seated round
a burning log, engaged in smoking and eating oysters, rose as we
approached, and helped the party into the “dug-out,” or canoe, a
narrow, long, and heavy boat, with wall sides and a flat floor. A
row of one hour, the latter part of it in darkness, took us to the
verge of Mr. Trescot’s estate, Barnwell Island; and the oarsmen, as
they bent to their task, beguiled the way by singing in unison a
real negro melody, which was as unlike the works of the Ethiopian
Serenaders as anything in song could be unlike another. It was
a barbaric sort of madrigal, in which one singer beginning was
followed by the others in unison, repeating the refrain in chorus,
and full of quaint expression and melancholy:--
“Oh, your soul! oh, my soul! I’m going to the churchyard to lay
this body down;
Oh, my soul! oh, your soul! we’re going to the churchyard to lay
this nigger down.”
And then some appeal to the difficulty of passing “the Jawdam,”
constituted the whole of the song, which continued with unabated
energy through the whole of the little voyage. To me it was a
strange scene. The stream, dark as Lethe, flowing between the
silent, houseless, rugged banks, lighted up near the landing by the
fire in the woods, which reddened the sky--the wild strain, and the
unearthly adjurations to the singers’ souls, as though they were
palpable, put me in mind of the fancied voyage across the Styx.
“Here we are at last.” All I could see was a dark shadow of trees
and the tops of rushes by the river side. “Mind where you step, and
follow me close.” And so, groping along through a thick shrubbery
for a short space, I came out on a garden and enclosure, in the
midst of which the white outlines of a house were visible. Lights
in the drawing-room--a lady to receive and welcome us--a snug
library--tea, and to bed: but not without more talk about the
Southern Confederacy, in which Mrs. Trescot explained how easily
she could feed an army, from her experience in feeding her negroes.
CHAPTER XIX.
Domestic negroes--Negro oarsmen--Off to the fishing-grounds--The
devil-fish--Bad sport--The drum-fish--Negro quarters--Want of
drainage--Thievish propensities of the blacks--A southern
estimate of Southerners.
_April 27th._--Mrs. Trescot, it seems, spent part of her night in
attendance on a young gentleman of colour, who was introduced into
the world in a state of servitude by his poor chattel of a mother.
Such kindly acts as these are more common than we may suppose; and
it would be unfair to put a strict or unfair construction on the
motives of slave-owners in paying such attention to their property.
Indeed, as Mrs. Trescot says, “When people talk of my having so
many slaves, I always tell them it is the slaves who own me.
Morning, noon, and night, I’m obliged to look after them, to doctor
them, and attend to them in every way.” Property has its duties,
you see, madam, as well as its rights.
The planter’s house is quite new, and was built by himself; the
principal material being wood, and most of the work being done
by his own negroes. Such work as window-sashes and panellings,
however, was executed in Charleston. A pretty garden runs at
the back, and from the windows there are wide stretches of
cotton fields visible, and glimpses of the river to be seen.
After breakfast our little party repaired to the river-side, and
sat under the shade of some noble trees waiting for the boat which
was to bear us to the fishing-grounds. The wind blew up stream,
running with the tide, and we strained our eyes in vain for the
boat. The river is here nearly a mile across,--a noble estuary
rather,--with low banks lined with forests, into which the axe has
made deep forays and clearings for cotton fields.
It would have astonished a stray English traveller, if, penetrating
the shade, he heard in such an out-of-the-way place familiar
names and things spoken of by the three lazy persons who were
stretched out--cigar in mouth--on the ant-haunted trunks which lay
prostrate by the sea-shore. Mr. Trescot spent some time in London
as _attaché_ to the United States Legation, was a club man, and
had a large circle of acquaintance among the young men about town,
of whom he remembered many anecdotes and peculiarities, and little
adventures. Since that time he was Under-Secretary of State in Mr.
Buchanan’s administration, and went out with Secession. He is the
author of a very agreeable book on a dry subject, “The History of
American Diplomacy,” which is curious enough as an unconscious
exposition of the anti-British jealousies, and even antipathies,
which have animated American statesmen since they were created.
In fact, much of American diplomacy means hostility to England,
and the skilful employment of the anti-British sentiment at their
disposal in their own country and elsewhere. Now he was talking
pleasantly of people he had met--many of them mutual friends.
“Here is the boat at last!” I had been sweeping the broad river
with my glass occasionally, and at length detected a speck on its
broad surface moving down towards us, with a white dot marking the
foam at its bows. Spite of wind and tideway, it came rapidly, and
soon approached us, pulled by six powerful negroes, attired in red
flannel jackets and white straw hats with broad ribands. The craft
itself--a kind of monster canoe, some forty-five feet long, narrow,
wall-sided, with high bow and raised stern--lay deep in the water,
for there were extra negroes for the fishing, servants, baskets of
provisions, water buckets, stone jars of less innocent drinking,
and abaft there was a knot of great strong planters,--Elliotts
all--cousins, uncles, and brothers. A friendly hail as they swept
up alongside,--an exchange of salutations.
“Well, Trescot, have you got plenty of Crabs?”
A groan burst forth at his _insouciant_ reply. He had been charged
to find bait, and he had told the negroes to do so, and the negroes
had not done so. The fishermen looked grievously at each other,
and fiercely at Trescot, who assumed an air of recklessness, and
threw doubts on the existence of fish in the river, and resorted
to similar miserable subterfuges; indeed, it was subsequently
discovered that he was an utter infidel in regard to the delights
of piscicapture.
“Now, all aboard! Over, you fellows, and take these gentlemen in!”
The negroes were over in a moment, waist deep, and, each taking
one on his back, deposited us dry in the boat. I only mention
this to record the fact, that I was much impressed by a practical
demonstration from my bearer respecting the strong odour of the
skin of a heated African. I have been wedged up in a column of
infantry on a hot day, and have marched to leeward of Ghoorkhas
in India, but the overpowering pungent smell of the negro exceeds
everything of the kind I have been unfortunate enough to experience.
The vessel was soon moving again, against a ripple, caused by the
wind, which blew dead against us; and notwithstanding the praises
bestowed on the boat, it was easy to perceive that the labour of
pulling such a dead-log-like thing through the water told severely
on the rowers, who had already come some twelve miles, I think.
Nevertheless, they were told to sing, and they began accordingly
one of those wild Baptist chants about the Jordan in which they
delight,--not destitute of music, but utterly unlike what is called
an Ethiopian melody.
The banks of the river on both sides are low; on the left covered
with wood, through which, here and there, at intervals, one could
see a planter’s or overseer’s cottage. The course of this great
combination of salt and fresh water sometimes changes, so that
houses are swept away and plantations submerged; but the land is
much valued nevertheless, on account of the fineness of the cotton
grown among the islands. “Cotton at 12 cents a pound, and we don’t
fear the world.”
As the boat was going to the fishing-ground, which lay towards the
mouth of the river at Hilton Head, our friends talked politics and
sporting combined,--the first of the usual character, the second
quite new.
I heard much of the mighty devil-fish which frequents these waters.
One of our party, Mr. Elliott, sen., a tall, knotty, gnarled sort
of man, with a mellow eye and a hearty voice, was a famous hand
at the sport, and had had some hair-breadth escapes in pursuit
of it. The fish is described as of enormous size and strength, a
monster ray, which possesses formidable antennæ-like horns, and a
pair of huge fins, or flappers, one of which rises above the water
as the creature moves below the surface. The hunters, as they may
be called, go out in parties--three or four boats, or more, with
good store of sharp harpoons and tow-lines, and lances. When they
perceive the creature, one boat takes the lead, and moves down
towards it, the others following, each with a harpooner standing
in the bow. The devil-fish sometimes is wary, and dives, when it
sees a boat, taking such a long spell below that it is never seen
again. At other times, however, it backs, and lets the boat come so
near as to allow of the harpooner striking it, or it dives for a
short way and comes up near the boats again. The moment the harpoon
is fixed, the line is paid out by the rush of the creature, which
is made with tremendous force, and all the boats at once hurry up,
so that one after another they are made fast to that in which the
lucky sportsman is seated. At length, when the line is run out,
checked from time to time as much as can be done with safety, the
crew take their oars and follow the course of the ray, which swims
so fast, however, that it keeps the line taut, and drags the whole
flotilla seawards. It depends on its size and strength to determine
how soon it rises to the surface; by degrees the line is warped in
and hove short till the boats are brought near, and when the ray
comes up it is attacked with a shower of lances and harpoons, and
dragged off into shoal water to die.
On one occasion, our Nimrod told us, he was standing in the bows
of the boat, harpoon in hand, when a devil-fish came up close to
him; he threw the harpoon, struck it, but at the same time the
boat ran against the creature with a shock which threw him right
forward on its back, and in an instant it caught him in its horrid
arms and plunged down with him to the depths. Imagine the horror
of the moment! Imagine the joy of the terrified drowning, dying
man, when, for some inscrutable reason, the devil-fish relaxed
its grip, and enabled him to strike for the surface, where he was
dragged into the boat more dead than alive by his terror-smitten
companions,--the only man who ever got out of the embraces of the
thing alive. “Tom is so tough that even a devil-fish could make
nothing out of him.”
At last we came to our fishing-ground. There was a substitute found
for the favourite crab, and it was fondly hoped our toils might
be rewarded with success. And these were toils, for the water is
deep and the lines heavy. But to alleviate them, some hampers were
produced from the stern, and wonderful pies from Mrs. Trescot’s
hands, and from those of fair ladies up the river whom we shall
never see, were spread out, and bottles which represented distant
cellars in friendly nooks far away. “No drum here! Up anchor, and
pull away a few miles lower down.” Trescot shook his head, and
again asserted his disbelief in fishing, or rather in catching,
and indeed made a sort of pretence at arguing that it was wiser
to remain quiet and talk philosophical politics; but, as judge of
appeal, I gave it against him, and the negroes bent to their oars,
and we went thumping through the spray, till, rounding a point of
land, we saw pitched on the sandy shore ahead of us, on the right
bank, a tent, and close by two boats. “There is a party at it!” A
fire was burning on the beach, and as we came near, Tom and Jack
and Harry were successively identified. “There’s no take on, or
they would not be on shore. This is very unfortunate.”
All the regret of my friends was on my account, so to ease their
minds I assured them I did not mind the disappointment much.
“Hallo, Dick! Caught any drum?” “A few this morning; bad sport now,
and will be till tide turns again.” I was introduced to all the
party from a distance, and presently I saw one of them raising from
a boat something in look and shape and colour like a sack of flour,
which he gave to a negro, who proceeded to carry it towards us in a
little skiff. “Thank you, Charley. I just want to let Mr. Russell
see a drum-fish.” And a very odd fish it was,--a thick lumpish
form, about 4½ feet long, with enormous head and scales, and teeth
like the grinders of a ruminant animal, acting on a great pad of
bone in the roof of the mouth,--a very unlovely thing, swollen with
roe, which is the great delicacy.
“No chance till the tide turned,”--but that would be too late for
our return, and so unwillingly we were compelled to steer towards
home, hearing now and then the singular noise like the tap on a
large unbraced drum, from which the fish takes its name. At first,
when I heard it, I was inclined to think it was made by some one
in the boat, so near and close did it sound; but soon it came from
all sides of us, and evidently from the depths of the water beneath
us,--not a sharp rat-tat-tap, but a full muffled blow with a heavy
thud on the sheepskin. Mr. Trescot told me that on a still evening
by the river-side the effect sometimes is most curious,--the
rolling and pattering is audible at a great distance. Our friends
were in excellent humour with everything and everybody, except the
Yankees, though they had caught no fish, and kept the negroes at
singing and rowing till at nightfall we landed at the island, and
so to bed after supper and a little conversation, in which Mrs.
Trescot again explained how easily she could maintain a battalion
on the island by her simple commissariat, already adapted to the
niggers, and that it would therefore be very easy for the South to
feed an army if the people were friendly.
_April 28th._--The church is a long way off, only available by
a boat and then a drive in a carriage. In the morning a child
brings in my water and boots--an intelligent, curly-headed
creature, dressed in a sort of sack, without any particular waist,
barefooted. I imagined it was a boy till it told me it was a girl.
I asked if she was going to church, which seemed to puzzle her
exceedingly; but she told me finally she would hear prayers from
“uncle” in one of the cottages. This use of the words “uncle” and
“aunt” for old people is very general. Is it because they have no
fathers and mothers? In the course of the day, the child, who was
fourteen or fifteen years of age, asked me “whether I would not
buy her. She could wash and sew very well, and she thought missus
wouldn’t want much for her.” The object she had in view leaked out
at last. It was a desire to see the glories of Beaufort, of which
she had heard from the fishermen; and she seemed quite wonderstruck
when she was informed I did not live there, and had never seen it.
She had never been outside the plantation in her life.
After breakfast we loitered about the grounds, strolling through
the cotton fields, which had as yet put forth no bloom or flower,
and coming down others to the thick fringes of wood and sedge
bordering the marshy banks of the island. The silence was profound,
broken only by the husky mid-day crowing of the cocks in the negro
quarters.
In the afternoon I took a short drive “to see a tree,” which was
not very remarkable, and looked in at the negro quarters and
the cotton mill. The old negroes were mostly indoors, and came
shambling out to the doors of their wooden cottages, making clumsy
bows at our approach, but not expressing any interest or pleasure
at the sight of their master and the strangers. They were shabbily
clad; in tattered clothes, bad straw hats and felt bonnets, and
broken shoes. The latter are expensive articles, and negroes cannot
dig without them. Trescot sighed as he spoke of the increase of
price since the troubles broke out.
The huts stand in a row, like a street, each detached, with a
poultry house of rude planks behind it. The mutilations which the
poultry undergo for the sake of distinction are striking. Some
are deprived of a claw, others have the wattles cut, and tails
and wings suffer in all ways. No attempt at any drainage or any
convenience existed near them, and the same remark applies to very
good houses of white people in the south. Heaps of oyster shells,
broken crockery, old shoes, rags, and feathers were found near
each hut. The huts were all alike windowless, and the apertures,
intended to be glazed some fine day, were generally filled up
with a deal board. The roofs were shingle, and the whitewash
which had once given the settlement an air of cleanliness, was
now only to be traced by patches which had escaped the action of
the rain. I observed that many of the doors were fastened by a
padlock and chain outside. “Why is that?” “The owners have gone
out, and honesty is not a virtue they have towards each other.
They would find their things stolen if they did not lock their
doors.” Mrs. Trescot, however, insisted on it that nothing could
exceed the probity of the slaves in the house, except in regard to
sweet things, sugar and the like; but money and jewels were quite
safe. It is obvious that some reason must exist for this regard
to the distinctions twixt meum and tuum in the case of masters
and mistresses, when it does not guide their conduct towards each
other, and I think it might easily be found in the fact that the
negroes could scarcely take money without detection. Jewels and
jewellery would be of little value to them; they could not wear
them, could not part with them. The system has made the white
population a police against the black race, and the punishment is
not only sure but grievous. Such things as they can steal from each
other are not to be so readily traced.
One particularly dirty looking little hut was described to me as
“the church.” It was about fifteen feet square, begrimed with dirt
and smoke, and windowless. A few benches were placed across it, and
“the preacher,” a slave from another plantation, was expected next
week. These preachings are not encouraged in many plantations. They
“do the niggers no good”--“they talk about things that are going on
elsewhere, and get their minds unsettled,” and so on.
On our return to the house, I found that Mr. Edmund Rhett, one
of the active and influential political family of that name, had
called--a very intelligent and agreeable gentleman, but one of the
most ultra and violent speakers against the Yankees I have yet
heard. He declared there were few persons in South Carolina who
would not sooner ask Great Britain to take back the State than
submit to the triumph of the Yankees. “We are an agricultural
people, pursuing our own system, and working out our own destiny,
breeding up women and men with some other purpose than to make them
vulgar, fanatical, cheating Yankees--hypocritical, if as women they
pretend to real virtue; and lying, if as men they pretend to be
honest. We have gentlemen and gentlewomen in your sense of it. We
have a system which enables us to reap the fruits of the earth by a
race which we save from barbarism in restoring them to their real
place in the world as labourers, whilst we are enabled to cultivate
the arts, the graces, and accomplishments of life, to develop
science, to apply ourselves to the duties of government, and to
understand the affairs of the country.”
This is a very common line of remark here. The Southerners also
take pride to themselves, and not unjustly, for their wisdom in
keeping in Congress those men who have proved themselves useful
and capable. “We do not,” they say, “cast able men aside at the
caprices of a mob, or in obedience to some low party intrigue, and
hence we are sure of the best men, and are served by gentlemen
conversant with public affairs, far superior in every way to the
ignorant clowns who are sent to Congress by the North. Look at
the fellows who are sent out by Lincoln to insult foreign courts
by their presence.” I said that I understood Mr. Adams and Mr.
Drayton were very respectable gentlemen, but I did not receive any
sympathy; in fact, a neutral who attempts to moderate the violence
of either side, is very like an ice between two hot plates. Mr.
Rhett is also persuaded that the Lord Chancellor sits on a cotton
bale. “You must recognise us, sir, before the end of October.” In
the evening a distant thunderstorm attracted me to the garden, and
I remained out watching the broad flashes and sheets of fire worthy
of the tropics till it was bed-time.
CHAPTER XX.
By railway to Savannah--Description of the city--Rumours of the
last few days--State of affairs at Washington--Preparations
for war--Cemetery of Bonaventure--Road made of oyster
shells--Appropriate features of the Cemetery--The Tatnall
family--Dinner-party at Mr. Green’s--Feeling in Georgia against
the North.
_April 29th._--This morning up at 6 A.M., bade farewell to our
hostess and Barnwell Island, and proceeded with Trescot back
to the Pocotaligo station, which we reached at 12·20. On our
way Mr. Heyward and his son rode out of a field, looking very
like a couple of English country squires in all but hats and
saddles. The young gentleman was good enough to bring over a snake
hawk he had shot for me. At the station, to which the Heywards
accompanied us, were the Elliotts and others, who had come over
with invitations and adieux; and I beguiled the time to Savannah
reading the very interesting book by Mr. Elliott, senior, on the
Wild Sports of Carolina, which was taken up by some one when I left
the car-carriage for a moment and not returned to me. The country
through which we passed was flat and flooded as usual, and the rail
passed over dark deep rivers on lofty trestle-work, by pine wood
and dogwood tree, by the green plantation clearing, with mud bank,
dyke, and tiny canal mile by mile, the train stopping for the usual
freight of ladies, and negro nurses, and young planters, all very
much of the same class, till at 3 o’clock P.M., the cars rattled up
alongside a large shed, and we were told we had arrived at Savannah.
Here was waiting for me Mr. Charles Green, who had already claimed
me and my friend as his guests, and I found in his carriage the
young American designer, who had preceded me from Charleston, and
had informed Mr. Green of my coming.
The drive through such portion of Savannah as lay between the
terminus and Mr. Green’s house, soon satisfied my eyes that it
had two peculiarities. In the first place, it had the deepest
sand in the streets I have ever seen; and next, the streets were
composed of the most odd, quaint, green windowed, many coloured
little houses I ever beheld, with an odd population of lean,
sallow, ill-dressed unwholesome-looking whites, lounging about
the exchanges and corners, and a busy, well-clad, gaily-attired
race of negroes, working their way through piles of children,
under the shade of the trees which bordered all the streets. The
fringe of green, and the height attained by the live oak, Pride
of India, and magnolia, give a delicious freshness and novelty
to the streets of Savannah, which is increased by the great,
number of squares and openings covered with something like sward,
fenced round by white rail, and embellished with noble trees to
be seen at every few hundred yards. It is difficult to believe
you are in the midst of a city, and I was repeatedly reminded
of the environs of a large Indian cantonment--the same kind of
churches and detached houses, with their plantations and gardens
not unlike. The wealthier classes, however, have houses of the New
York Fifth Avenue character: one of the best of these, a handsome
mansion of rich red sandstone, belonged to my host, who coming
out from England many years ago, raised himself by industry and
intelligence to the position of one of the first merchants in
Savannah. Italian statuary graced the hall; finely carved tables
and furniture, stained glass, and pictures from Europe set forth
the sitting-rooms; and the luxury of bath-rooms and a supply of
cold fresh water, rendered it an exception to the general run of
Southern edifices. Mr. Green drove me through the town, which
impressed me more than ever with its peculiar character. We visited
Brigadier-General Lawton, who is charged with the defences of the
place against the expected Yankees, and found him just setting
out to inspect a band of volunteers, whose drums we heard in the
distance, and whose bayonets were gleaming through the clouds of
Savannah dust, close to the statue erected to the memory of one
Pulaski, a Pole, who was mortally wounded in the unsuccessful
defence of the city against the British in the War of Independence.
He turned back and led us into his house. The hall was filled with
little round rolls of flannel. “These,” said he, “are cartridges
for cannon of various calibres, made by the ladies of Mrs. Lawton’s
‘cartridge class.’” There were more cartridges in the back parlour,
so that the house was not quite a safe place to smoke a cigar in.
The General has been in the United States’ army, and has now come
forward to head the people of this State in their resistance to the
Yankees.
We took a stroll in the park, and I learned the news of the last
few days. The people of the South, I find, are delighted at a
snubbing which Mr. Seward has given to Governor Hicks of Maryland,
for recommending the arbitration of Lord Lyons, and he is stated
to have informed Governor Hicks that “our troubles could not be
referred to foreign arbitration, least of all to that of the
representative of a European monarchy.” The most terrible accounts
are given of the state of things in Washington. Mr. Lincoln
consoles himself for his miseries by drinking. Mr. Seward follows
suit. The White House and capital are full of drunken border
ruffians, headed by one Jim Lane of Kansas. But, on the other hand,
the Yankees, under one Butler, a Massachusetts lawyer, have arrived
at Annapolis, in Maryland, secured the “Constitution” man-of-war,
and are raising masses of men for the invasion of the South all
over the States. The most important thing, as it strikes me, is the
proclamation of the Governor of Georgia, forbidding citizens to pay
any money on account of debts due to Northerners, till the end of
the war. General Robert E. Lee has been named Commander-in-Chief of
the Forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and troops are flocking
to that State from Alabama and other States. Governor Ellis has
called out 30,000 volunteers in North Carolina, and Governor Rector
of Arkansas has seized the United States’ military stores at
Napoleon. There is a rumour that Fort Pickens has been taken also,
but it is very probably untrue. In Texas and Arkansas the United
States regulars have not made an attempt to defend any of the forts.
In the midst of all this warlike work, volunteers drilling, bands
playing, it was pleasant to walk in the shady park, with its cool
fountains, and to see the children playing about--many of them,
alas! “playing at soldiers”--in charge of their nurses. Returning,
sat in the verandah and smoked a cigar; but the musquitoes were
very keen and numerous. My host did not mind them, but my cuticle
will never be sting-proof.
_April 30th._--At 1·30 P.M. a small party started from Mr.
Green’s to visit the cemetery of Bonaventure, to which every
visitor to Savannah must pay his pilgrimage; _difficiles aditus
primos habet_--a deep sandy road which strains the horses and the
carriages; but at last “the shell road” is reached--a highway
several miles long, consisting of oyster shells--the pride of
Savannah, which eats as many oysters as it can to add to the length
of this wonderful road. There is no stone in the whole of the vast
alluvial ranges of South Carolina and Maritime Georgia, and the
only substance available for making a road is the oyster shell.
There is a toll gate at each end to aid the oyster shells. Remember
they are three times the size of any European crustacean of the
sort.
A pleasant drive through the shady hedgerows and bordering trees
lead to a dilapidated porter’s lodge and gateway, within which rose
in a towering mass of green one of the finest pieces of forest
architecture possible; nothing to be sure like Burnham Beeches, or
some of the forest glades of Windsor, but possessed, nevertheless,
of a character quite its own. What we gazed upon was, in fact,
the ruin of grand avenues of live oak, so well-disposed that
their peculiar mode of growth afforded an unusual development of
the “Gothic idea,” worked out and elaborated by a superabundant
fall from the overlacing arms and intertwined branches of the
tillandsia, or Spanish moss, a weeping, drooping, plumaceous
parasite, which does to the tree what its animal type, the yellow
fever--_vomito prieto_--does to man--clings to it everlastingly,
drying up sap, poisoning blood, killing the principle of life till
it dies. The only differ, as they say in Ireland, is, that the
tillandsia all the time looks very pretty, and that the process
lasts very long. Some there are who praise this tillandsia, hanging
like the tresses of a witch’s hair over an invisible face, but to
me it is a paltry parasite, destroying the grace and beauty of
that it preys upon, and letting fall its dull tendrils over the
fresh lovely green, as clouds drop over the face of some beautiful
landscape. Despite all this, Bonaventure is a scene of remarkable
interest; it seems to have been intended for a place of tombs.
The Turks would have filled it with turbaned white pillars, and
with warm ghosts at night. The French would have decorated it with
interlaced hands of stone, with tears of red and black on white
ground, with wreathes of immortelles. I am not sure that we would
have done much more than have got up a cemetery company, interested
Shillibeer, hired a beadle, and erected an iron paling. The
Savannah people not following any of these fashions, all of which
are adopted in Northern cities, have left everything to nature and
the gatekeeper, and to the owner of one of the hotels, who has got
up a grave yard in the ground. And there, scattered up and down
under the grand old trees, which drop tears of Spanish moss, and
weave wreathes of Spanish moss, and shake plumes of Spanish moss
over them, are a few monumental stones to certain citizens of
Savannah. There is a melancholy air about the place independently
of these emblems of our mortality, which might recommend it
specially for picnics. There never was before a cemetery where
nature seemed to aid the effect intended by man so thoroughly.
Everyone knows a weeping willow will cry over a wedding party if
they sit under it, as well as over a grave. But here the Spanish
moss looks like weepers wreathed by some fantastic hand out of the
crape of Dreamland. Lucian’s Ghostlander, the son of Skeleton of
the Tribe of the Juiceless, could tell us something of such weird
trappings. They are known indeed as the best bunting for yellow
fever to fight under. Wherever their flickering horsehair tresses
wave in the breeze, taper end downwards, Squire Black Jack is
bearing lance and sword. One great green oak says to the other,
“This fellow is killing me. Take his deadly robes off my limbs!”
“Alas! See how he is ruining me! I have no life to help you.” It
is, indeed, a strange and very ghastly place. Here are so many
_querci virentes_, old enough to be strong, and big, and great,
sapfull, lusty, wide armed, green-honoured--all dying out slowly
beneath tillandsia, as if they were so many monarchies perishing
of decay--or so many youthful republics dying of buncombe brag,
richness of blood, and other diseases fatal to overgrown bodies
politic.
The void left in the midst of all these designed walks and stately
avenues, by the absence of any suitable centre, increases the
seclusion and solitude. A house ought to be there somewhere you
feel--in fact there was once the mansion of the Tatnalls, a good
old English family, whose ancestors came from the old country, ere
the rights of man were talked of, and lived among the Oglethorpes,
and such men of the pigtail school, who would have been greatly
astonished at finding themselves in company with Benjamin Franklin
or his kind. I don’t know anything of old Tatnall. Indeed who
does? But he had a fine idea of planting trees, which he never
got in America, where he would have received scant praise for
anything but his power to plant cotton or sugar-cane just now. In
his knee-breeches, and top boots, I can fancy the old gentleman
reproducing some home scene, and boasting to himself, “I will make
it as fine as Lord Nihilo’s park.” Could he see it now?--A decaying
army of the dead. The mansion was burned down during a Christmas
merrymaking, and was never built again, and the young trees have
grown up despite the Spanish moss, and now they stand, as it were
in cathedral aisles, around the ruins of the departed house,
shading the ground, and enshrining its memories in an antiquity
which seems of the remotest, although it is not as ancient as that
of the youngest oak in the Squire’s park at home.
I have before oftentimes in my short voyages here, wondered greatly
at the reverence bestowed on a tree. In fact, it is because a
tree of any decent growth is sure to be older than anything else
around it; and although young America revels in her future, she is
becoming old enough to think about her past.
In the evening Mr. Green gave a dinner to some very agreeable
people, Mr. Ward, the Chinese Minister--(who tried, by-the-bye, to
make it appear that his wooden box was the Pekin State carriage for
distinguished foreigners)--Mr. Locke, the clever and intelligent
editor of the principal journal in Savannah, Brigadier Lawton, one
of the Judges, a Britisher, owner of the once renowned America
which, under the name of Camilla, was now lying in the river (not
perhaps without reference to a little speculation in running the
blockade, hourly expected), Mr. Ward and Commodore Tatnall, so
well known to us in England for his gallant conduct in the Peiho
affair, when he offered and gave our vessels aid, though a neutral,
and uttered the exclamation in doing so,--in his despatch at all
events,--“that blood was thicker than water.” Of our party was also
Mr. Hodgson, well known to most of our Mediterranean travellers
some years back, when he was United States’ Consul in the East. He
amuses his leisure still by inditing and reading monographs on the
languages of divers barbarous tribes in Numidia and Mauritania.
The Georgians are not quite so vehement as the South Carolinians
in their hate of the Northerners; but they are scarcely less
determined to fight President Lincoln and all his men. And that
is the test of this rebellion’s strength. I did not hear any
profession of a desire to become subject to England, or to borrow
a prince of us; but I have nowhere seen stronger determination to
resist any reunion with the New England States. “They can’t conquer
us, Sir” “If they try it, we’ll whip them.”
CHAPTER XXI.
The river at Savannah--Commodore Tatnall--Fort Pulaski--Want of a
fleet to the Southerners--Strong feeling of the women--Slavery
considered in its results--Cotton and Georgia--Off for
Montgomery--The Bishop of Georgia--The Bible and Slavery--
Macon--Dislike of United States’ gold.
_May Day._--Not unworthy of the best effort of English fine weather
before the change in the kalendar robbed the poets of twelve days,
but still a little warm for choice. The young American artist
Moses, who was to have called our party to meet the officers who
were going to Fort Pulaski, for some reason known to himself
remained on board the Camilla, and when at last we got down to the
river-side I found Commodore Tatnall and Brigadier Lawton in full
uniform waiting for me.
The river is about the width of the Thames below Gravesend, very
muddy, with a strong current, and rather fetid. That effect might
have been produced from the rice-swamps at the other side of it,
where the land is quite low, and stretches away as far as the sea
in one level green, smooth as a billiard-cloth. The bank at the
city side is higher, so that the houses stand on a little eminence
over the stream, affording convenient wharfage and slips for
merchant vessels.
Of these there were few indeed visible--nearly all had cleared out
for fear of the blockade; some coasting vessels were lying idle at
the quayside, and in the middle of the stream near a floating dock
the Camilla was moored, with her club ensign flying. These are the
times for bold ventures, and if Uncle Sam is not very quick with
his blockades, there will be plenty of privateers and the like
under C. S. A. colours looking out for his fat merchantmen all over
the world.
I have been trying to persuade my friends here they will find very
few Englishmen willing to take letters of marque and reprisal.
The steamer which was waiting to receive us had the Confederate
flag flying, and Commodore Tatnall, pointing to a young officer
in a naval uniform, told me he had just “come over from the other
side,” and that he had pressed hard to be allowed to hoist a
Commodore or flag-officer’s ensign in honour of the visit and of
the occasion. I was much interested in the fine white-headed,
blue-eyed, ruddy-cheeked old man--who suddenly found himself blown
into the air by a great political explosion, and in doubt and
wonderment was floating to shore, under a strange flag in unknown
waters. He was full of anecdote too, as to strange flags in distant
waters and well-known names. The gentry of Savannah had a sort of
Celtic feeling towards him in regard of his old name, and seemed
determined to support him.
He has served the Stars and Stripes for three-fourths of a long
life--his friends are in the North, his wife’s kindred are there,
and so are all his best associations--but his State has gone out.
How could he fight against the country that gave him birth! The
United States is no country, in the sense we understand the words.
It is a corporation or a body corporate for certain purposes, and
a man might as well call himself a native of the common council
of the city of London, or a native of the Swiss Diet, in the
estimation of our Americans, as say he is a citizen of the United
States; though it answers very well to say so when he is abroad, or
for purposes of a legal character.
Of Fort Pulaski itself I wrote on my return a long account to the
“Times.”
When I was venturing to point out to General Lawton the weakness of
Fort Pulaski, placed as it is in low land, accessible to boats, and
quite open enough for approaches from the city side, he said, “Oh,
that is true enough. All our sea-coast works are liable to that
remark, but the Commodore will take care of the Yankees at sea, and
we shall manage them on land.” These people all make a mistake in
referring to the events of the old war. “We beat off the British
fleet at Charleston by the militia--ergo, we’ll sink the Yankees
now.” They do not understand the nature of the new shell and heavy
vertical fire, or the effect of projectiles from great distances
falling into open works. The Commodore afterwards, smiling,
remarked, “I have no fleet. Long before the Southern Confederacy
has a fleet that can cope with the Stars and Stripes my bones will
be white in the grave.”
We got back by eight o’clock P.M., after a pleasant day. What I saw
did not satisfy me that Pulaski was strong, or Savannah very safe.
At Bonaventure yesterday I saw a poor fort called “Thunderbolt,”
on an inlet from which the city was quite accessible. It could be
easily menaced from that point, while attempts at landing were
made elsewhere as soon as Pulaski was reduced. At dinner met a very
strong and very well-informed Southerner--there are some who are
neither--or either--whose name was spelled Gourdin and pronounced
Go-dine--just as Huger is called Hugée--and Tagliaferro, Telfer in
these parts.
_May 2nd._--Breakfasted with Mr. Hodgson, where I met Mr. Locke,
Mr. Ward, Mr. Green and Mrs. Hodgson and her sister. There were in
attendance some good-looking little negro boys and men dressed in
liveries, which smacked of our host’s Orientalism, and they must
have heard our discussion, or rather allusion, to the question
which would decide whether we thought they are human beings or
black two-legged cattle, with some interest, unless indeed the
boast of their masters, that slavery elevates the character and
civilises the mind of a negro, is another of the false pretences
on which the institution is rested by its advocates. The native
African, poor wretch, avoids being carried into slavery _totis
viribus_, and it would argue ill for the effect on his mind of
becoming a slave if he prefers a piece of gaudy calico even to his
loin-cloth and feather head-dress. This question of civilising
the African in slavery is answered in the assertion of the
slave-owners themselves, that if the negroes were left to their
own devices by emancipation, they would become the worst sort of
barbarians--a veritable Quasheedom, the like of which was never
thought of by Mr. Thomas Carlyle. I doubt if the aboriginal is
not as civilised, in the true sense of the word, as any negro,
after three degrees of descent in servitude, whom I have seen on
any of the plantations--even though the latter have leather shoes
and fustian or cloth raiment, and felt hat, and sings about the
Jordan. He is exempted from any bloody raid indeed, but he is
liable to be carried from his village and borne from one captivity
to another, and his family are exposed to the same exile in America
as in Africa. The extreme anger with which any unfavourable comment
is met publicly, shows the sensitiveness of the slave-owners.
Privately, they affect philosophy; and the blue books, and reports
of Education Commissions and Mining Committees, furnish them with
an inexhaustible source of argument if you once admit that the
_summum bonum_ lies in a certain rotundity of person, and a regular
supply of coarse food. A long conversation on the old topics--old
to me, but of only a few weeks’ birth. People are swimming with the
tide. Here are many men who would willingly stand aside if they
could, and see the battle between the Yankees, whom they hate, and
the Secessionists. But there are no women in this party. Woe betide
the Northern Pyrrhus whose head is within reach of a Southern tile
and a Southern woman’s arm!
I re-visited some of the big houses afterwards, and found the
merchants not cheerful, but fierce and resolute. There is a
considerable population of Irish and Germans in Savannah, who
to a man are in favour of the Confederacy, and will fight to
support it. Indeed, it is expected they will do so, and there is
a pressure brought to bear on them by their employers which they
cannot well resist. The negroes will be forced into the place the
whites hitherto occupied as labourers--only a few useful mechanics
will be kept, and the white population will be obliged by a moral
force draughting to go to the wars. The kingdom of cotton is most
essentially of this world, and it will be fought for vigorously.
On the quays of Savannah, and in the warehouses, there is not a
man who doubts that he ought to strike his hardest for it, or
apprehends failure. And then, what a career is before them! All
the world asking for cotton, and England dependent on it. What a
change since Whitney first set his cotton gin to work in this state
close by us! Georgia, as a vast country only partially reclaimed,
yet looks to a magnificent future. In her past history the Florida
wars, and the treatment of the unfortunate Cherokee Indians, who
were expelled from their lands as late as 1838, show the people who
descended from old Oglethorpe’s band were fierce and tyrannical,
and apt at aggression, nor will slavery improve them. I do not
speak of the cultivated and hospitable citizens of the large towns,
but of the bulk of the slaveless whites.
_May 3rd._--I bade good-by to Mr. Green, who with several of his
friends came down to see me off, at the terminus or “depôt” of
the Central Railway, on my way to Montgomery--and looked my last
on Savannah, its squares and leafy streets, its churches, and
institutes with a feeling of regret that I could not see more of
them, and that I was forced to be content with the outer aspect
of the public buildings. I had been serenaded and invited out in
all directions, asked to visit plantations and big trees, to make
excursions to famous or beautiful spots, and specially warned not
to leave the State without visiting the mountain district in the
northern and western portion; but the march of events called me to
Montgomery.
From Savannah to Macon, 191 miles, the road passes through level
country only partially cleared. That is, there are patches of
forest still intruding on the green fields, where the jagged black
teeth of the destroyed trees rise from above the maize and cotton.
There were but few negroes visible at work, nor did the land appear
rich, but I was told the rail was laid along the most barren part
of the country. The Indians had roamed in these woods little more
than twenty years ago--now the wooden huts of the planters’ slaves
and the larger edifice with its verandah and timber colonnade stood
in the place of their wigwam.
Among the passengers to whom I was introduced was the Bishop of
Georgia, the Rev. Mr. Elliott, a man of exceeding fine presence, of
great stature, and handsome face, with a manner easy and graceful,
but we got on the unfortunate subject of slavery, and I rather
revolted at hearing a Christian prelate advocating the institution
on scriptural grounds.
This affectation of Biblical sanction and ordinance as the basis of
slavery was not new to me, though it is not much known at the other
side of the Atlantic. I had read in a work on slavery, that it was
permitted by both the Scriptures and the Constitution of the United
States, and that it must, therefore, be doubly right. A nation that
could approve of such interpretations of the Scriptures and at the
same time read the “New York Herald,” seemed ripe for destruction
as a corporate existence. The _malum prohibitum_ was the only evil
its crass senses could detect, and the _malum per se_ was its good,
if it only came covered with cotton or gold. The miserable sophists
who expose themselves to the contempt of the world by their paltry
thesicles on the divine origin and uses of slavery, are infinitely
more contemptible than the wretched bigots who published themes
long ago on the propriety of burning witches, or on the necessity
for the offices of the Inquisition.
Whenever the Southern Confederacy shall achieve its
independence--no matter what its resources, its allies, or its
aims--it will have to stand face to face with civilized Europe
on this question of slavery, and the strength which it derived
from the ægis of the Constitution--“the league with the devil and
covenant with Hell”--will be withered and gone.
I am well aware of the danger of drawing summary conclusions
off-hand from the windows of a railway, but there is also a
right of sight which exists under all circumstances, and so one
can determine if a man’s face be dirty as well from a glance as
if he inspected it for half an hour. For instance, no one can
doubt the evidence of his senses, when he sees from the windows
of the carriages that the children are barefooted, shoeless,
stockingless--that the people who congregate at the wooden huts and
grog-shops of the stations are rude, unkempt, but great fighting
material too--that the villages are miserable places, compared
with the trim, snug settlements one saw in New Jersey from the
carriage-windows. Slaves in the fields looked happy enough--but
their masters certainly were rough-looking and uncivilised--and the
land was but badly cleared. But then we were traversing the least
fertile portions of the State--a recent acquirement--gained only
one generation since.
The train halted at a snug little wood-embowered restaurant,
surrounded by trellis and lattice-work, and in the midst of
a pretty garden, which presented a marked contrast to the
“surroundings” we had seen. The dinner, served by slaves, was good
of its kind, and the charge not high. On tendering the landlord a
piece of gold for payment, he looked at it with disgust, and asked,
“Have you no Charleston money? No Confederate notes?” “Well, no!
Why do you object to gold?” “Well, do you see, I’d rather have our
own paper! I don’t care to take any of the United States’ gold. I
don’t want their stars and their eagles; I hate the sight of them.”
The man was quite sincere--my companion gave him notes of some
South Carolina bank.
It was dark when the train reached Macon, one of the principal
cities of the State. We drove to the best hotel, but the regular
time for dinner hour was over, and that for supper not yet come.
The landlord directed us to a subterranean restaurant, in which
were a series of crypts closed in by dirty curtains, where we
made a very extraordinary repast, served by a half-clad little
negress, who watched us at the meal with great interest through the
curtains--the service was of the coarsest description; thick French
earthenware, the spoons of pewter, the knives and forks steel or
iron, with scarce a pretext of being cleaned. On the doors were
the usual warnings against pickpockets, and the customary internal
police regulations and ukases. Pickpockets and gamblers abound in
American cities, and thrive greatly at the large hotels and the
lines of railways.
CHAPTER XXII.
Slave-pens; Negroes on sale or hire--Popular feeling as
to Secession--Beauregard and speech-making--Arrival at
Montgomery--Bad hotel accommodation--Knights of the Golden
Circle--Reflections on Slavery--Slave auction--The Legislative
Assembly--A “live chattel” knocked down--Rumours from the
North (true and false) and prospects of war.
_May 4th._--In the morning I took a drive about the city, which
is loosely built in detached houses over a very pretty undulating
country covered with wood and fruit-trees. Many good houses of
dazzling white, with bright green blinds, verandahs, and doors,
stand in their own grounds or gardens. In the course of the drive
I saw two or three sign-boards and placards announcing that
“Smith & Co. advanced money on slaves, and had constant supplies
of Virginian negroes on sale or hire.” These establishments
were surrounded by high walls enclosing the slave-pens or large
rooms, in which the slaves are kept for inspection. The train for
Montgomery started at 9·45 A.M., but I had no time to stop and
visit them.
It is evident we are approaching the Confederate capital, for the
candidates for office begin to show, and I detected a printed
testimonial in my room in the hotel. The country, from Macon in
Georgia to Montgomery in Alabama, offers no features to interest
the traveller which are not common to the districts already
described. It is, indeed, more undulating, and somewhat more
picturesque, or less unattractive, but, on the whole, there is
little to recommend it, except the natural fertility of the soil.
The people are rawer, ruder, bigger--there is the same amount of
tobacco chewing and its consequences--and as much swearing or
use of expletives. The men are tall, lean, uncouth, but they are
not peasants. There are, so far as I have seen, no rustics, no
peasantry in America; men dress after the same type, differing only
in finer or coarser material; every man would wear, if he could, a
black satin waistcoat and a large diamond pin stuck in the front of
his shirt, as he certainly has a watch and a gilt or gold chain of
some sort or other. The Irish labourer, or the German husbandman is
the nearest approach to our Giles Jolter or the Jacques Bonhomme
to be found in the States. The mean white affects the style of the
large proprietor of slaves or capital as closely as he can; he
reads his papers--and, by-the-by, they are becoming smaller and
more whitey-brown as we proceed--and takes his drink with the same
air--takes up as much room, and speaks a good deal in the same
fashion.
The people are all hearty Secessionists here--the Bars and Stars
are flying at the road-stations and from the pine-tops, and there
are lusty cheers for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy.
Troops are flocking towards Virginia from the Southern States
in reply to the march of Volunteers from Northern States to
Washington; but it is felt that the steps taken by the Federal
Government to secure Baltimore have obviated any chance of
successfully opposing the “Lincolnites” going through that city.
There is a strong disposition on the part of the Southerners to
believe they have many friends in the North, and they endeavour
to attach a factious character to the actions of the Government
by calling the Volunteers and the war party in the North
“Lincolnites,” “Lincoln’s Mercenaries,” “Black Republicans,”
“Abolitionists,” and the like. The report of an armistice, now
denied by Mr. Seward officially, was for some time current, but it
is plain that the South must make good its words, and justify its
acts by the sword. General Scott would, it was fondly believed,
retire from the United States’ army, and either remain neutral or
take command under the Confederate flag, but now that it is certain
he will not follow any of these courses, he is assailed in the
foulest manner by the press and in private conversation. Heaven
help the idol of a democracy!
At one of the junctions General Beauregard, attended by Mr.
Manning, and others of his staff, got into the car, and tried
to elude observation, but the conductors take great pleasure in
unearthing distinguished passengers for the public, and the General
was called on for a speech by the crowd of idlers. The General
hates speech-making, he told me, and he had besides been bored
to death at every station by similar demands. But a man must be
popular or he is nothing. So, as next best thing, Governor Manning
made a speech in the General’s name, in which he dwelt on Southern
Rights, Sumter, victory, and abolitiondom, and was carried off
from the cheers of his auditors by the train in the midst of an
unfinished sentence. There were a number of blacks listening to the
Governor, who were appreciative.
Towards evening, having thrown out some slight out-works against
accidental sallies of my fellow-passengers’ saliva, I went to
sleep, and woke up at 11 P.M. to hear we were in Montgomery. A very
ricketty omnibus took the party to the hotel, which was crowded to
excess. The General and his friends had one room to themselves.
Three gentlemen and myself were crammed into a filthy room which
already contained two strangers, and as there were only three beds
in the apartment it was apparent that we were intended to “double
up considerably;” but after strenuous efforts, a little bribery
and cajoling, we succeeded in procuring mattrasses to put on the
floor, which was regarded by our neighbours as a proof of miserable
aristocratic fastidiousness. Had it not been for the flies, the
fleas would have been intolerable, but one nuisance neutralised the
other. Then, as to food--nothing could be had in the hotel--but one
of the waiters led us to a restaurant, where we selected from a
choice bill of fare, which contained, I think, as many odd dishes
as ever I saw, some unknown fishes, oyster-plants, ’possums,
raccoons, frogs, and other delicacies, and, eschewing toads and
the like, really made a good meal off dirty plates on a vile
tablecloth, our appetites being sharpened by the best of condiments.
Colonel Pickett has turned up here, having made his escape from
Washington just in time to escape arrest--travelling in disguise on
foot through out-of-the-way places till he got among friends.
I was glad, when bed-time approached, that I was not among the
mattrass men. One of the gentlemen in the bed next the door was
a tremendous projector in the tobacco juice line: his final
rumination ere he sank to repose was a masterpiece of art--a
perfect liquid pyrotechny, Roman candles and falling stars. A
horrid thought occurred as I gazed and wondered. In case he should
in a supreme moment turn his attention my way!--I was only seven
or eight yards off, and that might be nothing to him!--I hauled
down my musquito curtain at once, and watched him till, completely
satiated, he slept.
_May 5th._--Very warm, and no cold water, unless one went to
the river. The hotel baths were not promising. This hotel is
worse than Mill’s House or Willard’s. The feeding and the flies
are intolerable. One of our party comes in to say that he could
scarce get down to the hall on account of the crowd, and that
all the people who passed him had very hard, sharp bones. He
remarks thereupon to the clerk at the bar, who tells him that the
particular projections he alludes to are implements of defence or
offence, as the case may be, and adds, “I suppose you and your
friends are the only people in the house who haven’t a bowie-knife,
or a six-shooter, or Derringer about them.” The house is full of
Confederate Congressmen, politicians, colonels, and placemen with
or without places, and a vast number of speculators, contractors,
and the like, attracted by the embryo government. Among the
visitors are many filibusters, such as Henningsen, Pickett,
Tochman, Wheat.[4] I hear a good deal about the association called
the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Protestant association for
securing the Gulf provinces and states, including--which has
been largely developed by recent events--them in the Southern
Confederacy, and creating them into an independent government.
Montgomery has little claims to be called a capital. The streets
are very hot, unpleasant, and uninteresting. I have rarely seen
a more dull, lifeless place; it looks like a small Russian town
in the interior. The names of the shopkeepers indicate German and
French origin. I looked in at one or two of the slave magazines,
which are not unlike similar establishments in Cairo and Smyrna. A
certain degree of freedom is enjoyed by some of the men, who lounge
about the doors, and are careless of escape or liberty, knowing too
well the difficulties of either.
It is not in its external aspects generally that slavery is so
painful. The observer must go with Sterne, and gaze in on the
captives’ dungeons through the bars. The condition of a pig in a
stye is not, in an animal sense, anything but good. Well fed, over
fed, covered from the winds and storms of heaven, with clothing,
food, medicine provided, children taken care of, aged relatives
and old age itself succoured and guarded--is not this ----? Get
thee behind us, slave philosopher! The hour comes when the butcher
steals to the stye, and the knife leaps from the sheath.
Now there is this one thing in being an ἄναξ ἄνδρων, that be the
race of men bad as it may, a kind of grandiose character is given
to their leader. The stag which sweeps his rivals from his course
is the largest of the herd; but a man who drives the largest
drove of sheep is no better than he who drives the smallest. The
flock he compels, must consist of human beings to develop the
property of which I speak, and so the very superiority of the
slave master in the ways and habits of command proves that the
negro is a man. But, at the same time the law which regulates all
these relations between man and his fellows, asserts itself here.
The dominant race becomes dependent on some other body of men,
less martial, arrogant, and wealthy, for its elegances, luxuries,
and necessaries. The poor villeins round the Norman castle forge
the armour, make the furniture, and exercise the mechanical arts
which the baron and his followers are too ignorant and too proud
to pursue; if there is no population to serve this purpose, some
energetic race comes in their place, and the Yankee does the part
of the little hungry Greek to the Roman patrician.
The South has at present little or no manufactures, takes
everything from the Yankee outside or the mean white within her
gates, and despises both. Both are reconciled by interest. The
one gets a good price for his manufacture and the fruit of his
ingenuity from a careless, spendthrift proprietor; the other hopes
to be as good as his master some day, and sees the beginning of
his fortune in the possession of a negro. It is fortunate for our
great British Catherine-wheel, which is continually throwing off
light and heat to the remotest parts of the world--I hope not
burning down to a dull red cinder in the centre at last--that it
had not to send its emigrants to the Southern States, as assuredly
the emigration would soon have been checked. The United States has
been represented to the British and Irish emigrants by the free
States--the Northern States and the great West--and the British and
German emigrant who finds himself in the South, has drifted there
through the Northern States, and either is a migratory labourer, or
hopes to return with a little money to the North and West, if he
does not see his way to the possession of land and negroes.
After dinner at the hotel table, which was crowded with
officers, and where I met Mr. Howell Cobb and several senators
of the new Congress, I spent the evening with Colonel Deas,
Quartermaster-General, and a number of his staff, in their
quarters. As I was walking over to the house, one of the detached
villa-like residences so common in Southern cities, I perceived
a crowd of very well-dressed negroes, men and women, in front of
a plain brick building which I was informed was their Baptist
meeting-house, into which white people rarely or never intrude.
These were domestic servants, or persons employed in stores, and
their general appearance indicated much comfort and even luxury.
I doubted if they all were slaves. One of my companions went up
to a young woman in a straw hat, with bright red-and-green riband
trimmings and artificial flowers, a gaudy Paisley shawl, and a
rainbow-like gown, blown out over her yellow boots by a prodigious
crinoline, and asked her “Whom do you belong to?” She replied, “I
b’long to Massa Smith, sar.” Well, we have men who “belong” to
horses in England. I am not sure if Americans, North and South,
do not consider their superiority to all Englishmen so thoroughly
established, that they can speak of them as if they were talking
of inferior animals. To-night, for example, a gallant young South
Carolinian, one Ransome Calhoun,[5] was good enough to say that
“Great Britain was in mortal fear of France, and was abjectly
subdued by her great rival.” Hence came controversy, short and
acrimonious.
_May 6th._--I forgot to say that yesterday before dinner I drove
out with some gentlemen and the ladies of the family of Mr. George
N. Sanders, once United States’ consul at Liverpool, now a doubtful
man here, seeking some office from the Government, and accused by a
portion of the press of being a Confederate spy--_Porcus de grege
epicuri_--but a learned pig withal, and weather-wise, and mindful
of the signs of the times, catching straws and whisking them
upwards to detect the currents. Well, in this great moment I am
bound to say there was much talk of ice. The North owns the frozen
climates; but it was hoped that Great Britain, to whom belongs the
North Pole, might force the blockade and send aid.
The environs of Montgomery are agreeable--well-wooded, undulating,
villas abounding, public gardens, and a large negro and mulatto
suburb. It is not usual, as far as I can judge, to see women riding
on horseback in the South, but on the road here we encountered
several.
After breakfast I walked down with Senator Wigfall to the capitol
of Montgomery--one of the true Athenian Yankeeized structures of
this novo-classic land, erected on a site worthy of a better fate
and edifice. By an open cistern, on our way, I came on a gentleman
engaged in disposing of some living ebony carvings to a small
circle, who had more curiosity than cash, for they did not at all
respond to the energetic appeals of the auctioneer.
The sight was a bad preparation for an introduction to the
legislative assembly of a Confederacy which rests on the
Institution as the corner-stone of the social and political arch
which maintains it. But there they were, the legislators or
conspirators, in a large room provided with benches and seats,
and listening to such a sermon as a Balfour of Burley might have
preached to his Covenanters--resolute and massive heads, and large
frames--such men as must have a faith to inspire them. And that is
so. Assaulted by reason, by logic, argument, philanthropy, progress
directed against his peculiar institutions, the Southerner at last
is driven to a fanaticism--a sacred faith which is above all reason
or logical attack in the propriety, righteousness, and divinity of
slavery.
The chaplain, a venerable old man, loudly invoked curses on
the heads of the enemy, and blessings on the arms and councils
of the New State. When he was done, Mr. Howell Cobb, a fat,
double-chinned, mellow-eyed man, rapped with his hammer on the
desk before the chair on which he sat as speaker of the assembly,
and the house proceeded to business. I could fancy that, in all
but garments, they were like the men who first conceived the
great rebellion which led to the independence of this wonderful
country--so earnest, so grave, so sober, and so vindictive--at
least, so embittered against the power which they consider
tyrannical and insulting.
The word “liberty” was used repeatedly in the short time allotted
to the public transaction of business and the reading of documents;
the Congress was anxious to get to its work, and Mr. Howell Cobb
again thumped his desk and announced that the house was going into
“secret session,” which intimated that all persons who were not
members should leave. I was introduced to what is called the floor
of the house, and had a delegate’s chair, and of course I moved
away with the others, and with the disappointed ladies and men from
the galleries, but one of the members, Mr. Rhett, I believe, said
jokingly: “I think you ought to retain your seat. If the ‘Times’
will support the South, we’ll accept you as a delegate.” I replied
that I was afraid I could not act as a delegate to a Congress of
Slave States. And, indeed, I had been much affected at the slave
auction held just outside the hotel, on the steps of the public
fountain, which I had witnessed on my way to the capitol. The
auctioneer, who was an ill-favoured, dissipated-looking rascal, had
his “article” beside him on, not in, a deal packing-case--a stout
young negro badly dressed and ill-shod, who stood with all his
goods fastened in a small bundle in his hand, looking out at the
small and listless gathering of men, who, whittling and chewing,
had moved out from the shady side of the street as they saw the man
put up. The chattel character of slavery in the States renders it
most repulsive. What a pity the nigger is not polypoid--so that he
could be cut up in chunks, and each chunk should reproduce itself!
A man in a cart, some volunteers in coarse uniforms, a few Irish
labourers in a long van, and four or five men in the usual black
coat, satin waistcoat, and black hat, constituted the audience,
whom the auctioneer addressed volubly: “A prime field-hand! Just
look at him--good-natered, well-tempered; no marks, nary sign of
bad about him! En-i-ne hunthered--only nine hun-ther-ed and fifty
dol’rs for ’em! Why, it’s quite rad-aklous! Nine hundred and fifty
dol’rs! I can’t raly----That’s good. Thank you, sir. Twenty-five
bid--nine hun-therd and seventy-five dol’rs for this most useful
hand.” The price rose to one thousand dollars, at which the useful
hand was knocked down to one of the black hats near me. The
auctioneer and the negro and his buyer all walked off together to
settle the transaction, and the crowd moved away.
“That nigger went cheap,” said one of them to a companion, as
he walked towards the shade. “Yes, _Sirr_! Niggers is cheap
now--that’s a fact.” I must admit that I felt myself indulging in
a sort of reflection whether it would not be nice to own a man as
absolutely as one might possess a horse--to hold him subject to my
will and pleasure, as if he were a brute beast without the power of
kicking or biting--to make him work for me--to hold his fate in my
hands: but the thought was for a moment. It was followed by disgust.
I have seen slave markets in the East, where the traditions of the
race, the condition of family and social relations divest slavery
of the most odious characteristics which pertain to it in the
States; but the use of the English tongue in such a transaction,
and the idea of its taking place among a civilised Christian
people, produced in me a feeling of inexpressible loathing and
indignation. Yesterday I was much struck by the intelligence,
activity, and desire to please of a good-looking coloured waiter,
who seemed so light-hearted and light-coloured I could not imagine
he was a slave. So one of our party, who was an American, asked
him: “What are you, boy--a free nigger?” Of course he knew that in
Alabama it was most unlikely he could reply in the affirmative.
The young man’s smile died away from his lips, a flush of blood
embrowned the face for a moment, and he answered in a sad, low
tone: “No, sir! I b’long to Massa Jackson,” and left the room at
once. As I stood at an upper window of the capitol, and looked on
the wide expanse of richly-wooded, well-cultivated land which
sweeps round the hill-side away to the horizon, I could not help
thinking of the misery and cruelty which must have been borne in
tilling the land and raising the houses and streets of the dominant
race before whom one nationality of coloured people has perished
within the memory of man. The misery and cruelty of the system
are established by the advertisements for runaway negroes, and by
the description of the stigmata on their persons--whippings and
brandings, scars and cuts--though these, indeed, are less frequent
here than in the border States.
On my return, the Hon. W. M. Browne, Assistant-Secretary of State,
came to visit me--a cadet of an Irish family, who came to America
some years ago, and having lost his money in land speculations,
turned his pen to good account as a journalist, and gained
Mr. Buchanan’s patronage and support as a newspaper editor in
Washington. There he became intimate with the Southern gentlemen,
with whom he naturally associated in preference to the Northern
members; and when they went out, he walked over along with them. He
told me the Government had already received numerous--I think he
said 400--letters from shipowners applying for letters of marque
and reprisal. Many of these applications were from merchants in
Boston, and other maritime cities in the New England States. He
further stated that the President was determined to take the whole
control of the army, and the appointments to command in all ranks
of officers into his own hands.
There is now no possible chance of preserving the peace or of
averting the horrors of war from these great and prosperous
communities. The Southern people, right or wrong, are bent on
independence and on separation, and they will fight to the last for
their object.
The press is fanning the flame on both sides: it would be difficult
to say whether it or the telegraphs circulate lies most largely;
but that as the papers print the telegrams they must have the
palm. The Southerners are told there is a reign of terror in New
York--that the 7th New York Regiment has been captured by the
Baltimore people--that Abe Lincoln is always drunk--that General
Lee has seized Arlington heights, and is bombarding Washington. The
New York people are regaled with similar stories from the South.
The coincidence between the date of the skirmish at Lexington and
of the attack on the 6th Massachusetts Regiment at Baltimore is not
so remarkable as the fact, that the first man who was killed at the
latter place, 86 years ago, was a direct descendant of the first of
the colonists who was killed by the royal soldiery. Baltimore may
do the same for the South which Lexington did for all the Colonies.
Head-shaving, forcible deportations, tarring and feathering are
recommended and adopted as specifics to produce conversion from
erroneous opinions. The President of the United States has called
into service of the Federal Government 42,000 volunteers, and
increased the regular army by 22,000 men, and the navy by 18,000
men. If the South secede, they ought certainly to take over with
them some Yankee hotel keepers. This “Exchange” is in a frightful
state--nothing but noise, dirt, drinking, wrangling.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Proclamation of war--Jefferson Davis--Interview with the
President of the Confederacy--Passport and safe-conduct--Messrs.
Wigfall, Walker, and Benjamin--Privateering and letters of
marque--A reception at Jefferson Davis’s--Dinner at Mr.
Benjamin’s.
_May 9th._--To-day the papers contain a proclamation by the
President of the Confederate States of America, declaring a state
of war between the Confederacy and the United States, and notifying
the issue of letters of marque and reprisal. I went out with Mr.
Wigfall in the forenoon to pay my respects to Mr. Jefferson Davis
at the State Department. Mr. Seward told me that but for Jefferson
Davis the Secession plot could never have been carried out. No
other man of the party had the brain, or the courage and dexterity,
to bring it to a successful issue. All the persons in the Southern
States spoke of him with admiration, though their forms of speech
and thought generally forbid them to be respectful to any one.
There before me was ‘Jeff Davis’ State Department’--a large brick
building, at the corner of a street, with a Confederate flag
floating above it. The door stood open, and “gave” on a large hall
whitewashed, with doors plainly painted belonging to small rooms,
in which was transacted most important business, judging by the
names written on sheets of paper and applied outside, denoting
bureaux of the highest functions. A few clerks were passing in and
out, and one or two gentlemen were on the stairs, but there was no
appearance of any bustle in the building.
We walked straight up-stairs to the first floor, which was
surrounded by doors opening from a quadrangular platform. On one
of these was written simply, “The President.” Mr. Wigfall went
in, and after a moment returned and said, “The President will be
glad to see you; walk in, sir.” When I entered, the President was
engaged with four gentlemen, who were making some offer of aid to
him. He was thanking them “in the name of the Government.” Shaking
hands with each, he saw them to the door, bowed them and Mr.
Wigfall out, and turning to me said, “Mr. Russell, I am glad to
welcome you here, though I fear your appearance is a symptom that
our affairs are not quite prosperous,” or words to that effect.
He then requested me to sit down close to his own chair at his
office-table, and proceeded to speak on general matters, adverting
to the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, and asking questions
about Sebastopol, the Redan, and the Siege of Lucknow.
I had an opportunity of observing the President very closely: he
did not impress me as favourably as I had expected, though he is
certainly a very different looking man from Mr. Lincoln. He is like
a gentleman--has a slight, light figure, little exceeding middle
height, and holds himself erect and straight. He was dressed in a
rustic suit of slate-coloured stuff, with a black silk handkerchief
round his neck; his manner is plain, and rather reserved and
drastic; his head is well-formed, with a fine full forehead,
square and high, covered with innumerable fine lines and wrinkles,
features regular, though the cheek-bones are too high, and the
jaws too hollow to be handsome; the lips are thin, flexible, and
curved, the chin square, well defined; the nose very regular,
with wide nostrils; and the eyes deep set, large and full--one
seems nearly blind, and is partly covered with a film, owing to
excruciating attacks of neuralgia and tic. Wonderful to relate, he
does not chew, and is neat and clean-looking, with hair trimmed,
and boots brushed. The expression of his face is anxious, he has a
very haggard, care-worn, and pain-drawn look, though no trace of
anything but the utmost confidence and the greatest decision could
be detected in his conversation. He asked me some general questions
respecting the route I had taken in the States.
I mentioned that I had seen great military preparations through the
South, and was astonished at the alacrity with which the people
sprang to arms. “Yes, sir,” he remarked, and his tone of voice and
manner of speech are rather remarkable for what are considered
Yankee peculiarities, “In Eu-rope” (Mr. Seward also indulges in
that pronunciation) “they laugh at us because of our fondness for
military titles and displays. All your travellers in this country
have commented on the number of generals, and colonels, and majors
all over the States. But the fact is, we are a military people,
and these signs of the fact were ignored. We are not less military
because we have had no great standing armies. But perhaps we are
the only people in the world where gentlemen go to a military
academy who do not intend to follow the profession of arms.”
In the course of our conversation, I asked him to have the goodness
to direct that a sort of passport or protection should be given to
me, as I might possibly fall in with some guerilla leader on my way
northwards, in whose eyes I might not be entitled to safe conduct.
Mr. Davis said, “I shall give such instructions to the Secretary
of War as shall be necessary. But, sir, you are among civilised,
intelligent people who understand your position, and appreciate
your character. We do not seek the sympathy of England by unworthy
means, for we respect ourselves, and we are glad to invite the
scrutiny of men into our acts; as for our motives, we meet the eye
of Heaven.” I thought I could judge from his words that he had the
highest idea of the French as soldiers, but that his feelings and
associations were more identified with England, although he was
quite aware of the difficulty of conquering the repugnance which
exists to slavery.
Mr. Davis made no allusion to the authorities at Washington, but he
asked me if I thought it was supposed in England there would be war
between the two States? I answered, that I was under the impression
the public thought there would be no actual hostilities. “And yet
you see we are driven to take up arms for the defence of our rights
and liberties.”
As I saw an immense mass of papers on his table, I rose and made
my bow, and Mr. Davis, seeing me to the door, gave me his hand and
said, “As long as you may stay among us you shall receive every
facility it is in our power to afford to you, and I shall always be
glad to see you.” Colonel Wigfall was outside, and took me to the
room of the Secretary of War, Mr. Walker, whom we found closeted
with General Beauregard and two other officers in a room full of
maps and plans. He is the kind of man generally represented in
our types of a “Yankee”--tall, lean, straight-haired, angular,
with fiery, impulsive eyes and manner--a ruminator of tobacco and
a profuse spitter--a lawyer, I believe, certainly not a soldier;
ardent, devoted to the cause, and confident to the last degree of
its speedy success.
The news that two more States had joined the Confederacy, making
ten in all, was enough to put them in good humour. “Is it not too
bad these Yankees will not let us go our own way, and keep their
cursed Union to themselves? If they force us to it, we may be
obliged to drive them beyond the Susquehanna.” Beauregard was in
excellent spirits, busy measuring off miles of country with his
compass, as if he were dividing empires.
From this room I proceeded to the office of Mr. Benjamin, the
Attorney-General of the Confederate States, the most brilliant
perhaps of the whole of the famous Southern orators. He is a short,
stout man, with a full face, olive-coloured, and most decidedly
Jewish features, with the brightest large black eyes, one of which
is somewhat diverse from the other, and a brisk, lively, agreeable
manner, combined with much vivacity of speech and quickness of
utterance. He is one of the first lawyers or advocates in the
United States, and had a large practice at Washington, where his
annual receipts from his profession were not less than £8000 to
£10,000 a year. But his love of the card-table rendered him a prey
to older and cooler hands, who waited till the sponge was full at
the end of the session, and then squeezed it to the last drop.
Mr. Benjamin is the most open, frank, and cordial of the
Confederates whom I have yet met. In a few seconds he was telling
me all about the course of Government with respect to privateers
and letters of marque and reprisal, in order probably to ascertain
what were our views in England on the subject. I observed it was
likely the North would not respect their flag, and would treat
their privateers as pirates. “We have an easy remedy for that. For
any man under our flag whom the authorities of the United States
dare to execute, we shall hang two of their people.” “Suppose,
Mr. Attorney-General, England, or any of the great powers which
decreed the abolition of privateering, refuses to recognise your
flag?” “We intend to claim, and do claim, the exercise of all the
rights and privileges of an independent sovereign State, and any
attempt to refuse us the full measure of those rights would be an
act of hostility to our country.” “But if England, for example,
declared your privateers were pirates?” “As the United States
never admitted the principle laid down at the Congress of Paris,
neither have the Confederate States. If England thinks fit to
declare privateers under our flag pirates, it would be nothing more
or less than a declaration of war against us, and we must meet it
as best we can.” In fact, Mr. Benjamin did not appear afraid of
anything; but his confidence respecting Great Britain was based a
good deal, no doubt, on his firm faith in cotton, and in England’s
utter subjection to her cotton interest and manufactures. “All this
coyness about acknowledging a slave power will come right at last.
We hear our commissioners have gone on to Paris, which looks as if
they had met with no encouragement at London; but we are quite
easy in our minds on this point at present.”
So Great Britain is in a pleasant condition. Mr. Seward is
threatening us with war if we recognise the South, and the South
declares that if we don’t recognise their flag, they will take it
as an act of hostility. Lord Lyons is pressed to give an assurance
to the Government at Washington, that under no circumstances will
Great Britain recognise the Southern rebels; but, at the same time,
Mr. Seward refuses to give any assurance whatever, that the right
of neutrals will be respected in the impending struggle.
As I was going down-stairs, Mr. Browne called me into his room.
He said that the Attorney-General and himself were in a state of
perplexity as to the form in which letters of marque and reprisal
should be made out. They had consulted all the books they could
get, but found no examples to suit their case, and he wished to
know, as I was a barrister, whether I could aid him. I told him it
was not so much my regard to my own position as a neutral, as the
_vafri inscitia juris_ which prevented me throwing any light on the
subject. There are not only Yankee shipowners but English firms
ready with sailors and steamers for the Confederate Government, and
the owner of the Camilla might be tempted to part with his yacht by
the offers made to him.
Being invited to attend a levée or reception held by Mrs. Davis,
the President’s wife, I returned to the hotel to prepare for the
occasion. On my way I passed a company of volunteers, one hundred
and twenty artillerymen, and three field-pieces, on their way
to the station for Virginia, followed by a crowd of “citizens”
and negroes of both sexes, cheering vociferously. The band was
playing that excellent quick-step “Dixie.” The men were stout, fine
fellows, dressed in coarse grey tunics with yellow facings, and
French caps. They were armed with smooth-bore muskets, and their
knapsacks were unfit for marching, being waterproof bags slung
from the shoulders. The guns had no caissons, and the shoeing of
the troops was certainly deficient in soleing. The Zouave mania
is quite as rampant here as it is in New York, and the smallest
children are thrust into baggy red breeches, which the learned
Lipsius might have appreciated, and are sent out with flags and tin
swords to impede the highways.
The modest villa in which the President lives is painted
white--another “White House”--and stands in a small garden. The
door was open. A coloured servant took in our names, and Mr.
Browne presented me to Mrs. Davis, whom I could just make out in
the _demi-jour_ of a moderately-sized parlour, surrounded by a few
ladies and gentlemen, the former in bonnets, the latter in morning
dress _à la midi_. There was no affectation of state or ceremony
in the reception. Mrs. Davis, whom some of her friends call “Queen
Varina,” is a comely, sprightly woman, verging on matronhood, of
good figure and manners, well-dressed, ladylike, and clever, and
she seemed a great favourite with those around her, though I did
hear one of them say “It must be very nice to be the President’s
wife, and be the first lady in the Confederate States.” Mrs. Davis,
whom the President C. S. married _en secondes noces_, exercised
considerable social influence in Washington, where I met many
of her friends. She was just now inclined to be angry, because
the papers contained a report that a reward was offered in the
North for the head of the arch rebel Jeff Davis. “They are quite
capable, I believe,” she said, “of such acts.” There were not more
than eighteen or twenty persons present, as each party came in and
staid only for a few moments, and, after a time, I made my bow and
retired, receiving from Mrs. Davis an invitation to come in the
evening, when I would find the President at home.
At sundown, amid great cheering, the guns in front of the State
Department, fired ten rounds to announce that Tennessee and
Arkansas had joined the Confederacy.
In the evening I dined with Mr. Benjamin and his brother-in-law,
a gentleman of New Orleans, Colonel Wigfall coming in at the end
of dinner. The New Orleans people of French descent, or “Creoles,”
as they call themselves, speak French in preference to English,
and Mr. Benjamin’s brother-in-law laboured considerably in trying
to make himself understood in our vernacular. The conversation,
Franco-English, very pleasant, for Mr. Benjamin is agreeable and
lively. He is certain that the English law authorities must advise
the Government that the blockade of the Southern ports is illegal
so long as the President claims them to be ports of the United
States. “At present,” he said, “their paper blockade does no harm;
the season for shipping cotton is over; but in October next, when
the Mississippi is floating cotton by the thousands of bales, and
all our wharfs are full, it is inevitable that the Yankees must
come to trouble with this attempt to coerce us.” Mr. Benjamin
walked back to the hotel with me, and we found our room full of
tobacco-smoke, filibusters, and conversation, in which, as sleep
was impossible, we were obliged to join. I resisted a vigorous
attempt of Mr. G. N. Sanders and a friend of his to take me to
visit a planter who had a beaver-dam some miles outside Montgomery.
They succeeded in capturing Mr. Deasy.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Mr. Wigfall on the Confederacy--Intended departure from the
South--Northern apathy and Southern activity--Future prospects
of the Union--South Carolina and cotton--The theory of
slavery--Indifference at New York--Departure from Montgomery.
_May 8th._ I tried to write, as I have taken my place in the
steamer to Mobile to-morrow, and I was obliged to do my best in
a room full of people, constantly disturbed by visitors. Early
this morning, as usual, my faithful Wigfall comes in and sits by
my bedside, and passing his hands through his locks, pours out
his ideas with wonderful lucidity and odd affectation of logic
all his own. “We are a peculiar people, sir! You don’t understand
us, and you can’t understand us, because we are known to you
only by Northern writers and Northern papers, who know nothing
of us themselves, or misrepresent what they do know. We are an
agricultural people; we are a primitive but a civilised people.
We have no cities--we don’t want them. We have no literature--we
don’t need any yet. We have no press--we are glad of it. We do
not require a press, because we go out and discuss all public
questions from the stump with our people. We have no commercial
marine--no navy--we don’t want them. We are better without them.
Your ships carry our produce, and you can protect your own vessels.
We want no manufactures: we desire no trading, no mechanical or
manufacturing classes. As long as we have our rice, our sugar, our
tobacco, and our cotton, we can command wealth to purchase all we
want from those nations with which we are in amity, and to lay up
money besides. But with the Yankees we will never trade--never.
Not one pound of cotton shall ever go from the South to their
accursed cities; not one ounce of their steel or their manufactures
shall ever cross our border.” And so on. What the Senator who is
preparing a bill for drafting the people into the army fears is,
that the North will begin active operations before the South is
ready for resistance. “Give us till November to drill our men, and
we shall be irresistible.” He deprecates any offensive movement,
and is opposed to an attack on Washington, which many journals here
advocate.
Mr. Walker sent me over a letter recommending me to all officers
of the Confederate States, and I received an invitation from the
President to dine with him to-morrow, which I was much chagrined
to be obliged to refuse. In fact, it is most important to complete
my Southern tour speedily, as all mail communication will soon be
suspended from the South, and the blockade effectually cuts off any
communication by sea. Rails torn up, bridges broken, telegraphs
down--trains searched--the war is begun. The North is pouring its
hosts to the battle, and it has met the pæans of the conquering
Charlestonians with a universal yell of indignation and an oath of
vengeance.
I expressed a belief in a letter, written a few days after my
arrival (March 27th), that the South would never go back into the
Union. The North think that they can coerce the South, and I am
not prepared to say they are right or wrong; but I am convinced
that the South can only be forced back by such a conquest as that
which laid Poland prostrate at the feet of Russia. It may be
that such a conquest can be made by the North, but success must
destroy the Union as it has been constituted in times past. A
strong Government must be the logical consequence of victory, and
the triumph of the South will be attended by a similar result,
for which, indeed, many Southerners are very well-disposed. To
the people of the Confederate States there would be no terror in
such an issue, for it appears to me they are pining for a strong
Government exceedingly. The North must accept it, whether they like
it or not.
Neither party--if such a term can be applied to the rest of the
United States, and to those States which disclaim the authority
of the Federal Government--was prepared for the aggressive or
resisting power of the other. Already the Confederate States
perceive that they cannot carry all before them with a rush, while
the North have learnt that they must put forth all their strength
to make good a tithe of their lately uttered threats. But the
Montgomery Government are anxious to gain time, and to prepare
a regular army. The North, distracted by apprehensions of vast
disturbance in their complicated relations, are clamouring for
instant action and speedy consummation. The counsels of moderate
men, as they were called, have been utterly overruled.
The whole foundation on which South Carolina rests is cotton and
a certain amount of rice; or rather she bases her whole fabric on
the necessity which exists in Europe for those products of her
soil, believing and asserting, as she does, that England and France
cannot and will not do without them. Cotton, without a market, is
so much flocculent matter encumbering the ground. Rice, without
demand for it, is unsaleable grain in store and on the field.
Cotton at ten cents a pound is boundless prosperity, empire and
superiority, and rice or grain need no longer be regarded.
In the matter of slave-labour, South Carolina argues pretty much
in the following manner: England and France (she says) require
our products. In order to meet their wants, we must cultivate our
soil. There is only one way of doing so. The white man cannot live
on our land at certain seasons of the year; he cannot work in the
manner required by the crops. He must, therefore, employ a race
suited to the labour, and that is a race which will only work when
it is obliged to do so. That race was imported from Africa, under
the sanction of the law, by our ancestors, when we were a British
colony, and it has been fostered by us, so that its increase here
has been as great as that of the most flourishing people in the
world. In other places, where its labour was not productive or
imperatively essential, that race has been made free, sometimes
with disastrous consequences to itself and to industry. But we
will not make it free. We cannot do so. We hold that slavery is
essential to our existence as producers of what Europe requires;
nay more, we maintain it is in the abstract right in principle; and
some of us go so far as to maintain that the only proper form of
society, according to the law of God and the exigencies of man, is
that which has slavery as its basis. As to the slave, he is happier
far in his state of servitude, more civilised and religious, than
he is or could be if free or in his native Africa. For this system
we will fight to the end.
In the evening I paid farewell visits, and spent an hour with Mr.
Toombs, who is unquestionably one of the most original, quaint, and
earnest of the Southern leaders, and whose eloquence and power as
a debater are greatly esteemed by his countrymen. He is something
of an Anglo-maniac, and an Anglo-phobist--a combination not
unusual in America--that is, he is proud of being connected with
and descended from respectable English families, and admires our
mixed constitution, whilst he is an enemy to what is called English
policy, and is a strong pro-slavery champion. Wigfall and he are
very uneasy about the scant supply of gunpowder in the Southern
States, and the difficulty of obtaining it.
In the evening had a little reunion in the bed-room as before.--Mr.
Wigfall, Mr. Keitt, an eminent Southern politician, Col. Pickett,
Mr. Browne, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. George Sanders, and others. The
last-named gentleman was dismissed or recalled from his post at
Liverpool, because he fraternised with Mazzini and other Red
Republicans _à ce qu’ on dit_. Here he is a slavery man, and a
friend of an oligarchy. Your “Rights of Man” man is often most
inconsistent with himself, and is generally found associated with
the men of force and violence.
_May 9th._--My faithful Wigfall was good enough to come in early,
in order to show me some comments on my letters in the “New York
Times.” It appears the papers are angry because I said that New
York was apathetic when I landed, and they try to prove I was
wrong by showing there was a “glorious outburst of Union feeling,”
after the news of the fall of Sumter. But I now know that the very
apathy of which I spoke was felt by the Government of Washington,
and was most weakening and embarrassing to them. What would not
the value of “the glorious outburst” have been, had it taken place
_before_ the Charleston batteries had opened on Sumter--when the
Federal flag, for example, was fired on, flying from the ‘Star of
the West,’ or when Beauregard cut off supplies, or Bragg threatened
Pickens, or the first shovel of earth was thrown up in hostile
battery? But no! New York was then engaged in discussing State
rights, and in reading articles to prove the new Government would
be traitors if they endeavoured to reinforce the Federal forts, or
were perusing leaders in favour of the Southern Government. Haply,
they may remember one, not so many weeks old, in which the “New
York Herald” compared Jeff Davis and his Cabinet to the “Great
Rail Splitter,” and Seward, and Chase, and came to the conclusion
that the former “were gentlemen”--(a matter of which it is quite
incompetent to judge)--“and would, and ought to succeed.” The
glorious outburst of “Union feeling” which threatened to demolish
the “Herald” office, has created a most wonderful change in the
views of the proprietor, whose diverse-eyed vision is now directed
solely to the beauties of the Union, and whose faith is expressed
in “a hearty adhesion to the Government of our country.” New York
must pay the penalty of its indifference, and bear the consequences
of listening to such counsellors.
Mr. Deasy, much dilapidated, returned about twelve o’clock from
his planter, who was drunk when he went over, and would not let
him go to the beaver-dam. To console him, the planter stayed
up all night drinking, and waking him up at intervals, that he
might refresh him with a glass of whisky. This man was well off,
owned land, and a good stock of slaves, but he must have been a
“mean white,” who had raised himself in the world. He lived in a
three-roomed wooden cabin, and in one of the rooms he kept his wife
shut up from the strangers’ gaze. One of his negroes was unwell,
and he took Deasy to see him. The result of his examination was,
“Nigger! I guess you won’t live more than an hour.” His diagnosis
was quite correct.
Before my departure I had a little farewell levée--Mr. Toombs, Mr.
Browne, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Walker, Major Deas, Colonel Pickett,
Major Calhoun, Captain Ripley, and others--who were exceedingly
kind with letters of introduction and offers of service. Dined as
usual on a composite dinner--Southern meat and poultry bad--at
three o’clock, and at four P.M. drove down to the steep banks of
the Alabama River, where the castle-like hulk of the “Southern
Republic” was waiting to receive us. I bade good-by to Montgomery
without regret. The native people were not very attractive, and the
city has nothing to make up for their deficiency, but of my friends
there I must always retain pleasant memories, and, indeed, I hope
some day I shall be able to keep my promise to return and see more
of the Confederate ministers and their chief.
CHAPTER XXV.
The River Alabama--Voyage by steamer--Selma--Our captain and
his slaves--“Running” slaves--Negro views of happiness--
Mobile--Hotel--The city--Mr. Forsyth.
The vessel was nothing more than a vast wooden house, of three
separate storeys, floating on a pontoon which upheld the engine,
with a dining-hall or saloon on the second storey surrounded by
sleeping-berths, and a nest of smaller rooms up-stairs; on the
metal roof was a “musical” instrument called a “calliope,” played
like a piano by keys, which acted on levers and valves, admitting
steam into metal cups, where it produced the requisite notes--high,
resonant, and not unpleasing at a moderate distance. It is 417
miles to Mobile, but at this season the steamer can maintain a good
rate of speed as there is very little cotton or cargo to be taken
on board at the landings, and the stream is full.
The river is about 200 yards broad, and of the colour of chocolate
and milk, with high, steep, wooded banks, rising so much above
the surface of the stream, that a person on the upper deck of the
towering Southern Republic, cannot get a glimpse of the fields
and country beyond. High banks and bluffs spring up to the height
of 150 or even 200 feet above the river, the breadth of which
is so uniform as give the Alabama the appearance of a canal,
only relieved by sudden bends and rapid curves. The surface is
covered with masses of drift-wood, whole trees, and small islands
of branches. Now and then a sharp, black, fang-like projection
standing stiffly in the current gives warning of a snag, but the
helmsman, who commands the whole course of the river, from an
elevated house amidships on the upper deck, can see these in time;
and at night pine boughs are lighted in iron cressets at the bows
to illuminate the water.
The captain, who was not particular whether his name was spelt
Maher, or Meaher, or Meagher (_les trois se disent_), was evidently
a character--perhaps a good one. One with a grey eye full of
cunning and of some humour, strongly-marked features, and a very
Celtic mouth of the Kerry type. He soon attached himself to me,
and favoured me with some wonderful yarns, which I hope he was not
foolish enough to think I believed. One relating to a wholesale
destruction and massacre of Indians, he narrated with evident
gusto. Pointing to one of the bluffs, he said that some thirty
years ago the whole of the Indians in the district being surrounded
by the whites, betook themselves to that spot and remained there
without any means of escape, till they were quite starved out. So
they sent down to know if the whites would let them go, and it
was agreed that they should be permitted to move down the river
in boats. When the day came, and they were all afloat, the whites
anticipated the boat-massacre of Nana Sahib at Cawnpore, and
destroyed the helpless red skins. Many hundreds thus perished, and
the whole affair was very much approved of.
The value of land on the sides of this river is great, as it
yields nine to eleven bales of cotton to the acre--worth 10_l._ a
bale at present prices. The only evidences of this wealth to be
seen by us consisted of the cotton sheds on the top of the banks,
and slides of timber, with steps at each side down to the landings,
so constructed that the cotton bales could be shot down on board
the vessel. These shoots and staircases are generally protected by
a roof of planks, and lead to unknown regions inhabited by niggers
and their masters, the latter all talking politics. They never
will, never can be conquered--nothing on earth could induce them
to go back into the Union. They will burn every bale of cotton,
and fire every house, and lay waste every field and homestead
before they will yield to the Yankees. And so they talk through the
glimmering of bad cigars for hours.
The management of the boat is dexterous,--as she approaches a
landing place, the helm is put hard over, to the screaming of the
steam-pipe and the wild strains of “Dixie” floating out of the
throats of the calliope, and as the engines are detached, one wheel
is worked forward, and the other backs water, so she soon turns
head up stream, and is then gently paddled up to the river bank, to
which she is just kept up by steam--the plank is run ashore, and
the few passengers who are coming in or out are lighted on their
way by the flames of pine in an iron basket, swinging above the
bow by a long pole. Then we see them vanishing into black darkness
up the steps, or coming down clearer and clearer till they stand
in the full blaze of the beacon which casts dark shadows on the
yellow water. The air is glistening with fire-flies, which dot
the darkness with specks and points of flame, just as sparks fly
through the embers of tinder or half-burnt paper.
Some of the landings were by far more important than others. There
were some, for example, where an iron railroad was worked down the
bank by windlasses for hoisting up goods; others where the negroes
half-naked leaped ashore, and rushing at piles of firewood, tossed
them on board to feed the engine, which, all uncovered and open
to the lower deck, lighted up the darkness by the glare from the
stoke-holes, which cried for ever, “Give, give!” as the negroes
ceaselessly thrust the pine-beams into their hungry maws. I could
understand how easily a steamer can “burn up,” and how hopeless
escape would be under such circumstances. The whole framework
of the vessel is of the lightest resinous pine, so raw that the
turpentine oozes out through the paint; the hull is a mere shell.
If the vessel once caught fire, all that could be done would be to
turn her round, and run her to the bank, in the hope of holding
there long enough to enable the people to escape into the trees;
but if she were not near a landing, many must be lost; as the
bank is steep down, the vessel cannot be run aground; and in some
places the trees are in 8 and 10 feet of water. A few minutes
would suffice to set the vessel in a blaze from stem to stern;
and if there were cotton on board, the bales would burn almost
like powder. The scene at each landing was repeated, with few
variations, ten times till we reached Selma, 110 miles distance, at
11·30 at night.
Selma, which is connected with the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers
by railroad, is built upon a steep, lofty bluff, and the lights in
the windows, and the lofty hotels above us, put me in mind of the
old town of Edinburgh, seen from Princes Street. Beside us there
was a huge storied wharf, so that our passengers could step on
shore from any deck they pleased. Here Mr. Deasy, being attacked
by illness, became alarmed at the idea of continuing his journey
without any opportunity of medical assistance, and went on shore.
_May 10th._--The cabin of one of these steamers, in the month of
May, is not favourable to sleep. The wooden beams of the engines
creak and scream “consumedly,” and the great engines themselves
throb as if they would break through their thin, pulse covers of
pine,--and the whistle sounds, and the calliope shrieks out “Dixie”
incessantly. So, when I was up and dressed, breakfast was over,
and I had an opportunity of seeing the slaves on board, male and
female, acting as stewards and stewardesses, at their morning meal,
which they took with much good spirits and decorum. They were
nicely dressed--clean and neat. I was forced to admit to myself
that their Ashantee grandsires and grandmothers, or their Kroo and
Dahomey progenitors were certainly less comfortable and well clad,
and that these slaves had other social advantages, though I could
not recognise the force of the Bishop of Georgia’s assertion, that
from slavery must come the sole hope of, and machinery for, the
evangelisation of Africa. I confess I would not give much for the
influence of the stewards and stewardesses in Christianising the
blacks.
The river, the scenery, and the scenes were just the same as
yesterday’s--high banks, cotton-slides, wooding stations, cane
brakes--and a very miserable negro population, if the specimens
of women and children at the landings fairly represented the mass
of the slaves. They were in strong contrast to the comfortable,
well-dressed domestic slaves on board, and it can well be imagined
there is a wide difference between the classes, and that those
condemned to work in the open fields must suffer exceedingly.
A passenger told us the captain’s story. A number of planters, the
narrator among them, subscribed a thousand dollars each to get
up a vessel for the purpose of running a cargo of slaves, with
the understanding they were to pay so much for the vessel, and
so much per head if she succeeded, and so much if she was taken
or lost. The vessel made her voyage to the coast, was laden with
native Africans, and in due time made her appearance off Mobile.
The collector heard of her, but, oddly enough, the sheriff was
not about at the time, the United States’ Marshal was away, and
as the vessel could not be seen next morning, it was fair to
suppose she had gone up the river, or somewhere or another. But it
so happened that Captain Maher, then commanding a river steamer
called the Czar (a name once very appropriate for the work, but
since the serf emancipation rather out of place), found himself
in the neighbourhood of the brig about nightfall; next morning,
indeed, the Czar was at her moorings in the river; but Captain
Maher, began to grow rich, he had fine negroes fresh run on his
land, and bought fresh acres, and finally built the “Southern
Republic.” The planters asked him for their share of the slaves.
Captain Maher laughed pleasantly; he did not understand what they
meant. If he had done anything wrong, they had their legal remedy.
They were completely beaten; for they could not have recourse to
the tribunals in a case which rendered them liable to capital
punishment. And so Captain Maher, as an act of grace, gave them a
few old niggers, and kept the rest of the cargo.
It was worth while to see the leer with which he listened to this
story about himself, “Wall now! You think them niggers I’ve abord
came from Africa! I’ll show you. Jist come up here, Bully!” A boy
of some twelve years of age, stout, fat, nearly naked, came up to
us; his colour was jet black, his wool close as felt, his cheeks
were marked with regular parallel scars, and his teeth very white,
looked as if they had been filed to a point, his belly was slightly
protuberant, and his chest was marked with tracings of tattoo marks.
“What’s your name, sir?”
“My name Bully.”
“Where were you born?”
“Me born Sout Karliner, sar!”
“There, you see he wasn’t taken from Africa,” exclaimed the
Captain, knowingly. “I’ve a lot of these black South Caroliny
niggers abord, haven’t I, Bully?”
“Yas, sar.”
“Are you happy, Bully?”
“Yas, sar.”
“Show how you’re happy.”
Here the boy rubbed his stomach, and grinning with delight, said,
“Yummy! yummy! plenty belly full.”
“That’s what I call a real happy feelosophical chap,” quoth the
Captain. “I guess you’ve got a lot in your country can’t pat
_their_ stomachs and say, ‘yummy, yummy, plenty belly full?’”
“Where did he get those marks on his face?”
“Oh, them? Wall, it’s a way them nigger women has of marking their
children to know them; isn’t it, Bully?”
“Yas, sar! me ’spose so!”
“And on his chest!”
“Wall, r’ally I do b’l’eve them’s marks agin the smallpox.”
“Why are his teeth filed?”
“Ah, there now! You’d never have guessed it; Bully done that
himself, for the greater ease of biting his vittels.”
In fact, the lad, and a good many of the hands, were the results of
Captain Maher’s little sail in the Czar.
“We’re obleeged to let ’em in some times to keep up the balance
agin the niggers you run into Canaydy.”
From 1848 to 1852 there were no slaves run; but since the
migrations to Canada and the personal liberty laws, it has been
found profitable to run them. There is a bucolic ferocity about
these Southern people which will stand them good stead in the
shock of battle. How the Spartans would have fought against any
barbarians who came to emancipate their slaves, or the Romans have
smitten those who would manumit slave and creditor together!
To-night, on the lower deck, amid wood faggots, and barrels, a
dance of negroes was arranged by an enthusiast, who desired to
show how “happy they were.” That is the favourite theme of the
Southerners; the gallant Captain Maher becomes quite eloquent when
he points to Bully’s prominent “yummy,” and descants on the misery
of his condition if he had been left to the precarious chances of
obtaining such developments in his native land; then turns a quid,
and, as if uttering some sacred refrain to the universal hymn of
the South, says, “Yes, sir, they’re the happiest people on the face
of the airth!”
There was a fiddler, and also a banjo-player, who played uncouth
music to the clumsiest of dances, which it would be insulting to
compare to the worst Irish jig, and the men with immense gravity
and great effusion of _sudor_, shuffled, and cut, and heeled and
buckled to each other with an overwhelming solemnity, till the
rum-bottle warmed them up to the lighter graces of the dance, when
they became quite overpowering. “Yes, sir, jist look at them how
they’re enjoying it; they’re the happiest people on the face of the
airth.” When “wooding” and firing up they don’t seem to be in the
possession of the same exquisite felicity.
_May 11th._--At early dawn the steamer went its way through a broad
bay of snags bordered with drift-wood, and with steam-trumpet
and calliope announced its arrival at the quay of Mobile, which
presented a fringe of tall warehouses, and shops alongside, over
which were names indicating Scotch, Irish, English, many Spanish,
German, Italian, and French owners, Captain Maher at once set off
to his plantation, and we descended the stories of the walled
castle to the beach, and walked on towards the “Battle House,” so
called from the name of its proprietor, for Mobile has not yet had
its fight like New Orleans. The quays which usually, as we were
told, are lined with stately hulls and a forest of masts, were
deserted; although the port was not actually blockaded, there were
squadrons of the United States ships at Pensacola on the east, and
at New Orleans on the west.
The hotel, a fine building of the American stamp, was the seat
of a Vigilance Committee, and as we put down our names in the
book they were minutely inspected by some gentlemen who came out
of the parlour. It was fortunate they did not find traces of
Lincolnism about us, as it appeared by the papers that they were
busy deporting “Abolitionists” after certain preliminary processes
supposed to--
“Give them a rise, and open their eyes
To a sense of their situation.”
The citizens were busy in drilling, marching, and drum-beating, and
the Confederate flag flew from every spire and steeple. The day
was so hot that it was little more inviting to go out in the sun
than it would be in the dog-days at Malaga, to which, by-the-bye,
Mobile bears some “kinder sorter” resemblance, but, nevertheless,
I sallied forth, and had a drive on a shell road by the head of
the bay, where there were pretty villarettes in charming groves
of magnolia, orange-trees, and lime oaks. Wide streets of similar
houses spring out to meet the country through sandy roads;
some worthy of Streatham or Balham, and all surrounded in such
vegetation as Kew might envy.
Many Mobilians called, and among them the mayor, Mr. Forsyth, in
whom I recognised the most remarkable of the Southern Commissioners
I had met at Washington. Mr. Magee, the acting British Consul was
also good enough to wait upon me, with offers of any assistance in
his power. I hear he has most difficult questions to deal with,
arising out of the claims of distressed British subjects, and
disputed nationality. In the evening the Consul and Dr. Nott, a
savant and physician of Mobile, well known to ethnologists for
his work on the “Types of Mankind,” written conjointly with the
late Mr. Gliddon, dined with me, and I learned from them that,
notwithstanding the intimate commercial relations between Mobile
and the great Northern cities, the people here are of the most
ultra-secessionist doctrines. The wealth and manhood of the city
will be devoted to repel the “Lincolnite mercenaries” to the last.
After dinner we walked through the city, which abounds in
oyster saloons, drinking-houses, lager-bier and wine-shops, and
gambling and dancing places. The market was well worthy of a
visit--something like St. John’s at Liverpool on a Saturday night,
crowded with negroes, mulattoes, quadroons, and mestizos of all
sorts, Spanish, Italian, and French, speaking their own tongues,
or a quaint lingua franca, and dressed in very striking and pretty
costumes. The fruit and vegetable stalls displayed very fine
produce, and some staples, remarkable for novelty, ugliness, and
goodness. After our stroll we went into one of the great oyster
saloons, and in a room up-stairs had opportunity of tasting those
great bivalvians in the form of natural fish puddings, fried in
batter, roasted, stewed, devilled, broiled, and in many other ways,
_plus_ raw. I am bound to observe that the Mobile people ate them
as if there was no blockade, and as though oysters were a specific
for political indigestions and civil wars; a fierce Marseillais are
they--living in the most foreign-looking city I have yet seen in
the States. My private room in the hotel was large, well-lighted
with gas, and exceedingly well furnished in the German fashion,
with French pendule and mirrors. The charge for a private room
varies from 1_l._ to 1_l._ 5_s._ a-day; the bed-room and board are
charged separately, from 10_s._ 6_d._ to 12_s._ 6_d._ a-day, but
meals served in the private room are all charged extra, and heavily
too. Exclusiveness is an aristocratic taste which must be paid for.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Visit to Forts Gaines and Morgan--War to the knife the cry of the
South--The “State” and the “States”--Bay of Mobile--The forts and
their inmates--Opinions as to an attack on Washington--Rumours of
actual war.
_May 12th._ Mr. Forsyth had been good enough to invite me to an
excursion down the Bay of Mobile, to the forts built by Uncle
Sam and his French engineers to sink his Britishers--now turned
by “C. S. A.” against the hated Stars and Stripes. The mayor and
the principal merchants and many politicians--and are not all men
politicians in America?--formed the party. If any judgment of men’s
acts can be formed from their words, the Mobilites, who are the
representatives of the third greatest port of the United States,
will perish ere they submit to the Yankees and people of New
York. I have now been in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, and in none of these great States have I found the least
indication of the Union sentiment, or of the attachment for the
Union which Mr. Seward always assumes to exist in the South. If
there were any considerable amount of it, I was in a position as a
neutral to have been aware of its existence.
Those who might have at one time opposed secession, have now bowed
their heads to the majesty of the majority; and with the cowardice,
which is the result of the irresponsible and cruel tyranny of the
multitude, hasten to swell the cry of revolution. But the multitude
are the law in the United States. “There’s a divinity doth hedge”
the mob here, which is omnipotent and all good. The majority in
each State determines its political status according to Southern
views. The Northerners are endeavouring to maintain that the
majority of the people in the mass of the States generally, shall
regulate that point for each State individually and collectively.
If there be any party in the Southern States which thinks such an
attempt justifiable, it sits silent, and fearful, and hopeless in
darkness and sorrow hid from the light of day. General Scott, who
was a short time ago written of in the usual inflated style, to
which respectable military mediocrity and success are entitled in
the States, is now reviled by the Southern papers as an infamous
hoary traitor and the like. If an officer prefers his allegiance to
the United States’ flag, and remains in the Federal service after
his State has gone out, his property is liable to confiscation by
the State authorities, and his family and kindred are exposed to
the gravest suspicion, and must prove their loyalty by extra zeal
in the cause of secession.
Our merry company comprised naval and military officers in the
service of the Confederate States, journalists, politicians,
professional men, merchants, and not one of them had a word but of
hate and execration for the North. The British and German settlers
are quite as vehement as the natives in upholding States’ rights,
and among the most ardent upholders of slavery are the Irish
proprietors and mercantile classes.
The Bay of Mobile, which is about thirty miles long, with a breadth
varying from three to seven miles, is formed by the outfall of the
Alabama and of the Tombigee river, and is shallow and dangerous,
full of banks and trees, embedded in the sands; but all large
vessels lie at the entrance between Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, to
the satisfaction of the masters, who are thus spared the trouble
with their crews which occurs in the low haunts of a maritime town.
The cotton is sent down in lighters, which employ many hands at
high wages. The shores are low wooded, and are dotted here and
there with pretty villas; but present no attractive scenery.
The sea breeze somewhat alleviated the fierceness of the sun, which
was however too hot to be quite agreeable. Our steamer, crowded
to the sponsons, made little way against the tide; but at length,
after nearly four hours’ sail, we hauled up alongside a jetty at
Fort Gaines, which is on the right hand or western exit of harbour,
and would command, were it finished, the light draft channel; it
is now merely a shell of masonry, but Colonel Hardee, who has
charge of the defences of Mobile, told me that they would finish it
speedily.
The Colonel is an agreeable, delicate-looking man, scarcely of
middle age, and is well-known in the States as the author of “The
Tactics,” which is, however, merely a translation of the French
manual of arms. He does not appear to be possessed of any great
energy or capacity, but is, no doubt, a respectable officer.
Upon landing we found a small body of men on guard in the fort. A
few cannon of moderate calibre were mounted on the sand-hills and
on the beach. We entered the unfinished work, and were received
with a salute. The men felt difficulty in combining discipline
with citizenship. They were “bored” with their sandhill, and one
of them asked me when I “thought them damned Yankees were coming.
He wanted to touch off a few pills he knew would be good for
their complaint.” I must say I could sympathise with the feelings
of the young officer who said he would sooner have a day with
the Lincolnites, than a week with the musquitoes for which this
locality is famous.
From Fort Gaines the steamer ran across to Fort Morgan, about three
miles distant, passing in its way seven vessels, mostly British, at
anchor, where hundreds may be seen, I am told, during the cotton
season. This work has a formidable sea face, and may give great
trouble to Uncle Sam, when he wants to visit his loving subjects
in Mobile in his gunboats. It is the work of Bernard, I presume,
and like most of his designs has a weak long base towards the land;
but it is provided with a wet ditch and drawbridge, with demi
lunes covering the curtains, and has a regular bastioned trace.
It has one row of casemates, armed with 32 and 42-pounders. The
barbette guns are 8-inch and 10-inch guns; the external works at
the salients, are armed with howitzers and field-pieces, and as we
crossed the drawbridge, a salute was fired from a field battery, on
a flanking bastion, in our honour.
Inside the work was crammed with men, some of whom slept in the
casemates--others in tents in the parade grounds and enceinte of
the fort. They were Alabama Volunteers, and as sturdy a lot of
fellows as ever shouldered musket; dressed in homespun coarse
grey suits, with blue and yellow worsted facings and stripes--to
European eyes not very respectful to their officers, but very
obedient, I am told, and very peremptorily ordered about as I heard.
There were 700 or 800 men in the work, and an undue proportion of
officers, all of whom were introduced to the strangers in turn.
The officers were a very gentlemanly, nice-looking set of young
fellows, and several of them had just come over from Europe to
take up arms for their State. I forget the name of the officer in
command, though I cannot forget his courtesy, nor an excellent
lunch he gave us in his casemate after a hot walk round the
parapets, and some practice with solid shot from the barbette guns,
which did not tend to make me think much of the greatly-be-praised
Columbiads.
One of the officers named Maury, a relative of “deep-sea Maury,”
struck me as an ingenious and clever officer; the utmost harmony,
kindliness, and devotion to the cause prevailed among the garrison,
from the chief down to the youngest ensign. In its present state
the Fort would suffer exceedingly from a heavy bombardment--the
magazines would be in danger, and the traverses are inadequate. All
the barracks and wooden buildings should be destroyed if they wish
to avoid the fate of Sumter.
On our cruise homewards, in the enjoyment of a cold dinner, we had
the inevitable discussion of the Northern and Southern contest. Mr.
Forsyth, the editor and proprietor of the “Mobile Register,” is
impassioned for the cause, though he was not at one time considered
a pure Southerner. There is difference of opinion relative to an
attack on Washington. General St. George Cooke, commanding the
army of Virginia on the Potomac, declares there is no intention
of attacking it, or any place outside the limits of that free and
sovereign State. But then the conduct of the Federal Government in
Maryland is considered by the more fiery Southerners to justify the
expulsion of “Lincoln and his Myrmidons,” “the Border Ruffians and
Cassius M. Clay,” from the capital. Butler has seized on the Relay
House, on the junction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, with
the rail from Washington, and has displayed a good deal of vigour
since his arrival at Annapolis. He is a democrat, and a celebrated
criminal lawyer in Massachusetts. Troops are pouring into New York,
and are preparing to attack Alexandria, on the Virginia side, below
Washington and the Navy Yard, where a large Confederate flag is
flying, which can be seen from the President’s windows in the White
House.
There is a secret soreness even here at the small effect produced
in England compared with what they anticipated by the attack on
Sumter; but hopes are excited that Mr. Gregory, who was travelling
through the States some time ago, will have a strong party to
support his forthcoming motion for a recognition of the South.
The next conflict which takes place will be more bloody than that
at Sumter. The gladiators are approaching--Washington, Annapolis,
Pennsylvania are military departments, each with a chief and Staff,
to which is now added that of Ohio, under Major G. B. M‘Clellan,
Major-General of Ohio Volunteers at Cincinnati. The authorities on
each side are busy administering oaths of allegiance.
The harbour of Charleston is reported to be under blockade by the
Niagara steam frigate, and a force of United States’ troops at St.
Louis, Missouri, under Captain Lyon, has attacked and dispersed a
body of State Militia under one Brigadier-General Frost, to the
intense indignation of all Mobile. The argument is, that Missouri
gave up the St. Louis Arsenal to the United States’ Government, and
could take it back if she pleased, and was certainly competent to
prevent the United States’ troops stirring beyond the Arsenal.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Pensacola and Fort Pickens--Neutrals and their
friends--Coasting--Sharks--The blockading fleet--The stars
and stripes, and stars and bars--Domestic feuds caused by the
war--Captain Adams and General Bragg--Interior of Fort Pickens.
_May 13th._ I was busy making arrangements to get to Pensacola, and
Fort Pickens, all day. The land journey was represented as being
most tedious and exceedingly comfortless in all respects, through
a waste of sand, in which we ran the chance of being smothered or
lost. And then I had set my mind on seeing Fort Pickens as well as
Pensacola, and it would be difficult, to say the least of it, to
get across from an enemy’s camp to the Federal fortress, and then
return again. The United States’ squadron blockaded the port of
Pensacola, but I thought it likely they would permit me to run in
to visit Fort Pickens, and that the Federals would allow me to sail
thence across to General Bragg, as they might be assured I would
not communicate any information of what I had seen in my character
as neutral to any but the journal in Europe, which I represented,
and in the interests of which I was bound to see and report all
that I could as to the state of both parties. It was, at all
events, worth while to make the attempt, and after a long search I
heard of a schooner which was ready for the voyage at a reasonable
rate, all things considered.
Mr. Forsyth asked if I had any objection to take with me three
gentlemen of Mobile, who were anxious to be of the party, as they
wanted to see their friends at Pensacola, where it was believed
a “fight” was to come off immediately. Since I came South I have
seen the daily announcement that “Braxton Bragg is ready,” and his
present state of preparation must be beyond all conception. But
here was a difficulty. I told Mr. Forsyth that I could not possibly
assent to any persons coming with me who were not neutrals, or
prepared to adhere to the obligations of neutrals. There was a
suggestion that I should say these gentlemen were my friends, but
as I had only seen two of them on board the steamer yesterday,
I could not accede to that idea. “Then if you are asked if Mr.
Ravesies is your friend, you will say he is not.” “Certainly.” “But
surely you don’t wish to have Mr. Ravesies hanged?” “No, I do not,
and I shall do nothing to cause him to be hanged; but if he meets
that fate by his own act, I can’t help it. I will not allow him to
accompany me under false pretences.”
At last it was agreed that Mr. Ravesies and his friends Mr. Bartré
and Mr. Lynes, being in no way employed by or connected with the
Confederate Government, should have a place in the little schooner
which we had picked out at the quayside and hired for the occasion,
and go on the voyage with the plain understanding that they were to
accept all the consequences of being citizens of Mobile.
Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Ravesies, and a couple of gentlemen dined with
me in the evening. After dinner, Mr. Forsyth, who, as mayor of
the town, is the Executive of the Vigilance Committee, took a copy
of _Harper’s Illustrated Paper_, which is a very poor imitation
of the _Illustrated London News_, and called my attention to the
announcement that Mr. Moses, their special artist, was travelling
with me in the South, as well as to an engraving, which purported
to be by Moses aforesaid. I could only say that I knew nothing of
the young designer, except what he told me, and that he led me to
believe he was furnishing sketches to the _London News_. As he was
in the hotel, though he did not live with me, I sent for him, and
the young gentleman, who was very pale and agitated on being shown
the advertisement and sketch, declared that he had renounced all
connection with Harper, that he was sketching for the _Illustrated
London News_, and that the advertisement was contrary to fact, and
utterly unknown to him; and so he was let go forth, and retired
uneasily. After dinner I went to the Bienville Club. “Rule No. 1”
is, “No gentleman shall be admitted in a state of intoxication,”
The club very social, very small, and very hospitable.
Later paid my respects to Mrs. Forsyth, whom I found anxiously
waiting for news of her young son, who had gone off to join the
Confederate army. She told me that nearly all the ladies in Mobile
are engaged in making cartridges, and in preparing lint or clothing
for the army. Not the smallest fear is entertained of the swarming
black population.
_May 14th._ Down to our yacht, the Diana, which is to be ready
this afternoon, and saw her cleared out a little--a broad-beamed,
flat-floored schooner, some fifty tons burthen, with a
centre board, badly caulked, and dirty enough--unfamiliar with
paint. The skipper was a long-legged, ungainly young fellow, with
long hair and an inexpressive face, just relieved by the twinkle of
a very “Yankee” eye; but that was all of the hated creature about
him, for a more earnest seceder I never heard.
His crew consisted of three rough, mechanical sort of men and a
negro cook. Having freighted the vessel with a small stock of
stores, a British flag, kindly lent by the acting Consul, Mr.
Magee, and a tablecloth to serve as a flag of truce, our party,
consisting of the gentlemen previously named, Mr. Ward, and the
young artist, weighed from the quay of Mobile at five o’clock in
the evening, with the manifest approbation of the small crowd who
had assembled to see us off, the rumour having spread through the
town that we were bound to see the great fight. The breeze was
favourable and steady; at nine o’clock, P.M., the lights of Fort
Morgan were on our port beam, and for some time we were expecting
to see the flash of a gun, as the skipper confidently declared they
would never allow us to pass unchallenged.
The darkness of the night might possibly have favoured us, or the
sentries were remiss; at all events, we were soon creeping through
the “Swash,” which is a narrow channel over the bar, through which
our skipper worked us by means of a sounding pole. The air was
delightful, and blew directly off the low shore, in a line parallel
to which we were moving. When the evening vapours passed away, the
stars shone out brilliantly, and though the wind was strong, and
sent us at a good eight knots through the water, there was scarcely
a ripple on the sea. Our course lay within a quarter of a mile
of the shore, which looked like a white ribbon fringed with fire,
from the ceaseless play of the phosphorescent surf. Above this belt
of sand rose the black, jagged outlines of a pine forest, through
which steal immense lagoons and marshy creeks.
Driftwood and trees strew the beach, and from Fort Morgan, for
forty miles, to the entrance of Pensacola, not a human habitation
disturbs the domain sacred to alligators, serpents, pelicans,
and wild-fowl. Some of the lagoons, like the Perdida, swell into
inland seas, deep buried in pine woods, and known only to the wild
creatures swarming along its brink and in its waters; once, if
report says true, frequented, however, by the filibusters and by
the pirates of the Spanish Main.
If the mosquitoes were as numerous and as persecuting in those days
as they are at present, the most adventurous youth would have soon
repented the infatuation which led him to join the brethren of the
Main. The mosquito is a great enemy to romance, and our skipper
tells us that there is no such place known in the world for them as
this coast.
As the Diana flew along the grim shore, we lay listlessly on the
deck admiring the excessive brightness of the stars, or watching
the trailing fire of her wake. Now and then great fish flew
off from the shallows, cleaving their path in flame; and one
shining gleam came up from leeward like a watery comet, till its
horrible outline was revealed close to us--a monster shark--which
accompanied us with an easy play of the fin, distinctly visible in
the wonderful phosphorescence, now shooting on ahead, now dropping
astern, till suddenly it dashed off seaward with tremendous
rapidity and strength on some errand of destruction, and vanished
in the waste of waters. Despite the multitudes of fish on the
coast, the Spaniards who colonise this ill-named Florida must have
had a trying life of it between the Indians, now hunted to death or
exiled by rigorous Uncle Sam, the mosquitoes, and the numberless
plagues which abound along these shores.
Hour after hour passed watching the play of large fish and the surf
on the beach; one by one the cigar-lights died out; and muffling
ourselves up on deck, or creeping into the little cabin, the party
slumbered. I was awoke by the Captain talking to one of his hands
close to me, and on looking up saw that he was staring through a
wonderful black tube, which he denominated his “tallowscope,” at
the shore.
Looking in the direction, I observed the glare of a fire in
the wood, which on examination through an opera glass resolved
itself into a steady central light, with some smaller specks
around it. “Wa’ll,” said the Captain, “I guess it is just some
of them d----d Yankees as is landed from their tarnation boats,
and is ‘conoitering’ for a road to Mobile.” There was an old iron
cannonade on board, and it struck me as a curious exemplification
of the recklessness of our American cousins, when the skipper said,
“Let us put a bag of bullets in the ould gun, and touch it off at
them;” which he no doubt would have done, seconded by one of our
party, who drew his revolver to contribute to the broadside, but
that I represented to them it was just as likely to be a party out
from the camp at Pensacola, and that, anyhow, I strongly objected
to any belligerent act whilst I was on board. It was very probably,
indeed, the watch-fire of a Confederate patrol, for the gentry of
the country have formed themselves into a body of regular cavalry
for such service; but the skipper declared that our chaps knew
better than to be showing their lights in that way, when we were
within ten miles of the entrance to Pensacola.
The skipper lay-to, as he, very wisely, did not like to run into
the centre of the United States squadron at night; but just at the
first glimpse of dawn the Diana resumed her course, and bowled
along merrily till, with the first rays of the sun, Fort M‘Rae,
Fort Pickens, and the masts of the squadron were visible ahead,
rising above the blended horizon of land and sea. We drew upon them
rapidly, and soon could make out the rival flags--the Stars and
Bars and Stars and Stripes--flouting defiance at each other.
On the land side on our left is Fort M‘Rae, and on the end of the
sand-bank, called Santa Rosa Island, directly opposite, rises the
outline of the much-talked-of Fort Pickens, which is not unlike
Fort Paul on a small scale. Through the glass the blockading
squadron is seen to consist of a sailing frigate, a sloop, and
three steamers; and as we are scrutinising them, a small schooner
glides from under the shelter of the guardship, and makes towards
us like a hawk on a sparrow. Hand over hand she comes, a great
swaggering ensign at her peak, and a gun all ready at her bow; and
rounding up alongside us a boat manned by four men is lowered, an
officer jumps in, and is soon under our counter. The officer, a
bluff, sailor-like looking fellow, in a uniform a little the worse
for wear, and wearing his beard as officers of the United States
navy generally do, fixed his eye upon the skipper--who did not seem
quite at his ease, and had, indeed, confessed to us that he had
been warned off by the Oriental, as the tender was named, only a
short time before--and said, “Hallo, sir, I think I have seen you
before: what schooner is this?” “The Diana of Mobile.” “I thought
so.” Stepping on deck, he said, “Gentlemen, I am Mr. Brown, Master
in the United States navy, in charge of the boarding schooner
Oriental.” We each gave our names; whereupon Mr. Brown says, “I
have no doubt it will be all right, be good enough to let me have
your papers. And now, sir, make sail, and lie-to under the quarter
of that steamer there, the Powhatan.” The Captain did not look at
all happy when the officer called his attention to the indorsement
on his papers; nor did the Mobile party seem very comfortable when
he remarked, “I suppose, gentlemen, you are quite well aware there
is a strict blockade of this port?”
In half an hour the schooner lay under the guns of the Powhatan,
which is a stumpy, thick-set, powerful steamer of the old
paddle-wheel kind, something like the Leopard. We proceeded
alongside in the cutter’s boat, and were ushered into the cabin,
where the officer commanding, Lieutenant David Porter, received
us, begged us to be seated, and then inquired into the object of
our visit, which he communicated to the flag-ship by signal, in
order to get instructions as to our disposal. Nothing could exceed
his courtesy; and I was most favourably impressed by himself,
his officers, and crew. He took me over the ship, which is armed
with 10-inch Dahlgrens and an 11-inch pivot gun, with rifled
field-pieces and howitzers on the sponsons. Her boarding nettings
were triced up, bows and weak portions padded with dead wood and
old sails, and everything ready for action.
Lieutenant Porter has been in and out of the harbour examining the
enemy’s works at all hours of the night, and he has marked off
on the chart, as he showed me, the bearings of the various spots
where he can sweep or enfilade their works. The crew, all things
considered, were very clean, and their personnel exceedingly fine.
We were not the only prize that was made by the Oriental this
morning. A ragged little schooner lay at the other side of the
Powhatan, the master of which stood rubbing his knuckles into his
eyes, and uttering dolorous expressions in broken English and
Italian, for he was a noble Roman of Civita Vecchia. Lieutenant
Porter let me into the secret. These small traders at Mobile,
pretending great zeal for the Confederate cause, load their vessels
with fruit, vegetables, and things of which they know the squadron
is much in want, as well as the garrison of the Confederate forts.
They set out with the most valiant intention of running the
blockade, and are duly captured by the squadron, the officers of
which are only too glad to pay fair prices for the cargoes. They
return to Mobile, keep their money in their pockets, and declare
they have been plundered by the Yankees. If they get in, they
demand still higher prices from the Confederates, and lay claim to
the most exalted patriotism.
By signal from the flag-ship Sabine, we were ordered to repair
on board to see the senior officer, Captain Adams; and for the
first time since I trod the deck of the old Leander in Balaklava
harbour, I stood on board a 50-gun sailing frigate. Captain
Adams, a grey-haired veteran of very gentle manners and great
urbanity received us in his cabin, and listened to my explanation
of the cause of my visit with interest. About myself there was no
difficulty; but he very justly observed he did not think it would
be right to let the gentlemen from Mobile examine Fort Pickens,
and then go among the Confederate camps. I am bound to say these
gentlemen scarcely seemed to desire or anticipate such a favour.
Major Vogdes, an engineer officer from the fort, who happened to be
on board, volunteered to take a letter from me to Colonel Harvey
Browne, requesting permission to visit it; and I finally arranged
with Captain Adams that the Diana was to be permitted to pass the
blockade into Pensacola harbour, and thence to return to Mobile, my
visit to Pickens depending on the pleasure of the Commandant of the
place. “I fear, Mr. Russell,” said Captain Adams, “in giving you
this permission, I expose myself to misrepresentation and unfounded
attacks. Gentlemen of the press in our country care little about
private character, and are, I fear, rather unscrupulous in what
they say; but I rely upon your character that no improper use
shall be made of this permission. You must hoist a flag of truce,
as General Bragg, who commands over there, has sent me word he
considers our blockade a declaration of war, and will fire upon any
vessel which approaches him from our fleet.”
In the course of conversation, whilst treating me to such
man-of-war luxuries as the friendly officer had at his disposal, he
gave me an illustration of the miseries of this cruel conflict--of
the unspeakable desolation of homes, of the bitterness of feeling
engendered in families. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he married long
ago a lady of Louisiana, where he resided on his plantation till
his ship was commissioned. He was absent on foreign service when
the feud first began, and received orders at sea, on the South
American station, to repair direct to blockade Pensacola. He has
just heard that one of his sons is enlisted in the Confederate
army, and that two others have joined the forces in Virginia; and
as he said sadly, “God knows, when I open my broadside, but that
I may be killing my own children.” But that was not all. One of
the Mobile gentlemen brought him a letter from his daughter, in
which she informs him that she has been elected vivandière to a New
Orleans regiment, with which she intends to push on to Washington,
and get a lock of old Abe Lincoln’s hair; and the letter concluded
with the charitable wish that her father might starve to death if
he persisted in his wicked blockade. But not the less determined
was the gallant old sailor to do his duty.
Mr. Ward, one of my companions, had sailed in the Sabine in the
Paraguay expedition, and I availed myself of his acquaintance with
his old comrades to take a glance round the ship. Wherever they
came from, four hundred more sailor-like, strong, handy young
fellows could not be seen than the crew; and the officers were as
hospitable as their limited resources in whisky grog, cheese, and
junk allowed them to be.
With thanks for his kindness and courtesy, I parted from Captain
Adams, feeling more than ever the terrible and earnest nature of
the impending conflict. May the kindly good old man be shielded on
the day of battle!
A ten-oared barge conveyed us to the Oriental, which, with flowing
sheet, ran down to the Powhatan. There I saw Captain Porter,
and told him that Captain Adams had given me permission to visit
the Confederate camp, and that I had written for leave to go on
shore at Port Pickens. An officer was in his cabin, to whom I was
introduced as Captain Poore, of the Brooklyn. “You don’t mean
to say, Mr. Russell,” said he, “that these editors of Southern
newspapers who are with you have leave to go on shore?” This was
rather a fishing question. “I assure you, Captain Poore, that there
is no editor of a Southern newspaper in my company.”
The boat which took us from the Powhatan to the Diana was in charge
of a young officer related to Captain Porter, who amused me by the
spirit with which he bandied remarks about the war with the Mobile
men, who had now recovered their equanimity, and were indulging in
what is called chaff about the blockade. “Well,” he said, “you were
the first to begin it; let us see whether you won’t be the first
to leave it off. I guess our Northern ice will pretty soon put out
your Southern fire.”
When we came on board, the skipper heard our orders to up stick and
away with an air of pity and incredulity; nor was it till I had
repeated it, he kicked up his crew from their sleep on deck, and
with a “Wa’ll, really, I never did see sich a thing!” made sail
towards the entrance to the harbour.
As we got abreast of Fort Pickens, I ordered tablecloth No. 1
to be hoisted to the peak; and through the glass I saw that our
appearance attracted no ordinary attention from the garrison
of Pickens close at hand on our right, and the more distant
Confederates on Fort M‘Rae and the sand-hills on our left. The
latter work is weak and badly built, quite under the command of
Pickens, but it is supported by the old Spanish fort of Barrancas
upon high ground further inland, and by numerous batteries at the
water-line and partly concealed amidst the woods which fringe
the shore as far as the navy yard of Warrington, near Pensacola.
The wind was light, but the tide bore us onwards towards the
Confederate works. Arms glanced in the blazing sun where regiments
were engaged at drill, clouds of dust rose from the sandy roads,
horsemen riding along the beach, groups of men in uniform, gave a
martial appearance to the place in unison with the black muzzles
of the guns which peeped from the white sand batteries from the
entrance of the harbour to the navy yard now close at hand. As
at Sumter Major Anderson permitted the Carolinians to erect the
batteries he might have so readily destroyed in the commencement,
so the Federal officers here have allowed General Bragg to work
away at his leisure, mounting cannon after cannon, throwing up
earthworks, and strengthening his batteries, till he has assumed so
formidable an attitude, that I doubt very much whether the fort and
the fleet combined can silence his fire.
On the low shore close to us were numerous wooden houses and
detached villas, surrounded by orange-groves. At last the captain
let go his anchor off the end of a wooden jetty, which was crowded
with ammunition, shot, shell, casks of provisions, and commissariat
stores. A small steamer was engaged in adding to the collection,
and numerous light craft gave evidence that all trade had not
ceased. Indeed, inside Santa Rosa Island, which runs for forty-five
miles from Pickens eastward parallel to the shore, there is a
considerable coasting traffic carried on for the benefit of the
Confederates.
The skipper went ashore with my letters to General Bragg, and
speedily returned with an orderly, who brought permission for the
Diana to come alongside the wharf. The Mobile gentlemen were soon
on shore, eager to seek their friends; and in a few seconds the
officer of the quartermaster-general’s department on duty came on
board to conduct me to the officers’ quarters, whilst waiting for
my reply from General Bragg.
The navy yard is surrounded by a high wall, the gates closely
guarded by sentries; the houses, gardens, workshops, factories,
forges, slips, and building-sheds are complete of their kind,
and cover upwards of three hundred acres; and with the forts
which protect the entrance, cost the United States Government not
less than six millions sterling. Inside these was the greatest
activity and life,--Zouave, Chasseurs, and all kind of military
eccentricities--were drilling, parading, exercising, sitting in the
shade, loading tumbrils, playing cards, or sleeping on the grass.
Tents were pitched under the trees and on the little lawns and
grass-covered quadrangles. The houses, each numbered and marked
with the name of the functionary to whose use it was assigned, were
models of neatness, with gardens in front, filled with glorious
tropical flowers. They were painted green and white, provided with
porticoes, Venetian blinds, verandahs, and colonnades, to protect
the inmates as much as possible from the blazing sun, which in the
dog-days is worthy of Calcutta. The old Fulton is the only ship on
the stocks. From the naval arsenal quantities of shot and shell
are constantly pouring to the batteries. Piles of cannon-balls
dot the grounds, but the only ordnance I saw were two old mortars
placed as ornaments in the main avenue, one dated 1776.
The quartermaster conducted me through shady walks into one of
the houses, then into a long room, and presented me _en masse_ to
a body of officers, mostly belonging to a Zouave regiment from
New Orleans, who were seated at a very comfortable dinner, with
abundance of champagne, claret, beer, and ice. They were all
young, full of life and spirits, except three or four graver and
older men, who were Europeans. One, a Dane, had fought against the
Prussians and Schleswig-Holsteiners at Idstedt and Friederichstadt;
another, an Italian, seemed to have been engaged indifferently in
fighting all over the South American continent; a third, a Pole,
had been at Comorn, and had participated in the revolutionary
guerilla of 1848. From these officers I learned that Mr. Jefferson
Davis, his wife, Mr. Wigfall, and Mr. Mallory, Secretary to the
Navy, had come down from Montgomery, and had been visiting the
works all day.
Every one here believes the attack so long threatened is to come
off at last and at once.
After dinner an aide-de-camp from General Bragg entered with a
request that I would accompany him to the commanding officer’s
quarters. As the sand outside the navy yard was deep, and rendered
walking very disagreeable, the young officer stopped a cart,
into which we got, and were proceeding on our way, when a tall,
elderly man, in a blue frock-coat with a gold star on the shoulder,
trowsers with a gold stripe and gilt buttons, rode past, followed
by an orderly, who looked more like a dragoon than anything I have
yet seen in the States. “There’s General Bragg,” quoth the aide,
and I was duly presented to the General, who reined up by the
waggon. He sent his orderly off at once for a light cart drawn by
a pair of mules, in which I completed my journey, and was safely
decarted at the door of a substantial house surrounded by trees of
lime, oak, and sycamore.
Led horses and orderlies thronged the front of the portico, and
gave it the usual head-quarterlike aspect. General Bragg received
me at the steps, and took me to his private room, where we
remained for a long time in conversation. He had retired from the
United States army after the Mexican war--in which, by the way,
he played a distinguished part, his name being generally coupled
with the phrase “a little more grape, Captain Bragg,” used in one
of the hottest encounters of that campaign--to his plantation
in Louisiana; but suddenly the Northern States declared their
intention of using force to free and sovereign States, which were
exercising their constitutional rights to secede from the Federal
Union.
Neither he nor his family were responsible for the system of
slavery. His ancestors found it established by law and flourishing,
and had left him property, consisting of slaves, which was granted
to him by the laws and constitution of the United States. Slaves
were necessary for the actual cultivation of the soil in the South;
Europeans and Yankees who settled there speedily became convinced
of that; and if a Northern population were settled in Louisiana
to-morrow, they would discover that they must till the land by the
labour of the black race, and that the only mode of making the
black race work, was to hold them in a condition of involuntary
servitude. “Only the other day, Colonel Harvey Browne, at Pickens,
over the way, carried off a number of negroes from Tortugas, and
put them to work at Santa Rosa. Why? Because his white soldiers
were not able for it. No. The North was bent on subjugating the
South, and as long as he had a drop of blood in his body, he would
resist such an infamous attempt.”
Before supper General Bragg opened his maps, and pointed out to me
in detail the position of all his works, the line of fire of each
gun, and the particular object to be expected from its effects.
“I know every inch of Pickens,” he said, “for I happened to be
stationed there as soon as I left Westpoint, and I don’t think
there is a stone in it that I am not as well acquainted with as
Harvey Browne.”
His staff, consisting of four intelligent young men, two of them
lately belonging to the United States army, supped with us, and
after a very agreeable evening, horses were ordered round to the
door, and I returned to the navy yard attended by the General’s
orderly, and provided with a pass and countersign. As a mark of
complete confidence, General Bragg told me, for my private ear,
that he had no present intention whatever of opening fire, and that
his batteries were far from being in a state, either as regards
armament or ammunition, which would justify him in meeting the fire
of the forts and the ships.
And so we bade good-by. “To-morrow,” said the General, “I will
send down one of my best horses and Mr. Ellis, my aide-de-camp, to
take you over all the works and batteries.” As I rode home with
my honest orderly beside instead of behind me, for he was of a
conversational turn, I was much perplexed in my mind, endeavouring
to determine which was right and which was wrong in this quarrel,
and at last, as at Montgomery, I was forced to ask myself if right
and wrong were geographical expressions depending for extension or
limitation on certain conditions of climate and lines of latitude
and longitude. Here was the General’s orderly beside me, an
intelligent middle-aged man, who had come to do battle with as much
sincerity--aye, and religious confidence--as ever actuated old John
Brown or any New England puritan to make war against slavery. “I
have left my old woman and the children to the care of the niggers;
I have turned up all my cotton land and planted it with corn, and
I don’t intend to go back alive till I’ve seen the back of the
last Yankee in our Southern States.” “And are wife and children
alone with the negroes?” “Yes, sir. There’s only one white man on
the plantation, an overseer sort of chap.” “Are not you afraid of
the slaves rising?” “They’re ignorant poor creatures, to be sure,
but as yet they’re faithful. Any way, I put my trust in God, and I
know He’ll watch over the house while I’m away fighting for this
good cause!” This man came from Mississippi, and had twenty-five
slaves, which represented a money value of at least £5000. He was
beyond the age of enthusiasm, and was actuated, no doubt, by strong
principles, to him unquestionable and sacred.
My pass and countersign, which were only once demanded, took me
through the sentries, and I got on board the schooner shortly
before midnight, and found nearly all the party on deck, enchanted
with their reception. More than once we were awoke by the vigilant
sentries, who would not let what Americans call “the balance” of
our friends on board till they had seen my authority to receive
them.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Bitters before breakfast--An old Crimean
acquaintance--Earthworks and batteries--Estimate of
cannons--Magazines--Hospitality--English and American
introductions and leave-takings--Fort Pickens; its
interior--Return towards Mobile--Pursued by a strange
sail--Running the blockade--Landing at Mobile.
_May 16th._--The réveillé of the Zouaves, note for note the same
as that which, in the Crimea, so often woke up poor fellows who
slept the long sleep ere nightfall, roused us this morning early,
and then the clang of trumpets and the roll of drums beating
French calls summoned the volunteers to early parade. As there was
a heavy dew, and many winged things about last night, I turned
in to my berth below, where four human beings were supposed to
lie in layers, like mummies beneath a pyramid, and there, after
contention with cockroaches, sank to rest. No wonder I was rather
puzzled to know where I was now; for in addition to the music and
the familiar sounds outside, I was somewhat perturbed in my mental
calculations by bringing my head sharply in contact with a beam of
the deck which had the best of it; but, at last, facts accomplished
themselves and got into place, much aided by the appearance of the
negro cook with a cup of coffee in his hand, who asked, “Mosieu!
Capitaine vant to ax vedder you take some bitter, sar! Lisbon
bitter, sar.” I saw the captain on deck busily engaged in the
manufacture of a liquid which I was adjured by all the party on
deck to take, if I wished to make a Redan or a Malakhoff of my
stomach, and accordingly I swallowed a _petit verre_ of a very
strong, intensely bitter preparation of brandy and tonic roots,
sweetened with sugar, for which Mobile is famous.
The noise of our arrival had gone abroad; haply the report of the
good things with which the men of Mobile had laden the craft, for
a few officers came aboard even at that early hour, and we asked
two who were known to our friends to stay for breakfast. That
meal, to which the negro cook applied his whole mind and all the
galley, consisted of an ugly-looking but well-flavoured fish from
the waters outside us, fried ham and onions, biscuit, coffee,
iced water and Bordeaux, served with charming simplicity, and no
way calculated to move the ire of Horace by a display of Persic
apparatus.
A more greasy, oniony meal was never better enjoyed. One of our
guests was a jolly Yorkshire farmer-looking man, up to about 16
stone weight, with any hounds, dressed in a tunic of green baize
or frieze, with scarlet worsted braid down the front, gold lace
on the cuffs and collar, and a felt wide-awake, with a bunch of
feathers in it. He wiped the sweat off his brow, and swore that he
would never give in, and that the whole of the company of riflemen
whom he commanded, if not as heavy, were quite as patriotic. He
was evidently a kindly affectionate man, without a trace of malice
in his composition, but his sentiments were quite ferocious when
he came to speak of the Yankees. He was a large slave-owner, and
therefore a man of fortune, and he spoke with all the fervour of a
capitalist menaced by a set of Red Republicans.
His companion, who wore a plain blue uniform, spoke sensibly
about a matter with which sense has rarely anything to do--namely
uniform. Many of the United States volunteers adopt the same grey
colours so much in vogue among the Confederates. The officers of
both armies wear similar distinguishing marks of rank, and he was
quite right in supposing that in night marches, or in serious
actions on a large scale, much confusion and loss would be caused
by men of the same army firing on each other, or mistaking enemies
for friends.
Whilst we were talking, large shoals of mullet and other fish were
flying before the porpoises, red fish, and other enemies, in the
tideway astern of the schooner. Once, as a large white fish came
leaping up to the surface, a gleam of something still whiter shot
through the waves, and a boiling whirl, tinged with crimson, which
gradually melted off in the tide, marked where the fish had been.
“There’s a ground sheark as has got his breakfast,” quoth the
Skipper. “There’s quite a many of them about here.” Now and then
a turtle showed his head, exciting _desiderium tam cari capitis_,
above the envied flood which he honoured with his presence.
Far away, towards Pensacola, floated three British ensigns, from as
many merchantmen, which as yet had fifteen days to clear out from
the blockaded port. Fort Pickens had hoisted the stars and stripes
to the wind, and Fort M‘Rae, as if to irritate its neighbour,
displayed a flag almost identical, but for the “lone star,” which
the glass detected instead of the ordinary galaxy--the star of
Florida.
Lieutenant Ellis, General Bragg’s aide-de-camp, came on board at
an early hour, in order to take me round the works, and I was soon
on the back of the General’s charger, safely ensconced between
the raised pummel and cantle of a great brass-bound saddle, with
emblazoned saddle-cloth and mighty stirrups of brass, fit for the
fattest marshal that ever led an array of France to victory; but
General Bragg is longer in the leg than the Duke of Malakoff or
Marshal Canrobert, and all my efforts to touch with my toe the
wonderful supports which, in consonance with the American idea,
dangled far beneath, were ineffectual.
As our road lay by head-quarters, the aide-de-camp took me into
the court and called out “Orderly;” and at the summons a smart
soldier-like young fellow came to the front, took me three holes
up, and as I was riding away touched his cap and said, “I beg your
pardon, sir, but I often saw you in the Crimea.” He had been in the
11th Hussars, and on the day of Balaklava he was following close
to Lord Cardigan and Captain Nolan, when his horse was killed by a
round shot. As he was endeavouring to escape on foot the Cossacks
took him prisoner, and he remained for eleven months in captivity
in Russia, till he was exchanged at Odessa, towards the close of
the war; then, being one of two sergeants who were permitted to get
their discharge, he left the service. “But here you are again,”
said I, “soldiering once more, and merely acting as an orderly!”
“Well, that’s true enough, but I came over here, thinking to better
myself as some of our fellows did, and then the war broke out, and
I entered one of what they called their cavalry regiments--Lord
bless you, sir, it would just break your heart to see them--and
here I am now, and the general has made me an orderly. He is a
kind man, sir, and the pay is good, but they are not like the old
lot; I do not know what my lord would think of them.” The man’s
name was Montague, and he told me his father lived “at a place
called Windsor,” twenty-one miles from London. Lieutenant Ellis
said he was a very clean, smart, well-conducted soldier.
From head-quarters we started on our little tour of inspection
of the batteries. Certainly, anything more calculated to shake
confidence in American journalism could not be seen; for I had
been led to believe that the works were of the most formidable
description, mounting hundreds of guns. Where hundreds was written,
tens would have been nearer the truth.
I visited ten out of the thirteen batteries which General Bragg has
erected against Fort Pickens. I saw but five heavy siege guns in
the whole of the works among the fifty or fifty-five pieces with
which they were armed. There may be about eighty altogether on the
lines, which describe an arc of 135 degrees for about three miles
round Pickens, at an average distance of a mile and one-third. I
was rather interested with Fort Barrancas, built by the Spaniards
long ago--an old work on the old plan, weakly armed, but possessing
a tolerable command from the face of fire.
In all the batteries there were covered galleries in the rear,
connected with the magazines, and called “rat-holes,” intended by
the constructors as a refuge for the men whenever a shell from
Pickens dropped in. The rush to the rat-hole does not impress
one as being very conducive to a sustained and heavy fire, or at
all likely to improve the _morale_ of the gunners. The working
parties, as they were called--volunteers from Mississippi and
Alabama, great long-bearded fellows in flannel shirts and slouched
hats, uniformless in all save brightly burnished arms and resolute
purpose--were lying about among the works, or contributing
languidly to their completion.
Considerable improvements were in the course of execution; but the
officers were not always agreed as to the work to be done. Captain
A., at the wheel-barrows: “Now then, you men, wheel up these
sand-bags, and range them just at this corner,” Major B.: “My good
Captain A., what do you want the bags there for? Did I not tell
you, these merlons were not to be finished till we had completed
the parapet on the front?” Captain A.: “Well, Major, so you did,
and your order made me think you knew darned little about your
business; and so I am going to do a little engineering of my own.”
Altogether, I was quite satisfied General Bragg was perfectly
correct in refusing to open his fire on Fort Pickens and on the
fleet, which ought certainly to have knocked his works about
his ears, in spite of his advantages of position, and of some
well-placed mortar batteries among the brushwood, at distances from
Pickens of 2500 and 2800 yards. The magazines of the batteries I
visited did not contain ammunition for more than one day’s ordinary
firing. The shot were badly cast, with projecting flanges from the
mould, which would be very injurious to soft metal guns in firing.
As to men, as in guns, the Southern papers had lied consumedly.
I could not say how many were in Pensacola itself, for I did not
visit the camp: at the outside guess of the numbers there was 2000.
I saw, however, all the camps here, and I doubt exceedingly if
General Bragg--who at this time is represented to have any number
from 30,000 to 50,000 men under his command--has 8000 troops to
support his batteries, or 10,000, including Pensacola, all told.
If hospitality consists in the most liberal participation of all
the owner has with his visitors, here, indeed, Philemon has his
type in every tent. As we rode along through every battery, by
every officer’s quarters, some great Mississippian or Alabamian
came forward with “Captain Ellis, I am glad to see you.” “Colonel,”
to me, “won’t you get down and have a drink?” Mr. Ellis duly
introduces me. The Colonel with effusion grasps my hand and says,
as if he had just gained the particular object of his existence,
“Sir, I am very glad indeed to know you. I hope you have been
pretty well since you have been in our country, sir. Here, Pompey,
take the colonel’s horse. Step in, sir, and have a drink.” Then
comes out the great big whisky bottle, and an immense amount of
adhesion to the first law of nature is required to get you off with
less than half-a-pint of “Bourbon;” but the most trying thing to a
stranger is the fact that when he is going away, the officer, who
has been so delighted to see him, does not seem to care a farthing
for his guest or his health.
The truth is, these introductions are ceremonial observances, and
compliances with the universal curiosity of Americans to know
people they meet. The Englishman bows frigidly to his acquaintance
on the first introduction, and if he likes him shakes hands with
him on leaving--a much more sensible and justifiable proceeding.
The American’s warmth at the first interview must be artificial,
and the indifference at parting is ill-bred and in bad taste. I had
already observed this on many occasions, especially at Montgomery,
where I noticed it to Colonel Wigfall, but the custom is not
incompatible with the most profuse hospitality, nor with the desire
to render service.
On my return to head-quarters I found General Bragg in his room,
engaged writing an official letter in reply to my request to
be permitted to visit Fort Pickens, in which he gave me full
permission to do as I pleased. Not only this, but he had prepared
a number of letters of introduction to the military authorities,
and to his personal friends at New Orleans, requesting them to
give me every facility and friendly assistance in their power. He
asked me my opinion about the batteries and their armament, which
I freely gave him _quantum valeat_. “Well,” he said, “I think your
conclusions are pretty just; but, nevertheless, some fine day I
shall be forced to try the mettle of our friends on the opposite
side.” All I could say was, “May God defend the right.” “A good
saying, to which I say. Amen. And drink with you to it.”
There was a room outside, full of generals and colonels, to whom
I was duly introduced, but the time for departure had come, and
I bade good-by to the general and rode down to the wharf. I had
always heard, during my brief sojourn in the North, that the
Southern people were exceedingly illiterate and ignorant. It may
be so, but I am bound to say that I observed a large proportion of
the soldiers, on their way to the navy yard, engaged in reading
newspapers, though they did not neglect the various drinking bars
and exchanges, which were only too numerous in the vicinity of the
camps.
The schooner was all ready for sea, but the Mobile gentlemen had
gone off to Pensacola, and as I did not desire to invite them to
visit Fort Pickens--where, indeed, they would have most likely met
with a refusal--I resolved to sail without them and to return to
the navy yard in the evening, in order to take them back on our
homeward voyage. “Now then, captain, cast loose; we are going to
Fort Pickens.” The worthy seaman had by this time become utterly
at sea, and did not appear to know whether he belonged to the
Confederate States, Abraham Lincoln, or the British navy. But this
order roused him a little, and looking at me with all his eyes, he
exclaimed, “Why, you don’t mean to say you are going to make me
bring the Diana alongside that darned Yankee Fort!” Our tablecloth,
somewhat maculated with gravy, was hoisted once more to the peak,
and, after some formalities between the guardians of the jetty and
ourselves, the schooner canted round in the tideway, and with a
fine light breeze ran down towards the stars and stripes.
What magical power there is in the colours of a piece of bunting!
My companions, I dare say, felt as proud of their flag as if their
ancestors had fought under it at Acre or Jerusalem. And yet how
fictitious its influence! Death, and dishonour worse than death,
to desert it one day! Patriotism and glory to leave it in the
dust, and fight under its rival, the next! How indignant would
George Washington have been, if the Frenchman at Fort Du Quesne
had asked him to abandon the old rag which Braddock held aloft in
the wilderness, and to serve under the very _fleur-de-lys_ which
the same great George hailed with so much joy but a few years
afterwards, when it was advanced to the front at York Town, to win
one of its few victories over the Lions and the Harp. And in this
Confederate flag there is a meaning which cannot die--it marks the
birthplace of a new nationality, and its place must know it for
ever. Even the flag of a rebellion leaves indelible colours in the
political atmosphere. The hopes that sustained it may vanish in the
gloom of night, but the national faith still believes that its sun
will rise on some glorious morrow. Hard must it be for this race,
so arrogant, so great, to see stripe and star torn from the fair
standard with which they would fain have shadowed all the kingdoms
of the world; but their great continent is large enough for many
nations.
“And now,” said the skipper, “I think we’d best lie-to--them cussed
Yankees on the beach is shouting to us.” And so they were. A sentry
on the end of a wooden jetty sung out, “Hallo you there! Stand off
or I’ll fire,” and “drew a bead-line on us.” At the same time, the
skipper hailed, “Please to send a boat off to go ashore.” “No, sir!
Come in your own boat!” cried the officer of the guard. Our own
boat! A very skiff of Charon! Leaky, rotten, lop-sided. We were a
hundred yards from the beach, and it was to be hoped that with all
its burthen, it could not go down in such a short row. As I stepped
in, however, followed by my two companions, the water flew in as if
forced by a pump, and when the sailors came after us the skipper
said, through a mouthful of juice, “Deevid! pull your hardest,
for there an’t a more terrible place for shearks along the whole
coast.” Deevid and his friend pulled like men, and our hopes rose
with the water in the boat and the decreasing distance to shore.
They worked like Doggett’s badgers, and in five minutes we were
out of “sheark” depth and alongside the jetty, where Major Vogdes,
Mr. Brown, of the Oriental, and an officer, introduced as Captain
Barry of the United States artillery, were waiting to receive us.
Major Vogdes said that Colonel Brown would most gladly permit me
to go over the fort, but that he could not receive any of the
other gentlemen of the party; they were permitted to wander about
at their discretion. Some friends whom they picked up amongst the
officers took them on a ride along the island, which is merely a
sand-bank covered with coarse vegetation, a few trees, and pools of
brackish water.
If I were selecting a summer habitation I should certainly not
choose Fort Pickens. It is, like all other American works I have
seen, strong on the sea faces and weak towards the land. The outer
gate was closed, but at a talismanic knock from Captain Barry, the
wicket was thrown open by the guard and we passed through a vaulted
gallery into the parade ground, which was full of men engaged in
strengthening the place, and digging deep pits in the centre as
shell traps. The men were United States regulars, not comparable
in physique to the Southern volunteers, but infinitely superior in
cleanliness and soldierly smartness. The officer on duty led me
to one of the angles of the fort and turned in to a covered way,
which had been ingeniously contrived by tilting up gun platforms
and beams of wood at an angle against the wall, and piling earth
and sand banks against them for several feet in thickness. The
casemates, which otherwise would have been exposed to a plunging
fire in the rear, were thus effectually protected.
Emerging from this dark passage I entered one of the bomb-proofs,
fitted up as a bed-room, and thence proceeded to the casemate,
in which Colonel Harvey Browne has his head-quarters. After some
conversation, he took me out upon the parapet and went all over the
defences.
Fort Pickens is an oblique, and somewhat narrow parallelogram, with
one obtuse angle facing the sea and the other towards the land. The
bastion at the acute angle towards Barrancas is the weakest part of
the work, and men were engaged in throwing up an extempore glacis
to cover the wall and the casemates from fire. The guns were of
what is considered small calibre in these days, 32 and 42 pounders,
with four or five heavy columbiads. An immense amount of work has
been done within the last three weeks, but as yet the preparations
are by no means complete. From the walls, which are made of a hard
baked brick, nine feet in thickness, there is a good view of the
enemy’s position. There is a broad ditch round the work, now dry,
and probably not intended for water. The cuvette has lately been
cleared out, and in proof of the agreeable nature of the locality,
the officers told me that sixty very fine rattle-snakes were killed
by the workmen during the operation.
As I was looking at the works from the wall, Captain Vogdes made
a sly remark now and then, blinking his eyes and looking closely
at my face to see if he could extract any information. “There are
the quarters of your friend General Bragg; he pretends, we hear,
that it is an hospital, but we will soon have him out when we
open fire.” “Oh, indeed.” “That’s their best battery beside the
lighthouse; we can’t well make out whether there are ten, eleven,
or twelve guns in it.” Then Captain Vogdes became quite meditative,
and thought aloud, “Well, I’m sure, Colonel, they’ve got a strong
entrenched camp in that wood behind their mortar batteries. I’m
quite sure of it--we must look to that with our long-range guns.”
What the engineer saw, must have been certain absurd little furrows
in the sand, which the Confederates have thrown up about three
feet in front of their tents, but whether to carry off or to hold
rain water, or as cover for rattle-snakes, the best judge cannot
determine.
The Confederates have been greatly delighted with the idea that
Pickens will be almost untenable during the summer for the United
States troops, on account of the heat and mosquitos, not to speak
of yellow fever; but in fact they are far better off than the
troops on shore--the casemates are exceedingly well ventilated,
light and airy. Mosquitos, yellow fever, and dysentery, will
make no distinction between Trojan and Tyrian. On the whole, I
should prefer being inside, to being outside Pickens, in case of
a bombardment; and there can be no doubt the entire destruction
of the navy yard and station by the Federals can be accomplished
whenever they please. Colonel Browne pointed out the tall chimney
at Warrington smoking away, and said, “There, sir, is the whole
reason of Bragg’s forbearance, as it is called. Do you see?--they
are casting shot and shell there as fast as they can. They know
well if they opened a gun on us I could lay that yard and all their
works there in ruin;” and Colonel Harvey Browne seems quite the man
for the work--a resolute, energetic veteran, animated by the utmost
dislike to secession and its leaders, and full of what are called
“Union Principles,” which are rapidly becoming the mere expression
of a desire to destroy life, liberty, property, anything in fact
which opposes itself to the consolidation of the Federal government.
Probably no person has ever been permitted to visit two hostile
camps within sight of each other save myself, I was neither spy,
herald, nor ambassador; and both sides trusted to me fully on the
understanding that I would not make use of any information here,
but that it might be communicated to the world at the other side of
the Atlantic.
_Apropos_ of this, Colonel Browne told me an amusing story, which
shows that ’cuteness is not altogether confined to the Yankees.
Some days ago a gentleman was found wandering about the island,
who stated he was a correspondent of a New York paper. Colonel
Browne was not satisfied with the account he gave of himself, and
sent him on board one of the ships of the fleet, to be confined
as a prisoner. Soon afterwards a flag of truce came over from the
Confederates, carrying a letter from General Bragg, requesting
Colonel Browne to give up the prisoner, as he had escaped to the
island after committing a felony, and enclosing a warrant signed by
a justice of the peace for his arrest. Colonel Browne laughed at
the _ruse_, and keeps his prisoner.
As it was approaching evening and I had seen everything in the
fort, the hospital, casemates, magazines, bakehouses, tasted
the rations, and drank the whisky, I set out for the schooner,
accompanied by Colonel Browne and Captain Barry and other officers,
and picking up my friends at the bakehouse outside.
Having bidden our acquaintances good-by, we get on board the Diana,
which steered towards the Warrington navy yard, to take the rest
of the party on board. The sentries along the beach and on the
batteries grounded arms, and stared with surprise as the Diana,
with her tablecloth flying, crossed over from Fort Pickens, and ran
slowly along the Confederate works. Whilst we were spying for the
Mobile gentlemen, the mate took it into his head to take up the
Confederate bunting, and wave it over the quarter. “Hollo, what’s
that you’re doing?” “It’s only a signal to the gentlemen on shore.”
“Wave some other flag, if you please, when we are in these waters,
with a flag of truce flying.”
After standing off and on for some time, the Mobilians at last
boarded us in a boat. They were full of excitement, quite eager to
stay and see the bombardment which must come off in twenty-four
hours. Before we left Mobile harbour I had made a bet for a small
sum that neither side would attack within the next few days; but
now I could not even shake my head one way or the other, and it
required the utmost self-possession and artifice of which I was
master to evade the acute inquiries and suggestions of my good
friends. I was determined to go--they were equally bent upon
remaining; and so we parted after a short but very pleasant cruise
together.
We had arranged with Mr. Brown that we would look out for him on
leaving the harbour, and a bottle of wine was put in the remnants
of our ice to drink farewell; but it was almost dark as the Diana
shot out seawards between Pickens and M‘Rae; and for some anxious
minutes we were doubtful which would be the first to take a shot
at us. Our tablecloth still fluttered; but the colour might be
invisible. A lantern was hoisted astern by my order as soon as the
schooner was clear of the forts; and with a cool sea breeze we
glided out into the night, the black form of the Powhatan being
just visible, the rest of the squadron lost in the darkness. We
strained our eyes for the Oriental, but in vain; and it occurred
to us that it would scarcely be a very safe proceeding to stand
from the Confederate forts down towards the guardship, unless under
the convoy of the Oriental. It seemed quite certain she must be
cruising some way to the westward, waiting for us.
The wind was from the north, on the best point for our return; and
the Diana, heeling over in the smooth water, proceeded on her way
towards Mobile, running so close to the shore that I could shy a
biscuit on the sand. She seemed to breathe the wind through her
sails, and flew with a crest of flame at her bow, and a bubbling
wake of meteor-like streams flowing astern, as though liquid metal
were flowing from a furnace.
The night was exceedingly lovely, but after the heat of the day
the horizon was somewhat hazy. “No sign of the Oriental on our
lee-bow?” “Nothing at all in sight, sir, ahead or astern.” Sharks
and large fish ran off from the shallows as we passed, and rushed
out seawards in runs of brilliant light. The Perdida was left far
astern.
On sped the Diana, but no Oriental came in view. I felt exceedingly
tired, heated, and fagged; had been up early, ridden in a broiling
sun, gone through batteries, examined forts, sailed backwards and
forwards, so I was glad to turn in out of the night dew and,
leaving injunctions to the captain to keep a bright look out for
the Federal boarding schooner, I went to sleep without the smallest
notion that I had seen my last of Mr. Brown.
I had been two or three hours asleep when I was awoke by the negro
cook, who was leaning over the berth, and, with teeth chattering,
said, “Monsieur! nous sommes perdus! un bâtiment de guerre nous
poursuit--il va tirer bientôt. Nous serons coulé! Oh, Mon Dieu! Oh,
Mon Dieu!” I started up and popped my head through the hatchway.
The skipper himself was at the helm, glancing from the compass to
the quivering reef points of the mainsail. “What’s the matter,
captain.” “Waal, sir,” said the captain, speaking very slowly,
“There has been a something a running after us for nigh the last
two hours, but he ain’t a-gaining on us. I don’t think he’ll kitch
us up nohow this time; if the wind holds this pint a leetle, Diana
will beat him.”
The confidence of coasting captains in their own craft is an
hallucination which no risk or danger will ever prevent them from
cherishing most tenderly. There’s not a skipper from Hartlepool
to Whitstable who does not believe his Maryanne Smith or the Two
Grandmothers is able, “on certain pints,” to bump her fat bows, and
drag her coal-scuttle shaped stern faster through the sea than any
clipper afloat. I was once told by the captain of a Margate Billy
Boy he believed he could run to windward of any frigate in Her
Majesty’s service.
“But, good heavens, man, it may be the Oriental--no doubt it is Mr.
Brown who is looking after us.”
“Ah! Waal, may be. Whoever it is, he creeped quite close up on me
in the dark. It give me quite a sterk when I seen him. ‘May be,’
says I, ‘he is a privateering--pirating--chap,’ So I runs in shore
as close as I could; gets my centre board in, and, says I, ‘I’ll
see what you’re made of, my boy,’ And so we goes on. He ain’t
a-gaining on us, I can tell you.”
I looked through the glass, and could just make out, half or
three-quarters of a mile astern, and to leeward, a vessel, looking
quite black, which seemed to be standing on in pursuit of us. The
shore was so close, we could almost have leaped into the surf, for
when the centre board was up the Diana did not draw much more than
four feet water. The skipper held grimly on. “You had better shake
your wind, and see who it is; it may be Mr. Brown.” “No, _sir_, Mr
Brown or no, I can’t help carrying on now; there’s a bank runs all
along outside of us, and if I don’t hold my course I’ll be on it in
one minute.” I confess I was rather annoyed, but the captain was
master of the situation. He said, that if it had been the Oriental
she would have fired a blank gun to bring us to as soon as she saw
us. To my inquiries why he did not awaken me when she was first
made out, he innocently replied, “You was in such a beautiful
sleep, I thought it would be regular cruelty to disturb you.”
By creeping close in shore the Diana was enabled to keep to
windward of the stranger, who was seen once or twice to bump or
strike, for her sails shivered. “There, she’s struck again.” “She’s
off once more,” and the chase is renewed. Every moment I expected
to have my eyes blinded by the flash of her bow gun, but for some
reason or another, possibly because she did not wish to check her
way, the Oriental--privateer, or whatever it was--saved her powder.
A stern chase is a long chase. It is two o’clock in the
morning--the skipper grinned with delight. “I’ll lead him into a
pretty mess if he follows me through the ‘Swash,’ whoever he is.”
We were but ten miles from Fort Morgan. Nearer and nearer to the
shore creeps the Diana.
“Take a cast of the lead, John.” “Nine feet.” “Good. Again.” “Seven
feet.” “Again.” “Five feet.” “Charlie, bring the lantern.” We were
now in the “Swash,” with a boiling tideway.
Just at the moment that the negro uncovered the lantern out
it went, a fact which elicited the most remarkable amount of
imprecations ear ever heard. The captain went dancing mad in
intervals of deadly calmness, and gave his commands to the crew,
and strange oaths to the cook alternately, as the mate sung
out, “Five feet and a-half.” “About she goes! Confound you, you
black scoundrel, I’ll teach you,” &c., &c. “Six feet! Eight feet
and a-half!” “About she comes again.” “Five feet! Four feet and
a-half.” (Oh, Lord! Six inches under our keel!) And so we went,
with a measurement between us and death of inches, not by any means
agreeable, in which the captain showed remarkable coolness and
skill in the management of his craft, combined with a most unseemly
animosity towards his unfortunate cook.
It was very little short of a miracle that we got past the “Elbow,”
as the most narrow part of the channel is called, for it was just
at the critical moment the binnacle light was extinguished, and
went out with a splutter, and there we were left in darkness in
a channel not one hundred yards wide and only six feet deep.
The centre board also got jammed once or twice when it was most
important to lie as close to the wind as possible; but at last
the captain shouted out, “It’s all right, we’re in deep water,”
and calling the mate to the helm proceeded to relieve his mind
by chasing Charlie into a corner and belabouring him with a dead
shark or dog fish about four feet long, which he picked up from the
deck as the handiest weapon he could find. For the whole morning,
henceforth, the captain found great comfort in making constant
charges on the hapless cook, who at last slyly threw the shark
overboard at a favourable opportunity, and forced his master to
resort to other varieties of Rhadamantine implements. But where
was the Oriental all this time? No one could say; but Charlie, who
seemed an authority as to her movements, averred she put her helm
round as soon as we entered the “Swash,” and disappeared in black
night.
The Diana had thus distinguished herself by running the blockade
of Pensacola, but a new triumph awaited her. As we approached
Fort Morgan a grey streak in the East just offered light enough
to distinguish the outlines of the fort and of the Confederate
flag which waved above it. A fair breeze carried us abreast of the
signal station, one solitary light gleamed from the walls, but
neither guard boat put off to board us, nor did sentry hail, nor
was gun fired--still we stood on. “Captain, had you not better
lie-to? They’ll be sending a round shot after us presently.” “No,
_sir_. They are all asleep in that fort,” replied the indomitable
skipper.
Down went his helm, and away ran the Diana into Mobile Bay, and
was soon safe in the haze beyond shot or shell, running towards the
opposite shore. This was glory enough, for the Diana of Mobile. The
wind blew straight from the North into our teeth, and at bright
sunrise she was only a few miles inside the bay.
All the live-long day was spent in tacking from one low shore to
another low shore, through water which looked like pea soup. We
had to be sure the pleasure of seeing Mobile from every point
of view, east and west, with all the varieties between northing
and southing, and numerous changes in the position of steeples,
sand-hills, and villas, the sun roasting us all the time and boiling
the pitch out of the seams.
The greatest excitement of the day was an encounter with a
young alligator, making an involuntary voyage out to sea in the
tideway. The crew said he was drowning, having lost his way or
being exhausted by struggling with the current. He was about ten
feet long, and appeared to be so utterly done up that he would
willingly have come aboard as he passed within two yards of us; but
desponding as he was, it would have been positive cruelty to have
added him to the number of our party.
The next event of the day was dinner, in which Charlie outrivalled
himself by a tremendous fry of onions and sliced Bologna sausage,
and a piece of pig, which had not decided whether it was to be pork
or bacon.
Having been fourteen hours beating some twenty-seven miles, I was
landed at last at a wharf in the suburbs of the town about five
o’clock in the evening. On my way to the Battle House I met seven
distinct companies marching through the streets to drill, and the
air was filled with sounds of bugling and drumming. In the evening
a number of gentlemen called upon me to inquire what I thought of
Fort Pickens and Pensacola, and I had some difficulty in parrying
their very home questions, but at last adopted a formula which
appeared to please them--I assured my friends I thought it would be
an exceedingly tough business whenever the bombardment took place.
One of the most important steps which I have yet heard of has
excited little attention, namely, the refusal of the officer
commanding Fort MacHenry, at Baltimore, to obey the writ of _habeas
corpus_ issued by a judge of that city for the person of a soldier
of his garrison. This military officer takes upon himself to aver
there is a state of civil war in Baltimore, which he considers
sufficient legal cause for the suspension of the writ.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Judge Campbell--Dr. Nott--Slavery--Departure for New
Orleans--Down the river--Fear of Cruisers--Approach to New
Orleans--Duelling--Streets of New Orleans--Unhealthiness of the
city--Public opinion as to the war--Happy and contented negroes.
_May 18th._--An exceedingly hot day, which gives bad promise of
comfort for the Federal soldiers, who are coming, as the Washington
Government asserts, to put down rebellion in these quarters. The
mosquitos are advancing in numbers and force. The day I first
came I asked the waiter if they were numerous. “I wish they were
a hundred times as many,” said he. On inquiring if he had any
possible reason for such an extraordinary aspiration, he said,
“because we would get rid of these darned black republicans out of
Fort Pickens all the sooner.” The man seemed to infer they would
not bite the Confederate soldiers.
I dined at Dr. Nott’s, and met Judge Campbell, who has resigned
his high post as one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the
United States, and explained his reasons for doing so in a letter,
charging Mr. Seward with treachery, dissimulation, and falsehood.
He seemed to me a great casuist rather than a profound lawyer,
and to delight in subtle distinctions and technical abstractions;
but I had the advantage of hearing from him at great length the
whole history of the Dred Scot case, and a recapitulation of the
arguments used on both sides, the force of which, in his opinion,
was irresistibly in favour of the decision of the Court. Mr.
Forsyth, Colonel Hardee, and others were of the company.
To me it was very painful to hear a sweet ringing silvery voice,
issuing from a very pretty mouth, “I’m so delighted to hear that
the Yankees in Fortress Monroe have got typhus fever. I hope it may
kill them all.” This was said by one of the most charming young
persons possible, and uttered with unmistakeable sincerity, just
as if she had said, “I hear all the snakes in Virginia are dying
of poison.” I fear the young lady did not think very highly of me
for refusing to sympathise with her wishes in that particular form.
But all the ladies in Mobile belong to “The Yankee Emancipation
Society.” They spend their days sewing cartridges, carding lint,
preparing bandages, and I’m not quite sure that they don’t fill
shells and fuses as well. Their zeal and energy will go far to
sustain the South in the forthcoming struggle, and nowhere is the
influence of women greater than in America.
As to Dr. Nott, his studies have induced him to take a purely
materialist view of the question of slavery, and, according
to him, questions of morals and ethics, pertaining to its
consideration, ought to be referred to the cubic capacity of
the human cranium--the head that can take the largest charge of
snipe shot will eventually dominate in some form or other over
the head of inferior capacity. Dr. Nott detests slavery, but he
does not see what is to be done with the slaves, and how the four
millions of negroes are to be prevented from becoming six, eight,
or ten millions, if their growth is stimulated by high prices for
Southern produce.
There is a good deal of force in the observation which I have
heard more than once down here, that Great Britain could not have
emancipated her negroes had they been dwelling within her border,
say in Lancashire or Yorkshire. No inconvenience was experienced
by the English people _per se_ in consequence of the emancipation,
which for the time destroyed industry and shook society to pieces
in Jamaica. Whilst the States were colonies, Great Britain viewed
the introduction of slaves to such remote dependencies with
satisfaction, and when the United States had established their
sovereignty they found the institution of slavery established
within their own borders, and an important, if not essential,
stratum in their social system. The work of emancipation would have
then been comparatively easy, it now is a stupendous problem which
no human being has offered to solve.
_May 19th._--The heat out of doors was so great that I felt
little tempted to stir out, but at 2 o’clock Mr. Magee drove me
to a pretty place, called Spring Hill, where Mr. Stein, a German
merchant of the city, has his country residence. The houses of
Mobile merchants are scattered around the rising ground in that
vicinity; they look like marble at a distance, but a nearer
approach resolves them into painted wood. Stone is almost unknown
on all this seaboard region. The worthy German was very hospitable,
and I enjoyed a cool walk before dinner under the shade of his
grapes, which formed pleasant walks in his garden. The Scuppernung
grape, which grew in profusion--a native of North Carolina--has
a remarkable appearance. The stalk, which is smooth, and covered
with a close grained grey bark, has not the character of a vine,
but grows straight and stiff like the branch of a tree, and is
crowded with delicious grapes. Cherokee plum and rose-trees, and
magnificent magnolias, clustered round his house, and beneath their
shadow I listened to the worthy German comparing the Fatherland to
his adopted country, and now and then letting out the secret love
of his heart for the old place. He, like all of the better classes
in the South, has the utmost dread of universal suffrage, and would
restrict the franchise largely to-morrow if he could.
_May 20._--I left Mobile in the steamer Florida for New Orleans
this morning at eight o’clock. She was crowded with passengers,
in uniform. In my cabin was a notice of the rules and regulations
of the steamer. No. 6 was as follows: “All slave servants must be
cleared at the Custom House. Passengers having slaves will please
report as soon as they come on board.”
A few miles from Mobile the steamer, turning to the right, entered
one of the narrow channels which perforate the whole of the
coast, called “Grant’s Pass.” An ingenious person has rendered it
navigable by an artificial cut; but as he was not an universal
philanthropist, and possibly may have come from north of the
Tweed, he further erected a series of barriers, which can only be
cleared by means of a little pepper-castor iron lighthouse; and he
charges toll on all passing vessels. A small island at the pass,
just above water-level, about twenty yards broad and one hundred
and fifty yards long, was being fortified. Some of our military
friends landed here; and it required a good deal of patriotism to
look cheerfully at the prospect of remaining cooped up among the
mosquitos in a box, on this miserable sand-bank, which a shell
would suffice to blow into atoms.
Having passed this channel, our steamer proceeded up a kind of
internal sea, formed by the shore, on the right hand and on the
left by a chain almost uninterrupted of reefs covered with sand,
and exceedingly narrow, so that the surf of the ocean rollers at
the other side could be seen through the foliage of the pine trees
which line them. On our right the endless pines closed up the
land view of the horizon; the beach was pierced by creeks without
number, called bayous; and it was curious to watch the white sails
of the little schooners gliding in and out among the trees along
the green meadows that seemed to stretch as an impassable barrier
to their exit. Immense troops of pelicans flapped over the sea,
dropping incessantly on the fish which abounded in the inner water;
and long rows of the same birds stood digesting their plentiful
meals on the white beach by the ocean foam.
There was some anxiety in the passengers’ minds, as it was reported
that the United States’ cruisers had been seen inside, and that
they had even burned the batteries on Ship Island. We saw nothing
of a character more formidable than coasting craft and a return
steamer from New Orleans till we approached the entrance to
Pontchartrain, when a large schooner, which sailed like a witch and
was crammed with men, attracted our attention. Through the glass I
could make out two guns on her deck, and quite reason enough for
any well-filled merchantman sailing under the Stars and Stripes to
avoid her close companionship.
The approach to New Orleans is indicated by large hamlets and
scattered towns along the sea-shore, hid in the piney woods, which
offer a retreat to the merchants and their families from the fervid
heat of the unwholesome city in summer time. As seen from the sea,
these sanitary settlements have a picturesque effect, and an air
of charming freshness and lightness. There are detached villas of
every variety of architecture in which timber can be constructed,
painted in the brightest hues--greens, and blues, and rose
tints--each embowered in magnolias and rhododendrons. From every
garden a very long and slender pier, terminated by a bathing-box,
stretches into the shallow sea; and the general aspect of these
houses, with the light domes and spires of churches rising above
the lines of white railings set in the dark green of the pines, is
light and novel. To each of these cities there is a jetty, at two
of which we touched, and landed newspapers, received or discharged
a few bales of goods, and were off again.
Of the little crowd assembled on each, the majority were
blacks--the whites, almost without exception, in uniform, and
armed. A nearer approach did not induce me to think that any
agencies less powerful than epidemics and summer-heats could render
Pascagoula, Passchristian, Mississippi City, and the rest of these
settlements very eligible residences for people of an active turn
of mind.
The live-long day my fellow-passengers never ceased talking
politics, except when they were eating and drinking, because the
horrible chewing and spitting are not at all incompatible with
the maintenance of active discussion. The fiercest of them all was
a thin, fiery-eyed little woman, who at dinner expressed a fervid
desire for bits of “Old Abe”--his ear, his hair; but whether for
the purpose of eating or as curious reliques, she did not enlighten
the company.
After dinner there was some slight difficulty among the military
gentlemen, though whether of a political or personal character, I
could not determine; but it was much aggravated by the appearance
of a six-shooter on the scene, which, to my no small perturbation,
was presented in a right line with my berth, out of the window
of which I was looking at the combatants. I am happy to say
the immediate delivery of the fire was averted by an amicable
arrangement that the disputants should meet at the St. Charles
Hotel at 12 o’clock on the second day after their arrival, in order
to fix time, place, and conditions of a more orthodox and regular
encounter.
At night the steamer entered a dismal canal, through a swamp which
is infamous as the most mosquito haunted place along the infested
shore; the mouths of the Mississippi themselves being quite
innocent, compared to the entrance of Lake Pontchartrain. When I
woke up at daylight, I found the vessel lying alongside a wharf
with a railway train alongside, which is to take us to the city of
New Orleans, six miles distant.
A village of restaurants or “restaurats,” as they are called here,
and of bathing boxes has grown up around the terminus; all the
names of the owners, the notices and sign-boards being French.
Outside the settlement the railroad passes through a swamp,
like an Indian jungle, through which the overflowings of the
Mississippi creep in black currents. The spires of New Orleans
rise above the underwood and semi-tropical vegetation of this
swamp. Nearer to the city lies a marshy plain, in which flocks of
cattle, up to the belly in the soft earth are floundering among the
clumps of vegetation. The nearer approach to New Orleans by rail
lies through a suburb of exceedingly broad lanes, lined on each
side by rows of miserable mean one-storied houses, inhabited, if
I am to judge from the specimens I saw, by a miserable and sickly
population.
A great number of the men and women had evident traces of negro
blood in their veins, and of the purer blooded whites many had
the peculiar look of the fishy-fleshy population of the Levantine
towns, and all were pale and lean. The railway terminus is marked
by a dirty, barrack-like shed in the city. Selecting one of the
numerous tumble-down hackney carriages which crowded the street
outside the station, I directed the man to drive me to the house of
Mr. Mure, the British consul, who had been kind enough to invite me
as his guest for the period of my stay in New Orleans.
The streets are badly paved, as those of most of the American
cities, if not all that I have ever been in, but in other respects
they are more worthy of a great city than are those of New York.
There is an air thoroughly French about the people--cafés,
restaurants, billiard-rooms abound, with oyster and lager-bier
saloons interspersed. The shops are all _magazins_; the people in
the streets are speaking French, particularly the negroes, who are
going out shopping with their masters and mistresses, exceedingly
well dressed, noisy, and not unhappy looking. The extent of the
drive gave an imposing idea of the size of New Orleans--the
richness of some of the shops, the vehicles in the streets and the
multitude of well-dressed people on the pavements, an impression
of its wealth and the comfort of the inhabitants. The Confederate
flag was flying from the public buildings and from many private
houses. Military companies paraded through the streets, and a large
proportion of men were in uniform.
In the day I drove through the city, delivered letters of
introduction, paid visits, and examined the shops and the public
places; but there is such a whirl of secession and politics
surrounding one it is impossible to discern much of the outer world.
Whatever may be the number of the unionists or of the
non-secessionists, a pressure too potent to be resisted has been
directed by the popular party against the friends of the Federal
government. The agent of Brown Brothers, of Liverpool and New York,
has closed their office and is going away in consequence of the
intimidation of the mob, or as the phrase is here, the “excitement
of the citizens,” on hearing of the subscription made by the firm
to the New York fund, after Sumter had been fired upon. Their agent
in Mobile has been compelled to adopt the same course. Other houses
follow their example, but as most business transactions are over
for the season, the mercantile community hope the contest will
be ended before the next season, by the recognition of Southern
independence.
The streets are full of Turcos, Zouaves, Chasseurs; walls are
covered with placards of volunteer companies there are Pickwick
rifles, La Fayette, Beauregard, MacMahon guards, Irish, German,
Italian and Spanish and native volunteers, among whom the Meagher
rifles, indignant with the gentleman from whom they took their
name, because of his adhesion to the North, are going to rebaptise
themselves and to seek glory under one more auspicious. In fact,
New Orleans looks like a suburb of the camp at Châlons. Tailors are
busy night and day making uniforms. I went into a shop with the
consul for some shirts--the mistress and all her seamstresses were
busy preparing flags as hard as the sewing machine could stitch
them, and could attend to no business for the present. The Irish
population, finding themselves unable to migrate Northwards, and
being without work, have rushed to arms with enthusiasm to support
Southern institutions, and Mr. John Mitchell and Mr. Meagher stand
opposed to each other in hostile camps.
_May 22nd._--The thermometer to-day marked 95° in the shade. It
is not to be wondered at that New Orleans suffers from terrible
epidemics. At the side of each street a filthy open sewer flows to
and fro with the tide in the blazing sun, and Mr. Mure tells me the
city lies so low that he has been obliged to go to his office in a
boat along the streets.
I sat for some time listening to the opinions of the various
merchants who came in to talk over the news and politics in
general. They were all persuaded that Great Britain would speedily
recognise the South, but I cannot find that any of them had
examined into the effects of such a recognition. One gentleman
seemed to think to-day that recognition meant forcing the blockade;
whereas it must, as I endeavoured to show him, merely lead to the
recognition of the rights of the United States to establish a
blockade of ports belonging to an independent and hostile nation.
There are some who maintain there will be no war after all; that
the North will not fight, and that the friends of the Southern
cause will recover their courage when this tyranny is over. No one
imagines the South will ever go back to the Union voluntarily, or
that the North has power to thrust it back at the point of the
bayonet.
The South has commenced preparations for the contest by sowing
grain instead of planting cotton, to compensate for the loss of
supplies from the North. The payment of debts to Northern creditors
is declared to be illegal, and “stay laws” have been adopted
in most of the seceding states, by which the ordinal laws for
the recovery of debts in the States themselves are for the time
suspended, which may lead one into the belief that the legislators
themselves belong to the debtor instead of the creditor class.
_May 23rd._--As the mail communication has been suspended between
North and South, and the Express Companies are ordered not to carry
letters, I sent off my packet of despatches to-day, by Mr. Ewell,
of the house of Dennistoun & Co.; and resumed my excursions through
New Orleans.
The young artist who is stopping at the St. Charles Hotel, came to
me in great agitation to say his life was in danger, in consequence
of his former connexion with an abolition paper of New York, and
that he had been threatened with death by a man with whom he had
had a quarrel in Washington. Mr. Mure, to calm his apprehensions,
offered to take him to the authorities of the town, who would, no
doubt, protect him, as he was merely engaged in making sketches
for an English periodical, but the young man declared he was
in danger of assassination. He entreated Mr. Mure to give him
despatches which would serve to protect him, on his way Northward;
and the Consul, moved by his mental distress, promised that if he
had any letters of an official character for Washington he would
send them by him, in default of other opportunities.
I dined with Major Ranney, the president of one of the railways,
with whom Mr. Ward was stopping. Among the company were Mr. Eustis,
son-in-law of Mr. Slidell; Mr. Morse, the attorney-general of the
State; Mr. Moise, a jew, supposed to have considerable influence
with the governor, and a vehement politician; Messrs. Hunt, and
others. The table was excellent, and the wines were worthy of the
reputation which our host enjoys, in a city where Sallusts and
Luculli are said to abound. One of the slave servants who waited at
table, an intelligent yellow “boy,” was pointed out to me as a son
of General Andrew Jackson.
We had a full account of the attack of the British troops on the
city, and their repulse. Mr. Morse denied emphatically that there
was any cotton bag fortification in front of the lines, where our
troops were defeated; he asserted that there were only a few bales,
I think seventy-five, used in the construction of one battery, and
that they and some sugar hogsheads, constituted the sole defences
of the American trench. Only one citizen applied to the state for
compensation, on account of the cotton used by Jackson’s troops,
and he owned the whole of the bales so appropriated.
None of the Southern gentlemen have the smallest apprehension of a
servile insurrection. They use the universal formula “our negroes
are the happiest, most contented, and most comfortable people on
the face of the earth.” I admit I have been struck by well-clad and
good-humoured negroes in the streets, but they are in the minority;
many look morose, ill-clad, and discontented. The patrols I know
have been strengthened, and I heard a young lady the other night,
say, “I shall not be a bit afraid to go back to the plantation,
though mamma says the negroes are after mischief.”
CHAPTER XXX.
The first blow struck--The St. Charles hotel--Invasion of
Virginia by the Federals--Death of Col. Ellsworth--Evening at Mr.
Slidell’s--Public comments on the war--Richmond the capital of
the Confederacy--Military preparations--General society--Jewish
element--Visit to a battle-field of 1815.
_May 24th._--A great budget of news to-day, which with the events
of the week may be briefly enumerated. The fighting has actually
commenced between the United States steamers off Fortress Monroe,
and the Confederate battery erected at Sewall’s point--both sides
claim a certain success. The Confederates declare they riddled the
steamer, and that they killed and wounded a number of the sailors.
The captain of the vessel says he desisted from want of ammunition,
but believes he killed a number of the rebels, and knows he had
no loss himself. Beriah Magoffin, governor of the sovereign state
of Kentucky, has warned off both Federal and Confederate soldiers
from his territory. The Confederate congress has passed an act
authorising persons indebted to the United States, except Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and the district of Columbia, to pay
the amount of their debts, to the Confederate treasury. The State
convention of North Carolina has passed an ordinance of secession.
Arkansas has sent its delegates to the Southern congress. Several
Southern vessels have been made prizes, by the blockading squadron;
but the event which causes the greatest excitement and indignation
here, was the seizure, on Monday, by the United States’ marshals,
in every large city throughout the Union, of the telegraphic
despatches of the last twelve months.
In the course of the day, I went to the St. Charles Hotel, which is
an enormous establishment, of the American type, with a Southern
character about it. A number of gentlemen were seated in the hall,
and front of the office, with their legs up against the wall,
and on the backs of chairs, smoking, spitting, and reading the
papers. Officers crowded the bar. The bustle and noise of the place
would make it anything but an agreeable residence for one fond
of quiet; but this hotel is famous for its difficulties. Not the
least disgraceful among them, was the assault committed by some of
Walker’s filibusters, upon Captain Aldham, of the Royal Navy.
The young artist, who has been living in great seclusion, was
fastened up in his room; and when I informed him that Mr. Mure had
despatches which he might take, if he liked, that night, he was
overjoyed to excess. He started off north in the evening, and I saw
him no more.
At half-past four, I went down by train to the terminus on the
lake where I had landed, which is the New Orleans Richmond, or
rather, Greenwich, and dined with Mr. Eustis, Mr. Johnson an
English merchant, Mr. Josephs a New Orleans lawyer, and Mr. Hunt.
The dinner was worthy of the reputation of the French cook. The
terrapin soup excellent, though not comparable, as Americans
assert, to the best turtle. The creature from which it derives
its name, is a small tortoise, the flesh is boiled somewhat in the
manner of turtle, but the soup abounds in small bones, and the
black paws with the white nail-like stumps projecting from them,
found amongst the _disjecta membra_, are not agreeable to look
upon. The bouillabaisse was unexceptionable, the soft crab worthy
of every commendation, but the best dish was, unquestionably, the
pompinoe, an odd fish, something like an unusually ugly John Dory,
but possessing admirable qualities in all that makes fish good.
The pleasures of the evening were enhanced by a most glorious
sunset, which cast its last rays through a wilderness of laurel
roses in full bloom, which thronged the garden. At dusk, the air
was perfectly alive with fire-flies and strange beetles. Flies and
coleopters buzzed in through the open windows, and flopped among
the glasses. At half-past nine, we returned home in cars drawn by
horses along the rail.
_May 25th._--Virginia has indeed been invaded by the Federals.
Alexandria has been seized. It is impossible to describe the
excitement and rage of the people; they take, however, some
consolation in the fact that Colonel Ellsworth in command of
a regiment of New York Zouaves, was shot by J. T. Jackson,
the landlord of an inn in the city, called the Marshal House.
Ellsworth, on the arrival of his regiment in Alexandria, proceeded
to take down the secession flag, which had been long seen from the
President’s windows. He went out upon the roof, cut it from the
staff, and was proceeding with it down-stairs, when a man rushed
out of a room, levelling a double-barrelled gun, shot Colonel
Ellsworth dead, and fired the other barrel at one of his men, who
had struck at the piece, when the murderer presented it at the
Colonel. Almost instantaneously, the Zouave shot Jackson in the
head, and as he was falling dead thrust his sabre bayonet through
his body. Strange to say, the people of New Orleans, consider
Jackson was completely right, in shooting the Federal colonel,
and maintain that the Zouave, who shot Jackson, was guilty of
murder. Their theory is that Ellsworth had come over with a horde
of ruffianly abolitionists or, as the Richmond _Examiner_ has it
“the band of thieves, robbers and assassins, in the pay of Abraham
Lincoln, commonly known as the United States’ Army,” to violate the
territory of a sovereign state, in order to execute their bloody
and brutal purposes, and that he was in the act of committing a
robbery, by taking a flag which did not belong to him, when he met
his righteous fate.
It is curious to observe how passion blinds man’s reason, in this
quarrel. More curious still to see, by the light of this event,
how differently the same occurrence is viewed by Northerners and
Southerners respectively. Jackson is depicted in the Northern
papers as a fiend and an assassin; even his face in death is
declared to have worn a revolting expression of rage and hate.
The Confederate flag which was the cause of the fatal affray, is
described by one writer, as having been purified of its baseness,
by contact with Ellsworth’s blood. The invasion of Virginia is
hailed on all sides of the North with the utmost enthusiasm.
“Ellsworth is a martyr hero, whose name is to be held sacred for
ever.”
On the other hand, the Southern papers declare that the invasion of
Virginia, is “an act of the Washington tyrants, which indicates
their bloody and brutal purpose to exterminate the Southern people.
The Virginians will give the world another proof, like that of
Moscow, that a free people, fighting on a free soil, are invincible
when contending for all that is dear to man.” Again--“A hand of
execrable cut throats and jail birds, known as the Zouaves of New
York, under that chief of all scoundrels, Ellsworth, broke open
the door of a citizen, to tear down the flag of the house--the
courageous owner met the favourite hero of the Yankees in his own
hall, alone, against thousands, and shot him through the heart--he
died a death which emperors might envy, and his memory will live
through endless generations.” Desperate, indeed, must have been the
passion and anger of the man who, in the fullest certainty that
immediate death must be its penalty, committed such a deed. As it
seems to me, Colonel Ellsworth, however injudicious he may have
been, was actually in the performance of his duty when taking down
the flag of an enemy.
In the evening I visited Mr. Slidell, whom I found at home, with
his family, Mrs. Slidell and her sister Madame Beauregard, wife
of the general, two very charming young ladies, daughters of the
house, and a parlour full of fair companions, engaged, as hard
as they could, in carding lint with their fair hands. Among the
company was Mr. Slidell’s son, who had just travelled from school
at the North, under a feigned name, in order to escape violence
at the hands of the Union mobs which are said to be insulting and
outraging every Southern man. The conversation, as is the case in
most creole domestic circles, was carried on in French. I rarely
met a man whose features have a greater _finesse_ and firmness of
purpose than Mr. Slidell’s; his keen grey eye is full of life,
his thin, firmly-set lips indicate resolution and passion. Mr.
Slidell, though born in a Northern state, is perhaps one of the
most determined disunionists in the Southern confederacy; he is not
a speaker of note, nor a ready stump orator, nor an able writer;
but he is an excellent judge of mankind, adroit, persevering, and
subtle, full of device, and fond of intrigue; one of those men,
who, unknown almost to the outer world, organises and sustains a
faction, and exalts it into the position of a party--what is called
here a “wire-puller.” Mr. Slidell is to the South something greater
than Mr. Thurlow Weed has been to his party in the North. He, like
every one else, is convinced that recognition must come soon; but,
under any circumstances, he is quite satisfied, the government
and independence of the Southern confederacy are as completely
established as those of any power in the world. Mr. Slidell and the
members of his family possess _naïveté_, good sense, and agreeable
manners; and the regrets I heard expressed in Washington society,
at their absence, had every justification.
I supped at the club, which I visited every day since I was made
an honorary member, as all the journals are there, and a great
number of planters and merchants, well acquainted with the state of
affairs in the South. There were two Englishmen present, Mr. Lingam
and another, the most determined secessionists and the most devoted
advocates of slavery I have yet met in the course of my travels.
_May 26th._--The heat to-day was so great, that I felt a return of
my old Indian experiences, and was unable to go, as I intended, to
hear a very eminent preacher discourse on the war at one of the
principal chapels.
All disposable regiments are on the march to Virginia. It was bad
policy for Mr. Jefferson Davis to menace Washington before he could
seriously carry out his threats, because the North was excited by
the speech of his Secretary at War to take extraordinary measures
for the defence of their capital; and General Scott was enabled by
their enthusiasm not only to provide for its defence, but to effect
a lodgment at Alexandria, as a base of operations against the enemy.
When the Congress at Montgomery adjourned, the other day, they
resolved to meet on the 20th of July at Richmond, which thus
becomes the capital of the Confederacy. The city is not much more
than one hundred miles south of Washington, with which it was in
communication by rail and river; and the selection must cause a
collision between the two armies in front of the rival capitals.
The seizure of the Norfolk navy yard by the Confederates rendered
it necessary to reinforce Fortress Monroe; and for the present the
Potomac and the Chesapeake are out of danger.
The military precautions taken by General Scott, and the
movements attributed to him to hold Baltimore and to maintain his
communications between Washington and the North, afford evidence of
judgment and military skill. The Northern papers are clamouring for
an immediate advance of their raw levies to Richmond, which General
Scott resists.
In one respect the South has shown greater sagacity than the North.
Mr. Jefferson Davis having seen service in the field, and having
been Secretary of War, perceived the dangers and inefficiency of
irregular levies, and therefore induced the Montgomery Congress
to pass a bill which binds volunteers to serve during the war,
unless sooner discharged, and reserves to the President of the
Southern Confederacy the appointment of staff and field officers,
the right of veto to battalion officers elected by each company,
and the power of organising companies of volunteers into squadrons,
battalions, and regiments. Writing to the _Times_ at this date, I
observed: “Although immense levies of men may be got together for
purposes of local defence or aggressive operations, it will be
very difficult to move these masses like regular armies. There is
an utter want of field-trains, equipage, and commissariat, which
cannot be made good in a day, a week, or a month. The absence of
cavalry, and the utter deficiency of artillery, may prevent either
side obtaining any decisive result in one engagement; but there can
be no doubt large losses will be incurred whenever these masses of
men are fairly opposed to each other in the open field.”
_May 27th._--I visited several of the local companies, their
drill-grounds and parades; but few of the men were present, as
nearly all are under orders to proceed to the Camp at Tangipao
or to march to Richmond. Privates and officers are busy in the
sweltering streets purchasing necessaries for their journey. As one
looks at the resolute, quick, angry faces around him, and hears but
the single theme, he must feel the South will never yield to the
North, unless as a nation which is beaten beneath the feet of a
victorious enemy.
In every state there is only one voice audible. Hereafter,
indeed, state jealousies may work their own way; but if words mean
anything, all the Southern people are determined to resist Mr.
Lincoln’s invasion as long as they have a man or a dollar. Still,
there are certain hard facts which militate against the truth of
their own assertions, “that they are united to a man, and prepared
to fight to a man.” Only 15,000 are under arms out of the 50,000
men in the state of Louisiana liable to military service.
“Charges of abolitionism” appear in the reports of police cases
in the papers every morning; and persons found guilty not of
expressing opinions against slavery, but of stating their belief
that the Northerners will be successful, are sent to prison for
six months. The accused are generally foreigners, or belong to
the lower orders, who have got no interest in the support of
slavery. The moral suasion of the lasso, of tarring and feathering,
head-shaving, ducking, and horse-ponds, deportation on rails, and
similar ethical processes are highly in favour. As yet the North
have not arrived at such an elevated view of the necessities of
their position.
The New Orleans papers are facetious over their new mode of
securing unanimity, and highly laud what they call “the course of
instruction in the humane institution for the amelioration of the
condition of northern barbarians and abolition fanatics, presided
over by Professor Henry Mitchell,” who, in other words, is the
jailer of the workhouse reformatory.
I dined at the Lake with Mr. Mure, General Lewis, Major Ranney,
Mr. Duncan Kenner a Mississippi planter, Mr. Claiborne, &c., and
visited the club in the evening. Every night since I have been in
New Orleans there have been one or two fires; to-night there were
three--one a tremendous conflagration. When I inquired to what they
were attributable, a gentleman who sat near, bent over, and looking
me straight in the face, said, in a low voice, “The slaves.” The
flues, perhaps, and the system of stoves, may also bear some of
the blame. There is great enthusiasm among the townspeople in
consequence of the Washington artillery, a crack corps, furnished
by the first people in New Orleans, being ordered off for Virginia.
_May 28th._--On dropping in at the Consulate to-day, I found the
skippers of several English vessels who are anxious to clear
out, lest they be detained by the Federal cruisers. The United
States steam frigates Brooklyn and Niagara have been for some days
past blockading Pass á l’outre. One citizen made a remarkable
proposition to Mr. Mure. He came in to borrow an ensign of the
Royal Yacht Squadron for the purpose, he said, of hoisting it on
board his yacht, and running down to have a look at the Yankee
ships. Mr. Mure had no flag to lend; whereupon he asked for a
description by which he could get one made. On being applied to, I
asked “whether the gentleman was a member of the Squadron?” “Oh,
no,” said he, “but my yacht was built in England, and I wrote over
some time ago to say I would join the squadron.” I ventured to
tell him that it by no means followed he was a member, and that
if he went out with the flag and could not show by his papers he
had a right to carry it, the yacht would be seized. However, he
was quite satisfied that he had an English yacht, and a right to
hoist an English flag, and went off to an outfitter’s to order a
_facsimile_ of the Squadron ensign, and subsequently cruised among
the blockading vessels.
We hear Mr. Ewell was attacked by an Union mob in Tennessee, his
luggage was broken open and plundered, and he narrowly escaped
personal injury. _Per contra_, “charges of abolitionism” continue
to multiply here, and are almost as numerous as the coroner’s
inquests, not to speak of the difficulties which sometimes attain
the magnitude of murder.
I dined with a large party at the Lake, who had invited me as their
guest, among whom were Mr. Slidell, Governor Hebert, Mr. Hunt, Mr.
Norton, Mr. Fellows, and others. I observed in New York that every
man had his own solution of the cause of the present difficulty,
and contradicted plumply his neighbour the moment he attempted to
propound his own theory. Here I found every one agreed as to the
righteousness of the quarrel, but all differed as to the best mode
of action for the South to pursue. Nor was there any approach to
unanimity as the evening waxed older. Incidentally we had wild
tales of Southern life, some good songs, curiously intermingled
with political discussions, and what the Northerns call hyphileutin
talk.
When I was in the Consulate to-day, a tall and well-dressed, but
not very prepossessing-looking man, entered to speak to Mr. Mure on
business, and was introduced to me at his own request. His name was
mentioned incidentally to-night, and I heard a passage in his life
not of an agreeable character, to say the least of it. A good many
years ago there was a ball at New Orleans, at which this gentleman
was present; he paid particular attention to a lady who, however,
preferred the society of one of the company, and in the course of
the evening an altercation occurred respecting an engagement to
dance, in which violent language was exchanged, and a push or blow
given by the favoured partner to his rival, who left the room, and,
as it is stated, proceeded to a cutler’s shop, where he procured a
powerful dagger-knife. Armed with this, he returned, and sent in a
message to the gentleman with whom he had quarrelled. Suspecting
nothing, the latter came into the ante-chamber, the assassin rushed
upon him, stabbed him to the heart, and left him weltering in his
blood. Another version of the story was, that he waited for his
victim till he came into the cloak-room, and struck him as he was
in the act of putting on his overcoat. After a long delay, the
criminal was tried. The defence put forward on his behalf was that
he had seized a knife in the heat of the moment when the quarrel
took place, and had slain his adversary in a moment of passion;
but evidence, as I understand, went strongly to prove that a
considerable interval elapsed between the time of the dispute and
the commission of the murder. The prisoner had the assistance of
able and ingenious counsel; he was acquitted. His acquittal was
mainly due to the judicious disposition of a large sum of money;
each juror, when he retired to dinner previous to consulting over
the verdict, was enabled to find the sum of 1000 dollars under
his plate; nor was it clear that the judge and sheriff had not
participated in the bounty; in fact, I heard a dispute as to the
exact amount which it is supposed the murderer had to pay. He
now occupies, under the Confederate Government, the post at New
Orleans which he lately held, as representative of the Government
of the United States.
After dinner I went in company of some of my hosts to the Boston
Club, which has, I need not say, no connection with the city of
that name. More fires, the tocsin sounding, and so to bed.
_May 29th._--Dined in the evening with M. Aristide Milten-berger,
where I met His Excellency Mr. Moore, the Governor of Louisiana,
his military secretary, and a small party.
It is a strange country, indeed; one of the evils which afflicts
the Louisianians, they say, is the preponderance and influence of
South Carolinian Jews, and Jews generally, such as Moise, Mordecai,
Josephs, and Judah Benjamin, and others. The subtlety and keenness
of the Caucasian intellect give men a high place among a people who
admire ability and dexterity, and are at the same time reckless of
means and averse to labour. The Governor is supposed to be somewhat
under the influence of the Hebrews, but he is a man quite competent
to think and to act for himself--a plain, sincere ruler of a
slave state, and an upholder of the patriarchal institute. After
dinner we accompanied Madame Milten-berger (who affords in her own
person a very complete refutation of the dogma that American women
furnish no examples of the charms which surround their English
sisters in the transit from the prime of life towards middle age),
in a drive along the shell road to the lake and canal; the most
remarkable object being a long wall lined with a glorious growth of
orange trees: clouds of mosquitoes effectually interfered with an
enjoyment of the drive.
_May 30th._--Wrote in the heat of the day, enlivened by my
neighbour, a wonderful mocking-bird, whose songs and imitations
would make his fortune in any society capable of appreciating
native-born genius. His restlessness, courage, activity, and talent
ought not to be confined to Mr. Mure’s cage, but he seems contented
and happy. I dined with Madame and M. Milten-berger, and drove out
with them to visit the scene of our defeat in 1815, which lies at
the distance of some miles down the river.
A dilapidated farmhouse surrounded by trees and negro huts marks
the spot where Pakenham was buried, but his body was subsequently
exhumed and sent home to England. Close to the point of the canal
which constitutes a portion of the American defences, a negro guide
came forth to conduct us round the place, but he knew as little
as most guides of the incidents of the fight. The most remarkable
testimony to the severity of the fire to which the British were
exposed, is afforded by the trees in the neighbourhood of the tomb.
In one live oak there are no less than eight round shot embedded,
others contain two or three, and many are lopped, rent, and scarred
by the flight of cannon ball. The American lines extended nearly
three miles, and were covered in the front by swamps, marshes, and
water cuts, their batteries and the vessels in the river enfiladed
the British as they advanced to the attack.
Among the prominent defenders of the cotton bales was a notorious
pirate and murderer named Lafitte, who with his band was released
from prison on condition that he enlisted in the defence, and did
substantial service to his friends and deliverers.
Without knowing all the circumstances of the case, it would be rash
now to condemn the officers who directed the assault; but so far
as one could judge from the present condition of the ground, the
position must have been very formidable, and should not have been
assaulted till the enfilading fire was subdued, and a very heavy
covering fire directed to silence the guns in front. The Americans
are naturally very proud of their victory, which was gained at a
most trifling loss to themselves, which they erroneously conceive
to be a proof of their gallantry in resisting the assault. It is
one of the events which have created a fixed idea in their minds
that they are able to “whip the world.”
On returning from my visit I went to the club, where I had a long
conversation with Dr. Rushton, who is strongly convinced of the
impossibility of carrying on government, or conducting municipal
affairs, until universal suffrage is put down. He gave many
instances of the terrorism, violence, and assassinations which
prevail during election times in New Orleans. M. Milten-berger,
on the contrary, thinks matters are very well as they are, and
declares all these stories are fanciful: Incendiarism rife again.
All the club windows crowded with men looking at a tremendous fire,
which burned down three or four stores and houses.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Carrying arms--New Orleans jail--Desperate
characters--Executions--Female maniacs and prisoners--The
river and levee--Climate of New Orleans--Population--General
distress--Pressure of the blockade--Money--Philosophy of abstract
rights--The doctrine of state rights--Theoretical defect in the
constitution.
_May 31st._--I went with Mr. Mure to visit the jail. We met the
sheriff, according to appointment, at the police court. Something
like a sheriff--a great, big, burly, six-foot man, with revolvers
stuck in his belt, and strength and arms quite sufficient to enable
him to execute his office in its highest degree. Speaking of the
numerous crimes committed in New Orleans, he declared it was a
perfect hell upon earth, and that nothing would ever put an end
to murders, manslaughters, and deadly assaults till it was made
penal to carry arms; but by law every American citizen may walk
with an armoury round his waist if he likes. Bar-rooms, cocktails,
mint-juleps, gambling-houses, political discussions, and imperfect
civilization do the rest.
The jail, is a square whitewashed building, with cracked walls and
barred windows. In front of the open door were seated four men
on chairs, with their legs cocked against the wall, smoking and
reading newspapers. “Well, what do you want?” said one of them,
without rising. “To visit the prison.” “Have you got friends
inside, or do you carry an order?” The necessary document from our
friend the sheriff was produced. We entered through the doorway,
into a small hall, at the end of which was an iron grating and
door. A slightly-built young man, who was lolling in his shirt
sleeves on a chair, rose and examined the order, and, taking down
a bunch of keys from a hook, and introducing himself to us as one
of the warders, opened the iron door, and preceded us through a
small passage into a square court-yard, formed on one side by a
high wall, and on the other three by windowed walls and cells,
with doors opening on the court. It was filled with a crowd of men
and boys; some walking up and down, others sitting, and groups on
the pavement; some moodily apart, smoking or chewing; one or two
cleaning their clothes or washing at a small tank. We walked into
the midst of them, and the warder, smoking his cigar and looking
coolly about him, pointed out the most desperate criminals.
This crowded and most noisome place was filled with felons of
every description, as well as with poor wretches merely guilty
of larceny. Hardened murderers, thieves, and assassins were
here associated with boys in their teens who were undergoing
imprisonment for some trifling robbery. It was not pleasant to rub
elbows with miscreants who lounged past, almost smiling defiance,
whilst the slim warder, in his straw hat, shirt sleeves, and
drawers told you how such a fellow had murdered his mother, how
another had killed a policeman, or a third had destroyed no less
than three persons in a few moments. Here were seventy murderers,
pirates, burglars, violaters, and thieves circulating among men
who had been proved guilty of no offence, but were merely waiting
for their trial.
A verandah ran along one side of the wall, above a row of small
cells, containing truckle beds for the inmates. “That’s a desperate
chap, I can tell you,” said the warder, pointing to a man who,
naked to his shirt, was sitting on the floor, with heavy irons
on his legs, which they chafed notwithstanding the bloody rags
around them, engaged in playing cards with a fellow prisoner, and
smoking with an air of supreme contentment. The prisoner turned at
the words, and gave a kind of grunt and chuckle, and then played
his next card. “That,” said the warder, in the proud tone of a
menagerie keeper exhibiting his fiercest wild beast, “is a real
desperate character; his name is Gordon: I guess he comes from
your country; he made a most miraculous attempt to escape, and all
but succeeded; and you would never believe me if I told you that
he hooked on to that little spout, climbed up the angle of that
wall there, and managed to get across to the ledge of that window
over the outside wall before he was discovered.” And indeed it did
require the corroborative twinkle in the fellow’s eye, as he heard
of his own exploit, to make me believe that the feat thus indicated
could be performed by mortal man.
“There’s where we hang them,” continued he, pointing to a small
black door, let into the wall, about 18 feet from the ground, with
some iron hooks above it. “They walk out on the door, which is
shot on a bolt, and when the rope is round their necks from the
hook, the door’s let flop, and they swing over the court-yard.” The
prisoners are shut up in their cells during the execution, but they
can see what is passing, at least those who get good places at
the windows. “Some of them,” added the warder, “do die very brave
indeed. Some of them abuse as you never heard. But most of them
don’t seem to like it.”
Passing from the yard, we proceeded up-stairs to the first floor,
where were the debtors’ rooms. These were tolerably comfortable,
in comparison to the wretched cells we had seen; but the poorer
debtors were crowded together, three or four in a room. As far as
I could ascertain, there is no insolvency law, but the debtor is
free, after ninety days’ imprisonment, if his board and lodging be
paid for. “And what if they are not?” “Oh, well, in that case we
keep them till all is paid, adding of course for every day they are
kept.”
In one of these rooms, sitting on his bed, looking wicked and
gloomy, and with a glare like that of a wild beast in his eyes, was
a Doctor Withers, who a few days ago murdered his son-in-law and
his wife, in a house close to Mr. Mure’s. He was able to pay for
this privilege, and “as he is a respectable man,” said the warder,
“perhaps he may escape the worst.”
Turning from this department into another gallery, the warder
went to an iron door, above which was painted a death’s head and
cross-bones, beneath were the words “condemned cell.”
He opened the door, which led to a short narrow covered gallery,
one side of which looked into a court-yard, admitting light into
two small chambers, in which were pallets of straw covered with
clean counterpanes.
Six men were walking up and down in the passage. In the first room
there was a table, on which were placed missals, neatly bound,
and very clean religious books, a crucifix, and _Agnus Dei_. The
whitewashed wall of this chamber was covered with most curious
drawings in charcoal or black chalk, divided into compartments, and
representing scenes in the life of the unhappy artist, a Frenchman,
executed some years ago for murdering his mistress, depicting his
temptations--his gradual fall from innocence--his society with
abandoned men and women--intermingled with Scriptural subjects,
Christ walking on the waters, and holding out his hand to the
culprit--the murderer’s corpse in the grave--angels visiting and
lamenting over it;--finally, the resurrection, in which he is seen
ascending to heaven!
My attention was attracted from this extraordinary room to an open
gallery at the other side of the court-yard, in which were a number
of women with dishevelled hair and torn clothes, some walking up
and down restlessly, others screaming loudly, while some with
indecent gestures were yelling to the wretched men opposite to
them, as they were engaged in their miserable promenade.
Shame and horror to a Christian land! These women were maniacs!
They are kept here until there is room for them at the State
Lunatic Asylum. Night and day their terrible cries and ravings echo
through the dreary, waking hours and the fitful slumbers of the
wretched men so soon to die.
Two of those who walked in that gallery are to die to-morrow.
What a mockery--the crucifix!--the _Agnus Dei_!--the holy books! I
turned with sickness and loathing from the dreadful place. “But,”
said the keeper, apologetically, “there’s not one of them believes
he’ll be hanged.”
* * * * *
We next visited the women’s gallery, where female criminals of
all classes are huddled together indiscriminately. On opening the
door, the stench from the open verandah, in which the prisoners
were sitting, was so vile that I could not proceed further; but I
saw enough to convince me that the poor, erring woman who was put
in there for some trifling offence, and placed in contact with the
beings who were uttering such language as we heard, might indeed
leave hope behind her.
The prisoners have no beds to sleep upon, not even a blanket, and
are thrust in to lie as they please, five in each small cell.
It may be imagined what the tropical heat produces under such
conditions as these; but as the surgeon was out, I could obtain no
information respecting the rates of sickness or mortality.
I next proceeded to a yard somewhat smaller than that appropriated
to serious offenders, in which were confined prisoners condemned
for short sentences, for such offences as drunkenness, assault, and
the like. Among the prisoners were some English sailors, confined
for assaults on their officers, or breach of articles; all of whom
had complaints to make to the Consul, as to arbitrary arrests and
unfounded charges. Mr. Mure told me that when the port is full he
is constantly engaged inquiring into such cases; and I am sorry to
learn that the men of our commercial marine occasion a good deal of
trouble to the authorities.
I left the prison in no very charitable mood towards the people
who sanctioned such a disgraceful institution, and proceeded to
complete my tour of the city.
The “Levee,” which is an enormous embankment to prevent the
inundation of the river, is now nearly deserted except by the river
steamers, and those which have been unable to run the blockade.
As New Orleans is on an average three feet below the level of the
river at high water, this work requires constant supervision; it is
not less than fifteen feet broad, and rises five or six feet above
the level of the adjacent street, and it is continued in an almost
unbroken line for several hundreds of miles up the course of the
Mississippi. When the bank gives way, or a “crevasse,” as it is
technically called, occurs, the damage done to the plantations has
sometimes to be calculated by millions of dollars; when the river
is very low there is a new form of danger, in what is called the
“caving in” of the bank, which, left without the support of the
water pressure, slides into the bed of the giant river.
New Orleans is called the “crescent city” in consequence of its
being built on a curve of the river, which is here about the
breadth of the Thames at Gravesend, and of great depth. Enormous
cotton presses are erected near the banks, where the bales are
compressed by machinery before stowage on shipboard, at a heavy
cost to the planter.
The custom-house, the city-hall, and the United States mint, are
fine buildings, of rather pretentious architecture; the former is
the largest building in the States, next to the capital. I was
informed that on the levee, now almost deserted, there is during
the cotton and sugar season a scene of activity, life, and noise,
the like of which is not in the world. Even Canton does not show
so many boats on the river, not to speak of steamers, tugs, flat
boats, and the like; and it may be easily imagined that such is the
case, when we know that the value of the cotton sent in the year
from this port alone exceeds twenty millions sterling, and that
the other exports are of the value of at least fifteen millions
sterling, whilst the imports amount to nearly four millions.
As the city of New Orleans is nearly 1700 miles south of New York,
it is not surprising that it rejoices in a semi-tropical climate.
The squares are surrounded with lemon-trees, orange-groves, myrtle,
and magnificent magnolias. Palmettoes and peach-trees are found in
all the gardens, and in the neighbourhood are enormous cypresses,
hung round with the everlasting Spanish moss.
The streets of the extended city are different in character from
the narrow chaussées of the old town, and the general rectangular
arrangement common in the United States, Russia, and British Indian
cantonments is followed as much as possible. The markets are
excellent, each municipality, or grand division, being provided
with its own. They swarm with specimens of the composite races
which inhabit the city, from the thorough-bred, woolly-headed
negro, who is suspiciously like a native-born African, to the
Creole who boasts that every drop of blood in his veins is purely
French.
I was struck by the absence of any whites of the labouring classes,
and when I inquired what had become of the men who work on the
levee and at the cotton presses in competition with the negroes, I
was told they had been enlisted for the war.
I forgot to mention that among the criminals in the prison there
was one Mr. Bibb, a respectable citizen, who had a little affair of
his own on Sunday morning.
Mr. Bibb was coming from market, and had secured an early copy of a
morning paper. Three citizens, anxious for news, or, as Bibb avows,
for his watch and purse, came up and insisted that he should read
the paper for them. Bibb declined, whereupon the three citizens,
in the full exercise of their rights as a majority, proceeded to
coerce him; but Bibb had a casual revolver in his pocket, and in a
moment he shot one of his literary assailants dead, and wounded the
two others severely, if not mortally. The paper which narrates the
circumstances, in stating that the successful combatant had been
committed to prison, adds, “great sympathy is felt for Mr. Bibb.”
If the Southern minority is equally successful in its resistance
to _force majeure_ as this eminent citizen, the fate of the
Confederacy cannot long be doubtful.
_June 1st._ The respectable people of the city are menaced with
two internal evils in consequence of the destitution caused by the
stoppage of trade with the North and with Europe. The municipal
authorities, for want of funds, threaten to close the city schools,
and to disband the police; at the same time employers refuse to pay
their workmen on the ground of inability. The British Consulate
was thronged to-day by Irish, English, and Scotch, entreating to
be sent North or to Europe. The stories told by some of these
poor fellows were most pitiable, and were vouched for by facts
and papers; but Mr. Mure has no funds at his disposal to enable
him to comply with their prayers. Nothing remains for them but
to enlist. For the third or fourth time I heard cases of British
subjects being forcibly carried off to fill the ranks of so-called
volunteer companies and regiments. In some instances they have been
knocked down, bound, and confined in barracks, till in despair they
consented to serve. Those who have friends aware of their condition
were relieved by the interference of the Consul; but there are
many, no doubt, thus coerced and placed in involuntary servitude
without his knowledge. Mr. Mure has acted with energy, judgment,
and success on these occasions; but I much wish he could have, from
national sources, assisted the many distressed English subjects who
thronged his office.
The great commercial community of New Orleans, which now feels
the pressure of the blockade, depends on the interference of the
European Powers next October. They have, among them men who refuse
to pay their debts to Northern houses, but they deny that they
intend to repudiate, and promise to pay all who are not black
Republicans when the war is over. Repudiation is a word out of
favour, as they feel the character of the Southern States and of
Mr. Jefferson Davis himself has been much injured in Europe by the
breach of honesty and honour of which they have been guilty; but
I am assured on all sides that every State will eventually redeem
all its obligations. Meantime, money here is fast vanishing. Bills
on New York are worth nothing, and bills on England are at 18 per
cent. discount from the par value of gold; but the people of this
city will endure all this and much more to escape from the hated
rule of the Yankees.
Through the present gloom come the rays of a glorious future, which
shall see a grand slave confederacy enclosing the Gulf in its
arms, and swelling to the shores of the Potomac and Chesapeake,
with the entire control of the Mississippi and a monopoly of the
great staples on which so much of the manufactures and commerce of
England and France depend. They believe themselves, in fact, to
be masters of the destiny of the world. Cotton is king--not alone
king but czar; and coupled with the gratification and profit to be
derived from this mighty agency, they look forward with intense
satisfaction to the complete humiliation of their hated enemies
in the New England States, to the destruction of their usurious
rival New York, and to the impoverishment and ruin of the states
which have excited their enmity by personal liberty bills, and
have outraged and insulted them by harbouring abolitionists and an
anti-slavery press.
The abolitionists have said, “We will never rest till every slave
is free in the United States.” Men of larger views than those have
declared, “They will never rest from agitation until a man may as
freely express his opinions, be they what they may, on slavery,
or anything else, in the streets of Charleston or of New Orleans
as in those of Boston or New York.” “Our rights are guaranteed by
the Constitution,” exclaim the South. “The Constitution,” retorts
Wendel Phillips, “is a league with the devil,--a covenant with
hell.”
The doctrine of State Rights has been consistently advocated not
only by Southern statesmen, but by the great party who have ever
maintained there was danger to liberty in the establishment of
a strong central Government; but the contending interests and
opinions on both sides had hitherto been kept from open collision
by artful compromises and by ingenious contrivances, which ceased
with the election of Mr. Lincoln.
There was in the very corner-stone of the republican edifice a
small fissure, which has been widening as the grand structure
increased in height and weight. The early statesmen and authors
of the Republic knew of its existence, but left to posterity the
duty of dealing with it and guarding against its consequences.
Washington himself was perfectly aware of the danger; and he
looked forward to a duration of some sixty or seventy years only
for the great fabric he contributed to erect. He was satisfied a
crisis must come, when the States whom in his farewell address he
warned against rivalry and faction would be unable to overcome
the animosities excited by different interests, and the passions
arising out of adverse institutions; and now that the separation
has come, there is not, in the Constitution, or out of it, power to
cement the broken fragments together.
It is remarkable that in New Orleans, as in New York, the opinion
of the most wealthy and intelligent men in the community, so far as
I can judge, regards universal suffrage as organised confiscation,
legalised violence and corruption, a mortal disease in the body
politic. The other night, as I sat in the club-house, I heard a
discussion in reference to the operations of the Thugs in this
city, a band of native-born Americans, who at election times
were wont deliberately to shoot down Irish and German voters
occupying positions as leaders of their mobs. These Thugs were only
suppressed by an armed vigilance committee, of which a physician
who sat at table was one of the members.
Having made some purchases, and paid all my visits, I returned to
prepare for my voyage up the Mississippi and visits to several
planters on its banks--my first being to Governor Roman.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Up the Mississippi--Free negroes and English policy--Monotony
of the river scenery--Visit to M. Roman--Slave quarters--A
slave-dance--Slave-children--Negro hospital--General
opinion--Confidence in Jefferson Davis.
_June 2nd._--My good friend the Consul was up early to see me off;
and we drove together to the steamer J. L. Cotten. The people were
going to mass as we passed through the streets; and it was pitiable
to see the children dressed out as Zouaves, with tin swords and all
sorts of pseudo-military tomfoolery; streets crowded with military
companies; bands playing on all sides.
Before we left the door a poor black sailor came up to entreat Mr.
Mure’s interference. He had been sent by Mr. Magee, the Consul at
Mobile, by land to New Orleans, in the hope that Mr. Mure would be
able to procure him a free passage to some British port. He had
served in the Royal Navy, and had received a wound in the Russian
war. The moment he arrived in New Orleans he had been seized by the
police. On his stating that he was a free-born British subject,
the authorities ordered him to be taken to Mr. Mure; he could not
be allowed to go at liberty on account of his colour; the laws of
the State forbad such dangerous experiments on the feelings of the
slave population; and if the Consul did not provide for him, he
would be arrested and kept in prison, if no worse fate befell him.
He was suffering from the effect of his wound, and was evidently in
ill health. Mr. Mure gave him a letter to the Sailors’ Hospital,
and some relief out of his own pocket. The police came as far as
the door with him, and remained outside to arrest him if the Consul
did not afford him protection and provide for him, so that he
should not be seen at large in the streets of the city. The other
day a New Orleans privateer captured three northern brigs, on board
which were ten free negroes. The captain handed them over to the
Recorder, who applied to the Confederate States’ Marshal to take
charge of them. The Marshal refused to receive them, whereupon the
Recorder, as a magistrate and a good citizen, decided on keeping
them in jail, as it would be a bad and dangerous policy to let them
loose upon the community.
I cannot help feeling that the position taken by England in
reference to the question of her coloured subjects is humiliating
and degrading. People who live in London may esteem this question
a light matter; but it has not only been inconsistent with the
national honour; it has so degraded us in the opinion of Americans
themselves, that they are encouraged to indulge in an insolent tone
and in violent acts towards us, which will some day leave Great
Britain no alternative but an appeal to arms. Free coloured persons
are liable to seizure by the police, and to imprisonment, and may
be sold into servitude under certain circumstances.
On arriving at the steamer I found a considerable party of
citizens assembled to see off their friends. Governor Roman’s son
apologised to me for his inability to accompany me up the river,
as he was going to the drill of his company of volunteers. Several
other gentlemen were in uniform; and when we had passed the houses
of the city, I observed companies and troops of horse exercising
on both sides of the banks. On board were Mr. Burnside, a very
extensive proprietor, and Mr. Forstall, agent to Messrs. Baring,
who claims descent from an Irish family near Rochestown, though
he speaks our vernacular with difficulty, and is much more French
than British. He is considered one of the ablest financiers and
economists in the United States, and is certainly very ingenious,
and well crammed with facts and figures.
The aspect of New Orleans from the river is marred by the very
poor houses lining the quays on the levee. Wide streets open on
long vistas bordered by the most paltry little domiciles; and the
great conceptions of those who planned them, notwithstanding the
prosperity of the city, have not been realised.
As we were now floating nine feet higher than the level of the
streets, we could look down upon a sea of flat roofs and low
wooden houses, painted white, pierced by the domes and spires of
churches and public buildings. Grass was growing in many of these
streets. At the other side of the river there is a smaller city of
shingle-roofed houses, with a background of low timber.
The steamer stopped continually at various points along the levee,
discharging commissariat stores, parcels, and passengers; and after
a time glided up into the open country, which spread beneath us
for several miles at each side of the banks, with a continuous
background of forest. All this part of the river is called the
Coast, and the country adjacent is remarkable for its fertility.
The sugar plantations are bounded by lines drawn at right angles
to the banks of the river, and extending through the forest. The
villas of the proprietors are thickly planted in the midst of the
green fields, with the usual porticoes, pillars, verandahs, and
green blinds; and in the vicinity of each are rows of whitewashed
huts, which are the slave quarters. These fields, level as a
billiard-table, are of the brightest green with crops of maize and
sugar.
But few persons were visible; not a boat was to be seen; and in the
course of sixty-two miles we met only two steamers. No shelving
banks, no pebbly shoals, no rocky margins mark the course or
diversify the outline of the Mississippi. The dead, uniform line of
the levee compresses it at each side, and the turbid waters flow
without let in a current of uniform breadth between the monotonous
banks. The gables and summit of one house resemble those of
another; and but for the enormous scale of river and banks, and the
black faces of the few negroes visible, a passenger might think he
was on board a Dutch “treckshuyt.” In fact, the Mississippi is a
huge trench-like canal draining a continent.
At half-past three P.M. the steamer ran alongside the levee at
the right bank, and discharged me at “Cahabanooze,” in the Indian
tongue, or “The ducks’ sleeping place,” together with an English
merchant of New Orleans, M. La Ville Beaufevre, son-in-law of
Governor Roman, and his wife. The Governor was waiting to receive
us in the levee, and led the way through a gate in the paling
which separated his ground from the roadside, towards the house,
a substantial, square, two-storied mansion, with a verandah
all round it, embosomed amid venerable trees, and surrounded by
magnolias. By way of explaining the proximity of his house to the
river, M. Roman told me that a considerable portion of the garden
in front had a short time ago been carried off by the Mississippi;
nor is he at all sure the house itself will not share the same
fate; I hope sincerely it may not. My quarters were in a detached
house, complete in itself, containing four bedrooms, library, and
sitting-room, close to the mansion, and surrounded, like it, by
fine trees.
After we had sat for some time in the shade of the finest group, M.
Roman, or, as he is called, the Governor--once a captain always a
captain--asked me whether I would like to visit the slave quarters.
I assented, and the Governor led the way to a high paling at
the back of the house, inside which the scraping of fiddles was
audible. As we passed the back of the mansion some young women
flitted past in snow white dresses, crinolines, pink sashes, and
gaudily coloured handkerchiefs on their heads, who were, the
Governor told me, the domestic servants going off to a dance at the
sugar-house; he lets his slaves dance every Sunday. The American
planters who are not Catholics, although they do not make the
slaves work on Sunday except there is something to do, rarely grant
them the indulgence of a dance, but a few permit them some hours of
relaxation on each Saturday afternoon.
We entered, by a wicket gate, a square enclosure, lined with negro
huts, built of wood, something like those which came from Malta
to the Crimea in the early part of the campaign. They are not
furnished with windows--a wooden slide or grating admits all the
air a negro desires. There is a partition dividing the hut into
two departments, one of which is used as the sleeping-room, and
contains a truckle bedstead and a mattrass stuffed with cotton
wool, or the hair-like fibres of dried Spanish moss. The wardrobes
of the inmates hang from nails or pegs driven into the wall. The
other room is furnished with a dresser, on which are arranged a
few articles of crockery and kitchen utensils. Sometimes there
is a table in addition to the plain wooden chairs, more or less
dilapidated, constituting the furniture--a hearth, in connection
with a brick chimney outside the cottage, in which, hot as the day
may be, some embers are sure to be found burning. The ground round
the huts was covered with litter and dust, heaps of old shoes,
fragments of clothing and feathers, amidst which pigs and poultry
were recreating. Curs of low degree scampered in and out of the
shade, or around two huge dogs, _chiens de garde_, which are let
loose at night to guard the precincts; belly deep, in a pool of
stagnant water, thirty or forty mules were swinking in the sun and
enjoying their day of rest.
The huts of the negroes engaged in the house are separated from
those of the slaves devoted to field labour out of doors by a
wooden paling. I looked into several of the houses, but somehow
or other felt a repugnance, I dare say unjustifiable, to examine
the penetralia, although invited--indeed, urged, to do so by
the Governor. It was not that I expected to come upon anything
dreadful, but I could not divest myself of some regard for the
feelings of the poor creatures, slaves though they were, who stood
by, shy, curtseying, and silent, as I broke in upon their family
circle, felt their beds, and turned over their clothing. What
right had I to do so?
Swarms of flies, tin cooking utensils attracting them by remnants
of molasses, crockery, broken and old, on the dressers, more or
less old clothes on the wall, these varied over and over again,
were found in all the huts; not a sign of ornament or decoration
was visible; not the most tawdry print, image of Virgin or Saviour;
not a prayerbook or printed volume. The slaves are not encouraged,
or indeed permitted to read, and some communities of slave-owners
punish heavily those attempting to instruct them.
All the slaves seemed respectful to their master; dressed in their
best, they curtseyed, and came up to shake hands with him and with
me. Among them were some very old men and women, the canker-worms
of the estate, who were dozing away into eternity, mindful only
of hominy, and pig, and molasses. Two negro fiddlers were working
their bows with energy in front of one of the huts, and a crowd
of little children were listening to the music, together with a
few grown-up persons of colour, some of them from the adjoining
plantations. The children are generally dressed in a little sack of
coarse calico, which answers all reasonable purposes, even if it be
not very clean.
It might be an interesting subject of inquiry to the natural
philosophers who follow crinology to determine why it is that the
hair of the infant negro, or child, up to six or seven years of
age, is generally a fine red russet, or even gamboge colour, and
gradually darkens into dull ebon. These little bodies were mostly
large-stomached, well fed, and not less happy than free-born
children, although much more valuable--for if once they get over
juvenile dangers, and advance toward nine or ten years of age, they
rise in value to £100 or more, even in times when the market is low
and money is scarce.
The women were not very well-favoured; one yellow girl, with fair
hair and light eyes, whose child was quite white, excepted; the
men were disguised in such strangely cut clothes, their hats, and
shoes, and coats so wonderfully made, that one could not tell what
their figures were like. On all faces there was a gravity which
must be the index to serene contentment and perfect comfort, for
those, who ought to know best, declare they are the happiest race
in the world.
It struck me more and more, however, as I examined the expression
of the faces of the slaves, that deep dejection is the prevailing,
if not universal, characteristic of the race. Here there were
abundant evidences that they were well treated; they had good
clothing of its kind, food, and a master who wittingly could do
them no injustice, as he is, I am sure, incapable of it. Still,
they all looked sad, and even the old woman who boasted that she
had held her old owner in her arms when he was an infant, did not
smile cheerfully, as the nurse at home would have done, at the
sight of her ancient charge.
The negroes rear domestic birds of all kinds, and sell eggs and
poultry to their masters. The money is spent in purchasing tobacco,
molasses, clothes, and flour; whisky, their great delight, they
must not have. Some seventy or eighty hands were quartered in this
part of the estate.
Before leaving the enclosure I was taken to the hospital, which was
in charge of an old negress. The naked rooms contained several
flock beds on rough stands, and five patients, three of whom were
women. They sat listlessly on the beds, looking out into space;
no books to amuse them, no conversation--nothing but their own
dull thoughts, if they had any. They were suffering from pneumonia
and swellings of the glands of the neck; one man had fever. Their
medical attendant visits them regularly, and each plantation has a
practitioner, who is engaged by the term for his services. If the
growth of sugar-cane, cotton, and corn, be the great end of man’s
mission on earth, and if all masters were like Governor Roman,
slavery might be defended as a natural and innocuous institution.
Sugar and cotton are, assuredly, two great agencies in this latter
world. The older one got on well enough without them.
The scraping of the fiddles attracted us to the sugar-house,
where the juice of the cane is expressed, boiled, granulated,
and prepared for the refinery, a large brick building, with a
factory-looking chimney. In a space of the floor unoccupied by
machinery some fifteen women and as many men were assembled, and
four couples were dancing a kind of Irish jig to the music of the
negro musicians--a double shuffle in a thumping ecstasy, with loose
elbows, pendulous paws, angulated knees, heads thrown back, and
backs arched inwards--a glazed eye, intense solemnity of mien.
At this time of year there is no work done in the sugar-house, but
when the crushing and boiling are going on the labour is intensely
trying, and the hands work in gangs night and day; and, if the heat
of the fires be superadded to the temperature in September, it may
be conceded that nothing but “involuntary servitude” could go
through the toil and suffering required to produce sugar.
In the afternoon the Governor’s son came in from the company
which he commands: his men are of the best families in the
country--planters and the like. We sauntered about the gardens,
diminished, as I have said, by a freak of the river. The French
creoles love gardens; the Anglo-Saxons hereabout do not much affect
them, and cultivate their crops up to the very doorway.
It was curious to observe so far away from France so many traces of
the life of the old seigneur--the early meals, in which supper took
the place of dinner--frugal simplicity--and yet a refinement of
manner, kindliness and courtesy not to be exceeded.
In the evening several officers of M. Alfred Roman’s company and
neighbouring planters dropped in, and we sat out in the twilight,
under the trees in the verandah, illuminated by the flashing
fire-flies, and talking politics. I was struck by the profound
silence which reigned all around us, except a low rushing sound,
like that made by the wind blowing over corn-fields, which came from
the mighty river before us. Nothing else was audible but the sound
of our own voices and the distant bark of a dog. After the steamer
which bore us had passed on, I do not believe a single boat floated
up or down the stream, and but one solitary planter, in his gig or
buggy, traversed the road, which lay between the garden palings and
the bank of the great river.
Our friends were all creoles--that is, natives of Louisiana--of
French or Spanish descent. They are kinder and better masters,
according to universal repute, than native Americans or Scotch;
but the New England Yankee is reputed to be the severest of
all slave-owners. All these gentlemen to a man are resolute
that England must get their cotton or perish. She will take it,
therefore, by force; but as the South is determined never to let a
Yankee vessel carry any of its produce, a question has been raised
by Monsieur Baroche, who is at present looking around him in New
Orleans, which causes some difficulty to the astute and statistical
Mr. Forstall. The French economist has calculated that if the
Yankee vessels be excluded from the carrying trade, the commercial
marine of France and England together will be quite inadequate to
carry Southern produce to Europe.
But Southern faith is indomitable. With their faithful negroes to
raise their corn, sugar, and cotton, whilst their young men are at
the wars; with France and England to pour gold into their lap with
which to purchase all they need in the contest, they believe they
can beat all the powers of the Northern world in arms. Illimitable
fields, tilled by multitudinous negroes, open on their sight, and
they behold the empires of Europe, with their manufactures, their
industry, and their wealth, prostrate at the base of their throne,
crying out, “Cotton! More cotton! That is all we ask!”
Mr. Forstall maintains the South can raise an enormous revenue by
a small direct taxation; whilst the North, deprived of Southern
resources, will refuse to pay taxes at all, and will accumulate
enormous debts, inevitably leading to its financial ruin. He,
like every Southern man I have as yet met, expresses unbounded
confidence in Mr. Jefferson Davis. I am asked invariably, as the
second question from a stranger, “Have you seen our President,
sir? don’t you think him a very able man?” This unanimity in the
estimate of his character, and universal confidence in the head of
the State, will prove of incalculable value in a civil war.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Ride through the maize-fields--Sugar plantation; negroes at
work--Use of the lash--Feeling towards France--Silence of the
country--Negroes and dogs--Theory of slavery--Physical formation
of the negro--The defence of slavery--The masses for negro
souls--Convent of the Sacré Cœur--Ferry-house--A large landowner.
_June 3rd._ At five o’clock this morning, having been awakened an
hour earlier by a wonderful chorus of riotous mocking-birds, my old
negro attendant brought in my bath of Mississippi water, which,
Nile like, casts down a strong deposit, and becomes as clear,
if not so sweet, after standing. “Le seigneur vous attend;” and
already I saw, outside my window, the Governor mounted on a stout
cob, and a nice chestnut horse waiting, led by a slave. Early as
it was, the sun felt excessively hot, and I envied the Governor
his slouched hat as we rode through the fields, crisp with dew.
In a few minutes our horses were traversing narrow alleys between
the tall fields of maize, which rose far above our heads. This
corn, as it is called, is the principal food of the negroes; and
every planter lays down a sufficient quantity to afford him, on
an average, a supply all the year round. Outside this spread vast
fields, hedge-less, wall-less, and unfenced, where the green cane
was just learning to wave its long shoots in the wind--a lake of
bright green sugar-sprouts, along the margin of which, in the
distance, rose an unbroken boundary of forest, two miles in depth,
up to the swampy morass, all to be cleared and turned into arable
land in process of time. From the river front to this forest, the
fields of rich loam, unfathomable, and yielding from one to one and
a half hogsheads of sugar per acre under cultivation, extend for a
mile and a half in depth. In the midst of this expanse white dots
were visible like Sowars seen on the early march, in Indian fields,
many a time and oft. Those are the gangs of hands at work--we
will see what they are at presently. This little reminiscence of
Indian life was further heightened by the negroes who ran beside
us to whisk flies from the horses, and to open the gates in the
plantation boundary. When the Indian corn is not good, peas are
sowed, alternately, between the stalks, and are considered to be of
much benefit; and when the cane is bad, corn is sowed with it, for
the same object. Before we came up to the gangs we passed a cart on
the road containing a large cask, a bucket full of molasses, a pail
of hominy, or boiled Indian corn, and a quantity of tin pannikins.
The cask contained water for the negroes, and the other vessels
held the materials for their breakfast; in addition to which, they
generally have each a dried fish. The food was ample, and looked
wholesome; such as any labouring man would be well content with.
Passing along through maize on one side, and cane at another, we
arrived at last at a patch of ground where thirty-six men and women
were hoeing.
Three gangs of negroes were at work: one gang of men, with twenty
mules and ploughs, was engaged in running through the furrows
between the canes, cutting up the weeds and clearing away the
grass, which is the enemy of the growing shoot. The mules are of a
fine, large, good-tempered kind, and understand their work almost
as well as the drivers, who are usually the more intelligent hands
on the plantation. The overseer, a sharp-looking creole, on a
lanky pony, whip in hand, superintended their labours, and, after
a salutation to the Governor, to whom he made some remarks on the
condition of the crops, rode off to another part of the farm. With
the exception of crying to their mules, the negroes kept silence at
their work.
Another gang consisted of forty men, who were hoeing out the
grass in Indian corn. The third gang, of thirty-six women, were
engaged in hoeing out cane. Their clothing seemed heavy for the
climate; their shoes, ponderous and ill-made, had worn away the
feet of their thick stockings, which hung in fringes over the
upper leathers. Coarse straw hats and bright cotton handkerchiefs
protected their heads from the sun. The silence which I have
already alluded to, prevailed among these gangs also--not a sound
could be heard but the blows of the hoe on the heavy clods. In the
rear of each gang stood a black overseer, with a heavy-thonged
whip over his shoulder. If “Alcíbíade” or “Pompée” were called
out, he came with outstretched hand to ask “How do you do,” and
then returned to his labour; but the ladies were coy, and scarcely
looked up from under their flapping _chapeaux de paille_ at their
visitors.
Those who are mothers leave their children in the charge of certain
old women, unfit for anything else, and “suckers,” as they are
called, are permitted to go home, at appointed periods in the
day, to give the infants the breast. The overseers have power
to give ten lashes; but heavier punishment ought to be reported
to the Governor; however, it is not likely a good overseer would
be checked, in any way, by his master. The anxieties attending
the cultivation of sugar are great, and so much depends upon
the judicious employment of labour, it is scarcely possible to
exaggerate the importance of experience in directing it, and of
power to insist on its application. When the frost comes, the
cane is rendered worthless--one touch destroys the sugar. But
if frost is the enemy of the white planter, the sun is scarcely
the friend of the black man. The sun condemns him to slavery,
because it is the heat which is the barrier to the white man’s
labour. The Governor told me that, in August, when the crops are
close, thick-set, and high, and the vertical sun beats down on the
labourers, nothing but a black skin and head covered with wool can
enable a man to walk out in the open and live.
We returned to the house in time for breakfast, for which our early
cup of coffee and biscuit and the ride had been good preparation.
Here was old France again. One might imagine a lord of the
seventeenth century in his hall, but for the black faces of the
servitors and the strange dishes of tropical origin. There was the
old French abundance, the numerous dishes and efflorescence of
napkins, and the long-necked bottles of Bordeaux, with a steady
current of pleasant small talk. I saw some numbers of a paper
called _La Misachibée_, which was the primitive Indian name of the
grand river, not improved by the addition of sibilant Anglo-Saxon
syllables.
The Americans, not unmindful of the aid to which, at the end of the
War of Independence, their efforts were merely auxiliary, delight,
even in the North, to exalt France above her ancient rival; but,
as if to show the innate dissimilarity of the two races, the
French creoles exhibit towards the New Englanders and the North an
animosity, mingled with contempt, which argues badly for a future
amalgamation or reunion. As the South Carolinians declare, they
would rather return to their allegiance under the English monarchy,
so the Louisianans, although they have no sentiment in common with
the people of republican and imperial France, assert they would far
sooner seek a connection with the old country than submit to the
yoke of the Yankees.
After breakfast, the Governor drove out by the ever-silent levée
for some miles, passing estate after estate, where grove nodded to
grove, each alley saw its brother. One could form no idea, from the
small limited frontage of these plantations, that the proprietors
were men of many thousands a year, because the estates extend
on an average for three or four miles back to the forest. The
absence of human beings on the road was a feature which impressed
one more and more. But for the tall chimneys of the factories and
the sugar-houses, one might believe that these villas had been
erected by some pleasure-loving people who had all fled from the
river banks for fear of pestilence. The gangs of negroes at work
were hidden in the deep corn, and their quarters were silent and
deserted. We met but one planter, in his gig, until we arrived
at the estate of Monsieur Potier, the Governor’s brother-in-law.
The proprietor was at home, and received us very kindly, though
suffering from the effects of a recent domestic calamity. He is a
grave, earnest man, with a face like Jerome Bonaparte, and a most
devout Catholic; and any man more unfit to live in any sort of
community with New England Puritans one cannot well conceive; for
equal intensity of purpose and sincerity of conviction on their
part could only lead them to mortal strife. His house was like a
French château erected under tropical influences, and he led us
through a handsome garden laid out with hothouses, conservatories,
orange-trees, and date-palms, and ponds full of the magnificent
Victoria Regia in flower. We visited his refining factories and
mills, but the heat from the boilers, which seemed too much even
for the all-but-naked negroes who were at work, did not tempt us to
make a very long sojourn inside. The ebony faces and polished black
backs of the slaves were streaming with perspiration as they toiled
over boilers, vat, and centrifugal driers. The good refiner was not
gaining much money at present, for sugar has been rapidly falling
in New Orleans, and the 300,000 barrels produced annually in the
South will fall short in the yield of profits, which on an average
may be taken at 11_l._ a hogshead, without counting the molasses
for the planter. With a most perfect faith in States Rights, he
seemed to combine either indifference or ignorance in respect to
the power and determination of the North to resist secession to the
last. All the planters hereabouts have sown an unusual quantity
of Indian corn, to have food for the negroes if the war lasts,
without any distress from inland or sea blockade. The absurdity of
supposing that a blockade can injure them in the way of supply is a
favourite theme to descant upon. They may find out, however, that
it is no contemptible means of warfare.
At night, there are regular patrols and watchmen, who look after
the levée and the negroes. A number of dogs are also loosed, but
I am assured that the creatures do not tear the negroes; they
are taught “merely” to catch and mumble them, to treat them as a
well-broken retriever uses a wounded wild duck.
At six A.M., Moïse came to ask me if I should like a glass of
absinthe, or anything stomachic. At breakfast was Doctor Laporte,
formerly a member of the Legislative Assembly of France, who was
exiled by Louis Napoleon; in other words, he was ordered to give in
his adhesion to the new _régime_, or to take a passport for abroad.
He preferred the latter course, and now, true Frenchman, finding
the Emperor has aggrandised France and added to her military
reputation, he admires the man on whom but a few years ago he
lavished the bitterest hate.
The carriage is ready, and the word farewell is spoken at last. M.
Alfred Roman, my companion, has travelled in Europe, and learned
philosophy; is not so orthodox as many of the gentlemen I have met
who indulge in ingenious hypotheses to comfort the consciences
of the anthropoproprietors. The negro skull won’t hold as many
ounces of shot as the white man’s. Potent proof that the white man
has a right to sell and to own the creature! He is plantigrade,
and carved as to the tibia! Cogent demonstration that he was made
expressly to work for the arch-footed, straight-tibiaed Caucasian.
He has a _rete mucosum_ and a coloured pigment! Surely he cannot
have a soul of the same colour as that of an Italian or a Spaniard,
far less of a flaxen-haired Saxon! See these peculiarities in
the frontal sinus--in sinciput or occiput! Can you doubt that
the being with a head of that shape was made only to till, hoe,
and dig for another race? Besides, the Bible says that he is a
son of Ham, and prophecy must be carried out in the rice-swamps,
sugar-canes, and maize-fields of the Southern Confederation. It is
flat blasphemy to set yourself against it. Our Saviour sanctions
slavery because he does not say a word against it, and it is very
likely that St. Paul was a slave-owner. Had cotton and sugar been
known, the apostle might have been a planter! Furthermore, the
negro is civilised by being carried away from Africa and set to
work, instead of idling in native inutility. What hope is there
of Christianising the African races, except by the agency of the
apostles from New Orleans, Mobile, or Charleston, who sing the
sweet songs of Zion with, such vehemence, and clamour so fervently
for baptism in the waters of the “Jawdam?”
If these high physical, metaphysical, moral and religious
reasonings do not satisfy you, and you are bold enough to venture
still to be unconvinced and to say so, then I advise you not to
come within reach of a mass meeting of our citizens, who may be
able to find a rope and a tree in the neighbourhood.
As we jog along in an easy rolling carriage drawn by a pair of
stout horses, a number of white people meet us coming from the
Catholic chapel of the parish, where they had been attending the
service for the repose of the soul of a lady much beloved in the
neighbourhood. The black people must be supposed to have very
happy souls, or to be as utterly lost as Mr. Shandy’s homunculus
was under certain circumstances, for I have failed to find that
any such services are ever considered necessary in their case,
although they may have been very good--or, where the service would
be most desirable--very bad Catholics. The dead, leaden uniformity
of the scenery forced one to converse, in order to escape profound
melancholy: the levée on the right hand, above which nothing was
visible but the sky; on the left plantations with cypress fences,
whitewashed and pointed wooden gates leading to the planters’
houses, and rugged gardens surrounded with shrubs, through which
could be seen the slave quarters. Men making eighty or ninety
hogsheads of sugar in a year lived in most wretched tumble-down
wooden houses not much larger than ox sheds.
As we drove on the storm gathered overhead, and the rain fell in
torrents--the Mississippi flowed lifelessly by--not a boat on its
broad surface.
At last we reached Governor Manning’s place, and went to the house
of the overseer, a large heavy-eyed old man.
“This rain will do good to the corn,” said the overseer. “The
niggers has had sceerce nothin’ to do leetly, as they ’eve clearied
out the fields pretty well.”
At the ferry-house I was attended by one stout young slave, who
was to row me over. Two flat-bottomed skiffs lay on the bank. The
negro groped under the shed, and pulled out a piece of wood like
a large spatula, some four feet long, and a small round pole a
little longer. “What are those?” quoth I. “Dem’s oars, Massa,” was
my sable ferryman’s brisk reply. “I’m very sure they are not; if
they were spliced they might make an oar between them.” “Golly,
and dat’s the trute, Massa.” “Then go and get oars, will you?”
While he was hunting about we entered the shed at the ferry
for shelter from the rain. We found “a solitary woman sitting”
smoking a pipe by the ashes on the hearth, blear-eyed, low-browed
and morose--young as she was. She never said a word nor moved as
we came in, sat and smoked, and looked through her gummy eyes at
chickens about the size of sparrows, and at a cat not larger than
a rat which ran about on the dirty floor. A little girl, some four
years of age, not over-dressed--indeed, half-naked, “not to put too
fine a point upon it”--crawled out from under the bed, where she
had hid on our approach. As she seemed incapable of appreciating
the use of a small piece of silver presented to her--having no
precise ideas in coinage or toffy--her parent took the obolus in
charge, with unmistakeable decision; but still the lady would not
stir a step to aid our guide, who now insisted on the “key ov de
oar-house.” The little thing sidled off and hunted it out from the
top of the bedstead, and when it was found, and the boat was ready,
I was not sorry to quit the company of the silent woman in black.
The boatman pushed his skiff, in shape a snuffer-dish, some ten
feet long and a foot deep, into the water--there was a good deal
of rain in it. I got in too, and the conscious waters immediately
began vigorously spurting through the cotton wadding wherewith the
craft was caulked. Had we gone out into the stream we should have
had a swim for it, and they do say that the Mississippi is the most
dangerous river in the known world, for that healthful exercise.
“Why! deuce take you” (I said at least that, in my wrath), “don’t
you see the boat is leaky?” “See it now for true, Massa. Nobody
able to tell dat till Massa get in though.” Another skiff proved
to be more staunch. I bade good-bye to my friend Roman, and sat
down in my boat, which was forced by the negro against the stream
close to the bank, in order to get a good start across to the other
side. The view from my lonely position was curious, but not at all
picturesque. The world was bounded on both sides by a high bank,
which constricted the broad river, just as if one were sailing down
an open sewer of enormous length and breadth. Above the bank rose
the tops of tall trees and the chimneys of sugar-houses, and that
was all to be seen save the sky.
A quarter of an hour brought us to the levée on the other side. I
ascended the bank, and across the road, directly in front appeared
a carriage gateway and wickets of wood, painted white, in a line
of park palings of the same material, which extended up and down
the road far as the eye could see, and guarded wide-spread fields
of maize and sugar-cane. An avenue lined with trees, with branches
close set, drooping and overarching a walk paved with red brick,
led to the house, the porch of which was visible at the extremity
of the lawn, with clustering flowers, rose, jessamine, and creepers
clinging to the pillars supporting the verandah. The view from the
belvedere on the roof was one of the most striking of its kind in
the world.
If an English agriculturist could see six thousand acres of the
finest land in one field, unbroken by hedge or boundary, and
covered with the most magnificent crops of tasseling Indian corn
and sprouting sugar-cane, as level as a billiard-table, he would
surely doubt his senses. But here is literally such a sight--six
thousand acres, better tilled than the finest patch in all the
Lothians, green as Meath pastures, which can be turned up for
a hundred years to come without requiring manure, of depth
practically unlimited, and yielding an average profit on what is
sold off it of at least 20_l._ an acre, at the old prices and
usual yield of sugar. Rising up in the midst of the verdure are
the white lines of the negro cottages and the plantation offices
and sugar-houses, which look like large public edifices in the
distance. My host was not ostentatiously proud in telling me that,
in the year 1857, he had purchased this estate for 300,000_l._ and
an adjacent property, of 8000 acres, for 150,000_l._, and that he
had left Belfast in early youth, poor and unfriended, to seek his
fortune, and indeed scarcely knowing what fortune meant, in the
New World. In fact, he had invested in these purchases the greater
part, but not all, of the profits arising from the business in New
Orleans, which he inherited from his master; of which there still
remained a solid nucleus in the shape of a great woollen magazine
and country house. He is not yet fifty years of age, and his
confidence in the great future of sugar induced him to embark this
enormous fortune in an estate which the blockade has stricken with
paralysis.
I cannot doubt, however, that he regrets he did not invest his
money in a certain great estate in the North of Ireland, which he
had nearly decided on buying; and, had he done so, he would now
be in the position to which his unaffected good sense, modesty,
kindliness, and benevolence, always adding the rental, entitle him.
Six thousand acres on this one estate all covered with sugar-cane,
and 16,000 acres more of Indian corn, to feed the slaves;--these
were great possessions, but not less than 18,000 acres still
remained, covered with brake and forest and swampy, to be reclaimed
and turned into gold. As easy to persuade the owner of such wealth
that slavery is indefensible as to have convinced the Norman baron
that the Saxon churl who tilled his lands ought to be his equal.
I found Mr. Ward and a few merchants from New Orleans in possession
of the bachelor’s house. The service was performed by slaves,
and the order and regularity of the attendants were worthy of a
well-regulated English mansion. In Southern houses along the coast,
as the Mississippi above New Orleans is termed, beef and mutton
are rarely met with, and the more seldom the better. Fish, also,
is scarce, but turkeys, geese, poultry, and preparations of pig,
excellent vegetables, and wine of the best quality, render the
absence of the accustomed dishes little to be regretted.
The silence which struck me at Governor Roman’s is not broken at
Mr. Burnside’s; and when the last thrill of the mocking-bird’s song
has died out through the grove, a stillness of Avernian profundity
settles on hut, field, and river.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Negroes--Sugar-cane plantations--The negro and cheap
labour--Mortality of blacks and whites--Irish labour
in Louisiana--A sugar-house--Negro children--Want of
education--Negro diet--Negro hospital--Spirits in the
morning--Breakfast--More slaves--Creole planters.
_June 5th._--The smart negro who waited on me this morning spoke
English. I asked him if he knew how to read and write.--“We must
not do that, sir.” “Where were you born?”--“I were raised on the
plantation, Massa, but I have been to New Orleens;” and then he
added, with an air of pride, “I sp’ose, sir, Massa Burnside not
take less than 1500 dollars for me.” Downstairs to breakfast,
the luxuries of which are fish, prawns, and red meat which has
been sent for to Donaldsonville by boat rowed by an old negro.
Breakfast over, I walked down to the yard, where the horses were
waiting, and proceeded to visit the saccharine principality. Mr.
Seal, the overseer of this portion of the estate, was my guide,
if not philosopher and friend. Our road lay through a lane formed
by a cart-track, between fields of Indian corn just beginning to
flower--as it is called technically, to “tassel”--and sugar-cane.
There were stalks of the former twelve or fifteen feet in height,
with three or four ears each, round which the pea twined in leafy
masses. The maize affords food to the negro, and the husks are
eaten by the horses and mules, which also fatten on the peas in
rolling time.
The wealth of the land is inexhaustible: all the soil requires is
an alternation of maize and cane; and the latter, when cut in the
stalk, called “ratoons,” at the end of the year, produces a fresh
crop, yielding excellent sugar. The cane is grown from stalks
which are laid in pits during the winter till the ground has been
ploughed, when each piece of cane is laid longitudinally on the
ridge and covered with earth, and from each joint of the stalk
springs forth a separate sprout when the crop begins to grow. At
present the sugar-cane is waiting for its full development, but
the negro labour around its stem has ceased. It is planted in long
continuous furrows, and although the palm-like tops have not yet
united in a uniform arch over the six feet which separates row from
row, the stalks are higher than a man. The plantation is pierced
with waggon roads, for the purpose of conveying the cane to the
sugar-mills, and these again are intersected by and run parallel
with drains and ditches, portions of the great system of irrigation
and drainage, in connection with a canal to carry off the surplus
water to a bayou. The extent of these works may be estimated by
the fact that there are thirty miles of road and twenty miles of
open deep drainage through the estate, and that the main canal is
fifteen feet wide, and at present four feet deep; but in the midst
of this waste of plenty and wealth, where are the human beings who
produce both? One must go far to discover them; they are buried in
sugar and in maize, or hidden in negro quarters. In truth, there is
no trace of them, over all this expanse of land, unless one knows
where to seek; no “ploughboy whistles o’er the lea;” no rustic
stands to do his own work, but the gang is moved off in silence
from point to point, like a corps d’armée of some despotic emperor
manœuvring in the battle-field.
Admitting everything that can be said, I am the more persuaded,
from what I see, that the real foundation of slavery in the
Southern States lies in the power of obtaining labour at will
at a rate which cannot be controlled by any combination of the
labourers. Granting the heat and the malaria, it is not for a
moment to be argued that planters could not find white men to
do their work if they would pay them for the risk. A negro, it
is true, bears heat well, and can toil under the blazing sun of
Louisiana, in the stifling air between the thick-set sugar-canes,
but the Irishman who is employed in the stoke-hole of a steamer
is exposed to a higher temperature and physical exertion even
more arduous. The Irish labourer can, however, set a value on his
work; the African slave can only determine the amount of work to
be got from him by the exhaustion of his powers. Again, the indigo
planter in India, out from morn till night amidst his ryots, or the
sportsman toiling under the mid-day sun through swamp and jungle,
proves that the white man can endure the utmost power of the
hottest sun in the world as well as the native. More than that,
the white man seems to be exempt from the inflammatory disease,
pneumonia, and attacks of the mucous membrane and respiratory
organs to which the blacks are subject; and if the statistics of
negro mortality were rigidly examined, I doubt that they would
exhibit as large a proportion of mortality and sickness as would
be found amongst gangs of white men under similar circumstances.
But the slave is subjected to rigid control; he is deprived of
stimulating drinks in which the free white labourer would indulge;
and he is obliged to support life upon an anti-phlogistic diet,
which gives him, however, sufficient strength to execute his daily
task.
It is in the supposed cheapness of slave-labour and its profitable
adaptation in the production of Southern crops, that the whole
gist and essence of the question really lie. The planter can get
from the labour of a slave for whom he has paid 200_l._, a sum of
money which will enable him to use up that slave in comparatively
a few years of his life, whilst he would have to pay to the white
labourer a sum that would be a great apparent diminution of his
profits, for the same amount of work. It is calculated that each
field-hand, as an able-bodied negro is called, yields seven
hogsheads of sugar a year, which, at the rate of fourpence a
pound, at an average of a hogshead an acre, would produce to the
planter 140_l._ for every slave. This is wonderful interest on the
planter’s money; but he sometimes gets two hogsheads an acre, and
even as many as three hogsheads have been produced in good years on
the best lands; in other words, two and a quarter tons of sugar and
refuse stuff, called “bagasse,” have been obtained from an acre of
cane. Not one planter of the many I have asked has ever given an
estimate of the annual cost of a slave’s maintenance; the idea of
calculating it never comes into their heads.
Much depends upon the period at which frost sets in; and if the
planters can escape till January without any cold to nip the juices
and the cane, their crop is increased in value each day; but it
is not till October they can begin to send cane to the mill, in
average seasons; and if the frost does not come till December, they
may count upon the fair average of a hogshead of 1200 pounds of
sugar to every acre.
The labour of ditching, trenching, cleaning the waste lands, and
hewing down the forests is generally done by Irish labourers, who
travel about the country under contractors, or are engaged by
resident gangsmen for the task. Mr. Seal lamented the high prices
of this work; but then, as he said, “It was much better to have
Irish to do it, who cost nothing to the planter if they died,
than to use up good field-hands in such severe employment.” There
is a wonderful mine of truth in this observation. Heaven knows
how many poor Hibernians have been consumed and buried in these
Louisianian swamps, leaving their earnings to the dramshop keeper
and the contractor, and the results of their toil to the planter.
This estate derives its name from an Indian tribe called Houmas;
and when Mr. Burnside purchased it for 300,000_l._ he received in
the first year 63,000_l._ as the clear value of the crops on his
investment.
The first place I visited with the overseer was a new sugar-house,
which negro carpenters and masons were engaged in erecting. It
would have been amusing had not the subject been so grave, to hear
the overseer’s praises of the intelligence and skill of these
workmen, and his boast that they did all the work of skilled
labourers on the estate, and then to listen to him, in a few
minutes, expatiating on the utter helplessness and ignorance of the
black race, their incapacity to do any good, or even to take care
of themselves.
There are four sugar-houses on this portion of Mr. Burnside’s
estate, consisting of grinding-mills, boiling-houses, and
crystallising sheds.
The sugar-house is the capital of the negro quarters, and to each
of them is attached an enclosure, in which there is a double row
of single-storied wooden cottages, divided into two or four rooms.
An avenue of trees runs down the centre of the negro street, and
behind each hut are rude poultry-hutches, which, with geese and
turkeys and a few pigs, form the perquisites of the slaves, and
the sole source from which they derive their acquaintance with
currency. Their terms are strictly cash. An old negro brought up
some ducks to Mr. Burnside last night, and offered the lot of six
for three dollars. “Very well, Louis; if you come to-morrow, I’ll
pay you.” “No, massa; me want de money now.” “But won’t you give me
credit, Louis? Don’t you think I’ll pay the three dollars?” “Oh,
pay some day, massa, sure enough. Massa good to pay de tree dollar;
but this nigger want money now to buy food and things for him
leetle famly. They will trust massa at Donaldsville, but they won’t
trust this nigger.” I was told that a thrifty negro will sometimes
make ten or twelve pounds a year from his corn and poultry; but he
can have no inducement to hoard; for whatever is his, as well as
himself, belongs to his master.
Mr. Seal conducted me to a kind of forcing-house, where the young
negroes are kept in charge of certain old crones too old for work,
whilst their parents are away in the cane and Indian corn. A host
of children of both sexes were seated in the verandah of a large
wooden shed, or playing around it, very happily and noisily. I was
glad to see the boys and girls of nine, ten, and eleven years of
age were at this season, at all events, exempted from the cruel
fate which befalls poor children of their age in the mining and
manufacturing districts of England. At the sight of the overseer
the little ones came forward in tumultuous glee, babbling out,
“Massa Seal,” and evidently pleased to see him.
As a jolly agriculturist looks at his yearlings or young beeves,
the kindly overseer, lolling in his saddle, pointed with his
whip to the glistening fat ribs and corpulent paunches of his
woolly-headed flock. “There’s not a plantation in the State,”
quoth he, “can show such a lot of young niggers. The way to get
them right is not to work the mothers too hard when they are near
their time; to give them plenty to eat, and not to send them to
the fields too soon.” He told me the increase was about five per
cent. per annum. The children were quite sufficiently clad, ran
about round us, patted the horses, felt our legs, tried to climb up
on the stirrup, and twinkled their black and ochrey eyes at Massa
Seal. Some were exceedingly fair; and Mr. Seal, observing that my
eye followed these, murmured something about the overseers before
Mr. Burnside’s time being rather a bad lot. He talked about their
colour and complexion quite openly; nor did it seem to strike him
that there was any particular turpitude in the white man who had
left his offspring as slaves on the plantation.
A tall, well-built lad of some nine or ten years stood by me,
looking curiously into my face. “What is your name?” said I.
“George,” he replied. “Do you know how to read or write?” He
evidently did not understand the question. “Do you go to church or
chapel?” A dubious shake of the head. “Did you ever hear of our
Saviour?” At this point Mr. Seal interposed, and said, “I think we
had better go on, as the sun is getting hot,” and so we rode gently
through the little ones; and when we had got some distance he said,
rather apologetically, “We don’t think it right to put these things
into their heads so young, it only disturbs their minds, and leads
them astray.”
Now, in this one quarter there were no less than eighty children,
some twelve and some even fourteen years of age. No education--no
God--their whole life--food and play, to strengthen their muscles
and fit them for the work of a slave. “And when they die?” “Well,”
said Mr. Seal, “they are buried in that field there by their own
people, and some of them have a sort of prayers over them, I
believe.” The overseer, it is certain, had no fastidious notions
about slavery; it was to him the right thing in the right place,
and his _summum bonum_ was a high price for sugar, a good crop,
and a healthy plantation. Nay, I am sure I would not wrong him
if I said he could see no impropriety in running a good cargo
of regular black slaves, who might clear the great backwood and
swampy undergrowth, which was now exhausting the energies of his
field-hands, in the absence of Irish navvies.
Each negro gets 5 lbs. of pork a week, and as much Indian corn
bread as he can eat, with a portion of molasses, and occasionally
they have fish for breakfast. All the carpenters and smiths’ work,
the erection of sheds, repairing of carts and ploughs, and the
baking of bricks for the farm buildings, are done on the estate
by the slaves. The machinery comes from the manufacturing cities
of the North; but great efforts are made to procure it from New
Orleans, where factories have been already established. On the
borders of the forest the negroes are allowed to plant corn for
their own use, and sometimes they have an overplus, which they sell
to their masters. Except when there is any harvest pressure on
their hands, they have from noon on Saturday till dawn on Monday
morning to do as they please, but they must not stir off the
plantation on the road, unless with special permit, which is rarely
granted.
There is an hospital on the estate, and even shrewd Mr. Seal did
not perceive the conclusion that was to be drawn from his testimony
to its excellent arrangements. “Once a nigger gets in there, he’d
like to live there for the rest of his life.” But are they not
the happiest, most contented people in the world--at any rate,
when they are in hospital? I declare that to me the more orderly,
methodical, and perfect the arrangements for economising slave
labour--regulating slaves--are, the more hateful and odious does
slavery become. I would much rather be the animated human chattel
of a Turk, Egyptian, Spaniard, or French creole, than the labouring
beast of a Yankee or of a New England capitalist.
When I returned back to the house I found my friends enjoying
a quiet _siesta_, and the rest of the afternoon was devoted to
idleness, not at all disagreeable with a thermometer worthy of
Agra. Even the mocking-birds were roasted into silence, and the
bird which answers to our rook or crow sat on the under branches
of the trees, gaping for air with his bill wide open. It must be
hot indeed when the mocking-bird loses his activity. There is one,
with its nest in a rose-bush trailed along the verandah under my
window, which now sits over its young ones with outspread wings,
as if to protect them from being baked; and it is so courageous and
affectionate, that when I approach quite close, it merely turns
round its head, dilates its beautiful dark eye, and opens its beak,
within which the tiny sharp tongue is saying, I am sure, “Don’t
for goodness sake disturb me, for if you force me to leave, the
children will be burned to death.”
_June 6th._--My chattel Joe, “adscriptus mihi domino,” awoke me to
a bath of Mississippi water with huge lumps of ice in it, to which
he recommended a mint-julep as an adjunct. It was not here that
I was first exposed to an ordeal of mint-julep, for in the early
morning a stranger in a Southern planter’s house may expect the
offer of a glassful of brandy, sugar, and peppermint beneath an
island of ice--an obligatory panacea for all the evils of climate.
After it has been disposed of, Pompey may come up again with glass
number two: “Massa say fever very bad this morning--much dew.”
It is possible that the degenerate Anglo-Saxon stomach has not
the fine tone and temper of that of an Hibernian friend of mine,
who considered the finest thing to counteract the effects of a
little excess was a tumbler of hot whiskey and water the moment
the sufferer opened his eyes in the morning. Therefore, the kindly
offering may be rejected. But on one occasion before breakfast
the negro brought up mint-julep number three, the acceptance of
which he enforced by the emphatic declaration, “Massa says, sir,
you had better take this, because it’ll be the last he make before
breakfast.”
Breakfast is served: there is on the table a profusion of
dishes--grilled fowl, prawns, eggs and ham, fish from New Orleans,
potted salmon from England, preserved meats from France, claret,
iced water, coffee and tea, varieties of hominy, mush, and African
vegetable preparations. Then come the newspapers, which are perused
eagerly with ejaculations, “Do you hear what they are doing
now--infernal villains! that Lincoln must be mad!” and the like. At
one o’clock, in spite of the sun, I rode out with Mr. Lee, along
the road by the Mississippi, to Mr. Burnside’s plantation, called
Orange Grove, from a few trees which still remain in front of the
overseer’s house. We visited an old negro, called “Boatswain,” who
lives with his old wife in a wooden hut close by the margin of the
Mississippi. His business is to go to Donaldsonville for letters,
or meat, or ice for the house--a tough row for the withered old
man. He is an African born, and he just remembers being carried
on board ship and taken to some big city before he came upon the
plantation.
“Do you remember nothing of the country you came from, Boatswain?”
“Yes, sir. Jist remember trees and sweet things my mother gave me,
and much hot sand I put my feet in, and big leaves that we play
with--all us little children--and plenty to eat, and big birds and
shells.” “Would you like to go back, Boatswain?” “What for, sir?
no one know old Boatswain there. My old missus Sally inside.” “Are
you quite happy, Boatswain?” “I’m getting very old, massa. Massa
Burnside very good to Boatswain, but who care for such dam old
nigger? Golla Mighty gave me fourteen children, but he took them
all away again from Sally and me. No budy care much for dam old
nigger like me.”
Further on Mr. Seal salutes us from the verandah of his house, but
we are bound for overseer Gibbs, who meets us, mounted, by the
roadside--a man grim in beard and eye, and silent withal, with
a big whip in his hand and a large knife stuck in his belt. He
leads us through a magnificent area of cane and maize, the latter
towering far above our heads; but I was most anxious to see the
forest primæval which borders the clear land at the back of the
estate, and spreads away over alligator-haunted swamps into distant
bayous. It was not, however, possible to gratify one’s curiosity
very extensively beyond the borders of the cleared land, for rising
round the roots of the cypress, swamp pine, and live oak there
was a barrier of undergrowth and bush twined round the cane brake
which stands some sixteen feet high, so stiff that the united force
of man and horse could not make way against the rigid fibres, and
indeed, as Mr. Gibbs told us, “When the niggers take to the cane
brake they can beat man or dog, and nothing beats them but snakes
and starvation.”
He pointed out some sheds around which were broken bottles where
the last Irish gang had been working, under one “John Loghlin,”
of Donaldsonville, a great contractor, who, he says, made plenty
of money out of his countrymen, whose bones are lying up and down
the Mississippi. “They due work like fire,” he said. “Loghlin
does not give them half the rations we give our negroes, but he
can always manage them with whiskey, and when he wants them to do
a job he gives them plenty of ‘forty rod,’ and they have their
fight out--reglar free fight, I can tell you, while it lasts. Next
morning they will sign anything and go anywhere with him.”
On the Orange Grove Plantation, although the crops were so
fine, the negroes unquestionably seemed less comfortable than
those in the quarters of Houmas, separated from them by a mere
nominal division. Then, again, there were more children with fair
complexions to be seen peeping out of the huts; some of these
were attributed to the former overseer, one Johnson by name, but
Mr. Gibbs, as if to vindicate his memory, told me confidentially
he had paid a large sum of money to the former proprietor of the
estate for one of his children, and had carried it away with him
when he left. “You could not expect him, you know,” said Gibbs, “to
buy them all at the prices that were then going in ’56. All the
children on the estate,” added he, “are healthy, and I can show my
lot against Seal’s over there, though I hear tell he had a great
show of them out to you yesterday.”
The bank of the river below the large plantation was occupied
by a set of small Creole planters, whose poor houses were close
together, indicating very limited farms, which had been subdivided
from time to time, according to the French fashion; so that the
owners have at last approached pauperism; but they are tenacious of
their rights, and will not yield to the tempting price offered by
the large planters. They cling to the soil without enterprise and
without care. The Spanish settlers along the river are open to the
same reproach, and prefer their own ease to the extension of their
race in other lands, or to the aggrandisement of their posterity;
and an Epicurean would aver, they were truer philosophers than the
restless creatures who wear out their lives in toil and labour, to
found empires for the future.
It is among these men that, at times, slavery assumes its harshest
aspect, and that the negroes are exposed to the severest labour;
but it is also true that the slaves have closer relations with the
families of their owners, and live in more intimate connection with
them than they do under the strict police of the large plantations.
These people sometimes get forty bushels of corn to the acre, and
a hogshead and a half of sugar. We saw their children going to
school, whilst the heads of the houses sat in the verandah smoking,
and their mothers were busy with household duties; and the signs of
life, the voices of women and children, and the activity visible on
the little farms, contrasted not unpleasantly with the desert-like
stillness of the larger settlements. Rode back in a thunderstorm.
At dinner in the evening Mr. Burnside entertained a number of
planters in the neighbourhood--M. Bringier, M. Coulon (French
creoles), Mr. Duncan Kenner, a medical gentleman named Cotmann,
and others--the last-named gentleman is an Unionist, and does
not hesitate to defend his opinions; but he has during a visit
to Russia formed high ideas of the necessity and virtues of an
absolute and centralised government.
CHAPTER XXXV.
War-rumours, and military movements--Governor Manning’s slave
plantations--Fortunes made by slave-labour--Frogs for the
table--The forest--Cotton and sugar--A thunderstorm.
_June 7th._--The Confederate issue of ten millions sterling, in
bonds payable in twenty years, is not sufficient to meet the
demands of Government; and the four millions of small Treasury
notes, without interest, issued by Congress, are being rapidly
absorbed. Whilst the Richmond papers demand an immediate movement
on Washington, the journals of New York are clamouring for an
advance upon Richmond. The planters are called upon to accept the
Confederate bonds in payment of the cotton to be contributed by the
States.
Extraordinary delusions prevail on both sides. The North believe
that battalions of scalping Indian savages are actually stationed
at Harper’s Ferry. One of the most important movements has been
made by Major-General M‘Clellan, who has marched a force into
Western Virginia from Cincinnati, has occupied a portion of the
line of the Baltimore and Ohio railway, which, was threatened with
destruction by the Secessionists; and has already advanced as far
as Grafton. Gen. M‘Dowell has been appointed to the command of the
Federal forces in Virginia. Every day regiments are pouring down
from the North to Washington. General Butler, who is in command at
Fortress Monroe, has determined to employ negro fugitives, whom
he has called “Contrabands,” in the works about the fort, feeding
them, and charging the cost of their keep against the worth of
their services; and Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War, has ordered
him to refrain from surrendering such slaves to their masters,
whilst he is to permit no interference by his soldiers with the
relations of persons held to service under the laws of the States
in which they are in.
Mr. Jefferson Davis has arrived at Richmond. At sea the Federal
steamers have captured a number of Southern vessels; and some small
retaliations have been made by the Confederate privateers. The
largest mass of the Confederate troops have assembled at a place
called Manassas Junction, on the railway from Western Virginia to
Alexandria.
The Northern papers are filled with an account of a battle at
Philippi, and a great victory, in which no less than two of their
men were wounded and two were reported missing as the whole
casualties; but Napoleon scarcely expended so much ink over
Austerlitz as is absorbed on this glory in the sensation headings
of the New York papers.
After breakfast I accompanied a party of Mr. Burnside’s friends
to visit the plantations of Governor Manning, close at hand. One
plantation is as like another as two peas. We had the same paths
through tasseling corn, high above our heads, or through wastes of
rising sugar-cane; but the slave quarters on Governor Manning’s
were larger, better built, and more comfortable-looking than any I
have seen.
Mr. Bateman, the overseer, a dour strong man, with spectacles on
nose, and a quid in his cheek, led us over the ground. As he saw my
eye resting on a large knife in a leather case stuck in his belt,
he thought it necessary to say, “I keep this to cut my way through
the cane brakes about; they are so plaguey thick.”
All the surface water upon the estate is carried into a large open
drain, with a reservoir in which the fans of a large wheel, driven
by steam-power, are worked so as to throw the water over to a cut
below the level of the plantation, which carries it into a bayou
connected with the lower Mississippi.
In this drain one of my companions saw a prodigious frog, about
the size of a tortoise, on which he pounced with alacrity; and on
carrying his prize to land he was much congratulated by his friend.
“What on earth will you do with the horrid reptile?” “Do with it!
why, eat it to be sure.” And it is actually true, that on our
return the monster ‘crapaud’ was handed over to the old cook, and
presently appeared on the breakfast-table, looking very like an
uncommonly fine spatchcock, and was partaken of with enthusiasm by
all the company.
From the draining-wheel we proceeded to visit the forest, where
negroes were engaged in clearing the trees, turning up the soil
between the stumps, which marked where the mighty sycamore, live
oak, gum-trees, and pines had lately shaded the rich earth. In some
places the Indian corn was already waving its head and tassels
above the black gnarled roots; in other spots the trees, girdled
by the axe, but not yet down, rose up from thick crops of maize;
and still deeper in the wood negroes were guiding the ploughs,
dragged with pain and difficulty by mules, three abreast, through
the tangled roots and rigid earth, which will next year be fit for
sowing. There were one hundred and twenty negroes at work; and
these, with an adequate number of mules, will clear four hundred
and fifty acres of land this year. “But it’s death on niggers and
mules,” said Mr. Bateman. “We generally do it with Irish, as well
as the hedging and ditching; but we can’t get them now, as they are
all off to the wars.”
Although the profits of sugar are large, the cost of erecting
the machinery, the consumption of wood in the boiler, and the
scientific apparatus demand a far larger capital than is required
by the cotton planter, who, when he has got land, may procure
negroes on credit, and only requires food and clothing till he can
realise the proceeds of their labour, and make a certain fortune.
Cotton will keep where sugar spoils. The prices are far more
variable in the latter, although it has a protective tariff of 20
per cent.
The whole of the half million of hogsheads of the sugar grown in
the South is consumed in the United States, whereas most of the
cotton is sent abroad; but in the event of a blockade the South can
use its sugar _ad nauseam_, whilst the cotton is all but useless in
consequence of the want of manufacturers in the South.
When I got back, Mr. Burnside was seated in his verandah, gazing
with anxiety, but not with apprehension, on the marching columns
of black clouds, which were lighted up from time to time by heavy
flashes, and shaken by rolls of thunder. Day after day the planters
have been looking for rain, tapping glasses, scrutinising aneroids,
consulting negro weather prophets, and now and then their
expectations were excited by clouds moving down the river, only to
be disappointed by their departure into space, or, worse than all,
their favouring more distant plantations with a shower that brought
gold to many a coffer. “Did you ever see such luck? Kenner has got
it again! That’s the third shower Bringier has had in the last two
days.”
But it was now the turn of all our friends to envy us a tremendous
thunderstorm, with a heavy, even downfall of rain, which was sucked
up by the thirsty earth almost as fast as it fell, and filled the
lusty young corn with growing pains, imparting such vigour to the
cane that we literally saw it sprouting up, and could mark the
increase in height of the stems from hour to hour.
My good host is rather uneasy about his prospects this year, owing
to the war; and no wonder. He reckoned on an income of £100,000 for
his sugar alone; but if he cannot send it North it is impossible
to estimate the diminution of his profits. I fancy, indeed, he
more and more regrets that he embarked his capital in these great
sugar-swamps, and that he would gladly now invest it at a loss in
the old country, of which he is yet a subject; for he has never
been naturalised in the United States. Nevertheless, he rejoices
in the finest clarets, and in wines of fabulous price, which are
tended by an old white-headed negro, who takes as much care of the
fluid as if he was accustomed to drink it every day.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Visit to Mr. M‘Call’s plantation--Irish, and Spaniards--The
planter--A Southern sporting man--The creoles--Leave
Houmas--Donaldsonville--Description of the City--Baton
Rouge--Steamer to Natchez--Southern feeling; faith in Jefferson
Davis--Rise and progress of prosperity for the planters--Ultimate
issue of the war to both North and South.
_June 8th._--According to promise, the inmates of Mr. Burnside’s
house proceeded to pay a visit to-day to the plantation of Mr.
M‘Call, who lives at the other side of the river some ten or
twelve miles away. Still the same noiseless plantations, the same
oppressive stillness, broken only by the tolling of the bell which
summons the slaves to labour, or marks the brief periods of its
respite! Whilst waiting for the ferry-boat, we visited Dr. Cotmann,
who lives in a snug house near the levée, for, hurried as we were,
’twould nevertheless have been a gross breach of etiquette to have
passed his doors; and I was not sorry for the opportunity of making
the acquaintance of a lady so amiable as his wife, and of seeing a
face with tender, pensive eyes, serene brow, and lovely contour,
such as Guido or Greuse would have immortalised, and which Miss
Cotmann, in the seclusion of that little villa on the banks of the
Mississippi, scarcely seemed to know, would have made her a beauty
in any capital in Europe.
The Doctor is allowed to rave on about his Union propensities
and political power, as Mr. Petigru is permitted to indulge in
similar vagaries in Charleston, simply because he is supposed
to be helpless. There is, however, at the bottom of the
Doctor’s opposition to the prevailing political opinion of the
neighbourhood, a jealousy of acres and slaves, and a sentiment of
animosity to the great seigneurs and slave-owners, which actuate
him without his being aware of their influence. After a halt of
an hour in his house, we crossed in the ferry to Donaldsonville,
where, whilst we were waiting for the carriages, we heard a
dialogue between some drunken Irishmen and some still more
inebriated Spaniards in front of the public-house at hand. The
Irishmen were going off to the wars, and were endeavouring in vain
to arouse the foreign gentlemen to similar enthusiasm; but, as the
latter were resolutely sitting in the gutter, it became necessary
to exert eloquence and force to get them on their legs to march to
the head-quarters of the Donaldsonville Chasseurs. “For the love
of the Virgin and your own sowl’s sake, Fernandey, get up and cum
along wid us to fight the Yankees.” “Josey, are you going to let us
be murdered by a set of damned Protestins and rascally niggers?”
“Gomey, my darling, get up; it’s eleven dollars a month, and food
and everything found. The boys will mind the fishing for you, and
we’ll come back as rich as Jews.”
What success attended their appeals I cannot tell, for the
carriages came round, and, having crossed a great bayou which runs
down into an arm of the Mississippi near the sea, we proceeded on
our way to Mr. M‘Call’s plantation, which we reached just as the
sun was sinking into the clouds of another thunderstorm.
The more one sees of a planter’s life the greater is the conviction
that its charms come from a particular turn of mind, which is
separated by a wide interval from modern ideas in Europe. The
planter is a de-nomadised Arab;--he has fixed himself with
horses and slaves in a fertile spot, where he guards his women
with Oriental care, exercises patriarchal sway, and is at once
fierce, tender, and hospitable. The inner life of his household is
exceedingly charming, because one is astonished to find the graces
and accomplishments of womanhood displayed in a scene which has a
certain sort of savage rudeness about it after all, and where all
kinds of incongruous accidents are visible in the service of the
table, in the furniture of the house, in its decorations, menials,
and surrounding scenery.
It was late in the evening when the party returned to
Donaldsonville; and when we arrived at the other side of the bayou
there were no carriages, so that we had to walk on foot to the
wharf where Mr. Burnside’s boats were supposed to be waiting--the
negro ferryman having long since retired to rest. Under any
circumstances a march on foot through an unknown track covered
with blocks of timber and other impedimenta which represented the
road to the ferry, could not be agreeable; but the recent rains
had converted the ground into a sea of mud filled with holes,
with islands of planks and beams of timber, lighted only by the
stars--and then this in dress trousers and light boots!
We plunged, struggled, and splashed till we reached the levée,
where boats there were none; and so Mr. Burnside shouted up
and down the river, so did Mr. Lee, and so did Mr. Ward and
all the others, whilst I sat on a log affecting philosophy and
indifference, in spite of tortures from mosquitoes innumerable, and
severe bites from insects unknown.
The city and river were buried in darkness; the rush of the stream,
which is sixty feet deep near the banks, was all that struck upon
the ear in the intervals of the cries, “Boat ahoy!” “Ho! Batelier!”
and sundry ejaculations of a less regular and decent form. At
length a boat did glide out of the darkness, and the man who rowed
it stated he had been waiting all the time up the bayou, till by
mere accident he came down to the jetty, having given us up for the
night. In about half an hour we were across the river, and had per
force another interview with Dr. Cotmann, who regaled us with his
best in story and in wine till the carriages were ready, and we
drove back to Mr. Burnside’s, only meeting on the way two mounted
horsemen with jingling arms, who were, we were told, the night
patrol;--of their duties I could, however, obtain no very definite
account.
_June 9th._--A thunderstorm, which lasted all the morning and
afternoon till three o’clock. When it cleared I drove, in company
with Mr. Burnside and his friends, to dinner with Mr. Duncan
Kenner, who lives some ten or twelve miles above Houmas. He is one
of the sporting men of the South, well known on the Charleston
race-course, and keeps a large stable of racehorses and brood
mares, under the management of an Englishman. The jocks were
negro lads; and when we arrived, about half-a-dozen of them were
giving the colts a run in the paddock. The calveless legs and
hollow thighs of the negro adapts him admirably for the pigskin;
and these little fellows sat their horses so well, one might have
thought, till the turn in the course displayed their black faces
and grinning mouths, he was looking at a set of John Scott’s young
gentlemen out training.
The Carolinians are true sportsmen, and in the South the Charleston
races create almost as much sensation as our Derby at home. One
of the guests at Mr. Kenner’s knew all about the winners of Epsom
Oaks, and Ascot, and took delight in showing his knowledge of the
“Racing Calendar.”
It is observable, however, that the creoles do not exhibit any
great enthusiasm for horse-racing, but that they apply themselves
rather to cultivate their plantations and to domestic duties; and
it is even remarkable that they do not stand prominently forward in
the State Legislature, or aspire to high political influence and
position, although their numbers and wealth would fairly entitle
them to both. The population of small settlers, scarcely removed
from pauperism, along the river banks, is courted by men who obtain
larger political influence than the great landowners, as the latter
consider it beneath them to have recourse to the arts of the
demagogue.
_June 10th._--At last _venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus_.
I had seen as much as might be of the best phase of the great
institution--less than I could desire of a most exemplary,
kind-hearted, clear-headed, honest man. In the calm of a glorious
summer evening we crossed the Father of Waters, waving an adieu to
the good friend who stood on the shore, and turning our backs to
the home we had left behind us. It was dark when the boat reached
Donaldsonville on the opposite “coast.”
I should not be surprised to hear that the founder of this
remarkable city, which once contained the archives of the State,
now transferred to Baton Rouge, was a North Briton. There is a
simplicity and economy in the plan of the place not unfavourable
to that view, but the motives which induced Donaldson to found
his Rome on the west of Bayou La Fourche from the Mississippi
must be a secret to all time. Much must the worthy Scot have been
perplexed by his neighbours, a long-reaching colony of Spanish
creoles, who toil not and spin nothing but fishing-nets, and who
live better than Solomon, and are probably as well dressed, _minus_
the barbaric pearl and gold of the Hebrew potentate. Take the
odd, little, retiring, modest houses which grow in the hollows of
Scarborough, add to them the least imposing mansions in the town
of Folkstone, cast these broadsown over the surface of the Essex
marshes, plant a few trees in front of them, then open a few _cafés
billard_ of the camp sort along the main street, and you have done
a very good Donaldsonville.
A policeman welcomes us on the landing, and does the honours of
the market, which has a beggarly account of empty benches, a Texan
bull done into beef, and a coffee-shop. The policeman is a tall,
lean, west countryman; his story is simple, and he has it to tell.
He was one of Dan Rice’s company--a travelling Astley. He came
to Donaldsonville, saw, and was conquered by one of the Spanish
beauties, married her, become tavern-keeper, failed, learned
French, and is now constable of the parish. There was, however, a
weight on his mind. He had studied the matter profoundly, but he
was not near the bottom. How did the friends, relatives, and tribe
of his wife live? No one could say. They reared chickens, and they
caught fish; when there was a pressure on the planters, they turned
out to work for 6_s._ 6_d._ a-day, but those were rare occasions.
The policeman had become quite grey with excogitating the matter,
and he had “nary notion how they did it.”
Donaldsonville has done one fine thing. It has furnished two
companies of soldiers--all Irishmen--to the wars, and the third is
in the course of formation. Not much hedging, ditching, or hard
work these times for Paddy! The blacksmith, a huge tower of muscle,
claims exemption on the ground that “the divil a bit of him comes
from Oireland; he nivir hird af it, barrin’ from the buks he rid,”
and is doing his best to remain behind, but popular opinion is
against him.
As the steamer could not be up from New Orleans till dawn, it was
a relief to saunter through Donaldsonville to see society, which
consisted of several gentlemen and various Jews playing games
unknown to Hoyle, in oaken bar-rooms flanked by billiard tables.
Doctor Cotmann, who had crossed the river to see patients suffering
from an attack of euchre, took us round to a little club, where
I was introduced to a number of gentlemen, who expressed great
pleasure at seeing me, shook hands violently, and walked away; and,
finally, melted off into a cloud of mosquitoes by the river bank,
into a box prepared for them, which was called a bed-room.
These rooms were built of timber on the stage close by the river.
“Why can’t I have one of those rooms?” asked I, pointing to a
larger mosquito box. “It is engaged by ladies.” “How do you know?”
“_Parceque elles out envoyé leur butin._” It was delicious to
meet the French “plunder” for baggage--the old phrase, so nicely
rendered--in the mouth of the Mississippi boatman.
Having passed a night of discomfiture with the winged demons of my
box, I was aroused by the booming of the steam drum of the boat,
dipped my head in water among drowned mosquitoes, and went forth
upon the landing. The policeman had just arrived. His eagle eye
lighted upon a large flat moored alongside, on the stern of which
was inscribed in chalk, “Pork, corn, butter, beef,” &c. Several
“spry” citizens were also on the platform. After salutations
and compliments, policeman speaks--“When did _she_ come in?”
(meaning flat.) First citizen--“In the night, I guess.” Second
citizen--“There’s a lot of whisky aboord, too.” Policeman (with
pleased surprise)--“Yeu never mean it?” First citizen--“Yes,
sir; one hundred and twenty gallons!” Policeman (inspired by
patriotism)--“It’s a west-country boat; why _don’t_ the citizens
seize it? And whisky rising from 17c. to 35c. a gallon!” Citizens
murmur approval, and I feel the whisky part of the cargo is not
safe. “Yes, sir,” says citizen three, “they seize all our property
at Cairey (Cairo), and I’m making an example of this cargo.”
Further reasons for the seizure were adduced, and it is probable
they were as strong as the whisky, which has, no doubt, been
drunk long ago on the very purest principles. In course of
conversation with the committee of taste which had assembled, it
was revealed to me that there was a strict watch kept over those
boats which are freighted with whisky forbidden to the slaves,
and with principles, when they come from the west-country, equally
objectionable. “Did you hear, sir, of the chap over at Duncan
Kenner’s, as was caught the other day?” “No, sir, what was it?”
“Well, sir, he was a man that came here and went over among the
niggers at Kenner’s to buy their chickens from them. He was took
up, and they found he’d a lot of money about him.” “Well, of
course, he had money to buy the chickens.” “Yes, sir, but it looked
suspeec-ious. He was a west-country fellow, tew, and he might have
been tamperin’ with ’em. Lucky for him he was not taken in the
arternoon.” “Why so?” “Because, if the citizens had been drunk,
they’d have hung him on the spot.”
The Acadia was now alongside, and in the early morning
Donaldsonville receded rapidly into trees and clouds. To bed,
and make amends for mosquito visits, and after a long sleep look
out again on the scene. It is difficult to believe that we have
been going eleven miles an hour against the turbid river, which
is of the same appearance as it was below--the same banks, bends,
drift-wood, and trees. Large timber rafts, navigated by a couple
of men, who stood in the shade of a few upright boards, were
encountered at long intervals. White egrets and blue herons rose
from the marshes. At every landing the whites who came down were
in some sort of uniform. There were two blacks placed on board at
one of the landings in irons--captured runaways--and very miserable
they looked at the thought of being restored to the bosom of the
patriarchal family from which they had, no doubt, so prodigally
eloped. I fear the fatted calfskin would be applied to their backs.
_June 11th._--Before noon the steamer hauled alongside a stationary
hulk at Baton Rouge, which once “walked the waters” by the aid
of machinery, but which was now used as a floating hotel, depôt,
and storehouse--315 feet long, and fully thirty feet on the upper
deck above the level of the river. The Acadia stopped, and I
disembarked. Here were my quarters till the boat for Natchez should
arrive. The proprietor of the floating hotel was somewhat excited
because one of his servants was away. The man presently came in
sight. “Where have you been, you ----?” “Away to buy de newspaper,
Massa.” “For who, you ----?” “Me buy ’em for no one, Massa; me sell
’um agin, Massa.” “See, now, you ----, if ever you goes aboard them
steamers to meddle with newspapers, I’m ---- but I’ll kill you,
mind that!”
Baton Rouge is the capital of the State of Louisiana, and the State
House thereof is a very quaint and very new example of bad taste.
The Deaf and Dumb Asylum near it is in a much better style. It was
my intention to have visited the State Prison and Penitentiary, but
the day was too hot, and the distance too great, and so I dined at
the oddest little creole restaurant, with the funniest old hostess,
and the strangest company in the world.
On returning to the boat hotel, Mr. Conrad, one of the citizens of
the place, and Mr. W. Avery, a judge of the district court, were
good enough to call and to invite me to remain some time, but I
was obliged to decline. These gentlemen were members of the home
guard, and drilled assiduously every evening. Of the 1300 voters
at Baton Rouge, more than 750 are already off to the wars, and
another company is being formed to follow them. Mr. Conrad has
three sons in the field, and another is anxious to follow, and he
and his friend, Mr. Avery, are quite ready to die for the disunion.
The waiter who served out drinks in the bar wore a uniform, and
his musket lay in the corner among the brandy bottles. At night a
patriotic meeting of citizen soldiery took place in the bow, with
which song and whisky had much to do, so that sleep was difficult.
Precisely at seven o’clock on Wednesday morning the Mary T. came
alongside, and soon afterward bore me on to Natchez, through
scenery which became wilder and less cultivated as she got
upwards. Of the 1500 steamers on the river, not a tithe are now in
employment, and the owners of these profitable flotillas are “in a
bad way.” It was late at night when the steamer arrived at Natchez,
and next morning early I took shelter in another engineless steamer
beside the bank of the river at Natchez-under-the-hill, which was
thought to be a hotel by its owners.
In the morning I asked for breakfast. “There is nothing for
breakfast; go to Curry’s on shore.” Walk up hill to Curry’s--a
bar-room occupied by a waiter and flies. “Can I have any
breakfast?” “No, sir-ree; it’s over half-an-hour ago.” “Nothing
to eat at all?” “No, sir.” “Can I get some anywhere else?” “I
guess not.” It had been my belief that a man with money in his
pocket could not starve in any country _soi-disant_ civilized. I
chewed the cud of fancy _faute de mieux_, and became the centre of
attraction to citizens, from whose conversation I learned that this
was “Jeff. Davis’ fast day.” Observed one, “It quite puts me in
mind of Sunday; all the stores closed.” Said another, “We’ll soon
have Sunday every day, then, for I ’spect it won’t be worth while
for most shops to keep open any longer.” Natchez, a place of much
trade and cotton export in the season, is now as dull--let us say,
as Harwich without a regatta. But it is ultra-secessionist, _nil
obstante_.
My hunger was assuaged by Mr. Marshall, who drove me to his
comfortable mansion through a country like the wooded parts
of Sussex, abounding in fine trees, and in the only lawns and
park-like fields I have yet seen in America.
After dinner, my host took me out to visit a wealthy planter,
who has raised and armed a cavalry corps at his own expense. We
were obliged to get out of the carriage at a narrow lane and walk
toward the encampment on foot in the dark; a sentry stopped us,
and we observed that there was a semblance of military method in
the camp. The captain was walking up and down in the verandah
of the poor hut, for which he had abandoned his home. A book of
tactics--Hardee’s--lay on the table of his little room. Our friend
was full of fight, and said he would give all he had in the world
to the cause. But the day before, and a party of horse, composed
of sixty gentlemen in the district, worth from £20,000 to £50,000
each, had started for the war in Virginia. Everything to be seen
or heard testifies to the great zeal and resolution with which the
South have entered upon the quarrel. But they hold the power of the
United States and the loyalty of the North to the Union at far too
cheap a rate.
Next day was passed in a delightful drive through cotton fields,
Indian corn, and undulating woodlands, amid which were some
charming residences. I crossed the river at Natchez, and saw
one fine plantation, in which the corn, however, was by no means
so good as the crops I have seen on the coast. The cotton looks
well, and some had already burst into flower--bloom, as it is
called--which has turned to a flagrant pink, and seems saucily
conscious that its boll will play an important part in the world.
The inhabitants of the tracts on the banks of the Mississippi, and
on the inland regions hereabout, ought to be, in the natural order
of things, a people almost nomadic, living by the chase, and by a
sparse agriculture, in the freedom which tempted their ancestors to
leave Europe. But the Old World has been working for them. All its
trials have been theirs; the fruits of its experience, its labours,
its research, its discoveries, are theirs. Steam has enabled them
to turn their rivers into highways, to open primeval forests to the
light of day and to man. All these, however, would have availed
them little had not the demands of manufacture abroad, and the
increasing luxury and population of the North and West at home,
enabled them to find in these swamps and uplands sources of wealth
richer and more certain than all the gold mines of the world.
There must be gnomes to work those mines. Slavery was an
institution ready to their hands. In its development there lay
every material means for securing the prosperity which Manchester
opened to them, and in supplying their own countrymen with sugar.
The small, struggling, deeply-mortgaged proprietors of swamp and
forest set their negroes to work to raise levées, to cut down
trees, to plant and sow. Cotton at ten cents a pound gave a nugget
in every boll. Land could be had for a few dollars an acre. Negroes
were cheap in proportion. Men who made a few thousand dollars
invested them in more negroes, and more land, and borrowed as much
again for the same purpose. They waxed fat and rich--there seemed
no bounds to their fortune.
But threatening voices came from the North--the echoes of the
sentiments of the civilised world repenting of its evil pierced
their ears, and they found their feet were of clay, and that they
were nodding to their fall in the midst of their power. Ruin
inevitable awaited them if they did not shut out these sounds and
stop the fatal utterances.
The issue is to them one of life and death. Whoever raises it
hereafter, if it be not decided now, must expect to meet the deadly
animosity which is now displayed towards the North. The success
of the South--if they can succeed--must lead to complications and
results in other parts of the world, for which neither they nor
Europe are prepared. Of one thing there can be no doubt--a slave
state cannot long exist without a slave trade. The poor whites who
have won the fight will demand their share of the spoils. The land
for tilth is abundant, and all that is wanted to give them fortunes
is a supply of slaves. They will have that in spite of their
masters, unless a stronger power than the Slave States prevents the
accomplishment of their wishes.
The gentleman in whose house I was stopping was not insensible
to the dangers of the future, and would, I think, like many
others, not at all regret to find himself and property safe in
England. His father, the very day of our arrival, had proceeded to
Canada with his daughters, but the Confederate authorities are
now determined to confiscate all property belonging to persons
who endeavour to evade the responsibilities of patriotism. In
such matters the pressure of the majority is irresistible, and
a sort of mob law supplants any remissness on the part of the
authorities. In the South, where the deeds of the land of cypress
and myrtle are exaggerated by passion, this power will be exercised
very rigorously. The very language of the people is full of the
excesses generally accepted as types of Americanism. Turning over
a newspaper this morning, I came upon a “card” as it is called,
signed by one “Mr. Bonner,” relating to a dispute between himself
and an Assistant-Quartermaster-General, about the carriage of
some wood at Mobile, which concludes with the sentence that I
transcribe, as an evidence of the style which is tolerated, if not
admired, down South:--
“If such a Shylock-hearted, caitiff scoundrel does exist, give me
the evidence, and I will drag him before the bar of public opinion,
and consign him to an infamy so deep and damnable that the hand of
the Resurrection will never reach him.”
END OF VOL I.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Since borrowed, it is supposed, by Mr. Seward, and handed over
by him to Mr. Stanton. Lafayette gave it to Washington, he also
gave his name to the Fort which has played so conspicuous a part in
the war for liberty--“La liberté des deux mondes,” might well sigh
if he could see his work, and what it has led to.
[2] Since killed in a duel by Mr. Rhelt.
[3] Now Confederate General.
[4] Since killed in action.
[5] Since killed.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Many words with hyphens, or without them, have been silently
adjusted to be more consistent. For example, instances of
‘ferry boat’ ‘ferry-boat’ and ‘ferryboat’ have all been made
‘ferry-boat’; ‘bare-footed’ has been changed to ‘barefooted’.
For consistency, instances of a.m. or p.m. have been
made upper case A.M. or P.M.
Pg xi: page number ‘59’ replaced by ‘60’.
Pg 21: ‘savans’ replaced by ‘savants’.
Pg 26: ‘and Welchmen’ replaced by ‘and Welshmen’.
Pg 33: ‘every accessary to’ replaced by ‘every accessory to’.
Pg 37: ‘obdurate offendors’ replaced by ‘obdurate offenders’.
Pg 48: ‘borders of Minniesota’ replaced by ‘borders of Minnesota’.
Pg 62: ‘but peole who’ replaced by ‘but people who’.
Pg 73: ‘the hairdresssers and’ replaced by ‘the hairdressers and’.
Pg 79: ‘preposterous capitol’ replaced by ‘preposterous capital’.
Pg 85: ‘Vernon Assocation’ replaced by ‘Vernon Association’.
Pg 100: ‘in the Brocklyn’ replaced by ‘in the Brooklyn’.
Pg 112: ‘force at Charlestown’ replaced by ‘force at Charleston’.
Pg 114: ‘there was was a’ replaced by ‘there was a’.
Pg 116: ‘to the the city’ replaced by ‘to the city’.
Pg 125: ‘Seabord and Roanoke’ replaced by ‘Seaboard and Roanoke’.
Pg 131: ‘désagrémens’ replaced by ‘désagréments’.
Pg 131: ‘forest hap been’ replaced by ‘forest had been’.
Pg 171: ‘about Pedee, or’ replaced by ‘about Peedee, or’.
Pg 182: ‘white curaçoa’ replaced by ‘white curaçao’ (twice).
Pg 184: ‘Maccamaw River’ replaced by ‘Waccamaw River’.
Pg 195: ‘Macamaw River’ replaced by ‘Waccamaw River’.
Pg 224: ‘the once renowed’ replaced by ‘the once renowned’.
Pg 229: ‘sourse of argument’ replaced by ‘source of argument’.
Pg 229: ‘Wo betide’ replaced by ‘Woe betide’.
Pg 237: ‘racoons, frogs’ replaced by ‘raccoons, frogs’.
Pg 238: ‘many fillibusters’ replaced by ‘many filibusters’.
Pg 243: ‘Southener at last’ replaced by ‘Southerner at last’.
Pg 244: ‘in junks, and each junk’ replaced by ‘in chunks, and each
chunk’.
Pg 269: ‘creek and scream’ replaced by ‘creak and scream’.
Pg 308: ‘The magatines’ replaced by ‘The magazines’.
Pg 318: ‘the Powhattan being’ replaced by ‘the Powhatan being’.
Pg 366: ‘Visit to M. Ronan’ replaced by ‘Visit to M. Roman’.
Pg 368: ‘and Mr. Forstal’ replaced by ‘and Mr. Forstall’.
Pg 394: ‘two hogheads’ replaced by ‘two hogsheads’.
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